Dreaming About David Jay?!?

At about 1 o'clock this morning I climbed into bed and closed my eyes quickly entering the world of my dreams. In the opening scene I was walking through a mall. This mall was a bit classier than the average mall with gold trim and pillars lining store entrances and walls made of that tacky green marble which you only see in old school upper class corporate offices. The flooring was white marble...

As I was walking through, lo and behold, David Jay came walking up to me. My reaction was like this is a normal thing (as if I see him more than once or twice a year!). We started talking about this conference we're going to that he's leading and how exciting it's going to be! lol Apparently, the conference is being held on a boat!

From there we started walking out of the mall and the scenes change to a dock. We board the boat and just keep chattin away like we're ol' pals and such. The boat was a lot different than I expected it to be, but DJ seemed unmoved by the fact that it looked like a fishing boat. We talked about how we were supposed to meet up with Sarah Barlow and her sister Natalie along with all the other people who were gonna be in the conference.

The scenes jumped and next it was after the conference was finished. It was late that night and the boat was out in the midst of big rolling waves. David and I decided to go running on the deck! Of course, DJ was leading w/ his "Fast I Am" shoes and for some reason I remember saying, "High knees DJ! High knees!" As we came to...a hill?! Hahaha...wow.

Suddenly, DJ somehow slipped and fell off the deck and into the water just gripping the edge. There was really only about a yard between the deck of the boat and the water. I went to the edge to help him out and somehow managed to lift him out of the water!

The dream concluded in a blur, but moral of the story: Hmm....well...I guess, DJ, rest assured that if ever we went running on a boat I would save you from falling into the water! lol

The End. :)

Honestly, I have NO idea how this dream came about! Nothing in the course of my day had anything to do with DJ or fishing boats...or even running! lol How random is that??

((Opposites Attract.))

"Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life"
(Ecclesiastes 9:9).


"I received a letter from a young lady saying, "I'm engaged to a nice man, but we are so opposite it seems we never agree on anything. Do you think we are so incompatible that we will not get along in a marriage?"
Possibly they are incompatible, but I know for a fact that if two people in a marriage are just alike one of them is unnecessary. In great part, God puts opposites together because opposites really do attract. In most marriages, one gets up early; the other prefers to stay in bed. One splashes in the sink; the other cleans up.
All of this is so that one will offset the extremes of the other one. If we look at differences as a problem rather than as a balance, we will end up arguing a lot. By recognizing the differences as an asset, a couple can become one working unit. That is what God desires.
Unless you have an absolute commitment to make the marriage work, it won't, because when the going gets tough you'll want out."

Great is Thy Faithfulness, by Larry Burkett

I know presently, for people my age including myself, God desires us to enjoy the days of our youth before worrying about something like marriage, but I just love learning about marriage and what kind of mindset to have in preparation for a relationship like that... I stumbled across this passage and thought it was absolutely perfect. So there ya go!

HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!

Today and yesterday have just been absolutely wonderful!!!



Yesterday afternoon, I went out to Oak Park in a caravan of about 6 cars w/ Sarah, Andrew, and Natalie Barlow, and then Beth, Kristen, Tricia, Bryant, Morgan, and my brother, Steve. Sarah's siblings, my brother and I did some modeling for the photographer's training shoot and it was just sooooo amazing!! So many people in the photography industry are just wonderful, I don't know if I'll ever want to be disconnected from it! We were out from like 2:30 til 9:30pm...



Afterwards, my brother and I drove out from Oak Park (near the city) all the way to Plainfield for my friend Elora's college graduation party. It was so worth the trip cuz they're basically my other set of siblings/family and I haven't had the chance to spend as much time with them this summer yet. By the end of the night I was just wiped from driving all day...



I slept in this morning until about twenty minutes before I had to leave for church--oops! The service was really good and then the rest of the day was just relaxing and hangin out with my dad. I love him so much!! We have some of the best conversations together and I always learn so much from him. :)



Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend!!!

An Environmentalist?!?

I was helping Sarah Barlow clean her office on Tuesday and I told here I was gonna get her recycling! lol It's weird cuz I never considered myself one before, but it's like an itch inside when that empty water bottles sitting on the counter or the cereal box is empty...

Just the facts:
[The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours]
[Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees]

Uhh...Wow. The things you learn about yourself when you think you've already learned it all...

On a different note: Assistant Training shoot tomorrow!! WOO HOO!! I am SO excited to meet Sarah's new interns for the season and see their work!! It's gonna be gooooood stuff! Watch out all you hot shot photographers!! :-D

My Love is Conditional, So I'm Trying to Get Rid of it.

Between the time I left Sarah's and pulling into the Red Robin parking lot to pick up dinner for my family, I settled upon that annoying concept. I know I've come across it before, but I stumble upon it now and again and I find it quite aggravating.

So what does it take to have my love?
Well, I have to like you first of all. Haha, that's about as far as I'll go because there are so many intricate things to why I like or don't like certain people that it would take forever to analyze that and I am just not up for that task right now!

But isn't that horrible? My love should not be given under the condition of whether I like you or not! That's not real love to begin with! It's so hard to draw the line with people because, as the most amazing C.S. Lewis puts it, "to love is to be vulnerable," and most times I'd like to be much more cautious with my heart since not everyone cares to truly love back.

But then there's that call to love.
And I am a "slave to righteousness." (Rom. 6:18)

Wow. It's all connecting now! Over the course of the past few weeks I really felt like God had been using this song to speak to my heart in the midst of a battle between bitterness and enduring love:

"Don't Give Up" ~Sanctus Real

I heard you say you would love for a lifetime
Now you complain a lifetime just doesn’t feel right for you
Another casualty of casual love
Another soul out of place, a heart that gave up

Why do we break the promises we make?
Are we living for ourselves?

Don’t give up on love and throw it all away
Don’t give up on love and let it fall away
When did it become so easy to run from your pain?
Don’t give up on love and throw it all away

I heard you say you can’t change a stubborn heart
I can relate ‘cause that’s how I feel when I talk with you

Why should it take losing everything
To realize it might be time to change?

Don’t give up on love and throw it all away
Don’t give up on love and let it fall away
When did it become so easy to run from your pain?
Don’t give up on love and throw it all away

Your restless heart won’t win ‘cause you take but you don’t give
And you’ll keep moving on until you learn what love is

-------<3-------

That's what I do! I run, I find ways to win for myself and it usually entails bitterness or hard feelings. I hold grudges toward people I simply get a wrong impression from. I'm stereotypical. I keep moving on before learning and knowing what love is. And I do this with every type of relationship in my life.

That can't happen anymore. This doesn't mean I'm going to stay in touch with every person I've ever met, but I need to work at keeping the relationships that were once close still close. And try working to make the broken ones whole regardless of the past.

That's what God's teaching me.
He's saying to me:

Don't give up on Love, Sarah. I am Love.
((1 John 4:8))

An Extraordinary Life...?

YOU HAVE ONE!! And so do I...

Whether you're living in the biggest mansion or a studio apartment w/ a benz or a '92 Geo you have it better than most people in the world. Food & water, clean showers and restroom facilities.

We are unbelievably blessed. :)

I get to sing again...[!]

Wonderful...yet, tragic? Okay, "tragic" is wayyy too dramatic. Please...

In less than 25 days I'm going to be singing the most timeless love song of all time. I'm so privileged to sing it for this couple because they were basically my second set of parents growing up. It's for their Silver Wedding: 25 Years. How wonderful is that? And how refreshing in this day and age to actually have a REAL marriage... On my 30 minute drive to work AND back, I played this song over and over...and over again trying to get down all of the words. After a while I just had to drive and listen so I could hear all the cues and lyrics I need to know. This song is the most over-played Christian wedding song of all time...

...but rightly so, cuz it's absolutely beautiful.

Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1:
Tomorrow mornin' if you wake up and the sun does not appear
I will be here
If in the dark we lose sight of love
Hold my hand and have no fear
'Cause I will be here

Chorus:
I will be here
When you feel like bein' quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen and I will be here
When the laughter turns to cryin'
Through the winnin', losin' and tryin'
We'll be together
'Cause I will be here

Verse 2:
Tomorrow mornin' if you wake up and the future is unclear
I will be here
As sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I will be here

Chorus 2
I will be here
And you can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we're older
I will hold you
And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

Bridge:
I will be true to the promise I have made to you
And to the One who gave you to me
I will be here
And just as sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I will be here
We'll be together
I will be here

--"I Will Be Here", Steven Curtis Chapman

Not gonna lie, in the middle of typing out those lyrics and even now, I'm feelin that warm sensation you get in your face when you feel like you're gonna cry (I'm way to honest on this blog thing, aren't I? I know, I wear my heart on my sleeve...). But don't worry! I won't cry! Haha, and even if I did, it's not like YOU'D know! :)

Listening to this song is like...AUGH, how my heart yearns for that faithfulness and boldness from a man. I know I will experience it one day, but it is very discouraging to be living in a day and age where the word "faithfulness" has fallen out of basic vocabulary. As with the words, "modesty" and "respectability".

I couldn't find an indirect way of typing this out on my blog so I'm just gonna say it:

SHOW ME A MAN WHO IS MAN ENOUGH TO BE SET APART FROM THE CULTURE OF THIS WORLD.[!!!!!!!!]

My friend and I were talking sometime back with the question, "Where are all the MEN???" I'm not at all saying females are perfect, TRUST me, I know very well what my sex has done to tear down the place a man should have in life...

But seriously, where are all the fathers standing up to raise there sons as godly men and not leaving them unloved and hanging around still as boys...or guys at their best? Where are the men that are gonna stand for purity and not fool around before they find the woman they'll marry??
I know we live in a culture filled with broken homes and complicated marriages, but what about God's promise that He will be a Father to the fatherless?

We as women have done nothing to help considering how desperate we've become with our shirts too low and skirts to short...our increase in forward actions over the years. Our overpowering, "I'll do it myself" attitude.

What happened to relationships as they were intended to be? Partnership. Balance.

(Thankfully, our God is a merciful God and we can start anew each day.)

Today, I was just thinkin...I'm not a "dating relationship" kinda girl. I'm no good at it! Not to say that I've ever really dated and I'm very okay with that. It's just I know that, through observation of the past 6 years. when any romance seems to bud, I get weird. Seriously. It's like I'm incapable of being my true self around that person...

It's because I wasn't made for dating relationships! I was made for one marriage and one genuine marriage alone. One that, first of all, won't be happening til years from now! :) But also, one that is full of faithfulness, purity and uplifting truths and actions...service and love. One partnership with one God.

Can we please bring the word "Faithfulness" back into our lives? If you're like me (single), aim that faithfulness to Your Biggest Fan up in heaven...He'll take care of ya :)

Also...women, we need to lift up our men with our modesty and encouragement to grow to be like Christ and to grow ourselves in that same direction. And men, you need to stand up and follow the example of the most Amazing Man that ever was regardless of your circumstances as well as respond to girls with respect and purity.

Wow, I can't believe all this came out! Crazy truth...

Culture Shock?!?

Wow! I've been home for almost a month now it's weeeiird. But SO good.

Since being home I've had the chance to, I guess you could say, screw my head on straight. In my attempt to adjust at school, I fear I lost myself along the way...I've realized how much people don't really know me. Especially among some of my closest friends. It's so easy to get caught up in the culture of my school and the south in general. Maybe it's a good thing, I mean, people are so nice down there. I find myself with a stronger, but more introverted personality now that I'm back in Chicago. And it feels like this skin fits me. I think my downfall is that I am exactly 50% introvert and 50% extrovert--gimme the meyers briggs test, I'll prove it! But anyway, I just wanna be myself next year...ALL year...



All of this hit me over the past week because we had family over from the Philippines. My Tita (Aunt) Dolli and Lolo (Grand-Uncle) Ashung have been staying with us the past couple days. It was great!! I got to listen to them talk to my mom in Tagalog allll weekend,

it's like music to my ears. :)

Last night was their final night here at our house so we invited my aunt and uncle to come over for dinner. I had the biggest wake up call to just how eccentric my family is and how much I love it!

Here's the scene:

Five 100% Filipinos sitting at a dining table with one 100% Indian, and two kids that are 50/50. The oldest child is still in Hawai'i. Meanwhile, we're all sitting around eating Lou Malnati's (Chicago style) pizza & salad, Portillo's Chicago style hotdogs...Oh, and Chinese lo mein. AND homemade Indian curry chicken that my dad made w/ nan or...like, pita bread. Afterward, we had mangos, pineapples and watermelon for dessert. Finally, we chatted into the night while the adults sipped either their American coffee or Hawaiian tea.

But see?? I told you!

60% of the time, I couldn't understand what was being said (Ha, I can count to 10 in tagalog), but it didn't phase me! Instead, I just listened. I pick up stuff sometimes and other times, someone will explain a little or start speaking Taglish (Tagalog-English mix).

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! But few people from outside my home grasp it. I think that's why the depth of this part of me goes unnoticed with most people. Until they really get to know me, come into my house and truly see it for what it is, they won't fully know me. My home and ALL it's culture (oh yeah, a pinch of Ethiopian culture is in there too--you'll hafta ask about that one), is such a vital part of my life. Haha, so whoever God wants me to end up marrying better be ready or be just as eccentric as me!

I'm so thankful for a home like this. I really hope to preserve it. Maybe this will give you an idea as to why I love my home/family so much. :)