m.... thinking about making some salty food these days...... corned beef hash, reuben sandwich, and taco with chorrizo! m.... yum!

The water heater is finally fixed! We can finally have access to hot water...... it was such a saga in the making...

Thanks to all the people who have lend their bathrooms to me for hot showers....

Recently, our house has experienced a water heater outage problem. It started on Friday, when we noticed that the furnace on the water heater went out and we could not re-ignite the pilot light. So I called the gas company and they got it to re-ignite on Saturday, only to have it go out after 30 minutes. We have no idea what the problem is... but we know that it means no hot shower for a while until we fix it. So, I called the gas company again to fix it Monday, as well as called the plumber to take a look (they charge $195/hour to fix it!), and also the water heater company. Not sure if any of them really know what the problem is, but after a few researches online, I found out there are many (when I say many, I meant 10+) consumer complaints about the same model, pilot light cannot stay on after the water heater is used for less than 2 years. Oiy!

But, the main point of this post it to say.... God's grace is enough! At first, I was very complainy and whiny b/c I don't get to take hot showers.... and the whole issue just gets me very irritated and frustrated. Why is this happening and how are we gonna fix it?! It seems like no one is there to help except to charge us money... and this is one of those things that we have to fix quickly! So, as frustration amounts up, my temper goes up and then gets irritated at people easily. That was at first. As I was trying very hard to re-ignite the pilot light, a thought came to me that maybe it's not about the water heater -- maybe this is about my relationship w/ my parents and why I have such short fused temper. Well, I still don't have much answer for that, except I'm learning to be patient (like PH said, when you talk to your parents, think about whether you'd talk like that to God).

So getting to the God's grace is enough part. The gas company came yesterday and again got the pilot to light and the furnace started burning. The water heater started working for about 30 minutes before it shut down again. That was around 3pm. By 6pm or so, I thought I better take a shower before it gets really late and cold... it's easier to take cold showers when it's warm than when it's cold. So I had to set myself up mentally to take a cold shower (yeah, I'm kinda wimpy :p), and praise God, the water we heated in the afternoon was still hot... so we still got hot shower! So I took a quick shower, told my family there's still hot water so they can take shower, and so 2 of them got to the bathroom quickly. After I came back from PH's house at night, I thought to try to ignite the pilot again, just to see if it'll work. I was praying that God... please just let it work this time. And thank God, it worked again! So we got the water to heat for about 30 minutes before it went out again, but this time, my dad got to take a shower and I got to wash my hair. As I was in the shower I thought... God's grace really is enough. So far, I haven't taken a cold shower since the water heater broke down. Sometimes we expect things to be abundant for us, all the time... and God's "just enough" is not good enough for us. But when we switch our perspective, to that we really didn't deserve all these things, God's "just enough" is always enough. Anyways, I'm thankful for my 3 minute hot shower

heard this song on the radio.... really encouraging, especially at times when i feel so down... oiy!

You say love is just a word, just four letters in a row.
Just a thing that people say, or they never tell you so.
And you use every excuse, to let nobody in.
Now this cloud you bring around, has become your only friend.

And everybody saying that it's going to go away, but it don't go.
And everybody's telling you one day it's going to change, but you don't know, if it's really going to end.

But there is a way, there is a spark,
there is a hope that you can hold on to.
There is a lifeline come to the rescue, just like a hand that's waiting for you.
And if you believe in this I promise that you won't be alone.
There is a way, the truth and the life, and the way.

But if love became a man, if the word had flesh and bone.
Would you recognize His face, if He came to bring you home.
You think you're all alone, gotta do it on your own riding solo.
Is there someone you can call, when you stumble and fall?
Cause you don't know, if you'll be getting up again.

Don't you think your life's worth saving?
Don't you know that love's amazing?
Don't you want to lay your troubles down?
Lay them down.

If I thought love was just a word, I might feel the same way too.
But there's so much more than that, and it's waiting here for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eWXuUTq5s

so many earthquakes lately...

Haiti in January, and while we thought that was an isolated incident and support pouring from all over the world to help out, Chile's earthquake struck in February. Just Wednesday we heard about Taiwan's earthquake, and today I read about Sumatra's earthquake. I don't think there was anything ever (at least to me) so evident that Jesus is coming soon. As is written in Matthew 24:7:

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

This is just the beginning before the end comes, and like Revelation says "this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on part of the saints." (Revelation 13:10)

It's times like this that I really want to tell people..... Jesus is coming soon, would you believe in Him now?

i thought this was pretty funny.... so i used Google translator to translate Psalm 23.... here's what happened:

Original (as from the Bible):

Google Translation:

whew, first blog post of the year!

just to echo what cathy wrote... waiting upon God brings so much strength! unforeseen strength! i was in a rather anxious mood last week, and i really couldn't pinpoint the real cause of it. after listening to the sermon of "waiting upon God", i realized that my old problem has reoccurred... i wasn't quiet enough to wait for Him. it's hard practice... to truly be still and wait for Him, but God does reward those who wait for Him, just like He said. those few minutes of quiet time spent w/ Him brings so much joy, peace and strength for the rest of my day! praise God for it!

another thing i've been hearing a lot lately... which is so crucial to Christian belief, but so down-played by me... is faith! Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." for some reason, i always justify my lack of faith by some clever logic or some kinda me-invented theology... but faith is fundamental to our belief. and it's funny how our sunday school yesterday talked about it again... the speaker said that there are two crucial things to Christian belief: 1) humility 2) faith. gosh, how simple is it? but how easily forgotten and ignored when my pride comes in the way! a sister shared the other day... that the only link between us and God is faith, since we cannot see God, the only way we believe He exists is faith. and when our faith is weak, that's why satan comes to attack us w/ lies. how true is that?

end of blog post one!

i was doing my annual cleaning of letters, statements, credit card offers... etc. i have a bad habit of not opening any of those mails until the end of the year... and then i shred them all. so as i was going over all these stuff, i came across various mails from Compassion International and World Vision. i'm sponsoring a child through Compassion, but regrettably, i haven't paid too much attention to it. i barely read the package they sent me about the child and her conditions... i don't even remember her name. so of course, i had put Compassion's mail amongst one of those i wanted to shred... since i supposed they'll mostly be asking for more money.

as i was shredding all these mails of credit card offers, more credit card offers, plane ticket offers, save 10% off!, $100 cash advance... etc etc, i was about to shred the Compassion letter as well, then i saw what it was.... my sponsored kit had written me a letter, back in july. she was mentioning how she remembers me everyday as she goes to school (they don't get education unless they hvae a sponsor), and she helps her parents farm the land after she comes back from school. i was so ashamed... the Lord has taught me a lesson. i really regretted not paying more attention to it... and how ironic, shredding mails from Compassion and World Vision in the midst of all these credit card offers..... i live in a society where i do have money, and people offering more things than i really need.... and there are people out there (a lot of them!) who are suffering and needing money just to get some food for the day. then i thought about me living in this country, having money enough to spend and money enough to spend for others.... what does God want me to do? and why do i still constantly worry about things... when i have so much?

it was kinda funny.... these things were going through my head while i was shredding papers... then i went to eat dinner, and my dad asked me how he can sponsor a child through World Vision. talk about timing! God... well, God really taught me a lesson today. so i told my parents about my shameful sponsorship, and my mom was very encouraging.... she basically said don't worry about the past and just do better next year. Lord, sorry....

Ok, something worth writing about.... so I was reading over the instruction manual for Blackberry today, and came across this section for caring for your device

MAKING IT LAST

Your phone is a complex electronic device; think of it as a mini-computer. Here are some hints that should help you extend the life of your new phone.

Phones aren't cheap, so keep yours in a safe place. Keep your phone away from children who may find it fun to see if the phone sinks or floats and dogs that find plastic-coated products to be irresistible chew toys.
 
Water will damage your phone and accessories. Even a small amount of water such as droplets from a soda in your car cup-holder, melting snowflakes, tears of joy, squirt-gun crossfire, or steam from the hot water in the kitchen or bathroom can damage your phone.
 
Use only batteries and accessories from the original manufacturer of your phone. Non-approved accessories can cause damage to you or your phone and shorten the phone's life. Hint: If it's being sold out of someone's car trunk, walk away.

At least I found it amusing....

so i tried to start making cupcakes.... well, all i can say is a series of failures well, you learn from failures right? here's what i've learned:

1. you HAVE to modify cake recipes for cupcake sizes. when the recipes call for a certain temperature and bake time, it was meant for a 9" round pan or something of that sort, and when you use the same temperature and time to bake the cupcakes, you'll get something really crispy and shall i call it burnt.

2. there are more arts and skills to baking than i imagine. things aren't as easy as i suppose them to be. beating eggs w/ sugar until the mixture is "steady" and "guai" is not that easy....

3. you have to care about baking to bake. my first two tries basically i just let them be. i put the cakes in oven and i went to play piano until the timer sounded.... i had no regard whether the cakes would come out ok or not. and needless to say, they both failed. the third time i prayed and i checked on them occasionally to make sure they're ok... and it turned out pretty good.

4. creativity is an extension of imitation. i fancy creativity and wanted to "make my own invention", but quickly realized that i really should have just made something easier and copied someone else's recipe before i make my own stuff.

anyways~ so, fight on! well, after 3 consecutive tries over the thanksgiving weekend, i kinda wanna give up on baking cupcakes my co-worker saw me today and said she baked some cupcakes over the weekend too and her husband basically ate everything (whoa....) so she gave me the recipes today.

and here's a website that has really cool cake ideas! http://www.bakerella.com/