Don’t trade your life for temporary things

I was just sharing with a dear friend on how God reach out to each of us differently. For me, God has always used words, daily devotions to answer my queries.

The past 2 weeks has been quite a nightmare for us (me & my dear friend). We were caught up in a biz transaction that took us on a 2 week roller coaster ride. We had sleepless nights, worrying about what might happen and how do we try our best to savage the deal. It was such a traumatizing time for me, I could not sleep well at night, at most just 4hours of sleep as compared to my usual 8-10hours. I used to just fall asleep on the bed but I lie in bed wondering if there was anything more I can do or what went wrong. I jump out of bed in the wee hours of the night checking my email for the "promised email from the other party" which never came. I lived 2 weeks of my life checking my mobile phone for messages, emails or phone calls.

I couldn't eat a proper meal. I fell ill twice in that 14days, had fever and felt cold all over. I was not just physically exhausted but also mentally exhausted. My whole mind was just filled to its brim with this case. It was causing harm to not just my personal health but my marital health as well. My hubby says that I'm physically here but mentally not around.

Finally, we got some sort of a break from the case and I got the much needed rest. And I asked myself why am I into that?
What should my focus be? Slowly but surely, God unfolded the answers before me.

Thank you God for once again using words to encourage me, to help me focus on You and what's important.

Thank you for sending Jesus to live amongst us, sacrifice for our sins and show us how to be a better person.

Happy Easter to all!

===============================================
Sunday, April 04, 2010
On Mission: Don’t trade your life for temporary things
by Rick Warren
There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18 (MSG)
""What are you allowing to stand in the way of your mission? "

So much of what we waste our energy on will not matter even a year from now, much less for eternity. Don't trade your life for temporary things.

Jesus said, "Anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62, TLB). Paul warned, "Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out." (1 Corinthians 7:31, MSG)

What are you allowing to stand in the way of your mission? Whatever it is, let it go. "Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back..." (Hebrews 12:1, TLB)

How can we do this? In one of his most misunderstood statements, Jesus said, "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." (Luke 16:9, NIV)

Jesus did not mean for you to "buy" friends with money. What he meant was that you should use the money God gives you to bring people to Christ. They will then be friends for eternity who will welcome you when you get to heaven! It's the best financial investment you'll ever make.

You've probably heard the expression "You can't take it with you"- but the Bible says you can send it on ahead, by investing in people who are going there! The Bible says, "By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven--it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well." (1 Timothy 6:19, TLB)

Lesson for all

Was chatting with 2 friends from China and we were discussing about the difference in medical care between the two countries. One of them had recently undergone a minor surgery. She mentioned that chose the private option in the hospital to avoid the cumbersome processes. In turned she had to pay 5 times more of what the other subsidized options had to pay.

Then friend 2 said that normally, when a person needs to go for surgery, just before he/she was wheeled into the operation theatre, their family would stuff a red packet full of cash to the team of surgeons, nurses etc that would be operating on that patient. This helps to "ensure" quality medical care of that patient. Well, no one knows what are the statistics for those who did not survive the operation because their family did not give the surgical team the red packet. But no one dares to test the integrity of the system either. Most of the families would end up giving some regardless of how tough it'll take them to get hold of the money.

It suddenly dawn upon me that perhaps, that was the reason why my dad did not survive his heart attack. What seems to be a pretty mild case to me lead to his death in a foreign land.

Scenario:
1. discomforts throughout the day, rested in the hotel room
2. further discomforts after dinner, dad was brought to A&E, still pretty much alive
3. nurses and "docs" saw him and started CPR on him
4. heart rate came back on and off, CPR continued throughout the night from 12midnight till 7am
5. around 6am-7am, when it was time to change shift for the hospital staff, my brother-in-law was asked to take over the CPR
6. no defrilberator was used on my dad
7. pronounced dead early in the morning

After analyzing the situation with me, both my friends agreed that there was a possibility that things might be different if there was the red packet to the hospital staff.

a. dad was sent to this hospital under the recommendation of the tour guide
b. shouldn't the tour guide pick a better hospital?
c. shouldn't the tour guide advise them better?

To lose a dad is not easy.

To lose a dad in a foreign land is tougher.

To lose a dad and only to find out years later that perhaps, there was a possibility that he would still be alive today.... is a torture.

Yes, we'll never know the difference today.

But today, we can make the difference by sharing with all our family, friends, loved ones this same information:
Be ultra prepared with loads of emergency cash whenever you travel.
Be in touch with at least a couple of friends wherever you are.

You may never know all the local cultures and practices, some times all it takes is someone who knows to tell you to do the right thing at the right time and that makes all the critical differences.

Here's to all who have lost a parent. My love goes out to you. May the Lord bless their souls and give us peace in our souls!

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul

How sweet is this proverb!

"A sweet friendship refreshes the soul." Proverbs 27:9 (MSG)

Often we have a bad day or week or month hopefully not year... we have a get together with some friends and simply by being in their company, all that negative emotions get lifted. The miracle healing of friendship! SWEET!

Friends are like life's cushions!
====================================================
Monday, February 22, 2010
How to connect with people
by Rick Warren
"A sweet friendship refreshes the soul." Proverbs 27:9 (MSG)

One of the deepest needs we have in life is the need to be understood. We all desperately need to feel that somebody can feel what we're feeling and understand what we're thinking. We all need people who connect with us.

A study by the California Department of Health Mental found that if you're disconnected from other people -

You're two-to-three times more likely to die an early death;
You're four times more likely to suffer from emotional burnout;
You're five times more likely to suffer clinical depression, and;
You're ten times more likely to be hospitalized for an emotional or mental disorder.
We need human connections for physical, emotional, spiritual health. We need people who understand us, who relate to us and who can connect to us.

Learning how to connect with people on a heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul level is one of life's most important skills. Unfortunately, nobody ever teaches us how to do this. You learn science and geography, history and math in school, but nobody teaches you how to connect with people. You may be brilliant in some subject, but if you don't know how to connect with people, you're still not going to go very far in life.

Over the next six days, we'll look at the six principles of how to connect with people. It doesn't matter your age or stage of life. If you're a parent and you want to know how to better connect with your children, you can use these principles. If you're engaged or married and you want to know how to better relate to that other person, you can use these principles. If you're a teacher or an employer or employee, no matter who you are, if you need to get close to anybody in life, you need these principles.

Together, we'll see that human connections are good medicine and a "sweet friendship refreshes the soul."

Fabulous 2009!

Fun with Shoes!

Tell God You Love Him by Talking to Him

Many years ago, before I got baptised, I witness a friend/mentor's commitment towards Christianity. Her love for God shows up in her every move. She places Him before her every decision. She relies heavily of His commands and feels truly loved by Him. She is one of those folks that will light up a crowd with her wit and intelligence. She does well in her job, taking every project or job assignment as a challenge for herself. She has the most loving & understanding boyfriend/husband that one can ask for. She is definitely a shining example of someone every young girl desires to be.

So I asked her, why does she need/love God so much when she already have such a perfect boyfriend/husband?

Her reply was:"Man can at times fail us. But God never fails us."

I was too young then to fully appreciate the meaning of her words. As time passed by, there are times when certain expectations were placed on men and it hurts so much when they fail me. And I remember this sentence that my friend shared.

So here's a cool start to having a different friend with God. Just chat Him up!

========================================================================
May 31, 2009
Tell God You Love Him by Talking to Him
by Rick Warren
"I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" (Psalm 116:1-2 NLT).


One way to worship God is to talk to Him.

When you really love somebody you don't just want to spend time with that person, you want to talk with him or her, also. Think about two teenagers falling in love; they're on the phone all the time.

They talk and talk and talk. They're getting to know each other. That's how you get to know someone—through communication. If your spouse never, ever talks to you, you have every reason to start wondering, "Do they love me?"

And that's why we show God we love Him when we talk to Him. What do you talk to God about during this kind of worship? Anything that you'd talk to your best friend about: your hopes, your fears, your dreams, your anxieties, the things you're proud of, the things you're ashamed of, your goals, your ambitions, your hurts, your cares, every part of your life. You come to God and you talk to God about anything and everything.

The Bible says, "I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" (Psalm 116:1-2 NLT). If you don't feel close to God, there's a simple remedy for that: start talking to Him! He has invited you to talk with Him; He wants to talk with you. Prayer is not some duty that you have to do. It's a privilege that you get to do. You get to talk to the Creator of the universe.

You may be saying, "I'd like to have more prayer time with God. I'd like to talk to God. I just don't have the time." Then you're too busy. You'll never have the time; you must make the time to pray. If your Christian life has become routine, dull, and joyless, then take that to God and talk to Him.

Things occur for a reason

Yes, I firmly believe that things do occur for a reason, sometimes reasons. Most times, beyond our comprehension.

This morning, when I opened my inbox, I received a chain of emails depicting the pain that a friend is going through with her continuous stream of emotional torment. A close member of the family fell ill for the past month, arrangements has to be made from sending her to hospital, check-ups, post-discharge care, hiring a maid for the first time and then dealing with a runaway maid!

It may sound funny on hind sight, but for now, my friend is really just feeling emotionally exhausted welcoming the end of the nightmare.

Its a familiar situation I recall back in 2001 when my world seems to just turn upside down. I started the year resolved to finish my MSc with a bang and write it up into some life-long achievement book. On the first day back in the lab, I received a phone call from my sis's house in the mid-morning. (Always NOT a good sign to receive an unexpected call) Turns out that there's serious shit there occurring, took our family many months to come to terms with it, deal with it and move on with it.

Few months later, one of the nights when I went out partying with my friends and received a phone call from mum (again NOT a good sign), telling me that my dad had been sitting on the toilet bowl for the whole night with some vomiting. Being chinese, they popped some bo zhe pills and it did not help with the situation. So I headed home early that night and went to check on dad. His face was rather pale and we thought that it was just dehydration. My dad could still climb down 4 flights of stairs to our vehicle so that I can drive him to A&E.

The moment we arrived at A&E, he turned even more pale! There was a doc nearby and saw him in the state and quickly found him a wheelchair and whisk him away for the checks. Yes, you guessed it, it was an heart attack! After his ultrasound scan, 3 of his major arteries were blocked. Ballooned him in the middle of the night.

The following month, my mum got a mild stroke after having to take care of my dad from his heart condition.

The month after that, I went for an op...

Feels like a house full of sick people!

The morale was pretty low in the house. No one could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We were waiting to see what other shit will fall into our laps. We really just have to keep moving forward to get our minds out of all the darkness, finding the right kind of emotional support that fits our needs.

Moving from those dark years, we have all grown to another new level of understanding.

We know our physical limits. Mental limits (how much shit we can take before we fall apart).
We know what kind of emotional structure keeps us in check (be it a tub of ice cream or a bottle of beer, or some real good bitching with some friends, hey, whatever works for you man!)

And most of all, I've learnt to be more human when someone else is in some kind of shit. Brings out the humanity side of me.

In another incidence, one of our friends bought a new car! Being a new driver, he was fairly careful on the road, sticking to speed limits (I've not seen anyone MORE anal about the speed limits than him! He's car never felt what was like to travel beyond 80khm before I took over the wheels! ha ha) So you would think that this guy would be accident free on the road right? Well, not so much, he had 2 tyre punctures, 1 died battery on his way to VOTE during the last GE, 1 accident involving motorcyclist crashing into his boot (his car was stationary @ traffic junction), threw both the rider & passenger off his car, with a huge dent in the roof + smashed rear windows. I think all these occurred in the first YEAR of his driving experience! Such a nightmare! Never knowing what you're going to get when you get into your car that day.

But hey, his experience at changing tyre came in handy a few years later when he was traveling overseas in the desert. Tyre puncture in the middle of a desert where there's NO mobile phone signals! He was cool about changing the tyres all on his own! Damn cool if you ask me!

So my dear friends, if you feel like u r in alot of shit right now, know that it occurs for a reason. Know that you'll survive!

Assisi Hospice Charity Fun Day 2nd May 2009!

Hello hello,

This is a shameless publicity stunt from our group who is going to run a stall selling Galatica Kaya Toast!! Along with Intergalatic cookies + books + limited edition bags!

Photo opportunities with some famous troops!

Relaxing music will be played at our stall composed & written by our two of our stall holders! (see if you can guess who they are when you visit our stall!) Albums available at our booth! Look for Starfish Stories!

here's more details:

Assisi Hospice Charity Fun Day promises to be a fun-filled event with over 100 stalls serving up all kinds of food, fruits and wacky games. Co-organised by City Developments Ltd and City Building Management, this long-awaited event will be held on

Date: 2 May 2009 (Saturday as 1 May is a public holiday and can rest on Sunday)
Time: 10am to 5pm
Venue: St Joseph Institution INTERNATIONAL (same venue last year)
Target: $500,000
Sale of Coupons: @ $10 each available from February 2009

SJI International is located next to the SLF & MCYS Buildings or opposite the Singapore Polo Club & Police Academy at Thomson Road.

With the impending economic crisis, we need your help MORE than ever and we are determined to work harder for the benefit of our patients. The Charity Fun Day needs more supporters this year to meet our financial needs.
Admission to Charity Fun Day is free. To purchase items or participate in stall games, however, please obtain the tickets, which are priced at $10 per sheet. Tickets are now available at the hospice and can also be purchased at SJI International on the day of the event, 2 May 2008.

Click here to go to Assisi Hospice Home

Here's last year's experience at the Fun Day by Otterman & Lekowala.

A Pleasant Surprise!

How I love a surprise, even more when it involves two of my favourite things!

Snail mail + Snoopy!! Ho Ho Ho!

Why do I love snail mail, hand-written cards/letters so much? Because for a person to think of you, to jot down his/her thoughts on paper/card, to put that paper/card into an envelope, to put a stamp on it, to write your address to it, bring it to be posted.

All these actions add up to tell you how much you mean to this person!

And I'm so thankful and grateful that I mean enough to some to be sent a Snoopy card! Yahoo!!



This is a great way to start the weekend! hee

Thank you guys!

Fabulous 2008!

2008 was a fabulous year despite all the economic turmoil, we still found alot of joy, laughter, fun and most of all LOVE.

Thank you to all of you who has made our 2008 so memorable!

Here's something to remember 2008 with....

Wii Wii Wii

Kung Fu Fighting - The Panda way....

hiiiaaaaa, watch out for my flying kick.... oops... bounced you off my fat belly... ooooiiiooowwwww

Party Party!

Discovering a new species?

C has a curious look into the lower drawer of a refrigerator....

He discovered something interesting....

Something that he has never seen before!!

is it a new species?



NAH, its just good old potato growing in a dark and fuzzy place....... in search for light......


hee... anyone has similar experience before?

Boys Will Be Boys

Party @ The Neos!

Finally we had the chance to visit the long awaited dream home of The Neos.

Trashing the house here we come!!!

Eating and more eating at their giant table....


What's their young master doing at a corner?? hmm......


*tsk* *tsk*

we all had great fun exploring The Neo's new home! Thank you for having us!!

Kids Update!

Latest addition to our family is Baby Xin, she's cute and curious about the world! Enjoys a good cuddle and lots of physical bonding! One drooling babe too!



We are all young right???


Singing Junior...



How to resist such a sweet sweet smile??


BabyA and his french fry....


Baby K with his strong interest in Ad's phone hee hee.....


A young lady waiting for her 2front tooth!

How lovely it is to receive Presents!

Yes, I cant believe it! Its almost mid-May and out of the blue I am opening up a beautifully wrapped present from Ladybird & Otterman! hee hee.... so cool!



Very pretty wrapping hor? I couldn't bear to untie the ribbon... I knew I had to immortalise this moment when the present is still in such a beautiful state hee....

Guess what it is???

A Sling BAG! yeah!! I've been thinking of a sling bag in this shape for a long time!! Its GREAT! Its got a huge space inside, which means I can do my usual dumping of my many things in it hee hee....

Thank YOU guys!

And guess what??? I also got a present from R, specially brought back from BJ! So happy to be surprised by such wonderful gifts of thoughtfulness. I love it! I can only get present from a person when they think of me right? hee hee Thank You R! *muaks*

now I have a pretty pretty feminine purse! yeah!

Vote for Me (friend)

KFC had a photo competition which wanted contestants to submit photos of how they "give in to the moment". Following this theme, me and a few of my very sporting friends spent 2 days, invested quite abit of our food allowance to craft out what we felt was our "giving in moment"


which one first?
(was my entry)

but it din get picked! :( *bleah*

However!!!! My friends' entry did get picked!!! *hoorray!*

So now, in order for my friend to win grand prize... ALL must vote for her!

Vote for KFC03 titled "Eat first! Pay later!" by clicking here to link to KFC's site.


But you'll have to sign up as a member first in order to vote....

By voting, you'll get a chance to WIN 32' LCD TVs!! (i want!)

you can vote ONCE daily! So please help me friend WIN the grand prize... i'll tell u when she does ok?

There's an old saying that goes "help a stranger everyday, make your day brighter in every way!" Help my friend to win and she'll be eternally grateful! (ok, I made up that saying... but doesnt it feel good to know that you are of help to someone whom you dunno? TRY IT!)

VOTE for KFC03! Now!