Family Update 2010

Merry Christmas from the Wong Family!

picture taken at the family reunion in May

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ARNOLD AND EFFIE

In a recent article in The Straits Times, the local newspaper, Singapore was said to be the happiest place in Asia by American author Dan Buettner. Two major reasons he cited were equality and security. Who would have thought that God would have placed us here? Singapore does have a lot of amenities to support the author’s findings, but our own personal experience supports his findings on a whole different level.

We have been in Singapore for about 18 months. This is our second year at Grace Baptist Church. It has been a period of strengthening our relationship with the people of GBC. The Lord has granted us some momentum and we have added a new Pastor for Youth and Young Adults. In February, 2011, we are praying that our new pastor for Care Groups and Career Adults will be able to join us. The fact that the church was able to find and recruit two new pastors, in such a short time, is a blessing from the Lord.
Some ministry highlights of the year included Arnold being the speaker for the week long Spiritual Life Conference of the Singapore Bible College. And, Effie was able to go to Jakarta, Indonesia with a GBC mission team to hold a Vacation Bible School for over 200 children.

In May, we were able to have family reunions with our families in the United States in both San Francisco and in Dallas. Our family continues to grow. Including the grandchildren there are now 25 of us. On December 28th, Alicia and Ed will give birth to our 2nd granddaughter, bringing the total to 26. In January, Effie will fly to Houston to help Alicia and Ed with their new daughter. She will be back in Singapore in February. For those who have lost count, we will be blessed with 10 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.

It has been a busy year of travel. Effie had the opportunity to celebrate Kara’s graduation from dental school by going on a tour to Russia with Kara, Effie’s sister Darlene, and Gina – Effie’s niece. They visited St. Petersburg and Moscow. Meanwhile, Arnold was speaking at the GBC camp in Malacca, Malaysia.

We were able to take some short breaks around the region with friends. We visited Bangkok, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia. The latter is the home of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex. This magnificent structure was started back in the 9th century and completed around the 12th – 13th century. It is truly one of the art treasures of the world.

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DANA, ALBERT, JACKSON, AND CADE

The Moon family has been very busy this past year- primarily with a move during the summer to the Atlanta area.  Dana has been blessed with a new role at Procter and Gamble that moved us from Cincinnati to the Southeast.  We are all glad to be further South as 2 winters in Ohio was plenty! Al is still holding down the fort at home, still remaining active at the boys' school and activities.  He recently has a new responsibility- training our 2 month old Goldendoodle puppy- Louie.  Jack turned 10 in November and is in the 4th grade, Cade is 8 and in the 3rd grade.  They have started Tae Kwon Do and are also still in Cub Scouts.  If you ever find yourself in Atlanta, please look us up!

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LISA, MIKE, NATHAN, BRANDON, AND RYAN

Our family grew in 2010, with the arrival of Ryan Christopher on February 7. Ryan has a really sweet disposition (so far!) and is proving to be quite adaptable to the whims of his older brothers. He’s a little guy, but he’s pretty quick on all fours! Brandon will be three years old in January. He’s our tough guy. He takes pretty good licks from his older brother and is prone to self-inflicted bumps and bruises. He loves balls, Mater, his Lambie, and fruit snacks. His big achievement of the year is getting potty-trained! Nathan turns five years old on Christmas Day. He already can’t wait to start kindergarten. Nathan is as high-energy as ever, keeping all of us on our toes (especially his younger brothers!). He loves anything with wheels, playing soccer, and competition of any kind. This year, he mastered spelling and writing his name, as well as a handful of useful words (pie, barn, duck…).

I am now officially a “boy-mom.” Raising three young boys is proving to be quite the formidable task, with long days filled with diapers, potty-training, monster trucks, soccer balls, wrestling, etc. With a lot of help from Auntie Tricia and Mee-maw and Grandpa, we survived 2010! At work, it was a thrill this fall to produce the groundbreaking for the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Thanks to Kara, Chibong, Tricia, and Mike’s parents, Mike and I were able to steal away a couple of days in November for Mike’s company trip in the Bahamas. Mike is still working as a technology consultant with Credera. He managed several large projects this year, with some travel and long hours. But he enjoys his co-workers and the challenge of the job. He is a great dad – exclusively handling wrestling matches, belly-flopping sessions and trips to the Home Depot workshop.

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ELENA, RODNEY, REUBEN, AND MICAH

There are six degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon. Here are six ways 2010 has been great to the Espiritu family...

1. We became 1st time homeowners in April, after waiting a year for the short sale to go through. It still feels like a mansion to us after living in our old 1-bedroom. We have learned that with more space comes more cleaning!

2. We welcomed our 2nd son Micah Rudy in February. He is affectionately called our "linebacker," weighing in at 25 pounds at 9 months. Micah is happily standing and starting to cruise. Micah's laid back personality is such a blessing as we are adjusting to life with 2 young and active boys.

3. Reu finally made it on the growth charts...he is in the 3rd percentile for weight! Reu now has "extracurricular activities" including a gymnastics and art class at the local parks and recreation department, speech therapy and storytime at the library. Good news for 2010 was Reu has outgrown all but one of his allergies (hold the nuts please)! He loves books, hippos, Thomas the train, and his favorite letter "w."

4. We are experiencing our 4th winter here in Chicago. We have already had a couple of snow storms and it's only December. Rodney gets a good workout shoveling our sidewalks and staircases. This is in addition to staying home during the day with our boys, leading a church small group, and catching up on all the reading he wanted to do while he was in seminary.

5. Elena will celebrate her 5th year at the University of IL Medical Center as an Occupational Therapist in January. With our new home close to work, her commute is only 10 minutes by bus or bike! She is more than half way done with her doctoral program and hopes to graduate by next December.

6. We have celebrated our 6th year of marriage. This has been a growing year which has challenged us in such a good way. Many long conversations about how to maintain a strong marriage during these early years of having young children (any tips will be welcomed!).

Merry Christmas!

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MARINA, ROBERT, THOMAS, TRAVIS, AND DEREK

This has been a year of unexpected transitions for the Su family. After four great years in Oklahoma, we've moved again! Robert accepted a new sales territory in Washington state (along with Montana, Idaho, and Alaska!) God blessed us with selling our home in Tulsa so we got to join him before the new year. For now, we're still busy unpacking and learning our way around the Seattle area while looking for a house. You can visit their online photo album at http://web.me.com/rob_su.

Our 2010 Highlights:

Robert and Marina went to Hawaii and saw many good friends and beautiful places. We'll be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary next month.

Thomas (9 years old) earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He attended 'Apple' camp this summer and still loves all "iStuff" although now we're in Microsoft territory.

Travis (4) started Pre-K and rode the school bus for the first time. He continues to be our laid back, happy guy that enjoys playing legos with his brothers.

Derek (3) loves super heroes will “fight you up” anytime. He likes to ride his tricycle at top speed with his cape blowing behind him.

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ALICIA, ED, FAITH, AND BABY GIRL #2



It was a year of transition for the Leungs as Ed stepped down from being the English pastor at the Katy church in August and began pursuing a career in the medical field.  Alicia is still working part-time as an intervention teacher and being a full-time mother.  In January, she’ll start her final graduate class for her counseling degree! Faith (21 months) is a happy toddler.  She loves dogs, dancing to music, and attending her Mother’s Day Out program once a week at a local church.  She continues to a pretty easy going kid...which her parents hope will continue when her sibling arrives. They are expecting Baby Girl #2 on January 11, 2011.  As always, you can visit their family blog at www.edalicia.blogspot.com for updates and pictures!



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TRICIA

Tricia is still living in Dallas and started her 7th year of teaching. She is thriving as a math specialist with Richardson ISD.

It was another year of travels for Tricia as she made the trek to Singapore to visit Mom and Dad in December! She also was able to go to NYC and Tulsa during her summer vacation. A work trip also took her to Atlanta. Wow! That’s a lot of frequent flier mileage!

Patches turned 4 this year and continues to do well. He has found new friends in his cousins, Nathan and Brandon.

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KARA

In May, Kara walked across the stage with a diploma from the Baylor College of Dentistry with family and friends cheering her on! She celebrated with a once in a lifetime trip to Russia with Auntie Darlene, Cousin Gina, and Mom. They got to go on a cruise, visit the palaces, and spend tons of time together. After returning, Kara moved to Houston where she is currently doing her general practice residency at the VA hospital.

Kara is visiting Mom and Dad in Singapore for Christmas and then heading to Hong Kong afterwards!