ODE TO JOY

The St Joseph Band had their concert recently and it was a huge success judging by the applause they received. As a mom of a band boy, I had the privilege to see many gruelling hours of practice and to see how the band coordinator, Mr Jonathan Fox worked with the boys whenever he flew in from Singapore. I am touched by his encouragement as he drilled the boys in the fine points of music. He wasn’t just looking for quality in the music but he was instilling in them the love of music.

I was also very moved by Prof. Dr Thomas Hecht. Though a world class pianist, he had no qualms about putting his reputation on the line to perform with the boys in classical music. Many world class musicians wouldn’t do that . I mean…these are just St Joe boys…. Literally nobodies in the classical world of music. As Sarawakians to see a world class pianist performed was pure enjoyment. He was to say the least…. BRILLIANT.

Here he is seen performing Mussorgsky’s “Pictures In An Exhibition” with the pit percussion boys.

We managed to record some bits of the concert but like before the recording device from our camera ain’t that great.

One of the touching thing that night was to see the St. Teresa’s band girls giving the boys a standing ovation. The girls have known all along that in Kuching, St Joe band is not only state champion but they have won at national levels as well. So to see Heather as the conductress rising to give them a standing ovation, followed by the rest of the band girls , I feel touched coz they are humble enough to give credit where it is due and to do it openly. Surely God will bless such a generous spirit in the girls.


We thoroughly enjoyed he performance that night and we just want to echo what Heather said to Jordan that night while having supper @McD... “Jordan, I am proud of you.!!!!”.

In You I Trust

In You I Trust
When I am afraid, I will trust in You
In You whose Name I praise.
Lord You are my light and my salvation,
I will not be afraid.

In You I trust,
You are my shield in the face of my enemy.
In You I hope
You are my help in times of trouble.
O Lord I worship You,
O Lord I worship You.

I wrote this song today to remind myself that I need to trust God to help me in all circumstances. The secret of finding joy in the midst of storm is simply this: trusting God. Enjoy the song and be encouraged !

Milo Tale

Last Sunday, when hubby was preparing breakfast for the kids , he took out a new refill pack of Milo and started to empty the contents into the jar. And guess what ? A crumpled tissue coated with Milo fell out from the bottom of the packaging. Eouwww!!!! How utterly disgusting!!! Of course we complained to Nestle bla bla bla and the incident got me thinking.

As Christians, we can all look well on the outside , nice packaging and we might all even do the right things like what the MILO is supposed to do but if at the bottom of our hearts we do all these out of self glorification or self preservation or other selfish motives then our works done without the love of Christ is painfully sad. It's like that lumpy tissue that fell out and it leaves a not so nice after taste.

The Bible says that when we speak with tongues of men and of angels but have not love, we are a clanging cymbal, and tho we may have gifts of prophecy & understanding along with faith that moves mountain but no love , we are nothing and tho we may bestow all our goods to feed the poor, or have my body burned but have no love, it profits me nothing. Very strong words indeed.

At the core of our Christian message and lifestyle is the word LOVE. My family have felt the incredible love of God in our lives .In addition to this, we experience love from others. We know who are the ones who really love us and sacrifice for us and do things for us just becoz they love us warts and all. This group of people can speak into our lives and bring forth changes in us that help us on our journey of faith. These are the people whom we hold dear to our lives and our kids too; feel love in their presence.

We are eternally grateful to God for the people who have helped us in times of crisis and lavished their acts of kindness in our lives. They were not people who just talk the talk but they walk the talk. These are genuine people who went beyond themselves. We are also extremely blessed to have people who laugh with us and share our joy in our good times. They too giggle and rejoice with us over the goodness of God in our lives.

On a penultimate note, I just want to say that when our actions are genuine our recipients will feel it. If our actions no matter how good and right it looks are done without love but out of self then it's like that Milo with tissue inside .

As His Children, may we be genuine in our christian walk and bring Him glory through our actions. May we not seek the praises of men or the adulation of our peers. May we not steal His glory.

Try Speak English PLEEAASE !!!!

Well at least trylah….even if it is broken Manglish or whatever. I find that frequently when I shop in KL , the sales persons will inevitably break out in a barrage of Cantonese which I don’t understand. Normally I would then reply in very very very simple English or ask in very Malaysian English my request and yet the sales person would persist in replying in Cantonese. And I realized that they can be rude when replying. I haven’t a clue what they are saying but it sounds rude to my ears so I would just walk away when I see that they make no effort in trying to carry on some form of decent communication. I might as well take my business elsewhere.

You might think I was shopping at some kaki lima but to tell you the truth I was at Mid Valley and I even encountered that at Suria KLCC. Mind you, the sales persons are all young ones so they must have been to school and studied English!!!Truly our standard of English in Malaysia has dropped to below freezing point.

And to nail in my point, I saw this sign at the Gardens Shopping Mall and I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. It was displayed at a boutique and it read : Vacancy: Part – time female.

Tell me please… are they targeting transvestites for the job ? or what ????

Also, I feel that if you speak to someone in a particular language and they have problems comprehending, it is polite to find an alternative. Either one can change to the language which the person knows or find a common language, or inform the person as best as you can thru body or facial language that you will find assistance; instead of pushing your own language down somebody’s throat and expect that person to understand immediately. This is so important in the service industry. When I was shopping in Thailand, the sales girls spoke to me in halting English and it was ok for me coz we are trying to communicate simple information and not correcting grammar or syntax or whatever. I was very encouraged by the fact that they tried and I believe that as they try they will in the long run improve themselves. I for one don’t have brilliant English and I don’t expect everyone to go about with the Queen’s English but at least we must all endeavour to try.

I hope our education ministry can come up with something more positive in helping Malaysians improve their level of English. Something must be done before it deteriorates further.

Truly A Night To Remember

With all the family members in Kuching , Jac decided that we should have hubby's birthday dinner way in advance so that we can all celebrate together. Of course we didn't tell him but kept it as a surprise. All of us conniving together …. Carol pretending that she wants to take photo at Raintree, BCCK and had him drive all of us there.

The surprised birthday boy .

So to fulfill Carol's statement about taking photos, we took plenty of photos that nite.

It was a splendid meal. Just look @ these mouth watering photos.

















Family shots.



To Alex & Jac , thanks for the extravagant birthday gift. To the rest of the family, thanks for making it a night to remember and to Raintree... thanks for the complimentary cake.

Dust Gets Into my Eyes

Just came back from a heartwarming mission trip in Bakong, 2 hours from Miri. We touched down at Miri airport on Saturday afternoon, and straight away headed to the heartland of Borneo, through miles and miles of bumpy untarred roads, and found ourselves in a rural church, next to a 40 doors- traditional long house, and into the middle of constant man-made dust storms.
As the church is situated next to a massive road construction site, and we are in the midst of a terrible 24 hour haze, the debris of dirt and flying dust from passing vehicles were enough to put off the faint hearted, but thank God, all of us were even more determined to brace the cloud of dust.

We had opportunities of visiting 2 long houses, shared our testimonies and prayed for the people there, and distributed new Bibles and other stuff to the people in the long-houses. As much as we wanted to bless the Iban community there, we were shown the warmest hospitality and had a lot of fun too, especially for the children.

Faith & Jordan.... had a real good time.
Praise and worship time with the villagers.
These children enjoyed the activity led by Jackie while the adults were listening to our sharings.
Praying for those who needs a healing touch from God during the 2nd night meeting.
We witnessed the baptism for new believers in a pond nearby the long house.
It is my prayer that God's presence continue to dwell in this place and bring about a spiritual revival.Halleluyah !

In Anticipation

The joy of anticipating something is always exciting. Whether it's a big event or a small one, it can create a spark of happiness in our soul. The whole of last week, the family ,young and old alike has been excited about Carol's return. The kids are doubly excited over the contents of her luggage...especially Jordan who has been conspiring with her for months over a football jersey. And like today... I 'm thinking how nice it is with the holidays coming up next week and the whole family will be together again. Carol is already back tho a bit jet lagged and Alie will be touching down on Monday. It's really nice for everyone to be back together and boy... what fun.

I know hubby is excited about the upcoming mission trip and it will be Jordan's first foray into the jungles of Borneo. The whole team going is excited about sharing the love of Christ with the our native brothers and sisters .

All of us regardless of age look forward to events in our lives. Tho' some events we dread like exams or doctor's appointments or certain meetings which drag on for hours on end yet on the other end of the spectrum are events which we so look forward to like a trip , or birthdays or parties. For certain events we have to make preparations for instance for our next year's trip to NZ we are looking into winter clothes which are so necessary if we are not going to freeze to the bone.

In our spiritual journey... I wonder , “Do we anticipate the second coming of Christ ?” It is something which no one knows when but it is surely gonna happen. Looking at the world events … we Christians are not to be surprised as the Bible has already mentioned what is to happen in the last days. The only thing is we don't know exactly when the event will occur. My next question is, “ Do we make preparations ?”

Often times, we make a whole lot of preparations for events in our lives and the second coming of Christ never cross our minds.... so we don't give it any thought. As His children , we need to spare some thoughts on this matter. We need to consider our lives and evaluate on whether what we do and spend time on has any eternal value ? I am not saying that if you are facebooking or twittering away .. you are doomed or condemned but my thoughts are more on... apportioning our time and learning to be selective on how we spend our waking hours. We need to know what God's plan for our lives is so that we can groove with it.

The last day events do not sound pleasant. Yet is is inevitable. Are we prepared for them ? Are we God's army prepared and ready for battle or are we drowsy sleepy complacent soldiers who are likely to be the type who is caught unaware ?

Let's not just drift thru life … day in day out without purpose. Catch God's vision for you and run with it.

Maranatha!!!