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Thanks to a tip from Jason Tan and the power of Feedburner, not surprisingly a product of Google, you can now subscribe to my blog through email! Just scroll over to the right-hand side of the page under “Subscribe” and enter your email address. You need to confirm your subscription by responding to an activation email and then you’re set to go.  If I write a new post, you’ll receive an email with the post embedded in it, so you won’t have to remember to check the website for updates!

Writtensoul [dot] net. Delivered straight to your inbox! Wow, I feel like a magazine.

As many of you know, I have returned to Nashville for graduate school. And I’ve found myself back to the scary times of the first days of class.  The critical first three minutes of class when the professor sets the tone for the entire year.  The boring recitation of the syllabus which we, despite the rigorous application process we all went through, are clearly unable to read for ourselves.  The thirty-minutes spent on awkward self-introductions which leads to no one remembering anyone’s name until the first group project.  And somehow, in the matter of just a single class period, the one (and sometimes more than one) slightly wacko or vehemently opinionated character always arises; in the matter of an instant, you know that class will be just a tiny bit more interesting because of this one person.

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I admit that usually when I blog or write about my mom, it’s poking fun at her quirkiness or uniqueness that makes her my mom.  This includes quotes from our conversations like her reminding me of the very dangerous possibility of “date rape” when I was going to one of my platonic guy friend’s house so he could help me fix my computer or exclaiming that she was “living dangerously” by not putting on sunscreen everyday on skin covered by clothing when she found out that UV rays can penetrate through clothing too. Or warning me that my gay friend might have only confessed to me (and the world) that he was gay because he’s secretly trying to get me alone to take advantage of me.

But, I think that now I have been away from home for so long, I see a different side of my mom.  And I see how, she, in her own way, expresses her love for me.

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I just returned from a family vacation with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and 10-month old nephew. We had planned this trip while I was in Taiwan, as a way to bring the family all together after a year of me being abroad. So, this would count as my first real interaction with my adorable nephew, Tyler. I was so excited because I love kids and if you know me, I “aww” at every small child and try my best to make them smile which may or may not include me doing crazy ridiculous silly things like “Peek-a-boo” or “Pluh-pluh-pluh” (a version of my mom’s Toisan nursery rhyme that includes something like eating chicken legs, pointing to the sky, and brushing your teeth). I mean, I guess I must confess, that I really am obsessed with little kids. They’re just so darn cute! continue reading »

At the end of my missions trip to Manila last summer, I wrote down one of my prayers and stuck it in my Bible.  Here’s a piece of it.

My God, I confess that I turn a blind eye when I buy clothes or food, not thinking about the wages of the people making the clothes in sweatshops.  Give me discernment to know where to shop and where to buy things to better support them rather than supporting companies which [do the opposite]…help me to steward my money wisely, give generously, and use it to the support the poor in their situation.

One of the verses that really stuck out to me was James 5:4 – “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the Lord Almighty”.  There were a lot of things that God taught me that summer, but one thing that I really took home was how to better steward my money to further God’s kingdom.

So, how does this have anything to do with being a Steazer? And what is a Steazer anyway?

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