Forgot-Me-Not, O'Lord

This month has two things that we can looking forward to it. Actually, one of them had arrived last night. About one week ago, I convinced one of my visiting teacher to come with us to RS Broadcast night at Stake Center. Yahoo, I was able to pick her up, sit with us for dinner, sit with us to watch television (RS Broadcast), and rode with us until I drop her off. I hope she knows that she was not forgotten. And I hope she DID enjoy the event with us. I really enjoyed all four wonderful speakers from the RS Broadcast. All of the speakers have hit the right messages for us. I knew they have been prayed, pondered, and studied what they should give a talk to us. And I knew that they were inspired to give us the specific messages.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a sweet messages to us with gentle and so much love for us, http://lds.org/pages/general-rs-meeting-2011?lang=eng

I'm grateful for having gospel in my life and knowing the gospel is truly blessing from the Lord. I'm so happy that I had an opportunity to go the event and listen the RS Broadcast. Now I'm looking forward for General Conference and what the messages we need to listen and prepare us for next six months. My goal is to improve myself through listen and study the General Conference for next six months. Oh how wonderful message it can lift the spirit! I hope it will continue for many days ahead of me. I hope you all enjoyed the RS Broadcast as well.

New Ward

Ya'll know that I moved to Columbia, around 40 minutes south from where I used to live, Owings Mills. Annie bought a Condo last June. Living in a Condo was wonderful blessing than living in an apartment. No more loud kids, no more crowd cars, no more loud neighbors, NO MORE DOGS BARKING!!!, and many more. This place have trees around us. It was beautiful sight to look at while sitting on the couch in the living room. 


Okay, enough with that. We ended up transferred different ward from Hampstead Ward to Columbia 2nd Ward. I checked the LDS website and put the new address, it assigned us to Columbia 2nd. Soon after, I learned that ward have two deaf people. I was wondering who would it be. Maybe it will be good for me. 


Annie and I went to Stake conference and I ended up met two deaf people. One deaf woman with her husband and the kids. Other single deaf man. My heart dropped when I saw that deaf man because I knew him and I did not want to be near to him. (He fell in love with me and put a big pressure on me to say yes to go out with him. He is ..umm.. TOO OLD for me!) Poor guy, I had to blunt him that I will not go out with him. He got upset and commanded me to date with him because it's proper way. Guys, I do not want to go far with this. Now you get some idea why I do not want to be near with him. 


My heart sinks because I will have to face that deaf guy after we transfer to this ward. Annie and I got home and do whatever our things. I was thinking about the new ward. I really want to feel happy and able to focus on the spirit. I wanted to know what time the ward starts and which building we will go to. I checked the website again. I put our new address on the LDS website. I saw it gave us different information. I was puzzled--it said Columbia 1st. I can't believe this. I had to rub my eyes to make sure my eyes do not trick me. Yup, it did say Columbia 1st. 


I had to told Annie that we are in Columbia 1st, NOT Columbia 2nd. I do not know what happened but I was so happy to know that I do not have to handle that poor man. In fact, my worries were not over yet. I was worried to meet people in the new ward. 


I have been attending this new ward since June and I knew Heavenly Father lead us to this ward. Let me tell you why. Annie told RS presidency not to put us together as Visiting Teacher companion because Annie want me to make new friends without depend on Annie for communication. (Blah) Guess what? I ended up got a companion sister who can sign! The wonderful part was that we were assigned to visit three sisters. Actually, one sister. (Long story, different topic) That sister we visited know some sign language! She wanted to learn sign language! 


Awesome part that one of sister who visit me, she can sign as well! She does not sign very well but wanted to improved her signing language skills! I haven't met her companion yet but she said she wanted to learn as well. Wow, I felt I was truly blessed to be in this new ward. 


It wasn't over yet! Annie, I, and RS Presidency were discussing and I offered to give sign language classes for the ward to learn so they can communicate with me. They liked that idea. RS President talked with Bishop. Bishop approved and asked me if I can teach other wards as well. Yikes! Too much! I told him I will start our ward first and see how it went then we will work on it. 


Now I'm nervous because this Thursday I will start to teach sign language class to my ward. Yesterday the bishopric made an announcement about sign language class in the sacrament meeting! I think I can feel my sweating is about to start to come out of my skins. Oh yeah, I went in the chapel and wait for the meeting to start. There were two cute young women were exciting to see me and wave to me. They wanted to take sign language class. Well, I guess I will see them this Thursday. 

So far, those people--I LOVE THEM! They were so nice and friendly. I was happy to be in this new ward and I was relief to know that I'll be okay for several years. 

Chicken or Egg?

I couldn't believe a question "which comes first, chicken or egg" still around even brought it up in Sunday School this morning. I guess I had to share what is going on inside of my brain. I have been thinking of the question. At first I thought: Well, if the egg comes first, then who would sit on the egg to warm it while embryo developing into a chick? But it lead me to think different than a silly thought. Do Heavenly Father put Adam on the earth as a newborn? Well, it need a mother to give a baby. But it didn't make sense because a person need to give a born to a mother as well. Okay, the thinking cap didn't work.

I looked up the scripture and it has the answer for this question. 

Gensis 1:20-22

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Look at verse 22, God blessed them and told them to "be fruitful, and multiply". It's not for Adam, It's for birds and fish. It applied to animals as well. Heavenly Father put them as adult and they obey God and start to product babies. 

So chicken comes first! That's my opinion for the silly question....

Updated

I'm fine. Nothing exciting to see Hurricane Irene. I was sleeping through it. (We had some strong windy before I went bed. It have been continuing for several hours and it's worthless to wait for it to pass us.) So the results was that we had strong winds, rain LOTS, and lots of broken branches and leaves. That's all what I saw around of the house. It  was enough to cancelled the church service yesterday. Over a million did not have powers at their homes. I was lucky one who still have powers. Because some of our (Annie and Katie) friends did not have their powers even they lived close to us. I guess it was depend on which line when the tree fell on it.

Yesterday my visiting teacher companion and I went to visit two sisters. I saw three threes fell on the floor. LOTS of broken branches and leaves all over the streets. Ohh, I should be thankful to miss us. One of my sisters said their cable, phone line, and television were out because one of their tree fell and cut off the line. Oh boy! I'm thankful for no damage or anything break around our house.  Oh yeah, we had a leak in our house. That will need to be fixed before another rain or snow in the future. Bummer for that one.

Interesting, Annie told me that Monday was cancelled and she don't have to go work. Because 27 schools did not have powers. My Towson University did not have powers but recently got powers back. I guess it's time for me to go back to work this morning. Bummer. Lucky for Annie.

Well, nothing exciting share with you guys compared to Cindy's experiences or Missy's experiences.  :D

So the news is that I'm ALIVE and FINE!

Natural Disasters

Crazy! I have been through ups and downs recently. I hope everything will calm down soon. So I'm sure everyone know about the hurricane Irene. Well, it's on way to us.  I don't think it will hit us so hard because it's more likely hit the beaches more than the land. Still we never know how much it will affect us.

There are so many people preparing for the hurricane such as getting food, fill up gas for cars, have enough water for three days, flashlight, candles, etc. We will fill up water in our tubs before night. People talking around here that we might lose powers. It's driving me nuts but it's good to know what to prepare for natural disasters. It won't be the same as Cindy had a few months ago.

Last Tuesday we had an earthquake. Yes, an earthquake in Maryland. Well, it starts in VA but it spread north because it was very deep ones. It was very interesting to see people's reaction about the earthquake. I was surprised so many people were clueless what to do during the earthquake. Serious, lot...LOT of people---It was their first experience with earthquake.

I remember when I was young, my school had two drills. One for fire drill and other drill was for earthquake. I know what I should do during the earthquake because of those drills. On that day, at around 1:52pm, I was doing laundry. I closed the door and was going to the living room. I saw a box sitting on the floor was shaking. Not really shaking, but almost like waves but small fast waves. I was unsure if my eyes were tricking me. I saw the plants shaking. I realized it was an earthquake. I ran to the door stand near outside to the patio. (Duh, I should run outside.) Oh well, during the earthquake. I can see the sun ray reflected on the patio--it looked like the sun was also shaking but it wasn't really. It was strange to think about it.

Oh my, guess what? I don't think the drills has sinked in my guts yet as it sinked in my memories. I was standing, waiting, and looking around to make sure nothing serious. I looked at the door--OH UH. I made an idiot choice. I stood middle of the glass sliding doors! GLASS DOOR! WHAT?!! What earth am I doing here!! But at that time, the earthquake finally calmed down. Rolling eyes at myself for picking the stupidest place for safe.

Now I guess we are waiting for the hurricane Irene to come and visit us tomorrow. It says Irene might come between 2am to 8am. Let's see what Irene can do for us.

Eh?

Yesterday morning I was getting ready for church. I saw Annie put mascara on her eyelashes. She looked pretty, I want one too! So I put mascara on my eyelashes, but somehow my bottom lashes got stuck together. I need Annie's advice how to solve the problem, so I called for her. I haven't hear from Annie yet and I have decided to figure it out by myself. I gave up and went downstairs to have a breakfast.

I went to the kitchen and Annie was there. Annie said, "You called for me, I went to the bottom of the stairs. You weren't there. I called but nothing response from you. I waited for awhile."

I was puzzled because I called and hear nothing from Annie. Whoops! I realized I left my cochlear implants downstairs. Eh, that's why I couldn't hear Annie's calling me from the bottom of the stairs. I thought I had 'em on my head.

Sweet Good-bye

I had the opportunity to spend time with my parents, two sisters, and their kids for almost two weeks. It was fun even though I had to escape for a break. (Hiding in parents' bedroom.) The house was full of crazy (yelling, screaming, crying, happy, talking, exciting, etc--you can imagine the young kids would do..). I was sad to know that it was time for me to go back to my real world that including a job. My mom took me to Fresno airport and she came in with me to say good-bye. We hugged--while hugging, mom whispered in my ear saying, "I love you".  There was no way to resist not to smile. I whispered back in her ear, "I love you, too."

Mom quick broke the hug and asked me if I heard that. My face showed a smile and nodded that I did heard her whisper saying, I love you. 

Sniffing.. I LOVE YOU MOMMMY! 

I got....

Well, it's not really permanent job yet but the person who hired me said it might become permanent if I did a good job with the position. I do not know when it will become permanent or will I keep the position for sure. At least I have a full-time job for ten months with benefits, an office, a computer, not great salary to start with but it's something to support myself for now, and happy to know that I'm alive for ten months.

It's sort of funny how I got a full-time job. And it's sort of long story. I'll make a long story short for you.

I'll create names so you wouldn't get lost in this long short story.

Bossest: Sabrina
Bosser: Judi
Boss: Ben

I applied a full-time position at University and waited for Judi, the bosser, to tell me the date for interview. About two or three weeks ago, Judi told me that I wasn't invited for an interview because they found better. I was disappointed because I was qualified for this position but I assumed the person must have PhD or something "wow" Judi and Ben.

Judi offered me to teach Tuesdays and Thursdays morning (two more classes, right now I have two night classes). I had to turn down the offer because the pay wasn't great and what if I got a job offer and would not able to work full-time because of that. So night classes would be considered to be extra $$ for me if I got another job offer.

So I applied another position at high school to teach American Sign Language (ASL) as foreign language. I was very impressed with their program. I felt that their program was organized and much better than the University. I thought maybe that one would be better for me. And much less commute! University would be 40 minutes without traffic.

I had to go through pain of screening, first interview, etc. for high school. During the screening I hit the score what they wanted from me, but I learned that high school principal does not want to hire any deaf teacher. She thinks deaf are not able to handle high school students because of communication. She does not want to hire interpreter because they will have to pay for it. AND ASL teacher, she is hearing, was going to retire (that's why the position was open) and told the principal that deaf cannot teach ASL classes. Principal believed her.

The worse part that the principal said if they (HR, etc) want to hire a deaf teacher, she might drop the ASL program. OHHHH! (Rolling eyes)

So during the screening, I met her and she said nothing to me. NOTHING! Serious, she just ignored me. The person who screened me was so embarrassed and explained to me what happened. Uh oh. Somehow I wanted to show them that I can teach and do not need interpreter for my ASL classes. I never need one for eleven years! I was qualified for first interview AND invited for second interview. Both turned out GREAT! Now I had to wait for third and final interview--that one will have to interview with THAT school principal.

I have been waiting for that interview more than two months. I have emailed and asked any idea.. The HR person said they have to find a place for ALL current teachers to make sure they have a job before they hire new teachers. Oh boy, they are STILL working on it. Blame on Union. :S

I even told one elementary school that I'm interested for a position to take one teacher's position. So far I applied three jobs. I was about to apply some more jobs.

Last Thursday late afternoon, I got an email from Sabrina, Bossest, and asked me if I'm interested full-time job but it will be a temporary visiting position for two semesters. Sabrina hopes they can renew it for a few years then make it permanent. So that sounds good, they will pay me little better than adjunct pay. But the position will require more work than just teach ASL classes. I will have to attend the meetings (blah), advise undergraduate students, assist with helping new ASL 1 instructors, etc.. AND I'll have an office and computer to keep myself busy.

Sabrina also said I'll teach four ASL classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays morning. (Umm that's what Judi offered me before...) Not bad. But Sabrina wanted to know the answer---now.. I had hard time to make a decision if I really want that job or not. It is so far to drive and not great pay but better than adjunct. Yikes Yikes Yikes! The next day, I knew the offer was best one so I accepted the offer. Now I'll start my full-time job starting this fall. It's a bit overwhelming because I will need to learn many things new to prepare myself to advise undergraduate students, etc. But same time I'm excited to improve my skills through serve the students, staff, and myself. :D

Well, I made it long story short. I now have a full-time job for ten months and hopefully everything will work out with staff. That one I haven't share the juices with you. Juices are unimportant, but the important is I HAVE A JOB!  Heehee.