One day when I went in for an one-on-one conference with my professor, he asked what denomination of Christianity I belong to. Probably due to the fact that every poem I wrote in that class was about Jesus.  I forgot what my response it, it was probably somewhere along the lines of “non-denominational.”

Recently, the Holy Spirit has been bringing this moment up over and over again. God’s taking me through a season where He is showing me how He lovingly made me.  God definitely put His love of color and words in my little heart.

So I’m now trying to get back into writing again….giving myself the freedom to space out and write poems with the Holy Spirit in the prayer room, here’s a fresh one:

You are…beyond, above
why do I always try
and try
and try try try try
powder You with cement mixes
black and white You
When You were the One who imagined color into every whispers of life.
Painted the ground with broad generous strokes of green
With scents of forever rain……..

One of my old favorites:

Dreams
by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

The Original Picture

The Wire Frame

The Final Product

Above are three versions of the same car, for most people it would appear pretty obvious what car it is : P. This is the second piece of work i have done with Macromedia Flash, the idea of this was to take a real life object and “animate” it. It was sugested to us that we should choose a car, since this would be fairly easy to do, and well it was realy, so obviously a chose a mini, what with me loving the classic mini and that being my forst car : D. For this piece of work it took me about 2 – 3 days, not continuous of course, i did have other lessons in between : P. After this ill be working on several other cars to form the basis for the fore ground of the IMP (interactive multimedia program) I’m working on at the moment.

The Creation

During my time at college I have had to work with Macromedia Flash 8, I’ll admit it’s not the most up-to-date version (i.e. Adobe Flash CS4, to time of publish) but it does what it needs to and its obviously the best the college can afford for the network computers : P. This isn’t my first encounter with flash, but it has certainly been the best work I’ve done on it so far. This was the result of about two days work, and actually I’m quite proud of it. It may have been a simple image to produce on flash but still, for a first time effort it not bad at all, considering the only other times I’ve used it is to just mess around and have a little fun making VERY basic animations. this image

was only done in the class as a practical exercise and will not be used in my final project, but if I do work i intend to do it right.

So as i go through my work ill try and

share some of the images and animation I make, realy i just like showing off, but then people should be proud if they think there work looks good : P.

• The Irish language is related to Scots Gaelic, Breton and Welsh. All of these languages belong to the Celtic family, which is in turn a part of the Indo-European group of languages.

• The great famine which occurred in Ireland between 1845 and 1849 was the result of potato crop failures in Northern Ireland. It’s estimated that around one million people died during the famine.

• Clovers and shamrocks aren’t actually the same thing! Both words are used to refer to the three leaved species of trefoil, an Old World herb. However, the word clover is used for the large species and shamrock is used for the smaller species.

• Claddagh Rings are the traditional Irish rings given for friendship or worn as a wedding ring. They’re believed to have originated in the area near the small fishing village of Claddagh near Galway city. The first Claddagh ring was produced in the 17^th century during the reign of Queen Mary II. Claddagh rings also have a very distinctive design. Normally this design involves two hands clasping a heart that is surrounded by a crown with each of these symbols having a specific meaning. The heart symbolizes love, the hands symbolize friendship and the crown symbolizes loyalty.

• The famous and ill-fated ship, The Titanic, was constructed at Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast. Today this shipyard is best known for the two giant cranes, Samson and Goliath, which call it home.

• Bushmills, a small town near the Giant’s Causeway, is where the famous Bushmills Distillery is located. This distillery is the world’s oldest whiskey distillery.

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Puhoi was founded in the 1860’s by a group of immigrants from Bohemia in Europe. This group was led by a man named Captain Martin Krippner, who already had family living in NZ. They would write him letters constantly, telling him about the country and all it has to offer and he was thoroughly intrigued. So intrigued in fact, that he decided to make the move to NZ himself.

Once he had made his decision he proceeded to encourage other Bohemians to join him. Something he managed to do by telling them that they would be granted free plots of land once they arrived. People were delighted by the opportunities this new land could offer them.

It took the Bohemians 106 days to make the journey to New Zealand and upon their arrival, many felt they had made quite a large mistake. This was because the only access to the land they had been granted was via the river. It was an isolated location, the Bohemians spoke a different language and had no tools, food or money…it seemed only natural to despair.

The people survived though. They built their first community center, a Catholic church in honor of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and then worked together to plant the roots of what has become a thriving community. Today, visitors to Puhoi are able to view many of these original buildings from the time of the first settlers. It’s a town that will transport you back into history with all the conveniences of the modern world.

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• The first inhabitants of Cape Town were pastoralists called ‘Hottentots’, coastal dwellers called ‘Strandlopers’ and hunter-gatherers named ‘Bushmen’.
• Cape Town has a few well known nicknames. The first that most people know it by is the “Mother City”. Another one, which was used by sailors, is “Tavern of the Seas”. This term was used by the sailors because it was a welcome stop for fresh produce and change of scenery.
• Cape Town’s motto is “Spes Bona” which is Latin for “Good Hope”
• Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and former Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu all have homes in Cape Town.
• Cape Town’s sister cities are Nice in France and Haifa in Israel
• The city is home to Table Mountain. The mountain is the most recognized landmark in the city and is even the symbol on Cape Town’s flag.
• The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest standing building in South Africa. It was constructed in 1666 as a replenishment station. Today it acts as a ceremonial facility and a home for the Cape Military Museum.
• Cape Town is South Africa’s legislative capital.
• When there is a cap cloud (cloud that covers the top of a mountain) over Lions Head, one of the peaks in the Table Mountain range, rain is guaranteed within 12 hours.
• Cape Town has been the setting for many medical breakthroughs. This was where the first heart transplant by Dr. Chris Barnard took place as well as where the first recorded caesarean birth was done by Dr. James Barry in 1826.

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After a long period of ministry and traveling, give yourself time to rest. Do not make any major decisions or pay attention to your emotions until you’ve completely recouped. Beware of your weaknesses and emotions, they will be heightened and intensified during this time of recouping.  Just focus on resting.

These are the wise words from a leader at IHOP who does minister and travel a lot.  Wished I had known this this past summer.  Man was I drained after my missions trip in Taiwan.  My throat was hurting, I had a cold, my body was angry at the way I’ve kept it running for three weeks straight without the rest it was gravely in need of.  I needed to sleep, be in God’s presence and be washed with His Word but I just wanted to continue the crazy schedule I was running on.

Now that I know this, everything makes a lot more sense. I mean, I was in Taiwan for a month and a half, the Philippines for three weeks, back to Taiwan for a few days before I flew back to Kansas City.  Spent three days here, where I tried to get over my jet-lag, washed all my clothes and cleaned my room, then packed to leave for New York for a loaded week (not that it was not fun, but just packed again), flew back to KC for a week, then flew again to Chicago for two weeks, then finally back here.  No wonder it took me more than a month to finally feel normal and sane again.  It’s funny, I keep on pushing myself when all I need to do is rest.  It’s like the time where Elijah was crying out to God to kill him and God responded with very practical wisdom, “Get up and eat.” (1 King 19:5).

It’s so funny how when your body is tired, when you’re worn out, your mind just becomes a free for all to the enemy and his lies.

Lesson #2

At times when we dream that we’re doing spiritual battle, we really are!

I’ve had some dreams throughout the years where I was casting demons out, rebuking the heck out of stuff, defending those dear to me with a real weapon or just by proclaiming God’s truth.  This week I’ve asked three individuals what they thought about these experiences, all responded that they believe we do take part in spiritual warfare in our sleep.  I mean, if satan doesn’t sleep, shouldn’t the Holy Spirit given to us by the grace of God be able to not sleep either?

One of these individuals I was discussing this with actually told me that after he woke up from one of these dreams, he felt the oppression he had been struggling with for awhile, depart from him completely!

YEAH! Let’s blow some demons up in our sleep.  Whoot.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5
I must say though, I need more experience in spiritual warfare. Jesus help me.

Goodness, I’m reading through this and realizing how my writing skills has depleted to this depressing level….sigh* Where did the skillz I cultivated in college go?

about time for some photos:

hanging out with my new friends, the Shao family : ) Alice and her cute son Nemo

Joejoe and Nemo

Abby, Joejoe and Jess

city market with Ann a testimony how there are a few cool spots in KC

This will be my first winter in Taiwan since I moved to America when I was seventeen years ago. I have forgotten what it’s like to be in Taiwan in the winter time.

Please pray that I will remain diligent in my Bible study and God time abroad.  Also, that God will use me to speak into my family members’ lives and bring healing to their hearts.  I’ll try to update my blog as much as possible and share all the nooks and crannies of Taiwan with you all.

Long Overdue Thanksgiving Photo Update:

a sure way to begin a great vacation is to miss your flight by five minutes : ) make sure you turn your alarm on SUNNY! ah

at least i got some cool pictures out of it

first meal after I got home…yum…Sashimi and wonton soup….i love being Asian. Asian food is seriously the best food on earth! every bite is a burst of amazing flavors.

VERY FIRST CAUCASIAN THANKSGIVING

Taryn’s superfabulous family invited me over for Thanksgiving meal. It was so beautiful! Spiritually and aesthetically pleasing.

the Moores had some incredible people over for dinner including their neighbor Jerry. He has such a incredible testimony of how he received Christ. Taryn has just been telling me more about how God used her family to lead him to Christ. There are several layers to the story, but one portion of it which deeply encouraged me was how he told Tami, Taryn’s mom that he’ll accept Christ when he wins the lottery. Tami then had all her kids pray for him to win the lottery and he won three times! I think he won around $45,000! YEAH JESUS

Taryn’s cute sister Tessa

yeah feast your eyes on this during fasting week muahahaahah

their house is incredibly adorable

chillin’ after the incredible meal

Taryn kickin’ back with Stella in their cute library nook

before FMA

after being exposed to two years of FMA

MIDWEST THANKSGIVING CONFERENCE

I also returned to Chicago in order to participate and help out at our church’s annuel Thanksgiving Conference. Mike Bickle came to speak this year on Asia’s role in the End Times. I was trying to pray in tongues and for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to descend due to the gravity of the topic Mike was addressing. I remember the first time I was faced with the reality of Jesus’ imminent return, my mind felt like it was going to self combust.

God really used this event to make me face some emotions and feelings I’ve repressed in the past. I useed to think that by doing that, I was being obedient to Him. Instead, I merely pushed wounds and desires aside. He has been slowly and patiently teaching me to  be honest with Him with my feelings and that it’s not wrong or sinful to feel, to hurt and to have desires. If I shut down my heart toward Him and certain pain I don’t want to confront, then my heart will be death and calloused to both the pain and the JOY He has for me. God did not make an androit, He made my heart to be alive to Him and to the life He has given me.

I always love seeing the youth from my church back home. These are the first group of youth kids I truly invested into and fell in love with. Most of them are in college now and I just love seeing and hearing how God is continually enlarging their hearts and expanding their understanding of Him.

of course it’s always fun hanging out with my Californian friends. I love hanging out with skaters…they’re so laid back and quirky weird.

koske decided to listen to my wise words and put on my sister’s shirt

Koske demonstrating how to produce incredible sounds on the guitar by farting into the sound hole.

IHOPers + Californians + Chicagoens = a grand ol’ time

also the worship team from Taiwan’s Prayer Mountain attended the conference as well. I met them back in 2001 on my first missions trip to Taiwan. They’re aboriginese therefore extra cool.

You know you’re from Chicago when:

You can name three or four extra taxes nobody else pays.

You say Chicaaago.

Da is a proper definite article.

You actually miss the smell of pollution and freezing air once you move away

You go to the Dells in the summer to get away from the other 20 thousand that followed you.

You guard your shoveled parking space with an old chair and unusable broom.

You know why they call it “the Windy City.”

You’ve never been to Springfield.

You know a good gyros joint.

You know what Giordanos, Lou Malnati’s, and Gino’s have in common.

You know exactly how many cars are “legally” allowed to turn left after the light turns red.

You don’t know which ethnic “fest” to choose on any given Summer weekend.

Your idea of relaxing and getting away from it all is Ravinia (with 10,000 others who have the same idea).

You don’t pronounce the “s” at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do

You measure distance in minutes (especially “from the city”). And you swear everything is pretty much 15 minutes away

You refer to anything South of I-80 as “Southern Illinois”

You refer to Lake Michigan as “The Lake”

You refer to Chicago as “The City”

You buy “The Trib”

You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car!

You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog

You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is

You know “L” smells like pee most of the time

You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815

You respond to the question “Where are you from” with a side” example:”WEST SIDE”, “SOUTH SIDE” or “NORTHSIDE.”

You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet!

You go to Harold`s and order 4 pc wing, mild sauce, salt and pepper.

You have made a special trip downtown because you had a craving for Garrett’s caramel and cheese popcorn.

You don’t flinch when you pay the fifth toll of your 45-minute car ride on the highway

You’ve paid $105 for towing, $30 for more than one “street cleaning” ticket, $58 for a city vehicle sticker, and $70 for a license plate sticker — and chalk it all up to “neighborhood taxes.”

You pluralize grocery stores and retail chains: “I’m going to Jewels”; “I bought it at Targets”; “I couldn’t find parking at Wal-Marts”

You’ve taken the Red Line past the point where all white people get off and all black people get on — or vice versa.

You’ve cursed at a cyclist, pedestrian, or in-line skater on the lakefront path.

When you refer to “LSD” you don’t necessarily mean the drug

School can get cancelled due to both extreme heat AND cold

You still claim that the Sears Tower is the tallest skyscraper in the world

You would prefer it if New York just kept Macy’s

free chipotle burrito today from 5-8. i’m looking forward to seeing all of ihop there cause you know you’ll definitely be there.

typical tradition Taiwanese breakfast: congee and a few side dishes. YUM!

my aunt’s boutique. super cute

some amusing tags on the streets of Taipei:
i love this one especially, an old grandma/grandpa on a cement wall

details of Taiwan I noticed. My cousin warned me about posting these. She’s afraid that I’m presenting Taiwan in a way where everyone will think we’re a third-world country. We’re not. I just someone tune into these images:

(love this one, dad doing his daughter’s hair.)

family time : ) visited my grandmother

kickin’ it w/ my cousins:

: recent visitors :

Helen from Cali

Amoo from Taiwana–i met him the first time my church and i went to Taiwan for Missions in 2001. After that, everytime I went back to Taiwan I would visit his church.

hahah my amazing sister from Chicago, IL and I

: FMA, my new family : )

after Choir performance at EGS service

Scott showing off his guns-we made him..don’t think he’s like some weird egotistic guy

there are many characters in FMA

da gals

Donna and I

: Interesting Pics :

I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy God

So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours

I am wholly, wholly Yours

I am full of earth and dirt and You

“I Wii standing up”

After coming up with this I then went on to create a simple image that I would later re-work to make it look great on the front of a T-shirt.

I know it’s not much at the moment but I’m still working on the finished version. After showing a few of my friends this (one of them being cbx33) and we just started coming up these alternate versions of this. Some of them are pretty random and you do have to have a good sense of humour, and before we even knew it we had come up with about 50 versions, this was later expanded further to 75+ thanks to cbx33. Of course now that we have 75+ our goal is to get up to 100, and the best one’s I will put on T-shirts.

(Key) ‘/’ = change from front to back of shirt

1. I wii round my girlfriend house

2. I wii with my friends

3. I wii whilst my friends watch

4. I wii at the office

5. I wii in my living-room

6. I wii in the bedroom

7. I wii sitting down

8. It’s good to wii

9. wii’ing is a good form of exercise

10. I’ve wii’ed in every room of the house

11. too wii, or not to wii

12. Wii’ing can take hours

13. last time I wii’ed I was there all day

14. I wii with my girlfriend

15. I’m #1 at wii’ing

16. I hold the top score on my wii

17. I learnt to wii at an early age

18. I’v never had a problem wii’ing

19. I sprained my wrist whilst wii’ing

20. me wii broke the TV

21. I imported my wii from Japan

22. Man I love my wii

23. I “heart” my wii

24. I wii in surround-sound

25. I wii with my 42inch / plasma TV

26. I wii with people around the world

27. wii with the world

28. wii, and the world wii’s with you

29. want to come back to my place and wii

30. have the chance to wii

31. my wii’s got external memory

32. I play games with my wii

33. I accessorise my wii

34. my wii is backward compatible

35. I can’t control my wii any more / because I lost the controller

36. wii’ing is hard in small spaces

37. my wii comes with a three year guarantee

38. I can wii from across the room

39. Sometime I stroke my wii

40. I can play with my wii for hours

41. wii’ing is the best part of my day

42. I don’t let anyone touch my wii

43. my wii frightens small animals

44. sometime my wii overheats

45. I hacked my wii

46. no one understands my obsession with my wii

47. wii’ing too long makes my eyes hurt

48. the greatest moment of my life was when I saw my wii

49. My mom keeps telling me my wii is too loud

50. people complain of headaches after using my wii

51. I sold my wii on eBay

52. I like to hide my wii from my brother

53. I built a cabinet for my wii

54. My wii is the centrepiece of my room

55. My friend sold me his wii

56. I exchanged my wii for a PSP

57. My wii fell off the back of a lorry

58. I wii’d on national TV

59. Shhh….I have my wii in my bag

60. The doctor said playing with my wii gave me RSI

61. I like to polish my wii

62. Thieves stole my wii

63. I play with my wii in bed

64. My wii is a special edition

65. Sometimes my friends and I have a wii party

66. I put my wii on the Internet

67. My wii requires regular maintenance

68. My wii is toasty in the winter

69. I develop wii games

70. I make up games for my wii

71. My wii plays dvds

72. My wii doesn’t play well with some hardware

73. My wii plays music

74. My girlfriend says my wii is boring

75. One day my wii could be famous

76. I play golf with my wii

77. I surf the Internet with my wii

78. I sword fight with my wii

79. Nintendo member of staff, I played your wii before you did

80. My wii is a thing of beauty

there are moments where i HAVE to leave IHOP and regain some sanity…so hung out with Heather on Saturday and checked out KC’s art museum. good times…good times..

funny how so much art and music were commissioned by the church…but even then the church was lukewarm. Compare that to today….musicians and artists look to the world rather than the church to create. But one thing good about that is the pieces that Christian artists create nowadays are more for their own devotion to God rather than a king breathing down their neck telling them which color to paint and where to paint.

getting framed

what can I say…i’m random.

interesting title to a piece at First Friday…when galleries in Kansas City open for the public for free viewings all night : )

random interesting kids heather and I saw at First Friday. we asked if we could take their pictures…they’re adorable!

adorable stuffed animal at Anthropolgie being sold at an indecent price…