What the Pictures Don't Say

Photos bring a lot of memories for us and as I look at some of the photos stored in hubby's computer it brought a smile to my lips.

The annual Christmas photo. We have been taking family photos every Christmas since Heather was born. So we have quite a collection over the years. The photos always show happy eager faces coz after the shots, it's time to open the Christmas presents.

This one was taken during mom and Jordan's birthday. Why the look of jubilation ? What happened was we put 2 candles on the cake. 1 big one and 1 small one to signify their birthdays. We told Jordan he was only allowed to blow the small candle off only. As the 2 candles were placed rather close together , it was not easy but as you can see it …. he managed to do it. YEAH and he was thrilled.
A nice gathering of friends over the new year. My friends knew that I had a very short new year break so they decided to come over and they brought along their cookies and cakes and wine so that we could try each others' yummy food while catching up on each others' lives. So hubby also joined in … not so much to chat but more to eat and the girls of course just stuff him with more food!!!
We celebrated Chap Goh Meh together with dad & Alie's birthday. You will see that 2 grand kids are missing. One had fallen asleep on the chair while the other is at band camp. Jordan being such a food lover was very devastated that he had to sacrifice a dinner at The Hilton. He only had chicken rice ( ta pau from Little Hainan). He has to learn at a young age that life involves sacrifices.
I don't have much time to look at photos but these few photos taken these last few months certainly brought back good memories.

Shoved Into 2012

I don’t know about other people but I do feel that 2012 descended on me when I am not even ready for it. It’s just too soon and I have things that I want to see happening in 2011 which have yet to manifest .

Anyway, one can’t stop the clock , so no use lamenting but move on with grace and style!!! Since the school started, everything is in full swing . Getting my kids off to school means my schooling starts too. It’s now solving Add Maths questions and figuring out Physics ( a most hated subject in my Form 4-5 years!!!) So far I can still solve some of the quadratic equations and work out some of the physics stuff so not too bad at all. I hope this sudden skill to know how to do all these Science subjects will prolong and heighten until Heather completes her Form 5. It saves me so much time on the road …. as I don’t fancy driving her from 1 tuition to the next!!! Those uncles and aunties out there who are engineers, lecturers ,accountants be prepared for my phone calls. Recently Alex had a taste of one Maths question and he called up eventually to say “ I think the question is wrong!!!!” Well said.

With Chinese New Year a few days away, we are all a flurry of activities. Shoppinglah , the dreaded spring cleaning (almost done) and eventually the baking and what not. Hubby and I decided that it will be a super quiet celebration. After all I am working right up till Saturday and going back again to work on the 3rd day means I must really put up my feet and rest. No running around too much this year with visitations. It’s more likely to be lazing at home with a book and watching telly eating away all the new year goodies. The waist line factor will be a consideration after Chap Goh Meh.


My clerk just left for her annual lunar leave so in early Jan I tried to work smart. I made sure that before she left she had to finish all the work which I assigned her and even prepared advance work for her to finish just in case the paperwork is required during her absence. My plan went so well that when I was working one afternoon , I was left with virtually nothing to do. I ended up trying hard not to fall asleep as I was so bored. I tried to keep awake and eventually thought that to stay awake I have to keep my hands busy. No, I didn’t knit!!! I made a fan for CNY and mom saw the end product and thought I was creative. I hadn’t heard that kind of praise from her before… (I mean about me being creative). Got new talent this year.

Finally to all celebrating this auspicious occasion : GONG XI FA CAI

Writing

Many years ago , a dear friend, Claire, while praying for me prophesied and said she saw me spending time doing a lot of writing....pages and pages and it's about my life. When I heard it , I was thinking, “OK” but I didn't give it much thought. At that time , I was really not into writing stuff anyway. I enjoy reading but writing “Nah.. it's a totally different ball game.” Too much effort and too much thinking.

So of course , nothing came of it for a long time. My 1st foray into writing started in 2008 when we came back from Singapore and that was my first effort in writing a blog. My understanding of a blog came from Alie. I had heard the word before but being so unsavvy in my internet skills and language, I had no idea what a blog is , until Alie explained. My first reaction was “ Why would anyone want to read a blog for ?” Anyway, eventually after some time, I myself wrote our first blog. I wrote the blog mainly for my 2 sisters coz they are so faraway and so that we can keep tabs.... but eventually more people got into our blog and I end up writing not only for them but to express myself as well. After writing the blog for sometime , I realised that the words prophesied over me is coming to pass. I thought “Hmmm.... interesting.” And I actually thot ...thats it!!!!

But God has other plans. Many moons ago, hubby told me that I should consider writing short articles regularly for our friends to encourage them in their spiritual journey. Being the not so obedient wife, I didn't obey him. I just conveniently forgot about it. To me writing regularly is too much of a challenge. I just felt it was impossible.....until God spoke. I was at work one morning and He gently reminded me of what hubby had said . He told me in very clear terms to write. That very moment I said “yes”. He wanted me to write about my everyday life and how it can be an encouragement to people. I always feel I live a very ordinary life …. nothing much to write about but God thinks otherwise , I guess. Basically it's about Him not so much about me, really.

My first article was sent out via email on 13 June and since then by God's grace I have been able to write more than 20 articles. I try to write once a week. I am most overwhelmed with the goodness and faithfulness of God. As I write , I feel God's love for His people and how much He wants to encourage them. I feel encouraged and blessed by Him.

There were certain articles which I wrote which I felt would not be so impacting, yet it would be the one that drew a response from people. I remember Steven shared how happy he was to hear that I had a tough week as he was having one too. He felt he wasn't alone. He was so glad I had a tough week and found companionship in that thought!!!!God works in mysterious ways.

I don't know how long this writing is expected to go on. But one thing I do know is that God requires obedience from me....that is to write until He says “STOP”.

Holidays Holidays

I love the word holiday. It's such a wonderful word. Our family just returned from a week of hols ...journeying from KL to Ipoh then to Penang. Taking the long way to Penang meant that the kids had a chance to travel by train and it was also the 1st time Jordan used the ferry.
Last year, we did not go on any holidays due to the house moving so it was great to be able to do so this year. I found it most refreshing to be able to just get away and not have to work or do any house work even if it was for only 1 week.

Our days were filled with eating and more eating
shopping (spending hubby's $$$)
going ooh n aah over the Christmas decos in KL (Penang's Christmas decos are no where near KL's) meeting up with friends (we are very touched by the kindness & generosity of our friends)
doing fun things ( going to Penang Hill on the new train, riding the Sedgway )

discovering sights that were totally unexpected !!!!
Speaking of unexpected , hubby didn't tell his dad that we were coming home for a visit so you can well imagine his surprise when we turned up at the doorstep. He was sooo pleased !!!!

All in all...we had a splendid holiday.

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.