Shannon Yee

I had wanted to post my thoughts on my birthday about the previous year and hopes for the upcoming year… I had actually wanted to do that at the new year, but my good intentions didn’t amount to much.

I’ll try to keep this short and sweet, but since I am a woman of many words, who knows how much I will actually write.

I am very blessed in every way. I have a fabulous family (both immediate and extended, including my in-laws and step-family and all the others too!) My husband has a great job that he enjoys with relative security, given that we live in the worst-hit area economically. I have two healthy and bright kids. I am pregnant and love it. I cannot think of anything that I should be able to complain about.

So, for this year I really want to focus on being grateful and showing my thankfulness and contentment in all that I do. Practically speaking that means simple things like just expressing appreciation out loud or in writing more often. It also includes things like being more patient with my kids and showing satisfaction who they are now even when I don’t like what they are doing or it is messing up my plans. And I have lots of plans every day, but gracefully accepting the inevitable disruptions is a big part of being grateful, I think.

I guess even though I’m now in my thirties, I am still a work in progress and really not that much farther along in many ways than my two and four year-olds. I am thankful though that I get the chance to make some changes and grow each day.

For the past week and a half I have done nothing but pray, think, and do MOPS. I really enjoy the work, so it’s not a bad thing, but I’ll be glad to have the first meeting go off smoothly with happy moms and kids. I had a talk with Eila tonight about how I have been given this job to help other moms as well as to be her mom. She seemed pretty excited about that and ready to do her job tomorrow at our meeting: obey Mommy and be kind! I’ve been staying up too late, so I now I really need to rest.

After a week of no TV or computers and a weekend in the great outdoors camping, I’ve more than made up for it by catching up on the various blogs that I enjoy and emails as well as some stuff for MOPS. It seems like there is no end to the amount of time that I can spend on the internet.

I enjoyed taking time last week to enjoy my family and not “trying to get things done” while I could be relating to them in various ways. We took a walk as a family after dinner as well as played trains and princesses a whole lot. I want to be intentional to continue to enjoy the people more than the things around me. That can be a little challenging when my hubby is on the computer, but that is a good time for me to read a book – especially since my list of books I want to read is always growing. On that note, I’m off to read and sleep.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Brian and I did a lot of random tasks around the house, but we also had a lot of family fun. The trips out to dim sum, cemetery, zoo, parade, and Grandma’s were actually really refreshing for me. We were able to talk about the whole point of the Memorial Day holiday and remember and thank God for all the freedoms and gifts we have as well as remember and talk about other family members and even spend time with some of them. We didn’t really have to cook all weekend and ate really well, which is very relaxing for me. And, the time at home was pretty nice too. The kids enjoyed playing in the water table (with the arrival of summer and hot, humid weather!) and I felt like things that had been hanging over me to do for a long while were finished – what a relief.

Respect and Knowledge.

I enjoy learning and researching all sorts of things. I like to read how others do things and why and I really feel that it is important to know and understand this world and the reasons we do things the way we do. This is also something that I really like about my husband, too. He knows all sorts of things and shares his knowledge with me – astronomy and space, photography and online role-playing games are just a few of the things that I have learned about from knowing him. I am also learning about trucks and cars because of Josiah’s great interest. When we go to the zoo, we always learn something new. Eila is frequently explaining to me the ins and outs of make-believe worlds. We have so much getting to know each other more and learning about everything around us. I could never run out of things to learn about or study.

One of the things that I hear myself say over and over is: “We treat others with love and respect.” I am constantly teaching Eila what it looks like to respect others, self, the world and the belongings of others, as well as what respect does not look like. It seems like almost every action relates back to respect in some way – the way we talk, share, play, react, help, and even eat and sleep. Other people might phrase things differently, but I see issues of respect in so much of how we act. For me, I desire to be respected and admired by others, which effects so much my motivations, fears, and in turn my behaviors and words.

Family.

I am beginning to realize more and more how much I really value family. I need to change how I spend my time a little to reflect this value, but I love spending time with our family – immediate and extended. I love them all and appreciate the variety in the bunch. I want my kids to know and love each one of the members of our family too, and I think that they do, sometimes better than I do!