DIY: RECAP

The DIY project was an amazing experience for me. Throughout the process in seeking to bring an art movement (or giving back through art) to my church, I have learned a lot about myself. Patience and time management were two things that really shaped me. I started off this project doing decorations and painting a mural but as time crawled towards AP testing and SATs, I began to slack off a bit. Also, seeing that I was busy, my mentors gave me a long break, which lasted a month, until I had to pitch my final presentation.

During my long break, I began researching and preparing for an upcoming project that I plan on taking over the summer. The first part of the project involves decorations for the Vacation Bible School for my church. That means decorating my church according to the theme of VBS, which thankfully, is Pandamania. This involves a lot of butcher paper and a lot of plants. Drawing and painting pandas, a whole lot of them, is easy but plants and the such would cost money. So to save money, I plan on announcing a donation of plants for VBS. Anyone who has unwanted house plants or any plants can bring it to the church and we can make it forest-like. Since VBS starts in the late July- beginning of August, that means I should start decorating the first week of July until the week before VBS, two to three days a week, 4-5 hours each of those days. I'm sure that I won't be taking this task by myself, I'll have peers to help me out.

The second part of my continued DIY project is to finish a second mural for the main children's ministry room. They very hard part of this is finding a specific theme/verse because a mural is going to be there for a long time, until someone paints over it in the future. When I started on my second mural it wasn't as pretty as I had planned, even though it was just a bit. There was a pain shortage, I wasn't feeling well; it was just the wrong day to do it. So as summer is laid out before me, I plan on painting slowly and patiently as well as whole-heartedly on this second mural to make it the best mural ever. This means a lot of planning and a lot of patience this summer. Just as long as I give it my my best shot and stay positive throughout I will work and give it my all because seeing the children happy makes me extremely happy as well.

DIY Week 7: Starting on Mural 2

On Friday, instead of going to the Wild West Dance at my school, I decided to put in an hour and a half of my time to start with my second mural. I did more measuring and calculating than painting because this wall is much longer then the previous one I had worked on. Here's what the wall looks like:

The main verse for this wall would be:

Well I did start on the first three words of the verse I picked out, however I was interrupted by the director of the children's ministry leader. She texted me, asking me to meet with her to remind her and show her what I was going to paint as my imagery going along with the verse. So here's what I got done:

Just an outline, not too bad, but I do know it's going to turn out great. 

DIY Week 6: Planning and Peparations

For my next mural I plan on painting a group of people staring off into the sunset and above, in white letters, write a memory verse having to do with worship. This will take place in the main children's ministry room. Here's what it kind of looks like, not exactly what I'm aiming for, but the sense of it.

For me, the sky will be more of purple, red, and pink tints. The people will be black. I've spend the past week looking for the perfect bible verse to go along with the theme I've been told to do, worship. I've narrowed it down to five the first two days, which included:

1) "Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King, sing praises." Psalms 47:6 

2) "Praise the Lord. How good is it to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!" -Psalms 147:1

3) "I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praises to my God as long as I live." Psalms 146:2

4) "You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely." Psalms 59: 17

5) "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name along is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens." Psalms 148:13 

The main reason why the main children's ministry room wants a worship theme is because that is where the children's ministry gathers to worship. I would stop by a few times to help out and sing with them. It's very fun and all but looking around all I see are aqua blue walls with some random posters on them. When I discussed my mural project as my DIY project for English, the children's ministry leader automatically requested that I paint one of the walls in the children's ministry room and focus on the theme of worship. 

When I was young, the walls of that room had an under the sea theme, however, now that many years have gone by, the walls have been repainted and are plain as ever. I want to bring some color and excitement into that room. I'm hoping that through what I'm doing, I'm helping the kids in there feel more when they're singing or studying. Personally, murals and art really helps me go all out and turns on the creative bulb in my head and I hope it does the same for the little kids. 

I will be painting this week on April 4th, and I plan on painting for 4-8 hours, more than I have chosen to commit per week, which is 2-3 hours. This is because I'm on spring break. And we'll see how the hours work out. 

DIY Week 5: Finishing up Mural #1

Since I was busy working at the Culture Fair on Friday, I committed four hours of my Saturday evening to finish up, from 3pm-7:30pm. I don't think yesterday's work was as hard as the week before, since all I really had to do was paint in the empty spaces in between and add more details. Here was what I accomplished the week before:

And here is my finished mural:

It may not be the greatest mural of all; however, since I put over 100% effort into this along with blood, sweat, and tears, I'm very proud of myself and I loved my first experience. My biggest mistakes was the verse, which as you can see, goes up and down and all over the place, aha. 

With my first experience I learned to be more patient and that I need to plan ahead when or before I paint the memory verse over the picture. Next time I'll wait for the paint to dry first, before adding in the memory verse.Or I can just wait another week.

For my upcoming mural, I plan on painting a group of people standing in the sunset, holding each others hands up. The theme for this mural will be worship and I'll be spending some time during the week looking for the perfect theme verse. This mural will most likely be painted in the main children's ministry room.On the other hand, if my plan don't come into play, I'll work on a mural of Abraham and Issac and include  a memory verse about faith.

I've also decided to lower my working hours from 3 hours to 2 and a half hours since it's hard for me to commit so much with homework and other ongoing activities. Along with this, I don't feel safe working alone for so long. I want to work while the sun is still up and when there is more people around. 

DIY Week 2-4

My DIY for week 2-3 was delayed since I wasn't able to contact the children's ministry director and talk to her about my plans for the children's ministry room. I was finally able to talk to her last Sunday, March 10, about my plans and she told me that I can do whatever I want, just as long as it fits with the biblical themes and that all the supplies would be made available for me. I believe that there are about 5 rooms to paint, 2 walls each room.

So with this great news and things settled down, I decided that I would work on my DIY project every Friday for three hours, usually from 5pm-8pm, excluding the time to prepare all the materials and clean up. I started painting in one of the children's ministry rooms on the Ides of March, Friday March 15. This room is for the toddlers-preschool boys. For this room I decided to paint David and Goliath and use the bible verse from Phillipians 4:13, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

The wall was a baby blue. I first sketched out my drawing using a brown marker. Then I outlined everything with black paint. Next, I started mixing all the other colors and started painting as much as I could with the time I had left. For my first experience, what I finished in three hours worth wasn't too bad, however I know that I could have done better. Whatever happens, I shall fix any mistakes or flaws this Friday.

For my first cartoony mural experience, this wasn't so bad. Since it was my first time and I was flying solo, I personally thought that I did a really good job, except on David's face... A pat on the back for me haha. I look forward to this Friday and I really hope that I can finish up the whole wall so that the next week I can get started on the next wall.

Some negatives to this was how scary and lonely it is to be painting by myself. The room I was pairing in is like the portals at school, a little far from the church and main children's ministry room. Also that room is super stuffy, mainly because I did not open the windows since I was scared that someone might pop by and give me more than just a little scare. Regarding paint supplies, the majority of paint bottles were empty so I'm hoping that I'll have a day where I can just sit down and sort out all the paint. I need to calculate out how much paint I have and how long it's going to last me so I can notify Lana and then someone could grab me some more paint or I could just go do it myself.   

DIY Week 1: Midway Valentines

I have been involved in the church's youth group IMPACT for three years. Although the first two years I was a slacker, I came back strong and spirited, ready to work with my leaders to improve the group. My goal is to spread influence and bring more art into the children's ministry as well as for IMPACT.

Art. Art is what spreads ideas and pretty much shapes us into what we are. For my DIY project, I will be using art to express and tell stories to the people around. Every art project has the purpose of reflecting on the Bible and its stories and ideas.  It will vary from decorating, posters, and a mural in the children's ministry room.

Throughout the process, my mentors will be my mom and some of my leaders, which are Lanny, Richard, and TT. My backup team members also include Pinkie and my brother.

DIY Week 1: Midway Valentines

Plan:

**This blog post was started last Friday, February15, 2013 and finished Friday, February 22, 2013
Tonight around 6-8, I'm going to meet up with my friend Pinkie to begin decorating for our Midway Valentines event. Basically our job is to glam up the high school room, which is Thanksgiving themed, in orange and brown, into a whole new Valentines paradise. It's going to be hard since this room is one of the biggest rooms at our church, but if we work hard, then we can do it.

For our Valentines Day decorations, the budget is a solid $50. Our supplies include balloons, streamers, rose petals, table cloths, fake flowers, 1 roll of tape, ribbons, yarn, paint, markers, scissors, construction paper, and a hole puncher. (Note: The supply list may increase due to last minute adjustments and ideas)

Our colored theme will be the obvious pink, white, and red. The overall theme for this event is about God's love, so we'll be making posters that are going to be hanging throughout the room with quotes and bible verses having to do with God's love in our daily lives. Along with the posters, we'll be making a balloon arc, a cherry blossom tree, and we'll have streamers coming down from the doors on the sides and ceiling. (Note: Some of these ideas may change because there's a Viet school class that takes place on Saturday morning and our party is from 1-7. We do not want to risk having our hard work destroyed by some kids that are "hyper and pumped" for their Vietnamese class.)

Whatever that we don't finish we will continue the next morning. I'm sure that we'll be making our balloon arc and taping up whatever decorations that we didn't get to for the night.

Results:

The results for the DIY turned out better than I had expected. First of all, we only spent $13 for our decorations, since we bought our supplies from the Dollar Store and Richard came in with some decorations that he took down from his classroom. I'm very glad that we were able to save money and have a turnout that was much better than I had hoped for and planned for.

Friday's results: On Friday my friend Pinkie and I met up at 6pm to start decorating. We spread out supplies across the floor and began writing quotes on hearts, putting up some streamers, making flowers and cherry tree. During that time, Pinkie and I were working up to 7pm, when we were interrupted by the TLC, I don't know what that stands for but the group consists of the Vietnamese speaking youth. (IMPACT is for the english high ministry). We completed our task for the night with only balloon blowing, a cherry blossom tree, and some hearts to work on. Honestly, we did a pretty good job despite being distracted and a bit annoyed by the other group. (* I only took two pictures that night because there were too many people all over the place and I had only wanted a picture of my decorations.)

Saturday's results: After spending the rest of my Friday night finishing up on the last decorations, I arrived at church at 10am to tell the Vietnamese school principal to tell the students not to mess with out  decorations, blah blah blah. While waiting for my friend Jenny to arrive, I spent my time cutting out about 80 strings, all at an arm's length for the balloons. When she arrived, we took advantage of the Viet school's break-time to tape the last decorations around. 

When Tommy and Loc arrived, they took out the helium tank from the shed and we began blowing up our balloons, which reminded me of the movie UP, except the balloons were all in pink and red.  I did the best I can with the balloon arch.We finished everything around 1:30, so we started the party a bit late, but the decorations were done and amazing.

Photos:

Before: 

Materials:

After: 

Tet 2013

As an Asian American, one of the many things I look forward to is Chinese/Lunar New Years. Along with lucky money, dressing up in the traditional Vietnamese dress, an ao dai, and playing around with firecrackers, comes the tet festival at Bolsa Grande.

On Saturday, February 9, I arrived at the tet festival around 8:30 to volunteer with a club. As a tradition in my family, I only go to the tet festival on Saturdays, whether it be with family or with friends. After meeting up with other volunteers, we set off asking for donations for those with bone marrow cancer, since "leukemia" didn't have seem to have as much as an effect on people as the word "cancer" did. I remember a businessman who was working for the New York Company that I asked for donations from. He looked at me and told me that the word "cancer" was very effective and told me he had a "dollar bill" for me. Well, that "dollar bill" turned out to be $20 and he gave me a bag to carry my stuff as well. Made my day. After three hours of walking around and doing my job (little breaks included spinning wheels at some booths for fun), my friends and I finally took a lunch break and that ended my shift. 

Some of my highlights that afternoon included watching the lion dance. I've always loved the lion dances. Maybe one day I'll be able to participate in one. Just got to sign up for a class, work hard and there I go. Another highlight of my day included reuniting with a younger friend, Victoria. It had been four long years since I had last seen her, and now she's all grown up and a freshman! Seeing Victoria almost brought tears to my eyes, especially after I noticed that her eyes were filled with tears. Talk about a memorable tet festival! During the time in between, I had fun taking pictures with the Wells Fargo photobooth, Toyota, and AT&T, although the AT&T booth had a huge problem with connecting their printers to the server. Oh well, most of the people came to the AT&T booth for those texting gloves anyways.

When evening hit, I said goodbye to my school friends and met up with my church friends. It was so nice to be able to spend the day with the people I love. Actually, by the time I was with my church friends, my legs were barely keeping me up. I was so sore and in such pain from all the walking around earlier that day. However, the pain drifted away temporarily whenever I got distracted or concentrated on watching my friends play games. Talking about games, I spend about $30 on games, and lost. Man, if only I made that one shot into the bucket, I would have won a giant pillow pet that I would surprise my brother with. (My parents and my brother were at the tet fest for about four hours that day, however I never managed to run into them.) But usually carnival games are rigged so one of my goals before the next festival or fair I attend is to figure out how each game is rigged. When I got home later that night, my brother surprised me with a cute kangaroo that he had won from one of the booths. What a sweetheart! <3

Sunday morning, I woke up around 6:30, surprisingly full of energy. The only downside to Sunday morning was realizing that I had no pants for my ao dai, so I decided to wear a simple dress instead. After showering and changing into classy and clean clothes, my family and I gathered around and wished each other our Chinese New Years wishes and then the lucky money went around. I love getting my li xi! When I arrived I church, I joined up with my fellow friends on the welcoming team and we served our usual morning Starbucks coffee and the Donuttery donuts. After service and games, I went home and crashed since the lack of sleep finally caught on with me. But overall I had a wonderful day, watching the firecrackers boom and burst and hearing the sounds of the younger kids laughing in delight.

Tet will always be one of my favorite holidays. It's when the Vietnamese culture really pops out to the world.  Tet 2013 will forever hold a place in my heart. <3

What is sleep?

Sleep and I have been drifting apart ever since August 29, 2012 hit, the day when school resumed and I began my junior year in high school. Yes, I have chosen to challenge myself with my AP classes, which are incredibly amazing and painful at the same time. The subjects are incredible and my mind just bursts from all the information that I soak in but where the topics are so wonderful and mind-blowing, the small homework load that I get from my teachers balances all those happy thoughts with restless evenings and nights spent working and studying. The small homework load, that's what they think they give. Hey, two and a half hours (on the easiest days) per AP class, about an hour to two and a half for my other classes. Let's see what seven classes take away from me each night. 3+3+3+1= 10. Wow, only ten hours? I spend about eight to eight and a half hours in school, and the next nine to ten hours working on homework and studying? Hmm, a day has twenty four hours and I spend  approximately eighteen to nineteen hours for each of the five weekdays just on school.

I'm not complaining about school though. All the work I've put into my studies have gone perfectly well for me so far. There are many things slapped and secured into my brain for the quizzes and tests in the future. It's just that I'm an insomniac, like Adam Young, or the man known as Owl City, very popular a few years back. I finish all my work, and feeling so accomplished, I lay down and close my eyes, happy to deserve the one thing that every person craves, sleep. Sleep, so I can fly away in my dreams and meet different people, travel to different places and roam free in my imagination. Instead of sleep, I find myself staring off into the darkness, sometimes for an hour, sometimes three. It's so frustrating. Counting sheep doesn't seem to help anymore and neither does the music. My body is ready but my brain just isn't.

I lay there wondering when will I get the rest I crave. It cannot be stress that's pulling me away since I don't stress easily. I do stress, I mean my friends have found two white hairs on my head this year, which is so sad, but it surely isn't keeping me from my sleep. What is sleep? When will I get to experience it and take advantage of it? Will I have to wait until another day off of school or do I have to wait until summer? Just another day, and it's going to be another night of being an insomniac.

Winter Retreat 2013

Winter retreats at my church usually take place at a beach-house while our summer retreats are in Big Bear. Our church is so backwards. Anyways, 2013 we decided to change it up a bit so we rented a nice big house up in Riverside where over fifty people got together as a community and family to learn more of the Bible.

I love retreats.

This retreat was relaxing and very organized compared to the other retreats that I have been too. For example, unlike the other retreats where we had "worksheets," this one provided us with booklets and a schedule for the three days. There was a morning devotion, a Bible Study, and an evening session, each page divided into sections where I could answer the questions after reading a certain passage or to take notes during the evening session. I just love it when things are all organized and in one place. The schedule this year was jam packed though, from morning until the next morning. I'd wake up around 6am to help make breakfast and before I knew it, it was 2am in the morning. Oh well, I never have any regrets at retreats.

Breakfast. One of my most memorable memories was making breakfast, the most important meal of the day, with my leader, Lanny, and close friend, Jenny. I took care of toasting the biscuits and putting it together with a delicious serving of freshly made bacon and eggs. Mmm. It was a hectic but fun job, since I had two toasters running at the same time, and I also had to put the biscuits together. Thank God that Linda come over to help me or else I would have slipped or burned myself from rushing so much. This experience also told me one thing about my future, and it was that if I was going to do a part time job after school, it for sure won't be working at a local restaurant because I ain't anybody's waitress. I do what I do from the bottom of my heart. Going completely off topic for the moment, I'm only interested in working or volunteering in a field where I can practice first aid anyways. But culinary arts would be handy at home.

Okay, back to the retreat.

Worship. If there's anything that hits me hard and lifts me up, it's got to be worship. Once I start singing and lifting myself up to God, there is no one around there to judge me, they have all faded away as I placed my heart and lifted up my voice to God and only to him. No one judges the person sitting next to them, behind them, or the person sitting across the room. During the time of worship, we put away our worries and we lift everything up to God, which brings such a wonderful relief and release as we let go of our heavy burdens to praise the almighty and wonderful Father. At retreats, it's usually the worship and the sermon on the last day that gets many eyes filled with tears and hearts that tremble as each and everyone of us encounter the Holy Spirit. It's also what we carry home with us. Although the sermons are electrifying and powerful, they tend to slowly slip away from our minds as we consume ourselves with school and stress. Worship, on the other hand, is an ongoing never ending special something that we carry with us throughout our lives. Music has such an incredible impact in our lives.

The ice breakers, birthday celebration, study & worship, and other various ways we fellow-shipped and bonded really make a difference each and every time. When I head off for a retreat, it's not about me, it's not about my friends, it's all about God. His love has touched me and shaped me into the person I am today. At retreats my church family and I sing, laugh, eat, and cry together; we are all children of God. And the love that he has given to us, we share to the others around. All the retreats are unforgettable, each amazing and unique in its own way. Winter retreat 2013 more than just another retreat; it is a memory buried and sown tightly in my mind and heart.

A Parent's Love, A New Years Touch

I sat around today spending time and laughing around with family. A new year, 2013, with endless opportunities and adventures to experience. Well. I sat down, ready to work on a worksheet. Music is always my motivation.

I'm on YouTube and after a few minutes of browsing around, I decide to listen to Unfailing Love by Chris Tomlin. I go back to my worksheet but the music I'm hearing isn't from Unfailing Love. Curious and slightly annoyed, I open up my page and see this video.

I sat there and as I watched, my eyes slowly welled up with tears, tears that never fell. I was touched. My mind wandered back to Saturday, December 22, 2012 when I was caroling and spending time at a senior home in Westminster and how some of their stories were very like this. All the love they poured out to put their all into little jobs  which in turn gave them the money they spent on their children- for education, shelter, and clothes. Those children grew up, many very successful, and in return of the love they had received from an infant to an adult,  they dropped off their parents in a senior home. 

My mom and dad has done so much for me. All the love they have poured down on me, to help me grow into the person I am today is amazing. A parent's love is unfading, as should the love of the child.