Jen and Marty Cusing Wedding

The Twenties girls fawning all over Anthony.

Dancing to a live band at the reception!

So proud of my husby!

Francis was asked to briefly tell the story of how he came to believe in Jesus Christ. Both fortunately and unfortunately, much of my husband's story revolves around God revealing his pride and self-reliance to him over the course of a few years. It might have been a painful and humiliating experience to share such deep personal sin with strangers and friends, if not for the fact that Francis finds his identity in Jesus. After learning some excruciating lessons from God, such as losing his start-up business and having to admit defeat to friends, family, and even in-laws, my husband now understands that we humans can only take pride in and revel in the person and work of Jesus, a man who humbly laid down his life for his friends and enemies alike. This is an extremely frustrating piece of knowledge because it means no amount of earthly success that we achieve means anything! (it is all a gift from God anyway) But it also means that no earthly disaster can bring us down or make us feel worthless. I respect and admire my husband so much for his humility and for the graceful way he has accepted God's challenges to his pride. He doesn't need to be full of boastful self-assurance to win over this girl! ;)

Discovering Daniel's secret talent

Roughly 15 minutes from arriving home in Mountain View at the end of our trip, Francis and I uncovered Daniel's extraordinary talent for beat boxing. I knew he was a gifted musician, but he blew us away! Francis sang along as Daniel made a variety of different sounds and beats, using only his mouth as an instrument. I love electronic music, so to hear those same sounds replicated so closely by just a human mouth was incredible. Check it out in this short video. You can't see anything because it was so dark in the car.

Visting the giant Sequoias at Mariposa Grove

I've always wanted to see the giant Sequoia trees. Luckily, we were able to swing by the park before heading home on Saturday. It took quite a while to make it into the park because it was a weekend day. We had to park at a supermarket, wait in line, and then take a hot shuttle bus packed with people about 8 miles into the park. But it was totally worth it!



One of my favorite parts of the trip came on the drive home from Mariposa Grove to the Bay Area. As we passed through rural California towns and watched the sun set over corn fields and rolling gold hills, we began to chat about God. It felt awesome to relate to my aunt and uncle as an adult believer. They were instrumental in laying the groundwork for my faith when I was a girl. In fact, I think the first time I accepted Jesus was under a tree in their backyard at a summer Bible study for kids. We played a game where everyone would ask each other questions about the Bible. Daniel gave us some stumpers concerning the order of the books of the Bible and the names of the twelve disciples. Aunt Nancy asked a piercing question about the difference of God's forgiveness between Peter and Judas. We talked about the meaning of baptism and the trap of legalism. It was an experience I will remember for many years to come.

Our trip to Yosemite with the Turner Family

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Harry!

Aunt Nancy living the Ansel Adam's experience.


My cousin Daniel exploring the rocks and caves.

Behind us is one of the most famous waterfalls in Yosemite...except in the summer dry season. Doh!

I am a big fan of miniature things. For example, dollhouses, kittens, and tiny stop signs.

When we visited the Grand Canyon two years ago with my family, Francis became obsessed with capturing this awe-inspiring shot. (That's my little brother in the background) So naturally...
I especially like the water bottle in the foreground.



Here we are climbing El Capitan.
Or just a big boulder at the foot of El Capitan.

We stopped for dinner at a steakhouse on the way home that night. Francis made me ride the horsey.

As happy as a tree-hugger in Muir Woods

My Aunt Nancy, Uncle Harry, and cousin Daniel are visiting from Cincinnati, Ohio this week. I was relieved when they said that they preferred to see Muir Woods over touring San Francisco today. I wanted to get out of the city after working all morning at the shop. I discovered that they are a great family to show around because they "oooo" and "ahhh" at the appropriate moments and because they are fun to chat with. (by the way, I've given up on caring about ending my sentences with prepositions because, damn it, this is my blog, my little piece of the Internet, and if I wanna break the rules of proper English grammar, so be it.)

The ubiquitous Golden Gate Bridge shot. A must-have for every amatuer photographer tourist.

Our Twenties community group bids farewell to a gentleman and a scholar

This evening, our 2007-2008 Twenties community group had dinner together and enjoyed fellowship as we said good-bye to our friend Billy (second from the right). He is headed back to West Point to study, back to his girlfriend and his normal life. In Billy's own words...

"I wanted to take this time to express how being a part of 20's has given me the opportunity to mature tremendously as a Christian. Being probably one of the youngest in terms of age and my coming to believe in Christ, it was so great to be able watch how everyone, married and single, interacted with each other and in their love for God. I really learned what it meant to be a Christian and what it means to have the blood of Jesus save us."

Well put. Here is another photo of Billy and the members of last year's community group. We are the losers dressed up like cowboys in the bottom right hand corner of the photo. To earn votes in the best-dressed costume contest that night, we all preformed a flawlessly Western version of the Electric Slide. Who is that studly cowboy in the fake mustache?

The power of Jesus to unite

I read a testimony written by John McCain in this week's issue of Time magazine. It concerns his time spent as a POW in Vietnam.

"In prison, my captors would tie my arms behind my back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down between my knees. I was often left like that throughout the night. One night a guard came into my cell. He put a finger to his lips signaling for me to be quiet and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me.

A month or so later, on Christmas day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw the same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or smiling at me. Then he used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross..."

McCain's testimony itself was less impressive than the obvious changes in the heart of the Vietnamese soldier. Only Jesus has the power to shape and soften a person's heart like that. When your eyes are on Him, you begin to see the world in the same compassionate way in which Jesus saw it. We are all afflicted with this self-obsessed heart. Belief in Jesus takes away the guilt of having that type of heart and gives us the freedom to love other people wholeheartedly, without fear of losing out or not being taken care of. Jesus gave the Vietnamese soldier the courage and compassion to loosen McCain's ropes. I'm glad He did, because this story really encouraged me this morning.

Preparation for the wedding day

Christine got her hair and make-up done at a salon in a Korean strip mall. This poor man tried to style my hair after he finished with Christine. First he tried to blow dry it and then brush it out. Anyone with curly hair knows both of these are big no-no's. I thanked him for his 30 second effort to fix my hair and promptly left the salon. I found an unwilling hair assistant when I got home to 360 Carmelita Drive. "Thanks to you, now I know all about flowers and how to finger-curl hair. It's not very manly." -Francis Tao


Here are my orchids looking lovely in her dark hair.

Rehearsal for Christine and Patrick's Wedding

I was blessed to be invited to be a bridesmaid by my sister-in-law Christine. I am so lucky to have gained an awesome sister by marriage! Here I am in line with her other bridesmaids, about to practice our big entrance into the wedding. From the left are Jaime and Natalie (high school friends), me, and Hazel (Patrick's sister).

Francis walked Christine down the aisle, so here they are standing in the mock ceremony. The girl in the yellow dress is Justine, Patrick's cousin and kick-butt emcee for the event.

Christine and Patrick generously bought us all dinner after the rehearsal. We just walked across the street from the wedding location to this cool little restaurant/ biker pub. They served us outside under heat lamps. You can tell Francis was enjoying the chicken in this photo. The wedding location was way up in the mountains above Palo Alto and Redwood City. It was a pretty remote location, about a 20 minute drive from the freeway on a dangerously curvy road. The reward for the long drive was the fabulously humongous redwood trees that filtered soft light onto the field where they were married. Christine loves trees, so it was perfect.

Birthday Barbecue for Jen and Jordon

Danielle hosted yet another spectacularly delicious and well-attended barbecue for our good friends Jen and Jordon. They both turned 25 in the past few days. That's the birthday guy and girl above. The spread was fabulous! Grilled burgers and Italian sausage, succulent watermelon, cherries, strawberries, and grapes, lemonade, chips and fresh, homemade salsa. Wish you were there? Can't say I blame you. Danielle is a wonderful hostess!

Everyone relaxing in the summer sun on the back patio of Danielle's boss's home. They graciously let Danielle throw parties there.

She looks so cute snuggling with Walter the Weiner Dog!

Recent Weddings We've Done

Mike and Megan Northcote on 8/1/08 in Oakland, CA. A strawberry shortcake wedding!




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Will Feeney and Brenda Flanders on 7/26/08 at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. Tall elegance!

You can kind of see the bride getting her picture taken in the background of this shot.