Blog Number Three - Cain and Abel

After Adam and Eve's little mishap they had two sons: Cain and Abel. Cain became a farmer and Abel became a shepherd. In the hopes that the eldest son would fulfill a Bible prophecy that said an offspring would destroy the one who led them away from their perfect life, Adam and Eve named him Cain meaning "something produced" while naming the younger son Abel meaning "exhalation" or "vanity." So basically they favored Cain over Abel. Well, apparently it was the other way around for God because he saw goodness in Abel while badness in Cain, so he accepted Abel's offering of the best sheep from his flock and rejected Cain's offering of the best veggies in his garden. A lot of people wonder if God only approved of Abel more because of his offering, but it was because he loved God purely from the heart while Cain was only going through the motions in order to receive blessings from God. Cain became jealous of Abel and God warned him not to act unwisely against his brother, but he didn't listen. Cain took Abel to an empty field and murdered him. 

Yu, Jessie, Cathy, and Rei

Goofing off at Yellowstone National Park

Cathy and me stand-up paddleboarding in Seattle, WA

Thankfully, my siblings and I didn't go as far as trying to kill each other to win mom and dad's attention. I have a sister (11 years older than me) and twin brothers (3 years older than me). My sister was nine when my brothers were born. For years she had been the only child. She had always had a relationship with my grandparents that I never had because she lived in Japan for four years before moving to the US. When my brothers were born, the attention went from her to my brothers. And because there were two of them, she had to take part in babysitting them. Then I was born three years later. Now she had to help take care of two three-year-old boys and a newborn baby sister. She learned responsibility at a very early age. My brothers made the most ruckus. The elder brother (by twelve minutes) went to the ER two or three times because he kept cracking his head open (he jumped off the bed and the high chair). Way to go bro. The younger brother was a troublemaker and my mom was constantly yelling his name. My sister was the bossy one (naturally being the oldest). She picked fights when she was little, but she turned out okay. I was the quiet one. My mom would forget about me when we would go to gatherings. She would drive away with my brothers and sister, leaving me in the arms of some family friend. Being the youngest one, my siblings tell me that I was the most spoiled one. While I highly resent that comment, it might be true. But I think the fact that I didn't destroy every single toy like my brothers did and I was forgotten about a lot of the time factored into the equation. We aren't exactly big rivals. I mean sure we have our competitive moments. My sister is a natural leader, smart, responsible, social, and outgoing. My eldest brother is very artistic, also likes to take the leadership role, and athletic. The younger brother is more quiet, logical, a daydreamer, and also athletic. I'm the huge melting pot. I'm quiet, until I'm loud. I think too much, except when I think too little. I'm artistic, but not to the point of my eldest brother. I'm smart in school, but not so much in social life. I'm athletic (I can beat my brothers at swimming and running). We're all very different so we don't have a big rivalry against each other. We have the occasional brotherly/sisterly arguments, mainly between my sister and my eldest brother, my sister and me, the younger brother and me, and brother against brother (the younger twin and my sis don't argue as much). Despite these petty fights, we are better siblings than Cain and Abel.