RELAX

Our cell group had this fervent wish to runaway from work and the usual round the mill activities so our leaders heartily agreed to go to Sematan. 6 families managed to breakaway and boy did we have fun. The weather was excellent for kite flying, cycling and just sitting around doing absolutely NOTHING.

Beautiful scenery to relax . Fun at the beach.
Fun in the pool.
Football mad. World cup fever still raging at Sematan. Hungry kids devouring the food at dinner time.
Food & more food. Our master chef Alvin hovered over the BBQ pit the whole nite to make sure we were well fed. We had sooo much food we were giving them away to the people in the next BBQ pit. Talk about being a blessing wherever we go!!!!


There was much laughter especially when we played the “James Bond” game introduced to us by Al. We were screeching with laughter. I was wiping away my tears from laughing too much. I believed we all had a terrific time. Word is going around that we are to head for Sabah for our next CG outing. The guys are talking about climbing Mt Kinabalu and snorkelling. So start saving!!! Now lets see where I kept my piggy bank ???

Thanks to Steven for the excellent photos.

FAQ & FYI

We have been asked many questions regarding the house so we thought we might address some of them in our blog.

Q: How did you find this house?
A: In a nutshell... Philip was taking a detour while on the way to pick me from work and he chanced upon this house with a “For Sale” sign on the gate.
Q : Who designed the house?
A: Well... a lot of the ideas came from magazines, Jac & Alex's house, picking Alex's brain and above all .. we prayed for ideas to come forth. We are receiving very positive comments about our house and we PTL for that. People are also casting admiring glances at our car porch ceiling. All credit goes to Alex.


Q: Where & when did you get all your furniture , lightings etc? A: Over the last few months we were scouting around the city for good bargains and we are happy to catch many good ones. It saved us a lot of money. We bought the house in October and subsequently we took advantage of the Christmas , Year End/New Year, Chinese New Year, Mega Carnival and Gawai Sales to purchase whatever our household needed. That was a huge bonus for us. Actually some of the furniture was from the previous house. Mom did not feel like having so many stuff around the house so we transported them over. Q: So do you still go back to your parents (in-laws) place ?
A: Of course we do and frequently too, though due to work , Philip and I go at different times.

Q: As your house is so near your workplace ….do you walk to work?
A: Are you kidding me ? All the way there in my heels ???

Q: Do you use your music room for teaching?
A: Yes , Philip conducts music lessons at home only in the mornings. He will be at the studio in the afternoons.



Q : Yunno... your house looks small from the outside but how come it doesn't feel that way from inside ? It's really spacious.

A: Er... don't know how to answer this kind of question ???

King of Glory

King of Glory

King of Glory, I worship You
You are awesome, Mighty and true
King of Glory, I adore You
All forgiving, Ever loving

O let me live in Your awesome Presence
Everyday I'll shout Your praise
I want to give You my best in everything
Your every Word shall guide my ways.



Our God is worthy of our utmost praises. This morning I was just so amazed at His creations as I jogged along the waterfront with Heather. As I praised Him, He put this new song in my heart, and I am so delighted to share this song with all of you !

St. Teresa School 125th Anniversary

This year St Teresa School celebrated its 125th anniversary with great aplomb and fare. The 1st celebration was in May where a grand dinner was held at 4 Points Sheraton. This dinner was graced by many VIPs and hence more protocol was involved. The 2nd dinner was held in July and this was more towards a reunion of ex-Teresians and many came back from far and wide for this occasion. About 1000 Teresians comprising of ex-students, ex and present Principals, teachers were at Pullman Hotel to party the nite away. This time, there was less protocol and everyone can let their hair down and swing to the mood of the night.

I have many fond memories of my time in school. We were a competitive lot . Each one striving to be better than the other in our studies, yet I don't recall of any fights over such matters. I remember days filled with laughter, moans, groans of impending exams and that sickening feeling when we failed our Physics or Add Maths. I remember my 1st Physics exam and for that term paper I got a measly 40+ and I was hoping for the rapture to take place!!!

Though my friends and I were in the best class, we were never the goody goody ones. We were chatterboxes... yakking away . Once our entire class was punished by our form teacher and we had to stand in the afternoon sun. We felt no remorse and kept chattering away even under the hot sun. We literally drove the teacher mad. She screamed at us from the balcony and prolonged the time for us under the sun.!!! We all had a great tan.

Music class was one of our favourites. We all trooped dutifully into the music room with our recorders and music scores and voila... the minute the air con is on and the door closed.... we were yakking away again. You see ,even tho the music room was next to the staff room … we could yak at high decibels and no one could hear us coz it's soundproof and also Mr. Yap never scolds us for yakking. He would play the piano and sing and blow the recorder and is totally oblivious to us and we to him!!!!

I remember how I dread Chemistry coz we were all terrified of Mrs Hon. The whole class could be left standing in the Chemistry lab coz we couldn't answer her questions. She was really “garang”. Because of her “garangness” I did well for my Chemistry O levels. We had a few man teachers whom we would giggle over. We could twine En Razali our BM teachers round our little finger. He was so gentle we hardly have any homework. Then we had Mr Paul who took us for Physics and he would rattle on and on about the ticker tape timer and until today I still don't know why we have to send the trolley down the ramp??? But Mr. Paul is ever so debonair. When he retired , Mr Teo a fresh graduate took over. He was so shy then but by the time Mr. Teo was Alison's teacher he had toughen up already.

Teresians Then

Teresians Now

When I walk thru the school corridors, I feel surrounded by memories of years gone by and much of who I am today was forged thru the years in STS. Now Heather walks the same corridors that I used to walk and studies in the class I used to slog in and who knows probably sitting on my chair too. I hope that she will have many wonderful memories of her days in school and live out our school motto : AMARE et SEVIRE (Love & Serve)

Our Amazing God

Mom and dad were in England to attend Carol's graduation. So prior to their departure , mom borrowed one of my gold necklaces . It was actually a wedding gift from her and dad many years ago and she borrowed it coz it went very well with the attire which she was going to wear for the graduation ceremony.

On the day of their return , she couldn't find the necklace in the luggage after searching high and low. Everyone assumed that she had left it in the hotel in London . The hotel said there was no record of lost n found necklace. My sisters informed me that she moaned and groaned about it the whole trip back.

Jac informed me of the lost necklace while mom and dad were flying back from Miri. Surprisingly , I didn't panic. I just told God to send His angel to slip the missing necklace into the luggage and asked Philip to stand in agreement with me over the prayer.

When mom and dad arrived home, she opened the luggage to get the gifts out for the grand kids. Lo and behold..... one of the very first thing she fished out from the luggage was my necklace. It was just right there.... not buried deep in the clothes but just right there !!!! You should see her face and dad's face. There were utterly shocked by the discovery coz they said they had searched this bag over n over yet it was never inside. I could see mom's eyes all teary coz it was just too overwhelming for her.

Well ….. God knows that necklace has great sentimental value and He took care of it for me. That's our amazing God.

HOME SWEET HOME

We moved in to our new home on 10.7.10 and we are jumping with joy so to speak. We are exhausted from all the shifting, sorting and cleaning but we are grinning from ear to ear. On the day itself, and on subsequent days we had soo many unexpected visitors who dropped by to help, chat and check out the house. Jonathan takes the trophy in helpfulness. He gave the sofa and the dining table a good wipe, wiped the sliding door, held the vacuum cleaner to suck up the dust when Alex drilled holes for the pictures etc etc

Spanking clean sofa and dining table.

Our very first meal was cooked by hubby.... instant noodles!!! Is this a sign of emerging cooking skills ? Lets see how far he can progress.

Nowadays , hubby takes verrrry looong showers. In the past , he is in and out of the bathroom in a jiffy. Now with the new shower he is taking forever in the bathroom. He enjoys the pouring rain effect. So guys , if we are ever late for meetings …. take it from me... it's not my fault ok ??!! Jonathan and Jimmy like the shower too. They are asking whether we can host a shower party.

Heather loves her room. The princess of the house decorated her room with the help of Aunty Jac.


Jordan's room is all blue and daddy is looking for pictures of aircrafts to add on to the room. Daddy is thinking of some big blow up pictures or posters.

The master bedroom... our private sanctuary.

The family room in the master bedroom is the perfect place to unwind after a hard day's work.

Music room.


We praise and thank God for a beautiful home and to our family members and friends, we want you to know that we are grateful for all the gifts and help rendered. May God bless us all to His glory.

Almost There

For the benefit of those who have been asking about the house,.....the renovation is almost done. In the next couple of weeks, it will just be fittings and final touch ups. What a relief !
We really thank God for everything ….. for making our dream come true. As the months rolled by , we have seen the house transformed right before our very eyes. It actually turned out better than our imagination. We decided from the onset that the house would be designed to suit our needs so we have kept it very simple.

It's a 'no frills house'. No filifala designs .


The living room looks out into the patio and a tiny garden.

The slits allow sunlight to stream thru.


The dining room looks out to a small tiny slip of side garden.


The wet kitchen is separated from the dry kitchen by a set of sliding doors.


The music room is right behind the house near the wet kitchen n laundry area.


The laundry area is large enough to air – dry clothes during the rainy season.


The master bedroom has an ensuite bathroom and links to a walk in wardrobe area which is large enough to be a sitting room as well.


During these last few months …. our knowledge of construction materials and other related stuff have greatly increased. Indeed our whole life is filled with learning opportunities. We are glad for the enriching experiencing.