They are here!

Thanks to God and everyone who's been praying and caring for us, the twin boys are finally here! Asher Park Bai and Kyler Park Bai born on 8/22/08. Today is actually their first month birthday! We pray for many more of their birthdays - not only to bring joy to our family but to all others. They are healthy and strong. Growing every minute. Kathy, my wife, is recovering well. And for me, many emotions that go through me as I learn what it means to be a father... Overjoyed and proud most of times, yet unsettling and impatient at other times... More on this later, hopefully. But, for now, here are some pictures. And, I'm off to sleep!

Asher and Kyler!

Yes, it's official now. Kathy's pregnant with twin boys. The due date is sometime in August, and we are now getting pretty anxious just anticipating the miracle happening. We are calm and feel as ready as we could be, but we also know that there probably are many things we just couldn't have prepared ourselves for - just because we've never done this before!

Right now, yes, we are grateful. But, we are also in some sense resisting the time to go too fast. On one hand, we are eager to see the boys, but we know it will create many changes in our lives that we might not be ready for. We know we will do our best in raising the kids, but for now, we are saying, "ah, what have we done???"

Clearly, God has given this precious gift(s). And, we are well aware of God's involvement and plans in this. May we be faithful to our responsibilities as parents. May we find the wisdom and strength to do so. And, I pray Kathy will have an easy labor - safe, healthy, and meaningful to her as mom. It makes me very proud she is doing as well as she is with this twin pregnancy so far.

By the way, Asher means "blessing" in Hebrew and Kyler means "church" in some European language (Scottish?). We picked because of the meanings as well as simply the sound of them.

Baptism for Brian

We had baptism for Brian today - officially the first one at CITC. It was about time for Brian, and we are all very happy for him. God has done great things in and through Brian over the past 2 years, and I'm excited to see what he will continue to do in his life.

It was a celebration for CITC as a body. A lot of great food (thanks to Josh), and a great time with Brian's family and his close friends.

May the Lord continue to equip and empower Brian according to His perfect will!

p.s. we did it using a portable pool in the backyard of our house - what a great atmosphere it was!

Grace of GOD

Recently something happened to me that blew my mind off. You hope and expect a certain thing to happen. And, God showers you with the double of what you were hoping for. No, I'm not saying God's grace is found only in the things we receive from him. Even if we don't receive what we hope for, we still have God's grace on us. However, when you are at peace with what you have now but wish that something else could be given to you, and YOU RECEIVE DOUBLE, I think that's just a small way God surprises us and that's a form of God's grace. He probably doesn't do that all the time because it will spoil us. But, once in a while, it sure is good to be reminded that God has a sense of humor and that humor is often times manifested with GRACE. Lord, you have GRACED me once again. Giving me more than what I asked for and deserve. Lord, may the gift of grace you have shown me continue to manifest itself in gracing others.

Taking care of a living being

Recently I had a chance to dog-sit a friend's dog. His name is Ho-Dol. A family dog of this friend... since the dog's father. So, he's a precious being to this friend who was going to be gone for more than a month for the first time!

Kathy and I always liked this dog and we had been thinking about possibly getting a dog ourselves. So, yea, what a great chance to "test it out".

Well, to say the conclusion first, We are NOT getting a dog. Ho-Dol was such a good dog, very well trained. But, still, taking care of another live being is not as easy and cute as it seems. You need to be responsible, yes, but it also requires a lot of love. I could see how one can do that if the dog was born into your family (like the case with my friend the dog-owner), but when it is thrown at you suddenly things change in your life and you have to adjust to it. Here is what I mean...

This dog LOVES coming into your bedroom and get into the bed with you. He's always clean so it's ok. But, just having another being in your room where it used to be just you and your spouse got some getting used to. Actually, we never got used to it and we had to train him to not come into the room (after several nights of sleeplessness for training him...). In the end, one good lesson from this unexpected involvement of another live being in my life... MY GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED IN MY LIFE AND I NEED TO BE VERY SENSITIVELY AWARE OF HIS EXISTENCE.

Well, the dog went home after about two months of hanging out with us. We got used to him. I enjoyed playing with him. Giving him his favorite treats. Going to the park and running with him. Man, he's fast! And we missed him for few days after he left. But, in the end, we were glad we didn't have to take care of him forever. We wouldn't have been a good caretaker for him. We already have many people in our lives that we try our best to serve with God's love and another dog is not what we need at this time. However, a BABY? Taking care of this dog made us realize we are becoming more ready for having a baby. Some of you know what I mean...