Live Out Loud - Adventures of a mom

It's the time of the year for a Yearly Newsletter again!  Our year has been filled with ups and downs, but God's grace and love never fails and we are thankful for all He has done and continues to do for us.  We are thankful for each one of you and pray that you may know how vast God's love for you is! Merry Christmas! Click here to gain access to the newsletter. You will have to answer a question

Are you a good listener? I mean, do you REALLY know what the other person is really telling you when they talk to you ?  Are you able to read "in between the lines"? I learned that I have a long way to go in the life lesson of being a person that LISTENS well and effectively this week. The kids had been practicing a song that they were going to share with our church congregation on Sunday but a couple of weeks ago one of my kids' teachers told me one of them didn't want to sing and was grumpy during rehearsals. BEFORE listening to my kids' version, I jumped into conclusions. After all, I told myself, this isn't the first time my kid didn't like to sing. I didn't even bother letting my kid talk.   I just jumped straight to "You know you should be singing, right?  ...... " The poor kid answered:  "It is embarrassing" Again, t his isn't the first time  my kid had said this. Have you ever felt disappoin

Lately I have faced sad news about people close and far who have passed suddenly (hit and run), who have received devastating news of diseases, who are fighting mental health issues and much much more. As I ponder over all these, I find myself going back to thoughts of my life when my family was going through life-and-death situations. And am wondering and asking God... what do I need to hear today from you? As a leader in the church I serve, I asked the Lord... what do I need to know, hear, do as your servant? My heart is heavy.  My thoughts go to not just the people who have battling for life, the Lord takes me to people in my church who, as witnesses and bystandards, are asking God the proverbial question: WHY GOD?  WHY? And as it often happens, the burden and heaviness turns into literal physical tiredness.  By 7 PM I told my husband I wanted to go to bed. I woke at 2AM last night, suddenly.  And I knew.   It was time for a CHAT with God. When we go through these si

I still remember those years in Peru.  My youth group's leaders would take us, often on a bus (an adventure in itself for a middle class Chinese Peruvian like me), to a different part of town, often a part of town that was less familiar to me, to go and 'visit' people. I was young.  Maybe 12?  Maybe 13?   What did I know then? But we would go to visit Mr and Mrs Wong, the shoe store owners.  We would visit Mr Chao, the hardward store owner.  We would visit Mrs Mok, in the local market....and the many Mr or Mrs Lees or Chans, or people I cannot even remember any more But there was one particular visit I remember vividly.  After some inquiring this week, I remember now her name.  Her name was Paulina...and all I could remember was that our group went to visit her.  We were told she had a handicap but I didn't ask for more information.  I remember the entrance to her home being a narrow steel door.  We rang the bell and the door would open.  A long and narrow stair

Everything changes in the blink of an eye.  I had started writing this yesterday with this sentence:  "Things are much better now".  Little did I know that in less than 12 hrs after writing that, the pain in the foot would come back. The second week of this 'foot journey' marked the beginning of an emotional and, as of yesterday, a spiritual fight.  I told myself before the surgery that I would not allow myself to be depressed.  That I would find things to do.  That I would call on people.  That I would distract myself. Now I am in the house.  The kids are at school.  Husband at work.   It's just me, my thoughts, my feet and my God. And I am finding myself surrounded with emotions I cannot express in words .  Yeah, me, Sandy, cannot really express to you what is really going on inside of me. This week has been filled with what I am calling, emotional "moments" I "know" what I need to do but there are "moments" when I