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These are pictures of Dave's family and friends!
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Chan-hi and Susie share a drink!
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Dave and Chan-hi
Chan-hi loves to be with his uncle! Doesn't he have a mischievous gleam in his eye? Maybe he gets it from his uncle. I've already told Susie and Steve that I plan to be the "bad uncle" in his life, the one who takes him to Coney Island and lets him eat junk food all day long, and the one who will teach him how to do all sorts of fun stuff that his mother thinks are too dangerous, like surfing and sailing and roller hockey. I'm so proud of this little guy. Although he can't fluently talk quite yet, I think that's because he's so darn smart (and his parents are so perceptive) that he can easily communicate just about anything. Case in point: Susie pointed to my picture the other day and asked who it was. He replied, "Unka Day!" (Uncle Dave). She then pointed to a picture of my dad and asked who he was. Chan thought about it for a minute, then replied "Abba Unka Day!" (Abba is the Korean word for father). How's that for cool? |
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Dave and Chan-hi 2
Chan-hi's thoughts: "Amazing, an adult care-giver who does whatever I want!" Ride 'em cowboy!
Susie says that from about 18 months, Chan-hi decided he was too was an adult and refused to sit in high chairs, eat baby food, etc... He really is like a little man, actually. At seven months, I was quietly munching a bag of potato chips after dinner, and noticed he was intently staring at me. After a minute or so, I called out to my sister and asked her what he was thinking. "Oh, he wants some of your potato chips." At seven months?!? Well, I offered the bag to him, and he cautiously stuck a hand in and withdrew a fistful of chips. Carefully watching me to make sure I didn't retract the offer, he proceeded to first eat the chips sticking out between his chubby little fingers, then the ones held by his fingers, and finally the ones in his grubby little palm. He didn't lose a single one. I was stunned. 7 months! Other examples of his little man-ness are observation of seeing him, at 1 yr of age, walking around with a 5lb bag of carrots, or grasping a bottle of wine by the neck with one hand. It's true, I saw it myself. Eat dinner with him sometime: you'll see his favorite foods are kim-chee (a spicy Korean cabbage dish) and man-eul-jang-a-jee (a pickled garlic dish). He's a strange, but very funny, kid and something about all that kind of impresses me!
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Obligatory baby picture...
Yup, that's me as a baby! Not surprisingly, it looks like I'm eating something... |
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A young Sohn family...
Family day at the zoo! From left to right are me, my dad, Susie, and a baby Sarah perched on top! My mom must be taking the picture. |
Current Sohn family...
These are my parents, enjoying a day with Susie and the little Chan-monster. Legendary for his work ethic and compassion for his patients, my dad's a cardiologist who laughs a lot, enjoys salami and super-spicy foods, and home improvement. The most hilarious mother in the world, my mom is a real estate agent extraordinaire who is also an opera-trained singer, although she almost never sings. My folks are very funny, very kind people. When Susie, Sarah and I grew up and left home, they got kind of sad with the empty nest and made a koi goldfish pond in the backyard (unfortunately sacrificing Sarah's herb garden to do so). They never got to the point where they named any fish after us, but they do say the one called "Submarine" reminds them of me, because he's always the first to eat. |
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Susie's family!
This is my sister Susie, with her husband Steve and baby Chan-hi. Nicknamed "Sleepy Hollow" by my Mom for her laid-back, gentle and yes, sleepy, manner, Susie's the oldest and is super sweet and nice. She is however, very unpredictable at times, and is just surprising. Once my dad and I were cutting down trees by the cabin, and my job was to chainsaw the trunks into logs. Now chainsawing is actually kind of stressful, because you're always worried the blade may hit a knot or a rock or something super hard and skip back up in your face. So there I was sweating it when, as he left to do something else, he called out, "Oh, by the way, don't let Susie do it yet, I haven't taught her how." I thought he was crazy - who'd WANT to do this nutty job? Well, sure enough, Susie ambled by and, after watching for a few minutes, asked, "Hey, can I do it?" I just about fell down. Another classic Susie story is when we visited Europe together and climbed the Eiffel Tower. Now I'm not scared of much, but I do get a little nervous with heights, especially if we're not moving. So climbing down, I was really nervous and cautious with each step. Imagine my surprise when, on about the third step down, I felt someone shove me from behind. When my heart started beating again, I looked up and there was Susie laughing her head off (you'd never guess it, right?). Her justification: "You just looked so scared." What is that?!? She kept doing it all the way down too. |
An old picture of Sarah and Dave...
I used to do a lot of photography in high school, developing film and prints or what not. And I printed up a lot of gag shots, one of which you see to the right. Sarah was a pretty good sport about it, don't you think? |
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More recent Sarah and Dave...
Sarah is the youngest and most talented of the three of us. She's the smartest, the most musically gifted, and definitely the coolest. She is also pretty wise, as evidenced by the fact that Susie and I often ask for her advice, but never the other way around. This despite the fact that she's 8 and 7 years younger than Susie and I respectively. I really appreciate Sarah (who I nicknamed "Mi Favorito") because she really has a soft heart, despite a sometimes tough exterior. And though she often wishes she didn't, she really knows my mind. "It's pretty scary in there," she laments. But it's nice to have someone quickly understand you, like when I called her the day after meeting Sandra. After hearing just a few sentences, Sarah immediately saw this was completely new and different and said, "Oh my gosh, David, this is huge! Do you realize that your life could end up being divided into pre- and post- Sandra periods?" She's always been the greatest little sister I could've asked for, and in two years she's going to make a kick-butt lawyer (unlike her brudder) when she graduates from the University of Michigan law school! |
Matt, Mike and Sparky Andersen
Here's a unique picture from my high school days with my buddies Matt Collins (2nd from right), Mike Lee (far right). We're at Tiger Stadium (before it got torn down) with Sparky Andersen, then-manager of the Detroit Tigers and the only manager in major league history who's won championships in both the AL (Detroit Tigers) and the NL (Cincinnati Reds). Pretty cool, hunh? |
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Steve Chen!
And here's a picture of me and my good buddy Steve Chen the night we made chili for a Bible study potluck. Steve is one of the greatest people I know: smart, funny, loyal and moral. He's currently a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles, and I've heard it said from more than one source that he's the best they've ever worked with. Even better, he's a Christian who always seems to be growing in his faith. As it turns out, Steve was actually my wingman the night I met Sandra, and when he saw me completely bowled over by her, did an admirable job of trying to make me look good. "He was really trying to sell you," Sandra later agreed. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell you the springroll story he told that night. It's a classic. |
Kwong Tan!
This is Kwong Tan, my buddy who looks a lot like Jet Li but only Sandra and I seem to think so. This guy is super cool - a great basketball player, amazing chef, and compassionate physician. Here we are in San Felipe, a fishing village by the Sea of Cortez in the California Baja. Looks relaxing, doesn't it? |
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A picture's worth a thousand words...
People keep asking me, "How did you KNOW that Sandra was the one?" Well, I can't explain it any better than you just do. But I admit it's shocking and unbelievable: I wouldn't have believed it myself unless it happened to me. One thing I can say is that I'm as surprised as any of you, and know how poor Henry over to the left feels after something equally shocking and unexpected (but far more pleasant) happened to me on 4/26. |
Baptism - June 6, 1993
This is my testimony before my baptism. I was not raised a Christian, but found faith in college. I got baptized three days before graduation, in front of the people of my college fellowship. These guys were really amazing. I couldn't believe how nice they were, and how they were like a family to one another. An amazing witness by an entire community... "They are no fools who give what they cannot keep, to gain what they cannot lose." -Jim Elliot. |
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