7000-Smile-Project

I haven't blogged in a week due to the hectic-ness of the exams. And now that my trusty old lap top has finally crashed, I am even less inclined to blog.

Yet, happy things always have to be made time for.

While I was busy mugging away in the cool of the forum (which is a wonderful space to study, full of fresh air and plenty of room away from the strong mugger atmosphere like that of the library), a couple of girls approached our table with huge smiles.

One usually feels inclined to going, "Oh no, not again. Survey-time." But nope. They were not even asking a favour of us. They were on a project, the 7000-Smile-Project, aimed at blessing people's lives and being able to get 7000 smiles from these people. So they happily dropped off a packet of 3-in-1 coffee and captured our smiles on digicam as they went off blessing others as well.

They sure made me smile! I'll bet I was worth at least 5 smiles. :) :) :) :) :) They made me so excited. I want to embark on a Smile Project too! How cool is that?!?!

Abba Father.

I was just sharing with my girls about what it really means to be able to call God, "Father". I think it just comes too easily, how our prayers always start with, "Father...". But upon preparing for cell today, it occurred to me that being able to call God, "Father" should not be taken for granted. It is because of a relationship restored with Him by the blood of His son. Wow.

They say that when you become parents, you tend to learn a lot more about what it is like for God to look down at His children and love His children...Just a little bit more. I learnt just that little bit more by observing. Some of those maternal instincts kicking in...Ha!

So, I sat at my cubby corner at Macs as usual, studying, when I watch this mom bring her two young children in and sit them down. The kids were really sweet, a more frisky little boy-toddler and his sweet older sister who was always watching out for him. As usual, I was playing peek-a-boo with the littler one, mostly to distract him when his mom and sister went to order food. Aside from his ear-piercing screams (imagine, this little boy will break his voice in 12 years time...), he was pretty sweet. And it was nice just watching the whole family function.

I digress. As usual. But there came a point of time when the mom wanted her daughter to get more nuggets for them all. So she handed her money and sent her off on that task. The queues were relatively long, mind you...But she marched off once she was given rather detailed instructions, though she looked a tad bit worried.

I was in admiration of the mom, letting her little girl run off to do such a big task. She could hardly reach the counter! As the little girl queued up, her mom peered from the corner, letting the lil girl do her thing, yet making sure she was alright. Then it struck me. Doesn't God do that sometimes?

Sometimes, our Father watches us from afar, making sure we're alright, but letting us do our thing so that we will learn and grow from the experience. He has always and will always be there, but there are times, like a kite, He releases more string, so that we'll fly higher. There are times when He knows we're frightened of the wind, and brings us closer to Him for assurance, that He may whisper His words of love to us. Yet, He is always there. For sure. Watching. Loving.

Abba Father, I love you.

Happy Birthday Rittie!

Here's a little post to wish Rita HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I know it's a little late, but oh well! Here goes anyway because she's such a sweetheart. Life would not be the same without dear old Rita. She just makes things so happy and bubbly!!

Settler's Cafe that night was great! (If you insist..."It was so cool!!") We had a great time with those crazy games and it was just nice chilling before the heat of the exam prep. Must go there again yah?? And this time we'll be meaner at the Who's the Boss game. :)

Anyway, to end it off, here are some photos. One with the Valley Gorgeous Geobus (minus Sally...) and the other with the RV folksies. Wow! It's been a long time dears, and we didn't take photos in secondary school. Bah.



The theme of the party was rainbow-y by the way...Hence the bright colours. If you actually zoom in, you can see my bright orange feather earrings!! :P But it was awesome. :)

By the way, Rita, if you read this, remind me to send you the photos I took...Hehe...

Supermarket shopping!

I love supermarket shopping! I went shopping all by myself at Cold Storage today, for my lunches the next few days. Figured it'd save me some money. :) Might be healtheir too.

Ahh, walking through the aisles really made me feel like I was in Kingston, all independent again. Back then, there was a whole lot more variety. Eve and I felt very aunty-like picking up the apples, scanning them for dents and rotten bits and shaking our heads at the bad apples. There were all sorts of apples to choose from. They had proper names, though now all I remember is whether they were the crunchier sort or the softer, smaller sort I loved.

Cereals were awesome! I would just stand there and be in awe. Of course, I loved picking out the good deals, the no-frills cereal which would taste just as good, if not better. There's something about the wheat there. Even the wholewheat bread tastes so much better! And they at least indicate 100% wheat or 60% wheat, out of which of course my selection is the 100% sort. Healthier mah.

Ah. It was just so much of fun. Preparing those little meals. Getting excited about how much you save picking the house brands rather than something else. Taking photos of my creations. Ha. Today was reliving it just a little.

In His Presence.

Yes, truly, in His presence is great joy. Easter Sunday. I often go through the motions of those special days, what a friend once termed the GCE --> Good Friday, Christmas, Easter. As much as I try to remind myself of the significance of each one, sometimes humanly, I just can't bring myself to set myself in the 'right mood'.

But I suppose God is a faithful God. This week has hit some dry spots here and there though there have been some amazing things that have happened. Yet, the dry spots always hit the hardest I guess.

So, coming to church this morning was a daze. (Literally, because I fell asleep on the bus and woke up AT the stop I was supposed to stop at, to see the door open. My brain took a while to figure that was my stop. It took a longer while to awake because I was in a dizzy state walking into church. Was probably not walking in a straight line.)

Anyway, what a sideline. Basically, I didn't expect much out of service today, because of the mood I had been in and was in. But there's no stopping the presence of God.

I shall narrate sequentially lest I forget the details. So here goes: Service started with worship, with songs like 'Crown Him With Many Crowns' and 'Celebrate Jesus Celebrate' and these were just songs that reminded me of my primary school days, yet like my current MSN nick - "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty...", God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Today, He is still crowned Lord of my life. And yes, Jesus has conquered the grave, so we celebrate, each and every day of our lives! There was an amazing sense of joy in my heart. Indeed, if Jesus had not risen, we'd be living in the greatest lie and would be the greatest fools. But no, we are children of the risen Saviour! Hallelujah!

After worship was testimony time. Before I go on, a little background information about myself. People who know me are sometimes amazed at the fact that I show so little emotion on the surface. (Though what rages in my heart......) For example, I'm not one of those bawling girls you see at tragic-love-story-movies.

So, I know that one way I feel God's presence really strongly is when He starts to minister so sweetly into my heart that the streams of living water (hahahaha) start to flow from my heart. And there's no stopping those tears.

Testimony time was WOW. Each and every one brought forth a fresh load of tears because God is truly so faithful. God is so good. He is real. He is alive. We serve a living Saviour. Wow. What can I say. He heals the sick. He protects His children. He even works in the hearts of the littlest ones. A mom was sharing how her daughter told her that when she worships, she feels something stirring in her stomach and this mom says to her little one, "It's the Holy Spirit!" and the daughter knows and wants to share this love with others as well. How innocent. How sweet. God, you love your little children.

Another mom was sharing how she was worried about her little son who had a raging fever and rashes and was afraid it was dengue. She praised God all night long and spent time in His presence and received His assurance. Better than that, God's presence, His light filled her bedroom and baby was healed. Hallelujah.

So many more testimonies of God's faithfulness. Thank you Lord for your reminder. It is not about how I feel. You are there every day. I choose to seek after you, all the days of my life. Continue to be merciful to me, because I might sometimes stumble and fall. But Lord, I will continue to pursue you. You are worth it. Worth every ounce of it.

Pluto-rian.

I sometimes feel like I belong to another planet. I tend to get reclusive. I like to take things slow, just look around at non-humans, non-machines. I like to look at green living-things. Dogs make me exceptionally happy.

Human beings, on the other hand, are strange creatures. There are those who are all mysterious and closed-up. There are those who are mean and yucky. There are those who make you sad. There are of course, those who are so sweet and lovely. If only the sweet and lovely ruled the world.

What the world needs now, is love sweet love.

I really thank God for bringing people into my life to 'restore my faith in humankind'. Such love. Some of these people include the friends who are closest to me and most important to me, yet some are mere acquaintances. Some, strangers.

Before I carry on, again I must pay tribute to one of the bestest friends anyone can have. We haven't prayed together for such a long time. Today was good. (Yes, aside the lamenting about you-know-whats and being obsessed with things we can't control. And yes, even though I could not study for my Thai oral exam tomorrow!!) But she's the sweetest thing. I don't know anyone else who's as postitive and sweet-natured as her. And she just makes me laugh and laugh and laugh all over again. *Cheesecake anyone?* <-- Inside joke. But yup girl, you know who you are.

Not that the other friends in my life aren't important. Of course you are!!!!!! Just that this entry wasn't really meant to pay tribute to close friends in particular. Why?

Because, more so, this week, I was touched by my lovely Thai teacher! She is simply amazing. She puts her heart and soul into preparing for lessons, not using the same old worksheets from the previous previous previous year. And she goes all out to be a friend, to be applicable, to tolerate our nonsense. Gosh. I love her. And to top it off, as a parting gift, she compiled our group photos into a little booklet that she made, and also wrote little messages (in Thai script of course!!) for us together with the individual shots she took of us! WOW! I was so touched. I really don't know what to say. How sweet is that?!?!?! So tomorrow is Thai oral. I hope I won't disappoint. She'll be one of the examiners! Yikes! Stressed out! So yes, Aacaan Jeab (Teacher Jeab) is certainly a very special person. She is my inspiration as a teacher.

Also, there was this lady boss in the stall selling drinks and stuff who touched my heart with her little act of kindness. My friend had hurt a finger and I was looking for ice to ice the swell. The lady didn't have ice in her stall at all. All except what was in the ice box that contained ice-cream. She scrapped out all the ice into a bag for me. Wow.

Together with these 2 people, I remember the pizza guy who gifted us a free pizza and plenty of road directions when we were hungry and lost in Boston.

If only we were a little more like them. What the world needs now, is love sweet love.

discover your dog breed @ quiz meme Sheena wanted me to do this quiz. Haha. I loooooooooove doggies!! And Golden Retrievers are pretty cool. But I wanna be a German Shepherd like Nana!! I love German Shepherds. Arf.

Friends are...

Friends are whom you learn lessons from. I've learnt a lot from you. Thank you!

Fajitas Nachos & Ferreror Rochers.

Ah. I had looked forward to this, the entire week. What a way to mark the end of all those energy-sapping projects. I had lunch with two sweethearts. (The third one was unable to make it, but nevertheless still a sweetie...)

I really thank you Lord for the meal. It meant so much to me. That we were all just able to sit down for a simple meal together, a home-cooked meal and have so much fun preparing it! The *erm* Fajita-like thingies were pretty good, finger-licking good, I must say!! They struggled at trying to keep their chicken pieces and sour cream and salsa and lettuce and tomato bits within the wrap. Was pretty hilarious... :) The conversation we had, was even better than the food. No barriers, no awkwardness. Just good food stuffed in our mouths and lots of laughing.

Just a couple of photos to mark that wonderful time of fellowship, of sharing and enjoying each other's company.

Ahhhh. Lord, thank you. I really just ask your hand be upon them, that they will experience your reality more and more daily.

You are just amazing, how you've worked in their lives. You are truly faithful. Wrap your love around them, tighter than how we wrapped our Fajitas!

Ice Age 2

Ice Age 2 was fantabulous. What a great break from all the hustle-bustle of the last few weeks. And I feel so unaccomplished. All that rushing about for a mere percentage. But anyway, that's not the point. Ice Age 2.

You know how the prequel is always better than the sequel because the scriptwriter has run out of witty lines by the second show? Well, obviously the scriptwriter was saving the punchlines for Ice Age 2. It was hilaaaaaaarious! One of the best animations I've watched so far. Monsters Inc. is my other favourite. Talk about creativity.

Now I know what I'm going to show my students when I talk about either global warming or about Singapore's population issues. My goodness. I wonder if some Singapore policy planner helped to sneak in the pro-natal message. Our species is running out! We need to procreate! For the sake of our species!

Anyway, I just realised how much I love hearing people laugh. Makes me happy. And it sure makes one feel like a kid all over again, to be surrounded by the kiddy innocent laughter all around (had a *ahem* kid sitting right next to me...). I love kids. And awww, there were some points where the kids went "uh oh!!" when the big bad crocodile-y thingies were going to catch up with the good guys. So sweet.

Great movie. Great night. Congrats to the big kid who landed a big summer job! :)

Blue da ba dee...

BLUE You give your love and friendship unconditionaly. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

If I were really to re-start my blog. I guess lazy short entries such as this one might help. Moreover it's one of those cut and paste results from little online quizes. Just thought I'd put it up since I really am a 'blue' person :)