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In true "Sidney Wu fashion," this letter is finally being written in the wee hours of Christmas morning. (My apologies to those who looked earlier for this letter but couldn't find it!)
Another blur of a year has come & gone, so full of events that it's tough to know how to summarize them all in a way that makes sense! Here's my attempt anyway:
Evangelina, now 2 ½, is our rapidly growing bundle of expressive energy whom we liken to a little sponge. She takes in nearly EVERYTHING around her: words, food (she often out-eats Mommy!), funny facial expressions, people’s mannerisms, or the way people dress. With all she observes from others, she often has the rest of us in stitches with how she puts together her own singularly hilarious style. We wonder a little if her feistiness is by nature or by necessity as she is growing up with the boisterousness of an active older brother. We pray that she will use her gifts of observation & energy to bring joy & laughter to many in her lifetime.
Jadon, 7, constantly amazes us with what he is learning, & 2013 was a big year for him. In May he was baptized at our home church, and in spite of his underlying trust in God he has verbalized tough questions from his young heart & mind: “How do we know God is there?” “Why is it so hard to be loving?” “What happens after we die?” “I prayed for something but it didn’t happen, so why should I pray?” We are grateful for (& sobered by) his questions, & while we don’t have all the answers, we try to lead him to the God who does. We’re grateful Jadon has a heart to serve at church & cross-culturally (he joined a mission group to Mexico this year), as our prayer is that he will see his inquisitiveness & abilities as tools to seek & serve God throughout his life.
Our kids' growth & development would not be possible without the fulltime mothering JJ gives them, as she upkeeps the household on top of putting in fulltime hours with the work she does mostly from home. It is amazing to me how much she accomplishes in service to us in light of real limitations of time, health, & energy. When I asked her what she thought was her biggest accomplishment of 2013, she replied (after some thought), "Nothing." The kids & I know that without her sacrificial love, we would not have been able to achieve our own successes. We are grateful to know that she deeply enjoys helping our children succeed. May the Lord bless her for her sacrificial service.
2013 for me (Sid) was another year of the busy privilege of caring for patients in my hometown (Highland/San Bernardino). Somehow, the workload seemed busier than in past years, & I haven't yet concluded whether it was because of a change in my perspective (have my patients’ problems seemed to be more weighty?), change in expectations (from patients, colleagues, insurance companies?), or something else. In the spring I took & passed the Internal Medicine board recertification exam, which was tough amidst the busyness of work & home (it’d been years since I'd fallen asleep drooling on my books at the library!). Praise the Lord!
All in all as a family, 2013 was a year of learning. We are learning to love each other in our roles as children & parents. "Being a dad," a wise medical student once told me, "is the daily process of learning how to be less selfish." (It's been a tough lesson to learn, especially because I had no idea just how deep my selfishness runs!) Everything we try to teach them (whether games or school, how to wash dishes or how to love one another) is a challenge because we find we have to learn them better ourselves.
A huge thing we are learning as a family is what gifts we have in each other. This is difficult to see at times to be sure (terrible twos, anyone?). This is especially true when the combination of our busyness & limitations makes it easy to take each other for granted. When we remember how God rescued us & brought our family together, though, we are grateful to Him for each other.
We realize that our limitations have made us less available to meet or talk with many of you (even those close by) in ways we would otherwise love to do. Please do know that we have not forgotten you (some emails have taken us over a year to respond to as we wanted to respond with proper weightiness), that we care, & that we pray that some of our limitations would soon be lifted. We do welcome your contacts (especially as we do make an effort to pray for your concerns), but do also warn that sometimes there will be significant delay in our responses.
May your Christmas & New Year be full of joy & meaning in Christ!
Sidney for the Wus
"Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10, 11)
Jadon & Evangelina's silly sayings:
- Early in the year, when Daddy called Jadon to come ("lai" in Chinese) from across the house, he replied, "I am lai-ing!!"
- Another time, when Jadon & I were talking about Zimbabwe & its economic & health needs, Jadon excitedly said, “I know! When I get older I can go to Zimbabwe & be a doctor & only charge 50 cents a visit, & if they’re really, really poor I can give them $20 cash back!”
- In the summer, as I was putting the kids into the car, I buckled Evangelina in, & she spontaneously said, "Thank you." Jadon jokingly said, "Thank you" too, to which Evangelina abruptly retorted, "No! MY thank you!"
- Just recently, Evangelina bent over close to Jadon who was playing with his toys. Afraid she would mess up what he was trying to build, Jadon called out, "Stop Evangelina! Don't touch my stuff! Don't touch my stuff!" Indignant, Evangelina bopped Jadon's head & clarified, "No! I hug you!"... & proceeded to hug her brother.
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