Can't get much better than this

My perfect Halloween evening:

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

There's High School Musical...

...then there's:

Kids and Friends and Weddings, Oh My!

Last weekend I flew out to CA, yet again, for another wedding. I've known Jamie since junior high and it was a joy to see her marry such an amazing guy like Doug. Congrats to the both of you and I'm so excited to come visit you guys in Nash-vegas!

Each time I've gone back to CA since the move to Austin (which has been one other time) it becomes a marathon of how many people I can see in one weekend. I love it though! I was able to see the kids I love the most (Belinsky's), old co-workers (the Asians), and old buddies (the hot ladies). Enjoy a snippet of the weekend!

Cali Times from Mariko on Vimeo.

Wiki

Confession: I’m addicted to Wikipedia. We are so tight that we are on a nickname basis. Wiki has become my BFF as of late. I find myself spending time with Wiki when I have random questions populating my mind. Wiki hardly ever fails me.

Here is a list of what Wiki has educated me on today:

Lizzie Borden:
Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

Tupac Shakur: "Shakur's body was cremated. Some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of Outlawz." I find this extremely touching and expect all my closest loved ones to do the same with my ashes when I leave this earth.

Socrates: "Socrates realized that the Oracle was correct, in that while so-called wise men thought themselves wise and yet were not, he himself knew he was not wise at all which, paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance."

Salmonella: "Salmonella antibodies were first found in Malawi children in research published in 2008."

Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of
things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the Only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
By whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance. He suffered, was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven with the same body, [and] sat at the right hand of the Father.
He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father, to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints.
We believe also in only One, Universal, Apostolic, and [Holy] Church; in one baptism in repentance, for the remission, and forgiveness of sins; and in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgement of souls and bodies, and the Kingdom of Heaven and in the everlasting life.

Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. AMEN.

I heart Needtobreathe

I got to see one of my most favorite bands of all time tonight...FREE. Needtobreathe opened for Gavin DeGraw at UT so Jamie and I went down after work to partake in this musical sweetness. Needtobreathe are an AWESOME band from South Carolina and have this southern appeal to them on stage and in their music. Check them out!!!




Needtobreathe from Mariko on Vimeo.

Persecution: expect it

I'm always amazed at how those who are doing the most good in this world are the ones who are treated the worse.

This is from an email I received from China Aid:

PSB Officers Beat Pastor's Son
Around noon on October 16, Zhang Jian received an urgent phone call from his mother. Plainclothes Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers had broken into her upstairs apartment and were throwing all the family's belongings out into the street: "When I got there, I saw my mom lying on the ground being knocked down by these thugs ... I tried to use my body to protect my mom from being hurt by them. Then this group of 15 officers immediately surrounded me and started beating my head and body with iron bars and said, 'We need to teach you a lesson as a troublemaker.'"

The violent attack lasted 25 minutes. Authorities persecute this family simply because they are Christians. Their ministry to orphans and house churches - ordinary Christian activities - are considered crimes in China. Zhang Jian was severely injured in the attack and needs immediate surgery. His family is now in hiding with nowhere to live. His father is missing, believed to be kidnapped by authorities.

Brother Yun says in his book Heavenly Man that Christians in non-persecuted areas should not pray for the persecution to stop, but to pray for the Christians in the persecuted parts of the world to stand firm in their faith and endure their trials with strength that can only come from the Lord. He also reminds us to pray for the salvation of those doing the persecuting and for them to come to know God and learn to love Him. This is coming from a man who has gone through some of the most horrendous pain and persecution because of his love for Jesus. We as followers of Jesus should expect persecution and pray that when it does happen, we will stand firm to the end and hold on to the truth and love of God.

Weekend in Corpus

This weekend, roomie Jamie and I went to Corpus to visit with our good friend Jaci and her parents. I'd never been to coast in Texas so it was fun to go driving along there, take a boat tour, walk along the beach, and eat some good sea-grub!

Thanks for having us come hang with you, Jaci! Love ya tons!


Corpus Christi from Mariko on Vimeo.

My loves

Meet Luke, Paul, Emma, and Ruth!

Pete and Gabby are amazingly awesome people (and yes, I still think of you guys as a fun couple) and these are their beautiful children. I helped Gabby out when she was pregnant with Paul and then when she was pregnant with Ruthie and with kids this good looking, how could you not just fall in love with them?!?!?! I even had the chance to live with them for a little while during a transitional time of my life. I love this family dearly and I cannot wait to see them next weekend when I'm back in CA, so you guys will most likely be seeing these adorable children again soon on my blog.

My favorite quotes:

"Riko, can I cuddle with you?"

"I want a pirate kiss!"

"I like being naked."

Em, Lukie, Paulie-wog, Ruthie-ba-boosie, I miss you guys so much and can't wait to see you guys soon!!!

...cont.

Read this last night in John Piper's book Let the Nations Be Glad.

Paul was strong in persecutions because "the power of Christ" rested upon him and was made perfect in him. In other words, Christ’s power was Paul’s only power when his sufferings brought him to the end of his resources and cast him wholly on Jesus. This was God’s purpose in Paul’s thorn, and it is his purpose in all our suffering. God means for us to rely wholly on him. "That was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9). The reason God wants such reliance is because this kind of trust shows his supreme power and love to sustain us when we can’t do anything to sustain ourselves.

300

If I were Gideon, I'd pee my pants.

He had 32,000 peeps ready to go in and conquer the Midianites. God tells Gideon that he has too many people to go into battle with. Who says that in regards to conquering an enemy?! You have too many people??? After God "sifts" through Gideons crew, He narrows it down from 32,000 people to 300…300!!!

This is what my response would be if I were Gideon: God, that’s not cool. Really, …. that’s not funny. I mean, I know You’re God and all, but like cutting down my assets by that much…that’s a smidge ridiculous. Put ‘em back now, please.

Have you seen a pattern in your own life or others of how God does things that doesn’t make sense? That is outlandish? Crazy? Impossible?

I’ve come to realize that that is exactly how He works. He cut down Gideons army because He knew that with that many people they would have wiped out the Midianites with no problem and any outsider would look at that and be like, "Of course they won; they had 32,000 stinkin people." God was going to make His power and might known in this situation. He did what He had to do to make that happen…and ALL glory to Him.

This story just stuck out to me as I’ve started to commit to praying about going to teach in Sudan for a year in 2010. When I look at the details of what would have to happen, specifically in the financial area, it comes down to that it would be impossible for me to go. If it’s God’s will for me to go, He will definitely show Himself almighty to make it happen. It would be nothing of my own doing. I truly feel that at times, He puts us in situations like this where it seems impossible, so that when it does happen, there is just no other explanation than GOD. I love how He shows us how much we are reliant on physical/tangible/financial things when we think we aren’t.

I feel like if we truly believe in the power of God and His promise to take care of us, then maybe we should pray about having the strength to allow Him to really test that in our lives. Let Him be glorified through your life by cutting down your 32,000 whatevers to 300 and completely rocking your world!

Captain EO

During the years of '86-'97, Disneyland was home to one of the greatest phenomenons to ever grace this planet. Captain EO was a 3D short film/musical starring Michael Jackson as the "hero" in this 80's-futuristic-changing-the-world-from-evil-to-good type of story. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, executive-produced by George Lucas and music by James Horner, epic-radness was in this film's destiny from the moment of inception. Outside of all that, for every 80's child from SoCal, Captain EO has a special place in their hearts forever. I mean, MJ in 3D...before he went scary! Just awesome...

Since this was a Disney project and Disney funded, this short film is no where to be found to be purchased. It is locked away forever in Disney's vault with no intentions of ever being released to the public again.

But...

Someone knew that something of this much epic proportions cannot be hidden from the rest of the world and the generations to come. So, with much thanks to this fine human being and YouTube, we can now enjoy (not to the same extent as in 3D) Captain EO and how he changed the world. (It's in 2 parts, though, and the 2nd part is where MJ breaks it down)

Question

Would you rather live in complete darkness or complete silence?

.....

'Rents

I really think I'm one of a kind. I have issues. Since when do the parents cause the ulcers in the kids when the kids can't track down their parents???

Everyday on my way home from work I call my mom. Her and my dad moved to North Carolina almost 2 years ago and being that I'm just really close to my mom and them moving away from me was really hard for me, I call her everyday to make the distance between us seem not so far.

My parents have a routine as I'm sure most of your parents when they hit mid 50's. Folks that age very rarely live outside of their routine. I know my mom and dad's routine and if there's a change in their routine, they usually inform me of this. I know that since both my parents' children live far from them, they pretty much don't let their cell phones out of their sight. It's latched onto them. And as it should be. Parents need to be accessible and available to their children at ALL times; no matter what age their kids are.

Yesterday, I call my mother on my way home from work around 4 pm. No answer. Okay, she could be driving or in the middle of her Bible study; she'll call me back. Go home, shower, get ready for my Bible study. No call. I go to the market and decide to call again, ya know, just in case. No answer. Okay... get home, get ready to leave to my Bible study. I call on the way there (and know that it's only been since the morning since I heard from her last). No answer. I call my dad (he works the night shift so he'd be at work, but surely he has his phone on him at all times). No answer. Panic arises. I'm at Bible study, I lay my phone by me, on silent, but able to see if someone calls just so I can calm down when I see that they are calling. Bible study ends, no call. It's now around 10 pm their time. Mom should be home from all duties by this time. I was awful and distracted off and on throughout the study because horrid instances are running through my head of what could have happened:
"My parents were both in a car wreck earlier today and no one could call me because they don't know that 'Mariko' in their phones is their daughter."
"Something happened to my brother overseas and they are in too much distress to call and tell me yet."
"What if they've both been kidnapped."

On the way home from Bible study, I am now literally pleading with Jesus that someone call me and just let me know why I haven't heard from my mom and my dad. I keep calling. No answer. Again, mind you, this has only been 10 hours since I've last heard from them and now I'm almost in tears on my way home thinking the worst of the worst of what could have happened and trying to sort my thoughts and start planning my life accordingly. !!! I'm now bitter with that "Why doesn't someone tell me what's going on!" mentality.

I get home. I go to my computer. I check weather.com to see if there was some major natural disaster that hit Zebulon, NC that could explain all this. I check the news online to see if any horrific happenings had gone on in that area as well...nothing. I find my dad's work number and call. It rings a lot and then FINALLY I hear my dad's voice. Peace overcame me, at least halfway; my mother is still "missing." I keep my cool talking to him and let him know little of the panic attack I was suffering. I tell him I can't get a hold of mom and he said that he'll call the home number and then have her call me.

I finally talked with my mom last night and she was just busy at church most of the evening and forgot to take her phone off silent and honestly didn't think I would have kept calling to get a hold of her. What was she thinking?!

Let's recap here: I called my mom probably a combined total of 10 times and my dad about 3 times within a span of a few hours when the last I had heard from her was just that morning. Now, if I for some reason didn't call my mom one evening and she called me that many times, I would have retorted with something like this: "Mother, it's only been a day since we've last talked. I'm a 26 year old woman, I am completely capable of taking care of myself. If something had happened, you are in NC and there's nothing you could've done at the moment. If it's my time to go, you can't prevent that; it's God's plan." Now, it would've been completely unacceptable if my mother came back with this attitude toward me, though; do you guys see this? =) But she, being the perfect mother she is, just said sorry and didn't think that I would have kept calling.

So it was a happy ending: mother and father were located and found doing their normal routine, my panic attack didn't last too long, and the Lord taught me that I haven't learned to let go of my parents and let Him take control...

Man, I can never be a parent...I can't even be a non-controlling child.

My Weekend

In this order...

FRIDAY:

SATURDAY:


SUNDAY:

Do I know how to party like a rock star or what?

Something to ponder

"The great sin of the world is not that the human race has failed to work for God so as to increase his glory but that we have failed to delight in God so as to reflect his glory, for God's glory is most reflected in us when we are most delighted in him."