tina & carol

Now, to get a little more personal…  The following is my dad’s story that I wrote down 2 1/2 years ago, and to this day, it challenges me to live radically…

* * *

Forgiveness…  This one word (and action) has been an underlying current in the tides of our family’s life.  It’s also my Dad’s platform, his message as a pastor and missionary…  So, when he shared yet another story of forgiveness, I was amazed AGAIN by his attitude of obedience before the Lord…

I don’t know if many people know this or not, but my Dad can’t hear out of one of his ears.  All our lives he mentioned that his ear drum had burst and to speak more clearly…   Somehow Carol and I had both concluded that it had something to do with the war when he was a child.  But we were wrong…  A few days ago, while sitting around the dinner table, as he was sharing about how ear surgeries are done, he remembered this story that he had forgotten…

When my Dad was in his early to mid 20’s, he joined the U.S. army and somehow got assigned back to Korea.  While there, he said people were really confused by him.  He was a Korean, but part of the U.S. army.  So both sets would be confused and do a double-take.  Well, one day, while my Dad was waiting in line for food in the cafeteria, he urged an African-American man and his friend to move forward.  Thinking that my Dad was telling him what to do as a Korean from the Korean military (a few worked on the same base), he struck my Dad so hard on one side of his head that my Dad had to be helicoptered to a hospital.  (Quick note:  my Dad said that the other guy who was with the African-American man realized that my Dad was part of the U.S. army and was quick to yell it out as soon as his friend had struck him.  So, it reminded me of what happened to Paul as a Roman citizen in Acts 22.)   The African-American had ruptured my Dad’s ear drum and he had to have surgery.  Afterwards, my Dad’s commanding officer asked if he wanted to file a complaint, but my Dad refused.  He told his commanding officer that he was a Christian and would not file the complaint…  Well, my Dad happened to work in the main office as the first point of contact - the office that every military man has to go through.  And one day, the African-American showed up.  While there, he recognized my Dad.  They talked and my Dad told him not to treat Koreans that way again and shared the Gospel with him.  He lead that man to the Lord…

My Dad has other stories from the Army, but this particular story challenged me again about forgiveness…  To this day, my Dad can barely hear out of that one ear and even has to read lips to compensate, but he sacrificed his hearing, so that that man could have life.   Life eternal, that is…  And who knows, maybe others heard that story, too, and turned to the Lord…   This is just a small story compared to all the others before and after…  Slowly, but surely…

First, Happy New Year, everyone!

Okay, I need to be honest.  I’m not sure if anyone has noticed my tepid writing lately, but I’ve had severe writer’s block for the past several months.  So, now that we’re in the new year, I decided that I need to do something about it.  My solution?  To write about whatever is on my mind, at that particular moment, no matter what the subject might be.  Well, at least on my appointed days, which are Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think.  Simple, huh?  We’ll see…

So, what’s on my mind right now?  New Year’s resolutions.  I made one primary resolution and that was to study a list of subjects at our local, newly remodeled (yay!) library, but Steve told me today, to shorten the list.  I agreed.  A couple or a few things, but not 5 to 10…  I’m sure others can juggle that many, but I think Steve knows me…  :P

Another resolution, is to slow down or completely stop myself when it comes to talking.  I know that sounds weird, but after a decade of spewing all the contents of my heart out at anyone within range, I feel like the Lord is telling me that it’s now time to close the door on that time of my life.  It took me a few years to sort this all out, but thankfully, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness…  So, this year, I’m ever-so hopeful…  The word, “hope,” being a theme for 2010.  Wow, the more I think about it, what a beautiful word…  Hope.

In 1997, I made similar resolutions that altered the course of my life.  I set my will about something and drastically changed the direction I was headed - it was one of the happiest years of my life.  I made many wonderful friends and experienced things that make me smile even to this day…  One of the results of that time, is that I started dating my, now husband, Steve.

So, for 2010, I “hope” in the Lord…

There’s something so cozy and comforting about traditions.  It’s reliable and you don’t have to stress about doing or thinking up something new…  Many years back my small group (lylas… or love you like a sister) started a little  tradition of our own.  Since the holidays are so busy and expensive, we decided for our group, we would have a gift exchange and pajama and spaghetti night.  Everyone picks up one or two ingredients to contribute and we went from having a secret santa gift to doing a white elephant gift (which has been hard for me, since I usually only have stuff I really want in my home…, I might need to start picking up things I don’t really need for the holidays ^__^)  we cook together, and sit around in our elastic waisted pjs and eat to our hearts content and chatter away until food coma sets in.  Then we retreat to another room to do our gift exchange.    I wish we had a picture this year, but we were missing our facebook loving, photo posting sister this year.  And I keep forgetting to take my camera around with me…

I <3 my small group.  I really do love all of them like a sister ^__^

Here’s the closest thing I could find to the pajama set I picked up from Macy’s- only $18 on sale and coupon combo, but mine was creamish color with red little birds with gray decorative things on it. 

A while back one of my coworkers decided that she wanted to take an interviewing class and that I was going to keep her company in the class. :)  So I awkwardly followed her to the class and got added to an email list for people on the hunt for a job…  Every once in a while, something in the emails will catch my eye and I will end up reading the job descriptions and find a gem for a friend, but today… dun dun dun, I found one for me ^__^

BACKGROUND EXTRAS NEEDED FOR FILM

Background Extras day rate is: $94.05 guaranteed 10 hours of work. Most extras work one or maybe 2 days.
Looking for people interested in being background extras for the film “Late Autumn”.
Contact the extras casting director if interested:
Denise Gibbs
gibbsdesign@comcast.net
425.246.2725

Filming: December 12, 2009 to February 2, 2010

The Spokane production company, North By Northwest Entertainment, is
producing their next feature film along with Boram Entertainment and
M&FC here in Seattle.

WRITER/DIRECTOR:
Kim Tae-Yong (Memento Mori, Pass Me, If You Were Me, On the Road,Two,
Family Ties) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453707/

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ji Heun KIm (Man Chu directed by Man Hui Lee)
GENRE: Drama/Romance
LANGUAGE: English
TARGET FILM FESTIVAL: 2010 Cannes Film Festival
CINEMATOGRAPHY: KIM Woo Hyung
MUSIC: CHO Sung Woo

PRODUCTION DESIGN: YOO Seong-Hie (The Host, Oldboy, Thirst, Hansel and
Gretel, I’m a Cyborg but That’s OK, A Bittersweet LIfe, Monster,
Memories of Murder, No Blood No Tears, Flower Island)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1091794/

COSTUME DESIGN: CHO Sang-kyung
PRODUCERS: LEE Jooick, Nansun Shi, CHO Sung Woo

Tang Wei (Ang Lee’s “Lust,Caution”) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325018/

Hyun Bin (Bodyguard-KBS-TV, My Lovely Sam Soon-MBC-TV)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1593460/

STORY:
Anna, an immigrant from China, has been imprisoned after killing her
abusive husband in self-defense. Convicted at the age of 23, Anna has
been away from the outside world for 7 years.

Despite the escalating drama in Hoon’s life and the sadness in Anna’s
situation, the two strangers begin to connect in a deeper and more
meaningful way. Through this connection, they end up helping each
other escape the threats of the present and the mistakes of the past
and ultimately gain hope for the future.

I was telling my coworker about how we should do this when she told me that she was an extra in 10 things I hate about you, so I just wanted to share to everyone I know that I know a star ^__^

now I just need to convince my coworkers or my small group girls to do this with me so we can be stars too!  anyone up for this?

Is it just me, or has other people noticed that all the stars of Food Network started using this bowl? I’ve seen Ina Garten, Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, Giada De Laurentiis, Anne Burrell, and Sunny Anderson using it

I was at Walmart the other day, to pick up a electric/cordless kettle (which they don’t carry the one I like anymore, my last one died after many many uses…), and I saw the bowl and I carried it around me with while I looked for my kettle.   After about 30 minutes I decided I needed it.  It was less than $5 and everyone on Food Network seemed to be using it in their shows. 

After using it a few times, I finally realized why they used this on the shows.  The main reason is because you can see the side profile of the dishes instead of just a top view.   But… even though I don’t have much use for that reasoning, I like that it doesn’t take up so much space on my table top -Koreans use up a lot of table top space with the many many side dishes and it is sort of  pretty with all the yummy foods mixed in.  I’ve been using it for salads, but I think it can be used for other dishes too…

Since it’s under $5 I might pick up another one maybe even a smaller size one as well? hopefully they still carry it by the time I get around to going to the nearest Walmart again…

(Sorry, the comments had to be turned off, since we’ve been bombarded with spam, and need to figure things out first.  So, we *really* appreciate your patience.  :) )

So, the last several weeks after our exchange student left, Steve and I fell into a sort of oblivion.  All the discipline we had racked up until now, flew away somewhere.  Eating-wise, TV-wise, so on and so forth.  So, I had a “That’s it!” moment, too early in the morning for Steve’s taste, but still with a rallying cry, yesterday was a turning point.

I made a healthy dinner, and instead of TV, Steve played Trivial Pursuit with me, on his iPhone.  :)  It was actually fun, though, I’ll have to admit, I was a bit rusty with some of the more current information…  Needless to say, the world’s a much bigger place now, as far as information goes…

And then, this morning, I read - for the first time in a long time…  The title of the book being, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Dale Carnegie.  Okay, I’ll admit it, the title is a little more straightforward than I’d like, so I was a little embarrassed to even buy it, but I really liked Dale Carnegie’s old-fashioned views from his other book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”  And when I write “old-fashioned,” I mean the Judeo-Christian values that were still around in the 1930s.

So, the first chapter was about, “Today.”  What a powerful word.  Not yesterday or tomorrow, but today.  How much of the last several years had I spent on the yesterdays and the tomorrows…

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

I wanted to share one more find, but there is a story behind this one :)  When Mark and I were dating, one of the times, we all (parents, sister, brother in law (BIL), Mark and I) met at a chinese restaurant by Mark’s place for some jjah jjang myun.  Afterwards, I had to take my parents home, but Mark and the rest went over to his place and my BIL asked for some iced coffee.  Since I had made it for Mark several times in the past, he didn’t realize the work that went into it… what resulted was, a “war” in his cup.  ^__^ What I usually did was, boil some water, mix a tiny bit of water with some Maxim dah bahn coffee mix and add a ton of ice.  Mark had only ever seen the result of my delicious concoction :)  Ever since then I had wished that they would make one that didn’t need the hot water and the other week, guess what I found???

not only was it a mix that didn’t need hot water, it came with this beautiful cup:

*I got two bags of coffee just so I could get 2 cups because I like to have matching items.    One for me and one for Mark :).   Now we use it for everything, I’m in love with the size of the cup, and that it can handle both hot and cold drinks and it’s sturdy so I don’t have to worry about it breaking and lastly I love that it has a handle

Many, many years ago, I had a small solo part for a song some of the church members were singing for our pastor’s ordination.  Well, I forgot my entire line and basically made up my own words, mixing in parts of the other guy’s solo part, too, to somehow get through!  Hahaha~  Needless to say, my mother and sister were laughing at me during the song and not quietly either!  :)  I came off stage laughing, too, thinking, “Oh well!  What more can I do?”  And shrugged it off.  That’s just how I was - I was very confident because I knew who and Whose I was.

Well, fast forward many, many years later…  And just the other day, I had a lot of errands to run, but I didn’t really feel like dressing up.  So, I just threw on whatever I could find, smushed Danskos included, and walked out the door.  Well, one of my errands just happened to be at Nordstrom.  Eek!

When I was younger, I really wouldn’t have cared what I wore, but years of depression gave me a sort of amnesia…  For a moment, I forgot myself.  And I let my inner self reflect my outfit (or vice versa?), which the clerk quickly picked up on and treated me accordingly.  (Steve, doesn’t this seem like an episode of the Dog Whisperer?)

I later shared this with my sister and she reminded me of “me”…  (Sometimes, you need people to remind you of “you.”)

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  {Paul in Galatians 1:10}

It’s really weird.  The last 10 years, I’ve had the full spectrum of depression.  And in that time, I’ve been healing also.  Slowly, the Lord’s been showing me who I really am - the authentic me.  In essence, the same, but hopefully, a little wiser…   Let’s just say, it’s been a truly humbling experience…

Every year our boss reminds us when National Boss day is… so this year, we decided maybe we should do something for him.  Some how he figured out that I was the instigator, but… in my defense, I just mentioned it in passing and no one, thought it was  a bad idea, plus we had a copy cat down the hall because they thought it was such a good idea ^__^.  We got him king sized chocolate bars and mountain dew (his favorites) for presents too.   He even kept half of the stuff up because he liked it so much.  One of my coworker’s made alittle signs that said “world’s best boss” (she loves the show “the Office?”)  but we really do think our boss is pretty cool and not like the guy on the show :). 

(photos compliments of my boss)

My original post didn’t save properly, so I decided that it just wasn’t meant to be.  On to other things then.  :)

First, try the newest Altoids variety.  Dark chocolate dipped mints.  Maybe it isn’t new, but it’s new to me!  And oh my - I can’t stop eating them!

Secondly, I’m once again accepting the fact that change is constant.  I’ve struggled with change for most of my life, and yet, I’m still alive!  By God’s grace…  I feel like Anne of Green Gables asking why things have to change…  But I also see the beauty in change, like the greens of spring and summer turning into the reds, oranges, and yellows of fall…  So, I press on, knowing that “He has made all things beautiful in its time.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11a

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Paul in Philippians 3:12-14