photos

A few things happened in the last 2 hours.

• I posted new photos on my Flickr account. Check 'em out.
  
• close friends found me in the blogosphere. Yay! I will see them tomorrow.
  
• God answered my prayer for friends on vacation!
  

vacation

I love vacation! Yesterday we celebrated my aunt's birthday. She and uncle and I took a walk along the Ala Wai Canal, went shopping at Kahala and then we went out to dinner with my cousins (note, we are all hapas). Good food and being with everyone makes me feel happy, thank you Lord!

friday film

The little world traveler is home, sitting on the porch of his house, with a mouth full of dumplings. He's looking at his mother here, and we were trying to keep him awake until he finished dinner.

happy earth day

look closely at these words.

happy

I am happy and free and in love with Jesus tonight. I am satisfied and kept and protected and unburdened and looking toward the reward. I am full and hopeful and washed in peace. Amen.

choosing suffering

One summer in college I researched for a professor in Church History, the more that our research team read, the more we realized that there was so much to learn, and we knew so little. This was good for me just after earning my degree to be humbled in this way. The word of God is vast and the history of God's image bearers is so full and it takes so much time to see clearly through reality but it is worth it to keep learning and to never give up seeking truth and meaning and beauty in Him.

Last night in my class we were talking about suffering and our call to choose suffering for the sake of our eternal reward which is Christ. I never realized how our ability to choose suffering was so vitally tied to our need to fix our eyes on the lasting city which is to come. We read a long section in the book Desiring God this past week which reminded me of something thata friend had preached on at Lighthouse (the college ministry gathering I used to work with) many years ago. It was about filling up what is lacking in the affliction of Christ by bringing the message to the unreached. It was deeply profound to think of us bridging the gap between the full, sufficient suffering of Christ on the cross and those who have not yet heard. It is so blessed that he allows us to carry this message to others.

hiking in the desert

This was a nice photo of me, my sister, and brother on Christmas Eve, climbing Squaw Peak. I am looking forward to my next vacation in 13 days and being outside again!

binoculars

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

bouvine testing credit

I am finally sitting down to do my taxes (gasp) because I only have a few days left...

Besides my dad, who taught me how to prepare my own taxes several years ago, I am the only person I know who still writes out a hard copy and mails it in with a genuine USPS stamp, and has to lay out all her papers all over the desk and read details and instructions galore before feeling confident that she is doing all this correctly... so anyway, when questions come along like this, I have to laugh in the middle of this mess of paper and numbers. Is this for real?!

Line 32:
"Credit for tuberculosis testing on cattle. If you own cattle and had your cattle tested for bouvine tuberculosis, you may qualify for a credit of 50 percent of your total expenses..."

Sorry to those of you who feel you just wasted time reading this post.