Daniel, Agnes, Melissa, Jocelyn & Alaina Liu

This past 18 months have been difficult for Dan, losing his Dad (6/01), his Mom (3/02), and then his job (6/02). Thankfully he has a strong Christian mens group that has been his rock in the storms of life. In February, Dan took 10 days off and packed up Mom and 50 years of family memories. After we had her packed up, we sold the house, moved her down to live with us in Seal Beach and were preparing for another chapter of life as an extended family.

Unfortunately, one morning in March as we were getting ready for a day of doctors appointments, Dans mom had a cardio-pulmonary arrest and went into a coma. We brought the siblings together for the last rites and to say our final goodbyes. Nine months after we had scattered Dads ashes in the ocean, we did the same for Mom, hoping some would make it back across the Pacific to their homelands; they both died at age 76 (http://sangwonliu.tripod.com).

In June the telecom slowdown caught up with Dan, and after a series of downsizings he was affected. In the end, it turned out to be a five-month paid vacation, during which we made vacations a new family priority. We went for a week to Big Bear and enjoyed the beautiful Southern California Alps, we stayed in a timeshare near the lake and went boating everyday. We did some hiking and exploring with another family that we met there. Two weeks after the family returned, Agnes and Dan decided to take advantage of a timeshare week in St. Maarten and enjoyed the warm Caribbean sunshine, scuba diving and powder white beaches. The following month we went as a family to Kauai and stayed in Princeville for a week. The highlights were swimming with the sea turtles and the helicopter ride.

Agnes is still leading the Girl Scout troop for Alaina and eleven other 2nd graders and is also busy co-leading a class of 4 & 5 year olds for CBS bible study. She is working about 2 days a week at Los Alamitos hospital as a clinical pharmacist. Melissa played JV tennis again this year, and finds herself up quite late studying her 10th grade subjects. Jocelyn is very involved with tennis lessons, the academy, and club tennis. Her classes are going perfectly, and she still enjoys school and its challenges. Alaina is in a Christian dance class at church and likes the ballet which is accompanied by Christian music.

In November Dan started at Raytheon, the same week the severance package from Corning ran out, which was a real answer to prayers. He is in the Optics and Lasers department, back at the same facility where he had his first job out of college, but now with a much nicer office. After Aerospace, Medical then Telecom, he has started the cycle over again.

Hope this holiday finds you well and enjoying quality time with your loved ones. We value your friendship and hope that we can stay in touch. God has a wonderful plan for each of us and takes us on a journey through which he helps us to mature in our understanding of ourselves and our relationship to him and others.

danliu5@hotmail.com Dan Agnes Melissa Jocelyn Alaina Liu