Ryan's bday

My cousin Ryan's birthday.

He is deaf and mute but he's very bright, helpful, neat and loving.

And he loves to share.

Ryan's a blessing.

Fun day!

The girls and I had fun preparing
We sent papa and Ryan on an errand so we can set up 

spag and tacos

Anna, Ryan, Arlene
Their mom died of cancer two months ago

prepping up for the games

First victim of icing fight

DANCE & POP
haha papa refused to be old for these games

fun! fun! fun!

Icing fight!

Birthday boy is (especially) no exception in icing fight

Ryan's looking at me for cue in blowing his candles
he can't hear the words but he knows the song

Effective communication

I have a cousin who's mute and deaf. Although I know the sign language for all 26 alphabets, it's still hard to communicate sometimes because the deaf doesn't have a sign language for every English word. 


Their sentence construction is pretty much a broken English. Kinda like this, "I go eating finished playing," which means, "I will play when I'm done eating."







One day, I taught him different games using playing cards. It's so hard to explain the object of the game I had to get a pen and paper to write the instructions in a halting English so as not to confuse him more. After teaching him three different games, I noticed that he picked up faster if I show him how we actually play it instead of communicating the mechanics.

This is a simple analogy but it weighs deeply in my heart on how true it is that action speaks louder than words, that we follow the example more than the talk.

And my prayer for myself is that I act and behave in a way that does not obscure or worse negate the reality of Christ in my life. Because I tasted how good the Lord is I want my loved-ones to experience Him too and I doubt if they would be convinced that the Lord is indeed that good if they will wonder if there is really a Lord in my life in the first place.