Parenting is hard. Baby Jeremiah is amazing but our work schedules have been monsters. I just started my prep to compete at the World Championships in Athens and Carmen is slogging away at getting the hours she needs to be a licensed therapist. These next few weeks are also going to involve a lot of travel for weddings and work so we’re are brainstorming a ways to make sure Jeremiah doesn’t go crazy sitting in a vehicle. Please pray for us as we continue to adjust. I’ve enjoyed working from home with Jeremiah but it’s also been an extra challenge taking care of all the household duties while Carmen pulls 70 hour work weeks. Having daycare at the gym has been a HUUUGGGEEE answered prayer and we are hoping for more breakthroughs like it. Our next challenge will be finding a house to rent. Please pray for a 3BR 🏡 close to the gym 😁 Would you like to join our monthly update email list? Please msg me!
It’s tough and exhausting being an Asian American minister. When we decided to make our careers about serving God and the Church, we all got pushback from our families. It felt like there was some kind of new criticism everyday. When we finally started ministry, we realized that everyone in charge would either be from our parent’s generation or be of a completely different cultural background than us. That means that we are always going to feel like we are not good enough or be discriminated against. But through it all, we are seeing the greatest church growth in history. Despite all the hardship, we can see our opportunity to be the bridge between East and West. Pray for us. The road ahead doesn’t get easier but we know that God has a plan for us and we want to be faithful.
New book alert! I’ve been trying to find good books for Jeremiah and I’m not satisfied with the themes and characters of children’s books. I want to teach Jeremiah about adoption because Carmen and I both work with foster families and adoptive families. I also want him to see characters with disabilities because I want him to learn inclusion from an early age. Crystal, Christine and I are working on a new book called Jeremiah Lionheart. It’s a book about a mom and dad lion who adopt a little lamb who is missing a leg. The story is about the lamb learning to be part of the pride and to find pride in how he is different (see what we did there 😆). Crystal is doing the art and Christine is giving inspiration to the scenes through real life stories of her own family. We are hoping to release the book in time for Jeremiah’s 1st birthday on May 11! The hope is to also bring the translated book to Budapest and Shanghai his year as a gift to orphans.
2006 vs today. Carmen has been really patient with me 😂 She wasn’t scared by my weirdness in college and she hasn’t been scared of this new journey of parenthood. I’m glad we were with each other through finals, job searching and seminary. We’ve always shared our high and lows together. Here’s hoping to many more eventful years. The “HOW HARD DID AGING HIT YOU CHALLENGE” Upload your first ever profile picture and your most recent profile picture right next to it.