Parents away on a Mission

I never talk about this, although I do ask for prayers once in a while.

When my parents were still working and I was still in school, every time we met with missionaries & their kids I felt like they were all the way out in Mars. It seemed like they didn't live life like we did. Sometimes my parents would tell me about very young kids being left at boarding school while their parents were gone out to "field". Those boarding schools were only for these missionary's kids. Obviously the kids there were all so well behaved. However I was never able to imagine myself in their shoes.

Since last summer they left for China to begin their 3 year mission term, I slowly started to realize what I was never able to see, what I had never understood.

Parents & kids of young or old live their lives in faith everyday to be missionary families. They have tasted God's love and truthfulness and they know God is true. God has the power to protect and He is always in control. All these give them the peacefulness in heart knowing God will look after them. However there is still a human side of fear that one day someone in the family might be taken away forever. This fear comes out sometimes late at night, sometimes during a car ride home.

God will never let us carry what is more than we can handle, and this fear is definitely something we can handle. This is the reason why we rarely talk about it, but it's still there, deep down in heart...


PS. Please pray for my parents safety in China

Mini Hotpot Stove

 

Look at this!!! Isn't it so very cute? Ron & I went for a stroll through the Korean supermarket since neither of us have to go to work tomorrow. As soon as we went in Ron saw this cutest thing. We even found the minature wok that fits perfectly with this mini stove. Just that we decided to buy this ceramic pot for now. It came in a nice case with handle. It's so small we can take it anywhere! When we got home we used it to make sweet soup right a way. It was great! Later Ron & I will have 2 people hotpot at home!

Going Strong

 

 

 

By now I think you can tell which are the peas and which are the brussels sprouts. I have 2 types of peas there, snow peas & green peas. One is growing double the speed as the other but I can't tell them apart anymore. Good that I only have peas in the whole barrel. I guess it doesn't matter even if their vines are twisted together...

Seeds "hatching"...

 
 
 

Flower Garden

These are my latest flowers blooming in my garden. It's the season of blue flowers!!! I love them so much...

Veggie Garden

Few years ago when my family first moved to this new house at Richmond Hill, we were excited about having a backyard of our own. My mom and I both loved flowers & veggies garden. We quickly went and bought some baby veggie plants and sowed them in the ground. Just few days later we went out to check on them and found most of them eaten by some unknown animal!! We were furious and started asking our neighbors to see if they had similar issues. As a result it was the bunnies problem!! They loved veggies (duh~~!) and so they chewed all our little plants in no time!


(Mind you, these are the actual bunnies outside my house!! I caught them red handed one night when Ron was driving me home! In fact I see them around all the time during summer!)

Ever since then we didn't put anymore veggies on the ground. The dream of having a veggie garden remained a dream. This pass winter however, I told Ron about my dream. I asked if he could build me a big wooden crate so I can have my veggie garden away from the ground. Ron was not very into gardening so he didn't really know what I was talking about until Spring came and I brought him to Home Depot to show him other similar planting crates. By chance we bumped into these huge aged whisky barrels. They were sold at a good price Ron wouldn't have to go through the trouble of building anything! So we bought them without much 2nd thought. Even though they seemed all ready to use, we still had to drill some holes at the bottom for drainage, buy loose rocks to put underneath and inside the barrels (4" inside 4" outside). So this pass weekend Ron spent more than 6 hours buying rocks, digging up a section of the grass to settle the barrels, drilling holes, and putting top soil in every barrels.

Finally today after work I rushed home and planted all my seeds and plants.




Thank you my dearest for making yet another dream of mine, come true.

I believe

Since I was about 13 years old I started hanging out particularly with those that were singled out by others. I always tried to stay connected with a group, then reach out to those that everybody thought they were "weird". For many years I always succeeded in making friends with them, eventually they were always accepted by my group of friends.

When I first immigrated to Toronto, I was the one being left out.

I remember vividly just second day of school nobody would play with me anymore. "You did nothing wrong," one of those girls came to me months after admitting , "but I couldn't afford to loose them as friends either so I had to do what they did to you. I am sorry. You take care of yourself."

I never doubted myself or did I fight back. I was just very much alone.

A year later I went to a different high school than them. I had a new start. I finally had my own group of friends.

From then on I told myself I would tried my best to NEVER leave anyone out.
I would go the extra mile to reach out.
I believe everybody has a story, and nobody is "weird".

I carry this belief for many years and I act on it. I gained lots of friendships and my heart was ever bigger. My belief was rooted deep down. It was almost a sure win for me no matter who I reached out to.

However in the past few years I've put myself higher and higher over many things, including this. When I work very hard for a living everything is becoming all about me. My time, my space, my friends, my desire. Whoever does not fit my schedule my style is OUT. I have no more patience to listen, I do not reach out to anyone anymore. Nothing deserves more of my attention than me.

What have I become?