Welcome to my blog!

I can truly say that I’ve lived a blessed life thus far, all 40 years worth, and I owe it all to my parents who were forced to flee from their motherland (Viet Nam) to seek freedom and a better life in the United States for their five children in 1980.

Our lives were ones of peace and joy before the communist stripped us of our freedom in 1975 forcing us to flee the country we once loved.  We made the treacherous voyage on the open sea for 6 days and 7 nights (as boat people), having gotten lost a day due to the captain’s inability to find the way, although he did receive the payments from 300 refugees on the same rickety fishing boat no bigger than 8 cars put together.  We survived 3 attempts by Thai robbers who boarded our boat to steal what they could find-which was not much since we couldn’t bring any suitcases, we literally left with 3 layers of clothing on our backs.  Not to mention having to deal with the blazing sun, pouring rain, thirst, and hunger. But we prevailed and persevered.

There are more details to our story but I’ll save that for another post.  In short, my parents have made me who I am today, strong and yet sensitive, opinionated and at the same time open-minded, educated but not omniscient, compassionate and practical, loving and strict.

I truly believe in destiny and fate who have guided me to the love of my life, my college sweetheart, my Yin to my Yang, my anchor to my boat, but most importantly a great father to our four adorable, rambunctious, inquisitive children, Tyler (8), Trent (6), Sophia (3.5) and Parker (20 months).  My children, husband and my family are my life, without them, there is no reason to exist.

With that said, I’ve started this blog in 2006 at my husband’s suggestion.  It was an outlet for me to rant, rave, and it has given me a “creative voice” which I didn’t know I possess.

Thank you for letting me share my innermost thoughts, my silly stories, my celebrations, and my 2 cents!