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Zana Wing Yau Gray

@hellozanagrace

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Hey guys! The new book I have a chapter in is available for free on Kindle today on Amazon 🎊🎉🤗🎉🎊 We were allowed to submit 2 stories so I copied and pasted one from my Facebook expecting the editor to reject it, and then wrote one I thought she would find more acceptable 😁🤗 but she actually decided to accept them both by combining them! Thanks Patricia for letting me openly and honestly share my heart and story of my pageantry experience in about 1272 words 😂 (I got some extra words since she had me combine my stories 😁👍🏽🙌🏽💖) And thanks to @chiantelle and @senator_martinyonah for letting me reference you as our stories briefly intertwined 🤗 I don’t have a kindle yet but was able to get it to work on my computer 😊💖 I’m on location 1628 - 1686 from what I can see there 😁😄💖 If you enjoy it, leave a review! If you don’t, please think that quietly to yourself 😂🤣😂🤣😂😁🤗👍🏽🙌🏽💖 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0F3V1VJ6B by @hellozanagrace

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a year ago

Happy Birthday to my Main Man - Batman! @gotham_peace_keeper 🦇 I was bit disappointed that he didn’t want me to get him a fancy cake this year, as it has been so fun for me to think of things he likes and then present them to him in cake form 😁😆 This year I was planning to get him a Peace Lily Cake, on top of his peace lily replacement, as the poor guy let me give away the peace lily he had bought for himself to someone else for their birthday. #marriage 😁😁😁 😅😅 We have had 10 of his birthdays together now, and the man is super clear I like to give stuff away, and has become much more accepting that things in our home that he loved may just disappear 🫣😁😅😂😜💖 We have loved the cakes we’ve gotten from our friends at @lionsbakery_24 and cake pops we got from @heycakethis 💖💖 Here’s some shots of our more recent celebrations, and by that I mean the kiddos birthdays this year (W / our anniversary gathering was small but we had K’s entire preschool and their fams over 😱😆🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊) and hubs 20 cake pops for 20 years in the force 🐴👮‍♂️🚔🫡 I love that my man who identifies with Batman so much, also loves peace lilies 😊🥹💐 May the Peace of the God, which transcends all understanding, guard his heart and mind in Christ Jesus today and everyday! 💖💖 Love you Sweetheart! 😊😘😘💖💖 by @hellozanagrace

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2 years ago

Just wanted to give some love to my friends at @rnrmusicclass and @colouritcantonese for their work building the Cantonese Community in BC 💖

Eveline found me in a Facebook group somewhere bemoaning my total lack of ability to pass Cantonese on with my kids and invited me to her Cantonese Parents in BC group which actually has 1600+ members now 😳

My first in person encounter with her was when I went to the free event she threw at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Classical Chinese Garden where she was doing a free circle time as well as organizing tonnes of other amazing stuff for all of us who were able to go out there 🥹 I was just happy to be able to get into the garden with kiddos for free 😁😄🫣💖

Lucky for me she was old friends with Priscilla from @colouritcantonese who lives in Burnaby and they started a class not far from me 😃👍🏽🙌🏽💖

Eveline also has a little readers club where she reads stories in Cantonese every week where peeps can tune in for free 😊😃💖

And Priscilla has been running a free Cantonese Circle time @tommydouglas_library and New Westminister Library regularly for a while! 😁👍🏽🙌🏽💖

I know what it’s like to run a business and I appreciate how much volunteer work they’ve done for the community so I wanted to help promote their paid class Priscilla is taking over at Nikkei this fall 😊💖

Our fam has loved going to those classes when Eveline was running them 😄 the Cantonese songs she wrote for them are super fun and being able to build some Cantonese Community has been so sweet 🥰

Thanks for all you do Ladies! 💖💖 Check them out to find the info to register for their class which runs from 10:30-11:10 on Thursdays at Nikkei for ages 0-5 😊

Use the code EARLYBIRD in the coupon field for a discount 😁 (I am not getting paid for this promotion 💖 I just think both of them deserve to get paid for all the work they have put in 😁👍🏽🙌🏽💖)

Or come see me at the free class Priscilla runs at Tommy Douglas on Fridays at 10:30 😄 Though that one is crazy full and busy now, and we don’t use all the cool songs Eveline and friends wrote 😁🫣🤷🏻‍♀️💖

The paid class would be better for a much smaller class size! 😁😁😁👍🏽👍🏽🙌🏽👀🫣 by @hellozanagrace

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2 years ago

Happy Autumn! I would say the fall is a beautiful time, that does not get enough credit, but the way things are going people could honestly wonder if I am talking about the season, or the fall of civilization 😁😅🤪 In grade 5, when the question of which season was my favourite was posed, I said the fall because spring and summer seemed like they would be the most obvious and popular answers and I didn’t want to give the same answer as everyone else 😅 Now I feel like I can say it with truth and sincerity. There is something wonderful and exciting about the start of a new school year, it’s not too hot, the pumpkin spice smells great and the leaves are bright and beautiful 😊😍🤩 Also my birthday is in this season and as I enter into the Autumn season of my life there’s many things to appreciate about that as well 💖 I am grateful for my husband who still manages to surprise and amaze me like he did this year by making 2 different kinds of moon cakes and all the festive decorations! I finally understand what it cost my family to take me to all those nice Chinese dinners and how ridiculously loved I have been. And through my husbands family I get to enjoy the traditional Western Thanksgiving dinners as well. Hubs planned so many fun outings for us, including the Stave Falls Power Station, Pumpkins After Dark, the Burnaby RCMP open house, and the Loft Country Pumpkin Patch, and my Jesus really came through with the perfect birthday blessings. All I wanted was to see one friend on my birthday and to have cake and my sister sent me a text in the morning asking if I wanted to go for lunch 😊😃💖 We were going to go for sushi because we both love it, but all the places near us were not open for the window of time that we had. Vietnamese places were open though and that was exactly what I had requested to one of my besties for my birthday 🥹💖 And Hubs did get me a cake that day without me having to ask him to 😁😁😁😅😅👍👍🙌🏽💖💖🍰🎂🍰✊🏽 My daughter worked diligently to make me a nice card and this really is going to be the most amazing season, seeing my kiddos spring into all they will be able to do in the summer or their lives 🤓🤗🤩💖 by @hellozanagrace

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3 years ago

Happy Super Belated Birthday to pretty much all my fam this year 😁😅 I can’t believe I haven’t posted for my son whose birthday was in January yet 😱🫣 As a youngest child myself who is extremely committed to fairness to my kids I feel very lame for this, but it’s better late than never to post evidence of the Love! When M was 2 she got a Peppa cake so W got a George one to match 😊👍🙌🏽💖🐖🐖💖 And it was so nice to be able to celebrate with my step mom and cousin this year 😊😃 We continued with the Peppa theme and had more characters made to represent others we wanted to celebrate with their corresponding Chinese Zodiac characters 🐶🐀🐉 Thanks to @jaybird_creations for that, and @lionsbakery_24 for the Saje cake this year as we continue to get hubs cakes for him of his favourite things (so far we’ve also done Batman and Beer 😆) Looking forward to more special cakes and celebrations now that I know my friend from our Local Buy Nothing Group is a baking master too a la @heycakethis 😃👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🙌🏽💖🎂🎂🎂 Thinking of Constable Rick O’Brien and his family today as well 😔 Grateful that our fam has been able to have another year together on earth, as that is not guaranteed to any of us. So sorry his wife and the 6 kids they share have to face this devastating loss right now 😔😭😖💖🫡💖 by @hellozanagrace

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3 years ago

Belated post about the Hallowe’en Shenanigans! Thankful for and gotta give Propz to my festive hubs who makes the good times happen even though he’s totally swamped at work! Pumpkins After Dark, Hallowe’en Gingerbread House, Pumpkin carving -and even a spooky projector video on the window with music 🎃🎃🎃 Belle and her Minion were probably not quite as impressed as their mom but hopefully one day they can look back on this and remember how much and how well their father loved them ☺️😍🥰💖💖 Thankful also for the friends who passed on these costumes to us and spent time with us this past weekend! 💖 by @hellozanagrace

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4 years ago

Happy Father’s Day to this Man Among Men. You are a True Light and Lighthouse in our City and in our Home 😃🌞🔥💖 We are so lucky to have you as a leader in our family, and while it has been hard to share you with the church these last 4 years you while you served as an Elder I am glad you were able to use your gifts so faithfully, as always 💖💖 Who makes their own Father’s Day Brunch and then washes the dishes and takes out the garbage, as well as installing security cameras and doing laundry? That’s my man! Lol, at least I got him something to wash that brunch down with 😁😆 @gotham_peace_keeper - you are an awesome oak of righteousness and if our son grew up to be a father like you, I would be so proud. 💖🎄💖 Also super proud and grateful for my own Daddy who worked so hard to give us a head start so we could be where we are today 💪🏼💪🏼 This was the first year since my mom died when I was in grade 5 that we were almost together in person for Father’s Day. And the first time ever, my Daddy got a Father’s Day cake 🍰🎂🍰 I hope it is the first of many!! Lol my Dad may have had enough of me, being stuck in Vancouver so long because of Covid, but our family can’t get enough of him! Gong Gong was one 伍祖裕’s first words! 😃🥹💖💖 by @hellozanagrace

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4 years ago

Praise God, all the days ordained for us were written, before one of them came to be, and as we ask, we receive! 💖 Times of birth and death are so humbling, as it is obvious in those times, if we allow things to happen naturally, how little we can control. Similarly to how I counted minutes between contractions during Iabor, the night before she died I counted my Aunty’s breaths, trying to assess how much longer we had. In both cases, I still didn't really have a clue. I prayed M would be born on April 25th, the perfect date according to the Miss Congeniality movie, to match my Miss BC 2013 Title 😁😆🎽 but instead she was born the next day, within minutes of when her Aunty was being proposed to. God knew her partner had planned that special moment months ahead of time and my plans for “the perfect date” couldn't compare to His plans for “the perfect minutes!” When I was pregnant with M, Aunty Rowena (鳴茜) got very sick. We almost lost her then, but she asked God for a few more years, and she got them! It has been harder than I could have imagined having my Aunt’s last years correspond with my children’s first, but I am blessed she got to meet them all. The day before she went to the hospital for the last time, I got a text to let me know a gift that had been bought for me years ago was arriving that week. It was an answer to prayer as I asked God whether or not I should pray for Aunty’s healing. “Ladybug Fly Away Home,” is what it said. When she found out she had weeks left, she asked for a few more months, and she got them too, along with eternal life! T was our butterfly, transformed out of this life too soon, M is our ladybug, a symbol of God's faithfulness to our family, and W is our bumblebee, who I believe will bring an important contribution to the world. I was disappointed I was not able to be sitting by my Aunt’s side when she passed, but a home care nurse we hired to cover the time between when my dad left and I arrived was there, and that day she happened to be wearing bumblebee scrubs. Grateful to God, who has made Aunty Rowena a symbol of His faithfulness to us as well 🐞and for the important contribution she has been to all who knew her🐝💖 by @hellozanagrace

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4 years ago

Yesterday I woke up to a small scale tragedy 😛 I opened the fridge to pull out the breast milk that I had pumped and then squeezed out by hand for over an hour the night before, only to find it wasn’t there 😳 I looked around frantically and saw in my tired stupor I had left it sitting on the kitchen counter. It was there all night long, so I had to pour it down the drain 😱 I was so sad 😭 I couldn’t shake my sorrow for a while even though I knew my daughter wouldn’t care because she likes formula. It just broke my heart that I would not be able to give her something good that I had worked so hard to be able to give her 😔Honestly I wanted to cry about it 🥺 The depth of my reaction surprised me, so I wondered, “Does God feel this way too -when He wants to give me something and He can’t, because I won’t let Him into certain areas of my life?” The Bible says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and if anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in and eat with that person and they with Him (Rev 3:20). Back then there were no handles on the outside of doors, so the only way He could get in was if the door was opened from the inside. I have seen how awesome and kind he is when sexuality and finances are surrendered to Him and His ways -What other areas would He show up if He could only get my attention when I am not distracted by a million other things? And how much does it hurt His heart when He can’t pour out all the good things He wants bless us with, because we don’t want Him in our life. This Easter I am remembering again the great price Jesus paid on the cross, so that He in His Holiness could come and dwell with us in our sinfulness without having to pour out the wrath we deserve. Instead He sets a table for us in the presence of our enemies, He anoints us and overflows our cups with goodness and love. Missing out on that, would be a large scale tragedy. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2 *bottle pictured had already had the milk poured out and replaced by soapy water 😬😞💖 by @hellozanagrace

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6 years ago

Had such a lovely time celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary with a Couples Spa Retreat and our first night away by ourselves since babe was born! Thanks #MyShangriLa for the great experience and of course to our Mum @fmagray4901 for babysitting! Lol the last photo is kind of a good snapshot of who we are 😁 @gotham_peace_keeper looking good and so well put together- and me, comfortable and happy, and not quite willing to put my clothes back on yet 😁😆💖 by @hellozanagrace

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7 years ago

Happy Birthday to this guy! Thanks for always making sure there’s enough formula and for making our house into a home! It’s so sweet how my family built our house when I was born, and now you’re renovating it for us and our babe! Our daughter is lucky to have such a cool dad 😄Love you! 😊😘😘😘💖 #dad #daughter #squad 😄👍🙌🏼💖 @gotham_peace_keeper 💖 by @hellozanagrace

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7 years ago

Half an hour late, but taking some time to remember my son on his birthday 💖 Grateful that my daughter looks so much like him so I can get glimpses of what he might have looked like, so full of life! They are the perfect mix of me and my husband 💖 Kenzie was pretty grumpy at our friend’s wedding rehearsal today, but we’re looking forward to celebrating with her and them in a few hours! 💖 It’ll be an interesting wedding with 3 bridesmaids with newborn babes! 😆😯😁😅💖👶🏻👶🏻👶🏼💖 by @hellozanagrace

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7 years ago