HEART Family 5 Blogspot

Henry & Alice's Year in Review

2011-12-15T22:56:00.000-08:00

At Travelers Agent Conference in San Francisco

In April, Alice and Henry went to an event, sponsored by Travelers Insurance Company, in San Francisco where they stayed at The Fairmont on Nob Hill. They had a great time, after the business sessions were over, taking complimentary a cooking class and a bus tour to Sonoma County for wine tasting. To end the event, they were surprised to be entertained by the legendary Tony Bennett.

Immediately afterwards, they had to flew back, grab the family and drive down to San Diego for Spring Break. Together with Kitty and Ma, they visited San Diego Wild Animal Park as well as taking Erin to check out the local colleges, UCSD, Pt.Loma Nazarene and UCI. Yes, it's time for Erin to visit colleges. And a sobering evaluation time for mommy and daddy's college savings fund!

Alice, Lucy, Hada, Patricia

Cute gardener!

This year, Alice began power walking with a group of friends, all moms, from Westwood Charter Elementary School. It's great that they stayed in touch even though all the kids are spread throughout 4 different schools now. They encourage one another to stay and healthy. Good job, ladies! From YouTube, Alice also learned to trim the bonzai tree after Mr. Bob Tamada retired after age 90+. Mr. Tamada would be so proud of you, Alice!

This summer, Henry & Alice were invited to go to Alaska with the Kou Family, Jennifer, Nelson, Kevin and Samuel. It was Henry's dream trip. No, they did not go on a CRUISE. They flew to Anchorage, rented 2 SUVs for 10 days driving north to Denali (Mt.McKinley) and south to Homer and Seward. In Homer, Henry and Nelson went fishing for halibut (1/2 day) and salmon (1/2 day.) Henry can now check off "Alaska" from his fishing bucket list. The families all enjoyed the wildlife, sea life, wonders and beauty of Alaska. There were many highlights including the food, the Marine wildlife and glacier cruise and more. If you are interested in seeing more of our Alaska trip, Henry put together a music video of the highlights of our trip. CLICK HERE.

Ashland House -work in progress

As for the Ashland house, the final plans should be submitting to the City of Santa Monica by the time your read this. They should be getting the permits soon, starting the bid process and groundbreaking in a month or two. Hopefully, they finish the house and invite you to come over by early 2013. The irony is that Erin will have graduated from SAMOHI (Santa Monica HS) by then.

Early this year, Ryan and Henry, along with some church friends, rode the VW City of Angels bike tour together. It was 38 miles around key areas of Los Angeles. It's a great ride because everyone rides together through major city streets with the LAPD making rolling traffic stops at every intersection. Ryan did great. He finished strong, all by himself.

Also this year, Henry tortured himself, but successfully completed the RAT Beach Bike Ride (68 miles.) The ride started at Redondo (Right After Torrance), up to Marina Del Rey, down past Westchester and LAX to Gardena, up through Rancho Palos Verdes, down to San Pedro and up and around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and back to Redondo Beach. It took him nearly 5.5 hours. The smell of the double-double In-N-Out burger at the finish line kept him going. Although he was not the fastest, nor the fittest and finished near the end of the pack, finishing the ride was a moral victory for him considering his 2008 accident. Thanks to church friend friend Hoover Liao and his company, Pureness Vinegar, they had company-sponsored team ride. After the ride, I'm sure they all smelled like vinegar.

Henry & Alice are thankful for Erin and Ryan most of all. Although sometimes they want to strangle them, they are great kids and they are both so proud of them! Please read Erin and Ryan's Year in Review. This year, Erin finish her CM (piano certificate of merit) Level 10 and should be getting her drivers permit this winter break. She started a musical duet called TwoSimpleEG (EG for Erin and George) and have posted 5 music videos on YouTube. It's for fun. For Ryan, we are thankful that he is growing big and strong and getting his black belt this Friday, Dec.16th. He is growing and maturing right before our eyes. In January 2011, he also posted a YouTube video call "Protect the President." It's slightly different from what Erin posts. Enjoy. Wow, this new generation is amazing.

SCROLL DOWN to read Erin's and Ryan's blogs.

Teaching Ryan to tie a tie.

Henry enjoys his job and career at New Century Insurance Services. He enjoys training and mentoring young adults and new producers on their career path. God is faithful. Despite the economy, the agency continues to grow. Alice continues to taxi Erin and Ryan back in forth in her beloved silver Prius. On our spare time, Henry and Alice continue to serve at HarvestLA (EFC Los Angeles) as Media Elder and small group leaders. Henry loves playing Rocksmith on the Xbox360 with his real guitar. He says he is "taking electric guitar lessons." He also enjoys being a dad, like giving advice to Erin about boys and teaching his son how to tie a tie.

Ryan, Kitty, Erin

"Did you say 'SNACK'?"

Overall for 2011, we are thankful to God that everyone in our family is healthy, especially Ryan due to his past illness with gastritis. Henry's nose and ear is all healed. He had surgery in Nov. 2010 to repair his broken nose. Click here (and scroll to the bottom) to see his before and after pics. There goes Henry's modeling career. Angel is still healthy and cute. All thanks to God.

Alice's mom turned 90 this year. Last month Kitty escorted Ma back to China. They booked a very nice hotel+flight+tour package. Ma amazingly climbed the Great Wall and visited many other sites. My agency's Senior Partner, Simon and his wife Rae, joined the same tour package and were amazed my Ma's strength and stamina. She is doing great for her advanced years. We're glad that she got a chance to visit her 2 older brothers in China.

Thanksgiving dinner, family and friends

Dad and Chun-Mei are doing fine. They've been serving together and very active in their church fellowship. Dad is trying to get Chun-Mei to drive. We'll see who gets their drivers license first: Chun-Mei or Erin.

Pictured here is our Thanksgiving dinner together. Henry deep-fried the turkey this year for the first time, but overcooked it. Oops. The 2nd time, on Saturday, was the charm: He deep-fried a 20 lb. turkey to perfection. Yummy.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thanks for reading our electronic newsletter and God bless you in 2012.

Erin's Year in Review

2011-12-15T21:45:00.000-08:00

It’s a little ridiculous how quickly years go by. I find myself at sixteen years old, a junior in high school, and half-awake everyday. 2011 has been very satisfying, as well as tiring. Apart from the stressful start of junior year and the end of my social life, I’ve been able to experience new things and visit new places. The family vacation destination this year was Alaska. To be honest, I probably wasn’t the most excited person when I found out, but as the trip began and eventually ended, I ended up having a heck of a time. The blue glaciers and the moose are sights that I’ll never forget. Hahaha. I also got to go to Page, Arizona for Navajo missions for the fourth year in a row over the summer. The team and I spent the week teaching VBS and giving piggyback rides to adorable Navajo children. Watching God work through my team members and the children was truly a blessing to see. Junior year, as expected is exhausting, stressful, depressing, and all around bad, but somehow God has given me a decent amount of sleep and a strong group of friends to survive on. I’ve started a Youtube channel with my good friend George and together, we have had over 4,000 views. We also played at The Hill, an Asian American Christian conference where we served as outdoor entertainment. I currently have tendonitis in my wrist and cannot play tennis, type, play piano, or even text for a few months which makes it difficult to get through the day. I know everything has been out of order, but I forgot to mention that I finished my Certificate of Merit and is now done with piano forever!!!! Haha just kidding. If I could, I would be playing a few festivals here and there, but unfortunately tendonitis has stopped all activites. Yay! I’ve also decided to volunteer at Saint John’s hospital in the post partum unit. I make baby bracelets and give the new mommies juice. It's a very satisfying job. Uhm… I’m not really sure what else to write and this has kind of turned into a brag session… so I shall now list a few things that I like.

I like:

-passion fruit green tea with boba

-sleeping in

-babysitting

-frozen yogurt

-Criminal Minds

-Mario Kart

-“Indie Alternative” music

-brunch

-food in general….

TwoSimpleEG
See more of my videos at TwoSimpleEG

I apologize for this poorly written entry.... thank you for taking the time to read this (: Until next year!

Ryan's Year in Review

2011-12-15T21:26:00.000-08:00

2011 has been an amazing year for me. My highlights for 2011 are being promoted from first class to staring my boy scouts of America program, having a vacation in Alaska and getting my black belt. This year has ben a fun and interesting year for me. I cannot wait for what other plan 2012 unravels for me.

Near the beginning of the year I was promoted form being a first class scout to a star scout in boy scouting. This took me a good 6 to 7 months to accomplish. Because of this I only have to achieve one more rank till my eagle. Although I was put back a few months because of my sickness last year, I tried my hardest to get this rank and to catch up with my friends. This rank has been a highlight for this year because my sickness had put me back yet I was still able to catch up with my friends.

Fishing in Seward, Alaska

Another highlight for this year was going to Alaska in the summer. I had never been there and was very excited. We went to many places there and only go to stay in the hotel for a maximum of 2 days. We flew in from Los Angeles to Anchorage and drove to Denali national park. We stayed there for three days and took an amazing plane tour around Mt.McKinley. We also went on a bus that was most likely the worst tour that ive ever been on. After the Denali our family went to Homer where we stayed there for 2 days. My dad caught fresh halibut and salmon for our families. After that we drove all the way to Seward where we stayed there for three days. We had about three hikes to go see glaciers that were scattered all around Seward. Exhausted (or at least I was) our family drove all the way back to anchorage where we spent one day as a city tourist. Only a day passed as we got on our red eye plane back to Los Angeles. That trip was one of the best trips I had in my entire life.

My final highlight of this year was getting my black belt. This was one of my first real accomplishments of my life. I had been training since I was four years old and now I had finally got it, my black belt. After getting my black belt certificate I felt very prestigious and felt as if my first long term goal had finally finished, but I knew that the black belt was only the beginning. I had so much help from not only my instructors, but my parents also. My mother and father had pushed me ever since I was four. Without them I would have quit for good along time ago. I also thank my dad for making a video of my journey to black belt. Enjoy, the video below that my dad made. And that about wraps up my year.

My concluding feeling for my year have been very good. I have accomplished many of my long term goals. I have felt that this year had not been my favorite year but definitely on my top 3. I hope that 2012 will be a lot better but not worse.

-RYAN TING

City of Angels Ride, 34 miles.

Dad taught me how to tie a tie.

Shooting with Uncle Jean. AWESOME firepower!

Alaska 2011

2011-08-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

We took our dream vacation (Henry's dream vacation) to Alaska this summer. No, we did not take a cruise. Instead, our 2 families flew to Anchorage, rented 2 SUV's for 10 days and drove from Anchorage to Denali NP to Homer and Seward and back to Anchorage. It was fabulous trip.

We saw Mt.McKinley in all it's splendor and majesty. We saw moose, caribou, dahl sheep, a blonde grizzly bear, eagles, foxes and more. We came up close with glaciers, whales, puffins, sea lions and more. Henry went halibut and salmon fishing and he caught a 35 lb halibut in Kachemak Bay in Homer.

Our two families had a wonderful time and rented nice vacation homes in both Homer and Seward. We all gained 5 lbs.each because of the fabulous food Alaska has to offer: seafood, sandwiches, steaks. All expensive, but fresh and tasty. The Alaskans were all very friendly and personable.

We took nearly 1,100 photos from 3 separate cameras. Henry made an 18 minute music video of our trip, but it was too big to post on YouTube or this blogspot. Therefore, I split it into 2 separate videos. I hope you enjoy the photos, video and music.

Part 1: Days 1-5.

Part 2: Days 6-10.

Henry & Alice's Year in Review

2010-12-13T23:18:00.000-08:00


Vegas Spring Break


Vegas Spring Break - Beatles show

Dad got remarried.
Henry went to Taiwan in March 2010 to attend the EFC General Assembly annual meeting. Experienced the earthquake in Kaoshiung, Taiwan.
Visited Vegas during Spring Break. We loved Beatles' LOVE.
Ryan got Gastritus in May and lasted 3-4 months. Missed 6 weeks of school. Lost 10 lbs. This was a real test of our faith. Yet God restored Ryan and he is healthier and stronger than ever. Praise God!
July 7, 2010 Dodger game. Ryan regains his appetite and able to hold down food.
Erin returns Arizona for Navajo VBS Missions.
Seattle, Bellevue, Olympic NP. Visited Auntie Mei-Hwa and cousins Becky & Mark, and Albert& Charlene.
VHS (Venice High School) 30th Reunion. Photo of Henry from June 1980.
BBQ for my rescuers, Fidel, Conner & Ryan. Read about my accident in 2008.
EFC 40th Anniversary.
Henry's nose surgery, 11/1/10.


Dodger games & Dodger Dogs

Ryan's Baptism, 12/19/10.

My heroes: Ryan, Fidel & Conner

Before Surgery(after '08 accident)

After Surgery.

Erin's 2010 Year in Review

2010-12-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

My name is Erin Ting, I’m a 15 year old sophomore at Santa Monica high school and 2010 was yet another pretty amazing year. I honestly can’t believe how fast it all went by. Just yesterday I swore I was celebrating the start of the new year on the snowy peaks of Pine Summit, the place where my church’s winter retreat is held. And just a few weeks ago I was celebrating my survival of freshman year at SAMOhi. Flash forward to now. The year is ending and here I am to ramble my thoughts down on this blog.
Rialto Beach, Olympic Nat.Park, Washington
I guess the year started off on a retreat up in the snowcapped mountains and shortly after, a long drive home curled up in the back of my parents car. I guess you could say that I started this year off pretty badly. I had gotten sick during the retreat and had to leave early so I could rest. The healing process was short and I was back up and energized for the rest of the year.

Summer came quickly signaled the end of my first year in high school. I ended the semester with solid friendships, a good dose of God in my life, and a smile on my face. I was going to take summer school over the break to avoid having to get up early during next semester. World history wasn’t half bad and my teacher made class fun and exciting. The six week course ended quickly and soon, I was off to my summer missions trip in Page, Arizona. It was my 3^rd trip to the Navajo reservation where we’d teach VBS and play with the kids for a week. Having a bigger team let me slow down and really look at what I was doing there, but before I knew it, the week was over and we were heading back to LA.
Sophomore year started with a… roll. Not necessarily a Bang!, but a nice steady roll. That gets us to now, where I’m juggling friends, God, and school work. Sometimes in the right order, but most of the time not. I’m probably going to start studying for a driver permit and Christmas is right around the corner. Although I’m not feeling all that festive yet, I wish you all a happy holidays and a fantastic new year.

Ryan's Year in Review

2010-12-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Seattle/Bellevue, WA with cousins


Rialto Beach, Olympic NP, Washington


Pool shark. Vegas Spring Break

Ryan turns 12 Y.O.
Gastritus
Dodger game
Seattle/Olympic NP Summer Trip
Henry's Accident Memorial BBQ
TKD Red II Testing
Baptism

My friends and I who saved my dad from drowning

Dodger Game - No more gastritus!

Favorite Video Games

Hi my name is Ryan Ting and i an 12 year old seventh grader at paul revere middle school. Unfortunately i had a bad case of gastritis for 3 and a half months. because of this, i had to skip 2 months of school. On the other hand i got to sit only a few seats away from the field. we could actually see the players without the binoculars! . We also went to seattle where we got eat at the space needle. you could se the planes passing without looking up.. after our city tour we went into the rain forest where we slept in cabins and had a bus tour. when we got off we went on a hike and found banana slugs. they were about 5 inches long.

Dad & Chun-Mei

2010-12-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Dad got remarried on Dec.26, 2009. He was introduced to Chun-Mei through Pastor Wu who encouraged him to remarry as soon as possible to begin to live again. Chun-Mei was a pastor of a small church in Taiwan. During their overseas courtship, Dad and Chun-mei would talk to each other via Skype almost an hour everyday. He finally convinced her, a widow for over 25 years, to marry him. They were engaged in Taiwan in late August 2009 and married several months later at EFC Los Angeles.

Although I am happy for him to remarry and find a woman who'll love him, cherish him and care for him, I wish he could've waited longer for the rest of the family to grieve. I still miss Mom deeply. He renovated the Sunset Park house for Chun-Mei, yet they still continue to rent the spare bedrooms out to college students. The rent they collect goes directly to Taiwan Missions. They both serve fervently together at church and through their cell group bible studies.

Chun-Mei has 2 grown, married children and 4 beautiful grandchildren, all living in Taiwan. For 2011, Chun-Mei hopes to learn to drive and speak English.

Highlights for 2009 / Christmas Newsletter - HomePage

2009-12-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the HEART Family 2009 Christmas newsletter. Thank you for visiting our site.

SUMMARY of Key Events of 2009 (not in chronological order)

Erin gets baptized
Purchase of new "old" house in Santa Monica.
Henry rehabs and returns back to work.
Family vacation to Mazatlan, Mexico.
Erin performs in Beauty & The Beast school play.
Ryan's mysterious illness forces him to use a wheelchair.
Erin graduates and goes to SAMOhi (what's SAMOhi?).
Ryan: From Westwood Charter to Paul Revere MS.
Family vacation to Yosemite Valley.
Erin returns to VBS Navajo Missions.
Erin & Ryan both go to new schools.
Dad is getting remarried (click BACK to return to this page.)

Mazatlan and Yosemite 2009

2009-12-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

For Spring Break 2009, our family including Kitty, Alice's Mom and Henry's Dad, took a trip together to Mazatlan, Mexico. We traded our timeshare points for 5 nights at the El Cid Vacation resorts, one of Mexico's largest hotel chains. The accommodations were okay and the service was good. The weather was wonderful, the food was ranged from excellent to so-so depending on where we ate. Henry LOVES Mexican food so every meal was a treat for him!

My only advice for those visiting any El Cid resort/hotel is to "just say 'NO' to buying a vacation plan/timeshare!" Remember that you are buying a Mexican vacation contract: Legal issues and contract conflicts for dealing with Mexico are a nightmare. I suggest that you take advantage of the freebies by listening to a timeshare presentation, but just make sure to say "No, gracias" when they try their hardest to trick you, I mean coerce you, into buying.

Yosemite. Our other major vacation for 2009 was our annual camping trip to Yosemite Valley. This year, we booked 4 sites for 6 families during July. Henry and Alice rented an RV from El Monte RV again. Other than the heat wave, it was a great trip, as usual. The 2 best memories are the numerous bear encounters and daily trips "in" the Merced River to escape the heat.

The clear cool waters was heavenly. We biked Yosemite Valley once or twice a day; we hiked up to Vernal Falls, and took mini-hikes everywhere everyday. Most memorably, we had several bear exciting including Henry's encounter with a fleeing bear that almost ran into him face-to-face (within 5 feet!) in the dark, and a bear hiding within 5' of Wai to try to steal his bacon as he was cooking. Star gazing was fun and exciting too.

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Our 1912 Craftsman Home - Santa Monica

2009-12-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

University HS or Santa Monica HS (aka SAMOhi): Which high school was Erin going to attend? We had one week to decide.

All summer we had been trying to decide which high school Erin should attend. After visiting several schools, we hoped to get Erin into SAMOhi. The problem is that we were not residents of Santa Monica. All summer we looked for houses in Santa Monica. We were soon discouraged because most houses we liked were too expensive for us. Fortunately, Henry's aunt generously offered the use of her home address in Santa Monica so that we can declare that we were Santa Monica residents and enroll Erin into Samohi.

At first, we were relieved that Erin could get into SAMOhi, but we began to feel uncomfortable with the idea of lying. Since Henry's accident, we have been so grateful to God for his second chance in life. After sharing our dilemna with our church homegroup and asking them to pray for us for guidance and God's will, our good friends, Jimmy and Janne, bravely called us one night to tell us that the Holy Spirit was prompting them to tell us "not to lie" and to do the right thing. This was the confirmation we had felt all along. Therefore, we submitted to God's will for us to live in integrity and told Erin that we are are not going to lie to get into SAMOhi and that she should go to University HS. Our prayer was very specific: "God, if you want Erin to go to SAMOhi, please provide a house for us that was in a good location that we could afford. If not, we will be happy and content for Erin to go to University HS."

Immediately after our prayer time that Sunday night, Henry suddenly felt compelled to go online again and check one last time for any new listings. Henry found a house, under an estate sale, which had only been on the market for 2 days! It was in a great neighborhood and the price was right! Excitedly, we call my uncle and real estate agent, Robert Lin, to make an appointment to see the house right away. He called the selling agent on Monday morning; we saw the house on Tuesdays; we made an offer on Wednesday; the seller made a counter-offer on Thursday; on Friday, they accepted the counter-offer; and by Monday the house was in escrow. Later, we found out that there were 4 offers on the house, and 2 were at asking-price or higher. Thanks be to God, the seller accepted our offer over the others' higher bids.

The night we received news that we were new homeowners, we gave thanks to God and read the following scripture: "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you." 1 Chronicles 29:17.

Be careful what you pray for, because God can sometimes answer right away. We are just so amazed how God provided the right place for us, at the right time and at the right price. Only when we fully submitted to Him and stepped out in faith did He bless us and give us the desire of our heart.

We hope to build and finish our simple 2-story house by March 2011.

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Henry & Alice 2009

2009-12-18T21:30:00.000-08:00

2009 was the year of recovery and restoration. Physical healing and emotional healing.

Throughout 2009, Henry continued to rehab through physical therapy, acupuncture therapy, jogging and now light weight-lifting. In mid-January '09, I began to drive myself to work, 3 days a week. Despite a minor rear-end accident, which set my rehab back by a month or so, I was still happy to go back to work part-time. And though I lost a key customer to competition and some drop in sales due to the economic crisis, I'm still grateful to be able to work and still support my family. Almost every medical professional that I encounter, who hears about my injury, are amazed by my near-full recovery. Nerves grow back 1/2 inch per year, but spinal chord damage is permanent. Today, I still suffer from numbness and tingling on my hands and legs, my left hand and my digestive system are still both very slow. However, I accept this slight inconvenience and reminder of my accident: "In my weakness, He is made strong."

In April 2009, our entire family went to Mazatlan, Mexico. (click HERE) We had a great time! We enjoyed the beach, the waters, sportfishing, massage therapy, and all fabulous meals included. It was our first family trip together without mom, yet we enjoyed our trip together as a family. For Henry, eating Mexican food every day was a dream come true!

In July, six families went to Yosemite (click HERE) and camped together for a week. We hiked, biked, ate and spent a lot of time in the river to escape the heat.

In September, our family bought a house in Santa Monica. Please read all about it and our interesting story of how and why we got this house. Click here.

Erin. For Erin's story, click HERE.
Alice is glad that Erin is able to take the bus home from school; is patiently waiting for her to change, get ready, change again. Alice is proud of Erin's courage to attend SAMOhi without knowing any new friends. She made new friends within a week. Erin also developed very close friendships from church.

Henry is proud that Erin learned to play bass guitar and now starting to sing, lead or backup vocals, for the Harvest Live worship service. Henry is happy Erin made the JV tennis team and can contribute to the success of the team. Henry was also proud that Erin performed in her school play, Beauty & The Beast. She played both a "Gaston-crazed" village girl and a "spoon" in the Beast's enchanted castle.

RYAN. For Ryan's story, click HERE.
Alice is looking forward to hearing Ryan play his french horn. Henry and Alice are proud that Ryan really enjoys Boys Scouts (BSA) and are really happy with the troop that we picked. Henry is glad that troop 144 has great leaders and wonderful scout activities. Most of all, we are thankful that our family is finally "all healthy." Ryan and Henry have a lot of bonding time together playing Xbox Live (gamer tag "heartfamily5".) Maybe too much fun? Ryan is Henry's hero (rescuer from the waves.)

Henry is blessed to have Alice in his life. Alice has been such a blessing to Henry, Dad and the entire family. At a fellowship gathering, one of our friends called Alice "the rock." Thoughout all the trials of 2008 and 2009, she has the been taking care of all of us.

If God puts trials in those whom he loves, then He must really love us! Alice and I have grown spiritually together so much this year.

Lastly....

In loving memory of Mom.
"A woman of noble character who blessed our lives with love, faith and devotion. A true gift from God, and example to all who knew her. Your cherished memory will forever live in our hearts."

Ryan Ting 2009

2009-12-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

In May this year, Ryan missed nearly 5-6 weeks of school. At first, we thought he caught a flu: Slight fever and body aches. After nearly a week with a low-grade fever, Ryan suddenly suffered sever joint pain, starting at the hips, then traveling down to the joints behind the knees, and eventually down to his ankles and feet. The pain was so severe that Ryan eventually couldn't walk. He could only crawl or had to be carried. We had to place towels and trail of rugs from his bed to the bathroom so that he can crawl to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

After a battery of tests, including an MRI, several pediatricians diagnosed that he suffered an auto-immune response caused from streptococcus virus (strep throat.) His body's auto-immune system was attacking his joints (hips, knees, ankles) as it mistakenly thought it was fighting the strep virus. In retrospect, we realized that Ryan had a similar incident a couple years ago, but much less severe. If Ryan was to be exposed and attacked by the strep virus again, his body would likely over-react even more and cause even more pain and suffering. Poor Ryan. Poor Alice. Seeing Ryan sick was harder for Alice than dealing with my broken neck.

After much prayer and consultations with several specialists, we opted to have Ryan "regularly" take penicillin as a precautionary treatment against another strep infection. Within a short time, , and with the aid of a wheelchair, Ryan attended his elementary school graduation and even attended his culmination dance that night. He quickly came to a full recovery after the penicillin.

Several other key events of 2009:

- Paul Revere Middle School. Ryan got into Revere MS via school lottery! It was such an awesome feeling when Ryan's name was picked from the tumbling canister of names of wanna-be students. We are very happy with the school.

- Ryan joins Boys Scouts. Choosing Ryan's middle school was easy. Choosing which Boys Scout troop to join was difficult and also required much praying and consideration. We decided to join Troop 144 so that Ryan can stay with one of his best friends, since pre-school, Conner Smith. Conner was one of the 3 boys that rescued Henry from the waves on Sept 30, 2008.

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Erin Ting 2009

2009-12-14T23:30:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! My name is Erin Ting, I am a 14 years old, and am a proud freshman viking at SAMOhi (Santa Monica High School.)

It’s been another quick year filled with new memories. In June, I happily graduated from Emerson middle school and had high hopes for high school. I decided that I would like to go to Santa Monica high school to start brand new. I had only a few distant friends there and I sort of wanted to just start brand new with the year.

When summer finally came, I had a lot of things planned out. My drama class raised enough money to go on a trip to New York. I enjoyed the place so much. It was a week of sight seeing, shopping, plays, and even a day at New Jersey’s six flags! When I came back, I relaxed only a short time before getting ready to go to Yosemite with my family and other church families.

As soon as I got back, I packed my bags once again and left for another year of Navajo missions. With experience from last year, I was ready for anything. This year went great. The VBS material was fun, our team was prepared and God was with us throughout the trip. When I came back, my summer was coming to an end and I was ready for school.

Now, I am at SAMOhi and I love it. It is the new start I wanted and with new friends and a new attitude. I was on the JV tennis team, but since the season just ended, I’m unsure of what I will do for the second semester.

On Sunday, December 20th, I was baptized. I am absolutely ready to accept God into my heart and I've been pretty active in the church. I'm on the worship team playing the electric bass and singing vocals. It's a lot of fun. As the year comes to an end, I realized that my family had only hit a few speed bumps such as my brother’s illness and a couple other surprises…and I am ready for whatever will come this new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

With love ,
Erin Ting

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Year-in-Review/Christmas Newsletter - 2008

2008-12-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you for visiting our blogspot to read about our family's trials and blessings for 2008. This is the first time we've written a newsletter or even a blog. The events of this past year has been life-changing, filled with trials and blessings. We just had to share. BTW, we did it online, not because we were trying to be eco-friendly, but because we were too lazy to print them all out.

Two major events marked this year. The first is the passing away of my mother, Ruth Ting. She died after struggling with a disease called Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a disease of the stem cell in the bone marrow. Her body was unable to produce health red blood cells. In April this year, after 5-6 months of blood transfusions from friends and family, we decided to undergo chemotherapy through the Angeles Clinic at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA. Unfortunately, she never recovered from the initial chemotherapy treatment and her body eventually weakened. Her bone marrow could no longer produce any healthy white blood cells and platelets. She developed complications from the disease, like shingles and constant fevers from infections. Her white blood count level was down to 200 (extremely low) on same days.

On Monday, August 11th, and Tuesday, August 12th, she gathered all her strength to tell us, the doctors, nurses and our family, that she wanted to "go home." We honored her wishes and she was home on Tuesday late afternoon. That night, we extended family members, pastors and her cell group/fellowship brethren all gathered to have a short worship service, pray for her and say goodbye (for now.) I could see in my mom's expression, though she didn't have the strength to speak nor open her eyes, that she could hear and worship God too. She passed away peacefully in her sleep that night. "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; " 1 Timothy 4:6,7. My mom has gone to be with the Lord. She is at peace. She is no longer suffering. She has fought the good fight. She has kept the faith.

I posted a few photos on my facebook profile.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30570&l=79387&id=586684673

The second major event was Henry's surfing accident on Sept. 30th. The accident happened on Tuesday, September 30th. I took Ryan and his 2 other friends to Santa Monica Beach to go boogie boarding. It was a beautiful day. I planned to take the day off because I had not spent much time with Ryan all summer due to my late mom's illness.

I had been in the water about 20-30 minutes enjoying the warm waters. I caught a nice 4-5' wave which picked me up and slammed me into the sand. It happened so fast - I was slammed face down. I heard a crunch and found myself floating face down underwater, fully conscious, and paralyzed from the neck down. I came to the grim realization that I had broken my neck and was going to drown if no one pulls me up soon. Many thoughts flashed before me: Alice, Erin & Ryan; do I have enough life insurance; the pain of drowning. I prayed to God in this deepest, darkest moment that He would spare me and not take me yet. I held my breath and prayed that Ryan or someone would find me soon. I worried that Ryan would not see me because he was with his friends trying to catch another wave, but thankfully, he looked back and saw me face down in the water. I could hear him calling me while I was underwater. As he approached he saw that I was face down with blood in the water all around my face. He must've been scared but he quickly pulled me up at the moment when I thought I couldn't hold my breath any longer. He lifted my head just high enough for me to gasp my first breath of air and cry "help" to him. I was able to tell them that I couldn't move and needed them help. Ryan, Conner and Fidel helped pull me to the shore where lifeguards quickly accessed my condition and secured my neck.

I broke my nose (3 stitches), bruised my face, had a small black eye and broke my neck (stable fracture of cervical spine C5 with minor cracks in the C6 & C7.) My neck took the brunt of the blow, either by over-extending his neck or the weight of the body compressing into his neck. I bruised my spinal cord. Because the fracture was stable, I thank God that I did not require surgery. But there is still swelling/edema between C5 and C6 that affected the nervous system.

After 3 nights at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center and 4 nights at Kaiser Sunset, I finally go to go home. The doctors were very pleased that I was recovering quite fast and well. By the first week of October, I still had some loss of mobility of his left side due to the edema in my spinal cord. According to my Kaiser surgeons, and western medicine, it was pretty much a waiting game at that point. We could only hope and pray that I did not suffer any permanent damage, and that we must wait till the swelling goes down. However, we consulted with the eastern medicine practitioners about acupuncture treatments. We were strongly encouraged to see a particular acupuncturist named Dr. Qineng Tan, from the Art of Wellness Center in Santa Monica. We called him to start acupuncture treatment right away. He made house calls at an additional charge. Dr. Tan, who is a 9th generation acupuncturist and a spinal surgeon/specialist in China, said acupuncture should help my edema to go down faster and to keep the blood flow to the right places. It's all about "chi" and "flow."

Today, I am nearly 75% recovered. Combining outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture treatments twice a week, and prayers from everyone, I plan to be healed 110%. God is making me, molding me, better than before. I still have to wear that big neck brace for at least 2 weeks, but I am glad to be alive and in considerable good spirits. God really answered my prayer. Yes, our family thanks God for His blessings; for Ryan's quick thinking and acting; and also for His protection. For spinal cord injuries, a few millimeters can mean the difference between recovery or permanent damage. Praise God. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns.

More gruesome pictures on my Facebook link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35387&l=5ab5c&id=586684673

Erin's Navajo Missions Trip - Aug.'08

2008-12-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

I don’t even know how to put my feelings of this trip into words. It was amazing and totally not what I had expected. Our team was very young compared to previous missions, plus it was almost everybody’s first. We were expecting some crazy Indian kids coming in on horses and holding bows and arrows not speaking English and all that jazz, but we were very far off.

After driving nine hours, we finally arrived at the Le Chee Chapter Church around ten o’ clock at night. We unloaded and slept pretty early. So the next morning, we got up prepared for our very first day! YAY! The kids started filling in around four in the afternoon. They weren’t carrying bows and arrows, they weren’t riding horses and they spoke English….wow not what we had expected! They were mainly elementary school ages with some teens and preschoolers. The theme for our VBS was “Power Lab” and how Jesus gives us the power to do so many things, like be thankful, live forever, be helpful, be brave, and tell others about God.

The first day had about fifteen kids all not knowing what to expect, just like us. We started our program with a very active worship and skit. As we began, the children gave us weird looks, but stood up and half way did the hand motions. Then they had a bible lesson which they listened to, but were a little hesitant about the praying part, and lastly went to the arts and crafts room where afterward they would be fed dinner. They finished their crafts, ate their dinner, and then had us play tag and run around with them outside. Afterward we were exhausted…..yet had the best time!

The second day came around and we knew now what to expect. We had our devotions in the morning and then they started piling in. They had school this time so we also helped them with their homework. They did their worship, skits, bible study and crafts once again, but we sensed a little more enthusiasm this time and participation. Just after one day, God was really working through those kids and our team.

By the third day, we got up and were told that the pastor of the church was going to take us to his grandparents’ abandoned home from the 1940’s and we were to do our devo’s there. When we hiked over to the giant sandstone we were going to meditate on, I felt so overwhelmed with the beauty of the landscape and how God made this on the third day and it was GOOD. Afterward, the pastor and his wife took us to the only Chinese restaurant in Page, Arizona. It was like Panda Express with some sort of Indian stuff in there. [= When we got back to the church, we did our usual VBS with more encouraging growth and fed them once more.

The fourth day was a very nice day. Our devos were done back at church, but right afterward, we went swimming in the reservoir behind the Glenn Dam. It was our only “shower” during the whole trip, so we attempted to scrub ourselves down as much as possible. After about an hour or so, we went back and the kids began to come in. During worship, I stood next to this one girl named Talia and encouraged her to do the hand motions during worship. She looked at me at first and hesitated, but after seeing me do it and everyone around her do it also, she lifted her hands a little and began swaying to the music. It made me so happy to see that I was helping others get excited about God and Jesus’ power!!! What really opened up my eyes during this whole trip, was that one time, this little girl named Eleanor began crying and holding her stomach. We were worried that she was sick or she ate something bad, but no it was the opposite; she was hungry and she hadn’t eaten that whole day. How fortunate are we to be able to have so much food at home, and have caring parents. But here are these young kids who don’t have much to eat, live in trailers, and stay with their grandparents all the time because their parents are out somewhere.

Our last day of VBS was so happy and sad at the same time. I was so proud that our team with the power of God’s will and grace, were able to excite and open the minds of the kids to Jesus. As much as we didn’t want to leave, we had to finish our program, so when we were done, we all went outside and ran around. Several children came to us and asked us, “When are you guys coming back?” We promised them next year we’ll be back and they said, “Next year?” I was about to cry. It was so sad leaving them, so we made them promise that they would keep coming to church.

The morning of our leave, we woke to find some kids poking their heads in the room. They were here to see us off. We were so touched that we just had to play with them one last time. As we piled into the van, I reflected on how much the kids had grown, how much our team had bonded, and how much I’ve changed. I felt so much more mature and more alive in some ways. This new spark in my life might be my calling who knows, but I just know that what we accomplished so much at the church and I’m looking forward to going back next year.

So thank you all for spending a few minutes of your time to read this and that you so much for your donations, prayers, and support. Also for those who came to the funeral, thank you again. On Wednesday night, the church had a prayer meeting and I had a prayer request not knowing it was a little late, but one of the grandmothers gave me a necklace to give to my grandma and it was so amazing of how they didn’t know her at all or know me, but yet they had so much compassion. Half of the necklace is the casket, and the other half I keep in rememberence of her. Well, anyway thank you so much for everything. Till next year! =)

Yours truly,
Erin Ting

Ryan's TKD Tournament - Sept.'08

2008-12-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ryan Ting participated in the 14th Annual Martial Arts Championship Tournament on September 28, 2008 and won a gold medal for his age and belt category for board breaking.

He also entered the sparring contest and received a nice trophy (3rd place) for his participation. Too bad it was Ryan's naptime, otherwise he could've placed much higher. Good job, buddy.

Ryan attends Ben Howland Basketball Camp- July '08

2008-12-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan's favorite sport is basketball. This summer, he was privileged to attend both the UCLA Basketball Camp and Ben Howland's Basketball Camp. At the beginning of this year he was playing Division 2 as the veterans of the group. Yet, he turned 10 and need to start playing Division 3 (ages 10-12) with the bigger kids in the Westside YMCA basketball league. One 12 year old was 5'-8" and needed to shave. It was going to be a challenge. Ryan can no longer drive to hoop as he easily as he did in Div.2.

In July, he first attended the UCLA Basketball Camp for a week. He met Ben Howland, some current men's varsity players and a few of the freshman star recruits for this season. He also met some of the best local basketball players around. He had to play scrimmage games against these top atheletes. It was tough, but he had a good attitude. He got to play on the Nell & John Wooden Court.

Next, he attended Ben Howland's basketball camp at Pacific Palisades H.S. for a week. I was more impressed with Ben Howland's camp than UCLA's because the assistant coaches offered more teaching/coaching than UCLA. UCLA's camp was good to meet and play against the top players in the area, but not much teaching or instruction. I guess this is where the future OJ Mayo and Kevin Love's meet and play against each other. I was impressed by Coach Howland's charisma. He made sure the kids (ages 5 to 13) were listening to him through steady eye contact. His coaching staff were very good. The mornings were spent learning and teaching and the afternoons were spent playing scrimmage games against other teams. The last day or two were the playoffs.

Ryan learned a lot about defense, his best skill, and playing against much bigger and taller boys. Because he and the other 10 yr olds were the youngest/smallest, they had to really push themselves to compete. In one game he scored over 10 pts when the opponents' defense double-team Ryan's team's best players, leaving Ryan open many times for the open layup or jump shot. This was good training for Ryan to move up from Div.2 to Div.3 at the Westside YMCA.

I'm not sure how much he improved, but he sure did have a lot of fun with his friends. I guess that's what counts for now.