Welcome. This website is dedicated to my memoir Lotus Rising: An Amerasian Memoir, a multicultural story about opening your heart to God, inspired by my journey to joy.
Everyone experiences the crippling effects of despair at some point, finding themselves on their knees begging God to take away the pain. There were times when I felt I would rather die than live. I wondered if there was any purpose to my life. I wondered why God would allow me to suffer when I had done my best to live right. Others may be asking themselves the same questions.
As a child in Vietnam, I was what the Vietnamese called a “child of the dust”—one of thousands of “half-breed” children left behind by American soldiers after the US pulled out of the Vietnam War. The textured hair and dark skin I inherited from my African-American father marked me as the blood left behind by the enemy in a country where the Viet Cong reigned. I was rejected by my own grandparents and called names at school.
My story also explores the challenges I faced as an immigrant to the United States, a refugee in Portland, Oregon; the struggle to find belonging in this country, the fight to complete my education, the tragic loss of my family in a fatal car accident, and my spiritual journey to find healing through God.
I offer this website to you with my deepest love and compassion, with the hope it will bring you comfort in your time of sorrow. May you come to realize that it doesn’t matter what hardships we pass through in our lives. If we are willing to change our perception, open our hearts to God, and accept help from others, we can be healed.
Not only can we be healed, but we can also gain profound wisdom.
