Tsai Family of the Parklands

Happy Holidays from the Tsai family, 2015!  Dear family and friends, 2015 was a year of surprises and growth. We made a quick trip to Utah in April to celebrate Jonathan's college graduation. When we returned home, we participated in a first ever Chinese choir festival organized by Li-Fang. We witnessed Megan's promotion from middle school in June. During the summer, besides cooling off in the community swimming pool a few times, we stole away to see my brother in Illinois, to witness the dedication of the new LDS temple in Indiana, and to relax on a short trip to Virginia Beach. We were also surprised by a couple of surprise visits by my brother Joe. Megan started her first year as a freshman in high school. Melinda returned home with honor from her missionary service in Sydney, Australia. Now, we share our individual perspectives of our journey this year. We live in a day of "wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in diver...

It was like magic, or perhaps a theatrical dream. One December 22, we left Maryland with nice weather and not a drop of snow all year. Then we arrived that evening in Utah and were welcomed by a decent snowstorm. In fact, the whole time we were in Utah, snow remained our white, powdery carpet on the ground. With our friend, Qun Wang (or Elder Wang who served faithfully as a full-time missionary in the Montgomery Chinese Branch), and his friend, Brother Hung from Taiwan, our family went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple together. On Christmas Eve, we had to jump on the bandwagon to witness the debut of the 7th Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens.” Christmas Day was the day we had been waiting for a whole year. Henry and Jessica were starting their Christmas traditions. Before attacking the presents, we sang joyfully a few Christmas hymns. Then we spent the rest of the morning in the ceremonial opening of presents, engaging in fun board games such as Bananagrams and Spot It, and e...

On a cold winter night, Li-Fang held a piano recital performance for her piano students at the Asbury Senior Home in the Kindley Building.  She lost her voice, so she asked me to announce the performances.  Nine of her students performed that evening. In addition, Abbey Zhao performed a piano piece, and her two sons, Brennan and Clayton, performed a song on the saxophone and and on the violin. After the lovely concert, gifts were handed out to the seniors by the students, after which the performers were all to eager to receive a gift for themselves.  Excellent job, everyone. Below is the order of performance: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Performer Songs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Patrick Brodigan “Mary Had a Little Lamb” “Galloping Ponies” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomas Brodigan “Evening Hymn” “What Shall I Sing?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~...