Once upon a time our two oldest children spoke only Chinese and it was really cute.  But ever since I taught my eldest to read, his Chinese speaking skills immediately began sinking.  Eventually it got harder and harder to keep up with Chinese, and now it’s practically non-existent in our house nowadays.  Sad, but true.

But the story doesn’t end there.  We are currently revisiting our Chinese language skills because after all, our kids are ethnically Chinese.  Their grandparents all speak Chinese.  I believe speaking another language other than English is beneficial, so at this juncture, we’re determined to drill more Chinese into our kids’ vocabularies.  Today was the new beginning where I started speaking Chinese to them.  English now takes the backseat.  So, how did the kids do?

When I told my four-year-old in Chinese to go pee, she froze and just stood there.  Her face said it all.  Completely dumbfounded, lost, and clueless.   She could tell I was giving her a command but she had no idea what I was asking her to do.  Finally, I repeated the command in English and immediately comprehension was in the air.

Later I told my three-year-old to get me her milk in Chinese, she returned quickly with a CD.   CD, milk, they’re all the same to her.  At least she obeyed my command of “go get. . . . ”

When I spoke to my five-year-old in Chinese, he just giggled.  It sounded funny to him.  He understood the language, but not having spoken to for such a long time, the language sounded funny to him.

My seven-year-old is the most adaptable since he had the most language exposure.  He was able to reply to me in Chinese.  Now, that made me happy.

So, we still have ways to go with the kids.  We are now transforming our household (back) into a Chinese speaking household to the best of our ability.   I’m looking forward to receiving my newest Chinese curriculum purchase.

Our “creative artist” five-year-old produced the following.  Spelled the words on his own, as you might perhaps guess.  Phonetically.  Enjoy.

Same kid who made this batch of “cherries”:

At least, that’s how many days it’s been since we posted on our blog.

What can we say?  We’ve been afflicted by summer, a development spurt from our now-7-month-old daughter, and a lack of inspiration for great blog entries.

Otherwise… I’ve been picking up a few books at the same time, as usual, two of which have been especially helpful.

When People Are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch is a book that looks into how all of us suffer to some degree from a fear of man, or desire for man’s acceptance; instead of a fear of God and desire to please Him alone.  Where I initially had some other folks in mind when I picked it up (don’t we all? =-p), it’s been helpful for me already to see areas where I succumb to looking to gain the acceptance of others instead of being “God’s man.” Things may get even better should I progress to chapter two and beyond…

The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges is a book I read through over a decade ago in a men’s study and prayer group.  It’s remarkable how time has changed my perspective on life, on God, and on obeying God.  So it’s with new eyes, of a sort, that I picked it up a couple of days ago to start reading it again.  And I was struck anew by his helpful thoughts on the importance of grace — and how easily we forget its necessity in every Christian’s life.   He sums it up well in the first chapter with this memorable quote: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.  And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

I’m hoping to redeem a good amount of my limited spare time this summer by stealing moments to read a book here and there.  Wifey is reading Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God, which I speed-read a few months ago and appreciated some of the key points within.  Lord willing, I may also get myself to pick up John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation as well, difficult though the prose is to work through at times.

So it seems our kids set the pace again.  Even as the local public library, various bookstores and restaurants are offering kids incentives to read; it appears we have our own opportunity to do some summer reading.

To close, some new (and old) photos of the kids in gratitude for your energies slogging through my prose:

Recently we vacationed in San Diego with another family, and it was a great time together.  Our oldest and their boy got along really well, and I just love the fact that they enjoyed playing with each other.  With the two of them similar in age, they had a blast being boys and having fun at the same time.

After a couple of days, however, both sets of parents realized that these two boys were so enjoying one another’s company that they inadvertently had begun to exclude their own siblings.  The others were feeling left out and hurt as a result.  We had a chat with both boys separately, encouraging them to include their respective siblings in their fun, which they did happily thereafter.

We live in a culture that values peer relationships because we naturally gravitate towards what’s comfortable and easy.  We are very careful in making sure that our children don’t fall prey to negative peer relationships.  However, I find that even positive peer relationships can have a negative effect.  Even though our oldest was having a great time with our friend’s son, we did not want him to neglect his other siblings nor to treat this friend with more importance than his siblings.  I noticed that the more time my boy spent with our friends’ son (of similar interest and age), the more he “forgot” about his siblings.  It became harder to extract him from any activity he was engaged in.

And yet… we were greatly encouraged as we saw both boys, after being guided by their parents, begin to gladly (not begrudgingly) and intentionally work hard to ensure that their siblings were as much a part of the fun as ever.  We know that they are very much glad for their brothers and sisters (though not without frequent reminders from us).  So it gave us great joy to see these two boys not only cultivate their friendship, but to do so in an inclusive fashion.  They went from being self-centered in their fun (albeit with another self) to being other-centered, which is the heart of Christian living (“Love your neighbor as yourself”).  They thus managed not only to forge new bonds, but to strengthen the ones within their own respective families that will in all likelihood be there for their entire lives.

No doubt, in the coming years, we will face new challenges in keeping our family tight-knit.  Not only children, but parents can also lose sight of the priority of family.  Strengthening family relationships, esp. sibling relationships, takes work.  We hope that God gives us much wisdom, so that when our kids read their Bibles, and see how the New Testament refers to fellow Christians as “brothers” and “sisters,” it means much more than a distant or forced relation, but instead a very loving, lasting, and meaningful one.  And when they think of who their best friends are, their very own siblings are on the top of the list.