Tsai Family of the Parklands

On the very last day of the year, we took occasion to celebrate Melinda's sweet 16th with a simple dinner at the Wok Express.  Afterwards, we took a nice drive to the Washington DC Temple Visitor Center to enjoy the over 500,000 Christmas lights.  Inside the Visitor Center, we viewed the International Christmas trees and nativity creches.  After standing in a long line, we were able to watch the 8pm showing of the Fairfax Chinese Dance Troupe.  When we finished, we met some of our Chinese Branch friends upstairs, conversed for a long while, and took pictures before going home.  Then we went home to watch the Apple fall in Times Square.  It was a nice way to end the year.  Happy new year!

Family and friends, As we draw close to another year and decade, we pause to ponder our many blessings of 2010. The short but busy Spring Break trip to Taiwan gave us an exciting journey to enjoy some of the beauties of Taiwan, visit relatives and friends, and to enjoy the delicious cuisine. This year, we were honored to be able to visit the West Wing of the White House, and we braved the Eastern Shore wilderness where we witnessed the wild ponies of Assateague. Our two oldest children have both finished more than half of their meaningful missionary service. We also made quick excursions to Hershey Park and Williamsburg. Individually, here are our thoughts and summary for this year: I have kept busy this year with teaching a night class at Montgomery College each semester and helping with rides to the various school and extracurricular activities The biggest change this year for me personally was the release from serving as branch president at church for the last ten years.

Joshua was privileged to participate in the high school Choir Concert on December 13.  The very next day, he served as the pianist for the Jazz Concert.  On the same night, he played First Clarinet as part of the Band Concert.  In conclusion, they played their traditional "The Night Before Christmas"as it was narrated by Mr. Kachadorian.

This semester Joshua participated in the ASCYO Concerts on December 3, 4, and 5.  The venues were the Weinberg Center in Frederick on December 3, Asbury Methodist Village on December 4, and The Lutheran Church of St. Andrew on December 5.  Joshua played in the Wind Ensemble on Sunday, and he played the solo part for the cat in Peter and the Wolf.