A light to my path

R Oh Lord, you give light to my path.

Oh Lord, you give light to my path.
When I walk in your Love,
I do not falter.
My steps are sure
R

When I am afraid,
You take my hand
and gently lead me.
My heart exults in thanks and praise.
R

Your kindness to me is unceasing
Your mercy is eclipsed only by your Love
Which pours down upon my head in streams of living water
Running off my fingertips and healing the earth.
R

Finding Rest: A plea for help

Father of all the earth, of all the sea, of all the sky, Lover of my soul, teach me to rest in you.

Oh Lord, I feel pulled by many demands and fear that I will split at the seams.
Fill me with your Love and your Peace.
Let every rip and tear in the fabric of my ego give way to your Light and Love.
Burst the threadbare robes of self-satisfaction and clothe me in Your Glory.

If I should stumble and fall, let me fall into Your loving arms,
surrendering my will to yours,
making your Joy my own,
resting with complete trust in your Peace.

AMEN

A prayer for healing

Lord Jesus Christ,
On the cross, you took upon yourself the suffering and pain of our wounded world. When your sacrifice was complete and your side was pierced, blood and water flowed out, mingled together in a healing stream. With faith and humility, we come before you in a time of turmoil, asking

(R) Pour out your healing on us and on all the world.

For victims of sexual abuse, that they may safely grow into open and fulfilling relationships. (R)
For Natalie and all who have spoken openly about dark and difficult things. (R)
For those ministering to victims of abuse, that they may be balm for wounded souls. (R)
For those ministering to perpetrators, that they have the wisdom to protect the vulnerable while offering the wideness of God's mercy. (R)
For those investigating allegations of abuse and the mishandling of allegations, that they may put aside their own biases and make prayerfully considered judgments. (R)
For all who are reading about scandal, that we respond to the suffering of others with acts of prayer and kindness. (R)
For the Universal Church, the Body of Christ, that her wounds may, like those of Jesus, bring healing to world. (R)

We ask these things in the unity of the Holy Spirit, our breath of life.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. AMEN


Written in response to the turmoil around the handling of abuse in CREC churches in Moscow, Idaho and originally posted on http://natalierose-livewithpassion.blogspot.com/.

Waiting with a view.

The Pit of My Stomach

A small ode to that special appendage that makes me feel like I am about to hurl when I think of something exceedingly uncomfortable. Like the papers I should have graded this weekend, or that thing I shouldn't have said yesterday, or the fact that I can't actually call my dad. I'm not sure if the pit is a good or a bad thing. I'd like to think that it is a warning, like some sort of primal survival mechanism. But really, it is pretty simple. It is the death throes of denial. The last desperate gasp of our attempt to close our eyes and sing "lalalalalala." A reminder to uncover our ears and our eyes. To look and listen. To face the day, and ourselves with all of the imperfections and missteps and missed opportunities.

I am reminded that I am grateful that I have known someone worth grieving. That I have dear ones worth loving. That I have another day to live it all with that pit in my stomach.

Autumn winds

The years are picking up speed
like a train barreling downhill.
Breathtaking vistas disappear
before I can exhale.
Am I missing treasured moments?
I try to capture them.
Store them away in albums
where they cannot escape.
But perhaps it is better
just to ride the train
and stay awake.

Updates

I finally updated our family picture. (This was for you, mom.) It is not that recent, but it least it has all five of us in it!

The garden seems to be growing, and I have more tomato plants than I have room in my garden. It will be quite some time before we have to worry about harvesting anything, though.

K leaves tomorrow for DC for three weeks. C's gymnastics classes start up again. H has taken off like a rocket, crawling and pulling up on everything in sight. Fok is writing proposals, and I am writing papers (and blog posts, apparently).

Gardening

I have decided to take the plunge and start gardening. My neighbors are planning to build some raised beds in a couple of weeks, so I am going to get ready by starting some seedlings before the big project. I want to plant some edible perennials too. Any suggestions?
Here's a pic of C with our seed packets!

144

A biography of the number 144, by K:

144 was a very special number. It had grown up on a farm and was very hard-working. It was very square and was often considered gross*. It was close friends with 12, being 12 squared and the 12th number in the Fibonacci sequence. It was the smallest number with exactly 15 divisors and was a Harshad number. All this fame was making 12 jealous, and he decided to think up of a way to get some of its own.
12 started writing 144 as 12^2, and pretty soon everyone was doing the same thing. This made 144 furious, for 12 and 2 were getting all the credit for things that it had worked hard to obtain. It had had to work hard to get into the Fibonacci sequence, and the test for entrance into the Harshad Academy was one of the hardest in the world. It had also had to spend a lot of hard-earned money in bribes to have its 5th power be the sum of 5 other 5th powers (27^5+84^5+110^5+133^5=144^5)
Once best of friends, 144 and 12 parted bitter enemies. To this day, they both hate each other and will not speak when they meet. 144 went on to found the Anti-square Foundation and led many anti-square rallies in which there were both square and non- square numbers. 144 also became a partner in the Anti-Powers Foundation. 12 became a leading politician for the Powers Party and was in second place for leading number several times (1, 0,i,or the square root of 2 always won). He set all of his weight against 144 and the things he supported. This made him very popular among his own party, but not as much among the other parties. To them 144 seemed like a martyr, having worked hard for his achievements only to have them stolen by 12 and 2. 144 gained support, and in the end the Powers Party was toppled as its members went to the Composite Party to save their political cases. In the year 4075 F#**, 144 was elected chief number. All of his hard work had payed off.

*gross is a mathematical term for 144
** F#=first number


(I know that I am also way overdue for posting pictures and updates about H. Whoever said that three is not much different than two was totally lying! There are pictures on Flickr for those who are interested.)

Recent Events

We have had a number of notable events over the past several weeks.


C turned 2, and really enjoyed her first birthday party. We had pizza, ice cream cake, and painted t-shirts, but the biggest hit by far was the balloons.




K started fifth grade. As you can see, he was in quite a hurry to get to school this year, even forgetting his backpack the first time out the door!




Fok celebrated his 35th birthday with homemade mac and cheese and a walnut torte.



And we are gearing up to welcome our newest addition very soon!

I usually enjoy xkcd comics, but today's was worth passing along.



As soon as I find the cord for my camera, I'll post pics from Claire's 2nd birthday, too!

Changes

I am feeling a little overwhelmed today. There are many changes happening in our family and in the lives of our friends. We welcome two new nephews!! This month, WSJ was born to Jeremy and Amber, and XKL was born to Fok-Jee and Meaghan. We also say goodbye to a friend and colleague. Dora Bialostocki passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. I will miss her smile. Finally, we are moving into our first house today...the third time that I have moved while expecting a new baby. So many emotions. I will try to honor each of them in their turn and accept the changes with humility and gratitude.

The passing of genius

I know that many people have already written many things about Michael Jackson in the last 24 hours, but I have been surprised at my own strong reaction to his death. While it's true that Thriller was my very first cassette tape received as a gift at my very first sleepover party, that was the high point of Michael Jackson's influence on my life. Over the last several months, I have been revisiting his work, as Fok likes to give the kids their pop culture education from youtube on a regular basis. (Just ask K about Amish Paradise.) Watching him dance, you can see that he was one of those gifted (cursed even?) with the rare burden of true genius. Take the Scream video, where he dances with his sister Janet. Now Janet Jackson is no slouch, but compared to Michael's natural ease, she looks stiff and rehearsed. As a mathematician, there are many stories of genius snuffed out or gone insane, or just gone strange (Galois, Abel, Cantor, Nash, Grothendieck). People so talented, that without them some ideas would not have come into being. I remember sometimes feeling grateful that they had left some work for the rest of us mortals. So I guess that is why the passing of MJ has me sitting with some malaise on a beautiful Friday afternoon. We have lost a genius, and worse a genius that didn't ripen, but went strange. And maybe, like with Cantor, we carry some blame for the strangeness.

We are having a good summer so far.  K has been out of school for a little over a week, and seems to be enjoying his free time.  He had a piano recital last weekend that went pretty well.  He got to play on the grand piano in the recital hall at the music school on campus.  

 C has been having fun taking pictures.  Here is one that she took of Daddy trying to steal a little nap.  Fok has been going to jujitsu practice at 5:30 in the morning for the last couple of weeks, and is really liking his naps!

C also loves to dress up in mommy's clothes.  This usually means trying on my shoes, but yesterday she put on one of my shirts, and mugged for the camera.

We have been having some great weather lately.  Generally sunny and not too hot...pretty much no humidity (much better than Boston in the summer, I have to say!)  Fok took this photo on our way off to work/school a few days ago.  I think that may be one of the last appearances of the belt until sometime in October.  A friend a church today told me that I had finally "popped" like the button on a Thanksgiving turkey :).  Well, I'm not sure I am thrilled about being compared to a turkey at this point, but at 24 weeks, at least I look pregnant!

And baby makes five...

We are very excited to announce that we will be having a little girl this fall! Here is a video advertising the coming addition to the Leung family. She is expected to arrive at the beginning of October.

Spring Break

It is Spring Break here, but it feels more like winter as we woke up again this morning to a dusting of snow on the trees. Not enough to have to shovel, though! C is quite the little dancer, but it has been tough to catch her on video. We thought we'd share our recent attempts. Enjoy!

Welcome 2009

The Leung family greeted 2009 with much traveling! Starting on December 10, and ending on January 21, we were all at home together for a total of 9 days. In between, we had three work trips and visited with both the Johnsons and the Leungs. This weekend, we enjoyed all being here for the whole weekend!

Here are a few pictures from the last month or two, including Christmas and K's 10th birthday! I have had fun sorting through photos while procrastinating on my first grading of the year...

Story Time.

TEN YEARS OLD!

All dressed up for Christmas Eve

Kaleb played mallets in the winter concert.

Our little tree, and snow on our trees.

Kaleb is number 37

Fun at the park in Friendship Square

Much to be Thankful for!

It has been a very good and very busy fall for all of us. K is in more activities than he has ever been before, with hockey, karate, piano and a math circle. The math circle is also an activity for me as I am leading the group of about 15 fourth to sixth graders as they wrestle with problems and ideas that they don't get to see in school. The kids also both took swimming lessons for a few weeks at the beginning of the semester (before hockey!) I haven't taken pictures of K in all of his armor yet, but I'll post some up later in the season. C is enjoying her "school" and the teachers say that she is one of the happiest kids that they have ever seen.

Fok and I have been working hard on grant proposals and conference presentations. Nanna and Pappa visited over Halloween weekend. Then I went to a great conference in Banff in November, and C got to come with me because Grandma Leung was able to join us there for the week! We had a relaxing Thanksgiving vacation at home, and enjoyed a potluck with friends. If I'm lucky, I might get a few pics from those who attended with cameras. I haven't taken a lot of phots this fall. Most of those we have are due to K, who regularly breaks out the camera and snaps a few.

One Year Old!

Our little girl turned one just over a week ago. Here are a couple of pictures from her birthday dinner.


Last weekend, we went to Portland to visit a couple of my good friends from college.

K had fun expressing his artistic side with a series of "water glass" photos. I am including only a sampling.

C has also been having fun investigating Mommy's purse. Here she is putting her toys in, but she also enjoys taking things out. Credit cards are her favorite!

And last but not least, a little video of a walking baby. Much thanks to K for his persistence in getting her on tape. Although she is getting a bit farther this week, she is still quite cautious, only walking a few steps before crawling the rest of the way.

Classes start again for everyone this week!

At the park

Even though we have a huge backyard, it is not as baby/toddler friendly as the playground at the park. I snapped these photos on my phone this afternoon. C loves the swing, and is even getting into the slide these days. K still loves dirt and sticks...do boys ever grow out of that?

With a scant two weeks left until the start of the semester, we are all eeking out as much summer laziness as possible.