A Beautiful Day

it is a beautiful day because i don't have to work today.

and this is what i did with my day off...

went jogging. so nice to exercise. jogged along shore parkway right next to the belt, went from my home to underneath the Verrazano Bridge. next time then i'll pass the Verrazano Bridge.

got home, went to the supermarket to buy some stuff for baking. i've decided to tackle the green tea cake. so my after lunch hours were all baking. then when i wait for the cake to be baked, i knit.

so fun to bake! feel so good when the cake comes out edible. =)

but the cake itself has no green tea flavor. i guess the green tea powder i bought is not really that strong in taste. so i put a lot more than what the recipe calls for in the cream frosting. then i overdid the cake in decorating. now it looks like Van Gogh's Starry Night. ha ha. i'm an art teacher after all...

so ladies, when you all come to my home, maybe we can make this! or of course, we can experiment something new!

oh CL, it works! dissolve the green tea powder first, then whip it up!

words of wisdom from a 5 yr old:

"You get what you get and you don't get upset!"

--James

Are we content with what we get from God in our lives? Do we get upset? it's so difficult to be satisfied with what we get. we always want to gain more and more, or to simply change things. but God is in charge. it is only with a heart of ultimate obedience and submission that the true joy will take place in our hearts. =)

reading Elisabeth Elliot's "Passion and Purity" these days. taking a little break from A.W. Tozer. Tozer is mind boggling. Elisabeth Elliot is an easier read but talks to the heart.

food for thought:

"God sifted men's hearts in Old Testament times...God was still sifting hearts in New Testament times."

is God sifting your heart?

And Elisabeth Elliot quotes a speaker she heard talking about Jesus feeding the five thousand. "If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because pieces will feed a multitufe, while a loaf will satisfy only a lad."

just think about it...

it's been so long since i wrote on xanga.

facebook is the new toy. but really takes up so much time.

connecting with old friends these days. so much relations to catup up on.

after all, relations will last. the body will eventually waste away.

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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.

--Psalm 121- 1-2

it doesn't take a lot to be happy.

my little kindergarteners are so cute. almost forgot how we learn the alphabet. remember the three line grid and the dotted letters so we can copy them? that's what i do every morning with my little people.

so today we began by going over the alphabet again. A for apple. B for bear...when we got to the letter M, the picture shows a crescent moon.

my little cutsey Angel yelled out, "I know! M for banana!"

I cracked up like crazy.

lesson learned: don't confuse kids with bad pictures. (oh, i didn't draw them. they're printed from a book.)

a whole lot had been going on these days. upon the recent realization that life is short, just wanna take this opportunity to thank some people who've been with me all along.

MK and JL: you're the best best best!!! the laughter and tears, oh man, can't describe it all...

CL: in name you're my disciple but in reality i learn so much from you. keep it up and keep the discipleship chain going!

CK and CL: my buddies and fellow warriors in serving (yes, i feel like we're in battle all the time), i will treasure all those times when we laugh and share until tears come out (CL is especially talented in making that happen). thank you for being my guardian angels! and especially for CK you're my latest addition to my line of "nephews" but have to say you are "the nephew" to have. auntie is proud of you!

LC: i know that these two years or so we didn't chat as much. but wanna let you know that i know i can count on you and depend on you. and i owe you dinner! want steak???

ST and SW: you have watched me fall and stumble and both of you had been alongside with me. thank you!

KC: in my downfall i pray that all is well with you. hey, i want to go to hawaii!

my SBS sisters: thank you for the spiritual support every single week! we can totally open the Bible, read something very serious like Ecclesiastes and still laugh our heads off. it's the joy of being together in the bonding of God's love. thank you!

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reading A.W. Tozer's "The Pursuit of God" these days, and just wanna share this prayer from the book:

Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root my heart all thos things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jessu' name. Amen.