i was looking through a friend’s blog and saw this tribute-to-fashion blog.

some of the pieces i like!

disclaimer: some of the pieces just look nice cos the model is gorgeous (:

i REALLY like her glasses!

very expensive eye candy shoes

Last night, I was in panic mode.

I didn’t realise how many new visitors, friends we haven’t seen in a while, came to church, and there wasn’t enough communion, bulletins, new visitors packs etc!

As people filled in, i realised the logistics crew had moved the rope which binds the section that people are not allowed to sit in, back. we used to keep free the first half of seats in front of the pulpit, and cordon off the remaining area at the back. and only the front few rows would be full when Ablaze Service first started. but last night, a little less than 1/3 of the back rows were bound - our room was more than 1/3 full!

still, it didnt hit me until communion came. liz whispered across the room “we’re running out of cups!”. instinctively, i thought i had mis-heard. we always had so many cups leftover at the end of every service.

Running out?!

but as the ushers gathered outside, we realised that there were only 3 cups left! and that was without the worship team recieving their elements yet. WOW we finished communion! through those empty trays, God ministered to us so strongly - it is time for the harvest! it is so true when Torch preached after on how through serving, God grows you. i love these moments with the team where we just know IT WAS ALL WORTH IT. there is really nothing more rewarding than sowing into the house of God.

edit: okay okay, it was 4 cups. but you get my point! (:

- i cant post the pictures -

MY KIDS!!

(okay, my grade-one kids.)

they are the best well-behaved, funny, enthusiastic, cheerful, hard-working, lovable bunch!!

—

throughout this course, God has really been teaching me about working with people. in the aspect of teamwork, another team member and i have not got along since the start of the course, and it seemed to progressively get worse each week. going into the last session today, i felt so much tension adding to the already building up nervous energy.

right then, another incident came up, and i reckon it was the last straw for both of us. her face turned red, and i knew she was on the brink of tears. somehow even though i was [furiously] mad, something just stopped inside of me and i KNEW i had to apologise to her.

if you have been in the loop with my “paeds woes”, you would know the last thing i ever wanted to do was to apologise to her [sorry this is quite honest]. so humbling, but so neccessary. i asked her outside, i stuttered through words and wildly gestured my way through the time together, before i blurted out the magic words “i’m sorry”.

now i know why people write songs about being able to say sorry. its so hard! but i am reminded that we are to forgive so that God can forgive us, and praise God for the courage to do that - and to live out His words.

at the moment i blurted out those words, she looked at me, and burst out in an account of how upset at the situation she had been all that time. at the end, she apologised too. it made me stop and re-iterate my apology for the times where i had unknowingly hurt her.

wow. what a morning. Praise God for a day of conclusions, and new beginnings (:

last sunday, a bunch of us joined Corporate Games 2008 - Volleyball. We were entered under sponsorship from Jay’s company [Go PMP Limited!] and it was a whole day event at UQ Sport. 20 teams were registered from different companies across Brisbane and we had 3 games, before we went into the semi-finals and then to the finals.

PRAISE GOD!!!! we made it all the way to the top! i know it was by God’s strength that He kept me going from 9am-4pm, and His peace that calmed my nerves! i could feel the adrenaline zap through me during the semi’s and the finals!

the team

the BEST CHEER SQUAD!

the BEST TEAM EVER!

What song could i sing

that would move the heart of royalty

and all that i have

is this life that You’ve given me

so Lord let me live for You

my song with humility

- Big Daddy Weave

last week when i typed in this blog, i was on a exuberant high. this week, God decided to put me to the test with the same situation.

fieldwork started off really poorly - a mis-communication meant a last minute scramble for materials and less-than-impressed team members. add onto that a child that burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably for some time that seemed like eternity. i realised that there is such a huge black line between handling sulking and dealing with tears.

sulking is contained. a sulk can be reversed into a smile by colouring with texters, making a silly face or just a hug. crying, on the other hand, is an open flood gate. it must be the worst feeling in the world facing a crying child. suddenly every remedy goes out the door and you feel so incompetent while at the same time looking like a bully.

my supervisor looked at me with a sympathetic expression after we were done - it felt like a “welcome-to-the-business” look. but God really spoke to me through one of Nainby’s songs in the car [ i think its Track 2], it really challenged me to not be discouraged when times get hard, but to stand up and fight. wow. just what i needed.

that, and easyway. haha!

yes, that’s right. my mom’s birthday is on mother’s day - you could say she was born to be a mom (:

my mom is my biggest fan, in good times, silly times, complaining times and just growing times. i always joke that i was her ‘full time job’ till i came to brissy 4 years ago and she got ‘fired’. but that’s far from true! voicemails, emails, and snailmails help her keep me in the loop always.

she is also the biggest fan of my blog - you know that when you get an email from her saying “how come your blog nowadays no excitement?”. that certainly ends the blog drought. she is also a big Jay Chou fan even though she will deny that - because she always sends me his latest album and even throws in a poster! through the years as i grew up, mom was like my sister - although people who want to get into her good books will say that she looks like my sister. but she is! we can just lie on the bed together and talk/giggle/pay each other out about all things ALL AFTERNOON. i love it that you’re so cool about whatever topic i bring up and you don’t shut me down. even if its something that you’ve told me x 500,000,000 times not to do. i always remember the times when we have a good laugh together e.g. sneezing lady, and it makes me smile when im here.

Thanks mom - i don’t say it enough. now that im cooking for myself, i really appreciate your cooking. now that im driving, i really appreciate when you drove me. now that i have to clean, i really appreciate your nagging. i guess you could say that i’m growing up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! i wish i was there.

what a handsome couple (:

from the start of the semester, i’ve been working continuously with children. but once we reached mid way through Sem 1, we had a change of fieldworks and i’m now doing paediatrics twice a week.

being at the UQ children’s clinic was challenging, a lot of work was involved, and we only got to see the children once. if i learnt anything, its probably that being a parent is so hard! there’s no manual or textbook to study on how to raise your child, and the different issues that children face can be so overwhelming. its also interesting to see the different mix of families out there - some that are so supportive when their children are in therapy, and some parents that just want their children to ’suck it up’.

over the last 3 weeks, i’ve started fieldwork at a primary school on thursdays. this time, i get four Grade 1 children to see each week, over a period of 6 weeks. i can’t remember how i was like when i was that age, but im pretty sure i wasn’t climbing the walls back then. it’s soo exhausting keeping up with them, but it is SOOO fun. part of me tends to slip back into the mode of being a child again, before my supervisor pulls me up.

the best incident today was when we got to stick our hands into a bucket full of shaving cream [sounds fun, but feels sooo weird!] , and pull out little plastic snakes that were hidden inside. i ended up with shaving cream up to my elbows, and somehow thought it was fun to put a dollop of cream on the nose of one of my girls. next thing i know, 7 other kids were covered with shaving cream ALL OVER their faces cos they thought it was funny. i had to clean them up, and the other OT student with me was less than impressed, but it was a heap of fun (:

God always seems to give me these ‘AWW’ moments with different clients that i meet on fieldwork, that just make me stop and melt inside. the only boy in my group was having difficulty with all the activities we were doing, and when i had a chat with him on how he was going, he said with a small “i’ve-accepted-it” smile, “i don’t like school - i’m not good at it”.

if you were inside my head, it would have sounded like this, “AWWWWWW!! why why why…?”. and i wanted to just hug him and cheer him up. but since i had to ‘maintain professional standards at all times’, a pat on the head was the best i could do ): he then shared about how he couldn’t keep up with the expectations of his mother, and that he was already a year behind. all this from a Grade 1 child!

it made me so sad on the way home - what is happening to that precious time of childhood these days? i think every child deserves the right to get into a little bit of trouble, fall a bit behind, and require some help. childhood is meant to be about having fun! in the end, he said that he loves thursdays, cos he gets to work with the fun OT students. what a charmer (:

one of my favourite memories of my childhood was during chinese new year. grandpa’s shop had a lion dance ceremony, and if you have seen the ‘clown’ that dances in front of the ‘lion’, it was hilarious to me. the ‘clowns’ wear a big ‘paper-mesh-looking’ head piece that they can only see through two holes in front. somehow i thought it was funny to run up to the clown and see if i could jump high enough to give him a good knock on his ‘helmet’ - and i did it, nice and loud. i remember going to mom after that, giggling like a 7 year old would, and telling her how funny it was that i did that. she paused, and for a split second i thought “uh-oh”, but mom burst out laughing and asked me how i did it!

[AWWW MOM!! (: if you are reading this, can you call me?]

Thank God for the way He is working on my heart through these fieldworks. it really puts me into perspective and helps me be more grateful for each day that i know is in His hands.

this picture captures it all (:

yesterday at altar call, as i asked God for refreshment, revival, a fresh stirring in my heart, and a hunger for His purposes, i didn’t expect His work to start so fast!

it came in the form of a unique individual, with small hands but a creative warrior - Mei Goh. over supper and the long chat tucked away in the warmth of mei’s car, the Holy Spirit just captured that moment in my heart.  we always joke about taking our friendship to ‘a whole new level’ everytime we meet, and true to it too! the friendships that God has placed in my life are so precious. having seen mei grow and develop such a generous spirit has really brought reflected God’s heart. Mei! don’t Goh to taiwan!

like icing on a cupcake, God always chooses to go one step further to bless me. lunch with a very special sister - Cait - put my weekend off to a rockin’ start. haven’t known Cait for long, but we always seem to have an endless number of things to share. praise God for the uncanny same wavelength that we have! i love the girly talks we have, but also the chance to share and learn from another part of Hope Brisbane. really inspired by your hunger to be more Christ-like in everything you do and your faithfulness to your friends. gelati soon!