365 Days of Love - Spending Quality Time with 2 Sisters

So I woke up at 5am today cuz I had to be at work at 6am. It'll be a busy week this week.. tomorrow's work starts at 7am~ Oh yes..

It's quite amazing to walk to work like at 6am in the morning, empty streets, smell of the morning. I kinda love it, even though I'm not so much of a morning person. But yeah seems like sometimes I can get too acquainted with the hot 9am sun and arvo hotness, that I miss out of the gentle morning dew and dawn. Maybe that's why Jesus loved to pray in the morning... the air is so fresh, the streets are empty and quiet... just the appreciation of nature.. oh.. how nice!

So I finished work at 2pm today... came home, had some milo cereal. Then headed to Rosalie to transfer the registration documents for my car... Hehehe... My car's name is SiauYing (little Silver)... wahahaha... named after SiauYing~~ purposely to di siao her one... hehehe... actually my car is also called Xiao3 Jie2 (Little Jazz). Hehehe... 小杰? 周杰伦? haha...

I also thank God for the opportunity to give Veon a lift to her work and since we got there early, we had some time to catch up on each other's lives and the trials we were both facing in recent times. We shared for about 45 minutes and even had time to pray for one another!

365 Days of Love - Catching up with a beloved Sister while offering her a ride to work. When you bless others, you get blessed back!! It's more blessed to give than to receive eh..!

Anyway... after I registered my car, I drove to Koorong to get some stuff needed for life group.... then drove home... I got a Bible Commentary on the book of Acts from C. Peter Wagner.. Aieks.. when I came home I saw a discount brochure for Koorong at my dinner table. I always miss out on the discounts!!! Sob..

After that, I was supposed to go for my Japanese class. But then something inside me felt that I should catch up with Kuzi, who was feeling a little down lately...

So I skipped Jap class... and intended to take her for a drive up Mt Cootha or something.. but we ended up just talking for more than an hour in the car at our front yard. I could see she became happier and chattier after that...

After that, I asked her if she'd like to have some ice cream. And she said, there's always room for icecream. So I drove us to New Farm and shouted her Shlix Ice Cream. See the smile on her face... it's so valuable.

Happy Kuzi with Shlix Ice Cream - Cherry and Cookies

My Ice Cream - Mint and Rocher

After that we drove home, and spent some time praying for each other in the car.

It was a meaningful night... and I'm so thankful for this chance to spend quality time catching up on the lives of these 2 sisters of mine - Kuzi and Veon.

What I learnt from today's 365 Days of Love?

Take the initiative to catch up with the people around you. Be sincere in knowing their problems and be that listening ear. Like Jesus who went into Peter's boat and 'sat down' before teaching, let us 'sit down' in other people's lives, before opening our mouths.

God is good! 365 Days of Love is so contagious... keep the love spreading! If you want to be part of this 365 Days of Love, God will definitely open doors for you!

Photos:

Last night my housemate Vivian made me a gingerbread man! So I ate it with Labby...

Kuzi's gingerbread man

Giffy and Cha Tea with Joseph 4 people

Cleaning Up J6 ministry house... + I got my car!

365 Days of Love - 20th February - Cleaning Up Ex-Judah 6 lifegroup Ministry House

So my ex-lifegroup, Judah 6, ministry house which is rented by Dexter, Marco, Raymond and Robin, was accessed by the property agent and a 2nd warning was issued that they will have to leave the house if it was not cleaned up and properly maintained.

So cut the long story short, we gathered our forces and decided to clean up the whole house today! Lots of work, but lots of fun when God's people unite and clean together!

Cleaning.. Cleaning

Cleaning the ensuite bathroom... wee hee... I became known as Miss Bleach today...

The boys working on the courtyard... my goodness.. is this fit for human inhabitation?

Smile and praise God!!

Well done boys!!

Heap load of rubbish from the house and courtyard...

Everyone dead tired after that.. but still loving a chill-out of fellowship!

Squeeky clean kitchen! (sorry, no 'before' picture)

Still heaps of stuff... but it's so much neater and cleaner now!

Going to Golden BBQ @ Chinatown for lunch after that...

Yeah... it was an eventful morning! But I loved it~

Oh yes... and I got my car!! Here's picture of it!

2002 Honda Jazz

Went home and Venurs came over to watch Little Nyonya... but I slept for about one an a half hour... before heading to the basketball court for a game of basketball.. yay.... really fun! Just sweat it out!

Then came home.. took a shower and drove Kuzi to attend a friend's memorial at Sunnybank Hills... so Venurs, Wen Huey and I went to Green Tea Garden while waiting for Kuzi.

My meal from Green Tea Garden.. think I ate back all them calories from basketball now..

Now we're back home, dead tired... will be going to sleep in a second. Venurs is having a sleepover at my house tonight.. so yeah, show y'all a picture of what she's doing with my bear, Tian Hong 2, and dog... Labby Jever~!

Tian Hong 2 looking depressed... Labby looking excited!

Today + Appreciating brother Patrick

So Wen Huey and I just returned from an eventful night!

This was how my today went.

1. Woke up early in the morning at 6am (yes, that's early ok!). Did my quiet time and all... had my little whinge with God about the trials in my life... hehehe... and then God told me, "I will be with you!" and also "I care about the things that matters to you!" 

Ho... yes, and AMEN!!!

2. Rushed out of the house before 8am so I could hit my office and work more on my lab presentation. I was totally freaking out, having to present something completely new to me - Pathways! Amazingly, the presentation went well... OK, here's the thing. I thought it was horribly bad... like it was the worst presentation I have ever done in my life! But my supervisor said it was GOOD, and my post-doc even asked me for a copy of the paper and presentation... and so did the others sing praises about my talk.

I feel really blessed, and I have to hand it all up to God, for He must have been the one behind all that!

Cuz, like seriously... I knew it was the worst talk I've ever given in my entire life..! So... Praise God!

In the words of 'Facing the Giants': Whether we WIN or LOSE, we will PRAISE GOD!

3. Waited for the Honda Jazz owner to call me to tell me what time I could pick up my car! And he texted around 1pm telling me the car did not pass the road worthy test as the tyres and brake hoses needed changing, and that the mechanic was going to ship the parts from Honda.... which might now take awhile. I was so depressed... but I guess it could be a blessing in disguise after all.. cuz tyres are like $100 each in Australia... so having that fixed before buying the car could mean myself saving up to $400??? Whao! I hope they change brand new tyres in all.. hehehe... let's pray!!

4. Went to the gym and jogged 7kms! Yeah!! Pushing up the limit!! Woo hoo... I wanted to try and hit 10kms but I thought I'd go easy on myself, since I was already hungry before exercising... the last thing I want is to faint and injure myself... lol..

5. Was walking home from the gym and met Bob! Hallelujah!! I so believe it was God's divine appointment for me to meet Bob.. cuz Atieno and I were both thinking of how to contact him.. and we believe God isn't done with Bob yet! So... having met him, I gave Atieno a call... and somehow she already felt and sensed that I was hooking her up on the line with Bob! God's divine appointment! We're going to keep this man in prayer yeah~~!! Let's PRAY!

6. Went home.. showered... and cut the long story short... we spent like 1 hour organising last minute accommodation for some friends... praise God... another divine appointment.. but let James tell you more yeah.. let's pray for them!

7. Lastly, cooked tang yuan and delivered them to Evelyn and Patrick. So miss my little meh meh and decided to bless her stomach with some hot ginger soup tang yuan... now I'm so afraid to get her cold stuff because of her gastric. I'm so sure hot ginger tang yuan will warm her stomach up! Hee...

2 different colour tang yuans

And for Patrick.. Wen Huey and I just decided we were going to bless this brother. He's been so tired running around doing errands for everyone, and never even stopped to consider his own health. This is such sacrificial giving... We thought we'd drive to Indooroopilly and bless him with hot ginger soup tang yuan and also a bottle of Chicken Essence to appreciate this brother. I know it was really random but yeah, it's so good to look beyond ourselves and consider those who's always been around us in different times of needs.

I some times feel like people who always give tend to forget about themselves. Which is good in a way, and harmful in another way, as they may over tire their bodies or even be unappreciated. But despite this all, I know Patrick just has a heart to honour God and be a blessing, friend and servant to those around him.. and I really admire him for that. May we pray that God will continue to prosper this brother in his giftings and talents from God! And that God will bless him mightily!

Go Patrick!! God sees your heart!

Yeah... so that pretty much sums up today.

Yesterday?

Oh yes.. it was pouring yesterday... so so badly... I was drenched at work while traveling between the IMB and AIBN. Oh well, wet socks and shoes.... it was practically flooded.. Flooded in many other places in Brisbane too! Cars were unable to move and roads were blocked off!
Ohhh!!

But yeah, the rain subsided a little towards the evening and I ran home in the lighter rain.. got wet and so jumped into the shower and refreshed myself. Spent some good time with God and my guitar... ah... even the heat and humidity seems to be affecting my guitar... sob.. my bao bei!

Then I had dinner with the Joseph 4 guys to celebrate Robert's birthday. Woo... we went to a classy JAZZ restaurant at Toowong... there was nice Jazz music... lol.. but it was too loud we couldn't really communicate with one another!! Roar!

Happy birthday Robert!

So yeah, that was all of us who came~

Anyway... photos! We had stonegrill... so we could cook our beef the way we wanted it! Dinner was $25 each.. includes an entree and main... Tuesday's dinner special!

My Entree - Mussels!

Claire's surf and turf

My prime rump - still uncooked...

Flipping over... wee!

It was interesting eh....

Anyway... have a great day y'all...

I'm just gonna do my best, pray and let God do the rest!

Happy Chinese New Year's Eve

新年除夕快了!
现在好想家啊.. 多么希望能够马上买机票回家了啦..

かいる！！！ Haha... my simple attempt to write 'go home' in Japanese.

Anyway, since I'm early and up this morning, I thought I'd blog... lest my event accumulate and exceed my blogging intentions.

Thursday evening:

After Jap class, Patrick offered to help me test a car that I saw online - Suzuki Liana. It was pretty nice.. but as I got into the car and drove it around, I didn't get no feeling of peace. And as I drove it around, there were some glitches here and there.... I thought I'd let it go..

But since we got home pretty late, I was determined to cook Tang Yuan for Wen Huey, and Patrick! It was the feeling of home man...

Cook Balls + Ginger separately...

Serve the balls~~

Seasame ball...

My favourite Peanut Ball..

Ball brands...

Thursday's 365 Days of Love Act: Cooking Ballings for Wen Huey and Patrick - I love their happy faces!

We just sat around and chatted until 12 midnight and Patrick left, and we all retired.

Friday:

Extremely busy and dramatic day. I was having to do a lot of stuff at work, and it was getting me crazy. Thank God for loving colleagues who were there to help out here and there! I really appreciate it! I got home around 5pm and headed to Kenmore to test drive another car - 2000 Toyota Corolla. It was alright... I think the car's pretty old, and I actually felt like a pro test driving it. Just because of the checks I was doing on it... I'm surprised I got real down and dirty to make sure it was worth the buy. My decision? My offer is $7000, but on second thoughts, I think I'd not get it. Just because of the age and the amount of money I will need to fork out servicing and spending on the rego. Naw, not worth the cost. Plus, as I got down to the bottom of the car, I found some rust and as I touched it, the piant fell off. Sure tell tale signs of corrosion.

I think I'm getting real good at checking cars now!! Woo hoo....! But I still wished I got some experience from my cousin's husband at his mechanic... oh well...

So today I might pop over to test drive another 1 or 2 Honda Jazzs, and see how it goes... I'm still praying... y'all pray with me iight? Hee.. thank you. I never knew finding a car was this difficult... roar.!

Yes I'm roaring.. you can almost hear the tiger... cuz the Chinese Tiger Year is coming!! Muwahahaha!!! MY YEAR!

Well, anyway... after that I headed to Joseph 4 Life Group. Was there earlier to meet Ramesh for practice... I thought I was late but he was later!! Hahahaha... in a way, THANK GOD cuz I could get some time to go buy my dinner.. hehehe... I think our music chemistry is improving.. prolly just need a couple more 'collaborations' then we should make a fine team! Ha ha!

And Ramesh forgot lyrics.... so we had to write and do some abstract art here.... so.. here's the professionalism of 'working professionals'... erm...

'Very professional lyric presentations...'

(wahahaha....)

So after that... we had Bible study and somehow we became 'Teacher and Students'... and as usual, I'm the NAUGHTY STUDENT. Muwahaha~~

Giffy trying to steal Canadian Chocolate during the lesson... Yeah, Pei is back from Canada... I look forward to working and growing with her!

After LG, I went to chill at Judah 6's life group, they were wrapping up from an exciting time of CNY life group celebration. Wahaha... I miss them.. I miss them! But also, it's not the same too.... since half of them moved to Judah 8. But.... God established relationships will never cease!! Ho ho.. thanking and praising God for having them in my life...!

Saturday (today):

Woke up at 5am cuz I had to send Daniel to Roma St Train Station. Wen Huey wasn't confident to drive the manual car.. so I offered.. hee... I love driving. Thank God for blessing me with my driver license and skills to drive that I may bless others.

It was refreshing too.. waking up in the early morning, the air out there is actually pretty fresh and cool! Morning bikers were just doing their rounds along the roads and they were mostly Aussies. Oh well, as usual... the Asians just plaiyng chess with Zhou Gong in dream and lala land... hehehe...

Breakfast at Maccas after dropping Daniel @ Roma St Train Station

Saturday's 365 Days of Love

So that's my Saturday's 365 Day of Love Act I guess... Waking up early in the morning to send a brother to Roma Street Station! After that Wen Huey and I stopped by Milton's MacDonalds to have breakfast... and headed back home... and that's where I am now... at home, with my white washed dear baby fujitsu lappy toppy! Hee hee... I'm loving it. Windows Vista? It's cool anyway! Thank God for this blessing!

So I've got another busy and heavy day. In about half an hour, I'd be on Sergeant Andy's Toyota Echo, heading down to the Gold Coast to check out the 'Oceania Convention 2010' Gold Coast Convention Centre. Security in action... I'm loving what God has called me to do for Him!

Sergeant Shannon reporting for duty, Sir!

Hee hee.. I'm nice! Not scary at all... I promise~ *Wink wink*

I also bought Green and White Raddish at Chais, with cucumbers, plum sauce... gonna buy some carrots and hopefully dig out a pomelo... and all... and then.... make Yu Sheng tonight!!! Fun fun!!

Tiger year... I'M COMING~! Rooaawaarrr~~!!

(I got the heart of a lion and the eye of the tiger~)

(I'm asking for your Spirit won't you fall like rain~)

(I'm walkin' through the fire and not touched my flames~)

Woo hoo~~ year 2010 - let's keep the FLAMES burning for GOD!  Let's go! BURN4GOD!

Loving is Contagious

I finished 6kms today at the gym~ woo hoo! How awesome. I feel so FIT right now! C'mon~~!

It's so good... and I think the couple other times I got really long distances was because I was having so many feelings just mixed inwards... and had to just let them go! Yeah... It's always kind of like a battle on the threadmill... the first 10 minutes are always the hardest. It's like the devil there saying, "You can't do it.. give up."  And then when I make it past the 10 minutes, it feels like, "Just give up...!" The victory comes when I ignore the voice of discouragement, and hold on to what is GOOD. And when I reach the 30 mins mark, I'm just so happy I could do another 10 to 15 mins! There you go! The devil loves to make you think you can't do something. But when you've done it, all that you thought you lost or couldn't do no longer means anything to you!

Yes, so many times the threadmill is like my mental training ground. And so many times I have those kind of conversations where God reveals to me my heart condition, or my walk with Him. Who am I 'running' for? How am I 'running'? Am I discouraged? Am I encouraged? Am I on fire? Or am I about to let me flame die off? God has used the threadmill to so often remind myself of the state of my heart... ahh~~

So lately I've began to seek God for certain answers. And last night at prayer meeting a sister said she saw a vision for me... and it meant God is going to reply. Ahh.... It so encouraged me!

I'm on this journey of 'Back to Intimacy' with God. So I'mma press on!!!

So stuff I've been working on lately..

My journal club for next Wednesday's presentation at lab meeting.. (I'm so dreading it..)
Please pray with me to turn this Giant into a Grasshopper!!!

Working on my journal... until I got so stressed I needed the pandas to cheer me up!

Stuffed animals always work for me!

What else?

Here's a video of Jma doing his thing again.... I wanna give panda hugs too.. Hee hee... Find me a mascot, someone! He just makes loving so much fun. Yeah... loving can be fun too!

Spread the love...!

If you watched carefully, you would have heard the coarseness of his voice. He kinda lost his voice throughout the whole Taiwan Conference but still was led to preach under total surrender to the Spirit. It's amazing... and after that he was still out in the streets, fulfilling his new year commitment to God - taking the love out there! Whao! I mean.. at times when I'm sick, the last thing I wanna do is step out of my room and meet people...

May God help us to see beyond ourselves and our needs, to the needs of others! As you bless others by providing their needs, God will bless you by providing your needs!

Keep the love going... loving is contagious!

Awesome...

So... I'm going to sleep now... yeah.. seek God and be with the Creator of the universe, and hear His secrets. God is good!

So I'll be still, and know that He is God.

Yes... wait on the Lord...

Amen... amen!

Fruitful Weekend of Love and Sharing

I just had an eventful weekend fly by... effective and well spent weekend, with couple of dramas here and there... but I really thank God for such a blessed weekend!

Started the weekend with my 1st Friday Joseph Life Group, playing the guitar and making so many mistakes cuz I was just so nervous! New team and new environment.... but it was good! I got to also host the games... my ever original A E I O U!

William doing well in resisting Elysaa's attempt to make him laugh...

I had a great time drawing my concept of the following Bible verses during Bible discussion too...!

Luke 12:16-22; 2 Cor 8:1-9

Yes... I drew that! Wahaha... do you understand what I drew?

After that, Wen Huey, Kuzi, Set Yen, Nicole and I headed to the Manors at Logan for Yum Cha.. yum yum... and then we ended the eventful night with a Gecko catching session in Kuzi's room... for about 2 hours...

The gecko trap Wen Huey thought would work...

On Saturday, Evelyn and I had our shepherding session at Crema and following that, we decided to put our love, and thoughts into actions! So, we just took the first step of being BRAVE and going out there to bless strangers... whether or not it'll work, we were going to try it... so watch this youtube!

Apparently, Aussies were more welcoming and eventually, all those whom we blessed were Aussies.. many Asians just thought we were being funny or were even suspicious or wary about us... but I'm glad it worked out!! Just that there weren't too many people on the streets on a Saturday afternoon anyway... we didn't manage to video the reactions of the Aussie couple we blessed, but they were just smiling and happy and went away happily with a chocolate in their hands!

Enjoy~


After that, I headed down to the basketball courts and played a game with the guys. It has been a while since I played basketball, but it was so refreshing and I just love playing a good game of ball. Yes... awesome! All that speed and fire! See them again in 2 weeks' time... since we're stopping a week for Chinese New Year!

After the first game I had to run off cuz I was hooking up Atieno and Kuzi for the first time. So yeah, it's like my dream come true to have these 2 sisters finally meet each other! And I'm glad we all just hit off like that. Had dinner at Nandos, followed by dessert at Freestyle @ The Emporium. It was good time we spent!

Awesome night of just sharing and sharing~ God is so good~

And so.. started Sunday with a trip to Sunnybank for grocery shopping since Wen Huey rented a car... we got heaps of stuff... and yeah.. I bought myself pork liver for the first time and just had some great time cooking it! Yay.. mama will be so happy to know I managed to cook pork liver here! It was pretty cheap too! :) (forgot how much le..)

The fishes I saw... but too big to buy and cook~~

Went to woolshed, followed by a Unidus session with Ps Wilson regarding the building plan... and followed by church service... and eventually finished off with a nice Taiwanese dinner at Sunnybank plaza. Yumm!

Before I go... I just wanna show y'all a wonderful video of ELIZA. Yes, my best friend. Here's a clip I've put together... and hope y'all have a great laugh.. especially all you who miss her and just want to have a good laugh with her gift of blessing others through being herself!

Hahaha... Love y'all~~ have a great week ahead!

Mission: Back To Intimacy

Ah... Happy Australia Day guys~!

I had a nice day I would say. Started off the day with God... yes, I'm on mission: Back To Intimacy.

You can never achieve something good without God. Man might think it's good, but I know it isn't. Goodness can only be achieved and come from the one who is truly Good.

So I'm heading on this mission - 'Back to Intimacy' I will call it.

I know once we make a decision like that the enemy's just gonna start roaring and prowling.... But I know God is with me... and that's what He told me in prayer meeting today.

"...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

- Mathhew 28:20b (NIV)

There's gonna be a purification process... as He will do His work in me as I seek to set apart myself for His Kingdom...

Video Clip of Jma's 365 Days of Love - Babysitting.... it's actually quite cool... Baby Aiden's really cute. Have fun watching the clip!



May we look around for the needs of others... Go forth with Jesus' love!

The verses that comes to my mind:

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

- Matthew 9:12-13

Think about it..


So yeah... other stuff I accomplished today...

1. Swam 1km (20 laps)... woo hoo.. finally used my new swimming gear... I think I accidentally rubbed off the anti fog of my one of my new goggles lens when I was washing it at home... sob... :( But... the anti fog didn't seem to really work at all...! It still fogged up while I was in the pool! lol...

2. Went to work and enjoyed the air con in the office... surfing the net and trying to improve my Japanese... wahaha... and I came across the show Gokusen... whao.... I was so shocked to see 2 of the actors so young... I think they were only in their early 20s back then... they are the Hana Yori Dango's Domyoji and Hanazawa Rui (also Sano-san in Hanakimi).

Wahaha... interesting yeah..?

Anyway... back to work again tomorrow! Ah... maybe I should jump on the threadmill too... we'll see! Wahaha... it's been awhile since I've done my kms due to the cough that hasn't gone away.. I already finished my cough syrup (yes, gulped down the last bit about 15 mins ago). So... let's pray it'll go away!

Current prayer needs...
1. I'm praying to buy a cheap and good 2nd hand car (manual is fine) by Feb-March. But one that I won't have to spend money to fix after I buy it...
2. Pray that God will bring forth divine appointments in my path and I will not miss it! Pray for me to have courage to meet people and do God's work too!

Lastly..

I will leave with you a verse that's been threading in my heart recently....

"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. "

- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV)