Merry Christmas

I had a thought as I awoke this Christmas morning: 'I wonder how God feels today?'

'I wonder if He's as happy as I am that it's Christmas today?'

'I wonder if He's overjoyed to see me excited about heading to church, celebrating with family, and eating a giant meal?'

'I would think He's happy for me to have these blessings. But I wonder how He really feels?'

I wonder how He feels on the day the whole world should know the real reason they are celebrating, but only a select few understand that Christmas isn't just about gifts but about the Giver himself.

I wonder how He feels on the day we celebrate with family He remembers how it cost Him to have us IN His family - yet most of us could care less about having a relationship with Him.

I wonder what it took God to come from heaven to earth, a palace to a manger. How did he feel? Was He broken for the circumstances He chose to begin with? Or would he be more tornat the circumstances for which his story would end - at the cross with Himself broken and rejected by men?

What was it like for Christ to be in one moment in the perfect warmth and fellowship of the Trinity and the next to be an innocent and incapacitated baby? What was it like to one moment be holding Creation in your hands and being held the next? What was it like to relinquish all that power and truly become nothing.

I wonder how it is for God.

Somehow I know that God says in His word it was worth it and that blows my mind. It was worth it for Him to rescue His elect, to be misunderstood and rejected by the world, and to give up His rights for the sake of His beloved.

Somehow it was worth it to God.

Cardboard iPhone dock

Finally got around to finishing it a few weeks ago.

See you later, Sandy

The last two days have just crept up on us. When Sandy told us in the summer that she was going to move back to Vancouver, we just scoffed it off as something that would happen later. Now that later has come. Today we saw her off at the airport. What a whirlwind of emotions.

Yesterday happened to be Sandy's birthday so we went over to Ma Wan to celebrate with her. I had brought our dog's ashes back from Canada this summer and I thought it would be a great way for our family to bury the past and start a new chapter of our lives together. It was so fun to recall some fond memories of Momo together. Highlight of the sharing was dad starting off by saying, "I have such good memories of Momo when we were living at Elwell Street." Hahaha we didn't have Momo when we lived there.

After dinner, we came home to have cake and give Sandy her present. She was so ecstatic to get an instant camera for her birthday. Hope she'll put it to good use.

Mom got this brilliant idea to do a remake of a family portrait we took almost 20 years ago. I didn't have a bow tie, so we just tied a handkerchief together. Can't believe how quickly time has flown by.

Today we went to the airport to send Sandy off. I kept asking her how she felt and she only responded by telling us to clean up certain parts of the house and what we needed to do for her. I could tell she was really excited to leave. It was almost appropriate that she felt this way because maybe it would have been more sombre any other way. It made us so happy to see her to excited to begin this new chapter of her life with Glen in Vancouver. We know that the Lord will continue to watch over her and lead her on.

I can't begin to process what this means for our family. For 32 years, all my parents have known is to take care of this daughter of theirs and now she is leaving home. For all of my existence, I've only known to protect my sister and watch out for her. It's strange to know we won't be in the same city and we won't be able to see her so easily. But we are excited for what this means now too. In an unexpected sort of way, we all start a new chapter of our lives with redefined relationships.

God is so good. It takes His perfect planning to craft such an intricate break on such a happy note. I'm so grateful because I never thought the last month with my sister and parents could have been so peaceful and joyful. I never imagined Sandy would ever leave, and for her to go on such good terms is just so wonderful.

See you later Sandy! We all love you and support you!