RSM

This year I celebrated Veteran's Day by....
......leaving the country..
..........and going to Mexico!
(Well, I didn't really celebrate it- just had a day off from school :) Anyways...

For my CDDS 163 class (ASL/English Acquisition of Deaf children), we were scheduled to go on a field trip on Veteran's Day to visit a residential school for the Deaf in Fremont. Later I heard from my Mom that she and my Dad were going to go back to Rancho Sordo Mudo again. I realized quickly that RSM is also a residential school for the Deaf- they just use LSM instead of ASL. After talking to my teacher, he said that it was fine for me to go there instead of with the class. Alas, I then started making plans to go down to Rancho Nov. 11-13th.
I couldn't miss school on Tuesday, so I planned to drive to Bako and then head down to Mehhico with mi amigo Omar on Thursday. However, after many changes in plans, we had to leave Wed. night which meant we arrived at his grandma's house at about 1am on Thurs. morning and then had to leave at 8am to get to LAX on time a few hours later. We went by LAX so Omar's friends' wife could make her flight, and then we headed south for awhile. We met up with Omar's friend, Rudi, where Alex (1st friend) parked his car. (I'm still not too sure where we actually were at that point.) We had lunch at In-N-Out which was an experience in itself (for me at least).

miskellaneouus.....

So many things to say. So few words in which to express them!


Ahhh.....it's a Nickel Creek kind of night!
Listening to Ode to A Butterfly.
wondering when and if I will ever reach their superior level of musicianship.
sigh......
(and I do not take that sigh lightly.
I do not really like doing the whole figurative description of your emotions.)


Anyways......God is good!
All the time he is good!


A verse I heard on the radio earlier today spoke about when we ask God to bring happiness during trials.

The first thing that made me sit up and turn up the volume was the fact that it is a very accurate statement!

Oftentimes, we pray for happiness. Wishing that we can.just.be.happy. Like, "is that so hard God?"
"Can you just take away the yuckiness, take me out of this funk, and make me feel happy?"

Something the pastors at my church talk about frequently and then when we studied James this summer, they discussed the fact that God does not promise us happiness in life.
He does not promise that we will always have everything together, that we will not experience pain, that we will not face suffering, or that we will even feel happy.
This is something that is often inappropriately glossed over in Christian circles.
In James it says that we will face struggles and trials of many kinds.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. "    James 1:2-4

God tells us here through James that we will  suffer and have pain in life (as in, 'sometime in the near future this will definitely happen' type of whenever). Moreover, God does not promise us a life of happiness but he does promise us a life of suffering and . Although that does not sound too enticing, doesn't it sound better when we consider Heaven? If our life is only considered a blink of time in God's timetable, I would much rather experience true, full, joyous happiness when I'm at last in the presence of God, with all of the other believers from this entire world.

Now, after thinking about all of that in a millisecond, I then perked my ears up to hear the following verse:

"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation."       Psalm 5:3

I loved what the guy on the radio said. Just like a pregnant woman is expecting, knowing that she will eventually have a baby but cannot hold it yet, we are to wait on God.
As a follower of God, this means that I am supposed to present my requests to God, and then to wait on Him.
He will give an answer.
He will respond.
And by waiting in expectation, I am then waiting in faith.

Honestly, for a long time I didn't really understand what faith was exactly. (I'm still trying to wrap my head around it too.) Just like "abiding in Christ", come on?
Yes, you hear people say to "have faith", "these three remain: faith, hope, and love", and "you gotta have faith." But what does faith really mean?
I think that I just equated faith with trust. But faith is so much more than that.
To have faith, is just like the verse above states, to believe in what God has in store: God's plan for the future, what can, and what will happen.
Also, just like an expectant mother, "waiting in expectation" or having faith in God, is knowing, believing in, and not diverting from the outcome, which is that God's will will occur.
You know what, I think that that little "taking a minute" clip on the radio helped me and assured me that I'm actually understanding what faith is!
Thanks Jason Anderson!


Last Thursday I felt like I had a sneeze stuck in my nose.
....all...day.........
.weirdest.feeling.ever.

I went to Valle de Guadalupe near Ensenada, Mexico on Thursday.
I went with my friend Omar, who grew up there at Rancho Sordo Mudo.
RSM is a school for Deaf children. Although they used to use ASL, now the gov't makes them teach LSM (lengua de señas mexicana) which was sometimes confusing for me. ASL and LSM share some signs that have the same meaning, they also share some signs but have different meanings for them, there are slight differences in handshape/location of certain signs, and then there are just a lot of different signs in LSM.
After spending time with tons of Deaf people and kids who only use sign language to communicate, it was really hard to only use my voice when talking with people!
Haha. Case in point:
When I was trying to order food at McDonald's in Rosarito, I couldn't remember the words in Spanish so I almost started signing to the guy at the register!
(Which is another story in itself! Somehow, by focusing so much on signing, I seemed to have lost all my Spanish vocabulary! I could barely remember anything! Agh! So frustrating! If I go back sometime soon I definitely need to brush up on my Spanish! Or at least speak with my Spanish speaking friends.)
Okay, okay. Before I make a long story much, much longer, I'm going to head out and save my RSM trip for another post.

Wilhelm.....out.

Currently...

I'm tired of studying the differences between lymphedema, lymphopoiesis, hematopoiesis, cytokines, B cells, adema, and other things about the blood and lymph systems, so......here are some songs I have been listening to! (Hint: click on the artist's name for a video!)

You Are For Me -Kari Jobe
So faithful
So constant
So loving and so true
So powerful in all you do
You fill me
You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to you

I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who you are

So patient
So gracious
So merciful and true

So wonderful in all you do
You fill me
You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to you

I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me that

To remind me who you are

Your Love -Brandon Heath
I felt it first when I was younger
A strange connection to the lie
I tried to satisfy the hunger
I never got it right
I never got it right

So I climbed a mountain and l built an altar
Looked out as far as I could see
And everyday I’m getting older
I’m running outta dreams
I’m running outta dreams

But Your love
Your love
The only the thing that matters is Your love
Your love is all I have to give
Your love is enough to light up the darkness
It’s Your love
Your love
all I ever needed is Your love

You know the effort I have given
And you know exactly what it cost
And though my innocence was taken
Not everything is lost
Not everything is lost

But Your love
Your love
The only the thing that matters is Your love
Your love is all I have to give
Your love is enough to light up the darkness
It’s Your love
Your love
all I ever needed is Your love

You’re the hope in the morning
You’re the light when the night is falling
You’re the song when my heart is singing
it’s Your love
You’re the eyes to the blind man
You’re the feet to the lame men walking
You’re the sound of the people singing
It’s Your love

But Your love
Your love
The only the thing that matters is Your love
Your love is all I have to give
Your love is enough to light up the darkness
It’s Your love
Your love
all I ever needed is Your love

But Your love
(Your love is all that I needed)
The only the thing that matters is Your love
Your love is all I have to give
Your love is enough to light up the darkness
(Your love is all that I needed)
It’s Your love
Your love
It’s all I ever needed

Yahweh -Hillsong
Our God He lives forever
He reigns in power and love

Let earth bow down before Him
For He is exalted

We look to Yahweh Yahweh
Forever Yahweh Yahweh

Our hope is God Almighty
His love is greater than all
Lift high the God of heaven
Give all the honor

We look to Yahweh Yahweh
Our hope is Yahweh Yahweh

He shall reign forever, He shall reign forever
He shall reign forever and ever
He shall reign forever, He shall reign forever
He shall reign forever and ever, our God

Long time, no write.

I know, I know.  :(

Anyways, here are a few places I have visited lately......

Heading here on Thursday!
http://www.ranchosordomudo.org/

Fun music!
http://www.theinnocencemission.com/

Isn't it crazy that in all of the political chaos and hullabaloo in our recent elections last week, that something like this can exist not too far away??

Inspiration!
This makes me wish I owned a paper punch.
And this makes me wish I owned an even bigger one :)
And lastly, I want to make some of these: hurricane lamps, flowers, this wreath with amazing flowers!

Working on my Christmas wishlist :)
My mom started asking for it last week- before it was even November!!

Fall

If it weren't for (a few) trees changing colors,
it would be hard to say that it's actually the beginning of November!


psh.
Fall in Fresno?
Nope, after triple degree summer weather, we usually skip over fall and head straight to winter!
ugh!

Case in point:
A few weeks ago it actually felt like Fall was coming.
And then......nothing.
Actually, the weather became MUCH warmer.

not much

The not much to say post. (Also known as the most boring-post-that-also-doesn't-update-you-on-anything-interesting post.)

So....Let's just say that life got a little crazy, and while I was reading a lot of blogs, I just didn't get the time (read: even think about posting:) to post any of my own!

All this to say, I don't even really have time to be posting now.
How in the world is it 11:30? And how am I still awake? so tiredBut, and that's a pretty big but, I'm doing good, livin life, loving God. You know, the usual.

I thought I should document this rather pulling out my hair -er, wringing out wet towels- frustrating experience that happened recently. So living in a bitty townhouse, we have a tiny patio (read: square cement slab with dirt, mud, & spiderwebs) of a "backyard." As a result of the overpowering cobwebs perpetually spun hither and yon, we don't really go out there that much. I mean, we open the door to let fresh air in, we water our two withering plants on aforementioned slab, and occasionally I venture out to tackle the spiderwebs every so often.

Friday afternoon was such a time where I sojourned rather bravely. I realized quickly, that there was a bunch of crud all over the dirt/mud close to the spigot and a random pipe.  After closer inspection, I realized that it was bits of uncooked rice, eggshells, and grape tomato skins -all items I ran through the garbage disposal a few days earlier. Also, I noticed rather suddenly that it smelled quite foul by that area of yucky food-ness. (Note: the kitchen backs up to the exterior wall.)

Needless to say, I was rather flummoxed, (yes, I've been wanting to use that in a sentence for quite a while now:) and could not figure out how the food mysteriously ended up outside where it was. Upon closer inspection, I saw a cap/lid/stopper thing in the muddy food junk but I didn't want to touch it (due to all the mud), nor did I know what to do with it.

Fast forward to about four hours later when I was doing dishes in the kitchen that evening. (I know, exciting times- dishes on a Friday night?! I know, I know, I'm too much for you, sorry, but that is just the truth- plain and simple :)  I started rinsing a few things and washing a few pots & pans by hand in the sink. That was when I noticed the sink wasn't draining. Suddenly, I thought, "What if that water is going out the pipe outside where all that yuckiness is?" After turning off the faucet quickly, setting the pot down, whipping the door & screen open, I stuck my head out to find............. water rushing out of the pipe in the wall by the spigot!!!! After saying, "Ew, ew, yuck! Ew!" a few times, I realized that I should probably plug that baby up and stop doing the dishes so more disastrous drainage would not occur.
Theeennnn.....after debating on whether I should run the dishwasher or not due to the strangely acting pipes, I decided to try to have at least a few clean dishes and started the cycle.
After settling into Friends with the sis, I went to put something into the trash can that is next to the dishwasher in the kitchen. And that is where I stepped innnn........water! Ugh! I turned on the kitchen light and realized a HUGE puddle of water was all around the dishwasher and threatening to spread farther towards our table & chairs. I then stopped the washer and cleaned up the water (er, rather, threw a towel on the mess) and decided to deal with it in the morning. The maintenance guys don't work on the weekends at our complex, so we were in for a sink-less kitchen for a few days. Needless to say, my sis did NOT have the foresight to not make a huge mess whilst making banana bread and added even more dishes to the mess of our week's accumulation of dishes. Today came and went and we didn't have time to curb our catastrophe of dishes (read: I decided to go on strike against doing them). It was getting so bad that we had to wash any utensil we needed to eat with on yesterday & today. ugh. and double ugh.
Tonight, the sis finally got the motivation (after .quite.a.few. rather forceful hints) to tackle the mess. After plugging away and washing for awhile, I noticed that the there was, yep, you guessed it!....a HUGE puddle on the floor by the dishwasher/trashcan/table area all over again!
Ah!! So, tomorrow I'm putting in a work order as soon as I wake up & hopefully we'll get the problem solved. (And maybe, God would motivate the sis to do dishes more often? I'm still on strike :) )

I'll keep you posted, I know you're now waiting in anticipation to see what the darned problem is with our plumbing over here in So. Fresno!

Long story short, I did not have the clarity to write all of that at this time of day so, sorry if it is rather jumbly.... jumbled? Did I just make up a word? Oh no, this isn't going to a good place.
I'll
be
done :)

since

Since I'm tired of studying for my medical terminology midterm....
.....tired of studying the different body cavities, positions, planes, anatomy & pathology of the urinary, nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems....
  SO here is a lovely song that played after a fave: Forever Love.
Here it is: Unpredictable by Francesca Battistelli.
She has such good perspective and wisdom in her lyrics!

Got my thoughts
I got my words
Got this head full of answers
Got You wrapped up
Got You under control
See my future like the past behind me
I think I know where You’re leading
Don’t need no questions
Don’t need no rocking the boat

But I just forget all the mystery
I just forget who You are

(Chorus)
When I know that I know
What You have down the road
When I’m sure that
I’ve figured You out
Help me see that I’m small
That I can’t know it all
‘Cause You’re so unpredictable
‘Cause You’re so unpredictable

You said the foolish
Would shame the wise
To put my faith
In what’s beyond my eyes
And to believe You
I have to come as a child

So help me to rest in the mystery
Of what I can’t understand

Can’t wrap my mind around You
Can’t put You in a box
Can’t keep You safely contained
You’re gonna move the way
You wanna move today
Just let me follow along