Spring Waltz

I bought this in Vancouver when I was visiting Tim. It's a nice soap opera. It's by the same producer that made Autumn Story, Winter Sonata, and Summer Scent. This is Spring Waltz, and thus he completed the four seasons. This one has a happy ending, which makes me happy!

Life is...

Today I saw my parents in L.A. They came down for a memorial service that took place in Whittier this afternoon. James Chen, a brother in Christ, who passed away from lung cancer in Taiwan was buried today at Rose Hill Cemetery. My parents knew him from way back when they used to go to seminary together. Later on, he went to Hungary to be a missionary, and last year he even invited my parents to go for a short term mission there. But while my parents were in Hungary, he went back to Taiwan because his condition was very serious. In December of 2006, he passed away to went to be with the Lord.
I just thought that today is a very ironic day because while I was attending a funeral, my roommate was attending a wedding (Paul and Crystal Barber). Life is short. Today as I saw Uncle James' widow Aunty Yahui and their two daughters Judy and Pady sobbing in front of the people who came, I was touched. I understand that Uncle James was a very good husband and a very good father and also a very good pastor. He used his life to impact other people's lives, and that is what really matters. Sometimes I think we get really short-sighted in life and we get caught up in the moment, and we forget to treasure the people we have, the relationships we have, and the blessings we have just to breath the air and live on another day.
I once read a story from a Christian magazine, and it said that there was a wife who likes to yell and complain at her husband. Every morning she would pick something wrong about him and just keep attacking him until he leaves for work. One morning as she was doing that again, the husband also exploded and they got into a huge argument. The wife kicked him out of the house and so he got into a car and stormed away. After a few hours, the wife got a phone call, it was from the police, and the police told her that her husband had gotten into a car accident and passed away on the spot. She broke down and cried. She regretted so much for yelling at him today and everyday. She regretted that she didn't tell him goodbye before he left the house today, and she regretted and regretted, but she couldn't turn back time, and there was no way to fix the damage that has been done.
I have a strong memory of this story because it really struck me when I read it. Life is stressful, and sometimes even painful, but my hope for myself is that I would live a life that makes others feel loved and encouraged. So that when hard times come, they will also have hope that everything is going to be okay in the end. May God help me!

New Year

Another year has come, many new things are going to happen this year. First of all, I am going to have premarital counseling with Tim in Vancouver. I am flying out to Seattle this Saturday because Tim wants to take me around Seattle for a day since I've never been there. Then we'll drive up to Vancouver and go up to ski in Whistler. After Vancouver, I am flying to L.A. to take piano lessons with my teacher. Then I am flying to Boston for auditions in Feb. I have yet to schedule other auditions. But until their notifications come, I won't know the dates yet.
Today's reading from Ephesians chapter 2 reminded me once again how much God loves us:

"1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Praise Him!