Moments

Here are some moments I had before I went to Sarawak, Sarawak, and post-Sarawak which I didn't have the time to put them up. So here they are:

The Korean dancers from one of the biggest churches in Korea performing in our church...

Truly impressed with their musicians...

The crab Kah Hing and Julie caught

Kuching and her river, sunset

Me and the lovely girls at Port Dickson...

Sarah trying one of her daring stunts, going down the slope

Eileen and Caithlyn and Alexis Gurlz' Nite Out

My Conservative View on Marriage

Will I be willing to give up my career and dreams for my husband?
Yes. I believe in submitting to the leader of the home and the man of my life.
Career and my dreams are something valuable to me but I am willing to give both up if need be for some things more valuable and important.

What if you married the wrong guy and your husband is cheating on you, jobless, or plain lazy?
I trust in the Creator God. It may sound naïve (actually, it’s not naïve…it’s just plain and simple), and sometimes sophistication doesn’t help you solve any problem.

I think being a thai-thai may not always be a bed of roses. I also think that marriage is not a legal paper signed and then when things don’t work out, you can just tear the paper. After all, it’s only a piece of paper. Marriage is a covenant. It is a covenant made with God and man - a covenant in which God is present and is the witness and the binder of this covenant. A covenant that transcends all difficulties in life, including being a financially poor thai-thai.

So my idea of a thai-thai isn’t always about having a comfy lifestyle with spa and facial sessions. But if need be for me to wash toilets, clean the waste, or even attend to your sick, paralyzed husband, I will do it. That is what it means by “I take you as my husband, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…”

Conservative eh?

Yes, old fashioned Janet…

My ambition - A Thai Thai

“I’d like to be a Thai Thai!”, I exclaimed to my aunt’s horror. She replied, “Your mom, myself and also your dead grandmother wouldn’t allow it”.

“You? Thai Thai…? NO way…I don’t think you’ll last longer than a few months”, remarked my uni mate, Gim Han and later I found out Jeff agreed to his comment as well.

Sigh…

I thought everyone would agree that a Thai Thai’s life is a sought-after vocation. I was wrong.

So why can’t I be one?

I enjoy playing golf, and then maybe learn Salsa and then when it’s time, drop my kids at their piano class, violin class, etc etc. Then move on to SHOPPING and then to buy loads of books because I simply have the time to read them. Once awhile, I’ll go visit some friends, catch-up, some jog and swim and then learn how to bake! Sounds great!

Above all, I love children and I want to be with my children as they grow up. More importantly, having been through life myself…I would want to impart in them the love I experience from God and pass on the stories of how loving this God has been to me in my younger years and how He will be to my children and my children’s children if they stick close to Him. Nothing thrills me more than to wait for that time to come when I can do that to my little beings.

OK…but what about your career? Don’t you have dreams? What if you’re earning a lot? You mean your parents funded your education for nothing? What if your husband is abusive, infidel or even plain stupid?

I will answer that in my next post….


* Thai-thai – A Cantonese term for a comfy home-maker. (Is my translation correct?I think it is as far as my broken Cantonese is concern)

Pictures of David & Grace's wedding and a word of thanks

My church member who reads my blog, told me I have a tendency to make promises on my post and not keep them. So here am I attempting to keep the promise I made in the last post about posting photos of David's wedding. Here they are:

Baby Lauren

David's wedding was superb! He sang a lovely song for his wife and took us all by surprise. I must admit he doesn't sound, one bit of him in karaoke...seriously good. Woo Hoo... good job, David!

What I like most about the wedding, is the lighting of candles - a symbolic sign of the union. Very meaningful moment when two mothers (bride and the groom's mothers) held each other's hands as they walked up the stage and then parted to light the candles. That moment was captivating.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank David and Grace for inviting me to sing on their wedding day. I hope the song has blessed you both.

Thanks to Elaine, Evonne and Aunty Carol Siew for helping me with the Mandarin speech. I was too nervous that I lost my lines. I promise to do better the next time by trying to sing more Mandarin songs in Karaoke.

Thanks to Julia, for helping us with the vocals and to Yee Voon for a good duet with me.

More pictures later when I get them from others.

Two hearts, One love

"Love is the melody played by two hearts joined together as one by God"

Those were the words written beautifully on the guest's itenery card of David & Grace's wedding....

I'll like to believe the person who wrote this is a musician!

All musicians understand and treasure the harmonising tune that comes from just 2 seperate instruments or 2 seperate notes or 2 seperate voices such as Soprano and Alto. When played or sing well, they can be so soothing unto the soul. They harmonise so well that the 2 instruments or voices sound like One soothing music.

Two different hearts joined together as one by God... I can't imagine how beautiful that tune can become...because I also believe God is the great musician. He created music and He also created love....

Two hearts, One love....

I love that song One love...

Time to sleep, will blog more about tonight's beautiful wedding with pictures another day...

Good night...

18th September, 2006

It's 11.48pm now...in a few minutes, 18 is over...

So?

So getting more nostalgic...

It's my 1st anniversary in ADL, and also my first year in the working world.

Here are some moments I had in ADL:

I enjoyed the train rides with Alain and Y at the beginning of my early months in ADL (Since I know alain is gonna be reading this...i will add more: He's also a very good friend, one of those funny and smartie ones)

The ADL ladies

With Ramlah

First few moments in ADL:

Mazura introduced the office and all the rules to me, passed me the necessary documents, notebook etc




Y walked in, greeted with his very warm and charming smile....




Alain introduced himself and YY too...







WK introduced himself and asked me a couple of questions...






The last few moments of 18 a year later:




Glen and I laughing over me mixing up my hotel room number... (I couldn't find my room because I forgot my room number)




Met a new colleague with the name of "Casanova"(yes it's Italian but he's french, a good looking french)




Domingo teasing me about my Mandarin...




Etienne speaks better Mandarin than I do, although the locals refuse to listen because he's European




I was laughed at by Etienne when the coffee shop thai thai spoke to me in Mandarin and I looked puzzled. She turned and asked Etienne if I am Chinese... (????!!!)




Hardly had the chance to speak to Patt, but feels good to have a girl colleague around...

My random thoughts....

Random thoughts....

hmmm....

A friend just dropped me at the lrt station.....I love lrt rides....that's the place I always have my random thoughts, inspiration and solemn reflection of the day and life in general...I am definitely missing this in Sarawak...

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Just had dinner with my colleagues - YL, Felicity, Rikkya and Glen...
As usual, all kinds of topics ran across the table and all kinds of laughters too...
I like relaxing ADL dinners like this...
And Felicity's reminder that we should keep Dubai as our best memory in ADL...
Yes, I will not forget the wonderful moments I had in Dubai with my 3 female colleagues, Vivian, Felicity and Patt...
Ramlah's cheerfulness and encouragement....humility is something I learned from her...

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As I was riding with my friend after dinner, we talked about a relationship between my childhood friend and his high school friend....
we talked about the faith of my best friend and who is also his best friend....
We talked about his church, his CG....
We talked about a song Patrick Leong wrote...

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Around this time last year, I was riding in the same car to purchase my brand new bible...different conversations, different feeling

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How long can one hold on to bitterness and live life with it?
Should we choose to envelope ourselves in self pity for the rest of our lives?
Should we be constantly reminded about the bitter moments when we have happier moments to recall?
Should we long to just want to be with one person when we already have so many loving friends who are already here with you?
Why should we hurt our closest friends over something we choose to be bitter about?
Is everything you see is the truth or there is more than meets the eye?
Why do I still keep that Christmas present in my room in Penang?
Do I really think I know better than God?
Can a friend be extra nice and suddenly not?
Why do I place higher expectation on one more than the other?

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Flying off to Kuching again, early tomorrow morning...
What will tomorrow be like?
I heard some changes are going to take place...
I will miss KL and the hikes in Taman Tun with Tse Jian....
The dinners with Elaine, Lee Sin, Wilfred, WeeLee, Jeff and WeeLiem...
I already miss my CG...
CDPC, Pastor Wong, Aunty Constance, Sam......and dearest Sarah...
The little girls - Lily, Sue Ann and Charissa, their infectious laughter, their hugs, their little gifts of love and their naive questions...
The golf game with Terry, Mei Hsien, Aaron...
Wonder whether Terry Jr is out? Who does he look like?

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Farewell, farewell, farewell

This past one month I have said goodbyes to 3 people and the past one year I have said a dozen others...

Farewell isn't really an easy thing to say, especially to a friend of whom you cherished, and spent a significant amount of time together... a bond that seems too hard for distance to seperate...simply because it was spanned from heart to heart

Here are the people I said farewell to lately:

Pei Hsien

I knew Pei Hsien from my high school years...she was a prefect and a senior who was holding a couple of leadership positions and at the same time doing academically well. One of those I admire from far...

In the university, she was elected as the President for one of the largest societies in the university -the Engineering Society. She had demonstrated what I called the 'Georgian' (derived from my high school name) leadership qualities - strong-willed and steadfast. Our friendship began to blossom when we became neighbours during our university years...What bonded us was our faith. She has been such a source of encouragement and of sage advice. I wouldn't forget our nasi lemak days. All the best in UK, girl. Your will to suceed has carried you very far... Georgians rock!!

Chris:

Left: Chris, Patt, Nitin and John

My first case leader and the first Singaporean I ever worked with. An intelligent colleague who has taught me many things. He has made my first case a very memorable learning experience.


Sarah:


A year of friendship with her has been so fulfilling...through the past one year...we knew so much of each other as though we have been friends for years...She has taught me of what it means to be a Christian, to love selflessly and to give my best to God. She was certainly placed in my life when I needed someone like her most...she brought me back me to God.

I will miss her....but i wish her well and I know she will continue to touch many lives wherever she goes...and I know for sure God is with her...



Please don't forget that you promised to sing on my wedding day "When God made you". So, do come home... (I shall take over your place as Sam's big bully. The when you return, he gets double portion of that? hahahah...)





Zi Bin:

Zi Bin is an exceptional individual with a zeal to always improve himself even though he's already doing excellently. His numerous achivements speak for themselves. Charming, sweet at times but also a person who will not hesitate to point my mistakes. One who dares to slap me back to reality, keep my feet grounded. He supported me to the fullest when I embarked on new territories and his advice I often take heed. His intelligence is something I admire and his friendship is something close to heart. Hmm...we have come a long way eh? Thanks for putting up with me during my off-days. The fights, the arguments, the cold wars...I think you have dealt with them very patiently. I am going to miss you a lot.