I choose to still stick with xanga! I was tempted to start a Tumbler, but why need tumbler if I still have xanga? =P This google+ is also (at least I find it) slightly unnecessary- we have facebook and gchat- good enough for me? Or maybe its because I still don't understand how to use google+ nor do I really understand its main purpose. Hahaha Maybe I just like to stick to old/originals, I'm not the greatest with these changes but I'm getting there (I suppose hahahaha).

Anyways!!! In 2 days, I'll be on my way to SINGAPORE for 10 days and then Korea for 2 weeks and I am unbelievably STOKED! Last time I went to korea was when I was 3 so I don't remember anything.. I'm excited to travel. I haven't really had a summer break ever since I started college because of summer classes/studying for PCATS  so it definitely feels nice to have some me-time, family-time, and meeting with people here and there and catching up. I've been visiting the nearby borders/barnes from time to time reading books (I know this may sound a bit silly) and it felt SO NICEE to be able to read books for leisure and not study my chem/bio books.. =). But at the same time.. having all this free time, I feel so bored at times too.. and this is going to sound crazy but I actually miss studying (-_-) - which gets me that much more excited for Pharmacy School. Praise God for His unending love and grace. I wouldn't have gotten this far without Him.. He has opened so many doors for me and lately I've been having a lot of thoughts on what I hope to do in the future. One of my goals that I truly hope to pursue is to go to short-term missions to Africa as a Pharmacist and serve.. 

  I thought I might share this with those who still use facebook.. its truly a heart-opening, amazing description of the cross by Joni Eareckson Tada..

The face that Moses had begged to see—was forbidden to see—was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19—20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...

"On your back with you!" One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier lives on—he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.

As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm—the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless—the nerve performs exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lifted the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.

But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feels a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being—the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown with rot.

His Father! He must face his Father like this!

From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.

“Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped—murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten—fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk—you, who molested young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp—buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves—relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?”

Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his hearts treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.

"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"

But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.

The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.

Joni Eareckson Tada When God Weeps

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My first update of 2011.. It feels good.. a new year, a new start. This year will be a year of change and will all be good! I'm excited, nervous and extremely anxious as to what this year will bring.. with graduation just around the corner.. and hopefully an entrance into the pharmaceutical field. I hope to visit the motherland this summer... last time I went was when I was 3 (ridiculous....). If not, a backpacking trip to Europe? (would be fantastic).. but one things for sure.. I want to travel. Something I love to do but wasn't able to do much of it yet.. School starts in about a week (right after winter classes finish.. ) TG for giving me the perseverance and the strength! I feel so blessed.. and have really learned to take every opportunity and enjoy it to the fullest.. never realized how fast time flies by. So many thing i wish I could have done, some things I wish i could have changed.. but its okay.     some thinggs I'm really trying to change is to really just enjoy every moment I can, make plans and make more memories, take every challenge as a blessing, to stop wasting my time being so judgemental and be more forgiving and loving, to work on my stubborn and selfish nature, finish this semester as strong as possible, to keep in touch with people more even if I have only a few more minutes before class starts- to make that 2 minute phone call and not be so darn lazy, to accept that people do come and go so make the most of all the relationships I'm in, but most of all to be thankful for everything.. 

one thing I discovered recently is I cannot write for my life.. never realized how frustrating it can be to not be able to express my thoughts.. so for those reading this (?), don't ever ask me to edit your papers hahahaha.. 

Anyways Happy Martin Luther King Day! I'll leave with one of his quotes... 

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 6, 2009

oh how time flies~