I used to admire my neighbor for having dinners altogether every night while my family was never complete at dinners. Raising my two children alone, I instilled family-oriented in them. Friday nights were always our family time for over two decades. I was most happy when my new husband’s children and grandchildren could join us! But happy time didn’t last forever. Nevertheless, I still make time to spend with my children and sweetheart Jayden - they are my love and joy. I lo

Each time I come home, it usually takes me a week or two to get use to the local time. It’s a night and day difference from America. By the third week here, I go to bed like everyone here and wake up around 6-7 am. What got me mad before was as soon as I adapted to the local time, it was time to get back to the US for I only took one-month vacation. My last trip was 10 weeks and this time is 6 weeks. I love being self-employed for I am able to take as long time off from work

Shifting your mindset from have not to have is a big change in your life. This past several months I was tested to the limit, but I didn’t lose my faith in better days. You can too as long as you learn to count your blessings each and every morning as you open your eyes. It only takes a few minutes of your time, but it will slowly change your life for the better. Trust me. I will start first: 1. I’m thankful that today I get to go home (Vietnam) where love is waiting for me!

My Husband Dennis and I had a great time at the Lunar New Year celebration organized by the Vietnamese Employee Association of Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. This association was established in 1982 which has been exactly four decades. As for me, I have joined this special event ever since I worked for the county in early 2001 to this day even three years after I retired the county career. I love it very much! I love the Lion Dance to kick off the ev

MY FIRST WRITTEN THOUGHT IN 2023 Having a therapist in the house (my daughter Vivian) can be interesting because I am sometimes told what problems I have involuntarily. I have a few which have hindered my success and relationships with others. Knowing this I have to work harder to overcome them, but I refuse to take medication. One the three things Vivian asked me over the weekend was if I could go back 10 years, what I would want to do differently. My answer was to become s

A Refection on New Year Eve In less  than nine hours, I am welcoming the New Year with open arms! How about you? Are you ready for 2023? I’d like to take a moment to reflect on this year as it is about to end. First and foremost, I am happy and thankful to God for my family, good health, a roof over our head and food to nurture our body and mind. I used to worry sick about my diabetics, but since I have taken apple cider vinegar gummies in the last several months, 2 after ea

Someday I wake up with the confidence of the bright future while other days I need to breathe deep breaths for the uncertainty ahead of me. I’ve tried my best for all these years, but it hasn’t been good enough. Sometimes I question God why he has been dealing me with tough cards? Is it because he knew I could handle them all? Without being down in the valley or alone in the dark forests, I wouldn’t know how deep the valley is or how scary and lonely being lost in the wildern

It’s Christmas afternoon, and I’m here in my pajamas enjoying a peaceful Christmas Day at home. My only chore today was making breakfast which includes fried bacons, scrambled eggs and cooked potatoes with buttered. Everyone devoured them within minutes 😘😊 After breakfast I spent some time editing our Christmas homemade video; it’s what I love to do to save our precious time together. Then I devoted an hour of reading and translating four daily devotional I received on my e

As a Notary Public, not only I service my customers at our office, I also provide in-house service. My Google business page will be Mobile Notary Public Crystal. I got nervous when I first entered a perfect stranger’s home. First thing I asked her over the phone if she had a dog; she said she only had a cat. Phew 😅. Second, I asked if she had her CA ID/ CA driver license. She said yes. We scheduled an appointment the following day. Before I came inside her house, I gave my

My customer left our office happy with his new vehicle license plate, a DMV sticker and a registration printout. I was pleased as well for being able to process my first out-of-state title transfer without my boss physically around, although she was there with me on the phone. Before I submitted it electronically to DMV, I asked the customer to doublechecking it, and luckily he found his name being chopped off by one letter. It would have caused me so much trouble if I made a

While watching my new family opening their presents last night, I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic. Although I celebrated Christmas with my children a week earlier, I still felt blue for knowing my only son was home alone last night. Separation is not easy for me for being a sensitive and emotional person I am. The first Christmas Eve without my children was hard. I believe it will get better thereafter. 💕 There is time and season for everything. Time of togetherness and tim

It is hard to believe that I find answering medical calls as easy as other calls today. I didn’t see this coming before March 4, 2021. As a matter of fact, I was so worried and stressed out before taking live calls! I didn’t think I have the ability to interpret English and Vietnamese simultaneously. I left Vietnam at 15, which I finished only 8th grade. Being in the U.S. for so long, I didn’t even know how to read Vietnamese alphabetical letters before interpreting. The day

As usual, my husband and I pick up our mom after attending a church service for brunch, but today, she invited us to go to the veteran club near her house. She told my husband to park the car in front of her house because there would not be parking at the club. Besides, the club was just right across the house. While walking toward there, one hand I was holding my husband and the other hand holding our mom, I felt, for the first time, an overwhelming sense of love I have neve