He does it again...

This is just a quick update to my previous post. 

Today when I least expect it, my grades were released. I'm happy to say that God saw fit to allow me to pass all my subjects! 

Truly he leads me from impossible to possible beyond reasons my mind can comprehend. 

Three years and eight months later...

Wow! Three whole years and 8 months have past since I've written something on this blog. Lots of things have happened, but I doubt I will have the patience to write them all down. I know that a highlight of all the amazing things that have happened won't do justice, but oh well... it's still better than not highlighting them.

Lets see... where do I even begin.

The last post was from first semester of my junior year. From memory, that year was a very trying year. I changed the background picture and title of this blog a while back (i.e. before junior year) to focus on God's goodness and faithfulness to me. The irony is that in my junior year, when I stop blogging, I had hit a "speed bump" in my spiritual trust (obviously there were many after, which is "shame on me" considering I've seen His faithfulness). That year, I remember my lack of faith--how I sought alternatives to my education situation--I almost transferred into Clemson University. Thankfully, I had not been rash to take matters into my own hands and thought through carefully the pros and cons. In the end, I stayed on in my school through to my graduation. The bonus was that I felt like the more I left my situation to God, the better I did in school. At the end, things worked out better than I had expected.

Before the end of my first semester senior year, I applied to the DVM program at The University of Melbourne (a place I had intended to go before I decided on BJU). There weren't anywhere in the USA I could have applied, due to requirements I failed to meet, which is kind of a complicated story involving credit restrictions disallowing me to take physics. The restriction was one of the components that contributed to the "speed bump". Anyway back to the main point, I did apply to another university in Australia, but really, I had preferred UniMelb. By God's grace I got accepted!

All the excitement of getting accepted happened while my parents, brother and I were travelling around the States. I still smile thinking about the excitement I felt when I received the conditional offer. At that time, I didn't even know that I had been accepted into one of the top 30 Universities in the world. In my junior year I had intended on studying at universities in the US that were no where close to such ranking. I didn't really care too much about the ranking, it's just that it makes what has happened more of a miracle.

Right now, I'm in my second year of vet school and I've just finished my first semester second year. I must say, this year is a really tough year. I don't even know if I passed my exams. But through facing bigger and greater challenges, I've learned that the outcome isn't the most important. The journey, growing and learning and trusting, is worth far more. Ultimately, at the end no matter the outcome, I should be happy as long as God is glorified.

In my weakness 

I see your strength

Though the trials 

You held my hand

You led me from impossible to possible

Beyond reasons my mind can comprehend

My inability does not equate with your ability

In the end, I shall trust in your purpose for me

Isaiah 40:29; Psalms 139:10; Matthew 19:26; Deuteronomy29:29

P.S. 

"When Trials Come" a song by Keith & Kristyn Getty has been an encouragement to me in the difficult times. It's worth checking out. First stanza: 

"When trials come no longer fear

For in the pain our God draws near

To fire a faith worth more than gold

And there His faithfulness is told

And there his faithfulness is told..."

  

LOL this post wasn't suppose to be so serious, but it turned out the way it did after I reminisce about my past. Here is a time line:

• Went home for Jon's wedding during the summer between junior and senior year (2012)
• Graduated from BJU (2013)
• Traveled to Florida--to Disney World
• Traveled back up to Georgia and rented a car
• Parents drove up towards Kentucky--visited the Creation museum and the first KFC store 
• Continue our journey to Wisconsin to visit relatives
• While visiting relatives, had the opportunity to fish at Lake Michigan (caught quite a few salmon and trout)
• Visited Chicago and stayed with Hsin Yen 
• Hsin Yen joins our US tour and we stopped by various places before reaching NY. Some of the places involved Niagra falls, White house, Arlington National Cemetery, National Museum of Natural History and Liberty Bell
• At NY, we watched Annie in Broadway, took a ferry around the city and got to see the Statue of Liberty, went to the top of Rockefeller Center and Empire State Building, visited the American Museum of Natural History and of course we did hang around Time Square at night.
•  I flew back to Malaysia and stayed a couple of months
• Cousin from UK visited
• Went to Australia for 2 week to scout for accommodation 
• Flew back to Australia for school the following year in Feb (2014)
• Warmly welcomed and made proud to be in the DVM program
• First semester was tough due to uncertainties but met some awesome friends and enjoyed my first year.
• Did a lot of farm placements during breaks and learned a lot that year
• Went home for summer (Australian summer: Dec-Feb) had a lot of fun (2015)
• Now back in Australia, done with second year first semester

Recovering the Romanovs

Something fun I did in Bio class.

http://www.dnai.org/d/index.html

Extra background info about DNA, PCR, etc: http://www.dnalc.org/resources/animations/

Back in Korea

Even though I managed to complete many of the projects planned out for this summer, the thought of updating this blog barely came to mind. I'm starting to show signs of neglect. Now I'm back in Korea. Just waiting for my flight which is in about 12 hrs time. Not much to say. Just hoping for a good year ahead. A little worried about the work load, but am trusting God for His help.

The trip to Gunung Tahan was a success. I made a short clip of the mountain range.


Btw I'm typing all this on my new tablet, HTC flyer.

Singapore

I've been too lazy to finish my report on the trip to Vietnam. There were quite a lot of other highlights to mention, but unfortunately indolence got the best of me. Since a picture is said to worth a thousand words, then the pictures I've uploaded on Facebook should be good enough to make up for my laziness.

Today is the forth day since I've been in Singapore. Some highlights from the past few days: visit to the world's first Night Safari, finished playing Call of Duty 4, started playing Battlefield Bad Company 2, woke up at 5 am on Monday and Wednesday to train for Gunung Tahan, and planning to go fishing today.

I have completed some projects for the summer, and I'm still in the process of completing others, so stay tune.

Vietnam

Day 1

There isn’t much to write about the first day. When we arrived, we were delayed at the airport for a long time. By the time we got to our hotel it was already late and after finishing dinner it was already 12am. I guess the only highlight of the day is the delicious bowl of beef noodle soup that I had for dinner.

Day 2

I am currently in the bus typing this. So far it’s been 2 hrs and there is still about 4 hrs to go before our arrival at Da Lat. The bus ride is pretty good. There isn’t a lot of people onboard so I’m occupying 2 seats.

Day 3

Our arrival at the hotel yesterday took about 2hrs more than I expected. In total we were on the road for about 8 hrs. I wasn’t able to update this blog yesterday because I had trouble connecting to the Internet.

Today somehow the Internet works. We started our day visiting two waterfalls. Then we visited the King’s palace and a monastery. We stopped for lunch at the hotel before heading to our next destination—XQ hand embroidery. I really like the handicrafts; unfortunately I can’t show any pictures because photography was prohibited. We ended our tour with a visit to the Valley of Love and a huge statue of Buddha. Here are some pictures. The rest of the pictures will be on facebook.

Cuttlefish seller at Sigon

On the way up to Da Lat

Chang seller

Selling clothes at the market

Crossing the scary Vietnamese road

The only picture I took at the handicraft place

Summary

I’M COMING HOME !!! As I am writing this, I am currently at the Korean airport whiling away the time while I wait for my next flight. I’m just going to give a quick summary of what has been going on. After final exams ended on Wednesday, I went out with some friends who were graduating (Jade, Freda, and Celeste) to a Korean/Chinese fusion restaurant. After gobbling up our food, we then headed off to Frankies Fun Park.

At Frankies, we played a game of Laser Tag. For many of us, playing Laser Tag was our first time. We geared up in suits that kinda look like those found in sci fi movies. And as we approached out base, our suits instantly buzzed and light up to our team color—blue. At that moment, I was kinda pumped up looking at our suits light up. Skipping all the details, I must say that the game was pretty intense and fun. In fact, we had so much fun the first round that we played a second round, which ended with me being the high score player. =D

School finally ended with packing and attending required programs such as Pride and Prejudice, commencement ceremony, and some other programs that I don’t really know the name of. Overall, I must say that it had been a really hectic week. I’m really looking forward to getting home. The thoughts of seeing familiar faces, playing with my pets, lying on my own bed, and eating food that gives a sense of home, just makes me ecstatic. =) I hope to be more faithful in updating this blog during the summer. I have quite a few plans lined up.