The Lams

mommy visit

2010-02-06T23:44:00.003-06:00

My mommy came to visit last weekend! We found super cheap tickets from LANSING to St. Louis for $94 round trip! Usually that's the price for flying from Detroit, but it's a pain to drive from Lansing to Detroit, so any chance we can fly out of the tiny Lansing Airport for cheap, we take it! Sad that Daddy and Popo couldn't come, but glad at least mom could come and see our new house in person. They didn't like it originally, from the pictures, but now she said it's growing on her, orange walls and all, haha. :)

Some great memories from this weekend:

Maica's birthday party
"Wai, your Blueberry is so big! Is it for man?"
Sunday family dinner
"ePad"
Cut-throat Uno
Kum mien toi
MoBot Orchid Show

button trends

2010-01-27T16:17:00.004-06:00

I think I'm going to design and order buttons for everything now. I just made buttons for our youth group's upcoming 30 Hour Famine event! I found this great family-owned business called Wacky Buttons that operates a button-press business where you can get super cheap custom buttons made! I'll definitely be using them for everything.

I've noticed that buttons seem to be all the rage right now! All the teens are wearing them on their bags and straps and stuff. I remember way back in the 80s when buttons were cool... and then they stopped being cool so I threw them all away. Now I wish I had kept all those big purple "BOOK-IT" buttons from Pizza Hut! They had this special reading program where you'd get a button and a free personal pan pizza for reading books! (Then I think they got sued or something for kids getting fat, so that program ended.)

domesticated

2010-01-26T16:33:00.002-06:00

My to-do list for tonight consists of:

cook
bake
clean
laundry
sew
iron

It's so stereotypically domesticated. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet.

oh boy oh boy!

2010-01-26T10:45:00.013-06:00

My nephew Philip is getting cuter every day! The last time we saw him, he was Jabba - a cute lil' blob... but now he is talking and looking around and smiling! I can't wait to go back and see him.

So since Philip is my parents' first grandchild, they're love him so much and get very excited to see any pictures or videos of him since they live so far away. Ken received these emails from my parents.

mmiaf

2010-01-20T08:36:00.000-06:00

When I first discovered mymomisafob.com, I spent hours and hours reading through every entry. I thought they were all hilarious, but when I showed them to my mom, she didn't get what was so funny -- she thought all the comments that the moms made were perfectly logical and normal.

My email to my mom:

Mom, check out http://www.mymomisafob.com -- it's hilarious! This one is my favorite so far... it's totally something you would say!

My mom's email response to me:

I know what that mom said about dots dots meant !..they are pimples or feckless on her daughter's face...I think I said that to you too or to your sister.....Anyway do you know what i said ? i just told John ho that " your daughter don't have my sense of humor...:)

I got an idea. You should be a gramma and spelling check for all the English writting as one of the teacher, remember her. she was on Facebook club or where....? I just don't redcalled.....

(Note: "feckless" = "freckles")

forgot my name

2010-01-19T14:06:00.001-06:00

I just joined a teleconference at work, and when the automated operator asked me to "please state your name," I said, "Beverly Ho... LAM!"

She then proceeded to announce my arrival to a roomful of managers as "Beverly Ho... LAM! has joined the conference."

Can't believe I still do this after almost 3 years!

carrot/finger cake

2010-01-19T09:16:00.007-06:00

We have this huge 10 lb. bag of carrots in the garage (it won't even fit in our fridge) that we've been trying to use up for ages. So I decided to make carrot cake, since I've been meaning to try it for a while and it's one of Tony's favorites.

Ironically, just the day before, Charysse was helping me grate some cheese, and I warned her: "Make sure you don't grate your finger! I've done it before and it ain't fun." And of course, I ended up grating my knuckle hard the next day. I mean, there was a chunk of flesh missing off my knuckle. Luckily, no blood or flesh got into the carrots (I think, haha) -- I immediately ran my bloody knuckle under water and bandaged it up tight so I could finish my carrot cake. Needless to say, it turned out great -- very moist and loose, and our Urbana houseguests consumed it happily, potential fingers and all.

clean blackberry

2010-01-18T13:05:00.016-06:00

Over the weekend, I accidentally put my BlackBerry through the wash. Yes, the entire 40-minute normal cycle for dark clothes. I checked all of the pokcets like I normally do, but at the last minute I decided to throw in one past pair of pants without checking, and the BlackBerry just happened to be in it. I didn't even realize it was gone until I was emptying the washer and putting clothes into the dryer... and there it was, sitting all alone at the bottom, nice and clean, still in the leather case.

Needless to say, it doesn't work anymore. I was hopeful that it would after I dried it out in the sun for a few days (and especially after Dave Cheng's phone-in-toilet success story!). I blow-dried it and even followed Andrew Lee's recommendation of putting it in a rice bin for a few days! But alas... nothing seems to work.

I told my manager what happened (it's a company phone), and fortunately, this was his response:

Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 12:59 PM
To: Lam, Beverly W
Subject: Re: Blackberry

Hi Bev. Lol. :). Yes order a new one. And expect some teasing :). Ted

AME Program Manager
Sent via BlackBerry

Whew! Guess this means I get an upgrade! BlackBerry BOLD, here I come! Woohoo! Now if only our company supported the iPhone...:P I'd have to "wash" my phone more often then.

seven years

2010-01-06T11:25:00.007-06:00

Exactly seven years ago, I walked uncertainly into the gym of CGC for the first time. Louis Chieng had invited me to open-gym volleyball there, and since I had just moved to St. Louis and didn't know anyone except Louis, I thought, why not? I hardly noticed a guy on the other team, kind of awkward-looking in outdated clothes with weird hair. Who would've thought that 7 years later, I'd be married to this wonderful man? :)

It's funny how God, in his infinite sovereignty, orchestrates every detail of our lives to work out. Even though he has proven himself time and time again, we still have trouble trusting that the omnipotent, omniscient, omni-present God has a plan for us, not to harm us but to prosper us -- plans to give us hope and a future. If we would just call upon him and seek him with all of our hearts, we'll find him and he will deliver us! Isn't that amazing?

¹¹ "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

-Jeremiah 29:11-13

hate being a landlord II

2009-12-22T14:10:00.001-06:00

It's now 2:10pm. The line has been busy for 10 minutes. Is she really going to such great lengths to avoid me, or am I imagining things?

hate being a landlord I

2009-12-22T13:42:00.012-06:00

Ughhh, I cannot believe what a headache it has been to be a landlord... and we've only been at it for a few months! When we bought our new house, we decided that the best thing to do in this economy was to rent out our townhouse and sell it eventually if housing prices go back up. A ton of prospective renters came to our realtor, but were all rejected because of low credit scores -- too risky. Finally, we found a single woman who worked at a pharmacy and seemed totally legit. Praise God, someone who might be able to pay the rent on time!

Wrong! It has turned into a complete nightmare. Her very first check bounced already -- the security deposit! This month beats all though. When her rent didn't show up on time, I called her a week later to remind her so she wouldn't incur any more late fees. She told me that she had already mailed it and it must have gotten lost in the mail. A red flag went up, but Tony and I decided to show her mercy since it was the first time rent was late. So we said OK -- just send in another one and we won't charge you late fees. Another week passes. Still no check. So I called her again. And AGAIN, she said that she mailed it and it must have gotten lost in the mail AGAIN!

Now getting lost in the mail once I might buy... but twice?! In all my years of using the USPS, none of my mail has ever gotten lost. The USPS is highly, highly reliable.

So then we arranged to have her drop it off at our house the next day, Saturday. I waited at home all day... no check. I have tried calling her work, her cell, and emailing... no response! This is becoming ridiculous. We even threatened her with eviction. Of course, I don't even know if she got the message...

Just now, I tried to call her work again... FINALLY, someone answered and said very professionally, "okayholdon." I held... and held... for freaking 10 minutes. Then I hung up and called back. I was greeted by a nice automated message that said "The pharmacy is closed. We will reopen at 2pm." It's 1:30pm! WTF?! I'm actually very suspicious that the person who answers the phone every time I call actually her... and she's just pretending that she isn't available. Because she always says "she isn't here" or "she can't come to the phone." And it totally sounds like her voice! That would be sick.

Sigh. We honestly don't want her to be slammed with all these late fees... I just want to help her get the rent in on time. Is that so hard? She's a freakin' pharmacist! It's not like she doesn't have the money. Well, I guess I can't know all her circumstances, but it's hard not to be frustrated in this situation. Maybe God is trying to teach us about grace and mercy.

all partied out

2009-12-22T10:35:00.004-06:00

We have had 6 parties in the last 5 days. Whew! The first two were holiday parties for Tony's and my workpaces, both on Thursday. Then Friday was our youth group Christmas party (we call it Jesus' birthday party). On Saturday, we hosted the Agape Christmas party at our place and stayed up until 2am playing Super Mario Bros. 3 -- yes, on the original 8-bit gray box Nintendo (the best one!). Sunday, we went to Auntie Rachel's house for dinner and it turned into a semi-birthday celebration when they found out my birthday was on Thursday. Yesterday was Janelle's 21st (golden!) birthday, so we went to go meet up with them for a while and bought her a drink. Then tonight, Tony and I are celebrating my birthday early (because of all the festivities to come) by going to a fancy dinner (thanks, Annie and Ben!).

Honestly, with all the decorating, celebrating, eating, wrapping, opening -- there's hardly a moment for me to have a "silent night" and reflect on Jesus! That's partly why I'm looking forward to the next two weeks off work. This is the first time that we're not going anywhere and no one is coming here. Well, family, anyway. I'm kind of sad about that, because I really miss my family (especially little 'Lip!). But I am seriously looking forward to doing nothing. I have absolutely no plans for Christmas break -- and I love that! Tony will be volunteering at Urbana, and we're hosting a bunch of college students for Urbana, but during most of the day, it will just be me and God, alone in the house... My favorite times. :) I suppose I am more of an "I" than an "E." :P

But unfortunately, there's no such thing as "having no plans" in this day and age, though... Because "having no plans" doesn't mean my mind isn't going a million miles an hour making lists and crossing things out and thinking about the next thing that needs to be done. I have to admit that I do have plans to work out, catch up on some reading, do some serious scrapbooking (of the past 6 years), and experiment in the kitchen. I guess it will be my little trial run at being a stay-at-home housewife. :) We'll see how it goes!

perfect lasagna quest

2009-12-17T11:06:00.010-06:00

So our teen girls' small group rotates around to different homes each week, and the wonderful parents (bless their hearts) always prepare snacks for us after Bible study. It has gotten a little out of hand, to the point where some parents are going all out and preparing actual meals for the ravenous girls to eat after studying the Bible (hey, it's a hard workout). And this is at like 9-10pm -- a second dinner! Anyway, one of the moms always makes this delicious lasagna for us, and I rave about it every time. I wondered for a long time whether she made it from scratch or if it was a frozen Stouffer's lasagna that was slyly placed into a pyrex dish. :) I finally asked her for the recipe, and it turns out that she does make it, semi-from-scratch -- her "secret" is using 2 jars of this specific Ragu sauce and no ricotta/egg mixture (since Chinese people hate cheese).

The snob in me thought, well that's not homemade! I slave over my lasagnas for hours to make even the sauce from scratch, painstakingly layering the ricotta/egg, spinach, mushrooms, meat, etc. Mine should taste way better! But alas, it doesn't. (Sub-par lasagna pictured above.) I have to admit that in the end, it's all about the taste. Who cares if mine took 4 hours to make and hers took 30 minutes? Prep time doesn't necessarily translate to quality. She wins, hands down. Sigh. I suppose I will make her cheater version next time.

adventures in the kitchen

2009-12-16T11:23:00.006-06:00

I've been inspired to document our cooking adventures in the kitchen more often. For date night yesterday (first in AGES), Tony and I watched the movie "Julie & Julia." I actually wasn't too impressed with the movie itself (really slow, too long, not enough food/cooking featured, Julie never met Julia), but I am motivated to blog more. (I feel like I've said this before.)

Tony is the real chef here... I always tell people that he's the real cook, and I am his sous chef. I mainly do all the chopping and prep work (i.e. the hard hours of dirty work that get no credit, hmph), and then he comes in, proceeds to "chao" it all up in the wok and gets all the glory. :P But although he is definitely more of a foodie (I'm the one who had never had Korean food until college), I do enjoy cooking my own things as long as someone's there to appreciate it (much less motivated when I'm eating by myself).

Tony's cooking style is more of the exotic throw-things-in-a-wok-and-adjust style, whereas mine is more comfort/"normal" foods and by-the-book. We often do not appreciate each other's cooking, which makes me sad. Case in point: Tony made this (supposedly) delicious Chinese pig's feet stew the other day. I ate a tiny piece. It was OK. Then I proceeded to ladle up the leftovers and give them to his family to take home with them. Then last week, we had a humongous 10 lb. bag of giant potatoes, so I made a homemade chicken pot pie from scratch. Tony ate half his plate and gave the rest to Tim to finish. Sigh.

Explosion fail in the ramekins. Next time I'll try less filling or less crust.

jimmy's big head

2009-12-09T15:12:00.004-06:00

I discovered that our company IM has application-sharing capabilities with a whiteboard. I tried to draw a picture of a pie for Jimmy, and this is what I got!

HMPH!

down under

2009-09-28T11:29:00.005-05:00

We're back from our trip to Australia! It really was the honeymoon we never had. Well, unless you count going to Japan and Hong Kong to visit relatives a honeymoon (not that it wasn't fun, too!). I spent a week there for business, then Tony flew out to join me for an extra week of vacation. We went snorkeling, cuddled koalas, worshiped at Hillsong, fed kangaroos, survived a dust storm, and ate some seriously good (but expensive) food. It was a wonderful vacation, but I'm very glad to be back -- I hate missing out on stuff while I'm away. I'm just a homebody like that.

Click on the picture for more pics -- enjoy!

hungry engineers

2009-09-02T14:43:00.003-05:00

Here is an easy way to either rob your coworkers, or just clear the floor so you can work in peace and quiet:

1. Send out an email with the subject "FREE FOOD IN THE GALLEY."
2. Sit back and let the stampeding horde of hungry engineers pass.
3. Enjoy peace and quiet for a few minutes and/or proceed to rob everyone's desks.

philip kai lee

2009-08-31T13:09:00.005-05:00

Nephew Philip Kai Lee was born 10 weeks prematurely to proud (but worried) parents Ken and Ashley. He's teeny tiny at 2 lb 12 oz, and will be in the NICU at the children's hospital for several weeks. Please pray that God will strengthen his lungs so he can breathe on his own, get off the ventilator, and go home to his mommy and daddy! It is my prayer that "Bubs" (as I plan to continue to call him) will grow up healthy and strong and live up to his namesake, who told of the Good News of Jesus Christ to many people (see Acts 8 and other places). May he grow up to be a living testimony of the mercy, grace, and love of God. And pray also for Ken and Ashley -- that they will depend on God, trust in Him, and that the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

auntie bev

2009-08-03T13:15:00.004-05:00

I'm going to be an aunt! :D Ashley and Ken are expecting a baby in October! I waited and waited for them to announce the news so that I could mention it without stealing their thunder, but they took their sweet time until finally, Ashley posted some nonchalant Facebook status about the difficulty of painting toes with a big belly.

?!!?!

Anyway. I think that means we'll be going to San Diego for Christmas to meet my new nephew, Bubs Lee! :D This year is full of travel for us... Kuwait last month, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Chicago (twice) this month, and Australia next month. While I love seeing new places, I am a homebody at heart, and what I really want to do is just to stay at home and organize our new house (which, by the way, is still a total mess). Sigh. My mantra to Tony is always "everything has a place," but so far, nothing in our new house is in place, and it makes my heart very uneasy when I'm at home. I think that's the "J" in me coming out.

In other exciting news... Jen Lu is ENGAGED! :D So happy for my college roomie and her future hubby Al! Another one of my good friends is also expecting! Hmm, not sure if this one has been made public news yet, so I'll have to keep it at that for now. ;)

west county livin'

2009-06-03T08:58:00.003-05:00

Looks like we'll be moving to Ballwin at the end of the month.

We wanted to be closer to church and family, since we're in West County almost every night of the week anyway. We love having people over and hosting dinners and parties and fellowships, but living in North County meant that visitors were few and far between. :( So we hope that now people will come over more! Come visit us anytime! :P

we're moving!

2009-06-02T14:04:00.005-05:00

We bought a new house! Moving this summer. :) Pictures to come.

bony and teverly

2009-05-06T12:22:00.008-05:00

It's been a wonderful 2 years, Mr. Lam! Last year for our first anniversary, I watched "Enchanted" with Jimmy and then Tony came home and we shared our year-old wedding cake... with Jimmy. Hahaha. This year, Tony had boys' small group, and Jimmy and I watched "Coyote Ugly." When Tony came home, he and Jimmy spent some quality time watching basketball as I went to bed. Hahahaa.

Anyway, in honor our anniversary, Bony and Teverly are BACK! Thanks, Ken. :P Bony (the one with my face and Tony's body) makes a really disturbing-looking girl.

Here was the original debut picture of Bony and Teverly that caused quite a stir (and many a nightmare, I'm sure).

if you need a good laugh

2009-04-30T13:34:00.012-05:00

Two things never fail to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

Jack Handy
Engrish.com

Today, I spent lunch browsing through http://www.engrish.com's most popular entries, and I just could not help cracking up at my desk. I tried in vain to restrain my laughter so as not to alarm my coworkers, but I just kept bursting out at every hilarious picture. Here are a few of my favorites (for you, mom!):

My mom is a FOB is also a great site -- pokes fun of our cute fobby moms and their hilarious quirks/english in a loving way. I even submitted a few entries of my own from my mommy. :P I love my fobby parents.

starstruck

2009-04-01T12:48:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, I went to the worshiptogether conference for worship leaders, and I MET TIM HUGHES! I was shy and awkward and tongue-tied, and I didn't know what to say -- but he was so kind and even gave me a side-hug and took a picture with me! :)

Now I'm not usually one to be starstruck or infatuated with famous people, but this is one exception. After hearing his seminar (from the front row), it was just impossible not to admire his passion for worship that clearly comes from an overflow of his love for God. He was such a great speaker -- hilariously funny (and cute with his British accent :P) and SO incredibly insightful. He was completely honest, real, and genuine, which is refreshing in the world of worship where often it seems that you have to put on the face even when you're not feeling it. It was the best seminar I've ever attended. I learned so much about true worship -- both spiritually and practically.

The Michael Gungor Band was also there, and Brenton Brown and Al Gordon. In the evening, they led worship (well, the last half was more like a concert). They were good, but I was much less impressed with them. Except for the song "God Is Not A White Man," which was awesome.

re:focus

2009-03-18T10:15:00.011-05:00

We just got back from our first CGC youth retreat (well, first since we've been here). It was exhausting (I slept for 15 hours when I got back), but very rewarding and of course, crazy fun, as always. Chad came back to be the speaker, which was awesome, and the theme was refocusing our lives on Jesus. It was amazing to see the teens really desire a deeper relationship with God. The picture here is of the devotional time, early in the morning when we scattered to spend time with God alone. We told them to find somewhere private... so some of the girls went into these closet cubbies. :)

On the last night as everyone was getting ready for bed, one of the girls asked if she could talk to me. We went down to the empty sanctuary, and she told me about how she couldn't talk to anyone and felt like she couldn't open up because she was afraid of getting hurt. Slowly, she began to tell me about her doubts and fears, and the things that had been weighing her down heavily just spilled out. It was clear that she had been holding her own burdens for so long and just needed catharsis. Inside my head, I was just praying for God to speak through me and give me the words to say. I tried to tell her that it was okay to have doubts -- the key is to struggle through them with God -- in fact, they can even bring you closer to God as long as you talk to Him about it. I told her that Jesus was the best friend anyone could ever have -- he would never backstab her or gossip about her or look down on her. When I asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus into her heart, she said that she had already said the prayer -- multiple times, in fact. We talked a little bit about the fact that you can't lose your salvation, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. And finally, she and I prayed together one last time, and this time I think she really meant it when she committed her life to Jesus.

Praise God! :)

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38-39