It’s July 31, and we have overcast, sprinkly skies. What is up with summer in Seattle this year?! Part of me is relieved, though. My yard could use the rain. After battling with critters stealing my homegrown lettuce, I finally wised up and strung up some sparkly ribbon and CDs to scare them away. The result? Full heads of lettuce–actually more than we could even eat. I always wondered how the tiny lettuce starts at the nursery fed whole families. Now I know. Growing vegetables has been SO rewarding and exciting.

I was back in Sacratomato from Friday through Tuesday. Matt didn’t come with me, so when he picked me up from the airport on Tuesday night, I said: “I can’t wait to see my plants!”
Matt: “You haven’t seen me for four days, and you just want to see your plants?!”
Me: “Well, I wanted to see you, too, but I’m seeing you right now–so the next thing I want to see is my garden!”

What initially seemed like a semi-long visit to Sac went by so incredibly fast. I saw pretty much all my extended family (got mistaken for being my sister, which is tons better than being mistaken for being pregnant!), got In-N-Out burgers and Rite Aid ice cream, saw Wayne and Ceci get married, finally got a tour of the Jelly Belly factory with my mum, got gardening advice from my dad, and caught up with a couple of friends. Oh, and I was sick. Not fun. I didn’t get much sleep each night because I was sick, so that–coupled with being social–left me exhausted. But I pretty much expect to wear myself out because trips back there, especially without Matt, are so few.

And, as always, I dig through stuff in my old closet, trying to toss a few things every time I’m back. “If you don’t go through things now, you’ll have a lot to go through when we die!” my parents say. No kidding. That’s why I’m doing it now. I can’t imagine having just experienced my parents’ death (not something I want to think about!) AND then having to go through old letters and memorabilia stashed in my old closet? Talk about a sobfest!!

This time around, I found two old notebooks that I had passed between two different friends, each of us taking turns writing letters in them. Talk about boy-crazy drama central!! One friend and I had food names for everyone–I still remember who most of them are, but it got confusing at a point…sushi, sour apple, BBQ, fried shrimp, etc. I also found my old dream journals, which I started back in 1992. Dream journals are almost like diaries. Based on what I dream about, I can tell what’s going on in my life. One of my recurring dreams is the one where my contact lens is too big for my eye. It varies from being the size of a quarter to being like a sheet of paper. My first recorded contact lens dream was in 1999 (the year I first got contacts, in fact)—and I still have the dream. I have only known two other friends who have this dream. I have no idea what it means, though.

Going through those notebooks made me realize just how little I have changed since jr. high, which I guess can be OK because it means I’m consistent in my personality, but also that means I still have the mentality of a jr. higher. Here are some examples:

1. I wrote to my friend that I got a pin that said, “Did you fart or is that a weird beeper?” It still made me laugh when I read that. (That reminded me of the pin that said, “Jesus is coming back. Look busy,” that Kris, Dorc and I thought was hilarious–and got in trouble for because I think one of them bought it.)

2. Back in youth group, when I was in leadership positions, I found myself complaining about having to remind people about things so many times. But that’s what a leader does, right? Willingly lead and guide others? In that case, I’m not a leader. I can organize things, but I don’t want to have to take care of others…then and now. But I always seem to find myself in that position…

3. I was insecure about friendships back then…and sadly, sometimes now. In one letter, I was ranting to Johann about how a friend called my sister and me up, asking if we wanted to go somewhere because more drivers were needed. When I told him I couldn’t get the car, he said, “Well, OK…bye!” I was furious, feeling so used for the car. But my friend’s response was to remind me that I can’t evaluate my friendships based on each day’s circumstances. I think because I can be too sensitive about how someone responds to me, I’m constantly analyzing if I said or did something to offend them. Or also analyzing what someone says to me or how they react, and I base our entire friendship on the most recent interaction. I’m not as bad as I used to be, thank goodness, but I still see traces of that occasionally.

Thankfully, I do see differences since my younger days. I’m not as mischievous and uncaring, and I actually have more of a conscience now. I guess between those characteristics and the ones I listed above, I’m glad I kept the first few, and changed the latter.

It’s helpful to know how I’ve grown…and which areas I still need work in. But I don’t believe we stop learning and growing when we’ve become adults. People can still change, and to a certain extent, I believe we should. It won’t hurt me to work on being less sensitive about friendships or more willing to guide others…but I don’t have to stop laughing at fart pins.

I’ve been quite uninspired to write much lately.

My mood (due mostly to PMS) has been sour, and I’ve just been very negative about a lot of things. I relate it to Slytherin vs. Gryffindor (yes, another Harry Potter reference), where anyone in the Slytherin house acknowledges and touts their dark sides. But students in the Gryffindor house are all about being courageous and just.

Well, you know what? Sometimes I just want to be a Slytherin…it’s too much work to be like the Gryffindors. Sometimes I feel like it would be so much easier to complain and be bitter. There would be less of that battle within me. But as with all struggles, people root for the good side. They want good to prevail and evil to be diminished. That’s why, at the end of each school year, the Gryffindor house always gets the most points. Even if Slytherin seemingly wins, and all the banners are in green and silver, Dumbledore *always* pulls out more points for Harry and Co. so they just so happen to have a few more points than Slytherin. All the banners change to gold and red, [cut to the disappointed faces of the Slytherin gang], and we all cheer because, once again, victory belongs to the good.

But, man, it’s draining.

Anyway, so instead of complaining and wallowing in my wave of PMS misery, I want to share a few cool things in my life…

This morning, on the way to work, we saw a bald eagle flying low over the freeway. It was holding a little critter that, sadly, was coming apart and dropping onto the freeway.  I’m not a fan of birds AT ALL, but eagles are truly beautiful creatures. We’ve seen them at Seward Park, too, and I feel so privileged that we get to share that space with them.

Matt and I just so happened to be at church on Saturday and found out the church (which doubles as a performance venue) was hosting a breakdancing performance that night! Twenty teams battled each other, vying for the opportunity to compete at an upcoming event in Canada called Cipher Famous. Matt and I only stayed for two hours, but during that time, we watched bboys (and, sadly, just a few bgirls) for two straight hours!!! I was so inspired. If I could do high school all over again, I would beg, plead, bribe my friends to show me how to do all those things. Not to say 30 is old, but it’s hard to feel like I’m in my prime when a 7-year-old kid is outdancing me, you know?

After several weeks of watching my butter lettuce get nibbled on by some invisible culprit, I finally took steps to take back my veggie plot! I was tired of tearing off all the lettuce leaves that had bite marks. Matt and I constructed a chicken wire barrier that surrounded all of our veggies, still not knowing if the culprit(s) could fly or just stay on the ground. The next day, our housemates told us they had seen little birdies hopping around outside of the “cage.” Since birds are deterred by shiny things, I strung up some sparkly gold ribbon, foil, and an old CD on the cage. It must have worked because I haven’t seen any more bite marks on the lettuce!!! Granted, it’s only been two days, but I call it a huge success! With the lettuce leaves and the few cherry tomatoes that are ready to be picked–we’re finally going to have salad!!!

Our backyard is finally coming together. After having the blackberries removed (which I posted about earlier), we hired someone to come in and build a rock wall. He’s actually building two rock walls–one at the base of the slope, and the other halfway up the slope, creating a terrace between the two walls. Also at each end of the yard, he’s putting in stone steps and a small planting area. I’m sooooo excited to see it all come together–just in time, too, since berry bushes and ivy were growing back already!! Now, I have to figure out what to plant. Dad, help!

After camping with our friends over July 4th weekend, we realized camping with young kids is very possible. It may involve packing more kiddie stuff than camping stuff, but having kids definitely should not deter us from continuing our yearly camping schedule. Of course, I’m looking at it from an outsider’s perspective. I was not in the tent in the wee hours of the night when the babies were crying (nor did I hear them, surprisingly!), but it seemed like our friends still had a lot of fun bringing their young boys on the trip, and we certainly enjoyed spending time with them.

And, lastly, but certainly not least, my sister and her bf (ahem, fiance now) are engaged!!! Congrats Na and Christopher!

My creative, super smart (which she’d never admit), floral designer/jewelry maker/wedding planner friend from high school wrote up this blog entry that I really liked about her experience as a Chinese-American marrying into a non-Asian family.

She writes:

One of the most interesting results of the union between the mister and I, is our integration into each other’s families. We are fortunate that even though it took a bit of warming up from both sides at the beginning, we do get along with each others’ supporting casts rather well.

We’re both sort of a novelty to the other’s circles, with neither of our families having members outside our own race. For him, the challenge lied in getting used to the food and all the fingers pointing at him amongst the Chinese conversation. He got lucky, however, since his quick pick up of the game maj-jong won over just about everyone in a snap.

I thought in the beginning that it would be easy for me to fit in with his crowd, since I grew up with friends covering the entire rainbow. Turns out, however, that while I have always embraced and adjusted easily to different environments, the diverse environment had always embraced and adjusted in return. Oh how I missed what I didn’t even realize I had, until it was gone…

Read the rest of it here…

“One of the best prayer letters I’ve ever read!” raves Matt I.

“Hands down the best missions support letter I’ve ever read,” says Kris K.

“Dang, this is long–but well worth the time to read it!” responds Mel I. (I know it’s lame to quote myself, but hey, this is my website, and I can do whatever I want!)

Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve read the reviews and now you’re probably anxiously waiting for me to finish this introduction so you can get to this famous support letter!

First some background: My best friend, second cousin by marriage, friend I’ve known the longest–known as Dorc to everyone who grew up with her–is traveling to Asia with a team of three others to teach English at a university. She turned down summer teaching jobs, income, and a chance to see her best friend (me!) in Sac next month because of this trip. To prepare for her trip, she sent out support letters petitioning for prayer and financial support.

For those of you unfamiliar with “missions trips,” you typically send out a “support letter” to people in your church and other friends/family members to ask them to partner with you in your volunteer work. This “work” could take the form of building a church in Brazil, organizing children’s activities in Mexican slums, or providing medical care to villages in China. The intention is to have your friends and family support you financially, covering the costs of your trip. It also is essential to have people praying for you. At the end of the trip (and sometimes during the trip, depending on the trip’s length), the supporters will hear from their friend and get updates. As partners, we really value these updates!

Before Dorc sent out her letter, she told me she was nervous that it wouldn’t be well-received. “It’s not your typical prayer letter,” she said. This just made me more curious to read it. I have written and received many, many support letters in my past. Many of them sound the same. You read about how God is teaching them lessons–but often don’t hear what those specific lessons are. You read about how God is blessing them–but often don’t hear what those specific blessings are. Everything is really vague. And, yes, to keep the reader’s attention–and to keep the letter to a page–succinctness is needed. But when succinctness overcomes details and value to the letter, I feel that’s when the unofficial 1-page rule can and should be broken.

In Dorc’s case, it really worked. I’m not here to provide an analysis of her prayer letter from a writer’s standpoint. I’m here to say that I’m proud of Dorc…proud that she defied the normal standard support letter and was REAL. She not only opened up about herself–she also gave us something to think about. Her lesson doesn’t just apply to people who think they have to make sacrifices to go on a missions trip. Her letter challenges all of us to think about what we’re holding on to…what we’re putting off before we finally “seek first the kingdom of God.”

You won’t get any warm fuzzy feel-good Christian bubble emotions with this letter…and that’s what I love best about it. What amazed me most is that my own husband who gets annoyed when people (especially me!) are long-winded in their letters and e-mails, told me how much he enjoyed reading it.

I’m shutting up now. Finally. Now read Dorc’s letter.