The End and Whatnot

안녕하세요!

I can't believe it, but finals are almost here. Eep! Time flew this semester. Part of what made it go by so quickly for me was looking forward to Bible study every week (or, as we were recently dubbed, the Exploring Christianity Club). No matter how hard classes & homework were, I just knew that if I could make it to Thursday evening, the worst was over.

It was so great just to be able to fellowship with other believers, & have great dialogue with people of other faiths too. My spirit was refreshed & built up each time we met together. And we were able to develop a relationship with the MSA (Muslim Student Association) during the latter part of this semester, as well. God has truly blessed us in everything that He's allowed us to do - from the opportunities He's given to us to the relationships we've been able to build. It has just been amazing to watch God work this school year.

It all began last semester, a few weeks into the new school year. A group of MC students from a large church in the area decided to start a Bible study at the Germantown campus of the college. Unbeknowst to me at the time, one of the girls in my aerobics class, Libby, was a member of this founding group. I happened to run into her one cool October evening, & as we talked, I found out that she went to the same church as one of my best friends, & she was about to go to a meeting about planning a Bible study on campus. She offered to let me join them, & since I had been looking for a group of believers to meet with, I tagged along.

A little group of us crammed around a table on the bottom level of the High Tech building, discussing what books of the Bible we should read, how to structure the study, activities to plan, the time & duration of the study, people to invite, & nitty gritties like food & the budget. I sat wide eyed & amazed, drinking it all in & thanking God for the "coincidence" of seeing Libby. I took notes furiously, eager to tell my friend Lisa about it. I texted her that evening, ecstatic at the prospects.

Within the very next weeks, we had our first meeting in the cafeteria. Surrounding 3 small tables pushed together, we apprehensively introduced ourselves over warm slices of pizza. Travis, our fearless leader, passed out worksheets he'd designed for the group, & with that, we dug into the Word. I could feel God moving amongst us, & instantly felt a connection to those surrounding me. Week after week, we continued to meet, Bibles in one hand & pizza in the other, full of joy at sharpening one another & seeing the Spirit work. We grew in number, sometimes having to add a 5th table to keep everybody together.

Enveloped in the chaos that is the campus source of foodstuffs, we prayed, talked, & laughed together. We grew closer as the weeks, months flew by. I even began to feel comfortable sharing my heart with my fellow sojourners. Just as we prayed before every session, God opened our hearts & minds to see new things in His word. Passages that we'd read over & over became new again. We all began asking questions that had never before arisen in our minds, & God was faithful to showing us the answers.

I was in awe. I got a thrill every time I thought about Thursdays, & I became more eager to stay in the word during the week. It felt as though Christ was refreshing me again & again, constantly making my spirit anew. Surely, I thought, this is how the early believers felt! Those verses in Acts never seemed more real to me.

Now. Fast forward to today. 2 May - the last meeting of our group until the fall semester begins in August. I was a bit sad when Mike & Travis told me that today was the end...for now. There seemed to be a restlesness in everybody, which might be why we didn't focus as much on Ephesians 4 as we should have. How would we end the semester? I would soon have my answer.

After Matt prayed us out, Travis & Matthias ran to the computer in the room to start a little...karaoke! We laughed & shouted (& danced) our way through the Cupid Shuffle, a lil of the ChaCha Slide, Bopeep (quite possibly my new favorite Kpop song), Dirty Laundry, & others. Matt & Matthias, ever the ones to hide talents, did a little freestyling for us, & Travis sang us his rendition of...a song which I can't remember the title of. It was a memorable way to close out the year, methinks. And it excites me thinking of what God will do next semester, too!

Here is some footage of the hilarity :-)

Annnd video! Mwahaha.

I'm gonna miss these guys *sniffles*

안녕!

Hullo! Primero parte :-D

안녕하세요 (Annyeonghaseyo = hello), curlies!

I know that it's been an eternity since I last posted, but I had good reason for it this time - school. I'm taking 15 credits this semester again, and I really wanted to focus on classes. So, I didn't just take a blog break, but a break from most social media in general. I feel bad for leaving y'all in the dark, though *sniffles* :-( Hopefully a few updates about everything will make up for it. Sooo, here we go!

1. Universidad (College/University): MUCH better this semester! By God's grace, I'm able to really buckle down and get things done this term. I know that God is a huge part of that, just because I was having emotional issues last semester. Every day hasn't been easy, and I have been tempted to skip classes some days, but I realised how disrespectful that is - especially since my classes are being paid for by my school. So I'm really trying to be more diligent this semester. 

Also, Korean is going really well! It makes Spanish seem like a walk in the park, but I LOVE Korean! It's so different, and yet makes perfect sense to me. King Sejong (credited with inventing hangul, the Korean writing system) and his advisors were geniuses! The entire alphabet was created based on nature and the structure of a person's throat and vocal organs. It's amazing to me that just looking at a word tells you how to pronounce it! It's so much simpler and more logical to me than English. Another cool thing about Korean is that all words are built from Consonant + Vowel (always in that order!) syllable blocks, so translating names is a bit easier. 

For instance, my first name in English is: KIM-ber-lee. Korean doesn't have the strongly emphasised "-er" that I have in my second syllable. But in Korean, my name is written as this: 킴벌리 and pronounced as KEEM-bul-lee. 

The force is still on that first syllable, because the first consonant (ㅋ) is an aspirated (spoken with air) consonant and commonly used for loanwords and non-Korean words/names. The "b" consonant (ㅂ) has a slight "p" sound to it, but it's softened by the previous syllable.  Also, the first two syllables have this nifty thing going on called Patchim (or what my sunsengnim [선생님] calls C-star). Patchim is when you add another consonant (or 2) to the original Consonant + Vowel block. It can change the pronunciation of that consonant - like in the middle syllable of my Korean name. The "ㄹ" has a slight rolling "r" sound (think like the double "r" in correr [Spanish]). As patchim, though, the "ㄹ" changes to an "l" sound. The "ㄹ" would have that rolling "r" in the last syllable ("ree"), but since there's another "ㄹ" right before it, the first one makes the second one take on it's "l" sound.

Also, in the word 선생님, there's patchim in every syllable. The "ㄴ" and "ㅁ" don't have sound changes, but the "ㅇ" does. Originally, "ㅇ" is a silent consonant (needed for words that start with vowel sounds but that need a sort of consonant placeholder), but with patchim, the silence is broken and "ㅇ" is pronounced as "ng" (like the "ng" in "ing"). Pretty cool, huh? Okay, going out of nerd mode...

2. Spiritual Health: I'm keeping on keeping on. I'm still in the same life group (small group/Sunday school) at my church, and we're supposed to be starting a new series in a couple of weeks. I guess I'm excited for it, but for a while now, I've been very dissatisfied with my church. Before y'all run away and condemn me for blaspheming Christ, please believe that my dissatisfaction is biblical, and not just nitpicky things like the music. I don't want to go on what seems like a whiny rant about it, but suffice it to say that I don't feel like I'm growing spiritually at the church I'm currently attending with my family. It's bothered me for quite a long time now (I think I started noticing around 11th or 12th grade), and I've continued going only because I'm on a ministry team with my sister and I can't just abandon them. Once I fulfill my obligations with them, however, I'll be praying about visiting other congregations. My personal devotions have been erratic (what's new? :-/), but the Holy Spirit is quick to remind me when I forget. Not a pleasant feeling, but needed, nonetheless.

3. Physical Health: I must say that this took a turn for the better! I'm taking nutrition this semester, and at first I was a tad skeptical. My professor assigned us to do a personal risk assessment; we had to interview our parents about their health, their siblings' health, their parents' health, and their parents' siblings' health. We also had to compose a family tree showing the birth and death of everybody (including ourselves and our siblings), and note any nutrition-related diseases that could've been prevented. I always "knew" that both sides of my family had health issues, but this assignment made it real to me. 

After interviewing my parents, I stared numbly at my paper as I saw that relative after relative suffered from Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), obesity/overweight and cancer. My dad, paternal uncle, paternal great uncle, maternal grandmother (deceased), maternal grandfather, maternal uncle, and maternal great aunts and uncles all have Diabetes. They also all have hypertension! Nearly everybody on my mom's side is obese or overweight, as am I. I inherited gallbladder disease from my maternal grandmother. It was just disease after disease, and I felt so overwhelmed! I wanted to cry. I was at a heightened risk for everything because it was so prevalent in my family! I already have gallbladder disease and obesity, but the one thing that freaks me out is Diabetes. After learning even more about (I picked up a lot from my dad) it during our carbohydrates chapter, I felt numb on the inside. My dad was slowly killing himself from the inside out with his horrible diet, and he didn't seem to care! He could literally keel over any day with the way he eats. It's only by God's grace that he's still alive (just like the rest of us, though, so...). He's already had a scare with clogged arteries a few years back; God provided a miracle then. But the way in which my Daddy doesn't seem to take care of his body really scared me. Death never seemed so close or mortality so real. 

I decided then that I couldn't let that happen to myself. I finally read that last chunk of Eat to Live, and for the past few weeks, I've been eating raw vegan. Before you think I've gone off my rocker, it's actually been a great way for me to eat! My normal, incredibly nauseating post-nasal drip has all but vanished. My sniffles are gone. My stomach is no longer bloated. My gallbladder no longer aches trying to provide bile for foods I had no business eating. I feel more energetic than I have in a couple of years, and my skin looks healthier, too. Typically, I have smoothies for breakfast, a salad with raw crunchy veggies for lunch, and a salad and cooked veggies for dinner (huge, huge, huge salads - about 1/2 pound of lettuce per meal). It's amazing! It's not easy, and I have succumbed to temptation several times, but I'm continuing on. I have to do this not just to look good, but to make sure that I'm taking care of the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. To put it frankly, I was being (and still am sometimes) a glutton and acting foolish about my health. It was unwise to treat my body in such a manner. But better late than never, right? I'd rather change my habits before a crisis hits my body.

I'll definitely be updating you guys with my progress! I'm a work in progress, but I can't ever go back to eating the way I was. It's too risky.

Y'all's eyes have taken enough of a hit this AM, haven't they? I thought so lol. Tomorrow I shall continue, dahlings! I'll be updating y'all about the hurr - what's been going on and where I'm thinking of going next. Spoiler alert: my CG days might be over for good *cue Twilight Zone music* Lmbo!

Anywho, how have y'all been? I've missed you (even those that don't comment; every view is greatly appreciated)! I tried to keep up with blogs, and I have to say that Dee, you and AuCurls have done amazing jobs with TC, as usual. Such pretty coils! Raven, your articles and advice are as fascinating and insightful as usual :-) GoldenBlaze, your product reviews have me drooling over here! And Valerie from Curls2Envy - great devos as always, and drop dead gawjus hurr of late! What's in those products of yours? Lol.

안녕! (Annyeong! = Adios/Ciao/Aloha/Bye)

Kimmie's Cocina: Easy Black Bean Dip + "Homemade" Tortilla Chips

Need a yummy, healthy snack that doesn't cost a fortune and is quick to make? Here are two great ones I found on the magic YouTube. I had to bring something to a get together with my friends, but I was low on funds. A Google search brought me to these easy, delicious recipes. Tweak to your liking :-D

Black Bean Dip

Ingredients (Original recipe)

1 can (15-16 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup salsa
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Here's the video, chicas :-)

Isn't it easy? We didn't have any cilantro or lime juice, nor was there enough salsa in our jar leftover to have the proper amount. So I increased the cumin to a full teaspoon to add more flavor. Then, I poured our 1/8 cup of salsa in, and finished off the rest of the needed amount of salsa with mushroom pasta sauce for the flavor (it had the same type of tomato base with similar spices) and hots for texture and a weensy bit of kick.

I blended it for about a minute, had my brother taste it (he has a keen sense of taste for spices and whatnot) to get a second opinion, and loved it!

Nothing dovetails a great black bean dip better than tortilla chips. But I couldn't run to the store to buy a bag. So off to Google I went, and on the magic YT popped up this super simple recipe for making "homemade" tortilla chips:

Now they technically aren't homemade, but it's close, right? Lol. I used flour tortillas (the Pinata brand, but any kind will do) because we don't use the corn variety, and I drizzled some EVOO on them before baking in lieu of vegetable oil. She doesn't mention how long to put them in the oven (which is why her video has so many dislikes methinks ), but just check on them every couple of minutes until they look crispy and golden brown (13-14 minutes for me without the oven being fully preheated).

Bon appetit! Let me know if you try these and if you liked them :-D


P.S. Besides being yummy, both of these recipes are vegetarian and vegan friendly, and full of protein :-)

P.P.S. Here are some photos of how mine turned out.

Eh...left mine in a bit too long :-/ 13-14 minutes would've been good.

That to die for bean dip...the hots gave it a nice kick.

Better together - nom nom nom nom :-D 

What are some of your favorite recipes to make? Dish the deets (no pun intended)!