Hello, readers!
It’s been eight months since I’ve last posted. At this rate, am I still allowed to celebrate my 3rd birthday in January?
I’ll give you a million excuses as to why I haven’t been posting, but maybe it’ll be easier if I give you a recap via a list (my favorite) of important things that have happened. Three important things happened:
- My sister got married and I got a new brother (even though he was already a brother to me)!
Picture Credit: Kyle Ng Photography
It was such a precious moment to witness my sister marry her other half, but even sweeter to see their wedding used as a testimony of God’s work in their lives. There were so many tears (I think I won in terms of amount of tears shed), but I promise you they were happy tears. It was definitely one of the best days of my life. Here’s a little excerpt from my maid of honor speech:
“Jieh–I tell you this every time I’m home for the weekend, to which you always respond with “okay” or “gross”–but I love you. You know me inside and out, you’re always there to rebuke me and call me out when I’m being stupid. You have such a big heart for others, and you always put their needs above your own. I admire you so much, and I’ve strived for the past 21 years to be half as amazing as you are…and I don’t even come close. Thank you for being my sister, best friend, and unofficial discipler. You’ll literally be 10 minutes away from home–but I’ll miss you. ‘Roomies no more,’ as you call it. I’ll miss making Friends/The Office references with you, seeing you when I’m home, stealing your clothes and make up and ‘forgetting’ to bring them back home, having sleepovers with you (which really just end up being you falling asleep within the first five minutes and me moving back into my own bed because you’re totally knocked out), and my favorite–taking ugly pictures of you when you’re sleeping and posting them on Facebook. Thank you for teaching me what it means to love others like Christ has loved us. Thank you for your words of wisdom, for being such a great role model…for being my sister.”
2. I turned 22! Cue something about not knowing about you and feeling twenty-two…
3. I said goodbye to the better part of California (for now…just kidding) and moved up to NorCal. I said goodbye to my family, my community, my church, my job, my roommates–basically everything I knew in SoCal. I moved up here for two reasons: 1) work and 2) experience. I’m really having a blast up here, and I really do love the environment and culture in what people call “yay area” (and I can see why). But I’d be lying if I said it was easy. Things are a lot better than I had expected, but I still have those random days when I’m confused about everything that’s going on. “Why am I up here? What am I doing at work, and where will this job take me? How am I growing in church; how am I growing as an individual and follower of Christ?” etc etc. I know moving isn’t that big of a deal, but I think with my background and my personality, it’s hard moving somewhere 350 miles away with no family near you. Can you imagine if I had moved out of state, or even out of the country…?! Regardless where I am, it’s an experience that I am thankful for. My plans up here keep changing in terms of housing and church, and I know that they will continue to change, and I will forever be a nomad until I settle down. One thing that does remain constant, though, and you’ve seen me repeat that over and over again on this blog, is that God is faithful. I don’t know my plans, but I believe that He is sovereign and has a purpose for me every step of the way. Something I’ve been meditating on recently (and I’ll end it here):
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
– 1 Peter 1:3-9
At the end of the day…this is still a baking blog, and I’m sure you’re all here on this site more for the baked goods rather than my life stories and trials, so here are some things I’ve made during the past eight months. For the record, I’m still going to try to finish baking through the alphabet. I had three failed attempts on the letter ‘o’, so maybe fourth time’s the charm?
I’d really love to keep this thing going. I’m not resigning quite yet. But realistically, it’ll be hard for me to keep this going consistently, so my promise is that I’ll do my best. So to my friends up here, if you have an open kitchen to let me experiment in (caution: I can be a messy baker)…let me know :)
Until next time,
Soli Deo Gloria, and Happy reading, eating, and baking!
grace(full)eats 
