The scars and stars of Christmas

I had the slight mishap this morning of waking up at 11:15am, 15 minutes after my church service actually starts. Needless to say, I didn't make it, so I decided to catch a sermon on TV. Now, all TV sermon guys are NOT created equal, so I'm always slightly weary when I flip the stations. This morning, however, I stumbled upon a guy from Love Worth Finding, and he was doing a sermon on the scars and stars of Christmas. I think the thing that struck me most was his illustrations. One of the things I hear people say is that a good God cannot exist if there's so much pain and suffering in the world. What I found really clarified his point for me was when he talked about how we as humans survive. If something causes us pain, like a wound or something like that, we usually attempt to withdraw from the cause of pain. If we didn't FEEL that pain though, we wouldn't withdraw, or even know we were being hurt. Lepers are like that...they have no feeling in their legs, feet, arms, and they end up hurting themselves because they can't feel the pain. Pain is actually a good thing, because it will stop us from doing things to hurt ourselves or others. Therefore, pain is actually something God thought up to keep us from further injuring ourselves! I really like the leper illustration, because it's true...I saw a woman being interviewed on TV, and she said the worst thing about being a leper was that she couldn't feel anything and that she hurt herself so much. :(

He used the other illustration to explain why God came to earth as Jesus. He asked the parents to think about a situation where they were on a vacation in some paradise somewhere, and to imagine that their children got hurt in some way. He asked the parents whether they could stand to stay in that paradise vacationing while their children were hurt. My answer would definitely be NO! I'd fly home as fast as I could to be with my children. And the thing is, that's what God did. There He was, in heaven, seeing His children shooting themselves in the foot, and He wanted to be with them. So what did He do? He went to them. And because of Jesus, we can be with Him.

I thought it was a good reminder of the Christmas story, and I realized how much illustrations really clarify things for me. I had a good Christmas, but it wasn't as festive as other years. We had the traditional Japanese friends of the family dinner and I got to see my high school friends. It's weird though, because as we grow older, I can tell there is some drifting apart. It's neat how you can gather at Christmas though and just celebrate friendship.

To close, I wanted to ask you to keep a couple of my friends in your prayers. Carol's been diagnosed with colon cancer and it was caught early, so the doctors will be operating in January. My other friend's father is still in the hospital with brain injuries, so please pray for his healing too.

I'm praying you all have a meaningful, loving, refreshing Christmas season!

Meet the WHOS?

I went to see Meet the Fockers today, and it well, I guess it was okay. I haven't been to a silly movie in a while, so it was a nice break. Best line of the movie? Ahahaha, I'm TOTALLY laughing as I type this: "Hello my brother from another mother!" But even better, imagine DUSTIN HOFFMAN saying that! I think that'll be my new greeting. AHahahahaha. Oh, rib burp. Ahahahaha, the reason I'm laughing so much is I'm stuffed from all-you-can-eat ribs from Montanas. Eating till I'm really full makes me laugh uncontrollably. I'm laughing even still. Okay. Enough. I'm going to try and work off these ribs while laughing!

Believe it or not!

Oh la la! Such a long time since the last update! So what can I tell you about?

Friday was a fun day at my school with the gr. 5s, where we had our party. I'd like to declare that I am the eating-M&Ms-with-chopsticks champion of the class. :) Yes, that's right. First person to eat 10 M&Ms with a pair of chopsticks wins, and I WON! Woo hoo! Now, the thing is, I do have a good 10 more years experience than them in eating with chopsticks. I eat EVERYTHING with chopsticks. And once again, I'm overjoyed to win a competition where I compete against kids. Ahahahaha.

Saturday was an AWESOME trip to Niagara Falls with my church youth group. We started off at Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, where I saw many a 2-headed animal. I think the lowlight was watching the gross sword-swallowing video, which also included the drilling-int-the-nose segment! Blech! The highlights include getting sick walking through that spinning tunnel thing (they had it at the science centre once, too) and discovering that the mirror we were making faces in at the beginning of the museum was actually a 2-way mirror. Then we headed out and decided AGAINST MY WILL, that we would all go in a haunted house. Now, I should tell you something. These are basically like the ones at Screamers at the Ex during Halloween, and I should tell you about the one incident where, I think it was Diana, Aniko and I, we went through one of the houses, and I was first. I remember rushing through this thing until we caught up to the group in front of us, and I was honestly CLINGING to the jacket of this stranger in front of me. I just grabbed on, closed my eyes and followed. This was also the same house in which we went too fast and Aniko got left behind, which resulted in her crying. So anyway, I really don't like them, and no, I can't handle the people popping out of the walls and no no no I do NOT want to go into Frankenstein's Castle or whatever the heck it was called. Anyway, it ended up we could only get a group deal if we all went in, so we all went in. Needless to say, there was a LOT of clawing and grabbing on my part as I struggled NOT to be last in the group I was in. LAST means ppl CHASE YOU!!!!! Being in the front means people pop out at you first. I was clawing to be in the middle of the pack. The worst was 1/2-way through when I just was SO out of breath from screaming and just half-laughing and panicking. Ahahahahaa. And the problem is, screams are always a chain reaction. You don't even have to SEE what's popping out....if one person screams, we all scream. Okay, by "we" I mean the gals. So Kev really was not a great help at all in our group because he kept going, "AHHHH, what's THAT?!" AT NOTHING (!!!) after which I would scream and then Jess and Jen would scream. Ahahahaha. I was SO out of breath and SO sweaty by the end! It was funny looking back on it, but definitely not during the whole thing. I also half-pulled off Jessica's hood on her jacket in a moment of sheer panic. Dear oh dear.

After haunted screaming mansion, we walked around for a bit. Jen and I pretended to know things about WWE in the WWE store, which didn't last that long. I did, however, notice the Hulk Hogan stuffed dog thing, and was quite pleased with myself that I recognized SOMEONE in the store. Ahahahaha. We then had yummy dinner at Boston Pizza, although I kept thinking about the bug my sister found in her soup there once, and then we had a really good devo time afterwards. It's hard doing it with so many people, but we talked about Ephesians 5:8-20. We're going to be doing some studies on purity after our 40 days of Purpose in the new year, so we wanted to challenge them to walk in the light. That was good times.

Then, of course, we went to see the falls. It was warm, so it was SO muddy! Ahahahaha. I love my youth! I was SO tired by the end of the day. All I wanted to do was sleep on the way home, but I was shotgun, which means keeping the driver company (which means, STAYING AWAKE, Matt! Ahahahah!), but that wasn't that bad because I found someone else who has seen Mannequin. Ahahahaha, such a cheesy 80s (90s?) movie.

Sunday was fun because I got to see lots of old friends at our Christmas service. The Omuras are SO funny. Ahahahaha. I also got to have a yummy birthday dinner with Ava, for her Grammy's b-day. It was rather hilarious because I ended up talking to myself a lot of the night, because she was sick and was having trouble hearing me. I'd turn to her every once in a while and say something, and get absolutely no response. Ahahahahaha. I was just talking to myself. I also bonded with Gabrielle when we worked together to hide a bun thing from another guy who obviously doesn't CARE about the 10-second rule on food hitting the floor. Ahahahahaha. Oh man, good times.

Today was a good 7 hours of shopping at Fairview, Yorkdale, Orfus Road (HELLO good deals at ROOTS, SO much better than the Woodbridge one!) and Wal-mart. I'm so tired. But I got to hang out all day with my sister and my friend Dan, who now works in Cali, so I don't get to see him most of the time. He is SO funny, and so LOUD! AHahahaha. I kept seeing ppl I thought I knew, and he would keep yelling their names out SO loud. Everyone kept turning to look. Ahahahaha. Excellently fun times!

And finally, today, the most exciting news of all....there is a new version of Tontie!!!! Treasure chests....lasers, too, apparently! And bosses! So fun! And there's some new game, Pel Pet or something like that. It's a cute blob that moves. OH, AND there's an online DDR! It's called Flash FLash Revolution! AHahahahaha. It is SO funny. I have discovered that I have absolutely NO rhythm, and I remembered why I don't do DDR in public. AHahahaha.

Trivia question of the day: What Disney movie is Scrump in? (I know, I know, "WHO is SCRUMP?!" you say?)

Gunther?

So after spazzing over my cell phone for the first little while, I'm slowly beginning to appreciate it. Now, the big decision is, what do I name it now that it's grown on me so much? My friend, whom I will dub "Bad nicknamer" suggested the name Gunther. I absolutely refuse to name my phone Gunther. His next suggestion was Gertrude, which doesn't seem as bad. I know, where do I come from, thinking Gertrude isn't that bad?

Let me test it out...

"Hey, Gertrude's ringing!" "Oh, that's Gertrude!" "Gertrude's got a voice mail!"

Nah, I'm not feeling it. I need some better ideas. Any suggestions? I promise I won't dub you "bad nicknamer" (can't be any worse than Gunther, anyway!) ;)

What's Christmas all about?

Today, we had our annual service at the Momiji residential home for the oldies (but goodies!) and the Sunday school students did this cute play about the real meaning of Christmas. Basically, little Matthew is all confused about what Christmas is all about, so he asks his friends at school. One tells him it's about great gifts, another tells him it's about food (ahaha, but isn't it??), and then...classic answer, "Christmas is the birthday of someone very special! It's SANTA'S birthday!" Oh dear. That one was so funny though. But anyway, it does go into the real meaning of Christmas, and their teacher tells them that it's the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus and explains why he came to earth. Anyway, the girls in Chrysalis also sang, "Mary did you know", which I absolutely love.

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You’ve kissed the face of god

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rules the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding
Is the great I am

It's amazing that 2000 years later, a lot of people still celebrate Christ's birth. And I keep thinking lately, how amazing would it be to see Jesus walking on water?

Is it over yet?

So I think it's all over. I really hope I won't have to call the cops again. It was a stressful month. I don't think I'd want to do it again. Too much fear, uncertainty, sadness, stress. No no no, back to the happy bubble once again for me.

My birthday was pretty funny (although not at the time). I spent all day teaching and got lots of nice cards and phone calls from lots of you guys and gals...thanks so much for helping me realize it's something to celebrate. I forget that a lot because it's in the middle of exams.

Anyway, I also got a cell phone last Friday, for not great reasons. Well, basically for safety, in case of an emergency. It is unlimited for the first 6 months tho, so perhaps I will be using it a lot. Or ahahaha, perhaps not. On Monday night, I get home and decide that instead of studying, I will mess around with more phone options. Like the security options. Well, I'm reading the manual that came with the phone, and not the SIM card one, so I don't realize the default PIN is 1234, and not 1111 like it says in the manual. I proceed to enter this PIN in like a billion times (okay, it only took 5), but of course, you know, as a safety feature, it locks the phone after 5 wrong PINs. AHahahahahaa. So now I have this absolutely USELESS phone! Ahahahaha. And I've only had it for 3 days. Anyway, so fine, I decide I will try to get help by calling customer service. Now, when the phone's locked, it asks for the PIN Unlocking Key (PUK), but there's also the SOS option. AHAhahahaha, so in my panicky-phone-is-locked-mindedness, (this is a good one guys...wait for it......) I hit the SOS. AHAhahahaha, next thing I hear is "Police, fire and ambulance emergency response, how can I help you?" I QUICKLY hit the hang up button. Now my phone is locked AND I've accidentally dialed 911. At least I know it works. Ahahahaha, but now I'm worried because you get fined if you crank call. Does that count as a crank call? How much do you get fined? I have no idea. So at this point, I'm aboslutely freaking out because I can't seem to do anything right. I ended up calling the nice customer service man who I had a good laugh with about locking my phone. Oh, but here comes blonde moment #2....I've managed to set the password for my phone so it won't turn on without the password. I had turned the phone off after the horrendous 911 moment, so when I turned it back on, it was asking for the phone password. Unfortunately, I was trying to enter in the PUK and it wasn't working. The scary thing is, if you enter the wrong PUK 10 times, the SIM card locks and you have to get a new one (BOO, lots of money). So here I am, trying to enter the PUK, and wondering why it's not working when I say, "I don't understand. It's asking for the phone password..." Click. And the light goes on. Ahahahaha, sheepishly, I enter my phone password and THEN enter the PUK. The customer service guy has a good chuckle at my blonde moment. My phone finally unlocks. I vow never to touch the security settings again.

And that was my birthday. I got a total of 4 long-distance phone calls, which was kinda neat! :) I love you, friends!

P.S. I feel much less blonde today. And I put up the Christmas tree. And watched too many hours of TV while celebrating my exam done-ness. Bring on the Christmas baking and crafts.

The most random conversation ever

So I have one friend with whom I have the MOST odd, MOST pointless and yet very much amusing conversations on MSN.
Sample (my comments in brackets were not in the MSN conversation):

For we cannot say enough about You says: your intergluteal cleft is SHOWING! (think about what THAT means!!!!!)
Ha Bumhug says: yes
For we cannot say enough about You says: Mahahahaha
Ha Bumhug says: hm, how'd you know
For we cannot say enough about You says: Hmmmmm...how DID I know?
For we cannot say enough about You says: You live on the first floor. (this is me trying to sound creepy and stalker-ish)
Ha Bumhug says: ah...true
For we cannot say enough about You says: Mm hmm.
For we cannot say enough about You says: And I know where you live. Big mistake #1. (still trying to sound creepy)
Ha Bumhug says: that is true. I have to be more careful
Ha Bumhug says: but i have mastered intergluteal cleft travel
For we cannot say enough about You says: hmmmmmm...THAT sounds sketchy.
Ha Bumhug says:...ya... pretend i didn't say anything
For we cannot say enough about You says: AHahahahahaha
Ha Bumhug says: what happens on MSN...stays on MSN

And there you have it. THis is how I spend precious hours of my time. :)