Overheard in Iowa

Or more specifically, in the women's washroom at the GMAP symposium. 

An older woman, lady #1 (and she couldn't have been past her mid 40s), was talking to a younger woman, lady #2, who was maybe her daughter, or maybe her student, but definitely someone she had a pretty well established relationship with. I can't remember every detail of their conversation, but my feelings were that of encouragement, of awe, of thankfulness. 

Lady 1 was talking about how she wanted to really grow into her name. I don't know what her name was, but it meant "Christ lover" - she said many times that she was so excited about the way God was going to keep growing her more and more into her name and to His likeness. That was pretty amazing to hear... Lady 2 was saying that she didn't know what she wanted to be. It went something like this - 

1: "You don't have to know exactly what you're going to be in the future - "

2: "But I do! How else am I gonna get there?"

1: "Just let it go! It's gonna happen as it happens and you don't need to see every detail of it"

2: "But how am I supposed to make it happen if I don't know what it's gonna be? I need to know!"

1: "You don't need to know it all. You can't put the scientific method to things like life or human nature."

Of course, everything was said much more smoothly than that - it was a like beautiful script from a well written movie.. Some people just have such a way with words. 

That's really something that we all need to hear sometimes. You can't put the scientific method to things like life or human nature. 

God is Sovereign.

Something taken from John Knight via Jess -

"Is God sovereign over disability?

Yes he is. He tells us so in Scripture:

Then the Lord said to (Moses), "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:1-3)

To be clear, God's sovereignty doesn't mean he merely permits disability. These verses show us that he sovereignly intends it, both for his glory and for our good—"that the works of God might be displayed." "

God's sovereignty does not mean he merely permits something... but that He sovereignly intends it, both for his glory and for our good, "that the works of God might be displayed"...

That is so hard to fully embrace at times - to embrace in total surrender and total trust, that the dark times we face, the tragedies, the injustices, the pain, the unanswered questions, the seemingly unbearable moments when we cry out as the Psalmist did "why, what now, when, oh Lord?" - they are all sovereignly intended by God... We forget that He is sovereign, and that He is Good, and that He loves us. We forget, or maybe we don't quite believe, or don't quite understand...

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
- Psalm 130


Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.

For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.
- Psalm 117

Rambleramblemrablmebarmlbe

This year's summer dresses all seem to have tiebacks. Darn it, should have launched my own line before everyone else jumped on the boat. I want to go swing dancing!!! Round up the possums.

My sleeping schedule is so strange. It seems to have turned inside out, but only sometimes.

ITS SO BEAUTIFUL THESE DAYS

I have found that it is physically impossible for me to stay up longer than X hours without at least X/3 hours of sleep the night before. Power naps/unpower naps help a lot, but they only provide 1/3 of the waking energy time for each hour of nap I get. That's probably not a definitive function, but I'd say it's pretty close as of these two months.

Aspirations for One Day: make the dresses that I see and like BY HAND (and sewing machine), put together the other sewing crafty things that I've designed, bring my imagined paintings to life, cook delicious and beautiful food, including traditional chinese foods and crazy cakes and bento boxes. I've actually got a few bento boxes behind my belt already (literally), the latest of which is:

My bento, linked from Soy's blog! Click to for her post.

This is a bit late now, but a few weeks back Anna came and led a bento box workshop with us - she's the one who made the Walle bento that some of y'all might have seen ~ either way though, look at her gallery and blog! :) It's quite amazing. Click here to go to her post about the workshop. Go find mine! Haha

Anna's publicized "Walle" bento ~ click for interview

I've actually made a few bento boxes in the past, but they're nothing like these of course hahah

fafsafafsafafsafafsafafsafafasa CSSSSSSSSS

I'm really excited for Iowa. Good night soon.! .?

Happy New Year

It's the year of the tiger! That's my Dad's year :)

What a long time it has been since my last post... I don't even know quite what to write.

Life has been interesting... and it is so beautiful too. I find myself just needing a lot of rest right now - in perhaps every way. We all do need to take better care of ourselves :P Like not eating too late at night (or bingeing too much during any other hour)

I am very thankful...

Peanut Butter

Yesterday we had 汤圆! :D Super exciting. Mom said we might not have enough, so the following night I dreamed that to solve this problem, she simply cut each in half after cooking, so there were more pieces. My logic is make senses.

Also, I am having so much trouble packing up... The most I can do as of now is make a list and check it twice, and take out the shower flippyfloppys. Beyond that my mind just kind of goes 'NOOOOOO NEVARRRRRRR' and I am caught at a standstill, kind of strobe-like style though.

For future records

I had a dream that I was a yellow-orange origami pterodactyl. I had an olive-green origami pterodactyl friend, and we were seeking the friendship of a red origami pterodactyl, because he/she was much wiser in the ways of origami pterodactyl-ing, and we were leik teh n00bs LOLZ. However, I was soon crushed by a falling boulder the size of a mountain as I fled from a t-rex, and subsequently morphed into a triceratops. Does anybody remember the dinosaurs tv show? Freaky thing... Yea so I lived with a triceratops equivalent of that family underground, in something like a hobbit hole (complete with many rooms and furniture and a fireplace), and I kept fearing for the safety of the baby, because I thought the velociraptors were going to come and attack. And sometime midway through the dream, I realized I didn't know how to use my dinosaur legs, b/c I kept tripping and falling over myself. :/

Some things that I read

A devo from Purpose Driven Life that I read recently ~ God's timing is so perfect :)

Gracious Uncertainty by Jon Walker

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3 (NIV) This guest devotional is from Jon Walker, author of "Growing with Purpose." When my oldest son first started playing baseball, he was still relatively young and not used to a life lived around clocks and calendars. So it wasn't uncommon for him to ask, "Is my game today?" "How many days until Saturday?" Jesus says this childlike nature is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. My son wasn't questioning if something would happen; it was a given that it would. Instead, he was dependent upon my wife or me to tell him when it would happen. Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest, writes "The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty." He describes this as "gracious uncertainty," where "we are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God." I would add we can be certain of God's grace while being graciously uncertain of the future details of our lives. With gracious uncertainty, we can be confident in our expectations, knowing our hope in the Lord will not disappoint (Romans 5:5). With gracious uncertainty, we can release the things we have no responsibility for, yet worry about anyway. My son can be certain I will get him to the ball game, but he need not be concerned about the gas required, the directions there, or even to drive. He can just enjoy being a child and simply live in each moment, trusting I've got a handle on the details and I'll let him know when it's time to go. If only we all had such faith, no longer requiring God to submit to our clocks and calendars. Our objective-in-Jesus is to grow confident each day that our heavenly Father will come through at just the right time in just the right way.

Psalm 121 ~ also something that I read recently, which also happened to be the passage of our sermon yesterday ~

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.