The Five Love Languages

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Words of Affirmation.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:		10
Words of Affirmation:		7
Quality Time:		6
Acts of Service:		4
Receiving Gifts:		3

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

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A lot can happen in two months

Struggles with med school, trusting God with my future, remembering and enjoying the amazing things he blesses me with. I'm leaving tomorrow to head home to San Jose for Thanksgiving break. I haven't been home for 4½ months (which is the longest I've ever been away from home). It will be really nice to spend time with my family.
Most of all, remembering that God is good, all the time.

Another Excerpt from my Journal

"When I saw the oddly-acting homeless lady in the Starbucks bathroom, my first thought was Oh my! What a strange, crazy lady. But within a minute or two that thought was followed by "But Jesus loves her". I'm ashamed that this wasn't my first thought. When I came out [of the bathroom] I saw her wandering around outside [of Starbucks] and peering in the door, pressing her face to the glass. I almost wished she'd come back in, so I could have another interaction with her, buy her a drink or something, be able to tell her what I know to be so true, that Jesus does indeed love her. Thank you Lord, for letting me see her through your eyes."

Busy times

Let's see...I've been studying practically every spare minute these last couple weeks...we have our first set of exams in another week and I'm starting to get really stressed about them. I'd really appreciate your prayers for my studying this next week and for the exams to go well!
Yesterday I was in the nursery at church, and this mom brought in her little tiny 2-month-old baby for the first time. As she handed her to me, she started telling me how there was a bottle of water in the diaper bag and to just add two scoops of formula powder if she got hungry. Then on second thought the mom said something like, oh you can just give her her yoghurt if she gets hungry, it'll be easier than mixing up a bottle. I was speechless! After mom left, I turned to Carrie, my fellow nursery-worker, "Did mom just say to feed her YOGHURT if she gets hungry?!?!" It was Gerber baby yoghurt, but babies aren't supposed to start solids until AT LEAST 4 MONTHS OLD! Their digestive systems just aren't ready for anything besides mommy's milk or formula! And this precious teeny tiny little baby was so skinny...her little arms and legs were so thin! I felt bad because I knew she probably wasn't get enough nutrition from eating yoghurt all the time, but I also knew it wasn't my place to say anything to mom...even if I am almost ;) a doctor...I can only hope baby's pediatrician says something...okay, enough about that...now that I've gotten that off my chest.
The message at church yesterday was just awesome...it was entitled "What's worth your passion?" and was about how it's worth it to love God more than the world. I was really convicted about how there really are some areas of my life that I haven't completely given to God...God really does want all of us. God enjoys my affection more than I can ever imagine! And God has invested so much in His relationship with me!
SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST:
This precious little girl, Christal, who's story I've been following for a couple of years now, went to be with Jesus yesterday morning. She had been fighting a brain tumor for 4-5 years now. Please be praying for her family. You can visit her site and leave an encouraging message for them. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to lose your precious child.

A tangled web of love

What do you do when you sense the dynamics of a friendship shifting into slightly more than that? What do you do when someone loves you but you just aren't attracted to them like that? What do you do when someone wants to start going out with you and all you want is to remain friends just like you've always been?
My friend Brian likes me...I like him too, but only as a friend. I don't want to hurt him...but I know already that we are not morally, religiously, or even recreationally compatible (we don't even like doing the same things), not to mention the fact that I'm just not attracted to him. But how do I let him know that without hurting him?
Furthermore, how do I set and stick to boundaries when we aren't actually/officially going out?

Please pray for my little sis

My little sister, Anna, just moved down here and is starting school at the University of Redlands. She's having a lot of trouble adjusting to being away from home for the first time and fitting in at her new school. Could you all please pray for her?

I love my church

I began attending Centerpoint last November with my friend from med school, David, when he and I were both searching for a church (I moved down to Loma Linda a year ago to start med school). After visiting for just a couple times, we both knew we wanted to call this church home. Several things that are important to me in a church stood out...the worship is real and Christ-centered, the messages are Bible-based and applicable, and outreach to the surrounding neighborhoods is also a major focus. The name is significant too. Centerpoint: Making Jesus the center and the point of our lives.

Balancing everything

Med school classes officially started on Monday, so I've been busy studying as much as I can all week. I'm realizing I didn't have quite as much time as I thought I had, and my decision to keep my job working with autistic kids on Tuesday/Thursday nights makes both those days very long (especially since we had anatomy lab all afternoon Tuesday). Today after lecture I came home to take a quick nap and ended up sleeping for 3 hours! I guess the new schedule (and less sleep) has caught up with me a little.
I absolutely love my job working with autistic kids though. It's one of the most rewarding things I've done. I started last March, and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each of the kids that we work with and helping them learn new skills and work towards adaptive independence. The little boy pictured is Alec, 5, one of my favorite kiddos to work with. He struggles with speech, and getting out the words he wants to say. So any kind of interactive play we do that gets him talking is great (this week we were "making" a chocolate cake).

My first pie

Last week while in Santa Barbara I made my very first pie! Yes, I had never made a pie before. I made the crust first, then mixed the blueberries (I was using a recipe for apple pie, but since I've never liked apple pie, decided to use blueberries instead) with a little sugar, flour, and cinnamon for the filling, placed them in the pie pan, covered them with the rolled out crust, placed a few decorative designs on the top (I couldn't be too creative, there weren't any cookie cutters or anything available), and voila...


It turned out really good...and actually tasted great (especially for someone who doesn't really like pie).
I was so proud of my little creation:

My drive to Santa Barbara

On Saturday I drove to Santa Barbara to visit a really good friend of mine from undergrad. What should have been a less than 2½-hour drive took more than 3½ hours...


And yes, traffic was at such a standstill that it was perfectly safe for me to whip out my digital camera and take a picture of how incredibly slow we were going. It turned out that there was a bad accident further up.
On my way home from SB, another photo-worthy milestone was reached:


My car reached 100,000 miles! I've had it for almost 6 years now, and it was at about 27,000 miles when my dad bought it for me (from Hertz Rental Car, it was a rental car before it was mine), so I guess I've driven about 73,000 miles in the past 6 years. That's 12,167 miles a year, 1014 miles a month, 254 miles a week, 34 miles a day! Yikes, that's a lot of driving now that I actually sit down and figure it out. I should really cut back...34 miles a day...that means I spend an average of half an hour in the car every single day!

Freshmen Welcome Picnic

My friends, Samantha and Kristina, and I at the Welcome Picnic for incoming freshmen medical students.


One of the games we played...for every question each team answered correctly, the designated person on that team could put on one piece of surgical apparel. The first team to have their player completely dressed (scrubs, gloves, booties, cap, mask, white coat) won.
The picnic was a fun time to meet other students and hang out with people I knew from last year.

Destiny and Stacy

My friend Katie and I were best friends growing up. We were constantly begging our moms to let one of us go to the other's house for the afternoon, where we went roller blading, swimming, played Barbies, and did crafts. We had sleep overs, and invited each other to every birthday party. We were in Awana Bible Club together, sang in the same choir, were on the same sports league. We played endless games of Monopoly, Yahtzee, Missionary Conquest, Uno, and our very favorite, Life. In this game, we added a new twist of our own invention: naming all the people we had in the game. For those who've never played the game, you start with yourself, then get married, and then acquire children throughout the game. For us this was serious business. We carefully selected a first and middle name for each child that was born to us.
Katie married young. She got married a few years ago and now has two absolutely beautiful baby daughters. When she was pregnant with each one I couldn't help but think of our days of playing Life and wonder what names she would choose for her precious babies. Destiny Marie is 2 years old now, and Stacy Jacqueline is 9 months. When I went home about a month ago I was so pleased to be able to hang out with Katie and the girls, they are just adorable. Thanks for being such a great friend!

Laparoscopic Appendectomy

I held the camera steady as the resident grabbed the inflamed appendix with forceps in one hand and a pair of tweezer like grabbers in the other...I followed the tools with the camera as he kept feeling along the base of the appendix and onto the cecum, searching for exactly where the appendix ended and where the large intestine began..."I should probably clamp it off here...I want to make sure I get it all...but I sure don't want to end up in the bowel..." He finally decides where to cut it off, then inserts a staple cutter and stables off the appendix. Next he inserts a bag into which he inserts the appendix...neatly packaged, the offending object can now be removed without doing any more damage. Irrigate the abdomen, and we're done. Sew the fascia closed, then I get to staple closed each of the neat little cuts made in three different places in the abdomen. And just like that, I've assisted in my first surgery...

Waiting...

I had med school orientation on Thursday and Friday, and today we start two weeks of "Ward Experience", which is where we are assigned to a 3rd or 4th year med student or an attending physician and we get to follow them around and experience patient care. Last year I was assigned to an attending in peds endocrinology, which was really cool. This year I'm assigned to a 3rd year med student, David Skale, in general surgery at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. Why am I not there you might ask??? I'm waiting for him to answer my page...

Scrapbooking

I've never considered myself to be very creative, but after giving one of my best friends from college a bridal shower back in April, I decided I wanted to make a scrapbook for her with the pictures I'd taken from the shower. And I found out that I actually really like scrapbooking, and it's not as hard as I thought it would be! :) I just bought a small scrapbook, purchased a package of various decorated letters, assembled the pictures I'd taken at the shower, gathered some stickers I had plus a couple of plates from the shower, the confetti, napkins, invitations, etc., and two weeks later, voila! I ended up with a finished product! Of course it isn't anything professional, especially compared to what people who are pro scrapbookers produce, but I think it came out pretty nice. And of course I had plenty of help from my darling kittens, who follow me around the house and always want to be right in the middle of whatever I'm doing. :)

Starbucks lovers...

Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino

Smooth and sweet, you fit in to almost any crowd. No one would suspect you of being a coffee tweaker!

What Flavor Frappuccino Are You?

In the nursery

{Post under construction}

The Runaway Bunny

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”
“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny.”

“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a fish in a trout stream
and I will swim away from you.”

“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother,
“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”

“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,”
said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber,
and I will climb to where you are.”

“If you become a mountain climber,”
said the little bunny,
“I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.”

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,”
said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”

“If you are a gardener and find me,”
said the little bunny, “I will be a bird
and fly away from you.”

“If you become a bird and fly away from me,”
said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”

“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a little sailboat,
and I will sail away from you.”

“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,”
said his mother, “I will become the wind
and blow you where I want you to go.”

“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny,
“I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”

“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother,
“I will be a tightrope walker,
and I will walk across the air to you.”

“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,”
said the bunny, “I will become a little boy
and run into a house.”

“If you become a little boy and run into a house,”
said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother
and catch you in my arms and hug you.”

“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well
stay where I am and be your little bunny.”

And so he did.
“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

I love this story because the relationship between Mother Bunny and her Little Bunny can easily be paralleled to the relationship God has with His children. No matter where the Little Bunny goes, where he tries to run away to or hide, what he attempts to become, Mother Bunny always knows how to find him and is right there for him. And in the end Little Bunny realizes being safe with Mother Bunny is the best place to be anyway. Just as God always knows where we are no matter how far we try to stray (intentionally or not), and one of His deepest desires is for us to come to the place of simply wanting to be “Little Bunnies.”

Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Excerpt from my journal

From yesterday: "When things happen, when I feel like something was my fault or I've messed up, I tend to beat myself up over it forever. Rehashing the incident over and over in my head trying to think how I could have (should have) prevented it, wishing I could go back in time and redo things. Then I try to convince myself that it wasn't really my fault, that people don't really think too badly of me for it. But then I realized on my way over [to Coffee Bean], but what if it was my fault, so what? That's what Jesus died on the cross for! No matter how careful I am, no matter how hard I try, I will always make mistakes occasionally, I will always mess up every so often, things will always be my fault once in a while. And I have to be okay with that. Because I am human, I am not, cannot be perfect. As a doctor I will end up making mistakes. With the autistic kids I do occasionally make mistakes. With friends I do sometimes say the wrong things. I don't always have the right answers or do things correctly in the biochem lab (i.e. Forgetting to run an ACN blank on the GC when I was done with samples Wed. and then worrying about Teleka being upset Thurs.). I overdrew my bank account this week. And, most recently, Noah bit Nolan in the nursery this morning, right in front of Nolan's mom Amber and Mary Ritter! And I was the most responsible, "in charge" person there...So of course I felt terrible and have been beating myself up and thinking they must think poorly of me ever since. But I can't just continually beat myself up for all these things. I am human, part of a fallen creation. I am not perfect. I cannot be perfect. But that's what Jesus died on the cross for! And even if I don't have a clean slate with man, the completely amazing thing is I can have a completely clean slate with Christ! He doesn't hold things against me! He forgives me and washes me white as snow. Which is just so awesome..."

John 10:10 "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."