oopsies, it's been a while!

I haven't blogged in a very long time! It's Week 2, and things are definitely starting to get busy around here. So many things have been happening (including some bad things like my chipped tooth and burned face :( so unfortunate) but it feels good to be back in school again.

Significant things that have happened in the last couple weeks:

1) I've managed to not spend $400 on books this quarter--Praise God!! So thankful for my professors and their decisions, and my loving friends for lending me books at no cost!
2) I have been eating healthier and I've been working out more and staying active! During Week 0, I didn't eat out at all (minus food provided at aacf events! which was all homemade!) but it felt really good to keep myself away from junky and oily foods for a week! Also, I've been eating a lot more cleanly, and I don't allow myself to go out to each more than twice a week now!
3) I've been more active in getting more involved with the church I'm hoping to attend for the remaining years I have in Irvine! It's been great being more involved with Berean!

look at me, all settled down!

Herrro friends!

After a few crazy days, I decided to settle down and clean my desk and decorate my desk and wall! I really enjoy decorating and making my space feel really home-y, and I'm so excited that this is my desk area now! It's unbelievable that school is starting in two days, but the time has come, and I have to be ready to let God take control of school, fellowship, leading a small group, trying to find a job, etc. and let him guide me as the weeks go by. It's going to be crazy, but it's going to be good, and I am ready to see what God will teach me this Fall quarter! Hellooooo, Fall 2013!

|| joyce ||

all moved in!

HELLOOOOO FROM IRVINE! today was our first full day of living here at the apartment! life is so extremely chill and laid back right now, it's weird. but I know that school is starting soon and things will get super busy really soon! but still incredibly blessed because my apartment is full of women of God. still strange to think that I'm a second year now! and that things will be different this year! i'm anxious yet excited, and ready to see how God will work!

|| joyce ||

Irvine Round Two, here I come!

Oopsies! Haven't blogged in almost a week, but thing have been getting busy around here. Lots of last minute hangouts with my wonderful friends and family, and of course, packing!! I'm officially moving into my apartment with my roommates tomorrow and I'm so excited!! It's strange that I'm leaving for my second year at UCI, but I'm really looking forward to the new adventures and experiences to be had this year. well, here it goes! Year two, come at meeeeeeeeee! I am ready!

|| joyce ||

summertime fun: Adventures in the heart of LA ♡

Yesterday I had the chance to hangout with some of my high school buddies and visit LACMA on the most perfect of SoCal summer days. Good company, perfect weather, and free admission to see art exhibits= day well spent!


Urban Lights: one of the LACMA's most famous features outside on Wilshire Blvd.





















JTam drove all of us and was our dad for the day! haha it was quite nice being driven in the mom van. We started the day by grubbin' on some food truck foods for lunch! Eva and I decided to try something different, and went with the Arroy Thai Fusion truck! I had the pork belly slider and Eva had the beef brisket slider! Price wasn't too bad, but the sliders were fresh and of good size as well, and the crispiness and flavor was perfect.

Arroy food truck's Pork Belly slider and Beef Brisket 
slider! Taste was perfect, and it was nice and fresh! 





















After lunch, we headed to the museum! It was my first time visiting the indoor exhibits at the LACMA, so I was really excited to see what kind of art they had to offer! Here are a few of my favorite exhibits and pieces!

Levitated Mass

Giant Comb!! It was taller than me!

And of course, oodles of noodles!!
















We spent a grand total of three hours at LACMA, which was quite productive and worth it! Before we took off to go home, I, being a huge foodie and being obsessed with dessert (mainly ice cream), knew had to make a stop at MILK! As an Los Angelean, I've always wanted to try MILK, so I knew we couldn't leave before trying it since it was five minutes from LACMA! So to end the day, we grabbed the infamous ice cream macaron sandwiches as a nice dessert on the beautiful SoCal day :)

MILK's Thai Tea ice cream macaron sandwich! 






















Yesterday was one of the best of summer! and I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with old friends as well as enjoying beautiful art work! ♡

|| joyce ||

my own food for thought: teaching; career option, or not?

For the last nineteen years of my life thus far, my mom has been an elementary school  teacher. I've spend countless hours at school with her, from the time I was young, and even until now, as a college student. And the thing is, one thing hasn't changed--I love being in the classroom. When I was in elementary school, mainly kinder to second grade, I went to school with her and enjoyed the time I spent with her students because I was her age. But even now, as a nineteen year old, I enjoy it all the same because I love working with kids. The more I think about it, the more I realize how being in the classroom and watching my mom teach her students these last so many years has allowed me to see that I really do desire to pursue teaching. I've known that if there was any job I wanted in the world, it would to be a teacher. I love kids and I enjoy the classroom setting, and I've always wanted to chase after this teaching career. But today, teaching isn't what it used to be. I see that teaching has become a lot of babysitting leading to less opportunities to actually teach the kids. I see that our world doesn't value teachers for their hard work and effort in investing in the lives of their students (or at least for teachers that do work hard and care for the well-being of their students.) I see that teaching is no longer a stable career, but rather one that comes with the risk of being pink slipped due to lack of tenure. My mom says that I'd make a great teacher, but she has told me that there's so much that you have to invest in order to be a teacher today. She tells me that it's no longer what it used to be, and that teaching has changed, and that it is sometimes no longer worth it.

I'm entering my second year at Irvine, and I'm currently studying Business Econ, but I always have the thoughts of education in the back of my head. I know I have these wild dreams of one day doing marketing, advertising, or PR for a media company or something like that, but then I think simple again and revisit the thought of perhaps pursuing teaching in the future. Not sure where my degree will lead me right now, but I hope that I'll find a job that I enjoy and love, and that it will be a place where I can invest in the lives of others. Definitely not clear with where God is leading me post-college, but as it always is, where He leads I will follow.

|| joyce ||

Bethel: An Experience To Be Had

In all honesty, worshiping with Bethel was a different experience. It was my first time seeing Bethel
live and I didn't know what to expect. Actually, I was hoping to have a very new and spontaneous experience. I had been to a conference where Steffany Frizzel lead worship, and I had been very moved and intrigued by her ability to lead worship by simply being in God's presence and worshiping with no distractions and no agenda--worshiping to only give God glory and praise. Maybe I was semi-critical of the night, or there were quite a few distractions throughout the night, but strangely, I didn't feel as moved as I had hoped I would feel. The new songs from their new Tides album were new and had very good messages behind each and everyone of them and I am constantly amazed at the talent God has given these worship leaders to write these songs of praise and adoration so naturally, but it was a weird feeling not feeling moved. Maybe it was because it was the first night of the tour. Maybe it was because I hadn't come into the night with a heart of pure worship. Maybe it was the distractions of those in the crowd. Maybe it was just so many factors added together. Regardless of all these things, I find that my Bethel experience was one to be had. Coming from FCBC, people tend to think that because I come from a conservative Chinese Southern Baptist church, charisma and spontaneity in worship is strange and weird and not okay. And the fact is, I love charismatic and spontaneous worship just as much as I love contemporary, more conservative worship because I believe that in both, the Holy Spirit works and is alive and moving in us as we worship the Lord. My heart in worship is reflected in my connection with God while I'm worshiping, not the way others around me perceive my actions in worship. And so in that setting of worship that night, I was able to think about my personal worship despite expectations of being moved that night.

I am in love with worship and am completely passionate about worshiping the King. Why? Because God calls us to a life a worship--a life of worship in our actions, our words, our prayers, and everything else in our lives.

"God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." John 4:24


|| joyce ||

mentally prepping myself for the coming year

it's really strange to think that I'm going to be beginning my second year at UCI in a matter of weeks, when I so clearly remember move-in weekend and the fun of my first 'welcome week' and my first experience of a new freedom away from home. I still haven't gotten to wrapping my head around this reality, but I'm excited and ready to see what this next chapter has in store!

this coming year, I have a little more on my plate: living in a new apartment with new roomies and apartment responsibilities, four courses (verses 3 courses--thanks to the evil/lifesaving HumCore) each quarter, serving in aacf--which I am stoked to see how God will teach me and use me, and hopes of working on the side to make some extra cash, in addition to lots, and lots of studying and finding time to spend with friends.

as I count the weeks until I settle back into Irvine, I think about the excitement and the joy I feel in returning to school, but I also face the fears and anxiety of having a difficult year in school--or in life in general. but what's to fear in life when I have the security of the joy in my salvation and the promises that God has already offered me?

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been calld according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 (NIV)



|| joyce ||

summer DIY's

Decided to get crafty tonight and did a fun and easy DIY! Made a 'verse of the week' dry erase frame for inspiration and encouragement for the apartment :)

"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without." -Cecil B. DeMille

|| joyce ||

{ today's adventures: post-LTC hangout and reminiscing on Thailand }

This summer, I was so lucky to have the chance to attend AACF LTC and make new friends from different schools from all over the state (plus UW too!) and spend a week in retreat with people who are so passionate about serving on their campuses and making an impact in the lives of other college students!!

ANYWAY, because of LTC, I made a wonderful friend named Jen Do, and we were finally able to find time to have lunch and chat about our summers and how God has been working in our lives! it was exciting hearing how God was teaching her new things through trials, but finding that God always comes through when we continuously seek him. I also got to share with her about my trip to Thailand, and it was honestly kinda nice because it's been a while since I've shared with people about the trip since coming back in July.

Thinking about Thailand made me realize exactly how much more I miss being there now. It is currently BLAZING in SoCal, but I'd trade this dry heat to be back in Thailand, where it is hot and humid beyond belief, but that was so minuscule in comparison to the experiences I had there. I am now thinking about the students that I built relationships with and I continue to pray for their hearts to become open to finding that God is the only true God, and that he brings healing and light to our broken and dark lives. It's still summer, but I do think about next summer and whether or not I will be able to go back to Thailand. I know it's early to think about it, but I also know that my heart desires to go back and experience God sowing seeds in Thailand. But until then, I will continue to keep Thailand in my prayers and remember how God worked on our trip this summer ♡

|| Clockwise from left to right: Me and momo (one of the kids I took care of at the orphanage);
Thai version of 'spaghetti'--so spicy and delicious!; the Wolfpack; Peter and Lillian, our Thailand mom and dad that I miss so, so much; An Pai and Momo, both kids that I took care of during our weekend with the orphanage; and lastly, one of the classes my teaching team taught; ||



missing Thailand every day and hoping that I will return again soon ♡

|| joyce ||

oops..a little late, but happy labor day!

it was definitely a wonderful weekend spent with my family during this Labor Day weekend. we started off the weekend by moving some furniture into my new apartment in the Vine and then headed to Corona for some delectable AYCE sushi at Sushi Asahi! It was my parents' first time having AYCE sushi, and we went big because we just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, and this was round 3 of the celebration!

Sunday night, my mom's side of the family had our annual Labor Day weekend family BBQ, and my cousins and I paid a visit to the LACMA in lieu of the museum being a 10 minute walk from my cousins and the beautiful weather early that night. It was a fun adventure followed by a savory meal filled with protein and veggies! When the sun had set, we returned to see the Urban Lights shine in the night.

     

And alas, Labor Day itself, I spent with my dad's family and some family friends. Went to have dim sum (note to self: NEVER GO TO HAVE DIMSUM ON LABOR DAY EVER AGAIN) and we waited for an hour to get seated. It wasn't a pleasant experience, to say the least, but it is what it is. Later in the afternoon, it was perfect weather for swimming, so we went to a friend's to swim! I hope I got darker...as I am trying to maintain my darker color for as long as I can! 

Okay, it's like 1 AM now and I should probably get myself to sleep...plus, my dad says my late nights are making his electricity bills run higher than normal. oops and goodnight! 

|| joyce ||

post numero uno.

Welp, today is the second of September, so I suppose it's a good time to start something new at the beginning of the month. I've made many different blogs before, but I've finally decided that I want to be serious about creating a space for me to write or journal. Maybe it's because I miss writing leisurely, but it is something I've been thinking about in the last couple of months. Summer has got me thinking, and I am reminded that my life consists of many things, people, places, etc. and why not write about these adventurous happenings?

God has been so good--and being able to experience new things and have loads of fun this summer has been eyeopening and refreshing, and I know that even when school begins, He'll open up ample opportunity for more to come.

|| joyce ||