glasses at last

I went to see an optometrist. The doctor told me that I'm nearsighted and have a slight astigmatism in my right eye. I asked her if there is any connection between my vision and falling asleep while I am driving. She informed me that being a nearsighted person, trying to see the objects that are far away at night makes my eye muscles work too hard. She explained that my tired eye muscles that have been working too hard will eventually try to rest to gain thier strength back. That's why I sometimes fall asleep while I'm driving. What an interesting fact I've learned! She told me that wearing these glasses will help me not to fall asleep when I am driving, especially at night. I should keep them in my car. I'm wearing my glasses in my room in this picture just to take a picture of me with my very first pair of glasses. I really like the frame. kkk ;)

Pharyngitis & Cold

Source: Wikipedia

Pharyngitis (IPA: [ˌfarɪnˈdʒʌɪtɪs]) is, in most cases, a painful inflammation of the pharynx, and is colloquially referred to as a sore throat. Infection of the tonsils (tonsillitis) and/or larynx (laryngitis) may occur simultaneously.

About 90% of cases are caused by viral infection, with the remainder caused by bacterial infection and, in rare cases, oral thrush (fungal candidiasis e.g. in babies). Some cases of pharyngitis are caused by irritation from elements such as pollutants or chemical substances.

Viral pharyngitis.
The oropharynx is swollen and red.

I've been sleeping like a groundhog hibernating during the wintertime for more than 2 weeks because I've had pharyngitis and cold. I'm so glad that I'm getting over them now. I cough just a bit when I talk a lot. Praise God for healing me. I feel much better now! Yay!

God, please keep my parents healthy. Help them not to get pharyngitis & cold after me. It will be too much for them to bear and will take too long for them to get over them, for they are older and have weaker immune systems than I. I had a terribly hard time doing the regular things I used to do. It will be 30 times more painful for them since they are 30 years older than I am. In the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, I pray. Amen.

2007 Youth Vision Winter Retreat

Our Winter Retreat was great.
It was a joint retreat with Good Shepherd Church this time.

Its theme verse was 1 John 4:19.
"We love because He (God) first loved us."

God, thank You for loving us first, so we can love each other.

We love You with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.

Our wonderful Lim JDSN & SMN & Jeon JSN who cooked all the meals for us at the retreat. Thank you all and praise God for serving our youth kids with such glad and happy hearts.

Discussion time on what Agape means to them and how to express the unconditional love of God.

Sam JDSN delivered his messages on brotherly/friendship love on the first night and parental/sacrificial love on the second night.Our retreat theme was God's love, and my messages were on C.S.Lewis' Four loves on the second day and Agape on the last day.

Nathan and Jason leading the praise worship.

Judy~!!! You can do it! kkkk
Look at Nathan with his fists closed tightly and eyes fixed on the ball. ;p Who won the game?!

Why do think Nathan, Jason, and Nick are washing the dishes?!

Great job!!

Our "13th" grade (college) bro Noah.

Josh at work with his team t-shirt. Our theme was God's love.

Ed & his shirt
Praise the Lord!

Group picture outside

Group picture inside
Too bad that Sam JDSN had to drop Noah off and couldn't take pictures with us

Team FTJC (For Treasure Jesus Christ)

Team FT Charms (Five Treasures Charms)

Team Perfect Love (without Noah)

Nathan was our MVP!!

Touching Veritas' cheek with my eyes closed...kkk

Happy New Year 2008!!! (^O^)

A Father Prayer

by General Douglas MacArthur (May 1952)

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak,

and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid;

one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be;

a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort,

but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge.

Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high;

a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men;

one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep;

one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor,

so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.

Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness,

the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, have not lived in vain.

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I love General McArthur's prayer for his son.

I think of this prayer as a prayer said to me by my parents.

I pray that you, my family, and I will be blessed abundantly by God by being obedient to God this New Year 2008 and not be cursed by disobeying Him.

Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for Obedience

1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. ^[a] 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

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Father, help me to be able to say this to You when You come to take us home.

"God, I have done my very best to know You more, be like You more, and be Your good and faithful servant on this earth. Thank You for taking me home."

In the name of Jesus, our LORD & Savior, I pray. Amen.

May God continue to bless you and yours in year 2008.