oh me, oh my!

this past week sure has been a STRESSFUL week...finals, giving out Christmas cards and presents before everyone leaves for break, car problems, getting barely any sleep&sometimes sleeping in increments, and much more!

finals went BOOM and then BAM for me. i had 2 on the friday before finals week and i found out that week so i was suuuper stressed that week cause i had a paper also due that week. i preferred to have my finals on finals week so i could have more time to study but that didn't happen so i made do with what i had to work with.
then on finals week, i had one final on tuesday and spent the WHOLE monday at Starbucks studying. i had never done that before and stayed a whole day there. it was gross. i was tired of sitting, super restless, and forgot to take study breaks so that made everything worse. it was horrible. so much went on that day, i was studying, dropped people off&picked people up, had an argument with one of the parentals over car problems i was having, and drama with a friend and then as i was driving back, my car was so unsteady&made a very cringing noise and i knew i could not drive it anymore. so this ALL happened on monday.

after finals, i still had not caught up with sleep and my body needs sleep or i literally cannot function. i ended up staying up late the day after finals cause i was w/one of my roomies while she studied at a friend's and then i had to get up early the next day to meet with someone. after that, i also went to Disneyland with Lori that day so i was SUPER exhausted at the end. but it was fun and so many people [those who were still studying&in finals] were bitter at us ahah.
i had also planned to play santa and drop off gifts&cards the next day. so it took a lot of work contacting people and matching schedules to see when i can drop off stuff to save gas. and i had to stay up late finishing cards to be able to drop them off before people went home!! i was SOOO tired :Op

the next day, thursday, i had previously planned to make Spam Masubi for my roomies and others because i finished finals and wanted to cook for them. well, making Spam Masubi takes a long time [but is worth it. and it's the ONLY thing i can make that turns out good/tasty aha]. and i was kinda frazzled not having all the ingredients but was blessed by friends who had substitutes!!
then, after that, i finally was able to get my car looked at with some awesome friends [Randy, Grace, and Annie] and we had quite the journey on the way to the mechanics [my car was so scary!!] and quite an annoying journey on the way back when my car had a piece loose and it scraped against the cement causing cars and people to stare at us.
as soon as we got back to the apartment, grace and i and others had to scramble to go babysit the three Hino kids [who are SUPER adorable by the way]!! it was so much fun and the house was gorgeous and all decked out in Christmas decorations. we got fed a yummy dinner and took back home delicious mint cookies and a movie ticket :O] the Hinos are so nice!!

Friday, had to wake up SUPER early at 7amish cause my dad was coming to look at the van. we drove to 3 diff mechanics and finally got it fixed at the 3rd one. i still had not caught up with sleep and took a nap when i got back but didn't get to nap long cause i needed to drop off more Christmas cards and had to pack for winter break!!
packing took me, no joke, about two and a half hours. i know, i've turned into sucha princess :Op not proud of it and packing has always taken me forever cause i never want to forget stuff and want to plan everything out! but sheesh it took forever folding clothes and going over lists. oh my lists, i love you. :O) Brian Lee knows how much i appreciate my lists! ahaha.
THEN, to end the night, it was the negative highlight of my stressful week cause i wanted to see the Mission Inn Christmas lights with my roomies and other friends for the last time since i'm graduating soon and i had to be home in an hour. i decided to go, took 2 friends with me in the process, and drive there&then leave from there to home [idea also convinced by friends who shall remain anonymous]. BAD IDEA because we totally forgot to factor in how crowded it would be and all the traffic and by the time i found some parking, i had to leave or i wouldn't make curfew! so i basically drove there to drop off my 2 friends. i guess that made it worth while and i got to see some lights. but MAN THAT WAS SO STRESSFUL driving through&around mission inn with horse carriages and cars coming from all over and streets being blocked. my stupid gps also told me to go the opposite way back to the freeway and so i decided to forget it and follow my instincts which actually took me to the right freeway! sometimes gps-es suck and do the opposite of their job!!!!
if that wasn't stressful enough, i started to feel sleepy when driving back&just felt physically exhausted. and when i got home, i had gotten into an argument with the other parental. i was angry, stressed, tired, and plain MAD at all the events that had taken place that day that caused me so much stress.

today, or saturday, to end my stressful week, i babysat again for my church's mandarin congregation and there were 14 kids that showed up. there was me and one other babysitter [2 parents stayed though]. now, these kids are not normal and well behaved and a LOT of them are SUPER rowdy, jam-packed-with-energy, disobedient/rebellious, and have soooo much attitude!!! now, of course there are some good things about them like they're cute, they can entertain themselves sometimes, and they're funny. but man, we [me and crystal] babysat them for 6 hours and were exhausted from running around [they kept begging us to play tag with them], coming up with ideas for them to do stuff cause they were so bored all the time, having to watch all of them cause they liked to go places without telling us, and just stuff like that. oh man, i don't know how parents do it. i seriously get WIPED OUT every time i babysit a kid.
in the end, we got paid and i felt bad but at the same time, i am really needing money so i decided to receive their gift :O)


amidst all the chaos, stress, frustration, and hopelessness, God has shown Himself to be my continuous provider, my Father who will always love me, my God who always gives grace when we totally don't deserve it, and my friend who will always be there for me.
here are some blessings of the week [i always have to add in positive! writing out my negatives help me focus even more on how great God is amidst chaos!!]:
-success in passing out Christmas gifts&cards
-going to Disneyland with loribean
-having a free-er week since i ended finals early
-God always provides me with a car when i need one [marissa generously allowed me to use her car when i needed to give out cards and my car was broken]
-excessive bonding time with roomies that included studying and pigging out tremendously. i LOVE them!!
-getting to play with adorable kids and get good laughs out of the silly things they do
-eating a ton of YUMMY junk food [this can probably be argument-able for something positive]
-getting to see a lot of friends before winter break
-finding out others are going to IHOP as well!!
-finding out our [UCR's] attendance at Epic conference this year is going to grow again!! God is so good&amazing!!
-getting to bless friends with my cooking. something i always want to do but never have the opportunity. thank God for spam masubi :O)
-getting my car fixed. i was tremendously in despair when thinking how things would be if i didn't have a car. it's SUCH a blessing and necessity for ministry and everything else
-giving out gifts&watching the reactions, receiving Christmas gifts
-seeing the beeeauutiful yellow trees all around
-the nap times i got and 2 days where i kind of got to sleep in

i could go on and on but you get the point. there are ALWAYS things to be thankful for that God blesses us with. our Lord is good and i couldn't be more grateful for what He's been doing in my life. i learn a lot about myself when i get stressed. :Op

please don't forget to look to Christ this CHRISTmas. ;O]