December 21, 2008

email

There's a benefit to having your child know how to read, type, and do supervised email. :)




Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:20:23 -0500
From: zacharyneill
To: elise_neill
Subject: Hi


Hi mom you"re the best mom I"ll ever have.







I love you.


December 20, 2008

Daisies


Asia is now in Girl Scouts - the Daisies. I don't remember there being a Daisies group. Es was in Brownies. I was in Girl Scouts, but I only remember being in it for like one year. I didn't even ever buy the outfit - the whole green sash, dress, hat. I did get a bunch of the pins and badges. Anyway, this week was the Daisy Christmas party with a little gift exchange. Each girl brings a wrapped present, then the scout leader read a story and every time she said the word "Santa" the kids had to pass their gifts over to the next person in the circle. Then when the story was done, everyone had a different gift in their hands. Asia ended up getting a charm bracelet set. It was cute. She had a great time. A bunch of her friends are in the Daisy group so she really likes to go.

Holiday Concert


Asia had her Kindergarten concert this Friday night. She was so excited! I'm glad to see such energy in her. Instead of trepidation about a performance. She did well too. She actually looked bored towards the end. The kids sang like 13 or 15 songs! I don't know how they could have memorized them all or maybe they didn't. I'm sure there was a lot of mumbling here and there. I didn't even know all the songs.
So here's the more embarassing thing. When the kids got onto the stage in the beginning, Asia lifted up her skirt! She had been complaining a little bit about her underwear falling down and I tried to fix her skirt before the concert began but she was so excited about the concert that she didn't want to wait. She had to go with Mrs. Swegan to get her Santa hat! So anyway, as she was walking up the stage, she was pulling up her dress so that she could pull up her tights! She had no qualms about it. Of course, she wasn't showing anything since she had white tights on. And of course, there were chuckles in the audience. It had to be my daughter. Yes, no anxiety or stage-fright all right.

December 05, 2008

Dear Mom....

This is from the newspaper clipping in the Austin newspaper or the funeral website. I forget which.

Sha-Li Cheung of Austin, TX, formerly from Ohio and Taiwan, died on Sunday, May 4, 2008. She will be missed dearly by her family: her husband, David; children, Elise Neill (and husband John), Esther Cheung, Samuel Cheung; her grandchildren, Asia and Zachary; along with many other family members and friends. Her life was a life of expressing Christ to all who knew her – in her cooking, in her singing, in her caring.

Sha-Li enjoyed baking and decorating cakes in her kitchen while listening to hymns CDs. Her home was always open for friends to stop by for dinner or conversation. Her caring and generosity was a major part of her service in the Church in Austin. Services will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at Wilke-Clay-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 South Congress, Austin, Texas. The burial will follow at Onion Creek Memorial Park.


This is from my mom's funeral, my little eulogy. I've been putting off adding this to my blog because it makes me sad, but I'd like to put it in now as a dedication to my mom. I miss her so much.

******

Dear Mom,

I miss you. I miss you telling my kids to eat their vegetables, and then making them a chocolate cake with strawberries. I miss you reminding my kids of the starving people in China. I miss your cooking. Thank you for leaving dumplings in my freezer and the peapods from your garden. I wish I could have spent more time with you, writing down your recipes. I figured I had all the time in the world. I always envied your garden. Why didn’t I inherit your green thumb? You would send me pictures of your vegetables growing, taking over the whole yard. I would plant the long beans and peapod seeds that you sent to me in the mail and then watch them bear perhaps two or three measly beans. I wondered whether it was that Texas weather or just your miracle touch.

I was going through your purse the other day and I got more of a glimpse of just who my Mother was - besides being the one who nurtured me, gave me character, and fed me. There were Mystery of Human Life gospel tracts. I could see you reading those with ones seeking something more in life. There was a well-used address book. Sam, Esther, and I were in there quite a few times from all of our moving around. There were pieces of paper with brothers’ and sisters’ names on it, receipts of some sort. You were active, Mom. To the day you died, you were so involved in the church life, in family life, and you even left some time for yourself – to learn to decorate cakes and grow a garden.
You weren’t supposed to leave yet. Not for at least another 20 years. But Mom, you lived your life to the fullest. I’ll miss you.

And then I added a PS that I spoke in the eulogy. It really was something I added in the morning of the funeral. I had typed out my eulogy the night before.

P.S. I thought that if something like this would ever happen, I would be so angry at the Lord. Forsake Him or something. Instead, I feel the Lord's arms around me, holding me firmly and whispering, "Do you still love Me?" I have to answer, with no hesitation, "Yes, Lord, I still love You. I want my mom bad, but Lord, I do love you."