Thanksgiving

A time to give our thanks.

What are you thankful for this year?

I have ALOT to be thankful for this year, let's start from the top!

I was thankful for a short getaway to a city which took me 15yrs to re-visit. My first visit to BKK was quite a nightmare, on the night of arrival with my parents, my mum had a stroke. She had to be rushed to a private hospital at the mercy of the cab driver. Back then, tourism wasnt a huge factor and hence the cab drivers were not so fluent to deal with tourist. By God's grace, we managed to communicate sufficiently with him and he brought us to the best private hospital there was in the city. Although we were alittle hesistant with its exterior structure (being a short 4storey building in between two huge buildings, decked in grey), I was very impressed by how much medical equipment they had and their medical skills were impressive. We were assured that mum was in good hands and although unsettling, we spent a week sleeping in the hospital ward with the kind understanding of the medical staff. I thought I would never really return to that city without having to re-live those days of nightmare but thankfully, in this Jan trip, it was filled lots of fun, excitement and not a luggage bag was empty! I discovered the joy of shopping, the relaxation of having massages and the fun of discovery! Even tried my first hand at shooting a pistol! So cool!

I think I am very thankful for a chance to go back to place that was filled with so much negative emotions and be able to drive them away with good, positive emotions. It was a great experience!

Next came CNY and when it was barely over, I had to start work on my research, yes by digging soil... thankfully I had some serious MANpower! Yes, my ever supportive, ever ready Ad! He's the BEST! Never a single word of complain nor grumble, just asked me where? when? what time? And off we went! This persisted for a seriously long period of time to the point which I was really thankful when I can hide in the safety of our lab to process the soil samples, away from the sun, the heat, the everything! Not only was I thankful for Ad's support, I was also very thankful that the collection went on smoothly as planned. :)

As time passed, the grieve of dad's passing also slowly eased away. I am thankful for the time, the space and the grace to grieve. Slowly but surely acceptance came and peace that followed. Now, at times, I can even joke about dad with my mum. I pray for that same peace to envelope her whenever she feels grieved.

Very quickly, Lent came, after hearing so much about The Purpose Driven book by Rick Warren, we decided to gather a small group of friends to share the 40days journey together. Thankfully, we found some expertise, someone who actually run a similar group before! It was definitely a time when we were reflective, learning and experience more of God's mystery and our own purpose. I am still reflecting on some of the topics that was covered! I am thankful for the constant guidance and having these inspiration to keep pushing us forward.

This year was indeed filled with tonnes of beautiful memories, so much that I am at loss what to say sometimes. There were so many friendships formed and built, made to last longer and stronger than I have ever imagined. One thing I am very sure, all these would not have been possible if not for God's grace upon us. Thank You Lord! (And I think this Prayer of Jabez has got to do with it!)

In June, my family and I took a trip back to our hometown in Donggun, Guangzhou, China. It was my virgin trip to our hometown. I was very very impressed by the amount of effort that my grandparents put to "repay" the kindness of the villagers who has helped my grandfather leave their hometown and come to work in Singapore. If not for their fore-father's help, we would not be here today, enjoying the fruits of their labour. In return, my grandfather built a school (because he feels strongly about education, believing that anyone can learn anything if they desire to, he watches the Tamil news at home at 70 to pick up the language!). He was also often called to raise funds for re-building projects in the home town, there were so many stories of my grandfather and our fore-fathers that we kept thinking of how fortunate we are. And indeed we are very honored decendents of many great people in our family. I am very thankful for this trip to help me learn so much more about my family history, at least I have some juicy stories to pass on to my kids and grandkids! hee hee

One of the themes that really stood out for me is: Marriage - a lovingly marriage is a lasting marriage.
We witnessed how over 400 couples stood before God to profess their love for each other some 50years after their wedding and some as "youthful" as us barely 3+yrs of marriage. The common denominator is the commitment to build a lasting marriage TOGETHER.
And how to be able to achieve a lovingly marriage? The trick is to surround yourself with people who share the same values as you about marriage. People who are commited to each other, who value the importance of commitment which entails faith, hope & love. If you can love, you can forgive and forget. Every marriage will meet their test somehow, some time, how each couple deals with that tough situation lies very much in the crux of their friends and family. If their surrounding values the importance of sorting things out peacefully, lovingly, chances are that these two persons will stay together. And vice versa. So go figure if you want to stick around those whom you are sticking around with now.....

I am thankful for being able to indulge in my crazy "hobbies", hee hee; more hee hee; hee hee hee hee ;lagi more hee hee
Yes, I am very thankful for finding that childhood that I miss, the senseless giggles which I enjoyed. Its GREAT to just giggle! hee hee

AND ok ok this one, I am like so ultra thankful for it that tears can roll out any time....

I am thankful for FB, I have found my sec school best friend, SC! Yes that one that i blogged about like Jan 2006!. All this time I kept wondering about some individuals that has left some part of them behind in me and slowly, they are all coming back to life again! I am just ecstatic! Some of these old friends are counting back 20yrs of MIA! ha ha ha..... If there was a chance of relocating my kindergarden pals, now, that would be a real treat!

Thank You Lord. You have made my life so colorful, so wonderful, so full of adventure that I can only be thankful for! *muaks*