Tim Turns Forty Eight

Tim reaches another milestone! God is good - good to my husband, good to me, good to my family - for every blessing that God gives him the whole family benefits in turn. Every birthday is a milestone - a reminder to recount the blessings of the past providing more courage and confidence to face the next one. The past reminds us of the grace of God that sustained us along the way.

Every year is different and we adjust to the changing dynamics of our family and our situation in general.  When Shannon went to college our tradition  to have all children on every birthday celebration changed.  While Brahms is still in Davis (45-minute drive from home) this year, he will be finishing up his degree next summer and he will also move on.  There is a possibility that he will be in a different continent by this time next year.  Does that mean that we will be celebrating with only one child at home?  Maybe.  But until we get there we do not know what the Lord will bring.  In the meantime we are grateful for every blessing and grace that we experience.

His birthday this year was a full busy day.  We started early with his requested breakfast - a tradition in our family to request your choice of meal for the whole day of your birthday.  I posted the following summary on Facebook today.  

1. After I greeted him happy birthday in the morning I asked how old he is.  He said. Forty eight.  I am not old.  God is old!"  So he pulled out an old CD and we listened to the song, "Old" by Paul Simon.  What an appropriate song!

2. He spent three hours alone while I attended a class in art.  I told him to reflect on his life but he said no. He went instead to discover new things that he wished he knew before.  Also he bought some games he wanted to play with us.

3.  Miriam said, "Daddy if you got one Pokemon every year you would have Rhydon by now! And that is cool!"

4.   We hiked the beautiful Avery Pond Trail after a lunch date at the cozy Farmhaus. We talked about the relationship between getting old and the mind that drives mobility.  We that as age, it is important to train our minds so that it will be

5. Had a fun dinner with two of our kids - the traditional dinner of course with a different dessert. Played Dominos and Mad Libs together including our Shannon through Skype. It was actually very fun! Thank God for technology!

6. And before the night was over, I whispered to him, "I like to think that when God formed you He had me in mind." :)

7. God is good!

Together we will face the future with humility instead of fear because we know the Lord God is always there with us.  

Change in the Menu

Every year since we got married, Tim has requested the same menu for his birthday dinner.  And every year, he enjoys every thing in it as he did the first time I was at his birthday dinner - as prepared by his mom on the first year of our marriage.  Our children know and have learned to love their father's birthday dinner.  I like it because I don't have to think every year.  I know exactly what to buy, when to start the process and it is very easy.  The same thing is served either it is only the family or when we invite people over for his birthday for a bigger get-together.  But this year is different.  He wants to change the dessert portion of the menu.

Few days ago as he was talking to Brahms on the phone and he mentioned that it will be Angel Food Cake instead of have German Chocolate Cake.  Brahms' response was, "Who are you?  and what did you do to my father?"  :)  Miriam is fine with the change but I am not sure what Shannon thinks about it.  Maybe the fact that she won't be here to experience the difference - she won't care.  I'm guessing she'll say, "It's his birthday.  He can choose whatever he wants."

I think a change from a German dessert to a more heavenly alternative is in order!  

Tim Speaks at Church Again

Just for the record, Tim preached yesterday because our pastor was on vacation with his wife celebrating their anniversary.  Based Luke 9:37-50, he came up with a topic entitled “Avoiding the Epic Fail”.  He talked about the deeper roots of man’s (especially Jesus’ followers) failures and the simple yet requiring life-change ways to avoid them.  Basically, his message says that if your goal in life is to glorify yourself then you are bound to fail.  And on the flip side - if your life is marked with desires to glorify God then you are in for an epic success.

How easily we all get blinded by personal glory.  No one is exempt.  We are all in a fierce pursuit of glory and position. As I sat and listen to him I realized that even being a parent of young children involved such ambitions.  It reminds me how I took so much pride when people complemented me and my husband for having good-mannered children.  But now I can look back on those days and say it was purely by grace.

Anyway, Tim did well using illustrations and analogies that are computer programming related.  He is better off using those illustrations because he's an expert in that department and who else sees better parallels?  The one that demonstrated this sermon clearly was "priority inversion".  It is a type of bug in programming and it parallels well with an important bug that infects spiritual life.  

First Trip of 2016 - Portland

January 4, 2016  Miriam and I traveled with Tim to Portland.  One of those trips when he is doing business while kid/s and I are on pleasure trip.  It was convenient because Miriam was still on her long winter break.  We were pleasantly surprised to see snow. It was different visiting Powell's Bookstore when everything around is slushy snow.  We also got to visit Multnohah Falls right before we headed to to airport.



During this trip we also swung by Salem to visit Daniel and Becky Gossard.  Becky was expecting their third child who, at that tie time was overdue.  They were gracious, they served us dinner.  The girls, Eden and Alex are very cute girls.  Interacting with them for a couple of hours brought memories of the time when Shannon and Brahms were that age.  Eden seems quiet and mellow while Alex is more sociable and adventurous.  It will be interesting to see if they maintain their personalities as they mature.

It was also good to see Paul and Pam who were in Salem when we visited there. We were not surprised because Becky was supposed to be giving birth  around that time.  Overall, it was a very nice time to catch up with the family.

And yes, Tim was able to accomplish what he planned to do in relation to his work - the very reason why we traveled to Portland in the first place.  :)

Picture of Kindness

Tim is the most kind person I know. Why am I saying this?  It's because I took this picture as he was passing by and it turned out beautifully!  It reminds me of how kind he is to me. That is who he is all the time but this picture reflects that.  What a favored woman I am to have him. (Thank God!) Even after twenty five years, I still wonder how I got so blessed. 

He is very aware of what I think.  As I often tell him, "You are very nice to me... (long pause) except when you're not very nice to me."  This phrase is safe and useful because it covers not only the beautiful moments but even those those uncommon times when (you know) husband and wife forget that they are husband and wife and they act like enemies. It makes him laugh when I say it to him because I speak in a staggered fashion so that he gets a few seconds to savor the first part of the statement and then he's brought back down to earth with the second part.  Now whenever I complement him, he holds his breath and waits to see if my sentence has ended or not.  It has become a joke between us.  In fact he has used the same complement including the leveling second part on me. :)

It is so unconventional that Jesus would use the relationship of a husband and wife to describe His love for the church.  But the more I spend time with Tim the more I understand my position in Christ. I know how much my husband loves me, everything around the house reminds me of that - the coffee maker, our bed, the couch, the table we eat our meals at, the stove where we both prepare food and many more.  They are there as reminders of that kindness that he is to me.  And even then, as we get older the more consciously I consider his thoughts before I do a certain thing.  I would have thought that it is the other way around.  But knowing my husband more makes me more aware of what works to experience joy and peace.

The question then is, if Tim was to take a picture of me what would he see?  If God was to take a snap shot of my life, what would that picture show?  

Pictures speak louder than words, so they say.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

My true love bought me a pair of pearl earrings from Costco today.  This is not like the usual surprise gift -  he asked me to choose and I did.  Today we stopped by the store to get them.  What a great ending to our lunch date at Rubio's where we both had Blackened Mahi-mahi Burritos.  I'm not so sure whether mahi-mahi is a fresh-water fish but I see that we had an aquatic theme for the day. 

Pearls are beautiful...and my true love is such a thoughtful man.

Then and Now

All credit goes to God who is the designer and source of everything!  We continually thank the Lord for all He has been doing in our lives.  God is good, all the time!

Landed At Last

Twenty one days after he left his former company, Tim travels to Taipei for the first time as an employee of Insyde.  It appears that the order of the day is meeting people and learning about the  this company he now works for.

We thank God for the grace and peace He has provided. The Lord is good to us and we will praise Him always.

A New Season is About to Begin

Under heaven, everything will change.  Change is sometimes dreaded because it is inflicted upon us by external forces.  On the other hand, it can come upon us as a result of slow internal processes guided by our thoughts, priorities, and aspirations. Either way, when one change happens, hundreds or even thousand other changes will come along.   And the required adjustment can be overwhelming or invigorating.  I've written some of my thoughts about this in my other blog (When Climate Changes).

Our family is undergoing changes - positive changes.  These are exciting days but our faith is being put to the test. Right now, we are constantly reminded of the Giver of all that we have and hope for.  It is tempting to use the things we see and hear as parameters for determining things that ought to be good or not.  And yet the ways of the Almighty God are beyond our comprehension.  I would prefer that our thoughts and actions be guided by the Spirit because in God alone do I trust.

Tim is getting a new job.  He has been working for Phoenix Technologies (a leading BIOS company) as Chief BIOS Architect for sixteen years and enjoyed it.  At one point I called his job as a hobby-job because he loves programming - he writes codes for fun. He considered himself as an idea hamster - producing patentable ideas.  He has at least eight US Patents in his name.  As a family, we enjoyed and appreciated the financial rewards and stability that it offered.  At the time when some employees were being laid off for one reason or another, he was being offered retention bonuses in order to remain.  His services are valued - no doubt about that.  When we moved to El Dorado Hills he worked at the Intel facility in Folsom on a Phoenix/Intel collaborative project.  When the project was done, he was allowed to work from home which is priceless for our then growing family.  Tim is a very loyal sort of guy but his personal aspirations drive him to take a big stride now to welcome change. 

 So far, Tim has accepted a new job offer, resigned from his current job and has two weeks to transition away.  This is a bitter-sweet moment in his career.  But just like the birth of a baby, the labor pains to bring forth an unknown and unseen child pales in comparison to the hope of launching a new life that will soon grow for us to enjoy.

God is good to us! 

Speaker at IDF

Tim acknowledges that God is the source of all his great ideas.

As in previous years, Tim was invited to speak at the IDF 2011 in San Francisco this year. He will be presenting with Vincent Zimmer on UEFI - both guys are world-experts on this technology.
Although the conference won't start till tomorrow, Tim had to leave today for technical rehearsal and set-up of his equipment.

Shannon, our daughter who is working as his intern, was a great help.  Unfortunately (for Tim) she will soon go to college to study computer game science.  :)

American River

The American River

Sometimes I wonder how the American River got its name.  Of all the rivers in the country, how come this river was named American River?  Could it be because gold was first discovered by James Marshall on this river?  The promise of more gold  brought people from all over the world to California to pursue the "American (River) Dream" known as the Gold Rush.  But I really do not know the origin of the river's name.

 

First Bridge

There are trails on both sides of the river - biking, hiking and even horse-riding trails.  Every once in a while Tim and I would shift from our normal "home-to-coffee shop walks" to driving to Old Folsom and then walking along the river.  Miriam was on vacation last week so we brought her with us. 

 

Second Bridge

 

Third Bridge

 

Resting

Tim's Other Job

Tim wears an apron on top of his Phoenix Technologies shirt.

 Every Friday Tim takes and early lunch break to go help at the Senior Center.  The Senior Center is place where elderly people in the community can go when the house feels lonely.  One of the things that the Senior Center offers is food service.  A senior person can eat all their meals there if they want to for a very minimal price.  This is the area where Tim volunteers to work.

A fulfilled life does not only focus on ones desires but also on helping others.   The Senior Center relies on volunteers' help to cut cost.  This in turn would allow the elderly to eat inexpensively.  Tim takes a couple of hours from programming or debugging codes in order to help plate meals and wash dishes.   He also gets a chance to talk with the old folks while he eats lunch with them.  This part is not very long because like a real laborer, he's got some work to do in the kitchen.  :)

Tim learns to use a commercial-grade dishwasher. 

This job makes Tim happy.  Every time he comes home from this volunteer job, his face is all red and sweaty from the steam in the kitchen but he is smiling. He takes of his hat and goes back to his job as a BIOS Architect for Phoenix Technologies.

 

Tim posing with Yvonne, the Director of the Senior Center.

"From now on, any definition of a successful life must include serving others."   ~  George Bush