About Us

Hi. We’re David, Lam and Jacob. Living in the Phu My Hung area of Saigon, Vietnam and doing our best to carve out a good life.

So, we’ve had this idea that a blog for the family would give us a chance to share what’s come up, what’s going on and what we’re thinking/dreaming about. We also want to document our family adventures.

2 years later…

We grew to become a family of four: David, Lam, Jacob and James.

We moved to the USA in September 2013. David changed his job from University Manager to Financial Advisor. We are now living in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. We are members of the historic Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Lexington.

We have been looking back on our 7 years in Saigon with nostalgia for our tender time as a very young family and for Jacob’s very early childhood.

We loved our family trips to Singapore, Thailand and the Vung Tau beach.

In the midst of urban Saigon, we were almost changed into city creatures. Thankfully, after moving to the U.S., we found that we still love the open space and diverse natural landscapes. We actually craved the open space and green grass while living in and enjoying the urban jungle that is Saigon.

With its national parks, state reservoirs and the interstate system, America is the perfect place to explore and capture the rugged beauty of nature. Thus David and I know we have come to the right place for this stage in our journey together.

So, off we go together to state parks, national parks, historic sites, museums, interesting cities, and the charming college towns of America.

8 years later…

We have now lived in Kentucky for 8 years. In the decade between the ages of 32 and 42, we have experienced many personal, financial, and relational trials and triumphs. Compared to this decade, the previous decade between the ages of 22 and 32 was not as challenging physically, mentally and spiritually. We have learned so much through all our struggles to become stronger individuals and a closer couple as well as family.

We have now learned so much about ourselves than ever before. Self-knowledge is essential to and the beginning of wisdom. Both David and I have realized that we lean more towards introversion than extroversion. We both love our home, food, books and creature comfort. We have created a cozy yet intellectually stimulating world at home for each other and for our children. We adore staying home together. On the other hand, we are complex in that we both need adventures in life. We have taken more trips out of town as a couple and a family and realized how much we enjoy getting away from the humdrum and routine. Both David and I are realistic yet simultaneously idealistic people, which causes us to have a difficult relationship with the world outside our own. We feel that the world outside our home has lost its bearing. People now have all the technologies and conveniences to speed up their life whereas what they actually need is to slow down and have more time to be at peace and to be together.

The older I become, the more I wish to savor the moments and experience eternity in the Now. According to many sages of all faith and philosophical traditions, eternity takes place not only in the afterlife but also in the Here and Now. I believe the divine exists in my soul and I want to heed its voice more and more by staying away from the confused noises of the world. I wish to have time to think, study, read, to learn all that I can, to make food slowly from scratch and to travel whenever we can. In other words, I want to explore how to live a fulfilled life.

Through this blog, I want to document our adventures as a family, our growth as individuals and to express my joy in being alive. I also wish to explore how to live a fulfilled life that is fully human in this technology-driven, media-obsessed, fast-paced and superficial age. I hope we can inspire people to do the same with our stories.