Jesus said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

We serve a God who continues to lavish our family with unexpected and FUN blessings.  As we recount the past 7.5 years of marriage, we are in awe of God's daily provisions.  Although we may not have what the world deems as a successful life, we would not trade it for anything else because it is exciting to live each day trusting in the Lord for all things.  All this to say, God (yet again!) blessed us with an amazing adventure in Seattle.  Our dear friends who pastor a Korean-American church there invited Ted to speak at their annual retreat.  They graciously invited our entire family out.  Knowing us, we love to do things together, so it wasn't hard to say "yes, we'll all be there!".

We were preparing our children that we would be at a Korean church.  Isabel especially was most excited to be among her own.  We arrived the day before the retreat began, and got settled into our friend's home.  Then, Isabel started to ask impatiently, "where are the Koreans?"  When we arrived at the retreat site early the next day, Isabel met a new friend.  Her first question was, "what's your name?  Are you Korean?"  We all had a good laugh.  This is how Korean-deprived our family is.

The retreat was incredible.  People from the church came with such hungry hearts that the preached word fell on prepared and fertile soil.  The most exciting thing for us was to hear people committing to family devotions together, going on media fasts, rekindling a desire to pray.  The community there was so loving and gracious to us that we felt well received.

After the retreat, we enjoyed the beautiful city of Seattle with its perfect summer weather.  Not too hot, not too cold.  Then, we made an overnight trip to Vancouver.  When we arrived, we were met with a really bad thunderstorm.  We got checked into our hotel and prayed for good weather, so our short time would not be wasted.  After our afternoon nap, the rain cleared up that we even got to walk around the city.  The next day, we got to enjoy more of Vancouver under the beautiful sun.

The biggest FUN gift came through an invitation to join some of the church families to an overnight cabin stay at Lake Cushman.  Ted especially fell in love with Seattle as it is filled with lakes and rivers everywhere.  We could not miss out on this chance to enjoy the church community and the lake of course.  So, we spent the last two days with very special family members of the church.  They really took care of us.  This was the very first time we prepared absolutely nothing for a cabin trip.  They cooked for us delicious meals, took us on a boat ride, fishing, water tubing, water skiing...and the best part was that Abigail and Isabel had so many friends to play with.  We hardly saw them during our 2 days there.

As we returned from this trip, our hearts were filled with such gratitude to the church and especially our Abba Father who loves us so much.  We told the church that we have a new home in Seattle.  With so many friends in ministry all around the world, we claim each of their locations as our second home.  How exciting to have fellow coworkers serving God all around the world.  We would be able to travel to so many places knowing we have a place to stay and friends to fellowship with.

Lastly, we are thankful to have children who love to travel and meet new people.  They had so much fun in Seattle.  What a fun life our kids live as they have been to so many places and met so many people.  Thank you Jesus for blessing us to live with such exciting testimonies of your wonderful provisions!

This past month was filled with many emotions as we welcomed new babies to our church family, witnessed engagements and weddings, attended a funeral, and even led a new believer to Christ. These are regular events in life, however, when they all occur simultaneously, it really gives you perspective on how we ought to live our lives. We are just a breath, a fleeting vapor, yet God intends for us to live to the fullest potential He purposed for our lives. My children have heard of deaths, but for some reason, the death of one of our college student's mother really sparked their interest. They don't even know who this lady is, but they kept asking if they could attend the funeral and see the dead body. We said, "no", but we are thinking of taking them to the cemetery to explain how bodies are buried.

"did she go to heaven, and is she with Jesus?" - they kept asking.

"yes, she's with Jesus now, and she's no longer sick. When you go to heaven, Jesus gives you a new body" - we said.

"how did she go up there?" - they kept asking.

Even for us, our physical death and our union with Jesus is quite a mysterious concept. How and when does this all happen spiritually? We'll find out in time. However, we do know that one day we will meet Jesus and we want to prepare our children to meet Jesus also. At the end of their lives or ours, will they be able to say to us, "Thank you for preparing me my entire life to meet the most important person, preparing me for what I'll do for the rest of eternity, worshipping Jesus..." OR, will they say, "Why didn't you prepare me, tell me more about Jesus?"

If Jesus is the ONE thing we can impart to our children, that's our desire....not an investment in a comfortable home, not a guaranteed college fund, not a spectacular title or career. More than words, we want our lives to be evident of the greatest treasure of Jesus in our lives.

Our dear Abigail turned five. She's so proud to be five, knowing she will start kindergarten later this Fall. After trying out preschool for a few months, we pulled her out. We realize the oldest child is always the guinea pig for everything. We were debating whether to place our kids in preschool as all other parents do in this area do. We fell into that pressure, but realized it wasn't the best choice for us. Thankfully, with Abigail's resilient personality, she didn't mind meeting new friends and teachers, then having to say "bye" to them. Now that she's older, we see her maturing everyday. She's Isabel's hero and role model. It's quite amazing that although Abigail is just 18 months older, Isabel looks up to big sister in every thing. We're thankful that she has been a good example to Isabel in many ways.

Our dear Isabel is now three and a half. The "half" is very important for all children. She can't wait to grow up to be Abigail's age...but she doesn't realize that Abigail will always be older than her. This past Saturday, she and Abigail started a Saturday morning Korean school. Isabel was so excited to finally be able to go to school with big sister. Although they slept late Friday night, they both got up early on Saturday, quickly dressed themselves, got their little hello kitty bagpacks and were ready to go. After school, they quickly asked daddy, "when can we come back?" We hope the girls will be able to pick up some Korean and get to know the Korean culture a little more.

As the new year has begun, we're thankful for God's faithfulness over our 7 wonderful years of marriage, and for blessing us with three beautiful girls which is Ted's dream come true (since he grew up with 4 boys!).

We now have a good excuse for not updating this site as often as we'd like....we are expecting another baby girl mid-November. We are so thrilled to receive another gift of life. Although everyone, especially Abigail was shocked when the ultrasound technician announced with confidence that our baby is a girl, we receive the privilege of raising another princess. We've taught the girls to say to daddy "you the man". He has been officially enthroned as the "man" of our home, and he sure takes pride in that! Coming from a family of 4 boys, he never knew the joys of living with ladies.

On June 24, we celebrated Isabel's third birthday. She is so excited to be considered a "big girl". Although we still baby her (unlike how we raised Abigail at this stage), we are realizing we need to let her mature and grow to receive a little baby sister. She has officially transfered her loyalty to daddy and loves being daddy's little girl.

Right after Isabel's birthday celebration, Ted lived out one of his many dreams. He spent five days in the unchartered wilderness of Alaska with three of his crazy fly fishing buddies chasing after big salmon and trout. They fished 16-18 hours a day eating their catch on the river banks and taking cat naps here and there (The sun never sets in Alaska during the summer months). He left with a backpack and fishing gear and returned with over 100 pounds of fish. And we've been eating fish every day since he came back. God is so generous to provide such opportunities for us to enjoy life to the fullest!

Tomorrow, we will embark on another journey as a family. We will take a 28-hour flight (including layovers) to China (www.livingstonesvillage.org). We've waited 3 years for an opportunity to go and finally God has opened the doors for us. As always, we are excited to go together as a family. Taking two young children with a 22-week pregnant mom can be burdensome, but we cannot miss out on such opportunities. We live life once and we must live to the fullest as God allows. Please keep us in prayer during our 3 weeks there. We've been telling the girls that there are many older brothers and sisters who don't have parents. That they are going to be good little sisters to all of them, to pray for them, and share Jesus with them. We believe God will impart His heart for His kingdom to our children as we in faith take this trip to the other side of the world.

The month of January always holds 3 monumental days for our Kang household. January 1 marks the start of a new year. January 3 is Abigail's birthday. January 6 is our anniversary. There are so many reasons to celebrate at the beginning of each year. We are indeed filled with abounding joy as we start another year.

It has been 4 years since we welcomed Abigail into this world. The night before her birthday, we shared with her the entire birth experience, from labor to delivery. She was quite intrigued by all the details and demanded to hear Isabel's birth story. Of course, we told the girls they needed to wait until Isabel's birthday to hear her story, which was a much shorter experience.

There were three specific blessings we gave to Abigail since she was conceived. After four years of life, we praise God for seeing the beginnings of His promises being fulfilled in our dear daughter.

1. Nazirite vow. We blessed Abigail to live as a Nazirite all the days of her life. Not to pursue the things of this world, but to be single-minded, investing in the kingdom. As parents, to allow her to be single-minded, we are constantly reminded of the challenge to set that example to her.

2. To be a joy. We specifically blessed her with Luke 1:14-16 - "He will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. many of the people of Isarel will he bring back to the Lord their God." Abigail means "joy of the father". We have definitely seen God use our child to bring joy not only to us, but to our church community and wherever we travel. We bless her to continue to be such a gift of joy all the days of her life.

3. To be a worshipper. We remember that before she began to speak, she knew how to sing many songs. Even now, she makes up songs about almost anything and everything. And the most amazing thing is that "Jesus" is usually in the song somewhere. We look forward to having her learn the violin (which was her instrument of choice) and make beautiful music unto the Lord. She often talks about how our family will be a worship team together. Daddy on the guitar, mommy on the piano, Abigail on the violin, Isabel on the drums.

Most importantly, we bless our children and ourselves to have a tender heart before the Lord. We thank the Lord that He truly honors and answers the prayers of the parents over the next generation. We thank God for all the wonderful people who have supported us through this journey of raising our children in the Lord. We definitely need a village to raise our chidlren together.

I confess that my heart had no love for this new sister in my life, although I knew she was in great need – spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally. I also admit that I served her in more ways than one. I even formed a group of individuals who can collectively minister to her. I can pat myself on the back for fulfilling my Christian duty of helping the poor and even getting our church members to serving her. However, my heart was hardened and reluctant to develop a deep relationship with her. Frankly, I was afraid she would continue to sap the life out of me. I allowed her to weary my heart because my heart was NOT in the right place.

As I continued to pray for her, God spoke to me clearly through His Word. Several weeks ago, I read God’s heart in Psalm 146:7-9

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
The Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustained the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”

God is the Defender and Upholder of the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner, the alien, the fatherless, the widow – all these accurately describe this sister. God’s challenge to me was this: “If you really mean it when you pray you want to become more like me, this is my challenge to you. Can you follow my example of being the upholder and defender of this sister? Can you truly love and embrace her? Don’t treat her as just another case to solve or help, but truly embrace her as your daughter. Embrace her sons as your own.”

Immediately, my heart changed only because God is able to do that. I finally felt such a love for this sister. She still calls me daily asking me for help with almost everything. But now, I can lovingly help her and lovingly create boundaries for her to help her mature. It was my greatest joy to spend 7-8 hours in labor and delivery of her baby daughter this past week. I had bitter-sweet emotions as the baby came out into this world. This child is joined to a family that is quite “dysfunctional” and she will never know her father. The Lord spoke to me and I receive His promises that this child has been created for His good purposes. She is not an accident. She will never be lacking, for God will Father her perfectly. I believe and pray she will receive the Father’s love at the earliest age and be fully satisfied in His embrace.

God reminds our family that He has called us to be givers of His good life. Not once has this sister thanked me for anything, but I joyfully want to love Jesus by loving her. This is all worth my time and efforts BECAUSE OF CHRIST…

The introduction to Richard Foster's "Prayers from the Heart":

"My whole life, in one sense, has been an experiment in how to be a portable sanctuary - learning to practice the presence of God in the midst of the stresses and strains of contemporary life. Some people who read my books are surprised to learn that I have never been drawn to a monastic life, as important and valuable as that way of life is. For me, the great challenge has always been to experience the reality of God in the midst of going to work and raising kids and cleaning house and paying the bills."

When my children grow older, I will:
-have more time
-do more for the church
-spend more time with God
-read more books
-pray more
-witness to my neighbors...

We may not make such an explicit list as this, but this has become the adopted lifestyle of many young parents, such as ourselves. We always dream of our children getting older, thinking life will get easier without the demands of little toddlers and preschoolers. We are realizing time and time again that these are NOT TRUE! Thus, Richard Foster's example rings true to our hearts. Especially as young parents, we are called to learn to practice God's presence in the midst of feeding our children, dealing with their temper tantrums, comforting them in their tears, playing with them...Just as Daniel and his friends had to go through the fire to experience the power of God's manifest presence which saved them, all of us, no matter what season of life we are in, are called to walk through that fire and experience God in ALL our circumstances. Such a vision and paradigm shift bring radical freedom to parents who seem so bogged down with the demands of life. We pray every day that we would choose to practice His presence through the busyness of the day. There is no time to delay or waste. Practicing His presence and allowing our children to walk in it is an urgent message God is speaking to His church. Why wait til tomorrow, when things will calm down? Start today, start now, no matter what circumstance you're in. Let us become the portable sanctuary of God's manifest and living presence to shine forth. This is the ONLY way life will get easier, through God Himself. Less of us, more of you Jesus.

We recently returned from a 10-day ministry trip to Oahu, Hawaii. Every year, all the Christian and MIssionary Alliance churches hold a missions conference, usually hosting a missionary on furlough. This year, our local district decided to send missionary candidates, not veteran missionaries on a missionary tour. In God's divine plan, we were chosen, and the location was Hawaii. Even after we ended the trip, we are simply amazed how this trip was all orchestrated...we truly receive this as a gift from God - as a wonderful ministry opportunity, as well as a time of rest for our family.

Ministry, our main purpose
For seven days, we visited 6 different C&MA churches to speak at their missions conference. The churches ranged from a very "white" church filled with military families, a very Hawaiian-populated church, and Chinese churches. We focused our talks on how we were called and what God is doing through our local church to reach orphans in China. We challenged the people that we are all missionaries, whether here or there. This past week, we were missionaries to Hawaii. Wherever we go, we want to bear the name of Christ to everyone. We shared about our desire to fulfill our primary calling to the person of Christ. Our calling as missionaries to a specific place overseas is secondary. We pray that our life stories and what is doing through SJCAC were a huge inspiration and challenge for the people in Hawaii.

Fun in all situations
In between all the ministry and speaking engagements, we packed our schedule with fun, fun, fun. Our kids did exceptionally well getting woken up in the mornings, taking naps in the car and driving all around the small island of Oahu. We enjoyed the beautiful waters, sand, and sunsets of Hawaii. We're so thankful for such a gift God has given to our family. We take it as our 5-year anniversary gift. When we were honeymooning in Cancun five years ago, we said we would try to make a big trip for our 5-year anniversary. After two kids, we thought this was an unattainable dream...but God knows our needs and requests, even before we ask. No matter how much we could've planned for such an ideal vacation, it wouldn't have involved all that we experienced. No vacation allows you to make divine connections with other believers, share about your passions in life to churches, get taken out to all the delicious joints of the land, have a wonderful home to stay in, and have other children for our children to play with.

This trip was truly an unforgettable time for our family. Thank you Jesus for such a sweet time.

Once a month, Sandy and I each get to have one full day to take a break from the kids and go on a personal retreat. It's highly recommended! It's very refreshing and rejuvenating to be in a quiet place reflecting back on your life, ministry, family, etc.

This was my first outing of the year. I started the day at Henry Coe State Park in the morning. I walked into the Ranger's office and asked if there was a good trail for the first-time visitor. He mapped out a nice 7-mile hike, and told me it should take about 4 hours to complete it if I were in good shape. In a bit of defensive mode, I told him I was in pretty good shape. Then another lady ranger looked at me, and said, "Look at him! He's not even wearing hiking shoes. Why don't you show him a trail that might be a little easier?" I told her I should be fine, and got on my way to tackling this 7 mile-hike. Well, it turned out to be harder than I imagined. The slopes were steep, and looking at the topo-map, it seemed that there was at least a couple thousand feet of gain. About an hour into my hike, I realized I did not have water or flash light in case it takes more than a few hours. To make a long story short, I said to myself, "I am an ocean-kind-of-guy, and this is not really a break for me!" I turned back and went back to the headquarter. As I was walking back, I saw the lady who suggested a "baby trail" ealier. My ego did not allow me to walk past her, so I waited till she was out of my sight. I quietly left the park, and headed for my "Ocean". :-)

Within couple of hours, I was at my favorite spot in all of California. I heard that once a year around Winter Solstice, the sun sets very close to the horizon and will light up the ocean through the hole at this famous spot. I got there around 3PM in hopes of witnessing this wonder of nature, and patiently waited for it to happen. And lo and behold, at about 4:15PM, the radiant beams of sunlight started shining through the hole in this gigantic rock formation. As I was watching this and capturing the scene, I felt God's love, or His common grace [for all you theologians]. Every passing day, God lights up the sky, makes the stars shine, causes the wind to blow, gives life to all sorts of wild flowers, just to show us that He loves and cares for us. And how often we take these things for granted!

Jesus said, "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you".

So consider how the sun rises and sets and each day. Stop every once in a while and smell the roses. Solitude is often underrated. Aloneness is a gift more than a misery.

Yes, it's been five years! As we sat for a nice five-course fondue experience last night, all alone, just the two of us, in a dimly lighted restaurant, it was too perfect. For the first time, kids did not take up our conversation nor did the ministry. We simply enjoyed each others' presence, gluttonizing ourselves with too much food. We can't believe half a decade passed by so quickly. Sandy shared how Ted married a young, vibrant girl and turned her into a "woman". Ted didn't have to say much, because his belly obviously shows five years of a happy marriage. We truly thank the Lord for each day spent together. We love each other more and more each day, only because the Father continues to lavish us with His abundant love. We have shared times of tears and pain, but they always ended in laughter and tears of JOY.

As we look back on five years, there are a few things that have kept our marriage alive and strong....

For Abraham and Sarah, it took years of receiving God's promises and of wandering to give birth to the promised offspring Isaac. Abraham became so intimate with God, that when God called him to sacrifice his one and only promised son, he was willing.

For Hannah, she dedicated her son to the Lord's service. After being weaned, Samuel lived in the house of God. Can you imagine sending your child at the age of one or two to learn under Ted at SJCAC? That takes some major faith and surrender.
I was reminded of the promises God gave us when I was pregnant with Abigail and Isabel. Thus, we gave them these names.

Abigail means "joy of the Father". We claimed Luke 1:14,15 for her, "He (referring to John the Baptist) will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord." We see already that so many have rejoiced in Abigail's birth and we claim the promise that she will be great in God's sight.

Isabel means "consecrated to God." We prayed differently for her and we see that she is quite different from Abigail. She's not as bubbly or outgoing as Abigail, but has this intensity, but pleasant spirit about her. We have surrendered Isabel and Abigail to be used by God. We receive by faith that Isabel would walk a consecrated life, seeking purity and holiness, so that she can be an empty vessel for the Lord.

The true test for us as parents will come when we release them to college, to marriage and to their future callings in life. We're glad God is giving us at least another 15 years to prepare ourselves to physically release our children. We didn't have to wait a long time to bear children, but we surrender these years ahead to joyfully release our children for God's work, wherever God may take them.