RELAXation...

this past wked was GREAT! i felt like i finally rested...finally. and my voice is now BACK! at church today, i was told that i no longer sound cancerous. hooray!

the vacation started w/ a couple of days in Vegas!

i was a total 3rd wheel on this trip...but hooray for VIP friends who get comp nights at the Wynn!

wow, what a hotel! and boy, WHAT a BUFFET!
these king crab legs were sliced in 1/2 lengthwise and provided the easiest crab-eating experience ever. yummmm...


the breath of the spread was amazing but each individual item of food was also incredibly delicious. i was very impressed. and very full. esp. since all i did that day before eating was rotate through the pool, spa jacuzzi, and steam room. haha, what a day of self-indulgence!

after we got back, a few of us LA orphans had Thanksgiving dinner together:

this dinner was sans turkey but w/ tri-tip as the replacement...not a bad thing to settle for!

& of course, my favorite part of T-giving is forcing everyone around me to recite their list of "Top 3 Things You're Thankful For." i know quite a few holiday grinches who were resistant to play this "game," but in the end, i'm always so blessed to hear ppl's lists.

here's a condensed version of mine:
#1 - i'm still making and deepening life-long friendships
#2 - God has been healing me in incredible ways and helping me put my identity in Him more and more
#3 - this year, i've experienced the joy of longevity in service - i got to see some of my same orphans again this year at camp & i have the same students this year again at school. it's been neat to deepen those relationships

and speaking of reunions:

these boys were in my freshman dorm...go Burbank! (man, that duk-bok-gi owned us...spicy!)

and lookee:

i got to see this southern boy while in Atlanta

H & I were there for a missions conference...and what a fantastic time we had! We spent the first day looking around the city - our favorite part was the MLK jr. Center. what an AMAZING man! i know, "Duh!"... but i'm more in awe and more in love w/ him now. Everything he did was inspired by the gospel...he really wanted to see the Kingdom come! wow.



it was FALL there... the trees were beautiful!






and being at the conference led to the most special reunion:

my parents from the Philippines! i missed them so much!

what a privilege it was to go to this conference. it was SO neat seeing friends i had met abroad and to spend all wked hearing great stories of God's work. and i discovered new things that made my heart beat faster...it's so exciting.

Blogging A.D.D.
sry, so much has gone on that this post is going to be long and crazy random...

first of all, it was a Happy Halloween.

what a day - fun b/c the kids were so excited and we got to see the creativity of the staff, but energy-draining as well - WAAYY too much sugar action.

thanks, Capt. Ko, for lending me your fatigues. Quite a costume - i had students saluting me all day, although I was informed that my sunglasses were too fashionable to be standard issue from the Air Force. the cutest moment was during our parade when a 1st grader pointed to me and said, "Look, a G.I. Joe!"

later that night, i got to go trick-or-treating w/ Tinkerbell and Dora.






on another note, for my friends far away, thx for asking how we're coping w/ the fires here in SoCal. luckily, none of it was too close to me (and thank God friends in SD are okay!), but the pollution from smoke and ashes clouded up the sky for a few days. even the night air was strange:

looks like a lunar eclipse...

speaking of which, it was time for ASTROCAMP again...
though incredibly tiring (i re-lost my voice there), i had a lot of fun. this grp of 6th graders has a lot of heart, which makes it all worth it.

this is the sky coaster i talked about last year... (i hope this video works!)

i think you could hear me screaming for miles.

i also got to try & see some new things:

this was my first attempt at rock climbing... and you know, it was kinda neat. however, that's factoring in that this was a simulation of Mars, and the pulleys holding up our ropes made us 40 lbs lighter. w/o that i don't think i would've made it to the top!

and this was just WAY cool...

hydrogen balloons. =) again, that's me w/ the scream.

other things that made me happy recently:

-babysitting this lovely lady:

can i say it enough times how special i feel that she knows my name? we had a good time together...

-going to a free ballroom dance class. we were just taught the basic steps (all of which i knew) but i still had a blast, esp. b/c a mom brought all 4 of her sons and 1/2 my partners ended up being under the age of 18. it was so cute.

-dinner w/ good friends:

lots of laughs, and a & j have their own rotisserie machine & made some yummy chicken!

i got to take my ex-coworker and her parents out for some homestyle korean food. i really love spending time w/ my friends' families.

& speaking of good meals, i made a really yummy butternut squash soup w/o a recipe. i was highly impressed. =)

on w/ my list:
-going to the circus!

well, okay...does cirque count as a real circus? i had been to another CdS show before, but Corteo was awesome. nonsensical storyline but magical...like watching a studio ghibli film. for me, the best part was the humor - i was definitely either laughing or had my mouth hanging open the entire time.

-going to a musical:

we went to see Jekyll & Hyde in a small theatre. very well done...

and like the musical, i've been dealing w/ the duality of my human nature. the "incongruous combination" of the potential for both infinite good and infinite evil. i know how depraved i am, but do i really know?

recently, i've been struggling w/ the concept of forgiveness. how come sometimes i just don't want to forgive? and that may not sound all that bad, but it can lead to a very dark place - a place far from God's design. but just as i've confronted more anger w/in than ever before, i've also learned more about dependence on Him. He is the only source of true forgiveness. and daily, I am a new creation, made in His image but also being made in His image.

anyways, 2 BIG blessings:

#1 - my new roommate... things didn't have to work out this well since i'd never even met her before she moved in but it's been great. within the first few days, i knew that i could trust her - through and through, really trust her. and that has only grown as we've committed to praying together once a week.

plus, she's gotta be the most encouraging person i've ever met when i comes to me and sports. i've never in my life felt like a natural at anything before, but she's got me convinced that i have some innate Frisbee talent! or maybe it's just part of her plan to get more Ultimate playmates. nevertheless, it's fun.

#2 - the Sunday school series at my church led by albert. he's one of the best teachers i've ever had. Genesis was already my favorite book of the Bible, but how much more do i love it now? Just in the first 12 chapters, there's such poetic beauty that persistently proclaims God's stubborn determination to dwell with us. wow.

& even more than the vast stores of research that's put into his teaching (the intellectual integrity), it's his heart that touched me the most. i'm lucky to have friends who so thoroughly believe in God's sovereign plan and heart for the nations. it keeps me excited and makes my worship exhilarating. i think that's true community.

anyways, to top off my very jumbled blog, the long-awaited-for clip: watch for when the guy pushes me off (don't worry, i had asked him to do it since i was too chicken to dive off myself)...

and yes, i now realize how *stupid* i was to be persuaded to do this by the price... and how i could've *died.* did you see when i bounced up and the cord could've wrapped around me? eeeek! but i'm alive and feel very protected.

yay, the end. whew!