Sammi's Award and Sawasdee-Kra William!!!

Saturday - June 6, 2009 - It's that time again, for the North Torrance Neighborhood Semi-Annual Garage Sales, and lucky for me, it happens to be MY neighborhood!!! We've been having these garage sales for about 30 years now. It's held on the first Saturday and Sunday of June and October, but we only participate on Saturdays. After all, we go to church on Sundays, right?!?!? In the past, between 50 to 130 houses participate in this event each time. Over the years, many people have moved in and out of our neighborhood, so the number of participants vary. Local advertisements reminds the surrounding areas that this event is coming, so we get a pretty good amount of foot traffic as well. In fact, it gets pretty crazy, especially with the parking situation. It's almost a swap meet environment around here. We've found that hosting this event has been a great, casual way to get together with some of our friends and family. As bonus, we have a chance to turn our junk into some cash, or to meet some new neighbors too. So for those who have missed it, you'll have to wait until October or June 2010!









Those are some really nice ties you've got there!


Even the penguin is wearing a tie! Cool!!!





My old neighbors, Sandy and Rita, came back to visit us!
Aren't we so cute?!?!?

It was great meeting you, Michelle and Loretta! Finally, eh?
Snack time!
Sold out!







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Saturday - June 6, 2009 - My daughter, Sammi, is in her second year of taking Korean at North High School. A few months ago, she had to write an essay, stating why she wants to go visit Korea. Being the good student that she is, she did a good job on her assignment. As it turns out, her teacher, Mrs. Grace Pak, submitted the class essays to the Scholarship Committee of the Foundation for Korean Language and Culture in USA (http://www.klacusa.org/english/index.php). Sammi was recommended as a recipient of the Summer Program in Korea Award!!! This scholarship is a three weeks most expense paid trip (except airfare), valued at $3,000!

Unfortunately, Sammi cannot attend this summer Korea trip. She has Varsity Song training during the same three weeks! What are odds of this?!?!? Bummer! I was really hoping she would be able to do both. It's sad that she'll have to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime trip. There's just no way she can miss the three week summer Song training. She has to learn all the cheers, the dance moves, the expectations of this group, etc. Now, I just pray that she'll have the strength and stamina to go to all these games, and to maintain her GPA throughout her junior year. I thank God that He has blessed her with a good memory. I give praise to God that she knows how to focus too!!! Sure beats my chemo brain! ;-)

Although she could not attend the trip, the Foundation wanted to honor her with an award certificate for this scholarship. We were invited to attend the dinner and award ceremony. Turns out there were about 620 applicants nationwide, and only about 50 winners. A reporter from the Korea Daily was there to take pictures for their newspaper. They said that the picture and article would appear in Monday's paper, which it did. Well, of course I bought the paper, but my Sammi was cut off from the group picture. ;-( Oh well, I couldn't read that newspaper anyway!

It was really nice of the Foundation to allow us to bring a few extra family members to the awards ceremony. Sammi was really happy to have her own cheering committee of Kristen, William, Lovely, Jeffrey, Ada, Ed, Tiffany, Scotty, Hank, and myself. Thank you for every one's support. Thanks to all those who wanted to attend with us, but were understanding that space was limited. It's really exciting that my little Chinese daughter won an award to go to Korea!!! I'm hoping, and praying, that maybe she'll get this chance again next summer!!! Or maybe she can tag along with a special auntie or uncle for a shopping trip, and I would have to tag along as chaperon! hee hee hee

We got there a bit early... Can you tell?
Hey, where did that white light come from?




Yeah, SAMMI!!!


Who's Samanda?
Smile for the press!!!




After the award ceremony, the rest of the SooHoo, Chan, Hom, and Vytiaco clan were waiting at my house with a ton of desserts. We wanted to send William off to Asia with all of our prayers, well wishes, love and support. Kristen, William, Lovely, and Jeffrey decided to spend the night at my house, and attend SBCC with us on Sunday. So after dessert, the teens and young adults all went out to see a movie at Del Amo Mall. The rest of us older adults just stayed up and chatted. I guess we all just wanted the weekend to last longer, so we crammed in as many events as possible. ;-) Thank God we all had enough energy to hang out!

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June 7, 2009 - Surprise, surprise, SURPRISE! We were surprised, did you get that? Early Sunday morning, I got a text from Loreen and Vince that they were driving through LA that afternoon. They went down to UCSD to help their daughter, Jennifer, pack up her stuff for the summer, and they moved her things from her dorm into storage. Then they would drive back to SF afterwards. Wow, what a nice mommy and daddy they are!!!

Of course after church, we "had to" meet them for a quick bite!!! We were so excited they were in town again, even if it's for an hour or two. We ended up going to their favorite restaurant from their last trip here... Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood. Fried giblets anyone?!?!? Crunch crunch, yummy! (http://www.roscoeschickenandwaffles.com/) Thanks Loreen and Vince for blessing us with your company. We had a great weekend already, but you've made it even more special. We're looking forward to our next adventure with you, and perhaps with the rest of the SF gang!!! Perhaps we can have another Lemon Butter Club meeting? ;-P




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Thank you, Dorothy, for taking care of us all of these years!!!

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Monday - June 8, 2009 - My nephew, William (aka Will M Chan), is the celebrity in our family. He's off to Asia for five months for some modeling and acting jobs through his agent. Two months in Bangkok, then three months in Hong Kong, will keep him busy at least until mid November. ~William~ We hope you get many great jobs over there, and great opportunities. Try to sight see a little, maybe ride an elephant, or walk up to the Big Buddha (sound familiar)? May God bless you with much success, keep you safe, then bring you back home safely. We'll be waiting to hear your updates, so keep in touch!!!







William, is that really you with Lady Gaga?
May I have your autograph please?!?!?!?

Grasshopper, it's time for you to leave!!! Oh no!!!
We miss you already!

Have you seen the latest edition of the Rolling Stone Magazine with Lady Gaga on the cover as the New York Doll? Well, that's our William posing next to her on the ground, printed on the next page of the two page ad. He's the guy on the top, posing with the other guy and girl. Kind of blurry, kind of bubbly, kind of scary, but that's our baby all grown up! (http://www.rollingstone.com/issue1080). We're still looking for the commercial he did for Coke, filmed in Mexico to be played in Asia, different languages to be dubbed in. Let me know if you see this commercial, okay? I still love him best in the "Paris For President" video: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4WDjuiQmxA). Hasta la vista! Chao! Joi guen! Aloha! Sawasdee-Kra! WE LOVE YOU, WILL M CHAN!!!!!

OMG! What's happening to Austin?!?!?

Our friend, Donna Quon's oldest son, Austin, had all four of his wisdom teeth removed last week. He's already a really thin guy, but he lost some weight from not being able to eat, which was expected. Unfortunately, he also caught a stomach flu, and what little he ate, did not stay down. Instead of getting better, Austin was getting worse as each day passed. On Sunday, May 31, 2009, he started to hallucinate.

Early Monday morning, June 1, 2009, Donna sent out a very disturbing text to our women's prayer group, that Austin had lost his vision!!! (Many of you got text messages, phone calls, and emails from us asking for urgent prayers). Donna rushed him to the ER of Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, where they ran a ton of tests on him. It turns out that he was dehydrated from all of the vomiting and diarrhea, and he also had pneumonia in his left lung. He was in bad shape, bad enough for him to be admitted into the hospital. They didn't know for sure, but they suspected that the bacterial infection in his lungs was causing some of the neurological and optical problems that he's having.

On Tuesday, the chest CT scan showed that the pneumonia got worse; it's now bilateral in both upper and lower parts of his lungs. They immediately changed his antibiotics. By Tuesday evening, Austin was able to see! PRAISE THE LORD!!! But, the doctors were still very concerned about the bloody diarrhea that he's been having for the past nine days. Yikes! They aggressively ran more tests on Wednesday because of his continuous bloody stools. Very, very scary! But, praise God, Austin was able to eat a bit more, and things were staying down.

Thursday, June 4, 2009 - Kathy, Lori, and myself decided to go visit Austin. He was not on any food restrictions and was craving teriyaki beef, so of course we "had to" hook him up!!! Lori and Kathy brought balloons and a grocery bag full of snacks too! He was a very happy boy, and so was his daddy, Robert. By this time, Austin was getting better color in his face, and had a little more energy to watch movies on his TV.



Miraculously by Friday, Austin was stable enough to be released from the hospital!!! Can you believe that?!?!? GOD is so GOOD!!! Of course, he had to take a boat load of antibiotics with him. It's scary not to know what's happening to your body; but it's even more scary when you're a young, healthy teenager prior to this kind of incident. He'll have to take it easy at home for a while, but PRAISE GOD, he's on the road to recovery! Thank you everyone for all of your prayers! They really, really work!!! Please keep it up!!!

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Thursday - June 4, 2009 - After visiting Austin at the Hoag Hospital, we decided to surprise James at the Winways Rehabilitation House in Orange. Kathy, Lori, and I knew that James would be in the middle of his PT session, and we did not want to disturb him. So we asked the staff to let us visit his room. The receptionist was kind enough to give us a quick tour, as she lead us to his living quarters. We left a few goodies for James on his bed, took a few pictures, then we hit the road back home. The rehab house is a cozy country style home converted to re-train adults with some physical challenges. It looks like James is in good hands there. I'm glad they are working him harder and harder, to get him back to his old self, as soon as possible.


~ Hey James~ We love you, and we want you back to your normal funny self! Our prayers are continuously with you. May God bless you with a quick, full recovery. I miss picking on you!!! hee hee hee Holy hugs and kisses to you, ah Sai Lo ahhhhh!!! Xoxoxo from ah Dai Gar Jeah ahhhhh!!!

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Thursday & Friday - June 4 & 5, 2009 - Sammi had to perform in an event called, "iDance" at North High School. It was their spring dance shows, featuring all of the kids from their Beginning Dance, Intermediate Dance, and Advance Dance classes. Sammi was in Intermediate Dance this year. Fortunately, she was chosen to perform in four different dances. We're so proud of her! She was great!!! But, then again, we're bias!!! hee hee hee


























This was Sammi's last two "dance" performances, since next year she has decided to join the North High School's Song Leaders. About a month ago, Sammi auditioned and was shocked when she found out that she was chosen for VARISITY SONG!!! I didn't know what that was, so Sammi had to explain it to me...... Song is part of the Pep Squad. It's a group of kids that dance and shout out cheers, right next to the cheerleaders, and since she's in Varsity Song, she will have to "dance" at all the Varsity Football and Varsity Basketball games, at home and away games. That's just like the Laker Girls!!! That's so cool!!! Maybe my baby girl will be picked up by the Lakers organization someday?!?!? What could we say, Mommy and Daddy can dream big too!!! Hey, GO LAKERS!!! GO SAMMI!!!