Strength for the day

Sleep wars

2012-01-27T19:15:00.001+08:00

As I mentioned earlier, Gabrielle has extended her bedtime to adult sleeping times. In fact, she IS sleeping almost adult hours, 8 hours a night instead of the recommended 10 or 11. A daytime nap adds just 2-3 hours to that sleeping diet, and that's still a little under the recommended total sleep needed. But our little owl seems none the worse for wear-- we're not sure what's in her milk that gives her so much energy!

In trying to train her to go to bed, we've had to adjust the cues a bit. It used to be as easy as saying "Bedtime! Bring your books!", cuddling up in our bed and reading a few of her favourite books, before saying "Goodnight", a prayer, and off to sleep she goes, after some tossing and turning. Now we still have our books in bed, but when the light goes off, it's off to the living room to settle on the sofa. It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes of tossing and turning before she naturally drops off and Daddaa scoops her up to Grandma's room for the night.

This is a relief, although bedtime still stretches past 10.30pm. Before we discovered this new 'method', she would be wandering around the apartment, from living room to kitchen, to grandma's room, and not know how to settle herself down for sleep, and this could go on all the way til midnight. "Positive discipline" (as well as some of those other parenting books) reminded me that she needs to have a routine and cues that signal it's time to go to sleep. You can see she's tired, but she can't find a way to settle herself down.

Not sure what's going to happen when we have to pack ourselves off to the hospital for delivery... we've been trying to mentally prepare her to stay with my parents once her little sibling comes out, but so far the reception hasn't been good. Think it will just have to happen and she may have to cry it out. That's just 5 weeks away!!

Train a child in the right way...

2012-01-23T17:56:00.002+08:00

...and he will not depart from it (Proverbs 6:22). Joerg's favorite verse.

When we were expecting our firstborn, I was already wondering about whether I would be up to the task of "disciplining" my own children. To me, Joerg would have no problem because this was what he did every day, and he had internalized the need to impart what is right to the next generation. For me, I was brought up strictly under the rod and so agreed that punishment / discipline is necessary, at least in principle. Now that Gabrielle is realizing more and more that she can control her world through her actions, we've found ourselves in an increasing number of face-offs with her. But I've found myself struggling with being firm and following through with consequences, versus being kind and understanding why she's acting up. We had tried disciplining her by saying "No" very firmly and then smacking her little hands when she insisted on carrying on the disallowed behaviour, but Gabe didn't seem to be learning from these physical consequences. So after reading a friend's blog about her own challenges with her little girl who is just a few months older, I got interested in the idea of "positive discipline". The idea appealed to me because it suggested that you could render discipline without physical punishment and still be able to help the child do what is right.

So I logged on to acmamall.com and got ourselves a copy of "Positive Discipline: The first three years" (Jane Nelson et al, 2007) to see if I could get any ideas from there. (By the way, I told a friend about this source and he agreed that the price was cheaper than Amazon's.) Before this, we had already read the Babywise series (Ezzo), and the ideas in there made sense, i.e., establish a routine for baby's stability, be firm, etc, but somehow Gabe seemed to have reached some kind of developmental plateau with those principles. Lately I had also read "Effective parenting in a defective world" (Chip Ingram) but those didn't really offer specific strategies, mainly principles which (I thought) we already subscribed to.

The book came 2 weeks later, and I started turning the pages in earnest. It's highly readable, and I found myself through half the book in about 3 days. Nelson offers lots of principles, concrete examples, and specific strategies, some of which are similar to the ideas in Ezzo's and Ingram's books - namely, the need for routines and not to be permissive. The key themes are:

discipline is not punishment but training,
be kind and firm at the same time, and
work to help your child develop autonomy for self-esteem and confidence.

What I found really helpful was the understanding of the developmental milestones of toddlers Gabrielle's age, that at this stage they are exploring their new world, striving for autonomy and independence, and thus need to learn many skills to be able to do things on their own. When they are not able to explore, or not able to accomplish stuff independently, this is when tantrums and defiance/rebelliousness result. In disciplining (ie training), toddlers need less to be told "Don't do that", and more of what TO do. This was a good reminder, even though Joerg and I do know this as we work with youths. Didn't know that it applied to young children too!

So that's where I am at the moment with this book... I've been trying consciously trying out strategies of distraction, as well as telling Gabrielle what TO do. Distraction works when I can find something equally appealing to her and it takes her mind off the other stuff; telling her what TO do is a little bit more effort because sometimes, I'm not sure what's the alternative!

Just a note though... I have said that I found this book very readable, partly because I subscribe to some of the thinking as well. I'm particularly in favour of "Be kind, yet firm" and that physical punishment isn't the ONLY way (at this point anyway). But what about someone else who doesn't quite share these views, especially the view on physical punishment? This might be a challenge. That said, I'm glad that this book has helped me so far to understand Gabe's world and to think about how I could use my own natural inclinations for her positive development. More adventures in positive discipline to come :)

Picking up where we left off...

2012-01-22T14:48:00.002+08:00

[Lisa writes]

Haha, Joerg's last post was when I was carrying "our little LJ" at 8 weeks! Definitely time to pick up blogging again, now that Gabrielle is 2 years old, and I'm carrying Theodore at 33 weeks... with 39 days to go!

With these life changes, our blog focus is going to be a little different. Gabrielle hit her terrible twos just before she hit two (which is tomorrow), but to be fair, she had been an easy baby so far - with a growing vocabulary that never ceases to amaze us, a cheerful disposition, and so easy to put to bed with a simple routine! Then, when last Christmas rolled around, she decided to throw us a curve ball. Sleep was something to be avoided- night time sleep in particular, when Mama and Daddaa are all tired out or need a little more time to finish up some work, she decided that she should keep us company as well, and that WE should be in bed before she is! Our biggest challenge now, among other things: getting her to go to bed early and to sleep for at least 10 hours. I think this is something other parents in Singapore can empathise with; I find that over here, kids sleep later, while in the States or in Australia, kids go to bed at 8 or 8.30pm! Before this, Gabe was not exactly sleeping early, by 10.30pm after her last milk, and now it's been pushed back to as late as 1am (last night). Sigh.

Anyway, in this blog we hope to share our journey as parents, and also to record life's little (and big) challenges as we stumble along in bringing up our kids to be godly people. I'm inspired by another couple who are our friends and are sharing how their little girl is growing up, with all the joys and challenges as well! We hope this blog will be a blessing and encouragement to other parents too.

Mi alma te canta

2009-06-09T11:21:00.003+08:00

[joerg writes]

I've been 'away' for a while, back to share my thoughts.
Recently we been listening United, Casting Crowns, Karhryn Scott, and of course Delirious?

I was really touched by Delirious's My Soul Sings (Mi alma te canta), beautiful song- perhaps a cry from my heart from the dissatisfaction in life. Dissatisfaction at work with the lop-sided orientation towards academic excellence (people don't understand the cries of the teens do they?) and 'lifeless' colleagues getting endless job done. Well, the thesis been in a dusty shelf for a while- perhaps due to a self-gratifying excuse of a bad relationship/communication with my supervisor.

Well last Sunday's message was good, a reminder not to judge people and be very very forgiving (coz like our heavenly papa, God by His grace forgives you today, tommorrow and until the end of days, and He said in Romans 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them (us) which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.) For me the deeper message is still living in His Spirit, through Him that I (& all of us) become stronger to face many of the challenges in life.

With a little LJ arriving in 32 weeks, I've been pensive of doing a little more as a husband :) God is preparing us a gift,well I have to pick up the pace in many of my current missions so that in time to come I can be a responsible papa.

Cmo te Amo

Movies@home

2009-03-08T00:05:00.004+08:00

[Lisa writes]

I'm in between academic years at the moment, and enjoying the non-school work days. Outside of work-hours, I thought I'd take the time to work on my "other lives" and it's been good.

One of the things I've been catching up on is movies. We are somewhat movie-buffs, but would rather avoid the cinema crowd, preferring instead to watch dvds or vcds in the comfort of our own home. Joerg especially likes that he can make his favourite shot for both of us using his prized Rancilio from Brisbane! Well where do we get the movies from? We frequent the Video-ezy at King Albert Park most often... not to borrow movies, but for the stock of ex-rental sales there. We can usually find bargains at between $4.95 to $8.95 (vcds) but the challenge is to find a GOOD movie! I reckon part of the problem is that we've collected so many of them, that we're running out of options! Sometimes we can spend a good half-hour there trying to dig out something good, and unfortunately there are times when we leave empty-handed. Other times, we leave with 3 or 4 pretty good shows. And they're ours for the keeping!

There are a couple of nice ones which we watched recently which definitely are worth re-watching. One of them is Facing the Giants, an independent (non-Hollywood) flick about a coach who is struggling to bring up his football team to victory. In the process, he re-discovers God's power and work in his life, and eventually brings the team together again to greater heights. Although somewhat predictable, it was very real; we were still drawn in to the struggles faced by the coach, and encouraged by the faith-journey he experienced. It was particularly meaningful for Joerg as he's the soccer teacher-in-charge in his school. Really inspiring, and funny at times too. I think we'll be picking this up to watch every now and again. Here's a clip from the movie...

Actually, while I like inspirational movies, I do also really go for mindless violence, action, and psychological thrillers as well - yeah give me stuff like Kiss of the Dragon, The Mummy, Flightplan, Terminator 1, 2, 3, ... . However I'm starting to realise that there's only so much violence I can take. For example, I coudn't bear to watch all of Saw and Untraceable... all that torture - physical and psychological - just had me cringing and hiding behind pillows! Recently we also bought this movie called The Strangers which stars Liv Tyler... the hide-and-seek which the bad guys played with the victims seemed never-ending, and the part which I hate most, is that they (the bad guys) got away with it! I need a movie with an ending where at least some justice is done. So shows like P2, although with some torture and violence in it, at least was more bearable because the bad guy got his just desserts.

As of last week, we couldn't find anything at Video-ezy... looks like we'll have to survive on cable for a while, sigh!

New beginnings... a late report

2009-03-01T20:00:00.003+08:00

[Lisa writes]

Well this is, to put it mildly, abit late. We returned to sunny Singapore last September, and the blog seemed to die a natural death as we headed into the next stage of our lives...

But I've been feeling a call to 'revive' it over the last few months, just never got round to it! What encouraged me to put my fingers to the keyboard was seeing the few visitors who stopped by to leave messages in our cbox, thanks folks! :)

Actually there is much to write about... where to begin?? If I put everything here, I'll be up til the next morning, at least! But I worry that if I spread out everything, I may forget what I wanted to share, and/or be too lazy to pick up where I left off! I reckon I'll do it in bits, at least to keep the suspense going, heh.

The few months after we came back were rather uneventful, just diving back into work and acclimatising to the weather. Have cut my hair 3 times so far, haha! Once I got started it just became, well let's see how short we can go! :P Funny but I don't miss the long hair at all, even though I've had it for the last 6 years.

I guess the most interesting thing that happened to us happened when we were at an early Christmas gathering with our old church friends last December. We got round to sharing about our faith-journey, and one of our friends mentioned the book "Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince. Sounded like an intriguing read, and since Joerg and I both love to collect books (note, collecting books is one thing, getting round to reading them is another!), so the next chance we got, we picked it up at Trumpet Praise in Plaza Sing. By coincidence, my mum also passed us a set of CDs from his Grace and Favour seminar.

We spent the next couple of months reading, listening, analysing the messages we were hearing and reading. At first, we couldn't quite figure out what to make of it. Was this a new message? Is this a different gospel? How come we haven't heard it preached this way? Well after some long discussions with each other over dinner and bus/mrt journeys home, we realised that it's not a new gospel, or a different gospel, but it's back to what the message of the good news is essentially about. Somewhere along the way, our faith had turned into a matter of routine, without fully realising the love God has for us, and how Jesus made the difference between religion and a real relationship with God. It was liberating particularly for me, because I had believed - tacitly I think - that the blessings which people received from God were in proportion to the level of their involvement in God's work. Hence, if I was not experiencing so much of His blessings whether material, spiritual, or otherwise, then it's probably because I'm not serving God alot. Likewise, if someone else was experiencing God's blessings, then it's because they were being rewarded for their work! I seriously had believed that for awhile, based on what I was seeing in my church friends. But Prince turns that idea on its head, and reminds us that God desires to bless us anyway, and importantly, all He seeks out of us is to have faith in Him. As we believe, we are blessed! Simple as that. That's why we say it is His amazing grace- favour that is undeserved, that is not given because of our works for God, but just because we call Him Lord, and trust Him totally with our lives.

I won't say that this book changed our lives... I reckon only one Book really does. But it caused a paradigm shift in both me and Joerg - one of a few shifts that we've experienced so far this year! I confess I still struggle with some things, but I am more peaceful now knowing that God's blessing is not dependent on what I do/ don't do for Him, but just on believing on Him. It does indeed increase our love and passion to live for Him :) It really is good news!

Ok over the next few entries I'll share some of the other books that have helped us in our faith-journey this side of heaven, as well as the other paradigm-shift that's happened this year.

God bless you in your own journey!

Lemme tell you about laminin...

2008-07-14T20:09:00.004+08:00

Well after a long long long while, I'm finally able to squeeze out a post...

Where are we right now? I guess we're about 3/5s of the way through our thesis. It's been quite a journey indeed! Truthfully speaking we've been hitting a few roadblocks (more like mental blocks) along the way, plus the feeling of going around in circles and ending up in knots - all part of the student package no doubt! I can totally empathize with my students in Poly now... so many distractions to get around, thoughts to work out, data to analyse... I can't imagine what doing a PhD will be like! Joerg reckons it'll just be double the pain that's all. Ahem. Not for now, I think.

Right now we're also out of our old place, as the lease ended on 30 June. At times like these we really thank God for providing gracious friends who have taken us into their home - TH & Su, thanks so much for blessing us!! :) I miss our old place, for its super-convenience and the good times with friends, but where we are now, the fellowship is just as warm, and we still get to walk to Uni. Moving out of our rented apartment we had to fulfil a couple of formalities, like getting the place cleaned up and carpets shampooed. Being students (read: cheap), we decided to do the cleaning ourselves, and got a really economical carpet cleaner to do the shampooing. When the residential manager came in to do the final inspection, it just took all of 15 minutes to give the all-clear! Mind you, managers are normally fussy, but this manager took a look, a couple of swabs, and led us back to the office to finalise our departure. Whew! :) It's funny, how we've just moved on from one stage to the next... it's also a testimony in itself, how things have been progressing smoothly and seeing His provision in the ways that we couldn't foresee. All the time we've been here we've seen how He's been holding us in His hand, keeping it altogether so that in spite of the challenges along the way, we have been so blessed.

Ok so now lemme tell you about laminin... or rather, we'll let Louie Giglio (I always get the giggles when I think about his name) do the talking! If you have 8 minutes 43 seconds to spare, have a look at this video.... and be blessed.

2008-07-08T07:11:00.002+08:00

God of this city

....indeed greater things are yet to be done!

Amen!!!

It is that simple!

2008-06-22T21:13:00.001+08:00

Well, just a random thought that I should share.

To warm you up to the same page, that I’m thinking..

Qn: Purpose of a mobile phone?

Ans: Primarily for phone call, for communication with family, friends etc

Qn: Purpose of a car?

Ans: To transport you and me to our destination

Qn: Purpose of our job?

Ans: To earn a living

So what has it got to do with the title of my entry?

Let me use the mobile phone as an analogy of life, how we live our lives in this world. For those of you young (like me) enough to remember BRICK phone. You would be able to remember the hype when iphone was first launched in USA and will eventually appear in the country you are currently residing. I’m sure the excitement is just as great when the BRICK phone first came up. No doubt the technology is always advancing, and really beyond our imagination. Who would have thought, a simple device initially invented for phone calls has now been advanced for entertainment, photo, video, www, data storage etc for all we know, we can soon use it as a weapon to fire a shot. Well that’s for man’s imagination!

The first point I’d like to draw your attention to is the ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ in our lives. A lot of time we have so many ‘wants’ and forget that the ‘needs’ will suffice. Well, I for one am guilty, admittedly one who has and had many wants, when I can easily be satisfied with the many blessings I have in my life. It is not helped by how the world wants to shape our thought. Do you need an iphone? Do you need wider plasma? Do you need the latest, the best, the next upgrade?

Secondly, I want to point out that everyone of us, though not commodities, has a purpose. The BRICK phone once served its master well and fulfilled its purpose. The iphone will serve its purpose, but no doubt will soon be phased out too! So what is your purpose on earth then? Are you serving your Master well?

So grateful...

2008-04-07T17:09:00.002+08:00

Just a small yet nice thing happened today but I just felt my heart burst into praise... I've always wanted to write a song to testify but never got round to it. Here's my humble attempt...

So grateful to You Lord
For the ways You send a blessing when I least expect it
Like a parent whose eyes are always on his child
Who lets her wander off to explore all that life has to offer
Yet always around to catch her when she falls
So You're always there with me

When my mind is in turmoil
When my head is swimming
With thoughts of bitterness that eat away at this soul
Your Spirit moves in, sweeps those thoughts away
Breathes in new life and new hope

You move the mountains in my life
Those giants that no earthquake could shake
With just a sigh from You they crumble into smoke
Into dust, that's blown by the wind of Your spirit

You make me walk on water
When all seems impossible You just bring it to pass
I can't see it now but how can I doubt
When You've given it all on the Cross
On the Cross-
Your love never failing
Your power all consuming
Your faithfulness to the end of all time

How could I doubt
With all that You've done
and all that You are-
Sovereign Lord, let Your will be done in my life
From this day on...

[To be refined... for His glory.]

Updates

2008-04-02T11:54:00.002+08:00

Updates

It’s been a long while and I thought I should update this journey (especially for those whose been catching up with our lives). Also thank you for praying for us and being with us for this journey away from S’pore.

At the moment we're back on our sunny island set in the sea. Lisa’s been busy with transcribing the audio files into text for her project. I been traveling to the most eastern part and most (almost) northern part of Singapore.. so far 8 schools, about 21 interviews (including interviews for previous project), 120 surveys and counting. I can’t remember working so hard this year, though it’s not as stressful as getting ready for the colloquium. God has been looking after us with the data collection phase of our projects. Infact, there are times where I have to be at two places on the same day, so it’s not something that I expect, but our God of miracles and providence, never fail to surprise.

Lisa chose to pay her fees later (my wife said she felt that God wanted her to pay later), it’s really tough time for her, guess she’s never in a position like this- 31 Mar, absolute last day, she’ll be ‘kicked out’ of Uni if she didn’t pay by then. In the most unusual circumstance, exchange rate was lower on the day she TTed the money. Another act of God providing for us. I begin to wonder about the contrasting life we had growing up, we grew up in different family environments. So Lisa’s in such a unfamiliar dilemma and anxiety. What is similar is God always has His ways and plans for us.

Hardened heart, can cry too!

When I was still at UQ in 2003, on father’s day, Lisa texted me to encourage me even though I do not have a physical father, she reminded me that our heavenly father will be with me now and forever. At times like this, when I feel emotional (I think feel like crying), I somehow felt constrained. I still remember my dad’s wake- being the only son (my elder brother died before I attended K1), I was told to lead my dad (in the coffin). I vividly remember even though it’s 25 years ago, that my relatives told me to ‘cry’ while leading the funeral possession to the cremation centre. I did well crying, admittedly ‘crying’ without knowing why I did that. Until this day, I felt the restraint to cry, have you seen me cry before? I do cry inside when I feel the touch of God, otherwise, I think I’m the good old conservative Asian! I hope it’s just not a case of a hardened heart.

My mother

I always felt that I should write about her. Even till this day- my mama never really enjoyed the type of luxury most mums would love to be pampered with. She’s always looking out for us, one recent example would be her withdrawing money when she ‘found’ out that I do not have ‘enough’ money. Her mischievous son wanting to tease her (knowing she didn’t have much) said he didn’t have enough. The rest, I do not have to elaborate, you can visualize what she did next. Despite those hard hard days when I was growing up, where mama brought us up single-handedly, she gave her best for us and mind you she never ever raised her hands on us. Such is the love she has given to my sister and me. Lisa and I felt that we wanted to bring her for a nice tour someday, she always felt an obligation to take care of my nieces. I really want to thank God she has accepted Christ and that I know God will be looking after her as well.

How hot is it?

2008-02-23T14:16:00.003+08:00

These 2 days has seen the arrival of the 'real' summer- yesterday and today have delivered scorching heat, and today the mercury level hit 37 degrees... whoo!

So how hot was it? As the three of us walked across the street to Toowong Village to get our groceries, we came up with some interesting analogies:

It's so hot that...

...you can almost smell the sun!

...you can feel the moisture being sucked out of your lungs!

...it feels like you've stepped into a bath of sunrays!

...even the wind makes you feel like you're standing in front of a working oven with the door open!

I tried to remember the rest, but I think the heat has frazzled my already short-term memory.

Anyway, as of 4.02pm, there has been a cool change with gusty winds, so that's a relief! According to the weather bureau, this will be the hottest day for the coming week. Yay!

How do we know the voice of truth?

2008-02-18T15:47:00.003+08:00

Caught this last Saturday, on the way to the West End markets with our godparents... what a sight! Well trust my photography skills that I managed to get a stray lamppost into the shot as well -oops! Anyways we're still enjoying a wonderfully cool summer, that now seems to be gently slipping into Autumn... beautiful!!

Last Friday we went with a friend to listen to a famous visiting Christian evangelist, at the Brisbane entertainment centre. We had heard much criticism of him before, but we also had read one of his books, and he seemed quite sound in his writing; to lay-persons like us at least, the theology seemed intact and we were encouraged by some of the ideas. But knowing that this evangelist had some less than raving reviews to go with his celebrity status, Joerg and I prayed over the course of that day, that God would send us a sign that we shouldn't go. Well there was no big storm, lightning strike, or unusual traffic jam that prevented us from going, so we took a 40-minute train ride to Boondall to have a listen to this person who was raising so much controversy.

Less of a crowd compared to Hillsong United conference, but there were still enough people to fill the indoor stadium. The musicians played worship songs, and they were good. Then the evangelist finally appeared on stage, after being held up in a traffic jam on the motorway, and it started off alright. Later as he got into his message, we began to feel more uneasy. It was then that I realised that what I was listening to was none other than a full-on version of the prosperity gospel. I had heard people talk about this before, but never personally heard it for myself. To cut a long story short, the three of us walked out midway through the meeting.

As we walked back to the train station- and having missed the half-hourly train- we reflected on what we had heard, and how it was that we ended up there. I was reflecting in particular about our prayer during the day for guidance about whether to go, and wondered why God let us go to this meeting when the speaker was clearly off the mark. Then I realised that perhaps God did want us to go. Interestingly, the speaker himself did open his message by saying that "All of you are here for a reason." I think that the reason why the three of us were there, was so that we could learn to discern for ourselves the voice of truth from voices of deception. It really was an ear-opener. But we were also wondering, how could the pastors on the stage - 10 of them, no less! -allow him to carry on speaking and condone the misleading of His people? It came to me that the people wanted to hear that message. They wanted to hear that their businesses were soon going to be booming. They wanted to hear that they would soon receive wealth beyond their wildest dreams, in no uncertain terms. And this was what they heard from him.

I guess we all do this as well- our perceptions and beliefs are biased toward what we want to hear. But we do need to strain all the things that we hear with the sieve of the Bible, so that we are not misled into believing what we want to believe, rather than what is the truth. And we can only do that if we open the Word enough to let it soak into our minds and hearts and guide what we see and hear. Don't be deceived! And oh yes, having brothers and sisters around to bounce off your doubts helps alot too!

The journey ahead

2008-02-03T21:20:00.000+08:00

Hello Blessed CNY!

It’s taken a long time for me to get out of the block for this post. Not that I’m exceptionally busy, just a little less motivated. I’ve been thinking- well at least a week ago, about using the picture we took from our hike at Daisy Hill koala sanctuary.

The journey ahead

Life in terms of physical activity, spiritual growth and academic front has somewhat slowed down. Not as drastic as a mid-life crisis as yet, just probably God providing more space for reflection in a sunshine state of Australia. Recently, it’s becoming really slow. I like the space we have here in Brisbane- little rush for transportation, little rush for ‘work’, little rush to wake up early, little rush to continue those routines I have back in Singapore. Just that when things begin to slow do I feel really bored. Physical acitivity, I reckon is like those discipline that I need to instill into my lifestyle Church is different coz there used to be Ekklesians, Salmon runners and VWC. I miss the energy I can generate from the young people I meet. Study wise is really ‘tough’, coz I feel so restrained with the work that I hope to do.. This has been getting into me- even as I know who my real Boss is, Who I am really working for. Those things happening make me wonder, and ask ‘God, why am I here?’ The road ahead is no different for you and I, it’s expecting the unexpected, one thing for sure- there is Hope, a Hope only He can fulfill, a Hope that you never walk alone! Blessed journey ahead!

There's still hope!

2008-01-17T18:03:00.000+08:00

Wow, dear hubby has gone and done two posts in a row! Time to fulfil my 'quota'...

I just got news of the outcome of my scholarship application... it's a no-go. The funny part was that I had been waiting for an email to notify me of this outcome; the results were supposed to have been out early last month. So after a month and a half of waiting on tenterhooks, I succumbed to my impatience/curiosity and gave the scholarships office a call. After a few tries over a couple of days, finally managed to get a human being on the other end of the line. It took her all of one minute to check on my records, and she came back on the line to say sorry, I had been unssuccessful. Sigh.

Well I could have taken the news in two ways... and I did. My heart really sank after I got the news, which was just before meeting Joerg for lunch. Man, I was brooding the rest of the day. Even the Merlo brew couldn't perk me up as it usually does- I barely tasted it! Joerg kept reminding me that it's true that getting the scholarship might have done a good deal to ease our burdens about finances, but that ultimately we could still trust God to be our provider. Thinking about it, I realised that I - in fact both of us - had put our faith in that scholarship, believing that was the answer to all our needs. We had literally banked on it! It had become such that my faith was in that scholarship more than in God's love and ability to provide for us.

So that was yesterday. Last night we prayed over it again, and affirmed our faith in Him as our provider, no matter how He chose to bring it to pass. After all, His ways are higher than ours! Today, it was a new day, and I did feel that peace knowing that God's in control and that He loves and provides for us in ways that we may not even think of, even though it seems like nothing is happening. Interestingly, these couple of weeks I've been reading the book of Genesis for my quiet time, and it's been all about people who were treated unfairly for a long time before they saw any rewards or redemption. Especially in the case of Joseph- the poor kid was sold off by his brothers to some exotic country as a seventeen-year-old, became a servant in one of the governor's homes, fell victim to a desperate housewife who then got him thrown into prison for a long while. And after he helped one of the other prisoners who managed to gain his freedom, Joseph was again 'sabo-ed' because the dude he helped forgot to tell the king good things about him!! If anyone had the right to be upset, bitter, and take revenge, it was Joseph. But what really struck me was his response. When Joseph was about 35 years old and himself a governor of the country, his brothers had to come to him for help. When they found out that the governor was none other than their little brother they had sold off so long ago, they were terrified. But Joseph said to them:

"Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives. There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. After all, you weren't really the ones who sent me here--it was God. He made me the highest official in the king's court and placed me over all Egypt." (Genesis 45:4-8)

He's in control of every situation. That's our hope as we continue in a journey of faith together. It's also our hope that you'll put your hope in Him in all things! :)

Right or wrong?

2008-01-15T19:29:00.000+08:00

This morning as I was reading the Word of life, something came into my mind. Yes, its has got to do with right or wrong. Basically, it's about the things we do things that require us to compromise our principle (our belief), puts us to test our moral courage. Let me explain in another way- when we are faced with crucial decision that may undermine us (even in daily decision making), do you choose to do right or wrong?

Just to test you using Kohlberg's Heinz's Dilemma:

In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2000, ten times what the drug had cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could get together only about half of what it should cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or to let him pay later. But the druggist said no. The husband got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why?

Imagine you are Heinz, what would you do?

a) Yes- I want to save my wife's life.

b) Yes- Besides saving her life, I did not hurt (or kill) anyone to get the drug.

c) Yes, there's no other way.

d) No, whatever it is, stealing is wrong.

Perhaps all of you have the model answer. As it's not exactly happening to you. More daily life examples, finding a mobile phone on a bus, consuming food in prohibited premises, driving above the speed limit etc. It's hard isn't it, especially when no one is looking?

Well, the point is what will the world (the way of the world) tell you to do?

It hard to make the right decision especially with world behaving in a 'me, myself and I' attitude. When we make excuses for our actions, we break down the distinction between right and wrong. If we do not take God's Word as our standard, soon all moral choices will appear fuzzy. Yes, tough remember you are not alone, so whenever you choose to make that right decision, be proud that you did (and He will rejoice with you)!

The best time to……

2008-01-10T15:08:00.000+08:00

Admittedly (at this point in time), fishing is perhaps my favorite pastime even though there are seasons where I ‘neglected’ it. Since my secondary school days (don’t ask me how old am I), this is one hobby that I’m still having much thrill at. My mama probably doesn’t know her naughty son actually skipped school and went to his favorite playground to fish, perhaps the kampong boy in me wanted to stay in touch with nature and adventure then. Worse still- there are days where my mates and I tortured the fishes we caught. Even until now, with many years of fishing, I can’t predict the BEST time to fish- perhaps its more of knowing the surroundings, and understanding my customer (the fish) to then hopefully trick them into taking my bait.So when is the BEST time to face some of the challenges in life? I can’t provide an answer either. We do have seasons (good and bad times) in life. What I understand is God gave us this freedom to choose what we want to do, yes absolute freedom to choose (no questions asked, consequences will come though)- yes we are given a choice.
It’s tricky because on one hand the world (the society in general and the many temptations in life) will tell you to take the easy way out, choose the shortest way, use the least amount of energy etc. What would that make of us- you and I? That’s the path that takes us away from the One who created us. One way leads to knowing and understanding more of His plans for us, and the other leads to ….. (you know better!) We know God loves us, hence gave us a choice- freedom to live the way we want, but the snare will be living in opposite of His command for us! Which way would you choose?

I’ll leave you with the Word of the most mighty One:

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (New Living Translation)

Winds of change

2007-12-29T07:36:00.000+08:00

Weather for Brisbane: a few showers, strong gusty NE winds. Max temp 27 degrees celcius. Sunrise 4.43am. Sunset 6.40pm.

This Christmas, according to the bureau of meteorology, has been the coldest that Brisbane has seen in a decade. Normally dry and hot, this season has brought in some clouds, rain periods, and strong winds. But we're not complaining! I'm glad we haven't yet experienced the scorching heat of summer (although there were times in spring when it felt like we had plunged into summer days).

As we head out of 2007 and into an unknown 2008, these strange weather phenomena made me think about the changes that lie ahead, not just in our personal lives, but around the world. I wonder what lies in store for us next year? We have no answer to that, but I know that Joerg and I want to keep growing in our walk with Him, and also to develop this faith-walk with our friends here. These past six months, friendships have grown and deepened; sometimes it seems like the barriers and shyness between us dissolved overnight and we were able to talk about 'the deeper things' in our lives. Those mealtimes together really opened our hearts to one another.

Speaking of meals, what's Christmas without feasting? That describes our past week- big meals almost every night! Mind you, we're not talking about eating in restaurants; it's all been home-prepared, which makes it all the more sweeter. After 2 days of roast beef, turkey, and other festive fare, we tried to detox with steamboat (which is great for the weather we've been having), but ended up indulging in more than we should. However, glad to say we finally finished the food last night, after two rounds of steamboat!

In Brisbane, as with the rest of Oz I think, Christmas break for most workplaces typically runs from 25th December to the 1st of January. We've taken the opportunity to have our own break from our work, and I've been back indulging in my favourite pastime- reading! It's great to wrap my head around a novel again.

3 days more to the new year. The winds of change continue to blow... but One remains unchanging, yesterday, today, and forever. Trust in Him :)

Little surprises in life

2007-12-24T08:55:00.000+08:00

On the 21Dec 2007, four days away from Christmas, what would you be doing? After walking Lisa to the train station, I surprised myself by finishing some work at least, for the assurance of a more enjoyable Christmas. So I worked albeit with a little distraction on the longest ‘assignment’ (my document for the colloquium), right through to 12.20pm. it’s one of those times where you felt you have to do it (sacrifice), and know that at least you are accountable (to God) for trying. Little did I know of the surprises He had for me.

Boon and I planned for a trip to our favourite fishing spot, so after sending Norman and Vania to the airport, we went fishing.

Ever since I came here and started fishing again, I’ve always dreamed of hooking a threadfin, also known as the Australian salmon. Never did I realize that God had this pleasant surprise to conclude 2007! We already satisfied our craving for the day as we had caught a 10kg stingray and a bream. In fact we were not expecting more. But, at about 6.30pm, something tugged my line and sprinted away with my live bait twice, even though I hooked the bait wrongly, I caught a threadfin. It’s amazing, what God can provide even in a fishing trip like this.

As we celebrate Christmas amidst all the merry making, food and catching up, have you wondered about the true meaning of Christmas? In my humble understanding, it’s a special day where God chooses to become human- in the form of Jesus to come to earth to save us! I remember just a year back when we went to Suphanburi, Thailand, for a short Christmas mission trip, I played the role of a inn-keeper in the Nativity. Ironically, I have to tell Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus there’s “No room!” at the inn. “No room” for Jesus in our lives is not something new whether you are a believer or not. Ironically, for most of us, when we become desperate (or chasing after elusive dreams) in life that we allow Jesus more room. I hope that I can make a disciplined decision to follow Jesus everyday of my life, so that when I get more surprises, I know a little more about Him. I hope that you can make a decision to give Him more room so that you can know Him more and let Him bless your life.

May God be the glory for all at home now and forever. Amen! Merry Christmas from both of us!

*** The nativity is no folklore (Santa story is)- it happened 2000 years ago. God came as Jesus, 33 years later gave his life unconditionally to save us (died for our sins).***

Close encounters, & adventures in Brisbane

2007-12-17T19:56:00.000+08:00

Today I had an interesting experience with a stranger on the CityCat (the Brisbane ferry service that we usually take to Uni and elsewhere).

I just had to pop into Uni for a couple of hours, so Joerg didn't go with me like he usually does. On my way back, while waiting for the ferry to berth at the Uni pontoon, I was standing in line behind another foreign postgrad student- I assumed straight away that he was a postgrad because it's the summer break which means all the other undergrad students wouldn 't be in Uni anymore, and he just didn't look old enough to be a lecturer. We spotted a couple of dophins playing in the water at a distance, and so both of us happened to turn to each other and exclaimed "Dolphins!". So then we just started making some casual conversation, like what we're studying and stuff. We got onto the ferry together and he sat next to me. Alarm bells started going off when this stranger suddenly started saying stuff like, "I am looking for a friend" and "I like girls from Singapore"... oops... I kind of doubt he was referring to platonic relationships. Mind you, I had been pretty clear about my married status from the start by waving my left hand around and making sure the wedding band was flashing in broad daylight. And he did notice (I noticed him noticing), but that didn't seem to stop him. And in case it was not clear enough, I casually mentioned that my husband was studying with me at Uni too.

Just as things were starting to get really uncomfortable, and I was praying for a happy parting between the both of us, Joerg called my mobile to ask where I was. I tried to keep him on the line without saying out loud what was happening, but obviously I wasn't clear enough; Joerg was trying to hang up quickly because he was running out of phone credit. After I hung up the phone, the guy started talking to me again, and I decided to sms Joerg instead: "Can you please meet me at Regatta? Trying to shake off someone. Reaching in 2 mins". Message sent. Prayed hard Joerg would get the message. The guy carried on chatting for a while more, but I decided, ok no more missus-nice-guy, and put on my most distant expression. Then I think he got the hint because after a couple more minutes he stopped and closed his eyes like he was sleeping.

When the ferry reached Regatta (the longest 10-minute cruise I've had so far!), I excused myself to get past him, and by now he had totally changed his demeanour toward me and just moved aside to let me pass. And I was happy to see too, that Joerg was making his way down the walkway to the waiting area. Phew! Thanks God, that nothing untoward happened, and also for Joerg being around!

This reminded me also of another similar incident that happened about a month ago, when Joerg and I were making our way to meet friends at about 8pm on a Sunday evening. While we were heading into the Toowong village carpark, a tall, lanky, tattooed man with a pony tail (yeah just picture that) approached both of us and unsteadily asked for directions to the train station. He was clearly drunk, having difficulty getting the words out, and swaying quite abit on his feet. Just so happened Joerg and I were standing about 5 metres apart, and the man looked like he was moving closer into Joerg's personal space. I could see Joerg getting wary, and he was moving away from the man. But he still gave him directions. Of course in his drunken state the man was like,"Walk where, all the way to the top?" And he sounded (to me at least) abit aggravated. So Joerg calmly told him ok, just follow us, we're headed that way too. Then he walked quickly toward me, took me by the elbow, and told me to walk quickly up that way. So we kept a brisk pace and kept about a good 10 to 15 metres gap between us and the man, who could still see us and follow. When we got to the station, Joerg just called out to the man, "That's the station" and then to me, "Let's go". So we took off, with the man calling out to us, I guess he wanted money for the train ride as well.

So grateful for Divine protection and for hubby around to get through these adventures in Brisbane!

Thank you for your NOTICE!

2007-12-04T09:34:00.000+08:00

Once you notice this, please take note and inform people whom we know that you notice something unusual in our blog.....

Hello, knee hao ma?
Pardon my noticeably irritating NOTICE. We went to Brisbane power station with honeymooners Teck Siong and Michelle on Thursday (29 Nov). Yeah, there's quite a few of those signboards around the building. We NOTICEd another one of those:

Just thinking about the things that we see, it's perhaps those hilarious moments in life that we may miss out even if it's right in front of us. Perhaps that's a strong reason why our parents keep telling us to OPEN our eyes when we walk.As I sat here day dreaming (coz my brain's probably frozen from processing the research study), and waiting for my cooking duty to start, I'm really hoping for a breakthrough. Yeah, God please give me the inspiration for my confirmation document and wisdom to understand my work. Yahweh, Yahweh please help! 30 Nov 07
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[Do you think God speaks to you?] 4th Dec (a day after our 2nd Anniversary)
This morning I was reading the Book of Life- chapter 3 of Ecclesiates. I understand why His Word is so everlasting and applicable to anyone of us, whether you are a reader or have no clue which book I'm referring to. I learnt (pride tells to type learnt, in fact it should be reminded again!) that our job satisfaction to a large extent depends on our attitude. We can become dissatisfied when we lose the sense of His intended purpose for our work. Thank God we can enjoy our work knowing that He has given us that work/project/assignment/ study/chore/ministry etc to do and realise that the fruit of our labour is a gift from Him. So when we are going through 'pain' and complaining of His task for us, know that our work is a way to serve Him! Yes for now I'm satisfied for I 'know' (and need reminders), do enjoy your TASK . Yahweh bless you!

Hard to write...

2007-11-30T15:56:00.001+08:00

As we move closer to our colloquium days, it's becoming harder to write... both the paper and this blog, for me at least. Plus, it feels so strange to still be doing work when most folks have ended semester and have headed/are heading back home or for holidays! I'm looking forward to having a good Christmas. Can't remember when was the last time I spent Christmas away from Singapore, so this will be interesting.

Weather here has been quite nice- it's actually turned milder and the cool nights are welcome. Spring rains have come along, and so have the summer flies... Would you like flies with that? Er, no...

We were visited by Mich and TS from Singapore yesterday, brought them on the Brisbane river for a joy-ride on the ferry. After that, to George's seafood market for a taste of fish and chips, and then to Three Monkeys for some good coffee and cake. More on that from Joerg, who has already written his next post and is waiting for me to do mine!

At this stage we're both leading pretty mundane lives of writing, reading, thinking, cooking, FACEBOOK-ing... yes, I am proud to say I have 60 friends! It's amazing whom you can find on Facebook, and what they look like after 5 years! Well I'm just really looking forward to the Colloquium to come round and have that burden off our shoulders. But in the meantime, I need to polish up the work, and make it good- for His glory :)

Happy to say that to date, I have improved in my culinary skills. Over the past four months, I have cooked up the following:
1) corned beef and cabbage - a family recipe, reverse engineered to bring back those good ol' days;
2) spaghetti bolognaise- don't laugh... the last time I did it it had zero taste;
3) chicken piccata - a poor imitation but still edible;
4) beef stroganoff - twice!
5) some kind of curry;
5) a couple other more forgettable dishes.

Joerg, on the other hand, is now declared head chef, winning all of us hands-down. Today's Friday, and the head chef is busy preparing siew mai and hokkien mee. It's confirmed- there will be no leftovers!!

Tomorrow's a special day- Helping Hands Day aka Festival of Hope at the church we attend. From 8am to 12pm, we'll be giving out free clothing to needy folks. It'll be a good breakaway from the books, and something meaningful as well!

Wherever you're reading this from, God loves you!

State of mind

2007-11-19T21:12:00.000+08:00

I felt bored in office today, so I decide to get on with my delayed posting. Yes, that’s my office space. That’s where I spend most of my time on weekdays. The picture somehow depicts the condition of my mind. In a bigger picture- this ‘messiness’ can replicate the condition of our mind and the condition of our heart.

Reality check- have you ever felt that everything is ever smooth sailing, no glitches, life’s great? I think, I’m on the other end of the spectrum. After extracting the essence of the books (pictured) plus the trees that I’ve unknowingly chopped, I found 8000 plus useful words for my colloquium document. It’s so painful to read, especially for a non book worm club person like me.

Lisa and I experience ‘mood swings’, we take turns to switch on the motivation. The drive to read and write, read and write, read and write. It’s very hard to keep that discipline day in, day out. Thank God I can feel that it’s getting closer, can just see a hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

You too, don’t despair! Life’s full of ups and downs, thankfully there’s Hope, that’s why Jesus came to save us. Blessed journey and keep seeking His ways.

Countdown to confirmation

2007-11-16T09:34:00.000+08:00

Current word count:

Joerg - 8,274 words

Lisa - 12,399 words

Now lost for words.

Keep plodding on...

A season of thanksgiving and the purple kitchen

2007-11-08T12:24:00.000+08:00

Just continuing on from Joerg's thanksgiving, and since we have reached the season of thanksgiving...

Thank you dear, for being an inspiration to me too! I don't think I would even have considered "stepping out of the boat" to come here and do my Masters. Your faith inspires mine :) Thanks also for running into the kitchen at night to help me when you see me packing away the plates and stuff, and for waking up and heading out with me when I have to wake up earlier to go to Ipswich or Jindalee to do filming!

There is actually alot to be thankful for, as I reflect on the time that we've been here. First of all is this place that we call home until at least June next year. Some of you may know that we were getting quite frustrated with finding a rental home when we arrived in Brissie. It took two months for us since end-June, going to different rental agencies, photocopying pages of our personal records, running around St Lucia, Indooroopilly, and Toowong to view apartments, and submitting applications, three of which were rejected for some strange reasons, e.g., "The owner is afraid that with three persons, it'd be too noisy..." What?? Right now, we're the quietest people here in our neighbourhood! Well all that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we now have this place that is just fantastic in terms of location and security. Ok, it's got a purple kitchen, and it faces the courtyard where everybody who walks by can look in... but we couldn't have asked for a better place. Not exactly cheap, but it was below what we had originally budgeted.

Two funny things about getting this place: firstly, we didn't get it from a rental agency- Joerg gave up on them after they gave up on us- and just happened to stumble on the estate on the web. The managers' names are- get this- Joe and Lisa (think they're from China). Secondly, Joerg never got to see the inside of the unit until we had moved in. Both times that he was here before, Norman called him and he had to run off before viewing. Why this is funny is that, he shared with me, if he did, he would not have taken it. Because of the purple kitchen (we're quite used to it now) and being 'exposed' to people outside ("Well what are YOU lookin' at??"). I didn't know just how ideal the place was until I had to start travelling to Ipswich and other places. We're sitting at the crossroads of ferry, train, and bus transport. Plus, Coles and Woolies just 5 minutes away. Church 10 minutes away by inner-city bypass. Friends find this place central as they stay north-side and west-side. What a blessing... thanks, God! You knew what we needed even before we did.

Just another small thing to be thankful for... really small thing but worth a mention... while browsing the shelves at Coles a last week, we found a 200g pack of smoked salmon, originally priced at $12.59, going for $3, a real steal! The next day we found a few packs of bagels each going for 50cents. So that Saturday, we had a luxury breakfast of smoked salmon and bagel, with cream cheese... what a treat! Probably never an episode to be repeated, but I'll remember that one. The salmon lasted a few more days after that. Slurp! Yup, we're definitely not starving here, what with the bargains that can be found...

There are many other things to be thankful for- our families who have been so supportive, our friends here and back home for their fellowship and prayers, our bosses who let us have the time off, the chance to experience a different side of life (again)... wow. It's hard to remember and count the blessings when we're so bogged down with things to do, but I realise that when I do so, I remember Who's really in control. And I'm thankful!

What's up the rest of this month: we gear up for our Confirmation sessions happening next month, a couple of friends stopping by Brisbane, and hopefully setting aside more time to exercise!!

Can you see what I see?

2007-10-31T10:03:00.000+08:00

I’m back, it’s been a ‘long journey’ in Brisbane. Well, Lisa and I are exhausted- yes guess the study is taking a toll on us. Ever thought studying is suffering? I do, for what I’m going through at least-the search for a roof, disagreements with my Sups, injuring my knee, having prob understanding what I read and then the software I use for referencing gave me nightmares, issue of our flat tenants moving out back home, then this fever-throat-cough. You know, that’s the deal that I ‘signed’ when I came to know Him. There are times of happiness and time of stress :)
That aside, for my friends who knows me and do not know Jesus, please spare me a few moments to introduce this friend who is actually in our (lisa & I) triangular relationship. I cannot let this day pass without letting you know this very special friend in our lives.

Part 1
This is a true story- One day, a woman caught committing a wrong act (sin) and was brought to my friend. "Teacher (friend), this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses (10 commandements) commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" My friend said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and my friend was left alone with the woman standing before him. He said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And He said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
No one is sinless, including you and I. My friend(Jesus) does not condemn you and in fact forgives you and me- yes no matter how ‘bad’ we are. When I heard someone mentioned about writing ‘wills’ in case there are some unexpected events in life, it is crucial for you to know this moment that when you accept Jesus into your heart and take Him as your Saviour- you do not need a will to get into heaven, He accepts you for who you are! Then, do you still choose the life you are living now or one that is full of promise?

Part 2 For those who know Him
Well that’s in John 8:3-11
I just felt this speaking strongly to me- I’d like to share this-
Later in chapt. 9 Jesus cured a blind man. The Pharisees questioned him and asked his parents to testify that their son had been born blind. Again they asked him and he answered, "Whether he (Jesus) is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." John 9:25

I was blind, now I see- We were once blind, now that we can see, let not the world affect your sight. I do get caught up with busyness, and at the end of the day I ask myself whether the things I do is meaningful. I do hope you can find that meaning in the things you do. Bring glory to His name!

Initially I wanted to start a thanks-giving entry, I’ll still do a short one
Thank God for His love and 'gifting' Lisa to me.
Thanks Lisa for being such a special wife, encouraging me when I’m down, doing so many things for the well-being of the house and whose truly a great testimony for all. I love you!
Yes, for those whose prayed for us and show so much concern, thanks to you!
And finally you, for it must be in His time that you read this and I know Jesus loves you for who you are!

Blessed time in all you do!

Happy endings...

2007-10-20T19:04:00.000+08:00

Today Joerg and I got the chance to sleep in, after a week of squeezing our brain juices dry trying to write up our lit reviews... our colloquiums are in less than two months' time! Anyway, these two weeks have been challenging as we had been trying to wrap our brains around all the readings and organise the ideas... structural development theory?? Or social cognitive theory?? How to synthesize the findings of different research papers?? Etc etc... That's why we always look forward to the weekend as we put the papers aside and venture into the great outdoors.

This weekend has been quite enjoyable, starting from yesterday (Friday) evening, when we celebrated Teik Hong's birthday over pizza at our place. Teik Hong bought 10 pizzas (in 10 different flavours - that's the DOMINO'S effect!), with drinks, and there were 11 of us in all, so, 1 pizza-pie per person on average. More accurately, I think each person had about 5 slices each. (We initially had a leftover of 1 1/2 pizzas, but at the time of writing this, it's down to 2 slices, as we polished off the rest of it during lunch today with Norman & Vania.) Back to last night: Just when TH thought we were all done with dinner, and was distracted from having spilled the beans from Bill & Shau's beanbag and trying to put them back - no joke, can you imagine?? - we presented him with a huge birthday cake. It was great to see his reaction! At the end of cake and ice cream, we took the party over to Alvin & Vania's office, where the boys played pool, and the girls caught up with trashy mags and played some board game which I don't remember the name of. It was just a night of great fellowship and fun!

Today we spent a nice evening with the kangaroos in Wacol, which is one of the suburbs inland of Brisbane, just 20 minutes by train. I had seen some roos lounging around in the grassy areas between the Darra and Wacol train stations on my journeys out to Ipswich, and told Joerg about it, so over this week Joerg planned for us to make a trip out there to have a look - instead of having to spend $18 per person to visit a wildlife sanctuary, heehee... And we were rewarded! For the price of $2.40 per pax for the whole journey there and back, Joerg, Mei, and myself got to see a small group of kangaroos hanging out and having dinner in a field over at Wacol, just 5 minutes' walk from the train station. It was great! They were reasonably happy to have us observe from about 50 metres away, but would start bounding away if we got too close. All in all, I think we saw 1 big roo and 8 smaller roos around the place. We also saw lots of roo pooh, so thank goodness we had our walking gear. And the mosquito repellent.

To end off the trip, we took the train one station down back to Darra, and headed over to a little Vietnamese eatery nearby; of the three different dishes we ordered, all were sumptuous! We're definitely going back there again. And bringing friends too. Real value for money!

All in all, this weekend was a happy ending to a somewhat stressful week. We had a little situation crop up back in Singapore, but we're trusting God for the outcome... after all that He's seen us through, we believe that He will make it work out in His time. We can already see some signs of a solution; just continuing to pray His will be done. Will share the good news when it comes! :)

More than you expect

2007-10-14T21:00:00.000+08:00

It’s unusually early to wake up at 6am on a Saturday morning…yet, that was what we did to catch the rising tide, and spent an exciting day at Bribie Island. It was the good old fishing PLUS getting to drive our own (rented) tinnie – a small, simple boat made of aluminium – to some of the fishing spots around this marine-rich island. We did see dolphins making merry, stingrays and fish schools while on the boat. Expecting more than the usual shore fishing trips, I was hoping we’ll have feast for dinner. In the end, we had mixed haul of a tailor, flathead, shovelnose ray, an unidentified fish and a sand crab. We only took home the tailor, which we steamed for dinner… nothing like your own catch for a meal!

Like life, this trip to Bribie was very much like experiencing God’s providence in our lives – we were expecting more, and we did experience more, but not in the way we expected. Lisa and I prayed for good fellowship with these not-so-new-found friends and the friendship’s been growing. No doubt we were caught up wanting more (fishes)- we did get more than we wanted, God provided the warmth and fellowships :) This fellowship started with the frequent daily dinner we had together, it’s the doing life together that’s extra special. Weekends with such activities are always good but weekdays with the books and neverending journals are :( haha!

Church is special today especially with singing "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" a newer version of Amazing Grace…. Not the William Wilberforce version it’s like back to the child like faith that I felt before, and that the ‘world’ is taking us away.

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love, Amazing grace

Go on and sing out to the Lord!

Amazing love…..

How sweet :)

ps. Pictures courtesy of Mei... thanks Mei!

Very slo..ow afternoon

2007-10-05T13:50:00.000+08:00

For those who are checking back frequently on this blog: Joerg and I take turns to write our entries, and we decided not to post too often, otherwise we won't be able to keep up! Apologies to those who are used to a new entry every day... I think for us, you can expect one new entry at least once a week or once a fortnight!

I'm writing this in the middle of a hot afternoon, in my office. I have reached a mental block on my work, so hopefully this will 'loosen' my cortex a little bit. This will be one of my more frivolous entries...

Well somewhere along the way we seem to have bypassed Spring and headed straight into Summer. Just to give you an idea- it was 33 degrees yesterday. What a scorcher! Right now we're sitting on a more-or-less comfortable 25 degrees. We've given up our morning walks to Uni- we wouldn't be able to make it up all those hills! We try to make the hikes back home in the evening so that at least there's still that bit of exercise. So for the past two weeks it's been a cruise down to UQ, which is not bad, and takes all of 10 minutes. A bonus for us last week was seeing a dolphin playing in the waters of the Brisbane river. That's really rare, and Joerg reckons it must have wandered in together with the tide. That was the one and only time we saw it; been looking out over the last few days but no sightings again.

We're well and truly down to serious stuff with our research... no playing around! Last night poor Joerg stayed up til 2.45am to finish what he could of his literature review, believing that he had a meeting with his supervisors today. I had hit the sack by 12.30am! This morning he got up at 8am and continued to chip away at it. Thank God, he managed to do most of it (which probably constitutes 10% of the whole thesis) and submitted it by 12pm as directed. We rushed in to Uni at 1pm, only to find out that his supes only wanted the written work, not a face-to-face meeting, so that they could discuss his work next Monday! Anyway it was good that that was done, so now he can enjoy the rest of the day, and the weekend as well (read: "Gone fishing").

What was I doing? I have to confess, this week has not been one of my better weeks. Now that I actually have to put the readings down and start pulling all the threads of ideas together into a comprehensive review, my motivation has flown out the window. I love to read, but ask me to synthesise ideas and what it all means, and I'm lost for words. I need at least 5000 of them (words, I mean) right now! I guess I'll chip away at it slowly, and just put it all down now, organise the ideas later. Must remember Who I'm doing this for!

Am looking forward to this evening... a relaxing time at Blacon St. with the rest of our Oz family. SL is making laksa! But before that, hope to get more stuff done so that I can enjoy the evening guilt-free. Tomorrow it looks like we're on for Montville... Fred, I'll take pictures so that you can enjoy it as well, from your laptop!

Alrighty, time to get on with it. 1 hour more. Jia you, jia you!!

GPS

2007-09-30T15:27:00.000+08:00

We had a wonderful time at Eumandi markets on Sat (28 sept). On our way there, I got caught up with Alvin’s GPS. Not a tech-gear fanatic, so I was trying to figure out how to use it and set the DIRECTION to Eumundi market.
What captures me more is our personal directions in life. Like the GPS- without it, can we find our way to our intended destination? In reality, can we manage without being directed? Just imagine being alone in a desert, are we able to find a way to shelter, food and water and survive that experience? GPS surely would help. We have among many our family, our friends and the Special One to guide. To say the least, we don’t have to walk our journey in life alone.

The message in church today is crystal clear- give up (let it not be the focus) your material possessions, use your talents(God given gift/s) and follow Him. As written in Luke 9:23- He said to all of them, "Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me." The hardest lesson for me would be to say no to the thing I want. It also leads us to following Him wholeheartedly, so back to GPS whether it’s a God-Pursuing Service, being in God’s Positioning System or being Godly Purpose-Streamed, I can’t do it alone… there’s where our fellowship with our friends are also important.

For a start, we would like to do life together, as a group with the other gender’s interest in mind (yes, as a form of sacrifice- give up the thing I want). Being in Brisbane provides great opportunities for this, e.g.,

29 Sept- Eumundi Market-window shopping at the weekend markets
6 Oct- Montville- wine appreciation, scenic views, nature appreciation and picnic.
13 Oct- Bribie Island- fishing, bbqs
20 Oct- Frisbee, captain’s ball
27 Oct- Mt Tamborine

Anyone keen?

The ups and downs of living in Brizzy

2007-09-25T20:11:00.000+08:00

The city of Brisbane is full of ups and downs. On route to Uni from our home are a number of slopes, some of which would knock the wind out of your sails quite abit. There are quite a number of cyclists who use the path, and you can spot who are the stronger ones as they push their way up 45-degree angled slopes. But oh, what a feeling it must be when free-wheeling down the other side! Pedestrians like us have to watch our backs when we're going down the other side of the slope, otherwise we'll be bowled over like ninepins by an elated freewheeling biker.

Life here has been mostly smooth, though of course trials do present themselves at every opportunity. But as my dear (that's right, that's what 'MD' stands for) has shared, this has been a time of reflection and remembering what our purpose here is. I just came out of a busy two weeks, not knowing how I managed to do all that and deliver a presentation on Saturday... it was strength from ELSEWHERE (hint: see first entry).

The people I meet in school never fail to tell me how 'lucky' I am that I have my husband here with me to study, but I don't think so. I believe I am blessed. We have really managed to spend quality time with each other and also with the One who lives in our hearts. I remember just before I left, I met a friend who had been living n Paris with his wife for a year or so; he gave me a friendly heads-up to be prepared for the challenges that will come from spending time with your other half 24/7.

Joerg and I have our separate postgrad offices in buildings next to each other, and usually we spend the full day there, but will ping each other on g-talk when it's time for lunch. Lunch is usually strictly an hour at our favourite spot - the BEL rooftop cafe - and most of the time Norman joins us as well. It's our 'happy hour' of sorts. We spend so much of our time together, so of course there's been ups and downs, and we don't necessarily agree on every little detail (e.g., "Dear I know that the pizza bread is marked down to $1, but we already have 3 more packs at home..."), but I've been learning about give and take, alot. 1 Corinthians 13 - that famous passage about love... that was the passage we chose for our wedding. I came back to it recently and found a deeper meaning to it. God, I need that kind of love! Let me not kid myself by thinking that I have got it all right.

Ups and downs? For sure there's been challenges- to top it off, the trials are happening simultaneously both here and back at home in Sg. It's a good reminder that we can't be in control of everything, and that we can trust God who sees all, to see us through. That surrender- it does bring peace with it. Because it's true: what can we add by worrying? If you can worry, you can pray. The latter's better. And everytime that miracle you prayed for happens, it just strengthens your faith that much more. We believe in a God of miracles!

It's always at the back of my mind, that our time here is short... last Saturday marked our third month since we stepped into Brisbane, which means we have 9 months left. Don't know what other challenges are headed our way, but with each other and our Heavenly Father to cling to, I know that there will always be a 'freewheeling' time that comes with each trial.

Mission ISpossible

2007-09-19T12:14:00.000+08:00

I told people I believe in what I'm doing here. I believe that I have a mission here to fulfill..... In the many days ofstruggle, I've been feeling so inadequate to complete my daily tasks. Then one day, I collected a book from the library entitled:

The second page I flipped to was really out of this world, simply just what I needed to know and keep reminding myself why I'm here in Brisbane, especially with this mission to study and read about character.........

How can we forget? The very reason for our existence- to fulfill a God given purpose.

Not for Got

just

for God

Blessed journey :)

The Greatest Gift

2007-09-17T21:03:00.000+08:00

I once asked my favourite class to write a journal on the greatest gift in their life. Being 15, most of them of prefer the tangible handphones, PSPs, LV bag. Few would have written on the intangible eg mother’s love, as the greatest gift they want. What’s the world teaching our kids and us? What’s the greatest gift you want to receive then? No price for guessing what’s mine- it’s really receiving the eternal gift that’s the greatest for me. Yes, admittedly there are many precious things in our life and we want to take possession of them all. Back home in Singapore, people talked about having the 5Cs (Car, Condo, Cash, Credit card & Country club) I’m not surprised that we have yet another C’s and make up for the new generation.

Well, the point is what are we seeking in life? As I mentioned in my previous entry, we do have a God given purpose in life. So along the way, there are many distractions which disoriented us. It’s so true especially in the midst of the ‘busy’ (Being Under Satan’s Yoke) lifestyle, we lose track of what’s more essential. Now that I have settled in this corner of Brisbane, I do have more time and space to reflect. More time to watch the world go by J So glad that I don’t have to rush through things I usually would. In reality, is it possible to stay calm and do things seamlessly without feeling the stress?

Most importantly, in the midst of our busyness to fulfill our purpose, we may neglect the Author of life who paved the way, the people who encouraged you, and supported you. Well, at times like these, do take a step back, slow down and be thankful. Yes be thankful for what we have, be contented. I believe all of us need this little reminder, stay contented even if you could have wanted ‘more’. God bless you!

All nature speaks...

2007-09-15T11:02:00.000+08:00

[Lisa writes]

Well it's Saturday - the 15th day of spring, 26 degrees is the weather, clear and sunny. And what am I doing? Working on a presentation for next Saturday's School of Education postgrad conference. The others have gone fishing. Sigh... why do I do this to myself?

Been at it for a couple of hours now, time to take a break. I realise that we haven't posted many pictures of the place, and some of you might be wondering what we see over here. Last Saturday we went with our godparents and friends over to Stradbroke Island, so above is a snapshot of what it looks like. Beautiful! (By the way, this picture was taken with the Nokia N73.)

I remember when we were doing a Bible study on 'How to hear the voice of God' by Joyce Meyer with our small group in Singapore (hello Salmon Run!), one of the ways to hear God that we learned about, was while being in nature settings. I think that describes me... when I see the natural beauty of nature, I can't help but pray in my heart to say, "Wow God, that's lovely. You're awesome!" On my weekly morning trips to the university campus at Ipswich (a 40-minute train ride from where we stay), I've had the opportunity to see some wild wallabies and kangaroos lounging around in the grassy areas (unfortunately I also saw one dead kangaroo near the tracks), and I can't help but think our God is such a creative God. I mean, who else would have thought of designing such interesting creatures?

I think I'll always remember this year's Hillsong conference in Sydney, the session by Louie Giglio when he shared about the M51 galaxy, otherwise known as the whirlpool galaxy (it's the first picture in our blog). He shared about how all nature speaks of the glory of God, even up to the heavens. That's written in the book of Psalms. And we never thought further into this even though we've come across the verse before, until Louie pointed us to the picture of the M51 galaxy. What do you see? Without a doubt, it is the image of Jesus on the Cross (this has also been called the cross galaxy). We don't know much about space and the galaxies, but we know enough, from astrologers and other scientists, that these are very very old, and earth is just one tiny little ball in one of the many galaxies out there. Way back in time, God already knew what He would do, that He would send His Son to this little ball located in the far reaches of space, and live among the humans there. And He imprinted this in the M51 galaxy. Take a look for yourself! "All heaven declares..." Praise God.

If you want to hear a little bit more about our indescribable God and the message by Louie Giglio that night, you'll find it on Youtube (what isn't, really?!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1ZpSMHIQw Click and be blessed! :)

Directions in Life

2007-09-08T21:21:00.000+08:00

[Joerg writes]

I'm back with my 2nd entry- coz my wife types really fast and has good Queen's english, and she's Bristish you know? Hence already one-up. Tried writing a more philosophical entry, but my love mentioned it's not 'you'! What's a typical Joerg then? Aiyah, wah lah, ok lor, can also, then hor sounds like me? People ever mentioned I'm a warm person (don't laugh!), I think people see me as a serious person if I don't smile- some say 'tau'. Honestly, I'm just happy to be able to enjoy this sabbatical in this relaxing part of Brisbane.

This is my younger niece- WeiXuan

At this time, Bee & Jason are heading back to Sg from their 10-day pilgrimage to Brisbane. Yes, they longed for the places where they once had their 'lomatic' adventures. So good to have them here, just feel uneasy seeing them spend so much on us. aka blessings :)

Back to this study thing that's stressing me. I sometimes ask myself, am I able to handle the job/duty given to me even if I dislike the given task? What if you have to suffer humiliation and even death for a cause that you are called for? The tasks we have maynot be life and death, probably not earth-shattering or as powerful as William Wiberforce (fought for the abolishment of slave trade) etc. We do have a purpose, as Rick Warren will put it a God given purpose. How well are we handling our purpose? Well, I just want to remind myself (& you!), that what Jesus did on the Cross is a good encouragement for us to fulfil our purpose and destiny. I don't see anyone liking death to be his/her fulfilment of purpose in life.

I enjoyed my 2 years plus in Greenridge Sec. School. It's awesome teaching the class from 4T1 in 2006. I always remember telling that they can imagine themselves running a marathon, and they are finishing the race soon (taking GCE N-levels). I mentioned that it's not how well they start the race, it's how well they finish the race. That's a really important life application for all of us.

As for me, I asked God during the church worship last week, to open my eyes to the things He wanted me to learn over the course of my research. I trust that He will empower me to do it, in His time. You too can fulfil the purpose that He has given to you, ask Him, He'll straighten the path for you. Go ahead!

The rules of freedom

2007-09-06T16:22:00.001+08:00

[Lisa writes]

Supposed to be working on a presentation for late September, but it's close to dinner time and I can't concentrate... so let me just tap a few keystrokes as an appetizer.

Joerg and I have noticed one particular difference that stands out between the place we are now, and back home. It's just got me thinking about things. About freedom and legislation, choosing to do what is right vs doing right in order to avoid consequences.

Over here, like I mentioned in the previous post, there is a drought, and we are currently at a level 5 water restriction - 4-minute shower, no washing of cars, compulsory use of water tanks or alternative water sources, no sprinklers on the lawns (we have no lawns, no car, so no problem. Just the 4-minute shower, which I am proud to say, we enforce as much as possible... except when washing my hair, now limited to once in 2 days).

The point is, while there are all these notices and warnings about saving water, whether people actively choose to do so is really up to their own principle. It is not really a fear of fine or punishment, at least I don't think so, because there doesn't seem to be very heavy consequences, except for those who really go way beyond the 150litres per person per day.

Back at home the situation as you know is quite different. "Fine:$150." "Fine: $1000". Break the law, face a fine. Or face the courts. Almost guaranteed. So people choose to do right (or at least avoid breaking the law) because they want to avoid the punishment. No punishment, no crime!

Back to the water-saving thing, the people we know who actually practice it, do so because they believe it is important to save water. Even to their own inconvenience. It becomes a matter of principle, not of fear.

Thinking about choosing to do right in general, this kind of reflects where we are too, doesn't it? I reckon that's why when some of our young friends from home first experience life overseas, they are overwhelmed by the freedom that seems to exist, and may venture into things that they shouldn't. The important principles haven't been ingrained.

Even as Christians we're not immune to this... if the Bible doesn't say we can't do it, then we can, right? We lose the principles to obeying the consequences. If there's no law against it, then I can do it. Tis the way of the world... It's made me think about what principles I have, or are my actions determined entirely by what the consequences will be? Hm.

Ok, anyway I've had dinner now... this has become a post-dinner post. Back to work!

God bless, all!

PS. Here's a quick and dirty recipe for sweet and sour fish, which we just had for dinner, cooked by BB:
- get some crumbed fish fillets. Grill it for some time (under an hour)
- get some sweet chilli sauce.
- get some onions.
- saute the sweet chilli sauce and the onions.
- add some lime juice.*
- pour sauce over fish, do not saute fish with the sauce.
- serve.
*Actually what happened was that BB bought the wrong sauce. So we had to make up for the 'sour' bit.

Have a blast! :)

Random things I have learned so far

2007-09-04T19:19:00.000+08:00

[Lisa writes]

A more frivolous entry from the previous... but here are some things we've learned as poor students during our 2 1/2 months in Brisbane.

1. You can cook mee goreng using spaghetti.

2. You can save water in many ways, e.g., pouring bathwater into the toilet cistern (Brisbane is having a drought).

3. At 6.15pm on weekdays, a stroll down to Coles supermarket at Toowong Village will bag you some great $1 deals... you just got to be patient while the sales lady goes around sticking the $1.00 labels. We've managed to settle our lunches and breakfasts (and sometimes desserts) just by sticking around!

4. You can walk 45 minutes one-way to and from University, and save $1.20 per trip, making it $2.40 per day, $12/pax or $24/2 pax over 5 days. Except if it rains. Which doesn't happen often in Brisbane.

5. As a postgraduate student, you can get the librarians to do just about anything for you!

6. If a person falls during a soccer game and injures his leg, don't EVER EVER EVER try to 'screw it back'. Otherwise, the person's bone will be splintered into 32 pieces. (Fact... from one of Joerg's soccer games)

7. DON'T ever step into a supermarket when you are hungry. Otherwise you come home with lots of snacks that will last you a few weeks. (Check out our full larder in the picture)

8. A 330-litre fridge can be made to store more than you think.

9. It IS possible to take a 4-minute shower once a day and not smell to high heaven! (in winter at least)

10. When you're away from home, it feels nice to come home and have dinner with friends every day.

strength for the day

2007-09-04T12:47:00.000+08:00

[Joerg writes]

Greetings!

Welcome to our first post in our little corner of the web.

As we are not so tech-savvy and have always felt unequipped to embark on a daunting task like this, we've finally gotten our act together so that we can keep our family and friends updated in our daily walk and give praise to the Giver of life.

Strength for the day? We all need that, don't we? Ever wondered where you draw your strength from each and everyday? From the kaya toast? The nasi lemak? A cuppa? From the many exercise workouts and life experiences? Or from something more eternal?

We started an interesting journey here in Brisbane two and a half months ago. People have asked us, "Why are you doing this? Spending money that we don't have, to get a degree that is not likely to get you a pay-rise... are you crazy or what??" Many questions were unanswered. No finances, no scholarship (yet!), non-lucrative study investment, possible to study in S'pore.......... It's not easy for us to be back here studying- there are many challenges we encountered and will continue to face along the way.

Many things would have held us back and left us struggling for a solution in the short 2 months we have been here. It took us 5 weeks to finally find our own place, a roof over our heads complete with security, huge front verandah, swimming pool (10 metres long with salt water), and separate rooms with an ensuite.

I was confident with my previous experience here in 2002-2003, that we could a place within 2 weeks. We got rejected by agents/landlords 3 times.
We toured Brisbane looking for white goods. Fridge, washing machines etc In the process of helping us to move the fridge, godpa Bill hurt his back (he is ok now, thanks to Voltaren).
I had a little disagreement with my supervisor about the project I was doing.
There were delays in our enrolments, our overseas health cover.
We were struggling with the different church culture here and did not know which church to settle into.
Our partying neigbours talk loudly late late into the night (1-2am).

Yup, it felt like a battle out there over those 5 weeks. I really am glad that I'm not alone. There's Lisa, godparents (Bill and Shau), friends (Norman & Vania) plus new brothers and sisters in Christ, and the special One who's been looking after us. How awesome is that!

I'm studying harder than usual- more settled already. This study thing is driving me nuts- as you know I never was a studious person- that's where I find a challenge God wanted me to face. Out of the comfort of home- doing something, I believe to glorify His mighty name. I see Lisa working hard- reading and writing her literature reviews, on my part, I can't help but want to remind myself to fulfil my mission here.

I ask Him for strength for the day, and I hope you have a strength-filled day...not just with a cuppa but from the everlasting!

Till then, pleasant journey in your walk.

Joerg & Lisa