Tennessee

We flew to Nashville, Tennessee on July 2nd to visit Joy, a very good friend of mine, who I haven't seen for 8 years. She and her family make their home in Cookville, an hour and a half drive from Nashville. Isabelle did very well on our flight to Nashville... well, she always does. She enjoys every single flight we had in the past, except that one time on our flight to DC when she had an ear infection. You can just imagine how painful it is on your ear during taking off and landing when you have an ear infection. But our flight to Nashville was very nice. We rented a car and one of our friends co-own the Budget car rental here in MN so we got to get a big discount through him. We ended up driving a rich-man's car... very nice.

We drove to the downtown of Nashville from the airport and had lunch at a Greek cafe. Outside the cafe, Paul got to meet the security guards of the building and guess what... he was witnessing to them. So predictable, I know. After telling the guards to repent, believe and put their trust in Jesus, we left to hit the road to Cookville.

It took us less than an hour and a half to get to Joy's house. Her house is beautiful! I adored the pretty roses on her garden beds. She takes such good care of her yard. The inside of her house is immaculately clean. Man, this young lady is a clean freak! Well, I just meant to say, she cleans her house very well. It was awesome to get to see her finally! She didn't change that much... maybe just a little bigger than the skinny Joy I used to know before. I'm pretty sure we have the same weight... and height. And we are still the friends who love to talk and laugh out loud. As expected we had sleepless nights... talking and watching our Filipino movies. Isabelle became friends Joy's super handsome 2-year old boy. They played so well together... no pushing, no grabbing of toys etc. happened. Paul also became friends with Paul... well, Joy's hubby's name is also Paul... but he prefers being called Brian now. P and I really love that night Brian played the piano and the rest of us sang along. I got to sing a duet with Joy... what a special time. Brian did a really good job on the piano.

The family brought us to Burgess Falls one afternoon. It's a few miles away from their house. We love the long scenic walk of the series of three water falls. Pushing the strollers up on the hill was such a "weight loss" program for Joy and me.

Other things we did in Cookville with Joy and her family include visiting their church and shopping... (well, for her and me... we spared our husband from the joy (pain for them) of shopping.)We also drove to Nashville on the 4th together in a Suburban SUV. We had such a phenomenal experience in Nashville... check it out... Nashville Blast.

Summer

Izzy and her mommy have been busy... outdoors. We like to pull the weeds from our garden beds and pick up flowers for our vase on the dining table. It's really nice that our daisies this summer has been blooming a lot. I feel bad, though, that our day lilies were chewed by our regular "deer" guests before they were ready to bloom. Izzy gets excited to see the deer in our yard, I do too, it's just sad that they can't stay away from the day lilies. My day lilies were so beautiful last summer, but I guess I don't have them to enjoy this year.

Other things Izzy and I like to do outdoors is biking. My little girl has just learned to use the pedals of her little pink-purple bike to move around our driveway. Sometimes, I walk beside her as she bikes around our circle. We also enjoy our biking time where I put her in her trailer and I get to drive my bike around our circle for ten times. I still don't have the courage to cross highway 42 to get to the biking trail across the street of our circle. I think it's too dangerous for me and Izzy. I am just contented to get my work-out around our immediate neighborhood... biking around the circle at least 10 times. It's nice when Paul gets home earlier from work and we get to bike together for two hours.

We really haven't been able to set Izzy's swimming pool up yet. I think we have to get it going this week. Also, we are looking forward to regularly visit the public swimming pool a couple blocks away from our house. There's a really nice and big water park just about 10 miles away from us, that's one of the places we want to go soon.

We do picnic at Crystal Lake beach on Saturdays. It's also our family evangelism time. My part is to intercede for Paul while he goes around witnessing to people at the beach while watching Izzy play at the kids park. We are really loving it! When P is done witnessing, we eat dinner. It's really fun.

Blogging

Wow, I didn't know I had neglected this blog on the first 14 days of this month. Thanks to my very good friends in London who kind of reminded me that this blog is not really just a hobby for me but an avenue to update my family and friends about my life in America. I apologize.

The summer this year is amazingly cooler. High of upper 70's to 80's is a perfect temperature for me. It is so nice out that Izzy and I spend most of our time during the day outdoors. We love to play on our lawn... we like to chase each other and picnic. Oh, and she has just learned the simple summersault thing. It is so fun to watch her run and quickly do the summersault. With me (and Paul, when he is around), cheering her doing the summersault a thousand times doesn't seem to make her exhausted. Oh, boy. It makes her parents exhausted, instead.

Part of the reason why I have not been blogging that much is that I have been scrapping. I love making a few scrapbook pages at night while listening to the Audio Bible, Nancy Leigh Demoss' radio shows, Paul Washer, Way of the Master radio and my favorite music. I just love my scrapping time. It is a time for me to put my creative mind to work and at the same time learn from God's Word. Paul helped me set up my craft area in his office room in our basement. We found out that that there was an empty space in that room that was a perfect spot for my small "big ideas" adventures. I used to have my crafts cabinets and working station in our guest room. So, I've been enjoying my craft time... sewing, jewelry making, scrapping and card making. Speaking of card making, I never thought that I'd get orders here and there... they're not much but it's an income. I praise God for that.

Oh, and yes, a very good friend of mine in Tennessee and I have just started a ministry together. Well, it's a ministry that I have started since I got here but didn't really work for it good enough, and when I shared it to this friend of mine, she got excited about it (that got me excited, all the more) and joined me since we share the same vision. So, this one too got me a little busier.

I guess now, I am back to blogging in this blog! Happy reading!

Disgusting Script of Chorus Line

I can't believe someone would intentionally write a script full of profanity and using of God's name a cuss word. I'm talking about the writer of the script of the Broadway musical play called, Chorus Line. How awful it is to know that someone could actually premeditate blasphemous language and put it into writing. It's one thing to unintentionally be repulsive but it's so sickening when it is premeditated. Well, I suppose that's the reality of what is in the world today. But do we, Christians, have to sit for two hours and listen to all this vulgarism? If our motive in watching shows like this is to be exposed to the real world we are, it's lame. We are already warned of this in the Bible, we do not have to pay anything to learn what is in the world. There's a big difference between going into the world and along the way you hear vulgarity and paying your way to sit for two hours listening to actors using God's name as a cuss word. Blasphemous! That's the right word I can describe the script of the Chorus Line. Well, what can you expect to come out from a writer/choreographer/director who's known to be the first gay who died in AIDS... and Chorus line was supposed to be his memorial to all out there of his kind.

We went to the play only because of our friends, who we love. They have no idea whatsoever what kind of a play it was. They got all our front seats tickets for free and so thought it was a nice date for all of us. The music and dances were entertaining, yes.

After watching Chorus line, I learned that it is very important to read reviews and scripts ahead of the time before watching any play. I just can't stand listening to garbage. It's like eating junk food... and I try to stay away from that to the best of my ability. And yes, I would not spend money on junk food.

My only joy that night was the fact that I and my friend got to dress up for our double dates with our honeys.

Farm

Last weekend, we visited the farm owned by a B-I-L's family. It's a huge property of 16 acre. Anyway, this farm is really not a farm. Well, let me explain... they call it a farm but there's really nothing grown there except on the small vegetable garden. There are two humongous barns but they are not really serving their purpose. My F-I-L mentioned that the government doesn't allow the owners to turn the said land into a real farmland. I don't really know why but anyway... since the land is not planted with any crops, the owners and their friends have used the big space as a driving arena for their four-wheelers and ranger truck. It was so fun to driving those things! We really enjoyed it.

Daddy's Day

For Father's Day, we ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant to make P happy... yes, he loves it there for the huge variety of fruit they offer. P is a big "fruit" eater. He thinks he can't swallow any food with out fruit with it. We wanted to show him how important for me and our daughter, Izzy, that he eats fruit. We want to have a happy leader in our home! And he is... he is a happy leader! He even tries to be happy even when we run out of fruit in the house. Anyway, while "devouring" our Asian food yesterday, our little Izzy gave him lots of hugs and kisses and repeatedly said, "Happy Father's Day, daddy!" We were also talking about our fathers while eating. P got a little emotional at church earlier thinking about his dad. He was reminiscing his wonderful time with his dad growing up. His dad did a great job of training him into a man who values hard work.

We came home and Izzy gave him our gifts and the card we made for him with her scribbles on it. We then, took a long nap. We were exhausted from our busy days last week. After napping, we drove to P's softball. We had fun picnicking before the games. But we were disappointed that his team lost in both games. P was very disappointed, to even say, "I can't play anymore! I played so terribly tonight!". As expected I said, "You don't just give up like that... it's not you." and he said, "I know." Hopefully, his team will do better next week.

Izzy wants to say, "Daddy, everyday is a Father's Day!"

Proverbs 17:6
Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

Warm Days

It's been really hard to find time to sit and blog these days... it's warm and it feels like I want to make the most of it by doing more outdoor activities. Izzy and I have been taking our afternoon walks, gardening, picnicking and playing in the yard.

The past couple weeks, we have been busy with biking, camping and Paul's softball games. The couch potato season is over! Paul, Izzy (on her trailer pulled by Paul's bike) and I were biking for 8 miles total last Friday and Saturday. I was so sore. I think I pushed myself too hard knowing that it was my first long bike ride this year. But it was good... no pain, no gain... so to speak.

Here are snapshots from our warm busy days...