Beauty for Ashes

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while... So many things have happened. School started and I've been trying to get used to my schedule. Mondays are my longest days because I start from 10 in the morning and end at 5 at night. Before I dropped Econ, it used to be from 8 in the morning until 5. Dropping Econ was a tough decision.. but I'm glad I dropped it because now I have more time to blog, more time for small groups, and more time to sleep in! I'm starting to get the hang of school. Research is pretty good too. Not hard at all. But a lot of washing dirty test tubes and touching lots of larvas and dead fruit flies.

Small groups haven't really started yet.. But the women's small group at Newsong did. We're doing a Beth Moore's Bible study about Breaking Free. Breaking free from strongholds and from struggles and from addiction.. mostly in general oppressors that's keeping us from living out God's glory. I was pretty scared getting into the study because it was way out of my comfort zone.. I'm still kind of scared, but I know that it'll be a good stretching of spiritual growth. My own small group has not launched yet.. I'm scared about that too. Actually, yesterday was the kickoff event and I realized that it's going to be hard getting people to join my small group. In fact.. I was a little discouraged.. but! how can I be discouraged already?! I talked to Kevin and he made a really good point.. "Think of it this way.. a small number is not a bad thing. I'd rather have a small group that starts out small, but grows deeper than a small group that starts big and people leave." Kevin made a real good point..

I think I found the perfect Bible verse for my small group's vision.. I shouldn't say "my small group," but Kristen's and Yvonne's too. Isaiah 61:1-3. 

The Good News of Salvation

 ¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,

      Because the LORD has anointed Me 

      To preach good tidings to the poor; 

      He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 

      To proclaim liberty to the captives, 

      And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 

       ² To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, 

      And the day of vengeance of our God; 

      To comfort all who mourn, 

       ³ To console those who mourn in Zion, 

      To give them beauty for ashes, 

      The oil of joy for mourning, 

      The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; 

      That they may be called trees of righteousness, 

      The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

This verse speaks out to me because that's what service is all about. To cater to the poor, to be a listener, to love.. I want to make the women in the small group feel beautiful and to plant God in them. Beauty for ashes literally means taking something that is hurtful or painful and troublesome and making something beautiful. I don't know what small groups will look like, but I truly want God to be our #1 member!

1st day of Welcome week

School officially started with the festivities of welcome week.

Today, I helped flyer for the Edge. I didn't expect to help today, but I ended up helping most of the day. It was pretty hot in the sun that I got a bad burn on the back of my neck. It's an outline of my shirt. lol. Pretty funny.

Today was pretty cool because I got to reconnect with my classmates. It's not like I didn't have a good relationship with them last year and the year before, but it's just that I have the opportunity to hang out with them more because Kevin is not around. It feels pretty weird not having Kevin around. I really miss him a lot because all my college years, Kevin was always around. It's not the same without him. But! I managed. I managed to keep my day busy with helping to make over 30 phone calls, and helping to do rides for Praise Night, and helping to take freshies out to eat after Praise Night.

Praise night at Newsong was good. 2 hours of worshiping! Intense.. kind of long.. but it's a good starting kick for the beginning of the year. I took 3 freshmen girls and a a boy to the event. They were all sweet and talkative. It's cool how they just met each other and yet they already seem so close. After Praise night, a bunch of us just mingled.. like always.

The freshmen are so sweet. We went to In & Out and just chilled. They bought me dinner because I drove them around! I got to eat double double and animal style fries. So much! I love the freshmen. So sweet!

So at night night, I went to the Arc just to check out Late Night at the Arc. It was crowded like always. But It was cool seeing a lot of my hall mates and Devin! I was dead beat tired though! From being sun burned to being overly enthusiastic all the time to having food coma. It was a great first day of welcome week. All I know what I'm going to do tomorrow is to sleep! Yay for sleep!

Redeemed Cruise Coupon

I'm back in Irvine!

I like my apt. It's cozy and clean. My room is pretty small, but all the furniture is laid out to make the most efficient space possible. I like my room too.

Shared desk. Shared Futon bed.

Spacious.

A part of an anniversary gift that Kevin gave me was a hand-made coupon that said Sunset Cruise, expires 9/30/10. I got to redeem that coupon today because Kevin took me on a cruise at Newport.

It was such a nice cruise because we got to see the sunset

and because I got to spend time with Kevin.

We ended the night watching "While you're sleeping," my favorite chick flick. Kevin likes it. He copies the guy main character by saying, "I love you back" instead of I love you too. Lol. (Trying to be cool.. Just kidding, Kevin is cool).

ELC

ELC stands for Edge Leadership Conference. This past weekend I moved into my new apt and I attended ELC.

Moving was fun because I got to camp out on the new carpet floor. I, however, did not have to do the hard part of moving furnitures because I was in ELC basically the whole day Friday and Saturday, and half of Sunday. Thanks to Kevin and my sister, and my parents, they got the hard stuff done.

My new home!

ELC was amazing. I think I needed it. I think everyone needed it. I don't know about other leaders, but when I came into the high school room at Newsong, I just felt unworthy of being there.

The first day was so powerful already. The whole ELC theme was stories. So a bunch of guest speakers came and shared their stories. Dave Gibbons started out with blessing us via video, giving us advise to "build trust, and bare pain" and to "make space for the unexpected." Ed Salis and Stephen Bay spoke about their stories and how prayer is powerful tool. They introduced a movie called Furious Love which bascially says that the most powerful weapon against evil is love. And what I saw in the movie was some seriously scary darknesses in the world. We ended the day with a prayer exercise. (side note: a prayer etiquette is to always ask the person you're praying for , "may I lay my hand on your shoulder.") I got to team up with another person and instead of asking for prayer requests, we just sat there and listened to the Holy Spirit for prayer guidance. It was such a new thing for me, but I like it.

The second day was full of activities and speakers. The morning session Neha, Nancy, and Sam

spoke about their stories from God being in the midst of 9/11 to God burning on to God being everywhere. The morning session was utterly beautiful because we did an honesty activity and it took a lot of discomfort, but courage to stand up when certain questions applied to us. The afternoon session we had an a few hours to spend alone time with God at the park. I learned a lot about myself during that time, I learned a lot about Kristen, and I learned a lot about our vision.

The night session was soooo amazing! There was worship and then there was this couple who came and spoke. Their love is so beautiful and so Godly, I really admired the love they had for each other and for God. Tyson and Rehana reminded me of Kevin and me because Tyson is Philipino and Rehana is Indonesian. lol. Hearing their love story and how God worked through their individual stories to bring them together was beautiful. What really touched me was when Tyson proposed to Rehana. He took her to a beach and on the beach there were two chairs waiting for them. On one chair there was a Bible that had Rehana's name and Tyson's last name. The next thing she knew, Tyson was on one knee. He then got a bucket of water and washed her feet. What a beautiful and Godly moment! That touched me a lot. After their message, I got the courage to talk to Rehana and I just connected with her about Me and Kevin. She's an amazing woman, I'm really glad I got to meet her and I hope to continually keep in touch with her.

Sunday Morning! I served two services at Noah's place. 3-4 year old kids are soooo cute! I meet Kiki who's like a little ninja. She's so outgoing that when I first came into the dolphin room, she quickly jumped on me and hugged me. There was this other girl name Ruthie who reminded of me so much. She had short short hair and she was kind of dark. She wanted to play baseball with me. So Sportish! It was just cute to see little kids so young worshiping God. Third service, I got to stay and listen to the sermon. ELC was wrapped up with Hawaiian food for lunch and debriefing time. I think I needed this weekend to learn more about love and to learn more about myself. One word that I felt when I came into ELC was unconvinced. Unconvinced to be a leader and unconvinced that I am worthy. Coming out of ELC I felt somewhat less scared, but more assured that I'm ready for what God has in store for me.

I needed this weekend. I think My sister and Kevin needed it too. All this time when Thomas and I were at ELC, Kevin and my sister got to have fun and hang out. They would tell me their stories about them going to the Row on Friday and getting tacos. They told Thomas and I that they also went to Disneyland too! Saturday for them was their busy day because they moved all the furniture into the apt. And Sunday, they went to church together. It was a good weekend for them because they needed to realize that they were friends even before I got together with Kevin. It was just nice seeing them getting along with each other.

Sunday night was when Thomas and I were free to be with our significant others. It's funny how this weekend made us switch partners. lol. But Sunday night was when we got to spend time with other couples too. We hung out with Joe and Jenny and Joe's sister and her bf. We ate Boiling Crab and we got Tastea. It was my first time trying Tastea and I like it a lot! I really like spending time with other couples too.

Sorry this blog is soo long. It's the whole weekends worth..

One last week of summer! ahh! So fast! Now I have to prepare for school.

1 year Anniversary!!

It's already been a year since I've been officially with Kevin.

September 9, 2009.. I remembered waking up at my home home to find letters waiting for me to read. It was a fun scavenger hunt that dealt with my parents and my sister's involvement. Next thing I knew, the letters lead me to Boba teahouse where I found Kevin there, waiting for me. That night, we went to Victoria Gardens and that's where he asked me to be official.

One year has passed now. We've gone through thick and thin.. and I'm so glad that God gave me someone Kevin. (:

We celebrated our 1 year by going to Disneyland with Thomas and my sister.

.

Disneyland makes us feel like kids again!

Happiest Place on earth is being next to Kevin's side. (:

After splitting off with my sister and Thomas, Kevin and I went to Griffth Observatory. The view was amazing! I got to see the Hollywood sign and the whole city of LA! I got to learn about astrology, eclipses, and physic stuff (yay for sussex!). I got to see meteorites and huge telescopes. I got to see how much I weighed on different planets too! Probably the heaviest weight for me was 500 pounds on Jupiter. The lightest weight for me was 5 pounds on Pluto. I can't help being a nerd.. I like this place! Most of all, I love KEVIN!

Happy 1 year, Kevin!

Back to Reality

So for the past few days I have been having a lot of fun spending time with Kevin, my sister and Thomas. I've been chillaxing.

Now that school is about to start and ELC is getting closer, I've been trying to get on top of things again. I even started job searching (with Kevin's help). Driving to 5 or 6 pharmacy places.. I had only one glimpse of hope... This one place said that they are firing soon.. so I'll be contacted there on after..

Amongst job searching and trying to gather all the furniture I can get for the new apt, I've been doing my devos quiet consistently. Going through My Purpose Driven Life has really opened up my perspective to become a better passionate and loving Christian. I definitely recommend that book!

Summer is not over yet!

So I didn't get a chance to write about yesterday, but I got to hang out with Kevin the whole night and day, and I got to hang out with my church friends the whole night. For lunch, Kevin and I had a picnic at a park near my house. We got to eat, enjoy nature, and be with each other. It was peaceful. At night I went to Crossroads again and met up with my church friends. Very chill day yesterday.

Today was an amazing day! What started out as a mere idea last night became a reality today. Kevin, my sister, Zam, Jonathan, Lisa, Kevin G., Alvin and I went kayaking!! Renting double kayaks from Paddle Power was so worth seeing God's wonderful creations!

Walking to the harbor that surrounds Lido
Island.

It was super foggy and cold; hence
the sweater.. Kevin can't swim; hence
the life jacket. haha!

Group shot of the people in the front
seat of the Kayak.

Group shot of the people in the back seat of the kayak.

We got to see Moon Jellyfishes! We literally kayaked over hundreds of them! It was like gliding over puffs of jelly! Amazing!

So hard to see, but there's one jellyfish
on the top right corner.

We also got to see Sea Lions! Up close too! They seem cute from afar, but up close.. They are soo ugly and scary looking! Their eyes are huge and black. Their bodies are massive, and their barks are sooo loud!

This is hard to see too.. but there are 3 seals
sitting on the ledge of the boat.
They are so scary! Apparently they are dangerous, aggressive
animals. Can't believe we were like a meter stick away!

Seeing God's wonderful creation was amazing today! Even though we didn't kayak very far, we had a blast racing each other and admiring all the cool creatures we came across. The last time I kayaked, I got super sore to the point that my arms scorched pain. This time, I'm guessing I won't be as sore because Kevin did post of the work. haha!

We treated ourselves with tacos from the taco truck at Fountain Valley. YUm!

I ate like 5 tacos!

Dessert, we got Taiwanese shaved ice at this place called Class 302 at Nogales. Super Yum!

I've never seen this before where the ice is actually flavored!
We got Mango Mochi ice and Green tea and Red beans.
so GOOOD!

Finally got home.. tired, somewhat darker... Hopefully not sore.. Great amazing day today! God is amazing!