what a great song

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

miss dai --> mrs kwan

it's always fun getting a bunch of girls together to celebrate a special occassion! miss annie dai is going to get married soon so we all joined forces to throw her one last horrah before she becomes mrs annie kwan. the weekend was packed with fun event after fun event as you can see here.

Book Thoughts

joseph recommended this book to me and i definitely understand him more after reading it. i never heard of the buckley family before reading this book however quickly fell in love with the buckley's within the first few chapters. they're an extremely intelligent family with a privileged network of friends. i love how their son, the author portrays them as very normal people who loved each other simply even though they were in a place of high influence. i almost felt like i was journeying through the healing process with the author as he recounted memory after memory of his parents. some of the memories were hilarious, some showed how real his parents were thru the struggles they faced. even if you dont know who the buckleys are, i would recommend this book to you because i think everyone should be educated about people who have impacted America in ways they are unaware. i also recommend that you read this book within google-search-reach due to the references and vocabulary used throughout the book :).

an old friend from the manila days recommended this book to christine through facebook and i happen to run across the status post as i was doing my daily facebook-stalking browse. the book is action-packed therefore making it a page-turner. it's about how future cities on earth will sit on wheels and travel place-to-place eating up other cities to get energy and resources. trouble begins to brew as one city creates an atomic-bomb type of weapon that can kill off cities within seconds (author subtly shows his anti-nuclear weapon beliefs thru this book). the ending was not predictable and character development was too weak for my liking.

won't you be my neighbor?

We picked up the family on Sept 4th at the airport and boy were we nervous! We really didnt know what to expect but all turned out well. Their first impression of their apt was how big it was, how unnecessary a dishwasher is, and they made a mental note to not use the right side of the sink due to fear of the garbage disposal :). The following day, we brought over lunch and celebrated the mom's and Simeon's birthday (he's the youngest son who just turned 2). Interesting fact, they dont celebrate birthdays in Burma so we welcomed them to the American birthday tradition by sharing a meal together, playing jenga and cards, and entertaining the kids.

The family's english is relatively good and we learned about their persecution in India for being Burmese and not Indian. The Indian children would even throw rocks at their kids while they were playing outside. The father, Sam also showed us his Burmese Bible and read a few passages to us. His favorite book of the Bible is Daniel.

I'm looking forward to spending more time with this sweet family. Even as they transition to a new country, they seem to remain happy and cohesive as a family despite worries like job, health, money, etc. We're currently working to set-up their utilities, figuring out what to do about their overpriced rent, finding Sam a job, and taking them to their health assessments. Please keep the Nawl family in your prayers.

We still need lots of help!:
- HEB gift card donations for family's food and diapers (food stamps have not started yet)
- job referrals for Sam (he speaks english, has a background in computers, and taught Western style music while he was in India - guitar and voice)
- Cash donations for family's basic needs
- If you're in the Austin-area: drive family to various appointments, tutor English

congrats weili and irene!

weili, irene, and i all grew up together in the same greater houston chinese church community. i think weili went to summer church camp with us and i remember irene from way back in the HCC days. i recall seeing irene, grace tow/ou, lina, and company at camp every summer and would wonder what life would have been like if my family kept on going to HCC. i have noticed how neat it is when people somehow become more interwined with each others groups as time passes along...especially in the chinese-church community.

i'm very happy for weili and irene as they begin their journey together as a married couple! weili has been a good friend to mark and i since the college days. i'll always remember his mad accounting skills, exploring austin in his scion, his constant loyalty and friendship to others, swish 3-pointers, and his kind-heartedness and gentleness. his guy friends are in complete disagreement to him being gentle but to this day, i value weili for this and stand by this quality of his! i'll also always remember weili giving me a really big hug after i first found out my grandfather passed away. irene and i have gotten the pleasure to know each other through important people in our lives like lina and our significant others. she has been a bigger blessing to me than she probably realizes because of her hospitality to me when i visit new york and how she cares so much about mark. i'll always remember irene's natural openness to me, hospitality and care, talent, and generosity.

click here for more pictures of their big day!

MTV CRIBS

I'm so thankful for everyone's generosity & God's provision for the Burmese refugee family. We had an OVERFLOW of items donated to the family's apartment that we were even able to save some items for another refugee family & donate the rest to Goodwill! Our group has done a great job in working as a team & we were so efficient in setting up the apartment and stocking the pantry/fridge with basic necessities...I'm really proud of the people in our group & it's neat to see everyone's gifts work together (the apt is more organized & nicely "decorated" than my apt :)).

my career at UT PAC

Since i couldnt find anyone to purchase season tickets with me for UT's performing arts center this year, i decided to volunteer with UT's PAC so i could not only enjoy the shows but also go for free!

Shows i saw this season:

1. Chick Corea and the John McLaughlin Band - liked the 1st song but the novelty of the strange sounding music quickly died
2. Flight of the Conchords - hilarious but rowdy audience
3. Annie - girl's voice was annoying & didnt realize how many songs i knew from this musical
4. Legally Blonde - cant beat reese witherspoon but still entertaining
5. Avenue Q - ruined by already knowing the soundtrack
6. Rent - 2nd time seeing it
7. Mamma Mia - favorite one i volunteered for!
8. Wicked - still top 3 broadway show
9. Light show - weird
10. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me - hilarious & educational, i'm trying to listen to this NPR radio show on a more consistent basis