Dear Friends, Two of us (Jeremy and Young) like to dedicate a couple Christian hymns to my mother, Shirley. Mom in her last few years do enjoy singing hymns not only at church and had sang these hymns often. 1. Abide with me (2:31) https://www.veed.io/view/4d1b9845-f361-45e1-808b-402138c0063b?sharingWidget=true (求主同住) Abide with me, fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O, abide with me! Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me! 我需要主,時時刻刻同在, Wǒ xūyào zhǔ, shí shíkè kè tóng zài, 靠主大恩,撒但無法侵害; kào zhǔ dà ēn, sā dàn wúfǎ qīnhài; 堅固我心,助我不涉迷途, jiāngù wǒ xīn, zhù wǒ bù shè mítú, 不論陰晴,求主與我同住. bùlùn yīn qíng, qiú zhǔ yǔ wǒ tóng zhù. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me 2 Jerusalem the Golden (1:44) https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/726889285 (金色的耶路撒冷) Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest, Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed. I know not, O I know not, what joys await us there, What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare O sweet and blessèd country, the home of God’s elect! O sweet and blessèd country, that eager hearts expect! Jesus, in mercy bring us to that dear land of rest, Who art, with God the Father, and Spirit, ever blessed.

Growing up, my mom really didn’t share much of her childhood nor the hardship she went through growing up. So I feel truly blessed the last few weeks that my mom opened up and shared all her stories, good and bad. I felt like a journalist these past few weeks, interviewing my mother and learning things I never knew about her. And oftentimes, discovering the origins of some of my own personal quirks. Yes, I am my mother’s son! One particular question I asked was “where would you like to go next on your vacation”? Her answer, “I would like to go on another cruise”. I asked her where? Her reply, “it doesn’t really matter”. The reason why it didn’t matter was that a cruise combined my mom’s two favorite passions: travel and gambling. She really didn’t care where she went, she loved seeing new sights. And what better way when you can gamble along the way! I guess I discovered where both my brother Van and I got our gambling gene! One other question that got both of us laughing was when I asked her what her fondest memory was with both her and my dad. Her answer was her honeymoon. At that point, I was expecting a romantic love story. But that couldn’t be furthest from the truth. It turns out, my mom was working at the bank at the time and one of her clients gave her a free three night stay at the inn where he worked. So she decided to use the three night stay for her honeymoon. When both my mom and dad showed up at the inn, it was at a very old and rustic building on the top of a mountain. Since it was off season, there were very few people there and everything was closed and locked up. And when they finally checked into their room, the inn had turned off the power so they were left with only candle light. That's when my mom told us strange things started happening. They would open one drawer and another would open. The door would open by itself. They then started hearing strange noises. My mom said the entire night, she didn’t sleep a wink. She forced her eyes closed and clutched onto my dad the entire night, never letting go! The following morning, they had plans to go see the famous sunrise there. But instead, they quickly packed up all their belongings and left the inn (foregoing the other free nights stay). On the train ride back into town, some of the locals asked where they had come from. So they told them that they had just left from the inn on top of the mountain. For which they replied, “You stayed at the inn? Do you not know that the Inn is haunted?!?” I guess enough time has passed that my mom can finally laugh at that story! In these past few weeks, even when my mom was often in a lot of pain or discomfort she found solace reminiscing and re-living all the good memories she had. She found extra comfort in talking about all her grandkids and was even fortunate to meet her great granddaughter just before she passed. We will all miss you mom and know that I couldn’t have been the person I am today without you!

She brought cheer and joy to those around her, and specifically to me was a kind, sweet, and warm grandmother. I have cherished childhood memories at the family bodega, which was always a highly anticipated visit. It is comforting to know she's had a long and happy life, with a peaceful and loving last several weeks with her faithful sons and daughter. I am grateful for all that she's done for our family overall as well as me personally. To her everlasting memory.

From Young her second son. Dear Mom, You will be sorely missed. I will miss your pork bone/miso soup with other healthy extras made from scratch, your dry tofu bean sprout dish, and your typical stirred fried leafy veggie. The warm words of your encouragements to me personally will now only be in my memories. I can only remember you always use words of care and love to me and to all of your sons and daughter as well(never a mean word). Is hard for me to forget the laughs and smiles on your face when watching Korean romantic soap operas though later you limited yourself to just an hour a day as you felt time was better spend in the garden or reading. Not seeing you anymore in the coming holidays will be very very hard. I am happy for you now that you are now in the arms of Jesus. Love Son Young