Sichuan Earthquake

Recently, Asia has had its spate of bad luck with two natural disasters almost occuring consecutively. It is really sad to read or hear about the victims and survivors from the Myanmar Cyclone and the Sichuan Earthquake, so now I have basically stopped reading the newspaper on these two events. I would even change the channel if the news on TV starts to report on these two events.

All the updates I get are through other people's conversations. The reason why I do not follow the news about these two natural disasters is not because I do not care but really because the stories of these victims and survivors are all so heart wrenching.

Stories how a pregnant lady from the Sichuan Earthquake was rescued after 170 hours and delivered the baby as soon as she was rescued or the story about a Chinese lady who left her baby at home to travel to Sichuan so that she can help to feed the countless orphaned babies in Sichuan or even another story of the discovery of kindergarden children still with crayons in their hands. Just relaying stories like these around the dinner table is enough to make me imagine the pictures vividly and cause me to wrench in pain. Maybe it is because I am still breastfeeding and all the pregnancy hormones have not cleared but really, these stories are enough to make me cry.

The stories surrounding little children are the worst to bear. I think being a mother just makes you more vulnerable. In each situation, I imagine "what if it was C" and immediately, I cannot bear it. I would rather die than have to see C go through what these Sichuan children went through. Everyday, we worry about things or accidents that could happen to our children. You can start to drive extra careful or not go on holidays to disaster prone areas or even check and re-check the locks on your doors but seriously, you can never never fully truly protect your little ones.

So parents then have to go crazy worrying about your children. Well, reading Stormie Ormartian's book about praying for your children, she says that we have to trust God to take care of our children. Yes, as human beings, we can never guard our children 24 hours a day but God can. He can protect our children when we are not able to. So, we ought to start praying and trusting God that He could AND would protect our children because they are His creation and children too. He loves them as much as we do or maybe even more than we do.

Of course, knowing the truth and acting upon it is two separate things. It is hard to let go of your possesions to God, how much harder is it then to let go of your children to God? It is definitely a challenge for me in this area as I am a natural worrier. If RH does not call to let me know that he will be home late, I would be frantic, trying to call him upteen times just to make sure he is ok. I might even drive to his company in the middle of the night just to find him and see for myself. But each time I panic, I have to consiously remind myself that God is in control and He loves me and C (and RH).

Thank you Father for Your love and faithfulness so that we can trust You always always.

Psalm 103:13

13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

C C C C z z z z

Babies are really unpredictable! This morning while C was in his bouncing chair, he actually slept all on his own. Usually, he would fuss around when he is sleepy and would only settle down to sleep if someone pats him or rocks him.

This morning was special. I was observing him while pumping away. I knew he was sleepy cos he kept yawning every 2 mins. One second, his eyes was wide open and th next moment, it was shut. He opened his eyes to peep for a few seconds and drifted off to dreamland while the maid (S) and I got ready to leave. Yes, I have been leaving C either at my parent's place or at my cousin's place while I am at work. Its more convenient to leave him at my parent's place of course since I would be having dinner there anyways but I think that he would get more stimulation at my cousin's place as she is a stay at home mom and has 2 young boys.

I had Mastitis AGAIN last night. it must have been the fenugreek. I was taking it to boost my milk supply as my milk supply went down after I had mastitis last week. I was feeling so horrid.

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I think its high time to blog about the Alpha conference. Yes, there is an Alpha conference going on next week. Nicky Gumble and his colleagues are coming to town and I am looking forward to be blessed by this conference. A friend from church asked me whether I would like to help out at the conference as someone who would pray for others during altar calls and such. I would love to help but my concerns are:

1. I am not very strong in prayer and faith and to pray for others (and there might be ministers and church leaders in the group), I was scared.

2. I am still expressing breastmilk for C and I can only go 6 hours without pumping or else I am sure to get Mastitis. And if I volunteer for the job, I would kinda have to be on standby the whole day.

So, I prayed to God and this morning's daily bread was Matthew 5:13-16 about salt losing its saltiness and needs to be thrown away. I guess God wants me to go forward and if the Lord says so, who am I not to follow His call. I just hope that everything will go smoothly.

Oh ya, and for those who would like to join the conference, I think you are still able to register.

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I finally bought my Nikon D80 DSLR. YES!!!! I am so gonna practise on it. Thinking of taking a a class though because there are absolutely so many controls as compared to a normal camera. I think I got it for a good deal and my sis SY is gonna share the cost.

Just in time for the new biz as well. I am a happy camper.

Baptism

{Family Picture in Church}

{Baptised by Pastor Lilian, the pastor who married us}

On Saturday, C was baptised as an infant. Although he was the one being baptised, the ceremony is really more for the parents rather than the child himself. The parents were asked to make a promise: a promise to bring up the child in the ways of the Lord and to try their best to provide the child with a growing environment that would most likely bring him close to God.

It is quite a scary promise really cos firstly, you are making a promise to God. God does not forget promises and when you make a promise like dat, you can be sure that He will hold you to your promise. Secondly, it is scary because suddenly, you are responsible for C's spiritual life. I can't be the lazy person I was and now I have a disciplined and hardworking mummy for C's sake.

I know that I need to depend on the Lord even more now and I pray everyday for C and RH: for C to grow up in the ways of the Lord and for him to grow well and healthy and for RH to be the family's spiritual leader that God calls him to be. For myself, I just pray that God will keep me always close to Him and will always remind me when I stray or have other idols.

So, above are the pictures from the Baptism. Too bad I only have a few pictures because the photographer was not very good at taking pictures.

God is so Good....

We had another ministry training this weekend. Another blessed round of being prayed over. This time, seeing my obvious tummy, WK decided to pray for baby too. It was wonderful. Just when he started praying, I felt the air around my head become heavier and something seem to settle around me causing me to tear.

Had lunch with a husband and wife friend on Sunday. They announced to us on Thursday that they were pregnant and I am so genuinely happy for them. It took them 5 years and 4 miscarriages to get to this stage. I even began praying for them to conceive early this year.

It was truly amazing their testimony and story of how they got pregnant and I know that it is truly the miracle of their prayers that they are able to have a smooth natural pregnancy. It was so fun to see them both getting excited over baby stuff and little baby shoes.

This weekend has just been an amazing weekend and God just showing us how sovereign and all caring He is.

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I was just thinking about how Bakong would address my siblings and I really wanted him to call them by the traditional Hokchia titles so as to preserve the tradition. Now a days, more and more of our family's children just call out a generic title followed by the person's name as to differentiate them eg. Yi yi Qiao bor Yi yi Yu......

I really wanted Bakong to call my siblings first aunt, second aunt, third aunt and so on in Hokchia just like how we address our Uncles and Aunties, so here is what they are gonna be called:

1. SB - Duayii
2. EP - Duayii Riong
3. SY - Sayii
4. DC - Siyii
5. SK - Nguyii or Muiyii
6. Kiu Kiu

Hehehe, it does sound like some bad case of tongue twisting but I really think that we shoudl preserve tradition and I would be really honoured if I was addressed similarly by my nephews and nieces....

PS: I am feeling kinda upset that my doughnut class scheduled on Tuesday has been postpone.

Knocked Up.....

The lack of updates is definitely due to a whole lot of reasons......

1. Left for Japan for 2 weeks seminar
2. Came back with flu and tons of work piled up, thus no time to update
3. Old laptop was sick for a long time with no workable keyboard
4. Unexpected news of being pregnant and having to deal with all the morning sickness

Yep......life has been kinda hectic the past few weeks. However, the baby is totally exciting news. It will be our first born and we are hoping it will be a boy (although I personally like gals) but my in laws and husband are just traditionalists.

We have been trying for 1mth and a half...kinda miss the first month cos RH was in Sydney and did not quite make it for the fertility period. Its been a roller coaster ride since we found out about the baby.

Even its conception was truely amazing. And calculations determine that the baby was "Made in Japan".

HOW DID WE KNOW?

Actually, I was totally expecting my period to come this month (cos I was feeling moody and temperamental, always a sign of PMS) and was feeling kinda down because our "efforts" did not bear fruit.

I went for a ministry training in church one Saturday morning and there was ministry praying for each of the volunteers. When I was being prayed for, I experienced a tingling feeling and God telling me to speak up for Him. I think He has been hinting to me since last year but I was not sure and unwilling to go out of my comfort zone. It is quite sad how little I have spoken about God to friends and families that I know aren't Christians.

Anyways, after the praying session, the minister encouraged us to share our experiences while we were prayed for. A lady (from previous experience, I knew she had the gift of vision) came forward to share and asked if someone was praying for a baby. I knew it was referring to me. I was totally shocked.

I came up to her afterward and confessed that I was the person she was asking about. She told me in detail about her vision of seeing a fetus formed and we prayed together. I felt at that time that I might be pregnant and even told RH on dat day itself. Although we were both so curious and anxious to know, I knew that it was too early to even apply the home pregnancy test. As my anxiety grew with each waiting day, doubts also began to crept into my mind. "Maybe the vision was for someone else" "Maybe it is not me"......

I asked God for another sign and if it comes, I will truely believe that I was pregnant. The very next night, God gave me the sign. I was eatting dinner as usual, with more appetite that usual actually. After dinner ended, I was strolling in Vivocity when I suddenly felt a very strong urge to puke......puke out my whole dinner, I did.

Dat night I decided to apply a HPT. I could not wait any longer, if it was negative so be it but I had to know. I tested positive that very night. It was just one day pass my period.

PRAISE BE TO GOD INDEED and I know that this baby is a gift from God and will be protected by Him........I a now sharing this story to more and more people as I believe this is what God wants and hopes that it will encourage your walk with God

Scripture Reading: Judges 20-21, Ruth 1

Scripture Reading: Judges 12-16

Scripture Reading: Judges 9-11

Scripture Reading: Judges 6-8

Scripture Reading: Judges 3-5

Scripture Reading: Joshua 1-3

Scripture Reading: Deut 24-28

Scripture Reading: Deut 21-23

Scripture Reading: Deut 15-17

Monday Blog Continued........

It's Wednesday but I don't care and I am going to continue my Monday blog. Yep, I was talking about the baking class. On the following Sunday, I made mooncakes. I did NOT plan on making mooncakes this year. I was still recovering from the mooncake fever 2 years ago when I made an excess of mooncake and got muscle ache from the standing on hours.

Anyways, somehow, the fact that I know how to make mooncakes leaked to the office employees, thanks to Mom. One of them actually requested for me to make mooncakes and it is quite difficult to refuse now that everyone knows so........

I made Orange Walnut and regular RedBean and Green Tea mini mooncakes. Snowskins if course because the traditional moonakes are much more tedious to make. I bought the Orange Mooncake Filling at the last minute. The store that I know sells Orange filling has sold out on their fillings. Luckily, I was reading Sweet Decadenze's Blog and she told me of another store that sells mooncake ingredients. So, being a thorough person, I paid the Kwong Cheong Thye a visit and tada, they were selling Orange Filling. Had to add my own walnuts though.

I forgot to take pictures, btw. Nevermind, cos this coming weekend, SY and I are going to make more mooncakes. This time, we will be trying to make the popular alcohol mooncakes. Yippy! Maybe chocolate and blueberry as well. I personally think that blueberry mooncakes are gonna be yucks but SY insisted. And anything that SY insisted, well let's just say, she normally gets her way.

Sooooo, wait for this weekend to see pictures.

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Monday was also the first day that Takashimaya is going to sell the Vacuum Saver. Something that Mom and Dad brought in from Taiwan. This is really exciting, the first time that we are actually doing retail job. Delimanjoo does not count. Anyways, Vacuum Saver is actually similar to a tupperware except that it comes with an inbuilt pump that pumps out all the air and you get a vacuum tupperware which helps to keep you food longer.

Anyways, me and RH went to help set up the stuff Sunday night because Takashimaya has allowed us to have a mini promotion booth for 2 weeks. Pictures below......and please go and support us by buying the Vacuum Saver. They are slightly more expensive than regular tupperwares but totally worth it because of all the benefits.

{RH, hard at work, stacking up Vacuum Savers}

{The guys working hard while I snap away}

{The booth is at Takashimaya B1, household area}

All stacked up. Its not very nice or appealing. I wanted to re-arrange it but RH was very agianst it saying that it was alright. Guys!!!!! *roll eyes* but he is the head lah.

{The promotion table all set up and ready for our promoters}

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Last night, we had Fellowship at Starville and DC's Godmother, AB, was invited to speak to us. She shared with us many many testimonials and spoke about God's will and how to find it. It was such a wonderful sharing and really helped me to understand how God speaks to us and what He wants us to do with His instructions.

Many times, we say we want to seek His will but when He tells us His will, we more often than not do not follow His instructions and just follow what we want to do. It is no wonder that after a while, we do not hear Him at all. If a friend came to me for advice but everytime, I gave her advice, she will do something else, then why should I giver her advice the next time? She is not goign to listen to me anyways. Right?

Anyways, I really wanna thank DH and DC for bringing their Godmother, AB, to our gathering. Really insightful stuff there. Praise God and praise Him always!

Pictures by Kuang

Got my solemnization pictures from Kuang today. Yeah, Kuang is the photographer I hired to shoot my wedding. Had a hard time looking for photographers because I only started planning my wedding one month before the AD (actual day). Thus, all good photographers were taken but thank goodness, the cream of the crop was still available and that is Kuang.

He was with Pentaserve Photography until he decided to venture out on his own. I love his western photojournalism style and I can assure you that he is the best photojournalism photographer in Singapore currently and I could not believe my luck when he told me he was still available. His company is called 39 East and you can view his portfolio at his website http://www.39eastimages.com/

He is not cheap, of course, but his good and friendly personality more than makes up for it. I just wish that my pictures in Indonesia turns out as nice. Only one regret, I should have smiled more that day........ Well, below are some of my favorite shots....

{Me doing make-up}

{Sharing a joke}

{Me, walking to the elevator.....}

{One of the guests, actually my parents' friend}

{Me and Dad walking down the aisle}

{Us, praying with the Pastor}

{My best friend, Jayne}

{Touching moment}

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Did my motivational gifts test yesterday during small group. Turns out, what they deem as spiritual gifts are actually split up into spiritual gifts and motivational gifts. There are 7 types of motivational gifts and it is given by God, our Father. 1. Prophesying 2. Giving 3. Exaltation 4. Teaching 5. Mercy 6. Leading 7. Serving It is no surprise that my gift is serving and mercy. I am soooooo good at behind the scenes work but if you want me to take up responsibility, I cringe, I stress and I breakdown......

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God bless SL's heart. SL was my facilitator when I first attended the Alpha Course as a participant. She was also the one who mentored me as I started small group and on Tuesday, I was telling her about RH's grandpa who was sick in the hospital. I shall talk about why he was in hospital later. So, wonderful SL suggested that she and another sister in Christ, DA, go visit RH's grandpa at the hospital the next day to pray for him.

DA, also happens to be in the prayer ministry at church and I just jumped at the idea. So, the next day, armed with SL and DA, both who are dear sisters in Christ, I went to visit Grandpa. the next thing I knew, DA asked Grandpa whether he was willing to accept Christ into his life and he said yes.......

WOW WOW WOW, was what I was thinking. Dear God, you are wonderful indeed. I really did not expect that to happen and I know that God placed these two ladies in my life for something.
So now, I just have to continue praying and trusting that God will heal his physical wounds cos spritually, he is whole.

Dear Lord

Dear Lord,

Thank you Father that all wedding plans are going smoothly. Forgive me, O Lord, for ever doubting that you can make everything beautiful and wonderful.

Your Wayward Child

HELLO HELLO!!!!!

Feeling much better health-wise but not so mental-wise! Still stuck in the "cannot think" state of mind. Anyways, kudos to Chinese Medicine. Was sick for 5 days, went to the Chinese Physician on the 3rd day and got well on the 5th day. It was quite fast and I mean, I REALLY got well. No left over flu or anything. You know how if you are on the antibiotics and you get well but still be sniffling for a few days? Well, I have got no sniffles...... downside is that you have to endure the bitter bitter concoction....

Oh well, I forgot what I was gonna blog before I thought of the Chinese Med thingy..... proof of the "cannot think" state of mind.

Oooooo, yes! I REMEMBER! I was reading Galatians 2: 11-21 right before blogging and somehow the text made sense more than it ever did before and I have read this part of the Bible several times, mind you. It tells of Paul who was rebuking/admonishing his fellow Christian, Peter and Barnabas about how they were hypocrites. P & B were eating with the Gentiles or Non-Jews before but suddenly when other Jews were around, they stopped doing that. Gentiles were considered "sinners" at that time.

Paul was talking about how Peter as a Christian still did not understand the basis of Christianity and that we are saved not because we are righteous and sinless but because we, just like the Gentiles are full of sin, but because God so loved us, he pardoned all our sins. Pardoning our sins does not make us sinless because we sinned and did wrong in the first place. It just means that God love us despite our sins. Just like if we owe money to our parents and they tell us not to return them the money. Does not mean that we did not borrow it in the first place, just that they love us enough so that we do not have to return them the money. Cool ya!