Pearls of Life

During our church sacrament meeting,  I heard a story . A story I have much been needing.

A little girl bought herself a set of plastic pearls. She absolutely loved them. She wore them everywhere. And she wore them with everything. Her father watched his little girl love the pearls.

One day, he asked his daughter, "do you love me?"

"Of course I love you daddy."

"Will you give me your pearls?"

"Oh daddy, you can have my favorite doll. But no, not my pearls."

The dad smiled and told his daughter to keep the pearls and the doll.

A few days later, the dad asked his daughter again,

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I love you daddy. I love you very much daddy."

"Will you give me your pearls?"

"Oh daddy, no. Not my pearls. I'll give you my favorite doll and my favorite hairpin."

The dad smiled and told his daughter to keep the pearls, the doll, and the hairpin.

Awhile later, the little girl came up to her dad, and handed him her beloved pearls.

"Daddy, you can have my pearls."

The dad smiled, set his daughter on his laps, and pulled out a real set of pearls from his pocket that he had all along. He lovingly placed them into his precious daughter's palm. 

Our Heavenly Father is up there, wanting to give us bigger and better things. However, how often do we lack faith? How often do we hang on to things that prevent us from progressing?

Have you ever played this game with the Almighty One? "If you love me Father in Heaven, you would or wouldn't do this for me.." I have.

How often have you gotten angry with Heavenly Father for Him not granting your wish, your will? Have you ever been frustrated with His will not matching to yours? I have.

But, how often have you learned that His will offers you bigger and better things? In the end, His will truly is the right one. The good one. If our Father in Heaven asks things of us, it truly is because He has better things in store for us. All we need is faith. All I need is faith. Faith that the big changes that are about to happen in our lives will help David and myself become better people and prepare us to help build the Kingdom of God.

Recap

Pillow plopped, stress-relief pillow mist evenly sprayed, teeth brushed, face washed, alarm set.  Must go to bed for my twelve hour shift tomorrow. However, my heart still refuses to face the reality. Why am I not in Florida with my nieces and nephews? I hate taking vacations because they always have an ending... Sigh. UGH. Rather than sleeping, the alternative route I choose is to blog about our family reunion, hoping the pictures I took captured the bits and pieces of our trip.

Florida was.. probably a preview of life in Texas. Flat, green, and humid! Can't complain too much because the minute I stepped out of the Orlando airport, I could already tell my heart loved sea-level altitude. Words cannot describe our trip. Therefore, this blog post will be heavy with pictures. 

Disney Fun

Awww

Hubby is afraid of heights. Being the awesome wife I am, I begged, forced, persuaded
the husband to overcome his fear. He enjoyed them. But, guess who ran out in tears after the rides? 

We walked 1000miles. I deserved a treat.

Grace-Hippo and Emily-Kkiri decided to join us. 

Hott husband trying to cool himself down. This didn't work
since he is so dang hott.

Hollywood Studios. 

His minnie and my mickey.

My heart melts

Abbie and Anna are the sweetest.

Baby Sarah. I get to see her quite often now! HEEHEE

She knows she's good looking.

Silly Hannah

Cousin love ? They look so happy.

Jake. So adorbs.

I saved the best for last. Must watch. He is so freaking cute. You can catch a few seconds of Lucas as well. David and I watched this video multiple times a day.  Oh man. Must I really go to work tomorrow?  Reality sucks!

Angels of God

Friday the 14th was our last day in Orlando. And my-oh-my did it turn out to be a frightening day. One of our nephews, Lucas (son of Matt and Alissa) who is five years of age was found at the bottom of the resort swimming pool. We do not know the exact details of the story. We were told a few people who were at the pool found him, dived in and rescued him. However, he did not breathe for an uncomfortable amount of time. They attempted to resuscitate him, and finally he started breathing but was immediately taken to the ER. Insert a few hours of frantic chaos which includes his parents going to the wrong ER due to incorrect information (stupid resort), poor little Lucas going through tubes and tests and a very traumatized Eng family.

Strong little Lucas 

David and I (including Audrey-David's sister,
 and Rachel- sister-in-law) were able to go to the ER right before we had to leave for the airport. We did not care to know of the reasoning behind his accident. Instead, all of our hearts were desperately praying for little Lucas. David and I reluctantly left the ER to catch our plane. We headed back home with heavy hearts. When we could, we frantically tried to connect to any available wi-fi to keep up with updates. By the time we reached the Eng estate in SLC, we were informed our tiny little nephew was recovering well in the ICU and would be discharged the next day. We were also informed that the people who rescued Lucas were a pair of pediatricians. Angels that Heavenly Father placed in that very pool to protect our little nephew. Although it was a difficult accident for all of us, this incident testifies of the love Heavenly Father has for us. He truly does look out for each and every one of us. We, His children are meant to be His instruments. I know those two pediatricians were sent by Heavenly Father to protect little Lucas. And, so glad and grateful are we to know he is now safe with his parents.

the Eng fam

David and I flew to Orlando for David's family reunion. We are having such a lovely time (I almost forget about the humidity). Everyone has been so kind to us, especially Matt and Alissa for letting us crash at their place. Can I just say I have the cutest nieces and nephews?I'm trying hard to fulfill my role as the typical aunt that spoils their nieces and nephews. There are sixteen of them so I was not (yet) able to capture all of them with my camera but thank goodness  we still have three days left. Being around the kids make me even more hungrier for kids. For David, it makes him want to wait longer.. We'll have to see..

Take a look at the pictures. Jealous yet?

Us, at Cocoa Beach in Florida

Libby and Sarah- aren't they the cutest ?

Moi short legs

Hott hunk

Hannah and Emily

Look how cute these boys are!

The best cupcake I've ever had.

Oh my goodness, Libby Mae !

She jumps into the biggest bed in the room and gives out her royal orders.
No one is to climb into the bed with her..

Rachel, shooting away ..

Eng kids enjoying Harry Potter with Uncle David

I don't think anyone would notice if we stole one out of the sixteen kids. Which one should we take back home?

Ten Months.

Advocado is a cute couples application available for Android and iphone users. For those of you who have a significant other, I highly recommend this application. You can share personal photos, send each other hugs and kisses, send drawings to each other, and create "to-do-lists" too. Plus, it is absolutely free ! I would share some of ours, but as I mentioned, too personal. heehee. Hubs, being the manly man he claims to be, avoided Advocado like the plague at first; however, I eventually convinced him (don't ask how) and now this is our go-to app. It can get pretty mushy. Things we do for love, right?

I love seeing my phone flashing a bright green color while it chimes the special ringtone I customized just for David. And today, via Advocado, David reminded me today is our ten month mark of marriage. It's a Korean thing but I love to celebrate our monthly anniversary. Personally, I like to have at least one day a month. Looks like today is that day. Ten whole months. Wow. We've had several ups and downs but marriage is so worth it. 

Ten months of marriage so I am no expert. However, here is my list of "ah-ha moments" I've learned about men thus so far:

•  Men (unfortunately) cannot live without video games. It's been a long battle but we've finally figured out a system. At least, I think we have. Or maybe he hasn't been playing as often. Hmmm..

• Men are not and will not become your BFF. My BFFs will listen when I rant and they will excitedly rush into Sephora with me, compare and contrast all the beauty products. The husband will try to resolve my complaints and he will be surprised at why there are so many colors when it comes to makeup.  True story: I dragged David to MAC so I could find a new blush color. After thirty minutes, puzzled, he quietly commented, "I thought girls only wore pink!" HAHAHA. 

• You must spell things out to men, to the T. Sugar-coating, saying the opposite of what you truly mean, giving subtle hints will NOT work. For example, the other day, I complained that my left shoulder hurt hoping David would massage it. His response, "why? That's too bad." Yeah. I know. It sucks, but men like to be given the specifics. 

There you have it. Men, such curious creatures.  I still love my man no matter how odd he is. Jk~

T

What a wonderful ten months. So excited to create more memories with you. I wuv you David. 

Side note: Did I mention we are leaving for the Eng family reunion? Yep, we're flying off to Orlando!

Final Decision

Folks! Change of plans for David and Diana. Yikes! Major changes ahead. Yes, we are going to Texas. However, instead of Galveston, TX we are moving to .....

May 30, 2013. During the busiest time at work, my phone starts buzzing. I glance at the display name, "Hubby." I mute my work phone, and hurriedly swipe my phone open to pick up. This is going to be either really good news or really bad since David never calls during work hours. I nervously whisper into the phone?

"David, weh? (David, why did you call)?"
"Jagiyah, I GOT IN!!!"
" Which one?"
" The one..."
   Insert a very speechless Diana. Too many thought processes. Which words do I say?
"OMGZ. David, I can't talk now but I am so proud of you. I love you."

June 1st is the deadline for Texas medical schools. If you've already been accepted to a Texas school and you do not hear back from any other Texas med schools, the other ones automatically reject you. Now, we were pretty sure the Lord's will was Texas. Therefore, David declined other med schools and chose UTMB.  However, ever since he applied to med schools, (which was last year, omg!! It's already been a year!) his top choices were the following schools: University of Utah (so I could keep my job), UT South Western, and Baylor College of Medicine.

For the past year, we prayed we would get into one of the three. A few months ago, we crossed out the U of U. It was a sad moment saying goodbye to my job and my Rockies. However, a doctor's appointment soon after confirmed our decision of choosing a sea-level state. We continued to cross off the too-expensive school, and the too-cold state. We were left with UTMB.  To be honest, I was a bit afraid of moving to Galveston. It's too far away from everything, too secluded, and too foreign of a place to me. In addition, I was worried about job hunting, knowing Galveston is a tiny place. And, I sure was not excited to tackle the humidity. However, I was at peace because I knew it was the school that met our top criteria: sea-level and relatively affordable. But, you know, we did hope and couldn't let go of the "what if?" What if Southwestern or Baylor accepted David?  We imagined how our lives would change. Job-hunting would be a bit more reassuring and I wouldn't feel too isolated. We selfishly begged the Lord so we could hear back from them. At least one of them, leaning more towards Southwestern, Dallas. And, guess what? Two days before the deadline, an e-mail was sent to David's inbox. That one single e-mail changed our lives...

Guess where this couples' next four years will take place? Hey ya'all, we're going to DALLAS!!