Christmas In Katy, TX

We celebrated Baby Elizabeth's first Christmas in Katy, TX. All the Lin family members got together for the Christmas Holiday including Simon's brother Steve and his family who drove in from Austin, TX.

On Sunday, we went to Second Baptist Church and attended a traditional Christmas service. The music was wonderful, and Pastor Ed Young gave an inspirational message. We were also impressed by all the Williamsburg gingerbread houses that were displayed around the church lobby. They even brought in a snow machine. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow. Even, Elizabeth got into the action. She was very fascinated by the snow.

On Monday afternoon, Simon and the boys took Elizabeth outside and played in the driveway. The temperature that day was around 70 degree Fahrenheit. Elizabeth loved going outside. The boys pushed her around in her little scooter and buggy car. She was laughing and smiling and having a dandy time.

On Christmas day, we opened our presents. At first, Elizabeth was more interested in eating the wrapping paper than playing with her new toys. Later, we went to Ocean Palace to eat Chinese Dim Sum. It was delicious.

A Week Later

It's been more than a week since we have returned from China. All of us including baby Elizabeth have finally acclimated to the time change.

Baby Elizabeth (Duo Duo) seems to be adjusting well. She likes her room and all her new toys! Over the last few days, she has been sleeping through the night which is really a good sign.

Duo Duo responds well to strangers. We have brought her to church over the last couple of weeks and she doesn't mind being held by several of our church friends (as long as she is not too tired). Last week, Helen brought Elizabeth to Selina's office. Again, she responded well to all the new people. Also, it was first time that she ever interacted with a Hispanic or African American person. In Dianjiang, you don't see too many foreigners (whites, African American, or Hispanics). She seemed to react very well to everyone.

Baby Elizabeth loves to go out. Several times, Helen has taken her out to shop at Wal-Mart and Katy Mills Mall. She gets very excited every time that you put on her coat.

Our boys have really enjoyed having a baby sister around. They love to play with her although at times she can get very squirmy.

Duo Duo has also responded well to the boys. She gets very excited every time that the boys get back from school. She starts smiling, flapping her arms, and kicking her legs.

Simon returned back to work last Monday. It was a hectic work week for him catching up on all the e-mails, following up on sundry issues, and preparing for a meeting with the CFO on Wednesday.

Helen has been busy getting ready for the Holiday Season - putting up the Christmas tree and ornaments, making Christmas cookies, and writing Christmas cards.

Many of our friends from our travel group have written to us via e-mail since our return. Like many of them, we miss the fellowship and camaraderie. We can't exactly explain this phenomenon, but there is tremendous bonding that occurs during those two weeks among the families. We are like a big family. We look forward to the day that we get together again; we'll be laughing, crying, and reminiscing about all our experiences during those wonderful two weeks.

Home To Houston

At around 6:00 a.m. Thursday morning, we checked out of the hotel. After a quick breakfast, we (including 3 other CCAI families) boarded on the bus to the airport. Our flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to depart at 9:30 a.m. We checked our bags and went through security and customs without any issues. Thank God!

Our flight to Hong Kong was about 35 minutes. In Hong Kong, we would be catching our connecting flights back to the U.S. Three of the families (Chen's, Lim's, and Lin's) would be on the same flight to San Francisco on United Airlines; the other family (Chan's) would be headed to Los Angeles.

In Hong Kong, we had about a two hour layover. We said goodbye to Mike and Tammy Chan and family as they were headed back to L.A. on a different flight. We grabbed a quick lunch and boarded the plane.

The flight to San Francisco was about 11 hours long. We arrived around 8:00 a.m. local time. The flight was without any major incidents. It was just very hard to sleep on the plane. Baby Elizabeth (Duo Duo) did fine. The only downside was that our video projection screen on our side of the aisle was not working, so we weren't able to watch the movies. No big deal.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, we went through immigration and customs. Again, we had no problems getting through. Thanks to all of you for keeping us in your prayers. We said goodbye to Peter and Janet Chen and their family and Phong and Vania Lim and their son Logan.

Our flight to Houston was smooth sailing. We arrived in Houston around 5:00 p.m. local time. Simon's mom and uncle came to pick us up. We got back to the house around 7:00 p.m. Praise God for his protection.

Our boys, Jonathan and Joshua, were happy to see us and their new baby sister Elizabeth (Duo Duo). Duo Duo seems to be adjusting well to the new environment.

We are getting over the jet lag and the sleep deprivation. Simon will be back to work on Monday.