Influence of Fathers

I am so happy to see some of you at the Michael Chang's Youth Rally
over the Mother's Day weekend. I also got the opportunity to meet
some old and few friends at a luncheon that Michael had with Chinese
Christian entrepreneurs. In the Q&A, Michael mentioned his
gratefulness to God and his family.

In his book, "Persevering ON and OFF the Court, he mentioned how he
was a very active child who could not sit still and how he wanted
to play tennis when he saw his parents and older brother playing.
It was his parents who started playing tennis! His Dad was his first
coach in tennis!

Although Michael's great grandmother was a Christian, he did not
believe until he was a teenager, right before he turned pro and
won the French Open in 1989. His whole family sacrificed to support
his dream. Dad worked hard and mom traveled with him. Although his
parents traveled to France with him, his dad had to return to work
... so he watched Michael's victory over Ivan Lendl on TV in 1989.

After that, someone paid for his Dad's tickets so that he could
watch his son won the final. At the news conference, Michael told
the reporters, "These two weeks, regardless of what happened today,
are really going to stay with me through out my whole life. I would
like to thank everybody for making it so enjoyable. I would like
to thank my family and friends over here" as he motioning to his
right at Mom, Dad, Carl (his brother) and Jose (a friend).

On this special day, I want to show my appreciation to all the
fathers I know. Dads are very important for their children. We have
many lessons to learn when we spend time in person and in thoughts
with our fathers. I want to share with you two articles I wrote. One
about my father (written in English), one about my husband's mom
and dad (written in Chinese).

I know sometimes it is hard for people who had bad experiences with
fathers to trust our Father in Heaven, the creator of all.
I want to give all glory to God. For without His Grace, I would not
be here today. Read my articles to find out why!

http://parentingabcnewsletterinenglish.blogspot.com/2007/06/honor-your-father-in-spite-of.html

http://winnischiang.blogspot.com/2010/05/4.html

Happy Father's Day!

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Winnis Chiang, MA, MFT, Founder and Director of Parenting ABC, is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist. Fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, she specializes in helping couples and parents of American Born Chinese. To find out more about her programs and services, visit www.parentingabc.com or call 925-806-8600.