Melbourne Retreat

We had such a wonderful time in Melbourne. It wasn't just purely a holiday but a spiritual retreat for us as well. Colin & Claire flew in from NZ to join us and they spent about 4 days with us , preaching the Word and praying for us.

We were so blessed by their ministry. Not only did they encouraged us in our spiritual journey but they cooked and baked for us too.



Good steak, apple crumble , bread pudding, pumpkin soup etc. Just so you know how good the food was, look at Faith . A cup of pumpkin soup is not enough. She needs a whole pot !!!

 


During the trip we also had the chance to meet up with Colin's family comprising of his dad who is 90 and his daughter's family. Some of us had the opportunity to share during devotion time and I loved Alie's one on “ Do it Anyway”..... which essentially reminds us to do good even in the face of challenges or adversities.

I know for myself , I feel a strengthening of my faith . This is certainly a refreshing trip and I hope to do this again soon as the Lord leads us.

ODE TO JOY SINGAPORE EDITION

Jordan was away for 9 days in Singapore rehearsing hard for the concert at Yong Siew Toh Music Conservatory. The concert entitled “Marching From Bartok to Beethoven” was held on 17th March.


Hubby had the privilege to fly over to see the concert which he said was truly good and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. The St Joe Band Boys played alongside music students from the conservatory and had master classes with world renown musicians. It was totally a dream come true. I believe many of the younger boys cannot fully comprehend how extremely privileged and blessed there were to be able to learn from the masters. ( My son included !!!).
Jordan had the time of his life. Staying together in the dormitory at the La Salle Brothers accommodation at St Patrick's school was great fun for the 70 boys. Of course they had grueling hours of practice but it was truly worth it in the end.

One of the highlights of their trip was to Universal Studio. He and his friends couldn't get enough of the thrill rides. They went on some of the rides 4 times !!! Universal Studio was the place where Jordan's wallet was completed emptied. He left with a few Singapore coins and RM1.

We realised this son of ours really know how to shop. He went on a shopping spree and bought gifts for all at home and he said it was cheap. He obviously didn't factor in the exchange rate!!! He bought the most gifts for Heather. When he opened the luggage , so many soft toys fell out. He said he bought them coz they looked cute!!! I had to admit he was right.

For us as parents , we felt it was indeed a life enriching experience for a young boy. It is a good thing to learn hardwork and discipline at a young age. We hope he will have more and more wonderful experiences with the band.

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.!!!!”.