Hopeful because of Him

My Chinese man starts "year two" of med school next week. And yours truly is currently unemployed (more about that later)! Scared, yes. We barely survived year one. And with year two right around the corner, we needed to rethink and reprioritze. Phew. Sigh. Unknown and unclear future, you scare us. What better way is there to prepare for the unknown, upcoming challenges for year two than the Lord's House?

A trip to the temple leaves you feeling overwhelemed with a mixture of feelings. We step out and we feel grateful, humbled, determined. Sometimes we feel burdened, and our hearts heavy with guilt. But, most of all, we feel hopeful. Hopeful because we have Him to lead us and guide us. Hopeful because we have Him as our example. And, hopeful because He is in our lives and with Him, we know everything and anything can be possible.

Year two, bring it on!

One Year Old Bucket List

During my flight back to Texas, I decided to declutter my "Evernote" app when I saw our list we created in a spur of the moment a year ago. Once I read through it, I couldn't help laughing. Were we on something? You decide.

Despite how silly and unrealistic our list may be, my heart was  full of gratitude. Grateful that my eternal companion is David Eng. And grateful for that long journey ahead of us

This list needs some serious revision... We will have an updated list in a year. But, for the meantime, can you guess whose is whose?

 DD's BUCKET LIST

David and Diana, will face their future together, forever. 

1. Visit China- The Great Wall and the one palace the last empress (Dowager?) built.
2. Go skinny-dipping.
3. Effiel Tower. 
4. Knit a baby blanket for all of our (future children).
5. Visit Sea World and get spalshed by Free Willy in the very front seat.
6. Purchase something from Tiffany & CO
7. Visit the Empire State Building. Day before, we must watch James and the Giant Peach. And when we walk into the building, we will blast on Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."
8. Travel to every continent
9. Visit Cancun. Stay in the same hotel as we did on our honeymoon. Without kids. Give them to Grace for a week.
10. Purchase every book written by Pearl S. Buck. They must be published by the same company and must be the same size. And all must be paperback. Same with books by Louisa May Alcott.
11. Visit a bakery and taste all different flavors of cupcakes.
12. In twenty years, invite all our friends from the Asian Ward and cook Korean food.
13. Pig out on $100.00 steak!
14. Swim at a nude beach in Espaina (Spain).
15. Go on a Safari.
16. Visit London bridge and film our own version of "If Only."
17. Go to Austrailia. Snorkel in a coral reef and find Nemo. Capture him and raise him in a bowl. Then, feed him to a kangaroo. 
18. Play with a panda bear.
19. Go to HP Land and get "drunk" from butterbeer.
20. Plant a garden that will produce all of our green veggies. Oh, and sunflowers!
21. Learn how to ski.
22. Both would like to publish a book. David, a fantasay novel. Diana, TBD.
23. Meet Joseph Gordon Leavitt. Then, run away with him. 
24. Learn Korean.
25. Learn Chinese. Chinese, as in some of the few characters.
26. Visit Bali
27. Visit a third world country. David will provide medical service, and Diana will teach the youngsters.
28. Learn how to ride a horse.
29. Figure out who was a more influential writer, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky.
30. Go to the Amazon rainforest. 

Red Fish, Blue Lake, Yellowstone

With much prayer and consideration, I have decided to leave my job as a Preschool teacher. (Please keep me in your prayers.) To clear some thoughts, I flew out to Utah to visit my family (thanks, mom and dad for the ticket).

Now, we are vacationing in Yellowstone! We've been many times but it's going a lot smoother now that we're older and more mature (I think). We traveled along Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, fishing, hiking (sorta), and eating!

We filleted the lake trout and ate it for dinner. Nom nom

 We made spicy soup using the trout we caught!

 Then, Bambi joined us for dinner..

 Five Chois trailing along Yellowstone..

 At Old Faithful, again. We've been here numerous times but the scenery always takes my breath away.. 

Living in the grand old FLAT southern state, we don't get the chance to connect to nature. Living in Utah, everyone's back door is a trail way to nature. It's something I always took for granted. Driving through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah, God's beautiful creations stood out to me more than ever. Sigh. Once again, I felt bittersweet at the fact that these states will always be a temporary place for me. Thus, I took every minute to soak up all the nature. During my BYU days, I always complained about Utah and its boredom. "The minute I graduate, I'm out of here," I would often say.  If I had known then, I would've been more appreciative. In a few days, I will return back to Tejas. I love both places very very much. But, it's never easy saying goodbye to your home state. I will miss these Rockies oh so much.

D&D's Trip to Korea: Four F's

We've been back from Korea only a week, but our time in Korea feels as if it happened years ago. We crawled back into reality whilst battling jet-lag. Now that it's been a week, it's safe to say that we have accepted our fate, trudged back to our lives before Korea ever happened, in 100 degree weather. Life is beautiful!

Now that I'm back on schedule, time to record the remainders of our trip. I've already blogged away about our reception, Gyeongsang province, and Seoul. I've selected some pictures of our last days in Korea and  a few remaining pictures and complied them into a folder (on my desktop), Four F's: Family, Friends, Food, and Fun!

 The infamous live squid

 Flying fish

 All sorts of fried tempura

 Spicy seafood noodles

 The best frozen yogurt place, ever. Six Mango. David and I went every single day...

 Six Mango, with friends.

 Oh Koo Dalk (Chicken baked in the oven).

 My favorite dish of all time, my grandma's kimchee chijae!

 Pork intestines! Yumm!!

Korean style Vietnamese food. 

 A feast prepared by my grand-auntie! This was our breakfast!

 Yogurt smoothie with my cousin! 

 Donkatsu!

 Pig feet!

Mango Six, again!

 Fried dumplings!

 Froyo, again. With my closest friends <3 i="">

 End of the Korean peninsula.

David, inviting hermit the crab to play with us.

 He finally came out. And we jumped a mile away. Literally..

 Alive and alive. Disgusting. 

 David and I, at my grandfather's peaceful resting place.

 My two favorite men.

 The last meal of D&D? Samgyupsal! Mmm..

The night before our departure. Say Kimchee!

Our trip was amazing. Perfect. I've never been a fan of traveling. But, since David joined my life, we've traveled quite extensively. And I've got to say, explorEng the world has become quite fun. I would love to travel to exotic places such as Eygpt or South America... (One day.) However, exploring the motherland never gets old. And, my motherland is the one place that always welcomes me. Until next time, KIMCHEE!