aimeepoo's Xanga

Glorious

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:42:14 GMT

Father, teach me how to see You glorified as my highest priority.

Thankful

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:52:21 GMT

I am safely home for the weekend. Three whole days of family :) and right before another weekend of FOUR whole days with family for Thanksgiving. God is good and wants me to spend time with family. Don't believe me? Check out this email I just found...

Dear Students,

I am extending the due date for the second paper to Monday, November 30. You do not need to hand your papers in this Monday.

Prof. Dimuro

This paper was going to be due this upcoming Monday and I planned on trying to finish it today so I wouldn't have to worry about it at home and could fully give myself to my family. (Looming paper due dates have a way of ruining family time :T) As it turned out, I didn't get to write as much today as I hoped (but I did get to do a lot of organizing and prepping for it) so I was planning to spend most of the daytime tomorrow writing it at home while everyone would be at work or school. But now? Now I can just worry about where I'm whisking my little sister off to after school instead :)

I am so thankful.
We learned about grace today. What a practical way of experiencing it.

When you want to know

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:24:45 GMT

My dad likes to make periodic announcements to all of his email contacts every time he makes a new web discovery. I can't help but smile whenever he does this because it shows just how much he loves to share new knowledge to people around him to make their lives easier. Today, he announced the benefits of Google and Wikipedia.

This is just way too cute. Thank you, Daddy.

(And by the way, I trust there are people in his contacts list that have never heard of Google search or Wikipedia, so kudos to Dad for making the web that much more of a friendly place to others!)

I'll understand

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:50:23 GMT

I started off my day to an email that uplifted my spirits--

"and amy no whatever what happens i'll understand.

whether you're running around trying to juggle a million different responsibilities at once
whether you're running on little to no sleep
whether you're spending all your time on your girls because you know God has placed you in their lives to serve them
whether you're studying like crazy cause you're falling behind as a result of any and all of the former
whether you're trying to crunch out that last minute essay
whether you fall sick and get a fever because of doing any combination of the former (<---please don't do this)

I'll understand.

and i'm not saying that i expect you to have no time for me I'm just saying don't worry about it when it does happen. God has called you to do great things and to honor him by excelling as a student. Both are ridiculously hard to accomplish as they are. And so, I shall do my best to respect that God's work (and your physical welfare) come first and I hope you'll do the same for me. =]"

I'll understand.
I feel like these are the words that I have needed to hear so much lately, and this email touched me at a place in my heart only God knows of. I feel so understood. And not only by my friend, but--to think!--by the God of the universe who promises me that and tells me over and over again in His Word that He knows me, loves me, understands me. God has been showing me this about Him so much in the past few days at a time that I need to hear it the most. Can you even fathom it?

I was sitting, feeling so alone a couple of nights ago and thought to myself how funny it was that people really want others to know they are sad without having to tell them. How much we want others to discover our sadness themselves, point it out and be there for us without us asking. As I was sitting on the floor thinking that to myself I thought about how I might call a friend up and make sure I still sounded like I was crying so she'd know just how sad I was feeling since she couldn't see me face-to-face. Then I thought about those dramatic scenes in movies when a character is crying by himself/herself and how because we are the audience we are able to see into the private cries of the character and we can feel for the character, without the character ever having to tell us that he/she is sad. I started to get a little jealous. So I thought about how I wish there was a camera that was, at aerial view, somehow letting someone know how I was feeling. Then I realized how silly that was because it dawned on me that I never have to yearn to feel understood because there is Someone that, at all times, in all situations, who always sees me. Someone who feels me, who knows me, who fully understands me at all times. Someone who I can never hide from.

It's wonderful to feel understood. The thought made me sing. So I sang, and as I did, the tears went away.

Before they call I will answer, while they are still speaking I will hear. - Isaiah 65

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
You are familiar with all my ways.
- Psalm 139

Movies

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:09:02 GMT

My English camp contact from Taiwan recently sent me an email that got me thinking...

From: Jersey
To: Amy
Date: Wed, June 24, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Subject: HI

Summer days

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:42:54 GMT

After a 3-day grad-engage-tism (cousin graduated, other cousin's engagement party, uncle's baptism) family weekend of fun I finally settled down into my LA summer apartment on Tuesday night. With a week before the start of my internship, I've been really enjoying the down time with friends and having the cozy apartment all to myself. and, oh yeah- Daddy surprised me with a new camera! So here is some visual overload to make up for lost time :P Here's what I've been up to...

Cinnamon Mocha-Vanilla Cookies

Moving into my summer apartment

Lunch with friends, having tons of leftovers, and walking under blue skies

Very lemon cupcakes

Impromptu jam sessions and "karaoke"

LoveSac love/insanity before bedtime

Pomegranate sugar cookies

Prayer to-go!

Experimental dishes potluck dinner (green tea + broccoli?!)

Exploring new places, fancy schmancy coffee, feeling intelligent(sia)

it's been me and the guys so far since summer school hasn't started yet, and as it turns out, my la church fam that is sticking around UCLA for the summer consists of only the guys. haha. it's been a lot of fun with them this past week and let me tell you, their cooking is pretty impressive!

i'm excited and pretty nervous about starting my internship soon, but super blessed knowing i'll have church fam steph chi near me @ work! she has been so helpful and of course, she's an absolute cutie :)

well! here's to the start of summer! looking forward to what He has in store in the weeks and months to come!

Studying poetry//this made me stop and smile

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:18:22 GMT

Bare skin almost, underworn. Warm stitched-together soft torn toy. Stuffed and laced voluptuous imaginary mammal made of lovely lumps. Dear plump-cheeked plaything taken to bed and hugged in the dark. (From Harryette Mullen's Trimmings)

(http://tefee-stock.deviantart.com/) He kinda looks like my teddy bear, Chaucer. His lumpy, careless, floppyness reminds me of him. No camera means resorting to stock photos!

I love being an English major sometimes. :) One more final to go! And after defeating an epic, meaty one today (we did it, P+C!), I am actually really looking forward to the one tomorrow because I love the reading for it. So back to poetry!

Summer almost here. I am tickling with excitement and deeply, deeply looking forward to it. More on this soon :)

12:40 PM L: hahah

you excited about work?

me: yeah :) and for more time to hang out with ppl over the summer

12:41 PM to see places

watch movies

L: yeah im totally excited for the summer

me: catch up with ppl i've wanted to this whole year

L: i feel like i ll be free

me: I KNOW

L: for like the first time in a years

me: seriously. seriously.

L: i ll be able to drive around and stuff

me: YES

YES YES

L: have an apt to live in

life will be good

12:42 PM me: mmhmm nods enthusiastically

L: FREEDOM

FREEEEDOMMM

Up up and away!

Sat, 30 May 2009 22:58:58 GMT

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/05/28/marketing-ups-asian-american-lead-character/

What do you guys think? Did you know that Russell was an Asian-American character? More importantly, does the way Pixar is marketing his character have any implications for minority characters in film?

Twelve

Mon, 25 May 2009 18:41:22 GMT

Twelve cupcakes. Driven over 100 miles, hand-delivered to me at my home in San Diego with deeply encouraging words and a written card from a brother and a sister in Los Angeles.

Blown away and incredibly moved? YES! Wow.

Thank You. And thank you, F and E :)
HE continues to reassure me, encourage me, and tell me to press on in the most unexpected ways at times I don't even know I need it until it happens. Of course, He knows me better than I know myself. =)

Press on, Beloved, press on. I see you.

TWELVE AMAZING CUPCAKES.
I feel it immensely important to make the best use of these.
What have I been doing with them?

1. Red Velvet - shared between Mom and Dad
2. Cinnamon - shared between me and my sister Cindy
3. Red velvet - Mike's first Sprinkles cupcake
4. Lemon - cousin Jim's surprise visit, "OOH! SPRINKLES?!" second Sprinkles cupcake
5. Red Velvet - Jim's girlfriend, Yuen's first Sprinkles cupcake
6. Red Velvet - shared between my disciples, Jessie and Hahnnah, their first Sprinkles cupcake
7. White - my own afternoon snack :)
8. Dark Chocolate - Henry's 23987498237 Sprinkles cupcake
9. Mocha (? Not sure what flavor it is but I'm about to find out now...) - my own early afternoon snack ;)

This Love

Mon, 25 May 2009 07:46:58 GMT

Lately. With all the people in my life, all the sacrifices and decisions I've had to make, I feel like God has been introducing me to a whole new level of love. A kind of unconditional love that is found in the way a mother loves her child and ultimately, the way God loves us. It's a sometimes heavy and emotional kind of feeling that sits inside of me. And sometimes it is deeply satisfying, or lightweight and floating. I don't know what quite to make of it yet, but I do know that I'm being taught something that is meant to become part of me. It's beautiful and so deep I know the difficulties along the way are part of what makes it so worthy. What a privilege to even just begin to taste a piece of this kind of love.

I trust that it has all been worth it. Definitely just at the beginning of this journey... :)

A friend recently sent this to me:

from Radical Womanhood

"Years ago when I was going through something really tough as a mom, I had an older woman in my life who kept saying to me, “You know this is for you.” When I was dealing with kids being cranky or not sleeping or not eating or, you know, destroying my house or not being able to keep up with the laundry or feed them or just the myriad things that go along with mothering, she would always remind me, “You know this is not just about your children. This is for you.”

I did not appreciate that statement back then; I really didn’t. But you know what? I understand it now because motherhood is the greatest tool I know for God to shape me and mold me and chisel me for eternity.

As I view life from God’s perspective, from that threshold of heaven, I realize that His purposes are big picture. They are eternal. They are generational. In his book The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn challenges us to think about whether we live for the dot or the line. Is my life about this moment? Is it about me or is it about eternity?

Motherhood is about eternity. It is not just about this moment. God clearly defines this in Romans 8:28 and 29. That verse where it says God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

What is His purpose? For us to be conformed to the image of Christ. Motherhood is one of God’s very best tools for that molding, that conforming in our life.

And then we must become women of the Word. Only the Word of God contains the instruction we need to see God’s perfect will accomplished here on earth in the lives of our children. We must settle the issue of the sovereignty of God, of the authority of His Word in our life. It will take a lifetime for us to learn all that is revealed about God in His Word. We will never run out of instruction if we are faithful students of this book.

Just as we feed our children physical food, so we must be spiritually nourished ourselves so we can impart truth to our kids. Proverbs says the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.