The Ho’s 2023 Recap

We celebrated the new year of 2023 in Hong Kong with Calvin’s parents and brother’s family. Our family stayed until January 31 to cheer for Calvin’s dad Roger while he continued with his cancer treatment until the end of March. We are grateful to report that the tumor continues to shrink and the doctor said Roger is well enough to begin traveling in the summer.

We welcomed many friends and relatives into our home this summer. We thank God for our friendships. Tiffany and Calvin both enjoy to host. It was truly an amazing summer as our house was blessed by the presence of many dear guests, some coming far from Africa, New York, North Dakota, and Hong Kong.

The kids seem to thrive with homeschooling under Calvin’s supervision. They worked on subjects such as medieval England, Informal Logic, Cantonese reading and writing, and Latin (among other more common ones). The kids also enjoyed playing competitive soccer with their grassroot club called the Sheriffs FC, with many players from Spanish-speaking families. Tiffany’s veterinary practice has helped many pets and their families this year. She is now serving on an organizing committee to facilitate a board certification process for animal hospice and palliative care as a specialized field.

Since the pilgrimage to a monastery in Cyprus last year, Calvin continues to pursue Orthodox Christianity and learned the spiritual disciplines such as praying the Divine Liturgy with a local Greek Orthodox Church, praying the Orthodox Morning Prayer and Compline at home, and fasting. Tiffany continues to attend First Covenant Church’s various programs and served in the nursery ministry. The kids and Calvin learned a lot about British and Welsh history through a two-week field trip in England and Wales and visited four families, three of them recently relocated to the UK.

Tiffany journeyed to Taiwan and Singapore in the Fall, visiting with her middle school girlfriends from Hong Kong and another friend who moved to Singapore.

The family had an amazing one-week road trip in Ireland. We rented a car and drove through scenic routes such as the Dingle Peninsula, the Cliffs of Moher, and learned about Irish history in Dublin and Newgrange.

We are thankful to God for another year of learning, working, and creating precious memories as a family. While it is a blessing to see each other a lot because of homeschooling and the family business, God is also stretching us when we are sent out to different places, such as to our different faith communities, and on separate trips such as the Asia and Europe excursions. The kids are very independent and inquisitive, which makes it really fun and easy to take them on longer trips. Tiffany needs self-care time and her reunion trip in Asia was a huge gift for rest and rejuvenation. We hope this update finds you well. Please leave us a comment below or PM us so we can catch some updates from you!

Blessings,

The Hos

P.S. we missed Calvin’s grandma, who went home to be with the Lord in July, 2023. We think about her a lot, and relish the 3 days we got to spend with her in Maui in December 2022, while we were en route to visit Calvin’s dad in Hong Kong.

P.S. 2: Calvin’s friends Fady who lives in Zahle, Lebanon, is running a Christmas Toy Drive for children in Lebanon. The Bay Area non-profit, Project Peace of the East Bay, where Calvin serves as a board member, is also raising fund to mobilize more volunteers to serve their local communities. Please prayerfully consider contributing to these very meaningful endeavors.