Turn Over A New Leaf

After 1 year and 1 month, I finally go back to working life again. This is my first week, as usual, mixed feelings again. Nothing seems perfect.

Happy
1. Praise God, I got a job that I like
2. Less diaper changing
3. Only cook for baby in weekends
4. No more daily poop handling

Sad
1. Definitely less time spent with Chloe
2. No more afternoon nap

A New Light To Give Away

My reno contractor had given me an extra ceiling light that I didn't order. It's new and still in good condition. The light is good for balcony, entrance or wet kitchen area. It's FREE if you want it! Some of you ask for pictures, there you go ...

A Story About VAN

We had a short trip to USM Nibong Tebal yesterday. The reason was to bring back our baby crib from a friend's house there. In order to carry the baby crib, our little Iswara definitely cannot do a good job:) The only option was to borrow the van from the church.

That was my frist trip in a VAN.

When we were on our way back with our crib perfectly fitted at the back of the van, something unexpected happened at the bridge tol when we attepted to pass through the Touch-N-Go lane. From far, we saw a malay girl (tol worker), quickly came out from the counter to stop us at the lane. She waved at us and pointed her finger to other lane, she was asking us to move to the lane on the left. The first thing that came into our mind was "What a bad luck! This Touch-N-Go lane is out of order!". With a CRV followed behind our car, hf tried very hard to reverse the van out of the lane and planned to go in the next cash lane on the left. Guess what? I don't understand what is in the mind of the Malaysian drivers. The cars kept coming into the cash lane, none of them gave way to our van. What an selfish act! They acted as though they cannot see such a BIG VAN!!!

Finally, we managed to make into the cash lane. Who knows, the same malay girl stood right in front of us, giving us the same hand signal again. This time I really lost my temper, what's this man!

We reversed again. JL thought, maybe van has different rate. This time, We followed after a bus, a bus lane couldn't be wrong. The TRUTH was finally revealed --> Yeah, JL was right .... coz the meter showed RM9.60!

Now we understand, even though MPV and Van have the same capacity - 7 seaters, but Van != MPV, VAN is VAN, perhaps from the outlook sake or price sake:) I guess that's the reason why the eyes of the malay girl were so sharp. A van needs to move through all the lanes horizontally, endanger itself just to pay 4 more dollars for the TOL:)

Back To Malaysia

FINALLY!!! I'm back, thank God I'm still alive! Actually I was back to Malaysia since last month, but I was too occupied with many things:

(a) 1st week - we were hoping that our apartment reno would be done in a week time, however, only master room was ready. It was not 100% ready also, curtain also tak-dak. We slept on a king size mattress with queen size comforter somemore. (self-pity*)

(b) 2nd Week - all the faulty electrical points and issues were fixed. However, it caused some of the walls need to be repainted. Then, the contractor sent someone to clean the house, I nearly fainted, I asked that guy to wipe all the glass doors and windows, but they ended up like never been wiped before. I asked him to use thinner to remove some sticky stuff on the kitchen top, he took 1/2 hour but the sticky stuff was still there, hai yo! In the midst of all these, my sis-in-law moved in the apartment. The next day, my another sis-in-law came back from UK. My father also came to visit me that night .... so excited huh :)

(c) 3rd Week - shipment from US had arrived, ended up my house was full with boxes. The carpenter was supposed to remove the TV rack and divider before the shipment arrived. Really hopeless, they came at the wrong time, in the midst of all the boxes, the TV rack and divider were scrapped. Despite the frustration, we were so happy coz no more ugly rack. However, a lot of holes remained on the walls, even on the tiles ......

(d) 4th week - Finally I unpacked all the shipment boxes. Another story had just begun. Coz, we arranged lorry to carry our stuff from Taiping to our apartment. Another unpacking to do. The good thing is, THE CURTAINS WERE FINALLY HERE!

(e) 5th week - Finally got a better contractor to plaster and repaint the wall. The broken tile was replaced too. What a major milestone! However, my house was so dusty ever since .....

All these were just the highlights of what had happened in the last few weeks, but actually the situation was much worse than that. So many sleepless nights. You couldn't imagine how bad it was! Plus it was done with Chloe around :)

I received an email from my best friend, hai ... kena scolded kuat kuat by her becoz I didn't contact her after I came back. My old hp no. was no longer working, and I didn't give her my new no. and she was feeling hurt with that. (I'm sorry ...)

THANK GOD for His strength to endure all these. It reminded me - do not look at the big mess, but break the big mess into smaller pieces and tackle one by one, take a step forward at a time, eventually the big mess is gone.

Sad News

I called my mom on Sunday to wish her Happy Mother's Day. While I was excited to share I had done for her, she brought me a bad news. I was speechless after I heard that. MY COUSIN BROTHER HAD PASSED AWAY.

Until now, I still cannot believe it really happened. My cousin brother was only 27 and he died of leukemia. It was too late when the leukemia was diagnosed. It has reached the final stage. The doctor suggested him to undergo chemotherapy immediately where a total of 4 shots would be given. However, my cousin brother started to be losing consciousness after the first shot of chemo. He even told his father (my uncle) that he couldn't take it no more. After he was given the third shot, he went into unconsciousness. In ICU, his body temperature and heart beats kept going down, down, down .... and he was gone ....

He was a very unfortunate boy in all his life, except he had all the love from my grandma because he was the firstborn son in the family. His parents had divorced at his young age and he had a broken family since then. His father had to work else where to make a living and left him with my grandpa and grandma. My grandpa was very strict with him, however, he had become a problematic child after my grandpa passed away. That time he was 12/13 years old. Everyone in the family blamed my grandma for over pampering him. Well, what do you think? A grandma who lost her husband and a kid without parents by his side, both of them depended on each other.

One day, we heard another news about his mother. His mother was diagnosed with final stage breast cancer. He lost his mom. I didn't know how he went through such difficult times. He life was never been good. And in the end, leukemia had become his fate, at age 27.

I still do not know what to say, and I couldn't even see his last face. I couldn't accept the fact that he just disappeared from my life like that. *SIGH ....

Brutal Baby

This is Chloe's new hobby. She is fascinated over the ponytail holder on ladies' heads. Unfortunately, A was Chloe's target because Chloe kept pulling her ponytail holder off her head! See. A was tortured by Chloe, "brutally":)

A: No Chloe.... OUCH!!!

There are 4 things that would catch Chloe's attention:
1. Food
2. Laptop/computer
3. Ponytail holder
4. Toys (not those belong to Chloe)

If you have one of those 4 things, Chloe will surely become your good friend:)

Celebrate Birthday

Last Sunday was my friend, Ying's birthday. I was so touched by the way her friends celebrated her birthday. She is from Thailand and she is studying in Portland State University now. Her ex-university friends in Thailand sent her a video to wish her happy birthday. The video is so special, see this!

The title of the video is "Where is Ying?". At the beginning of the video, it shows a guy was knocking on the door of room 616. The room 616 was Ying's room. That guy was looking for Ying, but he couldn't find Ying. Instead, it was Ying's ex-roomate who was sleeping on the bed. Then both of them went down to the dining place to find Ying. They thought that the girl whose face was covered by the newspapers was Ying. Obviously, they were wrong. So, where was Ying? Then, 3 of them stood up one by one behind the bar and there, they pointed at the video cam and shouted,"Ying!" THEY EVEN BROUGHT UP A BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! They sang her birthday song. In the end, Ying's ex-roomate pointed to a board with the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY YING" message.

I have mixed feelings when I watch this video. I was so touched by their friendship. She must be a special person to her friends, until they miss her so much. At the meantime, her friends were pathetic because they had to help Ying to blow the candles and eat the cake without Ying:)

Try this on your friends who are far away, he/she must be very touched!

The 4 Spiritual Laws

I have learnt this from Sister YS and I would like to share with you. Those are the 4 spiritual laws which govern our relationship with God.

1.God LOVES you and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life
Because God loves us, He created us to have personal relationship with Him. God wants us to have abundant and eternal life.

John 3:16 "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life"
John 10:10 "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly"

2. Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God.
Man is continually trying to reach God and abundant life. However, God is perfect and holy but man is sinful. Sin separates man from God. So, no matter how many good work a man does, he still cannot reach God and eventually leads to eternal death. No one can experience eternal life through his own efforts.

Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death"

3. Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to reach God and eternal life
Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. God has bridged the gap which separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins on our behalf. He was sinless, and yet He had to pay the price for us, even before we were born. He had overcome death and was raised on the 3rd day.

John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me'"
Romans 5:8 "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"

4. We must individually ACCEPT Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord to experience God's love and plan for us
All we need to do is to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord by faith (This is called saving faith). We need to acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Son of God that He died on the cross for our sins. We must repent to God for all the sins we have committed.

Revelation 3:20 [Christ speaking] "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him"
John 1:12 "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name"

How to accept Jesus Christ? Very simple, just make a sinner's prayer by faith:
"Dear Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins, I want to turn from my sins, I now invite you to come into my heart and be my personal savior and Lord of my life. Thank you for coming into my life. In Jesus name Amen"

Now, let's evaluate (see the diagram below), where are you at now?

Check this out too! Knowing God.

Your Brother Is My Husband

This is a very funny one, from Joel Osteen's Joke~~~

On one Sunday morning church service, it was going just fine. All of the sudden a lightning bolted. When the smoke cleared, the satan himself was standing behind the podium, people panicked and ran out of the building as fast as they could. Satan stood there with a glee, but suddenly his mood changed when he noticed a woman sitting in the front row just as calm as it can be. He said,"Lady, do you know who I am?" She said,"I should do." He said,"Aren't you afraid of me?" She said,"No, I'm not." He said,"Why not?" She said,"Why should I be? For 30 years, I've been married to your brother."

Easter Sunday

(continued from the previous blog post)

We were so blessed to have sister YS preaching on Easter Sunday. She brought a new breath to our church. I like her omelette illustration. let say we need 4 eggs to make an omelette. One of the egg is already bad and is beaten into the mixture. So, no matter how many good eggs we add into the mixture, do you think the omelette can be fixed? No. Likewise, it applies to the sin that we have committed. We are sinful, the good things that we do cannot overwrite our sin. But Jesus provides a way to cleanse us from our sins. All we need to do is to accept Him into our hearts.

*Expressive~~~ sister YS*

After lunch, we were looking forward to an excited outing ~~~ TULIPS FARM! Just couldn't wait to take beautiful pictures. However, *SIGH* the weather was not really good. Cloudy and drizzling. The worst thing, it was windy. I don't mind cold weather, but I hate wind, because once it blows, it gets all the moisture out of me and I just couldn't open my eyes. Anyway, be positive, we still could make the best out of it, no matter raining or what. There you go the pictures of tulips - one of the highlights of SPRING!

*Windy*

Tell u a secret, Chloe broke the stems of those tulips later

Purple tulips, nice!

Daddy and Mommy:)

Sister YS and us

We didn't make it to the end, because we were chased away by the rain. Then, we stopped by at Woodburn instead. Since we had only one hour, so I chose to shop at my favorite shop - GUESS outlet. Guess what? I bought a pair of jeans with a very good deal - 34USD org price with 15USD off and 20% discount = 16USD!

DINNER TIME again! We had decided to go to Wong's King. Many of you know about Wong's King, but do you know that it's famous for its "Salty Spicy Pork Chop"? You must try that if you never had that before.

The top left picture is Salty Spicy Pork Chop!

Tell you what, I put on 2lbs weight after all these food. haha, there wasted all my effort in workout. OK, finally, I'm done! Thanks for staying patiently with me until this last line:) That's all about my last weekend!

MIA

I have been Missing In Action for the past few days, I miss this blog very much. Wanna know what was happening?

FRIDAY
It was started with a wonderful dinner with G and WL in SIAM restaurant on last Friday. We ordered Siam fried rice(highly recommended!), barbecue chicken, curry and cashew nut chicken. Good reward! The Siam fried rice was not in the picture below because everyone couldn't wait to eat the food, hehe!

After the dinner, we went to D & A's house. We spent 3 nights there. I felt it was like a camping, hmm ... a 5-star-camp is more appropriate, because their house is far more better than a camp site. Let me explain why were we in D & A's house. A powerful sister, YS from Hope Singapore came to visit Hope Portland and she was kind enough to offer teachings to us while having her holidays in US. On Friday night, she shared her experience in street evangelism, then we had role-playing. haha ... I was paired up with her, arrgghh ... I was so nervous and I had forgotten how to share gospel. So rusty ... I really need to brush up my skills. However, it was a good experience though. Under pressure ... what do you think? Forget to mention that we were so blessed with the cheese cake baked by sister YS. It was far better than Cheese Cake Factory! Cheesy but yet not "jelak"(not very filling). But, midnight cheese cake, hehe ... sounds crazy.

SATURDAY

On Saturday, sister YS went through Hope Vision and Philosophy (V&P) with us in the morning. It was a refresher lesson for us, as we had already gone through it in Penang. Then, we had our lunch at a Mongolian Grill restaurant. Basically we took whatever ingredients we like, e.g. noodle, meat, veggie ... then the cook will fried them into a dish. I think it was so-so, probably because the soy sauce and oyster sauce were diluted.

Who was the inventor? hehe ... hf. Looks good huh?

Sister P and myself ... while waiting

After lunch, we went to Party City to get some decoration stuff for Easter Sunday. At the mean time, Sister YS put some garlands on Chloe's head. She was so excited over them.

Hawaiian Garland ~~~ colorful

Pinkish baby ~~~ Chloe is so girlie

Then, we went to church to achieve 2 missions: decoration and worship practice. After that, we went to Karma Cafe in 82nd Ave to get our favorite bubble tea. Tell you what, the mango bubble tea is very good, with tapioca and jelly.

cozy ~~~ Internet time while waiting

It was dinner time then. We packed dinner from Tian Hong. You cannot miss the "Fried Squid" from Tian Hong, too bad no picture was taken. I promise I will definitely show you the picture in my future blog post. It was so nice to continue on with V&P lessons while eating the dinner:)

I feel very sleepy now. *YAWN* I will continue my story on Easter Sunday in my next blog post. Gotta sleep now ... (to be continued ...)

You Be Jesus

Happy Monday! Joke from Joel Osteen~~~

A mother was cooking pancake for her two young sons. Ryan was 5 and Kelvin was 3. There began the argue of who should get the first pancake. She saw this as an opportunity to teach them a lesson. She said, "Boys, boys, if Jesus were here, he would say, let my brother have the first pancake." Ryan turned to the younger brother and said, "OK, Kelvin, you be Jesus!"

PSU Caregroup

Praise God! The PSU caregroup was finally established! There were 10++ of us in this week's caregroup. Most of them are PSU students.

The CG began with interesting introduction of ourselves. Besides our names, we were to share our favorite movie stars. The flow began from Western movie stars e.g. Brad Pitt, Jim Carey, Jennifer Lopez to Korean movie stars e.g. Rain - the only one that I can remember, feel myself too old for these:) Our of expectation, someone mentioned "Jacky Chan" too!

It was followed by a game called "sop, sao, aha". Each one of us had to pick one of three actions and pass it to the next person. It was very funny to see many of us confused with "sop" and "sao", plus the words were especially hard for US guys.

We had an excited praise N worship session. Praise God! Not only they sang, but they clapped their hands too. Hf and I were sharing our testimony later. Feel kind of nervous to share my testimony in front of so many foreign students. Anyway, it was a good experience. There were short bible teaching too, with topic "Our Life Purpose" - from the book "The Purpose Driven Life". Each one of us were to share one goal. Interesting answers varied across all the people. We laughed out loud when someone said, "I want to make people that I love happy!" Wow!~~~

The CG ended up with a light supper, hehe ... food and fellowship! We spent quite a long time chatting with each other, until someone shouted, "Hey, it's time to go now!", then only we realized, it was already 10:30pm!!! Anyway, it was wonderful!

Everybody, show me the best! Cheese~~~~

ladies + a mom + a pregnant woman + a baby girl

INTRUDERS

HELP! INTRUDERS in my house! They are so IRRITATING .. gerrrr!!!

Yesterday was quite warm, so we left our door open. Oh no, I saw 5 of them hovering around in the house! Hf, fast and furious, hunted 3 of them down with his SHIRT (the nearest weapon that he could grab, haha!) Then, he killed another 2 in the toilet. Oh man ... there were more than 5 of them!!!

This morning, I saw another 2 in the bathroom. I quickly grabbed a cloth and killed them all, what an achievement! When I was loading the dishes into dish washer, this suicidal one went inside the dish washer. What else? I closed the lid and activated the washer. Sure die!

Who are they? I think you already got it by now:) If you are kind enough, please lend me your "badminton racket", I still have one more to go.

Prison Break Finale (Season 2)

Finally, I have reached the last episode of Prison Break season 2! However, I'm sad to hear that season 3 is coming up. Arrgghh .... have to WAIT again. If you were in my shoes, you would understand what I'm talking about. Every episode was very excited from the very first in season 1 until this finale in season 2, you just can't resist the temptation of keep watching. I remember PF told me that someone watched 8 EPISODES (season 1) in a day, I couldn't believe that. After I watched it, I knew why - The first climax of this series cools down in episode 8:) Prison Break is not like the typical US movie series, it's more like Hong Kong movie series, the story line continues on from one to another.

For those who don't know about Prison Break, season 1 talked about this smart Structural Engineer, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) installs himself in a prison in order to help his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) breaking out from the prison. Lincoln is sent to death row due to a political conspiracy. The process of breaking out from prison is very impressive, including extraordinary smart, perfect and detailed planning from Michael Scofield. (I think the editor must be very smart too.) In the last episode of season 1, both brothers successfully escape from the prison, together with 6 other criminals. The story continues on in season 2, where they are on the run because they are the top wanted criminals of the country. A new FBI agent, Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) comes into play in season 2. He is equally intelligent as Michael Scofield, you will be overwhelmed by his ability to track down all the run aways. Even though the conspiracy is revealed in the finale of season 2, but new plot is coming up, which will be continued in season 3. Michael ends up in another "prison" called SONA, so you know what to be expected in season 3.

I believe everyone who follows PB will like Michael Scofield, due to his extraordinary intellectual and creative power. On top of that, this guy is pretty good looking too! Dr. Sarah Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) is Michael's lover, and I feel that her existence in the series sometimes is overshadowed by Michael. I like Lincoln Burrows too, for his characters - decisive, daring, fast to react and willing to sacrifice for his love ones. Agent Mahone is my favorite too due to his intelligence. He is sharp in reading people, and he always gets it right! However, he is pathetic because he is threatened to work for the Company to get rid of both brothers, in order to protect his wife and son. I hate Paul Kellerman (Paul Adeistein) in season 1, he is a well trained FBI agent who works for the president, he wants the lives of both brothers too, but being betrayed by the Company, he stands out as a witness and reveals the conspiracy. But, I don't like the fact that he is killed in the end.

Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell (Robert Knepper) is labelled as the creepiest character in PB. He is smart, cunning and sneaky in this movie. John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare) shouldn't have died so early. I wish the editor could let John Abruzzi stay alive and settle T-Bag:) Both of them are equally cruel, T-Bag slashes Abruzzi's throat but fails to make him die. And later Abruzzi chopped off T-bag's hand with an axe. So bloody! However, I respect T-Bag, because this guys is so tough, considering he gets his hand sewn on by a vet without anesthesia! Another annoying character, Captain Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) plays as a greedy, rude, dishonest and money-minded Fox River Officer. This guy appears from time to time to disrupt the flow of the story. I really wish to kick him out of the series:)

Besides the romantic love story of Michael and Sarah, I'm so touched to see Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) ride his cousin's classic motorcycle, a 1952 Ural all the way to Las Vegas trying to stop his pregnant girl friend, Maricuz marrying another guy, Hector. But he fails to meet her. Fortunately, his girl friend still loves him very much, she left Hector at the chapel. A few episodes later, she finally meets up with Sucre and runs away together with him. They thought that they can live happily ever after in Mexico, guess what? Bellick has her in a hiding place with only enough food to last for 3 weeks. (that's why I hate this guy so much!) Sucre is threatened to lead Bellick to the 5 millions for an exchange. In the end, his girl friend Maricuz still remains missing. *SIEN*

I'm definitely looking forward to season 3, this is the best movie series that I have ever watched so far! Enjoy the PB Video Clip below!

Your Wife

It was an embarrassing experience. I chatted with a friend, I asked about how his wife and his son were doing. He said they were doing good, then he added, "By the way, she is not my wife yet." OOooppss .... I should have mentioned her name instead of addressing her as "your wife".

I met an Indian lady who works in Hillsboro. I asked Chloe to call her "auntie", guess what? She told me that Chloe could call her by name. It was awkward for me as an Asian. Our culture taught our kids to respect the elders by calling them "uncle" or "auntie", however it's an opposite in US, where Americans prefer to be called directly by their names. That Indian lady told me that try not to use "sir" too!

There are quite a number of DON'Ts that I have learnt, one of them is do not simply ask people if they are married or have any kids. Because you do not know what you might bump into. There was this lady, I knew she had a husband. 3 years later, I met her again and I asked her, "How's your husband doing?" And, she told me that she was divorced. I was speechless.

We have to be careful with our words, in order not to offend other people.

Result Oriented

I almost forget to publish a joke on Monday. Here u go ... from Joel Osteen.

A minister was standing in line at the public gates. And in front of him was a guy dressed in T-shirt, blue jeans and sunglasses. Peter came up and asked, "OK, who are you?" "I'm Joe Collin, taxi cab driver, New York city" Peter checked his list and he handed him a silk robe and a golden staff and said, "Welcome to heaven!" The minister stepped up next and he said, "I'm Reverend Joseph Snow, I'm the pastor of the St. Mary Cathedral." Peter checked his list and he handed him a cotton robe and a wooden staff. He said, "Hey, wait a minute. The taxi cab driver got a silk robe and golden staff, how could this be?" Peter said, "Here we work by result. When you preached, people slept; when he drove, people prayed!"

Chloe Chatting On MSN

While we were sleeping together with Chloe, the phone rang at 11 something yesterday night. It was from hf's parents. They asked if Chloe had slept. That time Chloe was about to sleep. In our expectation, they asked if could chat with Chloe on MSN for "a while"(haha ... there will never be a while:)). However, that little Chloe was more than happy to entertain her grandparents!

Count My Blessings

A few surprises happened this week. I feel so blessed!

(a) First of all, hf brought back a container of red bean soup on Monday, it was from a sweet sister. I was thinking about cooking red bean soup, I've never thought that someone would cook and give it to me:)

(b) I received a Korean Songs CD. It was from another sister. I think she was caring and sensitive. I just mentioned once that I like Korean and Japanese songs, especially those series soundtracks, but she remembered that!

(c) Another sister paid a visit to me on Thursday and stayed overnight at my place. I enjoyed the time we spent talking to each other. And, she taught me Thai language too! Before she left, she passed me some snacks, it was my favourite chocolate chips cookies - Chips Ahoy!

A Diamond Stone

A friend of mine shared how tremendously God blessed him at work. He got a company letter out of surprise. He was selected to be the Model Employee!

I remember he did not really enjoy the work at the beginning. However, this guy embraced a winning attitude and a fighting spirit, deep in his heart, he wanted to conquer it. He wanted to be the BEST! He meant it and he really did it. He was humble enough to put down his pride to ask and learn from the people around him. And most importantly, he kept praying and praying to God, all the time.

A few month ago, he became the Top Sales Person of The Month! He made it, for the first step. And, now, he is the MODEL EMPLOYEE! Can you imagine all these things happen in less than a year, since the first day he was with this company? Such a big leap cannot be made without God. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. I have seen how much he has given up for God. He made a response to God, "I'm willing". He picked the stone amongst the gold, and it turned out to be a diamond stone. In its rough state, a diamond stone is unremarkable in appearance. But it is more precious than gold after proper cut and perfect symmetry. We can never out give God, when God bless, the floodgate of heaven is going to open until we have no room to store.

God Bless!

Rev 3:20 & Gen 3:10

I always like to bless your Monday with a joke, from Joel Osteen again:)

A new pastor just moved into the town. He was going door to door visiting people. He came to this one house, it was obvious someone was home but nobody would answer the door. So he took his card out and he just wrote Revelation 3:20 at the back and he stuck it in the door. The next Sunday after the service, an usher handed him his same card, and below his message was the scripture reference Genesis 3:10. Here is what they say.

Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man and open the door, I will come in ...

Genesis 3:10 I heard your voice and I was afraid because I was naked ...

The Spring Is Here

Nothing's new about Spring. It was already almost one month since the season change. Many of my friends have already updated their websites/blogs with beautiful photos of cherry blossom. However, I also want to flow with the trend. How can this blog miss out this moment?

It was a sunny and warm Sunday. We managed to snap a few pictures in Cortland Village. It was not really a perfect spot, so .... funny pictures again! Chloe was sleeping in the car, just too bad. (She will be in the next series of pictures).

Hi ... Spring!

Chloe And Dogs

Lately Chloe is fascinated about dog. "Dog" is her most frequently used word recently. When our neighbour's dog barks, she will imitate that and "wow wow" will come out from her mouth, followed by "Doogggg" ~_~ We brought her to Woodburn, she met 3 dogs. She kept shouting "dog" at them, pointing her little cute finger at them and running towards the dogs. She even touched those dogs! One of the dogs was BLACK and HUGE, but she didn't show any fear. Instead, she laughed naively while approaching the big dog. *SWEAT*

The 2 pictures below were captured by hf while I was away. To my amazement, the puppy was afraid of Chloe and hid under the bench. Chloe's aggressiveness must have scared the puppy.

The puppy finally accepted Chloe, She was out and played with Chloe! So adorable. It made me feel the urge to buy Chloe a little puppy.

Friends Of The Week

My gang is on the cover this week. We named our gang as "duo-jee-pai". "duo" is means "big" in hokkien. "jee" means "character" and "pai" refers to "gang". There were 4 of us, with nicknames start with "duo". The "duo" character was then combined with the last chinese character of each of our names. After that, each nickname was pronounced in hokkien. It turned out to be very funny. I was the one who came out with this idea. In the end, 3 of them revenged, I also got what I gave - I had a "duo" nickname too. I would like to keep their "duo" nickname as a secret (I don't want to be killed:P), but I can share mine. My last chinese name sounds the same as "mountain", thus it becomes "duo shuo" after being translated into hokkien. "Big Mountain" - sounds awful, rite? You also can try to change your name following the same rules, you will laugh until your stomach hurts!

By the way, I haven't introduced who they are. They are actually my ex-roomates during university time. 4 of us were staying in a big master room and sharing one toilet. Our main activity was CHATTING! (4 girls, what do you think?) I remember we always chatted until 3am, 4am, and sometimes even 5am! That's one of the reasons I missed my 8am class in the next morning. Having supper at 12 midnight was our favorite too. We always ordered Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak with Teh-O-Ice-Limau. Until today, I still couldn't find any Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak as nice as what we had. Perhaps Johor is famous for that.

It was a long story of how we became good friends. To summarize it, it happened in my first year of university time. I was staying in the same block (hostel) with DL1 and DL2. At that time, almost all the girls in that block were from the same course as DL1 and DL2. I didn't understand why I was the only one from my course staying there. DL1 and DL2 were from the opposite rooms, I was very closed to them. One day, a girl from that block told me bad things about DL1. At that time, I didn't think twice and told DL1 about it. And, that girl came to know about it. Unfortunately, that girl was quite influential amongst the girls from the same block, I was isolated by all them. I had never thought that this could happen to me, it was really a rough beginning for me in my 1st year. But, guess what? DL1 and DL2 stood by my side, despite the opposition from their coursemates. They went through the hardship together with me. Our real friendships had been tested. I couldn't remember how hard those girls had been treating me, but the only sweet memory I have is I gained 2 good friends.

How about DM? DM was my roomate in my 3rd year. She naturally became part of us. She was the cutest one. She was very friendly, understanding and "siew lui yan"(cantonese). DL1 had a very strong personality, I could easily read her face, whether she was happy or not. DL1 was extremely outstanding in singing, she could sing any songs just like the original singer. DL2 was the quietest person among us, but all of us agreed that she would be the best girl friend or wife. If she ever loved someone, she would sacrifice everything for that person. She was a shoulder for me to cry on.

I'm glad that we were still good friends now. And, I'm even happier to see all of them found their love ones. Below is the latest picture of 4 of us. I couldn't find a better one, that's the only one I have. Other than the 2 guys and myself, the remaining 3 girls are DL1, DL2 and DM. Feel free to guess which is which :)

*Note: DL1, DL2 and DM are the initials of their respective nicknames. DL1 and DL2 happen to have same initials, so 1 and 2 are used to differentiate them.

Faye's Replacement? U Judge It

My best friend, S asked me not long ago if I would like to listen to a female singer who sings like Faye Wong. Before I proceed, let me tell you a little bit about S and myself. We were ex-roommates during university time and both of us were Faye Wong's super fans. Faye tied us together. However, no more new album from her after 将爱, her last album released in Nov 2003. Both of us have been disappointed with Faye.

I was delighted when S talked about that mysterious singer. I was being skeptical, can someone sing like Faye? I listened to a few of her songs recommended by S. She indeed has a great voice! Focus and fine voice. Now, the questions is, who is she? She is ...

Vincy Chan, 泳兒 is a Cantonese Pop Singer from Hong Kong. She was born in 1982. She was one of the top 24 contestants in Project Superstar Singapore in June 2005. Being the runner up of Emperor Entertainment Group's New Talent Singing Awards 2005, she also won the award of "Most Popular Image". She was famous amongst the HK public because of her song '"My Feelings", 感應, debuted in 2006. Her new album 花无雪 (translated as "Flower Without Snow"??) was just released in Feb 2007 with the song list below:

1. 花无雪
2. 天使明明在此
3. 一时倦了
4. 倾斜乐园
5. 黛玉笑了
6. 爱情鸟
7. 我是你的乐与怒
8. 踩钢线
9. 晕船浪
10. 卖火柴的女孩

Cannot be denied that she has a great vocal, but her songs are "commercial" to me. Why I call them "commercial"? Because the songs can easily catch the ears of the public. General people will like it. I think it's her company's strategy to bring up a new singer. Just like Faye, most of the people could accept her songs when she first became popular in 1990's. As her songs became more individualistic in the later stage, people either still loved her no matter what, or criticized her. I remember my parents used to describe her songs as "Ghost Songs".

Back to the topic, I especially like 爱情鸟 and 天使明明在此 in this album. 爱情鸟 stands out amongst the rest not only because of her vocal, but because of the piano accompaniment too. As 天使明明在此 might sound "weird" for certain people but I find the uniqueness in its music.

爱情鸟 from YouTube.


天使明明在此 from YouTube.


You can find out more about Vincy from her Official Website.

Last Caregroup But Not The End

It's time to blog again. Yesterday was the last day of our Hillsboro caregroup. This is a tough decision to discontinue the caregroup. In order to follow leader's direction, we have to focus more on another newly started up caregroup in Portland State University.

When the announcement was made, there were several touching emails from A, as though she was winning Oscar award! She mainly talked about how she looked forward to coming to CG every week and how the CG has helped her and her husband to grow more in the Lord.

When we met up yesterday, as usual we started off with praise and worship. Hf added another song "I'm ready now" on top of the 3 songs he had selected, because we wanted to sing more in the last caregroup. Talking about P&W, that's the moment I enjoy the most as everybody is into it. After that, we had a sharing session. Everyone shared how they have grown in the CG. We had so much to share until Hf didn't get to teach the lesson he had prepared:) We didn't realize that we had already run the CG for half a year. Time passes so fast.

We recalled how we started up the CG. Before coming to US, we had made a promise to God that we will run a group. However, we had no idea how. Until we met A and TC, I approached A one fine day and I got positive response from her. Since then, Hillsboro CG existed. And later, G and WL also joined us. There are so much more to write, but, to cut the story short, we were happy to see the hearts change and the people grow.

This CG will always be the one of the most meaningful experiences that I had in Hillsboro. God blessed me friends whom I can share live with, especially A and G. It's God who made this miracle happen. God has been so good to us. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

As usual, funny pic ....

Death

I knew that this day would come, due to my laziness and forgetfulness. If you read my blog from the very beginning, you might recall I have 2 tulip plants. Unfortunately, right at this place and this time, I want to OFFICIALLY declare their DEATH :) (not 100% dead yet, but they are almost there)

Hard To Say I'm Sorry

I finally plucked up my courage and said sorry to a friend of mine. I was hurt 1 week ago, I thought I could forget, but I couldn't. On last Thursday caregroup, I kept thinking about it when I took communion. My hubby kept telling me that it's not worth to keep the sin. However, I chose to harden my heart, I didn't want to forgive. Until yesterday Sunday church service, my heart was stirred by the incident again as I was partaking the communion. Can't it just leave me alone? Finally, I tell God, "Ok, this time I surrender, I choose to release myself from it, no more grudges."

Today, when I brought up my friend's MSN chat window, I was still thinking ... should I? Arrgghh .... JUST DO IT! I told her that I was sorry because I got mad, and she replied me! I was so happy that it's done, *RELIEF!

Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Building In The Middle

Today is Monday, here's another Joel Osteen's joke to cheer up your day!

A guy had been stranded all alone on a deserted island for 20 years. All of the sudden a ship came up to rescue him. And captain Cain Mashore, he noticed that the man had built 3 buildings in a row. He was kinda curious and he asked the man, "What are those 3 buildings?" The man said, "Well, the building on the left is my home, the building on the right is my church." The captain was even more curious and said "What about that one in the middle?" The man said, "Oh, that's the church I used to go to."

Friends Of The Week

Someone told me not to disappoint my "loyal readers" due to the reason that I have stopped blogging just for 2 days. I'm very happy to hear that. I've just started my blog for 2 weeks and now I have loyal readers?!! I DECIDE ... from now onwards, I must be blogging diligently (hopefully I'm not "tahi-tahi ayam" this time).

I think, think and think about what to write .... "ting!" (imagine a light bulb by my head) I can write about my FRIENDS! I call it "Friends Of The Week", in other words, there will be some CHOSEN ONES every week and their "secrets" will be exposed in this blog. Don't sweat when you read this, if you count on me. The most I'll keep my mouth shut with $ ... kidding ...

Guess who are the "unlucky" fellas this week? They are .... A and G. Why they? Coz we are in the same bible study group in Hillsboro. Our husbands also join the group, but at this moment, I keep them out of the story. Both of them are my closest friends in Hillsboro, as we meet up almost every week ever since we were here. It is amazing how God can bring 3 different people together. Perhaps one thing which ties us together is becoz of we are wives. What do you think, A and G?

A and G are very generous in giving. Every week, we take turn to cook during caregroup. I know A likes to cook very much, not only her food is good, but she likes to cook many type of dishes each time. I heard that she inherits this from her mom:) She is an expert in cooking curry and Penang local delicacies. I especially like her belacan (prawn paste) friend chicken wings.

G is famous for her fried wan tan (I always can't help to pack some home). Another thing worth mentioning is her bak kut teh, with 6lbs pork in it! You can't imagine how sweet the soup is.

One thing common between 3 of us is we like to talk. Everytime, the caregroup ends late becoz we keep on talking (not only us contributing to the problem, the men also talk a lot, they always block the door way becoz conversation is still on going even though they already bid good bye). We really have good time fellowship with each other!

A and G, my life is colorful becoz of you, haha :) A pic of 3 of us, taken at restaurant Sweet Tomatoes, credited to hf.

Ouch!

I cut my thumb again! I tried to be good, fast and accurate at cutting veggie, and that was what happened to me. Actually not bad at all, I can get a little rest for the following few days, coz "somebody" is going to share my daily burden, such as washing dishes and the worst, bathing baby. I hope that he could cook too! (dreaming, not relevant at all.) You know whom I refer to, he is my lovely hubby! He some more shows love to me by waiting for me while I'm writing this blog :) Look at my finger ... a bit gross (make sure you are not eating, ok?) ... just freshly cut. hehe!

WHO DID THIS??!!!

Chloe's mischievous act while I was blogging :)

Oh no, she did it again! (I was busy with taking "I'm sorry" pic)

Wanna Say Sorry But Lack Of Ideas?

This is a creative way to say "I'm sorry" if you unintentionally offend someone, haha ... especially your the other half. Do not worry about the grammar mistake (only one 'R' in the set of letters), I'm sure that whoever sees this will be immediately ok!


Don't limit this to say "sorry", it's not bad for "I Love U" too! The "L" in the pic is actually the reverse of "7", Chloe lost the "L". So, make sure you keep your "L" or "7" letter, else ... you need to find other way.


Words or sentences which are more intimate, I do not wish to know, haha ... keep it to yourself!

How To Cross A River?

Just for a laugh!

There were three men lost in the woods when they came upon a ragging river.

The first man looked up at God and said, "God, please give me the strength to cross this river". And poof ... God gave him strong arms and legs and he made it across the river in 2 hours.

The second man looked up at God and said, "God, please give me the strength to cross this river". And poof ... He gave him a row boat and the man made it across in 45 min.

The third man looked up at God and said, "God, please give me the strength and intelligence to cross this river". And poof ... The man became a woman with a map and she crossed the river in 5 min by the way of bridge.

- Taken from Joel Osteen's joke

Pat Tor Anniversary

Hf and I have a few meaningful anniversaries:

1. Pat Tor anniversary (7-3-1996)
The most meaningful day to us, but "too bad", it is our friend LK's birthday too! (no offense brother, you know I'm kidding:)) We usually celebrate this day with LK, at his house.

2. Marriage Registration anniversary (25-12-2001)
We didn't choose this date because it was Christmas. The registra, Pastor Tang was only available on that date. We actually registered on the same day as our witnesses, Daniel & LS.

3. Church Wedding anniversary (9-3-2002)
Usually we celebrate this together with our Pat Tor anniversary, as they are close, just 2 days apart, in March too.

4. Chinese Wedding Reception
This is not counted, I forget the date, somemore dun know which year, Dec 2003? early 2004? Arrggghhh .... dun care la!

On March 07 (Wednesday), Bugatti's was the place to celebrate our A. We ordered Hawaiian Pizza and pasta. Unfortunately, We ate too much of the bread before the main courses were served. We were so full until we couldn't finish our food. Hehe ... in fact I was happy because no need for me to cook for lunch the next day. Pitty hf that he had to eat pizza for 2 days.



We didn't take photo of 3 of us, too bad. This is Hf and Chloe, with a view of the restaurant. Hf said that my skill is not up to his expectation:)

That's me! Better view coverage of the restaurant - snapped by hf. Chloe was ignored, as the consequence of not being cooperative and responsive.

MyCard or MyKad?

IS MyCard a Bahasa Malaysia or English acronym? What is its full meaning? – Student, Penang

The term is “MyKad”, not “MyCard”. Below is the full meaning of the term according to the National Registration Department website:
The word “My” spelled “M”, “Y” signifies Malaysia’s internet address whilst the word “Kad” is the acronym of “Kad Akuan Diri” or translated as “Personal Identification Card” as well as “Kad Aplikasi Digital” (Digital Application Card) and also means “card”.
http://www.jpn.gov.my/kppk1/Index2.htm
Of course, “kad” is the BM word for “card” and “my” also means “belonging to me”. So one can have a bilingual pun from the word “MyKad” to mean “my personal identification card/digital application card”!

taken from: http://thestar.com.my/english/story.asp?file=/2007/3/8/lifefocus/16982908&sec=lifefocus

Disaster

As I was syok syok writing my blog just now, hf came out from the bedroom, with Chloe in his arms. She was smiling at me, happily. I started to smell something which was not right, just like the calm before the storm - "Calm continueth not long without a storm". Guess what? Nothing is worse than this. In the middle of the night, Chloe POOPED!!!

hf said, Chloe woke up out of the sudden and patted his head, O O ... DISASTER, he realized.

Pitty me, I couldn't run away from this responsibility ... I wish she can wash her own .... just a wild thought, hehe.

The Niagara Syndrome

I found this interesting, from the book of "AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN" by Anthhony Robbins. Just to inspire you. Do let me know what's in your mind.

(pg 41)
...Most people live what I call "The Niagara Syndrome." I believe that life without ever really deciding where they want to end up. So, in a short period of time, they get caught up in the current: current events, current fears, current challenges. When they come to forks in the river, they don't consciously decide where they want to go, or which is the right direction for them. They merely "go with the flow." They become a part of the mass of people who are directed by the environment instead of by their own values. As a result, they feel out of control. They remain in this unconscious state until one day the sound of the rabging water awakens them, and they discover that they're five feet from Niagara Falls in a boat with no oars. At this point, they say, "Oh, shoot!" But by then it's too late. They're going to take a fall. Sometimes it's an emotional fall. Sometimes it's a physical fall. Sometimes it's a financial fall. It's likely that whatever challenges you have in your life currently could have been avoided by some better decisions upstream.

...
(pg 44)
No matter how prepared you are, there's one thing that I can absolutely guarantee: if you're on the river of life, it's likely you're going to hit a few rocks. That's not being negative; that's being accurate. The key is that when you do run aground, instead of beating yourself up for being such a "failure," remember that there are no failures in life. There are only results. If you didn't get the results you wanted, learn from the experience so that you have references about how to make better decisions in the future.

...
(pg 47)
While you're raging along the river, focusing on the next rock you might hit, you don't - or can't - see far enough ahead of you to avoid the falls. As a society, we're so focused on instantaneous gratification that our short-term solutions often become long term problems.

Some Quotes taken from the book:
"A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary." - SENECA
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing" - HELLEN KELLER
"We will either find a way, or make one" - HANNIBAL
"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." - THOMAS EDISON
"Man is not the creature of circumstances; circumstances are the creatures of men." - BENJAMIN DISRAELI
"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped" - ANTHONY ROBBINS

My Last Sunday

It was Pastor Meeting last Sunday, don't worry, I'm not going to tell you every single bit of it. What I want to tell you is, we had "International Lunch" in the church that day. I'm talking about FOOD, ok? See the orange thingy in the pic - It's my CREATION "Butter Prawn", haha ... feel like eating it?