Hello all,
Here we are on Halloween 2013. My daughter is now 3 and almost completely potty-trained and my son is 8 months old and learning to crawl. We just moved into a new (to us) apartment with plenty of space for crawling, mostly carpet and all one floor. With my sister living with us it is also a blessing to have two bathrooms.
I just submitted the first chapter of my manuscript "Melodious Rain" to an online writing contest. It makes me nervous to wait for a month but with God's grace the time will be here before we know it.
That's all for now,
Jennifer Liang
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Keoni's arrival
Hi all,
I am finally getting around to updating my blog. In this post I will give the details of my son's birth.
Keoni Luke Liang was born at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) at 2:44 am on Saturday February 16, 2013. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz and around 19 inches.
Three miracles surround his birth. First, we had a snowstorm of gigantic proportions February 8 - 9. We were in the area that was worst hit. A town near us had 40 inches in 24 hours while we had 34. We were actually in Hamden the night before the storm hit. So, we were all a bit nervous when I was 38 weeks during a major blizzard. It took the town of New Haven more than 3 business days to clear all the roads so that they were even passable with one lane. The town was at a standstill from Friday afternoon through Wednesday morning. We made it through that. Thank God.
On that Friday night my sister and I (and my daughter) headed to Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies for arriving family from China. While there I started feeling uncomfortable but didn't realize it was labor. I even drove home and we finished cleaning up for the family. They arrived at our home at around 10 pm and we all said hello and then good night. I mentioned that I might be in labor but wasn't sure because they were at least 20 minutes apart. Well, it didn't take long to make it to 10 minutes apart and then right on top of each other. Eventually we woke everyone up (except my daughter) and finished packing for the hospital. At 2 am we set out. The contractions were very intense and close together. There were also some messes that couldn't be stopped. The second miracle is that my Chinese mother-in-law and sister-in-law did arrive in time (although just barely). My mother-in-law was able to stay with the sleeping toddler.
After arriving at the hospital maternity ward Keoni was born within 10 minutes before we even made it to the delivery room. In fact, the doctor was not in the room (but came by a little later) so he was delivered by an intern. My sister and sister-in-law were in the family waiting room. My husband sent my sister a picture of him as a surprise when she expected to be in the room with us but he arrived too quickly. We skyped with my parents soon after. So, the third miracle was that his delivery was quick and complication free and totally natural. The births of my daughter and my son could not have been so different.
Well on to taking care of the two blessings - one who is 3 months and the other in the midst of potty-training.
Blessings,
Jennifer Liang
I am finally getting around to updating my blog. In this post I will give the details of my son's birth.
Keoni Luke Liang was born at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) at 2:44 am on Saturday February 16, 2013. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz and around 19 inches.
Three miracles surround his birth. First, we had a snowstorm of gigantic proportions February 8 - 9. We were in the area that was worst hit. A town near us had 40 inches in 24 hours while we had 34. We were actually in Hamden the night before the storm hit. So, we were all a bit nervous when I was 38 weeks during a major blizzard. It took the town of New Haven more than 3 business days to clear all the roads so that they were even passable with one lane. The town was at a standstill from Friday afternoon through Wednesday morning. We made it through that. Thank God.
On that Friday night my sister and I (and my daughter) headed to Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies for arriving family from China. While there I started feeling uncomfortable but didn't realize it was labor. I even drove home and we finished cleaning up for the family. They arrived at our home at around 10 pm and we all said hello and then good night. I mentioned that I might be in labor but wasn't sure because they were at least 20 minutes apart. Well, it didn't take long to make it to 10 minutes apart and then right on top of each other. Eventually we woke everyone up (except my daughter) and finished packing for the hospital. At 2 am we set out. The contractions were very intense and close together. There were also some messes that couldn't be stopped. The second miracle is that my Chinese mother-in-law and sister-in-law did arrive in time (although just barely). My mother-in-law was able to stay with the sleeping toddler.
After arriving at the hospital maternity ward Keoni was born within 10 minutes before we even made it to the delivery room. In fact, the doctor was not in the room (but came by a little later) so he was delivered by an intern. My sister and sister-in-law were in the family waiting room. My husband sent my sister a picture of him as a surprise when she expected to be in the room with us but he arrived too quickly. We skyped with my parents soon after. So, the third miracle was that his delivery was quick and complication free and totally natural. The births of my daughter and my son could not have been so different.
Well on to taking care of the two blessings - one who is 3 months and the other in the midst of potty-training.
Blessings,
Jennifer Liang
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More
Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More
By: Jennifer Liang
And the
winner is …. Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More
by Melody Ling. Now tell us Melody how did you come up with this catchy
title for your first novel?
Well, as most of you know I grew up in Hawaii
where the Hawaiian word keiki (pronounced k key) is commonly used to refer to a
child or children. Ke ai (kuh eye) I learned while studying Mandarin
Chinese at the University
of Hawaii and it means
cute/adorable/lovely. I just combined the two terms because I thought it
was a unique and fresh idea for the title of my novel about the cute children
of the world and their daily struggles to find clean drinking water.
Although the stories have been fictionalized many of the circumstances are true
for millions of children around the world.
Can
you tell us more about your inspiration for this topic?
A
conversation with my boyfriend Tom when we were teaching English in China is where
it started. He was complaining about the electricity being cut off once
again without warning (leaving us in the dark) and my first thought was that at
least it wasn’t the water. Then I started thinking about it further and
realized that many people do indeed live without clean water in this global water crisis.
Ke ai keiki are needlessly dying for water every day! I did a little research, joined Faithwriters, and here I am today a
published author.
Do
you think reading your book will make a difference? How can your average reader
help?
Of
course anyone can help if they have the desire. Water and sanitation are a big problem
in developing countries. I found a lot of useful information from Water4 a company that uses hand drilling technology to bring access to wells (at a low cost) to those who need it
most. In the past few years they have literally changed the lives of not
only children but their families and villages as well. No longer are
people walking for miles to gather what they can carry or suffering from diseases
from drinking or cooking with polluted water. I would encourage anyone
who is interested to check them out. I myself will be donating a portion
of the proceeds from the sales of my book to this specific company.
What
a great way to start your literary career! To all my viewers the name of
Ms. Ling’s book is Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for
More and you can learn more by visiting Water4. That’s water followed by the number four. Ms. Ling, thank you for your time and effort in helping to save the
ke ai keiki of the world. I am sure they appreciate it.
Entering blogging contest soon
Hi,
Well I am trying my best to work on many things during my little girl's naptime. As I sat down to write this she woke up and just needed reassurance before going back to sleep. Such is life. I hope I can get something done today. Most of all I want to work on my links in my article for a blogging contest. Then I need to prepare a short testimony for Saturday night when I am supposed to share at the campus fellowship meeting. I hope she is not cranky that night and plays well with the other children.
On another note we are looking forward to my sister moving here in January to help us with the new baby. That will be interesting to have her living with us and possibly two Chinese relatives. Tomorrow we have another check-up for baby number two and two weeks later THE ultrasound that will tell us the gender. Not too much longer of wait time. :)
Again, I will be posting my blog submission soon on this site so keep looking. It is for Faithwriters.com and Water4.org. I hope I can win something. If I do I will pay for my little girl to take classes at Gymboree Play and Music of which we went to yesterday for free and just loved it.
Jennifer Liang
Well I am trying my best to work on many things during my little girl's naptime. As I sat down to write this she woke up and just needed reassurance before going back to sleep. Such is life. I hope I can get something done today. Most of all I want to work on my links in my article for a blogging contest. Then I need to prepare a short testimony for Saturday night when I am supposed to share at the campus fellowship meeting. I hope she is not cranky that night and plays well with the other children.
On another note we are looking forward to my sister moving here in January to help us with the new baby. That will be interesting to have her living with us and possibly two Chinese relatives. Tomorrow we have another check-up for baby number two and two weeks later THE ultrasound that will tell us the gender. Not too much longer of wait time. :)
Again, I will be posting my blog submission soon on this site so keep looking. It is for Faithwriters.com and Water4.org. I hope I can win something. If I do I will pay for my little girl to take classes at Gymboree Play and Music of which we went to yesterday for free and just loved it.
Jennifer Liang
Friday, August 31, 2012
Happy Labor Day weekend!
This is our first Labor Day weekend on the East Coast of the US and not sure what we will do yet. We will be joining the Orientation gathering for Chinese students for the campus fellowship with our church on Saturday and that should be fun. We should make some new friends as well as catch up with old ones. I hope that my daughter Abby will enjoy it as well. She always enjoys the food and interaction with other people. A couple weeks ago she was photographed at the church enjoying her chocolate cake as a part of the ending of the Vacation Bible School. The picture was then shown in a slideshow at the going away party of one of the elders. What fun! I can't wait to see what adventures my ke ai keiki gets into next. In February she will be joined by a didi (little brother) or mei mei (little sister). We have to wait another four weeks till we find out which one it is.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
This is the first post on Ke Ai Keiki at Yale written by Jennifer Liang. I chose that name because it is unique and because I have a ke ai keiki at home and expect another one in February of next year. We are currently at Yale University where my brilliant husband is doing research for the next 2-4 years. Abigail and I like to go to the library, the park, playgrounds or just hang out at home or with friends at church. My family is in Hawaii and on the West Coast of the US while my husband's family is in China.
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