Cayla's 1 month!

Cayla's one month celebration @ Jaz house

Sweet dreaming for our little baby girl...so adorable! =DD

Look at her eyes! She is so CUTE!!! =DD

We are all fallen under the Cayla's spell today...our little star for the day...awwww.... *bleam* =D

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. ~ Albert Einstein

Saturday night @ TCC Milenia Walk

From left to right: Me, Chau, Xue Fang, Flo, and Bao.

Cozy cafe, cuddly cushions, cute couples...& costly coffee? =p
From left to right: Joe (Esther's bf), Andy, Dominque (Xinyi's bro's friend), Chris, Xinyi, Esther, Daynia, and Dennis

It is always wonderful to spend time with great friends around. If you asked me which day I love the best through my week, I will not hesitate to reply you: "It's Saturday!" Why?

Besides it is a day without having to go to work (well...that's not entirely true for me for these few weeks...), it is the day to go for service and to hear pastor's message for us from the Word of God! I am enjoying every bits of the sermon because they truly impact our lives and change it for the better if you use it and apply it. It feels good when you know you have found your meaning to the things you do, not for yourself but for something or someone even much great than you. I agree with Albert Einstein with what he once said: "A life lived for others is a life lived worthwhile." Do you agree? =)

Another great thing to happen on a Saturday night is to hang out with my church friends and to go out together for a dinner, and just fellowship around, sharing what had happened over the week, what we planned to do, and maybe just what's going on around us. It is the little chit-chats that help me to wonder outside my own realm of stressful thoughts about work, about relationships, and go out to take a peek at other's people lives, rejoicing about the good news that had happened to them, learning to feel and empathized for what is not appearing to be as great for the moment, or simply cracking up at some lame jokes and just laze around. Friends are Godsend angels...I have no doubt about that...hahaha...lol *smile*

My favourite quote from The Leap Years:

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."

Albert Einstein is really one of the smartest guy ever to be seen on the earth. =)

Good Friday, Great Week! =)

Chilling out @ The LoofBirthday girl of the week -- Miss Tina Ong! =pTina's Birthday Celebration! Night out @ Holland Village with the guysIt's getting harder to meet up with everyone now...treasure this time... :)

Highlight of the night -- TIRAMISU!!!

Hahaha thanks Joe for the recommendation...love the dessert, love the place, love the time spent chatting our dreams again...oh wells... =p

Good Friday and Easter has come and gone. This year I couldn't serve in the easter production because of my work commitments and the company policy that I cannot take leave during this period of time. Cannot help but feeling a little disappointed initially as I want to learn to be in the crew. Oh well, there are still plenty of chances to come aren't they? =)

This year easter my cell group alone has 30 friends attending the service with us just for the past 3 days and a few of them responded to the altar call...Praise the Lord! =D Nothing beats the joy of seeing people going forth to the stage to give their hearts to Jesus and ask him for forgiveness for their sins. Though none of my friends is available to come, I am glad that I could help with other new friends brought here as there are just so many of them. Flo and I were both taking care of the new friends in jw and expo respectively. Certainly God will never let us work alone without the helps of others around...lol

Yet this afternoon I still have to go back to office to work as the report need to be out on Monday morning. How I wish I could fellowship with the rest a while longer...... :/

Friendship Week!

Celebrating Lynn's birthday @ Terence's homeTerence's mum bought her a large birthday cake and cook us a yummilicious lunch. We sang birthday song with Terence's family, watch her make her wish and blew the candle...quite a heartwarming scene...Terence your the man bro! *wink* :P

Lynn's reaction upon opening her birthday gift from Terence...

...and guess what it is a customised lavender PSP! You can tell from her expression that she is indeed a woman in great happiness now...hahaha...lol

May you two have a relationship that will build to last! *hugz*Hanging out at Mac after watching Jumper...oh well the show isn't that nice though...haiz...

Friends are angels that God send to us...even juz a short chit chatting at Mac makes me happy...hahaha... :)

Forgiveness

After service fellowship @ Holland Village Eski Bar!

From left: (2nd row) Chris Su, Baoli; (1st row) Me, Sing Yee, Florentine, Xue Fang, and Dennis.

The Ice Room was at -11 degree celcius when we were there...truly a CHILLING out session for us all. :P

Realised it was the 2nd service of 2008 and pastor has preached another powerful message during the service...praise God! I truly want breakthroughs and more changes in my life this year. So for a start, it's time for me to share again the wonderful message that I had learnt today -- Forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

What is real forgiveness?

1. Real forgiveness is unconditional.

• Forgiveness is always your initiative.
• You should forgive the person no matter if he asks for it or not!

2. Forgiveness does not minimize the seriousness of the offense.

• Proverbs 26:18-19
• Forgiveness is needed only when people intentionally hurt you.

3. Forgiveness isn't resuming a relationship without change.

For a relationship to be resumed, you must first have to have:

a) Repentance -- It must be genuine for the relationship to come back.

b) Restitution -- You make changes from your past so as to restore that relationship. (eg. You need to repair the thing you destroyed!)

c) Rebuilding of trust -- This takes a very long time to rebuild the trust you have for someone else if you ever get hurt from him/her.

4. Forgiveness isn't forgetting what's happened.

• The more you are trying to forget something, the more you are focusing on this very thing you want to forget!
• So change your focus on something else!

5. Forgiveness isn't my right when I wasn't the one hurt.

• You got to go back to the person who offended you!

Why should I forgive those who have hurt me?

1. God has forgiven me.
2. Bitterness will destroy my life.
3. Only when I forgive, I will be forgiven too.

"Life is 10% 'what happened' and 90% how we react to it."

Instead of blaming others, take ownership and responsibilities of your own life! You will never do something about your current situation until you see the VALUES of it in your life.

So what is the definition of values?

1. What is most important to you.
2. What you stand for.
3. And what you are willing to pay the price for.

Hebrews 12:16-17

Let illustrate with a simple experiement:

• When you filled an empty bottle with pebbles...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle again with gravel this time...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle later with sand...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle and poured in water...is it full? YES!

Question is -- What did you learn here?

Imagine you start with the water, sand, gravel and pebbles this time and place them in the bottle in this order...could you fit them all in? Well...of course NOT! If you never put the big rocks in first, you will never be able to fit them in at all! And for our lives, our big rocks consist of our families, friends, work, spiritual growth, studies...the things that hold important values and make up the big portion of our lives.

So is it really worth it to harbour unforgiveness and bitterness in your life?

Think about it...I believe eventually you will realise that there are certainly more things in life that deserve your focus and time on!

How to forgive someone?

1. Give up your right to get even.

• It is true that you HAVE the right to get your revenge. Yet this is not important!
• Romans 12:19 -- God will eventually help us to settle our score when the judgement day comes. So for our part, we shouldn't focus on getting even with the person who hurt you, but instead to let go of our right to do so.

2. Set boundaries.

• Setting boundaries does NOT mean to build walls.
• For here, your boundaries are walls with gates that will allow the good things to come in and the bad things to go out.
• You should not reject everyone else but to let those you trust to come into your life.

3. Respond to evil with good.

• Luke 6:27-28
• Return good to the evil and bless others.

4. Repeating these steps as long as necessary.

• Peter has said that he will forgive 7 times.
• Yet Jesus Christ said in the bible that we should forgive 7 x 70 times!

People always say to forgive is to forget. Instead of forgetting, we should remember how God can turn this hurt or pain in us into something even better. It is because of this hurt or pain, that one will come to realise what I have learnt and to make changes to it.

"I will forgive and remember how God has made this hurt of mine to become the key turning point of my life."

It's Christmas time! =)

Christmas is always the best time to spend it with your close friends, family and love ones.

For me, this Christmas is also a time that I will want to spend it with my dearies and my love ones (coz my parents are not in Singapore at the moment :X)...

Lunch @ Sakae Sushi with my two best buddies -- Yingz & Steph!

I love both of them as we can share our hearts out so openly...truly thank God for our wonderful everlasting friendships! :DWe went around Takashimaya for some girl shopping. This year, the highlight of the Christmas decoration for this prominent mall at the heart of the town is certainly these red, black and white glittery bears that form the shapes of a Christmas tree and winter clothings for the manequins.Don't you think these bears look really adorable? *Awwwww*And certainly...WELCOME BACK to Singapore, Kian Hoe!

He is certainly the smartest guy I have come to know...someone who studies doctorate at Cambridge...jiayou brother and may you shine for God in your work! :DAnd as usual...the ever long awaited Christmas gathering at my house once again! :D

This time I finally learnt my lesson and fully utilised my spacious corridor space to held our homecooked Christmas dinner!

Oh well...not all are homecooked except the curry chicken (by Chef Tina Ong), soya chicken wings (by Chef Christine Law), & carrot cake (by Chef Lynn Choy)! The feedbacks are good so far...or maybe no one dare to make complaints to the owner of the house?? : Hahahah...lol

Not so often see Dennis these days and Yehui, Weng & Bernard will not be in our CG anymore next year. I am juz glad to have such a time of fellowship together once again like this... :)And one more thing to take note...Christina is here too! :D

She is one of the strongest and most positive thinking sister I have come to see so far despite of her misfortune. But who knows it may turn out one day to be a blessing in disguise! *wink*

May God bless her and her family in everything that they come to pass through! :))Trying my best to make it look like a little celebration with all the wines and food and tibits and drinks...let's have fun through the night!

Christmas is a season of giving...so of course we will not forget our gift exchange! :D

And this year for me...my blesser turns out to be Clarence! He bought the Double Chocolate Chips Cookies from Crabtree & Evelyn as I had put on my wishlist. It is certainly the most expensive and precious cookies I had ever eaten...thank you so much!

And what's more Shuhui got a Lavender hand cream from Crabtree & Evelyn...the exact item I wished for too! :D Hahaha...this is what I meant by great minds think alike ya? :P

I love Christmas and every year it certainly gets better and better. This year Christmas marks the last gathering of the old E240 cell group and next year there will be newbies (or so they are officially named to be) among us.

Under brother Darren's leadership, I really wish we will all grow much spiritually stronger together and we could be great testimonies in our workplacea and family and more and more of our friends and family members get saved! :)

2008 will be even better...OOOSH! :D

A small corner for my friend who blessed me with this book...THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D I truly didn't know you are reading my blog (or there are people really reading it! :P) and give me such a pleasant surprise. I am so touched! :) Though I may not be a very good person to talk to, juz wanna let you know you can always open up yourself and talk to me or others around you if you need because a sorrow being shared will be halved and a joy being shared will be multiplied. I pray that there will be a great breakthrough in 2008 that will change your life for the better. May God's words works in you, in your work, in your family that you will be blessed most abudantly and He will give you the peace and reassurance you want. Take care and all the best to you in this 2008. Let us grow together in His presence and build a much closer relationship with one another, and most of all with our heavenly Father! :)

Christmas -- The Season of Giving, the Season of Love, & the Season of Joy

Christmas is the season where everyone rejoices in the dazzling street lights and the symphony of the christmas carols.

Christmas is a season of thanksgiving, a season of being with your love ones, a season of sharing the good news with the others.

Christmas is an important season that not only does it reminds us of the birth of Jesus, but also marks the ending of a year and the start of a brand new year where your dreams could come true...

How we celebrate and experience Christmas may change every year. For me, this year is a Christmas that is special to me. 2007 is the year I finally graduated from my studies and the first time being in the workforce. 2007 is the year when my cell group has finally multiplied. 2007 is also the year when I finally ready to serve God and was given the chance to do so in Drama ministry this Christmas.

So here I am rounding up on the merry Christmas that I had this year...let share this joy with you guys! ;)

1. Christmas @ Orchard Road

Christmas will not be complete without a big, colourfully decorated Christmas tree.Christmas parade @ Orchard RoadPretty pretty Orchard Road! :P

2. Christmas @ Changs

As usual, this year there are 5 Christmas services at Expo:

22 Dec (Sat) 5pm; 23 Dec (Sun) 10am; 24 Dec (Mon) 745pm; 25 Dec (Tue) 930am & 12noon.

What's more this year is that there are new services over at the Jurong West church since we have started Sunday afternoon services, catering to those members who stay in the west.

So everything is gonna be multiplied by 2: drama, actors/actresses, props, ministry helpers...and hopefully the coming crowd! :))

The highlight of the Christmas services is always the lighting up of the candlelight...the whole place is simply beautiful with the sea of candle lights flickering in the dark hall.

Maybe some of us are going through the darkest stage in their life now.

Maybe they experienced failures in their business and their work.

Maybe they have come with a broken relationship with their families, their love ones or their friends.

Sometimes, all they need is just that someone to light up that candle in their life for them so they can see through the darkness...This year Christmas I need to be present for all the services at Expo since I am serving in the props team. We act as standby and wait next to the stage in case there is any missing or spoilt props that need to be repaired.

Watching the Christmas drama from the backstage is something new to me. It opens me up to the other side of the whole production where others may not be able to understand the commitment we need to sacrifice for this event.

Yet, the result of it is always rewarding...and to see how people are touched by it and make their decisions to come to accept Christ is truly all worth it... :)

3. Drama Ministry!

Timeout in our temporary restroom for the cast & the crew.

With me is Esther (right), Rebecca (middle), and Agnes (far right)...the Women In Black! :P

I am most happy to show you guys the treasure chests I have designed! :D Hahahah...lol I just can't stop that joy as this is the first time AND the first prop I have made ever! To see them being used on stage is quite a morale booster too as I would worry if they are ever good enough to be shown to the audience.

For someone like me who enjoy doing such arts & crafts stuffs, this is like a ministry-hobby combination for me. I enjoy serving God because deep in my heart I truly want to make contribution to his house. Everyone is given different gifts so we can used them in different areas. I may not be someone who can talk or counsel others. I may not have a great voice to praise God on stage like the singers and the choir. Yet, I believe, God has given me a creative mind and good hands to make these little props and help lighten the load of Baoli too...yeah...lol

From a normal A4 carton box, to a treasure chest, and even to have gemstone, jewels and gold bars in the chest actually take up quite some time to make them...yet determination will win the prize ya? :)

4. Fellowship with my cell group members...and endless games of Saboteur! :P

I truly missed them when I was in the backstage. Even Baoli wish to be with her cell group members too. Hence, it was truly the best news to us when we know that we have no rehearsal after the Christmas service on Sunday so that we can join the group. I love you guys so so much!

Juz to let you all know, we are most addicted to this game called "Saboteur" ever since we first played it together at Settlers. You can imagine how much we like this game as both Terence and Tina each bought a set of the card game after that.

Now, we always find a secluded place to play this card game together...and we can play it for hours after hours! :DD

Muddy Mud Pie from Coffee Club!

Somehow, the size seems to have shrunk even with the inflation of the price by $1.90... :X

Kian Hoe is back from Cambridge for this year Christmas. And so does Kat from Indonesia!

We purposedly brought Kian Hoe to taste the local food once again right before another rounds of our usual pool games with the same old pool gang. :P

This is my first time trying fish head steamboat...well to be honest, I don't really like it... :P

5. Christmas present for myself!

The Attributes book 3-for-2 promotion came in just nice for me as I always wanted to buy in a few more spiritual books to fill up my free time, a time to read and relax. Hence I reward myself with 3 books since I finally get my bonus this year...woohoo! :))

Unfortunately, there is just one book that is out of stock and I really wish to get my hands on it. "I Dare You" by Joyce Meyer is a book about the passion for God and how we can maintain it.

Well, maybe I will get it when the stock comes in. Or...who want to bless me with it? Hahaha...juz kidding... :P

Sometimes attending services and cell groups may not be enough in our walk with God. If you truly love God, you will be excited and really want to know much more about him. Quiet time and reading up the books are also essentials to building a closer relationship with God. It not only helps to increase our understanding of what God wants in us, but also to keep our faith strong and to remind us once again that in all the things we do, we need to rely on God and listen to Him with our hearts. That there will always be a soft spot for God to be in the centre of our life, instead of we ourselves controlling our life...

6. Christmas wishlist

These days I have fallen in love with the Crabtree & Evelyn products. I guess as you mature, you will realise on the importance of skincare, which is especially essential in times of stress and busyness at work. Toys are no longer a favourite as a gift but something practical will come in more useful than ever.

For the gift exchange I have already put in these two items, will my angel bless me with my desire gifts? I want I want! :P

"The Cross" drawn by Phi Pringle during one of his services here...love it... :)

"Next forward-looking event: Post-Xmas gathering @ my house this Friday 28th Dec...so see you guys till then! :D"