Nursery Update

Merlion Birthday

Happy Birthday, Honey!



For Kelly's birthday dinner, we went to the Singaporean restaurant, Merlion - naturally :-) The staff, primarly immigrant workers from Malaysia (the chef who is from Penang!) cooked up some pretty authentic tasting dishes. Kelly felt right at home - well sort of.

At dinner was Rosa, Krishelle, Kelly and myself...



Happy Birthday!

Kelly's Origami Creations

Elephant Ears

25 weeks...

Painting

[study; colour: dried palm]



[nursery; colour: summer harvest]

I finished painting Amani's room-converted study into a green colour (called 'dried palm') and painted the baby's room-to-be a yellow colour (called 'summer harvest'). Kelly and I stenciled in the fern patterns with metallic green, red (bronze) and blue colours.

What's In A Name?

Coming up with baby names has been fun at times, and not so fun at times. :-) But thanks to a dream that Kelly had before we knew we were having a boy, we have the first name.

Our boy's name will be Ethan: a Hebrew name meaning, strong, firm, steadfast, constant.

And in keeping to a sort-of tradition in my family, Kelly's last name will be our children's middle name. And mine their last name. So we have a Hebrew, Chinese/Hokkien and Persian name for our son: Ethan Koay Eblaghie.

However, we have asked Kelly's family, and grandma (Ah Ma), to come up with some Chinese boy's names. Suggested names: Wen, Heng, Chun, Li Jie, Li Yong, Zhong Wei, and Zhong Ren.

Wen: stable, steady
Heng: eternal
Chun: pure
Li means: polite, courteous, gentleman, manners
Jie means: outstanding, remarkable, prominent
Yong means: brave, resourceful, courageous, valour
Wei means: strong, powerful, might, imposing, prestige
Ren means: kindhearted, benevolent, virtue, morality
Zhong means: 'in the middle', between

Names can be mixed and matched.

I personally like: Li Yong, Wei Li, Wei Ren, Li Jie ...

I have to ask what the other meanings for Zhong are, because right now I am thinking this name is not very appropriate for a first-born.

hmmm...... Ethan Koay LiYong Eblaghie ... kinda has nice (long) ring to it :-)

Belly Watch

[Kelly at 23 weeks]

Well, the baby is growing and so is mommy's belly. Kelly is now 25 weeks along, and the baby is very active - you can feel the 'kicks' which is really cool. Such a miracle this experience so far. We will post another picture in a few weeks.

Father's Day Ball

For my first Father's Day, Kelly made me a huge origami ball :-) Kelly enjoys Origami, and we have several of her creations around the home (will post some time)..

Thanks, Honey!

More Garden Pictures

First Garden Pictures of the Season

My life in places

[Zadedan, Iran]

Ever have those days when you are sitting at your desk at work, sipping your hot tea, wondering how the heck you got where you are? Life is such a rush these days, one seldom gets the opportunity to reflect on one's achievements or where they have been. More likely than not, we are probably thinking where we are going next.



[Zahedan, Iran]

Recently, I have been thinking of Zahedan, Iran - the place of my birth. I have no recollection of Zahedan. I must have been 2 or 3 years old (or 4??) when we left Iran for the Philippines. My earliest memories of Iran involve two seasons: winter and summer. Winter: I remember wearing some seriously shiny deep green rain boots and playing in the snow. We have no family pictures of these boots, so I may be just making them up!



[Iran]

Summer: I remember lying down on the floor of my grandparents' kitchen (??) looking for ping pong balls under the cupboards. And that pretty much sums up Iran-days for me :-)

My family left Iran shortly after my younger brother, Mashi, was born (1980/81). We moved to the Philippines to an island called Cebu, in a city named Mandaue. I remember quite a lot more of my childhood in the Philippines. We lived there for over six years, until I was about 8 or 9 years old. I can remember several things including the elementary school we attended. It was a private, Catholic school called CIC - Collegio de Immaculada Concepcion. It was a very strict institution where I completed kindergarten, prep, and grades 1 to 3.



[Philippines]

A lot of my childhood memories of my Philippine-days involve accidents - and usually involving my head :-P Like the one time I was sleeping in our backyard, on this concrete wall, and fell over and hit my head on the floor (on the other side/neighbors yard)...



[aerial, Cebu, Philippines]

or the time I was trying to plant a metal rod (left-over construction material) on a muddy puddle beneath a set of wooden swings in the school playground when my friend was on the "upswing" hoping he would displace the rod on the "downswing" not taking into consideration the possibility of getting stuck in the mud myself, and the time needed to execute such a brilliant plan ... end result: open wound to the eyebrow needing a few dozen stitches to close...



[tricycle, Cebu, Philippines]

oh and of course there was that time I threw a rock up into a tree hoping to dislodge a few "top-like" fruits/flowers that the kids entertained themselves with by "spinning" these things on the ground... a slight delay in the return of the stone I threw up into the tree... and I was calling for my sister holding a huge gash on my skull with both hands bloodied in a tangle mess of hair. OK so I will end my playground stories there :-) My poor parents, they've gone through so much! Hee hee...



[aerial, Vancouver, BC, Canada]

Then in 1988 we moved to British Columbia, Canada. We lived in Langley, then Burhaby, then settled in Port Coquitlam (around 25 minutes from downtown Vancouver). I went to Twelfth Avenue Elementary (Burnaby; grades 3 and 4), Cedar Drive Elementary (Port Coquitlam; grades 5, 6 and 7), George Pearkes Junior High school (grades 8 - 10) and then finally Terry Fox Secondary (grades 11 and 12).



[Haida, totem poles, Vancouver, BC, Canada]

I was very much into sports during these years. I played volleyball, tennis, track and field, basketball, badminton, and cross country (running). In sum, sports was a huge part of my "skool dayz". In the summer of 1996 I grduated from high school and was living in a dorm at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the fall. I was enrolled in first-year science, and living in Place Vanier student residence. UBC is situated on a peninsula (Point Grey) and the campus istelf is very close to several beaches and downtown Vancouver. I graduated from UBC in May 2000 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Integrated Sciences.



[Dundee, Scotland]

By the end of September 2000, I had moved to Dundee, Scotland, to start a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology. My supervisor and mentor, Professor Cheryll Tickle, is a leader in the field of vertebrate limb development. And in 2 years, 7 months and 20 days later, I successfully defended my PhD dissertation (02 October 2000 to 22 May 2003). A short experience, yes, but after four first author (or co-authored) publications, I was more than ready to move on to other adventures.



[piper, Dundee, Scotland]

I moved to Durham, North Carolina in September 2003 to start a post-doctoral research position at Duke University. Joining another giant(ess) in her field, I worked under the guidance of Professor Brigid Hogan (vertebrate organogenesis expert) - Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Duke. Two gruelling years and another first-author publication later, I moved on to do a second postdoc in the lab of Dr. Fulton Wong (Department of Ophthalmology, Duke Eye Center).

So I sit, sipping my tea, looking ahead with uncertainty, what God has in mind for me - certainly fatherhood will be a whole new journey... ;-)

R-U-H-I

[L-R: Loretta, Max, Elham and Amani]

We did it! We completed the Ruhi sequence of courses, and our now qualified tutors. We finished Book 7 titled "Walking Together on a Path of Service". For me, the completion of Book 7 marks a 6 year journey through the Ruhi Institute sequence of courses that began with Book 1 (Dundee, Scotland), Book 2 (Scotland/USA) and Books 3, 4, 6, and 7 (North Carolina, USA). Because of university obligations/studies I had to take both books 1 and 2 several times before I completed them. Amani and I have been in the same study circle since Book 2, and in fact, Amani has now completed the brand new "Book 5 - teaching Junior Youth" making him and his study group one of the first classes to truly finish the "sequence". Congratulations!

So now, I take with me all these learnings, and with trepidation and uncertainty, I take the next steps in tutoring my first Book 1 (starting on May 27th - Saturday - with co-tutor, Glen Cotten). Of course, anyone interested in learning/sharing matters of spiritual import, what it means to have an "attitude of prayer", and so much more, are most welcome to join! Or Google and search for a Ruhi study circle in your area.

Let me now thank, last but certainly not least, my Ruhi tutors over the years:
Book 1 - Farhad Varjavandi (Dundee, Scotland)
Book 2 - Farhad Varjavandi/Bob Tansik (Durham, NC)
Book 3 - Melissa Tansik (Durham, NC)/Lisa Scako (Greensboro, NC)
Book4 - Pepper Oldziey (Durham, NC)/Tai Ayankoya (Carrboro, NC)
Book 6 - Isik Cotten (Durham, NC)/Betsy Ayankoya (Carrboro, NC)
Book 7 - Azadeh Perry (Durham, NC)/Becky Dibble (Durham County,NC)/Betsy Ayankoya



[L-R: Loretta, Betsy, Max, Becky, Elham, Azdeh and Amani]

Next up for me: Book 5 (tutor: Russ George/Wake County, NC)...