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?