Thanksgiving | {family, memories, wilderness}

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for many things. To start with, this is the first time in 5 years that I have been at “home” in California with my family for the holiday. I am thankful that I’m here to force my brothers (and Erica!) to take goofy pictures with me! I am thankful that I got to eat some of my Nana’s fantastic BUTTERMILK PIE! And my mom’s green bean casserole!

I am thankful for a season of living near some of my bffs…  being near the ocean again… And for mountains and trees… And San Diego weather! I’m thankful for the other families of friends I have sprinkled around the world… for the memories of Thanksgivings spent sleeping in hammocks and eating the best rice and beans you could dream of on the Amazon River… and for memories of my friends chanting “Shanda! Shanda! Sing a song! Sing a song!” and then singing “Fried Ham” around the table while eating duck and “corn bread” (corn on bread).

But, I wouldn’t feel honest if I didn’t tell you that life has been less than purely peachy lately. This transition time has stretched further than I hoped. And it’s been full of hiccups and questions and annoying circumstances and big decisions and huge paradigm shifts that are changing everything for me. Not easy. And not over yet. It feels much like a season of walking through the desert. And really, I am in a wilderness. God has shown me rich things that He is taking me to, but I’m not there yet. I am on my way… slowly, but surely. And in the meantime, He is supplying me with Himself – manna in the wilderness – and promising that there will be even MORE of Him on the other side!

So, at the top of my list of things to be thankful for this year: I am thankful for the wilderness and for the sifting and stripping down that is occurring in my life and heart here. I am thankful for Christ supplying Himself to me, and for the love and encouragement I am finding along the way, and for the richness that I know He is leading me to on the other side of this wilderness.

There have been days that JOY was very hard to find or choose. But it is returning, more and more. And I am filled with hope and excitement about what lies ahead. I know it is going to cost me things to get there… but it will be worth it, entirely. Jesus always is.

For an awesome article on seasons in the Wilderness, click here!

just Josh | being classy

[Please read the following in a very dry, matter-of-fact tone of voice… and appreciate that Josh is an introverted quiet dude.]

Hi. I’m Josh. I’m a freshman in college. I’m also Shanda’s baby brother. She thinks I’m hilarious and asked me to share some of my stories on her blog. I said “SURE dawg!” [Actually, I said no. But she decided to ghostwrite for me and I’m down with that.] This is the first of who knows how many stories that I will share with you. I’m not sure about this, but when you have a sister like Shanda… weird stuff happens… and you learn to go with it. If you know her, I’m sure you’re pickin up what I’m throwin down.

Yesterday, I was sitting in a dorm room with some guys. They were eatin’ cereal and then one of them said, “Hey. We have a table. We should set it up.” So they did. In the middle of their dorm room. Because you have to eat cereal at a table, obviously. It’s classy.

So we started talkin’ about being classy and then someone said, “You know what would make this so much better? … A fireplace. That’s classy.” So, one of the guys grabbed his laptop and pulled up a video on youtube of a fire in a fireplace.

Then one of the guys turned some Michael Bubble on his ipod boombox thing. I said, “OH. You know what would make it even classier… Frank Sinatra.” I got my ipod and we turned on Frank. That’s classy.

We turned off the lights cause that’s classy when you have a fire, but the light from the fake fire wasn’t really enough.

One guy got a piece of paper and started going around asking people if they were on the list. If they were, they got to come into the classy party.

Then somebody said, “We should really do this in the elevator.”

When the doors opened, we’d ask for their name and check the list. If they were on the list, they could come in and ride with us in the elevator. It was mostly girls. They live in the top floors. We had classy conversation with them. We all made up classy names and talked with classy English accents.  My name was Commodore, like my great great grandfather from England. He was classy.

Some of our guests said, “You guys are great!” I’d tell them, “You’re great.”

After a while, it got too hot in the elevator. So we all got chairs and went and sat outside in the main entryway of the building and we greeted people in a very classy way.

Some girls came back from Target with a bunch of stuff so we offered to take it up to their rooms. It was the most awkward thing EVER. We stayed in character the whole time. But we weren’t with a big group anymore. There were only 2 of us, with 2 people we don’t know. One girl tipped us. We each got a penny.

We stayed out there pretty late. I didn’t do any homework. When I went back to my room, my roommate was already asleep so I couldn’t turn the light on. That was annoying because my bed was covered in clothes from all the costume changes. I wore my wetsuit to dinner, so obviously I had to change… Anyway, that’s another story. Maybe I’ll tell you about it next time.

I don’t think you’re going to think this is as funny as my sister does. This is just what college guys do. It’s normal. I mean, we ARE funny. And classy. But…

the love of my Father

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the beach. I sat at a picnic table journaling. I walked in the sand up and down the shore. I stood staring into the horizon. I sat on a bench reading. I laid in the grass. I went to my favorite ocean-side coffee shop. I took pictures of the sunset over the pacific.

Being near the ocean delights my soul. When the salt air hits my nostrils and curls up my hair, it also wraps me up in the love and closeness of  Jesus. {Cheesy sounding, maybe. But so very true.}

At one point in the day, I watched (in a non-creepy fashion) a man and his two daughters playing in the grass under the palm trees. The girls were probably 2 and 4 years old. He would chase them and they would act as though they didn’t want to be caught, but they did. He’d pretend it was hard to catch them, but it wasn’t. Then he would scoop them up in his arms and spin them around. They would giggle with delight and then he’d put them down and it would be their turn to chase him. After a minute or two he’d pretend to be tired and fall to the ground, giving them the chance to catch him. Then he would say, “Ohhh… here comes a hugging monster… here comes ANOTHER hugging monster!” And the girls would wrap their little arms around him and, again, he’d pick them up and spin them around. They clearly loved their father and delighted in his love for them.

I LOVE seeing people LOVE, especially fathers and daughters (and sons too). It’s such a special thing. As I sat there, I remembered my own father’s love for me…

I’m very ticklish. When I was a little girl, my Dad would attack me with tickles and I’d giggle until I could barely breathe while protesting, “top it Daddy, top it!” (top it = stop it) He would stop and I’d catch my breath and then say, “Do it again! Do it again!” I don’t think it was that I LOVED being tickled so much as it was that I loved having his attention. I loved making him laugh and smile. As I got older, I was so impressed by his random knowledge about the world that I wanted to impress him with my own so I read and I learned and I would say, “Hey Daddy, Did you know _____________?” and when he didn’t know, I felt like I’d achieved something amazing. [So, yes… My nerdiness is all a result of a desire to impress my father.] The funny thing though is that I didn’t have to TRY to impress him. I could have been the biggest idiot in the world and known nothing about anything and he would have thought I was just amazing – because I was his daughter, the little girl with curly red hair that he had always dreamed of.

So as I sat in the grass by the beach watching this father love his daughters and thanking Jesus for the love my father had for me… He reminded me…

This is how I love you. This is how the Father loves you. You don’t have to impress us. You don’t have to work to achieve Our love. We made you. We delight in you. We love your attention and you always have Ours.

Today is my Daddy’s 55th birthday. He’s not on earth to celebrate it, but I will… because I’m thankful for the ways he taught me about love and helped me to understand the love of my Father.

I’m an old sister.

I’m a sister. Did you know that? Yeah. You did. Because it’s one of my favorite parts of being me. So I talk about it. A lot.

I have two brothers. They wear bow ties. (This is a recent development/obsession.)
They look at me funny. (This has always been true!)

Ben and I grew up in a Vietnamese neighborhood,
hung out in a Vietnamese church,
shopped at a Vietnamese grocery store,
and ate a lot of Vietnamese food.
Josh was born into the fam a bit later and we moved when he was pretty young,
but the love for Vietnamese-ness is still a part of our family and has always been a part of his life too.
The three of us are convinced that we might be part Asian.
We do actually have two Vietnamese aunts — which confuses a lot of people for some reason.
There’s really nothing confusing about it. Our dad’s brothers both married Vietnamese women.

So, with this being a part of who we are…
When I came “home” one of our first family nights was filled with Pho and fish sauce.
   
{I’m drooling looking at the pictures!}
My mom loves it too! (And our dad was probably the biggest fan of all!)
Ben’s girlfriend, Erica, loves it too
(which is a good thing because I’m pretty sure it’s a requirement for anyone who wants to join our family)!

I love my family and all of our multi-cultural-ness (among many other things!).

Also to be noted… My brother, Josh, is a READER. He bought two books with his own money – because he WANTED to read them. A sure sign he’s growing up. AND one day, I needed to get out and decided to go read at Starbucks. I asked him if he wanted to join me. He said, “I guess I can give it a try!” Walking in with his book in hand (the same book I was reading on my kindle!) he said, “This is the first time I’ve ever GONE somewhere to read… Or brought a book with me somewhere other than school!” And, he liked it. So, we did it again.

This is what sisters are for… Helping little brothers to grow into who they will be!
(Book readers who sit in Starbucks on occasion??? Maybe.)
And taking pictures of the process and posting them on her blog!

He’s a college man now. Moved in a couple of days ago.
I’m an old sister.

best hometown // everything under the sun!

I have the best hometown.

Really.

I love this place.

San Diego really is America’s Finest City. (It’s the official slogan, people! You can’t deny it!)

It really does have EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN. (See sign above my head.)

For example, yesterday my bro was bored so being an awesome sister (who happens to love being outside and near water or other pretty places) I agreed to go to Seaport Village and Balboa Park.

Within a few short hours (okay, that’s a weird expression… the hours were all the normal length…) we enjoyed watching…

a man swallow a sord,

a random collection of rescued parrots – chillin in the park,

random street performers (girl in white dress in the back) and observing monks on vacation,

[I love street performers. I always feel compelled to give them money because 1. I enjoy them 2. I admire their creativity and guts!]

pirates making their way through the bay (totally normal),

professional balloon artists – making children’s faces light up :),

adults flying kites on a summer afternoon,

pretty blue water, sunshine, and funny faces,

awesome buildings, random sculptures, and beautiful skies,

AND bumper to bumper traffic (okay, we could have lived without that part).

We then topped it all off with some taco bell …

[I so missed me some taco bell!]

… at which point, I informed Josh that when he wants to take a girl out on a fun and memorable date… this would be the PERFECT day! How do boys without sisters figure that stuff out? He’s so lucky! ;)