Sapphire Princess Cruise

I've always wanted to go for a cruise, but somehow I do feel guilty should I spend lavishly. Hmm, I'm actually talking about the Sapphire Princess Cruise. Just the other day, Andrew and I striked a deal, as long as I don't pester him for kids, he will give me anything I want. I thought to myself, that isn't too bad a deal. "Ok", I said to him. "Let's go for a cruise then!" He knew he can't take his words back. Haha. But there were rave reviews, highly recommended by people who experienced that cruise and even his parents who went aboard SP cruise last year was totally mesmerized by it. The stay, the tour, the room, the show and especially the food was just incredible. Maybe it isn't wrong to just try it once in our lifetime, eh?

Just a sneak view of the cruise, when SP docked at Sydney Harbour. We managed to see for ourselves how enormous the ship really is.

The ship was just behind us, and there you can see the Harbour Bridge. Magnificent view!

If you try a little harder, you can actually see the name, Sapphire Princess on the ship.

We are also hoping that some friends can join us so that we won't be too bored with just the two of us. I personally hope to get onboard in 2009.

It's the end of day-light saving

It's been 2 weeks since I last blogged. I was just being reminded that today we have to turn back the clock. Which means, we have an hour to spare today..that's fantastic, isn't it? Just imagine, you have an extra hour to sleep and at least at night, you can stay up later than usual.

We had our life group meeting yesterday. We were doing a study on "kingly priest" as from the book of Exodus. I must say, it was an astonishing and revealing study, on how we shouldn't undermine the power of prayer and being an intercessor. Jesus was involved in the mission field for 3 years, but 1000 years as an intercessor for all of us. How amazing is that!

Towards the end of the study, it was prayer time. As I was listening to every members prayer needs, I realized that I am in a situation whereby I'm not contented with what I am now and I want to do something more with my career. I have a choice, that's the problem. Sometimes, I wish there isn't a choice, so I needn't squeeze my brain out to make a decision. Suddenly, I remembered my blog. I finally found a better reason to be a blogger. It's sort of like a personal diary, and it's mean for people to know (or rather friends who are concern to know what's happening in our day to day life). Today, I'm blogging about this decision making and I hope, in time I want to see how God helped me through this time. It will be amazing to look back and remember today when I'm faced with so much uncertainties. I know for sure, the Lord will lead me through and I can might as well, smile at the outcome now.

I received an email from a friend and the content brought a sense of peace in me. Just to share with you the content:

For God so lo V ed the world,
That He G A ve
His on L y
Begott E n
So N
T hat whosoever
Believeth I n Him
Should N ot perish,
But have E verlasting life."
John 3:16

So remember, that's God's Valentine's gift for us, everyday of our lives, and He shall never forsake us.

Some friendships last forever

Oh, what can I say about this movie. It was played on Sunday afternoon, and my, it is an excellent classic. It's a story about two women whose friendships are above all. Best friends since 11 years old, they went through thick and thin, high and low, yet their friendship remained stronger than before until one of them died. It was such a touching movie that we couldn't stop our tears from flowing towards the end of the story. Yet there's so much fun watching Bette Midler and listening to her witty lines. Highly recommended for those who appreciate the true meaning of friendship.

Counting my blessings

I was just pondering over my life and while doing so, I was screening my blog to see if it portrays Jesus' love in my life. I haven't really mentioned how good God has been to me. I don't think it's possible to count my blessings because it's countless and I am overwhelm at God's love for me.

Andrew and I had a little talk before going to bed the other night after attending Bible Study with our church friends. One question that was asked during BS was, what is our fear in life? Although some do not really understand the reason why the question was asked, still everyone should be given a chance to express their view. So, that was what initiated our talk. I do not believe in our life that there is no fear at all. It is fear that makes us human. Then the conversation led me expressing some of my innermost feelings about merely being a christian.

Many people think that being a christian is to get a better worldly life. This is a total fallacy! And when one speaks about blessings, they tend to think about blessings being financial wealth, material possessions and so forth. Unless we give all these back to God, only will I consider it as blessings. I do not think that when a missionary who has a beautiful and big home located in a superior vicinity, that when dispose off will earn him a huge lump sum of money, is a good living testimony when so many children are dying in Africa each minute. The missionary could have given it all to help as many children as possible. I really want to challenge missionaries to live in "poverty" (not literary but not in surplus).

Unfortunately, many are not willing to give up all their wealth for God, for others. We become christians, not because we want to be blessed with all that we wanted on this earth. No so that we get a good job, good income, smart kids, posh cars, big house, expensive clothings, loving wife/husband, or a wife/husband at all, to name a few. We are christians because He is our God,our Maker, our Heavenly Father and we should be serving Him on this earth, no question about it, no bargaining, no trading, no expectation (although God promises to give what we ask, provided it's good for us).

I can't agree with our Pastor when he said to pray for our brothers and sisters for wisdom to understand God and to receive His revelation. This is what humans should be seeking in their life.

Happy Chap Goh Meh

At least we had a get together on Chap Goh Meh with our friends in Sydney. Chap Goh Meh is the fifteenth day and the last day of Chinese New Year celebrated by the chinese. Andrew as usual is the cook. Needless to say, I have been appointed or rather demoted to be the kitchen assistant after we got married. My job is to prepare and then wash up. That actually requires more physical work than the actual cooking itself. Somehow, I enjoyed doing that than cooking. So, it all evens out for both of us. He loves cooking, let him enjoy doing it.

We came up with several dishes;
a) Gado-gado (not in the picture) with peanut sauce.
b) Otak-otak (mackeral fish as the main ingrediant)
c) Sambal Kangkung in dried scrimp
d) Garlic and ginger pippies(vongole)
e) Scrambled eggs with pippies (we used pippi instead of oyster)