Why did you have to run out into the street and get hit by a car, you stupid dog!
I think I am at the angry stage of grieving the loss of our dog Chocolate.
The angel of death took our little dog Chocolate last night.
Do our pets go to heaven, you ask?
When I go to heaven, I will ask Jesus, “Remember my dog Chocolate? Can I maybe play with him again?”
Do you think Jesus will say, “Nope, sorry, there are no pets in heaven.”?
God forbid that He will withhold anything good from us. Of course our pets will be there! God made them for us to love and for them to love us on earth, why would he not have them for us in heaven to continue our joy?
While we miss Chocolate terribly, and I am crying as I type this, the Christian hope of seeing our human loved ones include reuniting and playing with our beloved pets one day – that includes our hamsters Fluffy, Muffy, Puffy, Stuffie, Dusty, E, Lucky and a few more too, our Rottweiler Puggie, and our little Chocolate.
Going to Chinatown brings back memories! This part of Chinatown pictured here looks the same, same as it was over 30 years ago when I use to come with my parents. The same tourist shops selling back scratchers and chopsticks still line the plaza. And I still get a kick from browsing in those stores.
But the rest of Broadway looks very different. Now there is a little Saigon Plaza with stand after stand of clothing, toys and Asian dvds. There must be at least 100 stands. After looking in the first 10 stores, they began to look the same, seemingly all selling the same thing. It felt like the night market in Hong Kong. Audrey and I inquired about a pair of shoes. The lady said it was $18. When we put the shoes down, she quickly said, “I’ll give it to you for $15”. Never pay the first price they quote you. We didn’t buy the shoes though, because Audrey didn’t like them afterall.
Chinese food is not my usually my first choice when dining out. But I must say, the food is good and you can’t get a better value.
Last Friday night, our children each had plans for dinner. So Mike and I on a rare occasion went out to dinner, just the two of us. Normally…
Gingerbread man potholders from Amy.
A Madam Curie finger puppet magnet from Elliot. (Mike got Isaac Newton and Audrey got Albert Einstein)
Some beautiful beads from Audrey. She is going to make me a pair of earrings.
A silver necklace and heart pendant from Santa.
A plant from Eugenia and Kimberly, with a personalized planter.
Another plant from my friend Cyndy.
VERY soft slippers from my sister.
A cookbook from my sister in law.
Lots of other stuff, food and candy from family and friends.
All good stuff! Thank you!
The Christmas Eve Candlelight service at the Crystal Cathedral was executed flawlessly. There were seven services back-to-back, from 3pm to midnight. We were there for the 4:30 service. We arrived an hour in advance to stand in line to make we got a seat. There were more than 100 people in front of us.
My mother-in-law is in China for a couple of months. I am glad to be in the kitchen again. We’ve had some pretty good meals.
Tonight we made our own dumplings, ate them as we wrapped and cooked them.
Yesterday we made our own sushi with BBQ eel, avocado, Japanese egg, cucumber, and salmon sashimi. We made awesome dragon rolls!
I’ve also made vegetable crepes, pesto, beef stew, turkey meat loaf, shepherd’s pie, teriyaki chicken, and honey mustard chicken.
Christmas celebrations:
Office dinner party at the Pomona Mining Company last Monday. It was nice to be festive and socialize with people from work.
Bible Study breakfast last Tuesday. A beautiful setting and inspiring words and songs realigned my mood for a meaningful Christmas. The leader challenged us to have a “To Be” list, instead of a “To Do” list.
Amy made Snickerdoodles all by herself for the Genesis Christmas party and won the Best Tasting Food award!
Genesis teens came to our house to bake for their Bake Sale on Saturday, with Christmas music in the background. Lots of silly fun.
I led the Birthday Party for Children for about 30 children at church on Saturday. It was a rainy night, but I was happy to see the children having fun and thinking of Jesus, not Santa.
It was a nice worship service at church yesterday. We sang Christmas carols. We had the young adult group over for lunch with food from the Taco Factory as a Christmas present to them. We shared favorite verses, and played a game of Bang!
All good stuff.
Lessons learned:
-Most people will do the task they were assigned to do, but only a few will do more than they were asked.
-If you ask people to do a task, they will merely do what you asked. But if you get them to embrace the mission, they will do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission.
I was disappointed at some people that they didn’t do what I expected. I was expecting them to do more than I asked them to do. I was expecting them to do more on their own initiative. I was expecting them to understand the mission and do whatever it took to accomplish it.
It was my fault for not taking the time to help them understand the bigger picture. I merely asked them to perform a task.
However, a few did not disappoint me. They understood the mission.
Here’s one way to get something to someone without having to personally taking it there:
My sister has a package to give to my aunt who lives 30 minutes away from my sister.
My sister sees my friend Denise at church and gives it to her; Denise gives it to my neighbor Lorin; Lorin gives it to me; I take it to the office which is 10 miles away from my aunt. I call my dad to let him know the package is at my office. He calls my aunt’s son who lives 5 miles from my office; he picks it up from my office and takes it to my aunt.
I hope the item will still be the same after all the transferring. It’s rather like playing telephone.