So... Husband Got a Perfect Score on the GRE

YEAH, wow! We were stunned too. After weeks of sleep-deprivation, eating take-out and keeping each other awake for late night study sessions (slap on the forehead there) , Chris finally took the GRE. The GRE is the graduate school entrance examination. It is very difficult because all the test takers are competing with other top-college graduates heading to advanced degrees. In other words, it is HARD!

Husband had taken the GRE a few weeks earlier and done very well, in fact, he had scored in the 90-99 percentile on both the reading and math sections. Those scores are fantastic- but he had a goal to do even better. And... he did.

I was driving to pick him up from the nearby testing center when my phone began to ring... I put the phone to my hear and barely had time to ask "hello?" before Chris mumbled something similar to... "Lu, I got a perfect score..?!". I screamed into the phone, pulled into the testing center parking lot, ran out of the car and threw my arms around him in unapologetic exhilaration. It was the best news I could have ever have expected to hear.

This experience doesn't mean the end of tough grad school applications, but it does represent a monumental, ginormous turning point! ..which is why we went and ate ice cream for dinner afterwards and scrapped homework for the rest of the night.

Celebrations are important because working hard requires rewards, however small and insignificant they may be. As long as something is a reward to you, it must be indulged in, it must have time set aside for it. Life is too short to be without spurts of jumping-up-and-down in the car and eating utterly outrageous amounts of ice cream... just because we can.

As you power through life and work toward your dreams with all your might, I hope you find something to celebrate in the next little while! Happy living and enjoying!

A Conference of Miracles

So many miraculous things happened this weekend. Sometimes, life is hard and you need to keep working and hoping and waiting for good things to come... But, other times, the good things just don't stop coming! During those times, you feel so loved and happy and blessed. During those times, you count your extra blessings and feel empowered and peaceful. These little floods of blessings leave you with thoughts filled with green pastures, thoughts washed of previous worries and discouragement. Seasons of miracles are beautiful and precious... and we experienced a multitude of miracles this weekend.



I'll share just a few here...

This weekend, Chris' mission president (His leader when he was a missionary in Ukraine) came into town for conference weekend. Due to remarkable circumstances, we were able to go to dinner with him and discuss life and church-work. Chris and I felt inspired and uplifted. We listened to his many stories, felt inspiration as to how to improve our lives and ultimately walked away feeling excited and eager for the future. Further, Chris' mission president had never been to Cafe Rio before, so we got to take him for the first time!

We also had tickets to Saturday morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference. In our church, we have the opportunity to listen to semi-annual meetings broadcast from Salt Lake. Leaders from all over the world gather and we hear counsel from men and women who invite us to come unto Christ. It is the largest single gathering throughout the world, broadcast to almost every country and city on each continent. There is truly this magnificent feeling of enjoying the "fellowship of the saints"... over 14 million to be exact.

As we found our seats close to the front of the conference center, I saw someone running at me through the flood of people. She came closer and closer until I realized who it was!? It was one of my dear Taiwanese companions who had come across the Pacific Ocean to be in the US. !!!!! Shock and joy flooded through me as she ran to me and threw her arms around me. We hadn't seen each other for more than a year and I hadn't known when I would see her again. We both just held each other as one or two tears poured from the corners of our eyes. I was so happy - we loved each other and were such dear friends. It was an incredible miracle.



  After the first session of Conference, we descended below temple square to meet with my aunt and uncle in the church parking garage. There were many hugs and happy, loving words. I love my family. My cousins joined us as well known church leaders walked by and waved to us. We went upstairs and had some lunch in my uncle's office - chatting and laughing and soaking up each other's company. Finally it was time to go.

As Chris and I walked toward our car, someone pulled over to the side of the road. The window was rolled down and a hand reached out of the car towards us. In the hand, two Conference tickets flapped in the wind. So... we got into the next session of conference! Miracle!

We returned to the Conference Center and were lucky enough to encounter two of our friend (Rachel and Lucas) as they waited in line! We chatted and entered together, miraculously squeezing into some of the last available seats. It was perfect.



Later that night, surrounded by more cousins and eating ice cream for dessert, Chris and I caught each other's eyes across the room. Chris's face suddenly  lit up in the most incandescent, happy (handsome) smile and I knew exactly what he was thinking... Is this real life? Did we deserve this weekend of miracles? How can we be so happy?!

We know that life isn't a continual season of miracles. Hard times will come, blessings may be harder to identify.. but we all can know and appreciate that a loving God does sometimes give us seasons of miracles. They are little and precious gifts that we can unwrap and put on the shelf of our life... so we never, never forget Him and his love for us.