double the family, double the fun

...writing to u from our salinas home, located about 310 miles north of our aliso viejo home...

....this gives us our first opportunity -- since starting this blog -- to introduce you to claire's family members who live and work in the salinas/monterey area...many of u who have met her family would agree with us that they are so wonderful and warm and fun-loving!...

...claire's dad, sam, goes to work early in the morning (hence no pic yet)...for the last 9 yrs, he's been teaching korean to u.s. intelligence personnel @ the defense language institute in monterey, ca...he's an outstanding teacher (he earned his m.a. in education from usc) who loves his students like a father...he also disciplines them like a father too...this was evident when we saw him interacting with his students last month, we could just tell that he cared for them way beyond what a military teacher would be expected to do and in turn his students really respect and try hard for him...but u could also tell that they didn't wanna mess with him either...

...this morning, we weren't awake to say "o-hi-yo go-zai-mas" (good morning) to dad...rather, the first person we saw this morning was the cable guy from comcast...who woulda thought that when he said he'd be here from 8 to 12, he'd be here closer to 8 than 12?

...but claire's stepmom -- sung -- and her twin stepsisters, deborah and olivia, were busy getting ready for work...life for them is kinda crazy at times, but they have no problems laughing at themselves...while we have so much fun spending time with each one of them, when mom and our sisters are all together, they are a riot (deb and liv are two of the funniest people in the world and mom loves to laugh)....we love you so much and we're so glad we're family!!!

...(left to right) here's deborah (older sister by 4 minutes), mom sung, and olivia: service with spunk and a smile...

...while dad goes to work, the dynamic threesome own and operate three fashion accessories stores called "ciao"...mom started the first ciao about a yr ago and the business has quickly grown...deb and liv run two of the stores in salinas while mom is getting ready to launch another ciao in the capitola mall in santa cruz (hmm...as church planters, shouldn't we be taking notes?)...if you're in either area or simply driving through, come and check out the stores (the original ciao is in the salinas mall off the main street exit of the 101 fwry) and say hi as friends of ours...and when you do, you may hear a jingle i made up for ciao (@ ciao you'll say wow!), but for now, they're still not biting...

...here's "ciao I" in the mall...

...where you'll find lots of sparkly and fun stuff that makes you say "wow!" (not biting either?)...

...i should blend in perfectly in japan...

...and across the street from the salinas mall, there's "ciao II"...

...where they see lots of...

....after a long day of work (retail hours are killer), the entire kim family shared a late dinner...

...aren't our sisters sooooo cute???

...dad and mom, widows when God led them to each other, just celebrated their 10 yr anniversary...with each passing yr, it is so evident that God brought them together to complement and complete each other...

...always daddy's little girl...claire got her sunshine smile, quiet strength, and humble faith from her dad, a presbyterian elder...

...last but not least, we can't leave out two other very important members of the salinas family: julie and bebe (here with deborah)...