Living out Faith

Blessed Christmas from the land of Disneyland. Can't believe that I'm back here with Babe after 6 years of our honeymoon. It really feels like Christmas here. Cold weather, Christmas Carols playing and Chritmas decorations. Really magical. We're a little jetlagged but kinda expected it. Couldn't really sleep last night and this morning, we were up by 7 in the morning and by 8.30, we already ate our breakfast. Babe is having a snooze now and when he gets up, we'll be off to Disney! Can't bloody wait! Oh, forgot to mention this, this is a great Christmas. Sharon had her little Gabriel and a very close friend in Hong Kong just got engaged! So excited for them! Can't wait to see these people celebrating new stages in their lives! Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Finally, after months of waiting, Christmas hols are here! Yes! Finally! Can't believe it. We're leaving tomorrow for LA. We're going to Disneyland! Whoppeeeee!!!!! Can't wait. Going to spend 3 full days at Disneyland, going to take every single ride and eat heaps of churros and drink lots of hot chocolate, and spend Christmas with Eelynn, Jolynn, Bruno and Mike. Will meet up with Eve to. And then, we'll be off to Las Vegas. I'm just too excited! Really need the break. This is also a long awaited holiday with Babe. We haven't had a real vacation since we went to Lombok last Easter. He's been pretty busy with work. Can't wait to show San Diego to him too. Wished that we could have more time but I guess, can't complain. Anyway, if I don't get to blog before Christmas...... Have a Blessed Christmas and a Wonderful New Year ahead!

I've always that that happiness and joy was synonymous but apparently not. Interesting. Was reading a book recently about love and bringing up children and the author mentioned the difference between these two words. She wrote that happiness most of the time is momentarily, short-lived and dependent and motivated by external factors. Whereas with joy, it is internal and eternal. I was rather surprised by that opinion. I never really taught of it that way. And she went on to say that with joy, no matter whatever that happens, there's a peace and calm in a person. Joy stays in the person and it is not motivated by external factors at all. I thought about it and well, it is very true. The author wrote to say that it is far more important to raise the child in joy than to have the child seek for happiness. And when I think about it, yes, people seek for happiness all the time and most of the time, they find happiness in the wrong places and persons. And their happiness sometimes is...

I just noticed that it's already 15th of December and I've only 2 posts up this month. My posts has become a little more sporadic than I like. Well, to be honest, I've been busy.I rushing my last assignment for my class and yes, last assignment and I won't be taking any courses for a long time! Work has been a little busy recently too. But I'm enjoying it. We've got parents' day this Wednesday and so I've been working hard to get stuff ready. At the home front, all the moving and buying have finally died now. Thank God! No more moving and no more buying! Hopefully.....Our telly arrived with heater and oven. Obviously Babe loves the new telly and I love the new oven. I've not had an oven for more than 2 years and I miss roasting, baking and grilling food. Used the oven on Saturday night when we had our housewarming (will talk more about that later) and also used it to make my version of Asian sherperd's pie. Must say that Babe loved it. Didn't...

Sometime last week, one of my favouritest persons on Earth wrote about her heros on her blog. And she wrote about me being one of her heros. Sure I was flattered by it. Actually, way too flattered by it. But I wonder if I am good enough to be a hero or do I actually deserved it? She got me thinking about what she wrote about me. Ha, I'm pretty egoistic isnt it? She wrote that I inspired her with my strength to prevail against all odds and that I taught her optimism. What she wrote was truly very nice. I didn't realised that I had such an impact in her life. We both grew up together and understanding each other far better than anyone else to a certain extent. She watched me grow and went through the difficult times in my life without once thinking it was time to walk away. I appreciate her for everything. And yes, we fulfilled our childhood wish of becoming a bridesmaid to whoever that gets married first. I got married first and she was my bridesmaid. The most beautiful one, I ...

Yes, a morbid post. There are days that I just love being morbid and melacholic and today is just one of those days. Well, not just today. It actually started yesterday. At assembly yesterday, the principal told us that the pastor of our school went home after battling cancer. That got me thinking a little as he has four kids. First thing that went through my head was, 'How is his wife going to support their kids?'. But then a small voice spoke, 'Woman of little faith, God will always provide.' Yes, it hit me. God always provides no matter what happens. Today I was read about what the husband of the Singapore Mumbai victim said at a press conference and it almost brought tears to my eyes. He said that he waited all his life to marry her. Wow! Such words. I am glad that I found my soulmate, my one that is for me. But reading from what a man said of him losing his wife had me thinking and controlling my tears. The poor lady died a terrible death. They were just newlyweds ...

Was a Kylie's concert last night and wow! She's the best! I had so much fun! Stood up and danced from the time she got unto the stage right till the end. She even gave a 30 mins encore! She's regained her position as my number favourite female singer! And thanks Dion for going with me. I'm still reeling from the concert! I'm hoping and hoping that she'll be back again for another concert. Kylie!!!

Today is the American Thanksgiving. Well, although I'm not an American and do not really celebrate Thanksgiving, I'm am reminded to be thankful for everything that I have. And more importantly, everything I have is from the Almighty. I am truly grateful for all that I have. There's nothing that I lack and God has provided more than sufficient for me. I'm also very thankful for the new apartment that we're renting now. So thankful that we've finally moved to a bigger place with more space for all my stuff. We're still in the process of unpacking and we need to get a few pieces of furniture. Am very thankful for Babe for helping and doing most of the move. Am grateful that his work is flexible enough for him to move things over when I'm at work. There's actually nothing more that I can ask for in my life. God has given me so much in life and I truly feel so blessed. Maybe next year, we might start having Thanksgiving dinner. Just maybe......

Babe came back on Friday night. Thank God! Am really glad that he's back because we're finally moving. On Thursday, I met the agent and landlard to sign the lease, get the keys and hand over the deposit. Wished I didn't have to part with that amount of money! On Friday, we didn't manage to do anything because I was at course all day and had class in the evening. Babe came back only in the evening. Woke up on Saturday and was excited thinking that it was our wedding anniversary. Our 6th! Can't believe that we've lasted so long! Woohoo! Packed some stuff and moved to our new place. Did that the whole afternoon. Evening came and we just decided to go to a suburb near us to eat. Too tired and lazy to bother to go far for a nice dinner. Sunday came and while we were getting ready to go to church, Babe suddenly exclaimed while looking at his wedding ring. "Our wedding is on the 23rd not the 22nd!" And I went....Opps....And then I realised...We started dating...

Babe's away for work this weekend again. But I've had a full weekend. Got me a facial and a massage on Saturday afternoon and then met Karine for tea. Had a great time with her. It was nice chatting and talking just about anything and everything. Got home, was way too full to have any dinner. And on Sunday, all thanks to Mel, she organised a little trip to Macau to watch Zaia. And oh my goodness, we did have so so much fun! She brought along her friend, Angela and boy was she a blast too. We had so much fun just talking, laughing and cracking up. I reckon that our conversations were way more fun and interesting than Zaia. But I must thank Mel for making the effort to get us to watch the show. Zaia was really enjoyable, though I nodded a little in the first 10 mins. I slept really late on Saturday, you know? But then the show really started going and wow, it was really spectacular! As I get to spend more weekends on my own sometimes, I'm thankful to be surrounded by frien...

Last night, I met up with a couple of ladies for dinner at Under the Bridge Spicy Crab. The food there is really yummy! And i love crabs too. Very good food. Went home with a happy belly. But I made sure that I went to the gym before tucking into the yummy fried crabs and fried everything. Oh yes, I'm trying, making an effort to go to the gym more to run. Been thinking about it and all thanks to Mel, she's suggested that I join her for a 5k run. I'm like....errrr.....I've never really run in my life till recently and it's more for health and staying fit and not gaining weight reasons. But with her suggestion has been stuck in my head. So now....trying and working it out to really see if doing a 5K run is feasible. Well, as long as I don't come in last, I don't care! And or if I'm about to come in last, I might just faint and pretend! Anyway, a couple of days I ago, I sent an email to my ex-colleagues congratulating her on her wedding but I had to send my...

2 nights ago I read about giving cheerfully to God while doing my quiet time. It served a great reminder to me. All my life I knew very well that I had to give 10 percent of what I've been given back to God. But the reality is that its only recently that I've made that my priority. Rather sad, huh? All throughout my life even right up to now, I have always relied and will continue to rely on God's providence upon me. When I left for uni, dad had financial difficulties and I still went ahead believing that God will provide. Sure, there were hard times but I had the best times in uni. God provided me with a scholarship for tuition fees and I worked for living expenses. And God delivered on His promises, He provided. Graduated, and well, tithing was never really a priority to me. There were always other stuff that came before tithing and I never really put in 10 percent for God. Still God provided and I continued shopping and buying. I left for Sydney to do my masters with a b...

There are things about Singapore that irk me, especially now that I live overseas. Somethings become more apparent even though I wished that I wouldn't have these feeling about my country. Don't get me wrong. I love being a Singaporean. I'm proud to be one and don't think I'll ever trade my citizenship for another. Don't ever foresee myself doing that unless something really drastic happens. But seriously, for now, no, I am still happy and proud to be a Singaporean. The rising cost in Singapore really irks me. As the Singaporean government announces that Singapore is slipping into recession, they are raising public transport costs, not dropping power bills even though petrol prices have come down. Before heading to States over summer, i was thinking of flying to States out of Singapore but didn't do it eventually, because the service charge and tax alone is close to SIN$1000. When I brought this up to someone whom I know who works in the aviation industry, h...

I don't think I'll ever come to terms that I'm getting older, aging, more white hair, wrinkles on the way and brains fading and failing. But I guess over time, no matter how much I hate, I am getting older. It's a matter of fact, there's nothing that anyone can do to make time stop. Well, having said that, I've had and am still having a great life and there are many times that i forget to thank God and be grateful for the goodness that He had, has been and will still be bestowing upon me. To a certain extent, life may have been hard on me when I was a kid but God has seen me through and made me a stronger and a better person. I'm learning everyday to put that behind and be thankful for the bountiful blessings that He showers upon me everyday. He has provided me a wonderful husband, parents and sisters, best friends that have become family and wonderful friends that I'm surrounded by in HK. He has blessed me richly in every single aspect and that's th...

Finally! Yes, after months of searching.....Before and after summer holidays, till yesterday, we were still looking. It got pretty frustrating to the point that at dinner last night, we were about to give up and have a break at apartment hunting till we get back from Christmas hols. Things do work strange or rather God has His hands in things and we're just not aware. I suggested to Babe that we'll stop looking since it's causing a little stress to us and he is getting busy with work and that we'll look when we get back from States after Christmas hols. We agreed that might be the best for us. After that, Babe's phone rang. The apartment that we've given up since it was too expensive and the landlord didn't want to relent, became available at our price. Praise the Lord!!! So happy, over the moon now! Will put pics once we move into our apartment. Will probably move from the 20th of November onwards....So excited!

Taken by Derrick http://www.maskofchina.com Had a wonderful Saturday. And it was a first pink BBQ that I've ever had. I 've come to terms that I'm getting old and each birthday that comes by, it's a reminder to me of God's blessings upon me and the wonderful friends that surround me even though I live overseas. Wish I've taken more pics but damn! But thanks to Derrick and Mel for taking pics. Friends, I want to thank you for making the effort to trek over to Park Island to celebrate my birthday. It's more apparent to me as I live overseas longer that friends truly become a part of your family. And friends that you've not seen for a long time, are still your friends if you want them to be. I met my primary school mate in the lift in my block about 2 weeks ago. She told me that she thought that we went to the same primary school. And I was like, no way. But as we chatted, yup! We know each other after all. And s...

It was a bittersweet weekend. But I must say, overall, I enjoyed it. Last week, I received an email from a friend that I hadn't seen for close to a year. She wrote to say that she'll be in HK on Saturday and asked if I had time to meet up with her. Sure, I did have time for her. She was my second friend in HK. I mean a true second friend. My first friend Michelle left and last year, this friend left because of a personal issue. When she left, it was hard for me. Really hard because I missed having coffees and dinners with her. She was a shopper like me. But under this beautiful person, her character was even more beautiful. So I met her. Spent a nice afternoon with her catching up. It was hard for her as she had things that she flew back here for. She mentioned that it's a strange feeling coming back to a country which she thought was going to be her home. And the 2 closest persons to her in HK are no longer around. She lost them to various reasons. When she said that, some...

On Saturday we went to Ocean Park. After being here for more than 2 years, we have never been to Ocean Park and since they have a Halloween special, we thought, why not. Well, it's not as if we had lots of things to do. Look at the crowd. This is at 5.30 in the evening. Seriously, I almost wanted to turn around to go home because of the crowd. Pumpkins....and more pumpkins. Not that crowded after all. I can deal with it. Oh...so I thought.. Oh yes, if you noticed, I chopped my hair. Had enough of the long hair and the heat was making me mad! Plus, my hair was getting yucky and damaged. Ohhh....scary monster.....Very scary. A view from the cable car. I have to admit that I'm not very good with heights. Don't forget for the longest time, I lived on the first and second floor. Didn't have to take the lift for a long time. This cable car ride was actually more scary than all the scary rides that I've taken in my life. It was long and close to the cliff and there were je...

So the global markets yesterday were dealt with another blow. Stock markets everywhere around the world fell and fell badly. When I got home last night after class, all I got from news on Channelnewsasia was grim news. Babe transferred some money from HK to Singapore yesterday and he told me that the exchange rate was in the range of 5.3. I was happy. The worst we had was 5.7. For the amount of money we transferred across, we had a savings of like SIN500. Well, to us, poor souls, it's quite a tidy sum. As the financial markets take a beating, the US dollar has been rising against the SIN dollar. To us, it's a bonus. We're happy that we're getting more out of our salary now. At this rate that things are going, we might even be able to buy our apartment earlier than expected. In all honesty, we're not really affected by the financial turmoil. Oh, maybe I might, I may get a slight nip in my living allowance, worst case scenario. But I hardly think so at this point of t...

Foreign workers and Serangoon Gardens both have special places in my heart. Both are special and it's hard for me to see what's happening there. I spent a large part of childhood, teenhoon and my early adulthood in Serangoon Garden. As toddler or as far back as my memory can bring me back. I used to cycle on my little tricycle in Grandpa's backyard while he was fixing millworms to be fed to be birds. Sometimes Joanne would be sitting in the back of my tricycle. I even remember grandma pulling peas off the plants to cook for dinner. And then from one house in Serangoon, Grandpa and Grandma moved to another house just a couple metres down the road. In this house, I have more memories. Every Sunday, we'll piled into Daddy's car and we'll head to have dinner in Grandpa and Grandma's house. We'll play like wild kids. But it was also this house that I remember saying my last goodbye to Grandpa without realising that it was my finally goodbye. Grandma's hou...

Babe is back today. He has already touched down when I called him. He's getting his luggage and he should be back in an hour so. Pretty happy about that. It's nice to see him after about 2 weeks of him being away. Well, I don't even know how long is he going to stay in HK and when will he be away again. That doesn't matter. As long as I've my Babe with me for the next couple of days, I'll be happy! And hopefully the weather will not turn bad this weekend. Would love to go out and hang out with Babe. So please Mr Sun, hang around and leave only when Monday comes!

Mum and Joanne flew into Hong Kong on Friday night to visit me and more importantly to see grandma. Before leaving, mum tried calling grandma but she couldn't get her. Called around to relatives and finally found out that grandma was in the hospital. Grandma has been going in and out of the hospital because of her bad aches. Got to Dongguan and saw grandma. It was nice to see her. She seemed to have shrunk a little and it was true. Apparently this is due to old age. Brought her out for dinner and chatted with her. But grandma's memory seemed to be lapsing. Her short term memory is bad, real bad. We kept having to repeat stuff to her. The lady next to grandma on her left, is mum's cousin. Mum obviously is in the one clad in pink shawl. Mum's cousin has been faithfully taking care of grandma without asking for anything in return and it's really nice to realise that in the midst of all the greed in the world, there is this lady who takes great care of grandma for more ...

Yes, I know, it's a little late. It's like early Wednesday morning already. I've been rather busy, actually even busier than when Babe's in town. On Saturday, stayed at home in the morning while the part time helper came to clean the house. After that, was meant to meet Carmen for a movie but that didn't pan out as the tickets were sold out. We went for tea instead. After tea, we went for a massage and caught up with Shirley, a friend of Carmen's. After the massage, went to Susan's boyfriend, Eric's birthday party. Didn't stay out long as I wanted to get home to feed Happy and also to spend time with her. On Sunday, met Cindy and another friend and her boyfriend for church. Went to ECC. It was a nice church. But guess, we're happy at IBC for the moment and we don't really see the need to switch but I'll still pop by whenever I can. After church, had lunch with friends. It was nice to know that even though Babe's not around for the wee...

So now we may have a financial turmoil lurking around in the corner and in China and parts of Asia we have a milk scare that's going on. What's going on? Why are things like these happening? Well, in my humble opinion, one word, GREED. The filthy five letter word. So filthy and disgusting that well, the financial industry is reeling from the yo-yo madness, people jobless or on the verge of losing their jobs with the possibility of being homeless. With the milk scare, there are at this point of time, 4 babies dead and more than 6000 sick. Apparently there may be more banks going down and governments around the world are trying their best to hold the economy up. Lines are forming outside AIA offices to get their policies terminated. Well, thank God, I don't have policies with them. But reality is that even if AIA may be fine but with everyone rushing to terminate and cash out their policies, they may very well collapse. A fine example of self fulfilling prophecy. And the iron...

Recently a good friend of mine in Hong Kong was hospitalised. I was on the way to class when I recevied a text from her boyfriend that she was hospitalised. Of course, my heart skipped a beat and was worried for her. But I had class to go. Went to class, felt quite unsettled and at break time, made a run and went right to the hospital. Saw her in the hospital, another of our friend was already there spending time with her. Her boyfriend had to go and get some stuff for her. Seeing her lying on the bed got me wondering about things. As usual, I think bloody too much. She was sick, didn't look too good but her spirits were up. She was surrounded by friends that probably made too much noise and were laughing away at silly jokes. Her boyfriend came back and joined in the fun. Not sure if it was really fun for the other patients because we made far too much noise. Am glad that she met this wonderful guy that did everything that he could to take care of her. And it also helped that he sp...

A couple of days ago I was watching Channelnewsasia and there was a program that really touched me. Belinda Lee, a Singaporean TV host, went to India to visit a few orphanages that's run by an Indian guy. I forget his name. I was very touched by the show. This guy basically gave up his life and everything to help these poor kids in various parts of India. There was this scene that as he and Belinda were driving away from an orphanage, he was tearing away and so was Belinda. He said that even after a few years of running these orphanages, he still feels the same each time he has to leave one. Belinda Lee really amazed and surprised me too. She didn't hesitate to hug and kiss the kids. It didn't matter to her if they were grubby or not! I wonder will I be able to do what she did. I remember Pastor Heng telling us about Iris when she visited Kenya. She was the same. It didn't matter if the kids were grubby and not showered for weeks in Kenya, she still gave hugs and kisses...

There are beautiful people in the world but sometimes we forget. I'm not talking about superficial, drop dead gorgeous kind of beautiful people. But rather, people with beautiful hearts and souls. A couple of months ago, there was this little girl in HOLF that captured my heart. I really hoped that we could adopt her. But we prayed about it and we felt that it was not God's calling. Sure, I felt bad. She has Thalessamia Major. Its a lifelong illness that may not have a cure. Please do not get it wrong that just because she's sick that we feel that she's not good enough for us. But rather it's the opposite. We felt that we may not be financially able enough to provide for her. We prayed that a family that has a little more will come forward. True enough, prayers were answered. A couple is in the processing of adopting her. The lady works part time from home and her husband's company's health insurance will help take care of all the health bills. They have eno...

While my ex-colleagues in Spore are having their one week Sept break, today is my second day at work/school. On Sunday night, I had problems falling asleep because I was excited to go to work. I know it all sounds very strange. When I came back to Hong Kong for meetings before school started, I was even excited and happy to see some of the students at the supermarket, on the ferry or just up and about. It's really weird and abnormal to me that I genuinely miss the kids and that I'm actually looking forward to work. It has never occurred to me that I'll actually feel that good about going to work. When I think about it, I guess for the longest time, I am finally happy at work. And to a certain extent, I feel that I am making impacts on these kids and forming relationships with them. I was even invited to lunch with some of the last year's primary six kids! With my work 'family', there's still room to grow but I am happy. I like my colleagues, I'm not draw...

Been back in HK for a couple of weeks now. I feel that I've been settled in ever since the day I got back to HK. Since Babe is still in Spore, my time has been filled with meeting friends for coffee, lunches and dinners. Actually, been a little too busy. Today, I started wondering, how long will I be settled here for? Last Thursday, I went for Hannah's farewell dinner. I got to know Hannah through Mel and she's just a wonderful person with a great sense of humor! I feel like, just when I got to know her, it's time for her to go. Today in church, Esther and William, a couple from the church that we attend, they're going back as well. They've been here for 25 years and now, it's time for them to go. After lunch, Nat and me were just chatting and he mentioned that his parents came back to HK to pastor a church and basically with all their moves, they listened to God and took it upon them to listen and move with faith. It was like Abraham when God told him to mo...

Last Sunday at church, Pastor Mark mentioned about God's Providential Hand. He mentioned something like when God weaves things together in a way that it seems coincidental, it's like God taking care of things and making things work for us. It was a sermon about being content in our lives. He also mentioned that if we can't be content when we're poor, how then can we be content when we're rich? Which is so true because when is enough ever enough then? What was also interesting after that was that a friend told me that she was meant to be on the greyhound bus that a man decapitated another man. This just happened over the summer in Canada. She didn't get on the bus for some reason and now, she understands. After her sharing that with me, I thought about a couple of things. I told Carmen about the earthquake that shook California and at that time, I was meant to be in Jo's place but I decided to go there a day earlier. And also, I took the greyhound bus the day...

After dinner last night with Carmen, got into a cab and was told by the cab driver of the possibility of a typhoon 8. Got back to Park Island and went to the supermarket right away just in case what he said was true. The supermarket was crowded and well, the shelves were pretty empty as well. Woke up to a typhoon 8 this morning and it didn't seem that bad that I could bring Happy down for a walk and also get papers from 7-11. But now, it's like typhoon 9. Don't know how strong the wind is, but I can see the waves looking scary from the apartment. And since the wind is billowing outside, I might as well upload some pics that were taken in Spore. We stayed at Oriental Hotel on Singapore's National Day and were able to watch the parade from the room and on TV. Saw nice fireworks too. Was nice. Manage to celebrate WK's grandma's birthday too. Think she's more than 90. Don't exactly know how old she is. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

I'm back in Hong Kong finally after about 5 weeks of travelling. To be honest, I am happy to be back but at the same time, there are thoughts in my head. Thoughts that are just floating and making me ponder. Yes, I love to think a lot I must admit, especially now that I'm home alone with Happy. First thought that's been floating for the past couple of days. Where's home for me now? I was excited to head home to Spore for the holidays. Spent about 2 weeks there. I had a great time there. Met up with family, friends and even ex-students as well. And yes, even had lunch with Pastor and Mrs Heng. Come to think of it, the last time that I had lunch with Pastor and Mrs Heng was probably more than 6 years ago. In the first week we stayed at Oriental Hotel which in a way was great but it wasn't exactly a home. The second week, we moved to dad and mum's. Yes, it's nice to be with family but at the same time, at the back of my head, I wasn't exactly at home there....