California Holidays - Part One

Last night we opened our gifts...


But the best part of our entire holiday was seeing our little niece Ainsley! She is wonderfully cute.



Ainsley matching with aunt Shari!

Christmas

We spent Christmas at my parent's house in New Jersey. On Christmas eve we opened our gifts.
After this we headed for New York to a party with some old time friends from Costa Rica. The party started at 9 pm and ended at 5 am! Yeah, we are party animals...

The next morning we went over to my cousin's house and had dinner with a couple of my family members.

We then headed to California to continue our holiday celebration.

Oh Christmas Trees!

Back in Michigan we had bought a very dinky artificial Christmas tree. To inaugurate our first holiday season in our house, Trevan decided that we should get a real tree. It seemed a waste to just let our other tree sit in the storage shed all season, so we decided to use both trees.

We put the artificial tree is our bedroom.Yeah, it is dinky indeed, but we appreciate having some season cheer when we go to bed at night

The other tree we put in our living room. I took a couple pictures of it and Trevan liked this first picture because it came out so weird.

But here is what it really looks like...
I can honestly say that this is the most excited I have been about Christmas in a long time.

I think it's the trees!

Gingerbread Houses

Saturday afternoon we went over to one of our church members' house where a lot of our kids had assembled to create their personal gingerbread houses. There were close to 20 kids, tons of candy, and lots of laughs. Our kids are very cute and creative. Yes, I am bragging, again!

Tragedy

Some sad news.

On Tuesday morning Trevan's grandmother Osborn suffered a massive stroke and passed away that afternoon.

Trevan is in Maryland now with his family. Please keep us in your prayers as this has been a very rough couple months since the passing of his grandfather in August.

Thanksgiving

Ok, so I am really late with this post. Let me make it short.

Trevan and I decided to spend a nice Thanksgiving just the two of us. I made a wonderful meal, including my first, ever, chicken!

It was a wonderful day full of food and football! Happy Thanksgiving season to all!

What Direction? - Part I

In the movie The Devil's Advocate, Kevin Lomax, a hotshot attorney, finds that one bad decision spirals his life so completely out of control that he ends up employed by Lucifer himself. While Nike says "Just do it", and encourages us to make bold decisions like Lomax did, our better judgment tells us that caution is a more trustworthy guide.

We live in constant fear of making the wrong choice; taking the wrong job, marrying the wrong person, choosing the unfulfilling career. So as the major intersections in our lives arrive and we find ourselves needing to take action, we are paralyzed with this fear. We agonize, pray, stress, but mostly make no decision at all hoping that some magical sign in the sky will tell us what to do.

When I was single I lived in constant fear of marrying a guy one day, and then meeting the "perfect guy" the next day. This fear kept me from dating through most of my high-school and college years. Trevan was my first real relationship.

As I look back on those years I now wonder if God put that fear in my heart to stop me from dating the wrong guys. What if fear is not keeping us from true happiness, but preventing us from making that wrong decision that will spiral our lives out of control.

Belize

There are two things that made this year's trip to Belize better than last year's.

1. Trevan was there and got to meet my granny for the first time.

2. The family reunion was much bigger this year. It had been over 10 years since my dad had gone back. My granny was really happy to see him again.

It was a very festive trip because my granny was celebrating her 95th birthday. We had these bright yellow T-shirts made for all the family members to wear to the party.

I enjoyed seeing all the little people again! They grow up so fast and are so cute...
(Yasir wearing my glasses, Trevan and Leah (lives in LA), and Leah, Samane and I - the girls had just finished eating chocolate)

The most thrilling adventure was snorkeling parts of the second largest barrier reef in the world. Trevan even got to touch a sting ray as our guide held it for him.

As I reflect back on the trip I realize that having Trevan meet my granny and my family in Belize was more important to me than I realized. Many of my childhood summers were spent there, and a big part of who I am was formed during those years. It was wonderful sharing some of that with him.

My Niece!

Last Monday I became an aunt! It is one of the happiest things that has ever happened in my life. Little Ainsley Rebecca Ng is the cutest baby ever...I know, everyone says that, but this baby is really the cutest ever!!! I have pictures to prove it.

I told you she was cute!

Happy Birthday to ME!

As I look back on my 25th year of life, I realize that I had no expectations for that year at all. Yet, that year brought me to a new city, a new job, and a fabulous house.

Looking to my 26th year I can foresee no major changes. No big moves, no new jobs, no big purchases. Yet my anticipation for the adventures ahead are not dampened.

To be honest, this birthday totally snuck up on me. With all the trips and work, I did not realize it was almost my birthday till Friday. Usually I look forward to this day from the beginning of October! Yeah, birthdays are big in my book.

Still, my joy was not lessened by the belated realization that October 15 was closer than I imagined. I guess the great thing about birthdays - my birthdays anyways - is that there is always hope that this year will bring me closer to my goals. The anticipation that maybe this year I will accomplish something that was not accomplished last year.

Or maybe it is just a positive way of saying that I am getting old!

Great Sermon, Great Body!

In the front of the church a table filled with bread and oil beckoned me. I noticed that the bread was arranged in the shape of a body.

People took their seats and the service began. The scripture reading was taken from I Corinthians 12. This chapter talks about the body of Christ, and how God has chosen each one of us and given us a specific function as members of His body.

Trevan started his sermon by talking about our diverse gifts, then about how we are all part of a puzzle, and of our responsibility to each other as part of one body. "God", he said, "has destined each one of you to be here. When He created you, he had October, 2007 in mind, and gave you the gifts you would need to serve humanity today."

My favorite part of the service came when he uttered the words: "If you want to continue being a professional church attender (benchwarmer), and have no intention of using your gifts for God, then you should stop coming. Get out of here!".

Service ended with Trevan calling those who where committed to action to partake of the bread on the table. We were to dip the bread in the oil, symbolizing our desire for the infusion of the Holy Spirit. That through the Spirit's power, we would truly be made one, and we would find God's plan for our lives as part of a grander puzzle.

It was a powerful experience, and definitely the kick in the pants I needed!

If you want to hear the sermon check out the Far West End SDA Church website. It probably won't be up for a couple weeks, but it is an important message.

Snapshot

Ok, so my life has been one big trip after another for the past couple weeks. I just wanted to give you a snapshot of what happened since September 26, then I will try to write a bit more about each trip, journey, whatever.

September 26 - October 1: Trevan and I went to Belize to celebrate my granny's 95th birthday, which turned out to be a huge family reunion.

October 7 - Morning of October 9: Was at a conference in Williamsburg for pastor's and their families.

October 8: my niece, Ainsley Rebecca Ng, was born.

The afternoon of October 9 - October 11: Went out to Sandy Point for a retreat with my job.

Yesterday: Trevan preached an amazing sermon at church.

Tomorrow: My 26th birthday.

Yes, I have been busy. More to come later!

Our Bedroom

Belatedly I realize that I have totally forgotten to show you the rest of our house. So without further delay, I present our bedroom....

BEFORE



On Moving Day


Trevan and I decided to buy an unfinished dresser so I could practice finishing furniture. So here is what it looked like before I stained it.



Here it is!




Trevan's mom made the valance, the bed post, the bed skirt, and the vision for the room. She is definitely worth hiring! :)

And here is the dresser! I did a great job, if I do say so myself.

So now you see the paradise we sleep in each night!

Up next, pictures of our bathroom and the guest bedroom.

Grandpa Osborn

The past couple weeks have been very busy in my life. At work I am currently working on a three-year development plan. In our personal lives we have suffered greatly over the past couple weeks with the passing of Grandpa Osborn. Trevan wrote a very posting about the life that his grandfather lived. Bellow is the posting.

The blog has been silent for a little while now because my Grandfather died on August 24 from Pneumonia. I was in Maryland with family for the week and we had a good time celebrating and remembering the wonderful memories we have from our time with him. Ron, my cousin, and I did the Eulogy and spoke about the four characteristics which defined his life and have profoundly influenced ours. We spoke about his:

1. Integrity

2. Fairness

3. Loyalty

4. Generosity

While we are saddened by the loss, it’s also a time of great joy and new life for our family. Two of the grandkids weren’t able to attend the memorial service because of pregnancy. Last Monday my cousin, Lorelie, had her second child, Rianna Beth Krussow. She weighed a whopping 10 pounds, 14 ounces. My sister, Heather, is due in early October with a baby girl.

It’s been a roller coaster ride for me this week as I’ve been confronted again by the tensions we all live with. I’ve been faced with death but also celebrated new life. There’s been intense sorrow followed by great joy. I’ve found that trusting in the one who is “the resurrection and the life” in the midst of these tensions is what brings me through.

Events leading up to our anniversary!

I have already related the story of our journey to MD to send off our friend Michelle to Korea. Just wanted to share the picture that we took at the restaurant at like midnight!

Have a great trip Michelle!

Happy Anniversary to ME! - Part One

Today we celebrated out three-year anniversary!

There are many events that led up to making this day very special!

On Sabbath we went to Maryland after church to attend the baby shower of Tommy and Andrea Norris. Tommy and Trevan grew up together and share a deep passion for sports, which has made them great friends over the years. It was really special to be able to share this important moment with them, even if we got there an hour before the shower ended (traffic into MD was terrible).

Following the baby shower, we went over to spend a couple hours with Grandma and Grandpa Osborn and were pleasantly surprised to find Trevan's aunt and uncle also there.

Later that night we left to go to a farewell party for our friend Michelle, who is going to Korea as a missionary for the next year. She has been a very good friend although she is a Republican! (inside joke).

We left MD at midnight and drove back home. It was thrilling trying to recapture our youth when we were able to stay up and drive all night! Got home around 3 Sunday morning.

Then on Sunday some of our friends stopped by to drop off an early anniversary gift...A brand new gas grill!!
It was raining that afternoon so we had to assemble the grill in our kitchen. We honestly cannot remember getting a better anniversary gift! Needless to say, I will be planning lots of summer gatherings at our house.

Thank you!

To be continued...

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall?

For that funny story connected to July 4th I promised you...

It was a wonderful surprise to have our friends Dan and Ayo call to tell us that they were in the Richmond area and would like to come by and see us for a couple hours on the 4th. We were thrilled to have them even for a short time.

They arrived while Trevan and I were putting the finishing touches on the bathroom for the guests that we would have a bit later.

One of these finishing touches was a huge mirror that was to go atop the vanity. Because it was just a flat mirror we decided to stick it with mounting tape. Unfortunately for us, the wall in the bathroom is terribly uneven, so we belatedly realized that the mirror was being supported by just a few pieces of tape, while most of the tape was not even hitting the wall...What brought about this realization?

Back up a few minutes...

Ayo: how do you like having your own house?
Shari: It is a lot of work, but very rewarding... blah, blah, blah

CRASH!!!!!

Shari: What was that?

We ran to the bathroom to find that the mirror had fallen and crashed to a million pieces. Frantically I got the broom and started sweeping up the shards of glass on the floor before our guest got there...doorbell rings...too late, they are already here!

Needless to say, we had a very crazy start to our first gathering at the house, but I am happy to announce that it all went well, no one got hurt in the incident, and Ayo got a very vivid answer to her question!

Pictures of the bathroom to follow!

Blog Interrrupted

There has been a million things that have happened to prevent me from blogging as frequently as I would like to. Bellow is a short recap of the past couple months.

1. In April I started a new job and continued renovations on the house.
2. In June I had to go to Dayton for a job-related conference, preparations for which kept me extremely busy.
3. Although I was hired as the development director for Initiatives of Change, I have also taken on the communications position until we hire someone, so, in essence I am doing the job of two people!
4. We finally had a bunch of visitors over to the house. The big project was the bathroom which took forever to finish. We had to remove wallpaper which was really awful. We finally finished it up and had the young adults over for July 4. We bought a grill and had a fun cookout with about 20 people. Funny story to come in regards to this particular event...
5. My parents came down on the 4th and stayed through Sabbath. Dad saved us at least $1500 by removing three huge tree stumps. Leo and Trevan did a bunch of raking and yardwork to get the yard looking decent and my mom and I replanted some basil and a palm tree.
6. That same Sabbath, Trevan's dad, grandma and grandpa, and aunt and uncle came down so we had a great day.
7. Last weekend our friends Andre and Heather stayed with us. Andre preached an excellent sermon on Sabbath, we had a great potluck with the young adults, and got to hang out.
8. Went to Busch Gardens on Sunday with the young adult group from church and had a blast. Trevan forced me to go on this new roller coaster named “Griffon.” There is a 205 foot, 90 degree drop that they stop the cars right over for a few seconds. You basically dangle there starring straight down wondering what brand of stupidity possessed you to get on in the first place! Survived that and plan on going again on August 19th. Want to join us?

This whole list is an excuse for why my blogging has been very sparse, at best. Hope to do better in the coming weeks!

Luray Caverns

This weekend was an extremely interesting experience for me. I joined Trevan up at SVA for the Potomac Conference campmeeting. We stayed in the boys dorm in separate beds and communal showers...

On Sabbath afternoon we got together with Deidra and Otis to have lunch and hang out for a couple hours before the evening program. Someone had the thought to go check out Luray Caverns and off we went.

It is always amazing to see the wonders this world has to offer. Can't wait to see what heaven will be like!

True Evangelism

In our quest to prove that our biblical beliefs are solid, we sometimes come across as unbending, irrational fools! Personally, I am very convicted on my love for Christ and my acceptance of His sacrifice for me. This leads me to be passionate about helping others see my point of view, but that does not necessarily make sense to others.

This article by Mike Lowe expresses very logically, I think, the basic barrier to proper evangelism. It is not our jobs to pound others with the truth, but to build bridges that they can cross as they find meaning in the lives we live, and more importantly, and they see we understand and care for them just as they are.

It's been a long time!

Wow, I really have dropped the ball with this whole blogging business. Sorry about that. I am back!

For over two months now I have been working for an international NGO based in Switzerland. The name of the organization is Initiatives of Change, formerly Moral Re-Armament. This organization seeks to engage people of all races, religions, economic backgrounds, and cultural backgrounds, in ways which build trust accross the world.

The US offices are based in Richmond, and they have worked most specifically with race issues in this area. They are very well known in the metro Richmond area for their ability to train leaders to build strong, integrated communities that value and embrace each others differences.

In Washington D.C., there is another office that is working very closely with Muslim/Christian dialogs. Thrying to get these two religions to understand, respect, and trust each other. No easy feat.

Although I have only been here a little while, it has been crazy and I am definitely working hard for my pay check! Next week we have a big forum in Dayton, Ohio, and we have all been working hard to pull all the speakers and activities together. If you are in that area you should check it out.

If you are like me, you have felt alone in your quest to change the world. Through this job I have found that there are thousands of people all over the world that feel the same way. Part of my job is to help those people find us, and others that are trying to make a difference and help them "plug-in" to the movement. Although there is a long way to go before the world is a better place, I have now learned that I am a better person for trying to change it, and that makes the world better!

He's Gone

I blame myself for Sanjaya being voted off the show. This time I only voted six times and hoped that America would do the rest. Oh well, so much for the musically challenged making it!

Fanjaya

After failed attempts at voting for American Idol contestants during the second season, I gave up trying. Really I gave up on the show completely... Still love Kelly and Carrie though!

This season, however, has drawn me back in with the arrival of unlikely Sanjaya Malakar. If you had never heard Sanjaya sing, but saw the little girl that cried during his performance, you would have assumed he was a wonderful singer. For those of you that have heard him sing, you are thinking "What is wrong with her?".

I remember laughing the morning after the show aired when I saw the report on the Today show. God definitely did not imbue Sanjaya with the gift of singing like an angel. He has a wimpy, shaky voice and should have never gotten to where he is.

Why then did I find myself voting for him MULTIPLE times after last week's show? Because God did not imbue me with any singing or musical abilities either. If you think about it you will see how cruel life can be for a pastor's wife that does not play the piano, sing, or, well has no musical ability. I have actually had people ask me, "So what do you do?".

So, for all of us that consider it quite cruel that some have the gift of music while others just pray in vain for divine voices, Sanjaya stands as an example that having a great personality (and girls crying while you perform) is worth much more than actual talent. In honor of his effort I have become a Fanjaya too! Either his effort or the desire to get back at people that consider you worthless if you can't sing.

Our Den!

I know you have been patiently anticipating pictures of our den, so here they are!

The previous owner was a model train enthusiast...This is what the room looked like before our move.
When we moved in we first had to remove the railing on the top of the room. Then remove the wallpaper trimming. Then Spackle, sand paper, wash the walls, and finally paint.
Then we had to put back together our impossible entertainment center and put back all our heavy equipment! See Trevan staining?

Finally, Mrs. Osborn came and helped us put the finishing touches on the room. Viola! Here is our den today. A modern retreat in which to entertain guests and a place for Trevan to work on his sermons and anything else he deems worthy of his time.
Thank you for your patience. Coming soon...pictures of our bedroom!

Currently working on our bathroom...