Milk Teeth

It's nearly the end of October. This means that Christmas is near. Yay!! Honestly, it's sad that Thanksgiving is neglected every year. That happens when you're shadowed by Christmas. Don't get me wrong. I love Thanksgiving. It's the only holiday that's not tied to excessive commercialism and expensive gift giving. And there's something special about gathering those we care about most so that we can all feast together and enjoy each other's company. Although I do enjoy Thanksgiving, can't deny that Christmas is my favorite holiday. :)

I am currently at a coffee, tea, and boba place in LA. I drove down spontaneously from Irvine to see my mom who's flying in from Korea tonight. I've missed her so much. I downloaded Kakao again just so I can talk and chat with her. I've already sent her 18 messages and still no reply after 2 weeks... Sigh. I just like to think she or someone else out there is reading my messages.

Anyway, I've been trying to cut down on buying drinks. Iced teas, coffees, milk teas, smoothies... It's become a habit to purchase some kind of drink to have with me while I study. You would think it's harmless but then at the end of the month you look back on where all your money went and where the excessive weight gain is coming from. ICED DRINKS, I tell you! Milk teas in particular... Very deceiving. This is often brought up to my attention by Matt who's in dental school now and who has recently held more concern and interest regarding the health of my teeth. Hahaha. Apparently a regular sized milk tea boba drink is 38 grams of sugar which is equivalent to nearly 3 tablespoons of sugar. (Minus the carbohydrates.) I guess I can see how damaging that can be to your teeth. I've associated milk tea and teeth together so that when I hear one I automatically think of the other. Milk teeeeth. Sigh... failed.

So here I am, ironically in a milk tea and coffee shop, writing this post, and feeling sad that I can't drink more boba. So then instead... we got Blockheads shaved ice right next door. :)        

Artichoke looking shaved ice! This was delicious. And the price of one boba. Good deals=good meals.

Green tea and black sesame. SO GOOD! Thank you!

Taking some of LA back with me. Go Bruins!... hehe. zot zot. :)

Today was a good day. Good day ya'll!

Praying my IOU'S

A quick blog post before my next class in thirty minutes.

I have to admit, I don’t finish books that often. I start a lot of them, but don’t finish many. And although I am easily moved and convicted by the things I read, rarely do I consistently practice them.

But here is something I read in one of Piper’s books called “When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy” that I’ve actually found extremely  helpful and something I practice on a normal basis. 

I was reminded of it once again as I found myself not starting the morning with God. I was about to dive into the daily grind as I normally do, rather than spend a few quiet moments with Him in the word and prayer. But gladly the Spirit won. May it help and bless you as it has for me. 

Before having a devotional, this is what I pray…

I – Incline my heart.

“The first thing my soul needs is an inclination toward God and His Word. I must want to know God and read His word and draw near to him…Very simply, we ask God to take our hearts, which are more inclined to breakfast and the newspaper, and change that inclination.We are asking God to create desires that are not there.”

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and  not to selfish gain! -Psalm 119:18

O- Open the eyes of my heart.

“I need to have the eyes of my heart opened so that when my inclination leads me to the Word, I see what is really there, and not just my own ideas.”

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.  -Psalm 119:18
Open the eyes of my heart, O Lord, to see what it says about you as wonderful.

U- Unite my heart.

“My heart is badly fragmented. Parts of it are inclined, and part of it are not…What I long for is a united heart where all the parts say a joyful YES! to what God reveals in His word.

Unite my heart to fear your name. -Psalm 86:11
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. -Isaiah 11:3

S- Satisfy me.

“What I really want from all this engagement with the Word of God and the work of his Spirit in answer to my prayer is for my heart to be satisfied with God and not with the world.”

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. -Psalm 90:14

To all the people out there who are struggling to find joy in the Lord, or not finding joy in life period….let’s take a moment to go back to the source of joy. Let’s pray our IOU’S, and wait in expectation as God opens the flood gates of joy from His Word and Spirit into our lives!

Material taken from: Piper, John. When I Don’t Desire God, pg 151-152.

Juicey

Already heading into week 3 of my last quarter at UCI. Don't know how to feel at this point. Basically... nearly everything I'm doing is and may be my last. Like walking to classes and having classes with my roommates or taking courses at my favorite lecture hall SSLH 100 and then grudgingly walking from SSLH all the way to the opposite side of the campus towards BS3 where my next class is. Little things I take for granted right now but know I will miss come January when I'm no longer an Anteater. Thankfully I'll still be here so I guess I'll still feel like a college student.
Well speaking of classes with my roomies... the other day we passed by Nektar- a delicious organic juice bar that just opened up right by our apartment- and we were like "Oh let's get some Nektar!!!" But then we were all sad because it was like $5...
So we went back to our apartment and made our own NEKTAR and we made it for FREE. Huehuehue

juicy juice ^_^ Don't mind the one on the right please. Her mam pays me to take care of her.