I don’t even know where to begin this update.

Let’s see…lets start with I got robbed almost about 2 weeks ago.

About 2 weeks ago, my grandma had a friend from Singapore visiting her here in SF. She stayed with us for about 2 weeks and so I gave her my room and slept out in the living room. A little description of my grandma’s house: I live right near the bart station (subway station). We live in the ground floor unit of a house of multiple units designed specifically for the elderly. We have high ceilings which means big windows, so at night its pretty easy to see into our house, even with the blinds shut. With that being said, the house is right next to the bart police station, and is not really considered a dangerous neighborhood. So a couple of days in, it started getting really hot and therefore I cracked the window open a little. Well 1 night I guess the burglars saw the slightly opened window, and climbed through and took our TV (42-46”), cable box, laptop, iphone, knife bag, car and home keys and my pair of ray bans that was on the table. (Side story: And so I know the pair of ray bans are probably the least of my concerns, but it was heart breaking because I JUST bought them the day before. =( One of my friend’s got a discount for me, but still. I wore them for one day and then it got stolen that night.) I was sleeping IN the living room but I guess I’m a deep sleeper/ they were quiet that I didn’t wake up. (which is probably a blessing in disguise). So I assume the robber dropped something as he exited the front door because I woke up to that noise. I realized that everything was missing, found a spare key, went outside still in disbelief that I just got robbed and by time I was outside, there was nobody to be found. The cops came and found some fingerprints, but that’s to the extent of what they did because the next day, when my “find my iphone” app was activated, they didn’t really assist me to finding where the location of the phone was. The police kept redirecting me to different local police stations as the signal of my iphone traveled from San Leandro to Oakland and by the next day, the signal never showed up anymore.

So in the same week, my mom decided to surprise me and my grandma and flew in from HK to see us! YAY! It was only for 6 days, but the timing could not be more perfect. She came because she wanted to support my grandma and support me because of how hard work has been. And it was during this time of difficulty was when I really appreciated my mom actually being here, physically. I guess I’ve been so use to relying on myself for the past 9 years that I’ve been away from my family that I don’t remember how much I need my mom. =’( *tear*. On top of all this craziness, my grandma’s caretaker quit because she found a more permanent job.

Work has still been pretty tough. I feel like every time I feel like I’m about to master the routine or procedure for a specific dish, they would switch it up and add something new or different. It’s hard but it’s cool I guess because it’s a constant challenge. Like we started doing a dish with Halibut, and once I started getting down the Halibut, they changed it to squid. Or we use to make a corn pudding to serve along the squid, but now they want to make a corn veloute instead of a pudding. So there are constant changes to a dish, which is definitely cool to see how an idea develops, but definitely more work to execute on top of everything else that I’m suppose to do.

So with all this being said, God is still Good. He sent my mom when I needed her the most and comforted me. Though it was really frustrating to have all these things stolen, God has still been blessing me. My grandma’s friend paid to change the ignition lock on my car, which was not cheap. I found my old blackberry to use as a phone. My coworkers generously let me use some of their tools at work. My chef is letting me work 4 days instead of 5 to take care of my grandma and also indirectly an extra day of rest for me (of which I didn’t think would’ve happened)! My friend who got me the discounted ray bans bought me a new pair and gave them to me as a gift! And so God is faithful. I need to continue to serve Him with a joyful heart (especially at work), and that’s probably the biggest challenge for me right now.

³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.