CNY Day 1

From the road, it is obvious the action was quite intense last night. When dad was around, he was really into this sort of thing. Somehow I never get to "inherit" this fondness for firecrackers. Funny, huh?


Ping & Evelyn went to Blessed Church early morning with mom. So myself & the kids only get to join them much later at Evelyn's house. It has been a looooong time since I last woke up at 9am!


As planned, right after church, mom, David & Philip were driving back to Sibu. It would have been a 5 to 6 hrs drive. But their car got into some mechanical problem shortly after. In the end the trip was cancelled. Praise the LORD for keeping the car safe all the way back to Kuching.


While mom & the gang were heading to Sibu, we were enjoying a fantastic lunch at Chin's mom's house. Chin's mom is a Super Woman. She is truly a Proverb 31 woman - she can cook, she is a business lady, she takes care of home, she takes care of grandkids, and she LOVES Jesus. But I enjoy her cooking most ;P


One thing I enjoy very much during CNY is taking family photos. I remember it was almost like a tradition back in the days in Sibu whereby every CNY I would take family portraits for many relatives & my dad's friends. I sure miss them and I hope some of them miss me too ;)


For the kids, the "tradition" they enjoy most is getting LOTS & LOTS of AngPow of course.


Well, today we didn't have time to take much family portraits yet... Hopefully tomorrow we will have the time.


Anna invited us for dinner tonight. And since mom & David didn't make it to Sibu, Anna invited them too. It has been a long time since all of us are together.


After dinner, I showed them the latest photos of cousin Teresa (from Facebook) in NYC. We almost wanted to call uncle Pete...


Praise the LORD for this wonderful day.

Reunion Dinner

Once more we have our CNY reunion dinner at mom's place. This year there are 8 of us. David took the lead to bless the reunion dinner with a most awesome prayer. Very proud of him.


Chin family & Evelyn's kids joined us shortly. Mom will be going back to Sibu with David tomorrow. Heard cousin Philip will be the driver!


Here's wishing all my friends & relatives - GONG XI FA CAI!!!

Cousin Ah Mui

Imagine my surprise when cousin Ah Mui called telling me she is in town!!! Lagi best, her two children also came back for CNY, and they are O SO BIG already! So nice of them to drop by my house.


It was great we were able to have dinner together.


And had the time to fellowship with all my sisters at Chin's house. At least she got to see Bethany.

EBC New Chinese Worship Hall

The Mandarin service has a NEW worship hall today! This is really great since they don't have to "hurry up" anymore to vacate the hall for the incoming English service.


As the Mandarin congregation has been growing for the past couple of years, it was time to "expand". Praise the Lord the church was able to rent the shophouse RIGHT next door! How convenient!


But as in most "first day", sometimes there are...technical issues... especially with Window Vista & the new Microsoft Office (hint: get Mac)... the compatibility between the various versions... very the Headache one! I was surprised to see my pal Johnny didn't rip the PC apart. Very unusual. Must be bearing much fruit (longsuffering) of the Holy Spirit!!! ;)


I didn't realise Ah Liang is already taller than David & myself! Gosh, I think in another few months' time, Ah Bu will catch us up too!


This morning Evelyn did a great job at translating. Very proud of her. Pastor gave a very beefy sermon this morning with LOTS of reference Scripture verses.


So when Edison came, I could sense the immense relief from Johnny. Within a few short minutes and a few key-strokes, the projector was back in business! Hallelujah!


Praise the LORD for this new place, and praise Him for His provision!

A video slideshow:

O Jerusalem!

In April '07, I blogged about the dream of my care group going to Israel. Little did I know by Dec '07, indeed Frank & Belinda went!!! Last Sunday Belinda shared with the Church of their trip to the Holy Land.


Certainly it has been my desire to visit this biblical land too. The Lord willing, I really hope I can walk down the streets of Jerusalem, climb the hills of Samaria, see the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee... So I am praying...

Some people asked me: "Aren't u afraid of terrorist bombing?" The BEST answer I get so far to that question is: "Well, at least Jerusalem is closer to heaven." LOL!

Meantime, I enjoy watching videos such as this:

Mark's Convocation

Congrats! Bro Mark soon to be Professor Mark ;)


Wa, Mark! Why everyone so serious looking one?! I mean....urr....the people in the backdrop ;)

New Malls in Kuching

The Spring - the newest, latest, biggest shopping mall in Sarawak. For so many years (decades), the best shopping complexes in Sarawak were every where else BUT Kuching! But now finally we have THE BEST shopping mall in Sarawak right here in Kuching.


Tonight I was there with my family, and the mall was PACKED! This is the first time I see whereby people gotta Q UP for dinner in Kuching! In front of Sushi King, I saw a line that was at least 15 people deep - totally unheard of!


Yup, u gotta Q UP at this kids' favourite "chocolate fountain" shop too. We waited for 5 mins just to get 2 sticks of mashmellow dipped in thick chocolate.


The Spring is developed by some Sibu fellas, so it isn't surprising to see the anchor supermarket is from Sibu too - Ta Kiong. Used to be my dad's favorite store. I was hopping to see more selection & choices here...but no surprises here.


After we left the Spring, we decided to check out the OTHER new shopping place in town - Blvd Mall. And sad to note, compared to their Miri counterpart, this "new" place looked so run down! Somehow the place just looked "cheap". And it was dirty & messy. I was very disappointed.


The worst was the parking. The basement car park was so suffocating & humid & so poorly designed... it was just awful. I think I will be spending much more time in the Spring...

Weekend in KL

Has it been 2 years already since I last met up with buddy Colin & family? Time flies. Well, truly it was "divine appointment" that we met up once more over the weekend.


Once more buddy TW played the host - the most incredible host. Every time I am overwhelmed by his hospitality & friendship. JS too.


For 2 nights straight, they "searched" tirelessly for food... not for themselves but rather to ensure their pals (me & Colin) would never go to bed "empty stomach". I mean, how many of u would go buy KFC at 2am just cuz ur friends are hungry?


Best, I got to worship at my friend's church - PJ Grace of God. I was shocked when the Pastor told me he couldn't find any "GOOD FOOD" in Kuching the last time he was there!!! This is almost like "blasphemy"! ;)

Just wonder who played host when the dear Pastor was here...

Which makes me all the more appreciative of the friends I got. Thanks buddy. Praise God.

BirthdayS!

Believe it or not, we celebrated THREE (3) birthdays this evening - Chin, Bella & Bernard!!! We had dinner at this kopi-tiam that serves fabulous food.


Here are the 3 birthday boys & girl. Bella is 10 & Bernard is 14 already!!!


So we sang "Happy Birthday" thrice.


Since Betty is back, we took advantage of this gathering to shoot some group photos...warming up for the soon coming CNY.


How Ser & family. Bethany is a lot more "friendly" this trip. And starts to talk a lot too.


Evelyn and family.

A sideshow of the evening:

Hallelujah for 2007!

Praise the LORD for 2007. As we come to a close for 2007, I pray all ur days ahead will be filled with the awesome love & knowledge of our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ, that u...

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
(Eph 3:18-21)

Christmas Celebration

We have a wonderful Christmas celebration this morning at Crown Square. Check out my first photo slideshow done by iMovie!

This year we all arrived EARLY. By 8:30am we were already at the hall, praise the LORD!

A joyous celebration in remembrance of the birth of our Saviour Lord Jesus. All the ladies in this pix can testify to u how GREAT & AWESOME is our God, and how GRATEFUL they are to the grace & mercy of God. Me included, of course.

And to know the Messiah is coming soon once more...

Best, we have excellent lunch too!

For more pls visit my Church's Blog.

Bernard's Baptism

Bernard was baptised on Dec 19th! I was supposed to go help take some photos but missed the occasion cuz of some "technical problem". Glad my sis did snap this.

KL Trip

The kids spent part of their school holiday in KL recently. I was able to join them during the last few days. It was a good break. Not only were we able to spent lots of time together, but we also spent quality time with a few close relatives.

I think the kids and AiPing covered like 90% of the KL's Top-10 must see places...

From the historical landmark...

To the modern landmark...

We also tried to sample as much of KL's delicacies.

And to "rebuke" one of my friends (ahem, u know who u r), though good food (aka "expensive" according to him) is an important element for good time, but good COMPANY is even MORE important la.

But most surprising of all --- John trying out ALL THE rides in Genting!!! That's a miracle!

Evelyn & David's Birthday

Long time haven't been blogging about Birthdays! Below are a couple of birthday videos:

Evelyn's birthday at Chin's house.

David's birthday at mom's house. We didn't know until that night that it was cousin Philip's birthday TOO!!!! Gosh, can't believe the "truth" was only revealed after sooooo many years!

And that night, I also discovered the "maker" of the small wooden cross I have in my car - none other than the wife of my mom's care group leader!!! Surprise, surprise!

Photo Booth Fun

As I wasn't feeling well for past few days, ending up with taking several half-days off, but it doesn't mean u can't have a little fun with the iMac! These are just some of the funny Photo Booth effects that I played with. Very cool...

A Woman Rides the Beast - Dave Hunt

Have been wanting to buy this book - A Woman Rides the Beast - for quite some time. Was surprised to find a video version on YouTube. Awesome video!

Be warned though, it is an hour long.

Datuk Chua

Datuk Chua, ex-Health Minister, was at my Church this morning sharing his awesome testimony. Saved in 2004, he was not only healed supernaturally of several illnesses and delivered from "legions" of demons but his family also went thru major "transformation" - all gloriously healed & saved! Praise the LORD!

God is awesome!


His son, Damion, also shared his incredible testimony on the LOVE & FAITHFULNESS of our Living God. My heart burned while listening to both of their sharing. I was greatly encouraged.

Praise the LORD for raising up this family for His glory.

For more on the above, pls click HERE.

My iMac!

It is difficult to believe I just bought my VERY OWN Apple - an iMac!!! Though I have had some experience with Mac, from the Apple II to Macintosh, but that was like centuries ago. I still remember when I first played SimCity on a friend's Macintosh!

This is certainly a dream comes true. Hallelujah!


So far I really enjoy the stuff that comes packaged with the iMac. The softwares are just incredible. And I am really looking forward to learn "video editing" ;)

This will be fun.