Before & After

It was a mess 3 months ago - almost like a store room. But now, looks like it's just waiting for its new master.

This was my bed, 29 years ago. After 6 weekends, sand papering & few coats of new paints, it's now our child's bed. Well, except it's still waiting for the matteress.

Well, it's just one more month to go. At last we are in the final stretch. Msytery is still there, gender of our child is still unknown to us. So do us a favor, stop asking! Be patient, wait for one more month. Thank you.

Oh, as for our child's name. We already have them. Yes, one for boy & one for girl. And don't ask us, wait for another month. Thank you.

Thanks very much to those who has been praying with & for us. God bless you!

Week 29

Bed

Baby's bed has arrived since last Thursday. It was my bed. It was also bed to my 7 cousins & 1 niece. So my child will the 10th user of this baby bed.

My 1st gift to our child will be this bed - after I repaint it.

Baby at 5 months old

this is a photo of our baby at 5 months old. we saw baby moved legs while doing the scan, so exciting!!! well, we still don't know gender of baby yet. right now, i think will be girl while HH thinks will be boy. in case you wanna bet which gender, doctor thinks i'll win. oh, it's doesn't matter if it'll be boy or girl, we still love he/she!!

during the check-up last month, we saw baby's heart beating. doc showed us the 4 chambers of baby's heart beating fast!! also showed us baby's bladder with some water as indication of kidneys' working fine, stomach also have liquid showing baby can swallow things.

Baby has been very active lately. i can feel his/her movement almost everyday when i put my hand on HH's tummy. of course HH can feel the movements daily, sometimes there's little bum on her tummy, sometime can actually see the movement at tummy!

baby is also very good, why? usually baby is a bit active at nite just before we go to sleep, but when we tell baby that we are about to go to sleep, baby will also slow down & not much movement. such a good baby.

actually we already have some names, just that we still don't know the baby's gender. so right now, we refer as baby lor.

On tummy

That's our baby growing inside!!

Felt baby moved inside HH's tummy last nite. It's strangely exciting!!

wheels

Had a great time last sunday evening. Not because I took part in the EPCC family games, but because we managed to let someone enjoy the beach.

it was EPCC family day - outing to beach. My CG decided to bring our friend, Soo How who has been in the hospital for the past 4 months to join us on his wheelchair. He really enjoyed himself, he has not been to the beach for more than 10years. incidently, he has not been able to sit or bend his hips for the past 10 years. Not until he did his surgery 4 months ago, his surgery was totally free thanks to Penang Adventist Hospital. Oh, he is from the hardcore poor group, so much so that hospital ward is like a 5 star hotel room to him.

it really made my day to know Soo how enjoyed the trip although we had some tough time putting him in & getting him out of the car. it's just great!

Thanks so much God for letting me enjoy the simple pleasures of life!

Little CC & HH

this morning we had the regular doc visit for Hsien Hui. Praise God, all is well. And our little one is really growing! the last scan, baby was only 6cm. today, baby is at 12cm long! it's so exciting! i heard the heart beat for the first time, beats so fast! my heart almost wanted to follow to the same tempo....

Baby at 14 weeks (17 July 2006)

Baby at 10 weeks (15 June 2006)

Thanks for all your prayers & being excited with us!!

105

What's 105?

My wife was admitted to a private hospital last friday after realized she's bleeding. You see she was confirmed pregnant 6 weeks. Of course we were worried. But all is fine now, my wife & the baby in her.

So she was in the hospital for 3 days of observations. She ate & slept. By the time to discharge, we are not sure how much is the bill. When the cashier told us to pay RM1.05 for the bill, we were utterly shocked! yes it's ONE ringgit & 5 cents for everything - doctor's fees, room, medicine.

God is really awesome! Thanks to HIM all is fine. I truly believe that when God bless us with the baby, HE also settle the bills that comes with baby. It's like HE assuring us that HE is in FULL CONTROL of everything in our lives. it's not going to be easy to be parents but with God by our side, we are not worried. In HIM we found peace & rest.

Thank you God for the baby & Your supplies that come with the baby.

Toe nails

We were in Seremban last weekend. Was a long weekend & happened to be Mother's day sunday. Finally we bought family dinner over the weekend. Was glad that i can do that, to buy dinner.

couple of hours before dinner, i caught my parents sitting outside at the driveway. And this was what they were doing.... capture in photo.

Dad cutting mum's toe nails

They might not be the riches/happiest couple in the world but they did help each other out. Mum's not that strong & mobile since her mild stroke, which happened almost a year ago, dad offered to cut her toe nails. it was really touching scene for HH & I. Thank you God for showing me they still love each other. Thank you Jesus.

May already

last i know, i was still in austria. but that was almost 3 weeks ago!!

work has been fine & still so much to learn. relatively speaking my workload is still lighter to my colleagues. Thank God for that, really. since i live in PG island, i travel daily so i tried to leave work on time, which so far so good.

Just wanna thank HIM up there for this job. it's really a blessing to me, first job got to go overseas training. where to find??

well, it's long weekend again. balik kampung, visit parents mah. Have not seen them for more than 5 months already. kinda missed them.

4 months in europe taught me at least one thing: NOTHING is more important than family & friends. don't believe me? listen to this: have you ever know or hear a person that's dying asking about how the stock market/the shares are doing? No right?! They ask about their wife, sons, daughters, family.

Go tell your family members or friends how much you love/appreciate them. God bless all of us.

End of tour

In less than 40 hours my current tour will come to an end. It has been a wonderful journey. Learn so much then found out that I knew so little.... Ironic.

3.5 books in 4 months opened my eyes & heart. yes, i'm still trying to finish the last 0.5 book. Thank God for books. Thru them, I come to know more abt grace, social cause, fictions, HIS truth......

at time i felt that books can relate more than the pulpit. u can pause or stop the person on the pulpit unless it's a recorded version. with books, i can do it. whenever i come across some sections that's deep, i'll stop reading & ponder over the thoughts arise from those sections. u know, give myself time to digest the writings, make sense of it. But of course I don't do it with all books, at least not with my favourite sci-fic books.

u could say i went to the land of giants. austria, like most developed countries, is like a giant in many ways compared to m'sia. not to put down m'sia, but i'm sure we hv lots to learn & improve in so many ways. for one, drivers' attitude. I must confess, i'm a bit afraid cross the road in m'sia when i get back home. here, i could close my eyes & cross the road at a zebra crossing without checking if there are cars coming.

but then there are areas that they are not so giant, i.e. cannot eat hot stuffs like chilli, not to mention chili padi!

Looking at it now, i realized God must be really creative to made all of us so alike yet so different. Yes, my God is a creative God. I could live with that.

Good bye Austria. See you again....

8

My first post from Germany. Might be last one from Germany.

8 is the number of days left before I board the plane which will take me home to my beautiful wife.

Can't wait. Enough of winter & snow for awhile. Thank God this trip is coming to an end. Has been a wonderful & discovering journey personally for myself & for both of us (my wife & I). 4 months' of experience seems like years for us, sure it's an intensive learning journey with HIM.

off to elsewhere

Next stop will be Regensburg, Germany. A train ride of 6 hrs + a change of train and I will be in Regensburg, where I'll spend 10days.

Hopefully, weather will be fine - no floods or freak tornado.

Thank God that my colleague has a car, which means no need to take bus all the time - not that the public transport is like M'sia's. You know this timing of this trip is just right. Why? Course all other colleagues that stayed at my area have gone back to M'sia. Yes, I'm alone now, the only M'sian in 1km square. Nearest colleague is 20mins of walk away. So this trip will help me not to dewell in the thoughts that everyone is in M'sia but me.... :(

Change of environment will do good to me, I know. and HE knew about it, there for the late trip to Germany. Thank you Jesus! Perfect planner.

Audition

Small part of a book I read said 'You can audition your plants in the garden'. I was duh?? Audition the plants? How? What for? Apparently, audition your plants means 1st you are not sure if they will look good in in a certain part of you garden. So, you try plant them at spot 1 then at spot 2 and spot 3 (maybe). Then you decide if spot 1, 2 or 3 gives the best looking garden you'll have. What a way to spend your time.....

Then I wonder if God also audition us..... Or are we the one that audition God? See if He fits in situation A or B best huh?

Rambutans!

Can you see the price for a kg of Thailand rambutans? No? It's priced at 29.90Euro per kg = RM131 per kg. That's the price at a stall in Munich, Germany.

Thank God I don't have to pay that much for a kg of rambutans in M'sia.

not there

tomorrow is my sister-in-law's wedding. She's the eldest of the family. all of us are very happy about tomorrow. i bet she is very excited & nervous. unfortunately, i won't be there to be a witness & bless her marriage.

She has been a blessings to us in many ways. Supported us in our plans to get married early, loan us her car for few years already.

I pray that God will be the center of their marriage.

difference

yesterday, my colleague told me that it was average of 15-20C last year in the same week as this week. but this year it's 0-5C, that's a huge difference!! i wish last year temperature is the same now.....

ever since i got here in austria, the weather website is one of the sites i visit every single day, sometimes few times a day. and most anticipated part of the evening news on tv is the weather report. kinda sad huh? no lar, it's interesting to know & watch how the weather is influence by the condition many many miles away, over few days.

ice-kacang

I just saw a truck load of snow drove past outside my office window. Since I'm homesick lately, it reminds me of a huge bowl of ice-kacang on wheels...... weird.... ice-kacang during late winter/early spring?

ok or not?

what u do when ppl really against or opppose what u stand for or your choice?

conform to majority? or be the unique one?

pray for the ppl against you or pray against them?

you extend God's grace to others? or you need grace?

choice is in your hand.

Too soon

looks like i rejoiced too soon abt spring coming. this week is pretty cold, low of -10C & high of 5C. apparently it's normal trend to hv a reverse - cold, warm, cold, just before spring or spring is near. hmm.....

a bit free this week at training. charging up before final weeks?

Thank God the sun came out the last 2 days. it was cloudy & gloomy for 4 days!! it did affect my mood though. PTL for sunshine!!

wet

location: Velden, Austria

time is 10:15pm & date is 18 Feb.

temperature outside is +2C & it's raining!!

i can't believe it! it's actually raining now, which means spring is almost here! yippeee!!!! no more cold cold nights & days!! bye bye to white, grey & brown scenery and hello green trees & grass!

Thank YOU God!

changes

22 Jan 2006
16 Feb 2006

if u think changes are bad. u are so wrong!! Take a look at the pics. 22 Jan 2006 is the coldest day of my stay in Austria and the recent condition as on 16 Feb 2006. Difference of 18 degress during day & 20 degrees during night!!

all the m'sian trainees are so happy abt the higher temperature, even the Austrians welcome the change.

thank God for changes eh? stay cool m'sia...

what's in the name?

Names.... names for everythings that we can ever thought of. some of us like our names, some dont like it so much, some even give ourselves new names.... one thing for sure, u got to live up to ur name.

Jars of Clay. i know there's a band with the same name, so? Just like there are millions of Johns.
Jars of Clay or JoC, is my CG's new name, we multiplied last Dec & wasnt decided on the name until after CNY. Yes, took us quite a long time. But name is important, give us identity, purpose etc...

So, with God's guidance, we in JoC will be living up to our CG name. JoC - tools for God's kingdom & purposes.

Charge Up! Conference

Charge Up! Conference is 1st media training conference for Christians. Many of those involved have plenty of industry experiences, some them have been using media in their churches for years.

Good place to learn from some 'pro' & networking.

He asked...... I said yes......

this is a short account of my CG members' wedding proposal. Read abt it at kl4kl .

So happy for them.

flowers

today is valentine's day. guess what happen at my work place?

the canteen man is giving a stalk of tulip to all the female workers in my work place. he stands at the top of the staircase, with the all the tulips by his side and giving them to all ladies that come to canteen for lunch. how nice.

but what abt men? men get nothing but lunch. it's ok, i've got my flowers from HH last week. it's more than enough for me.

Spring is coming!

That's right! spring is coming to Austria, at least that's what my landlady said. The weather does seems milder & warmer lately.

And that's the flowers I picked right outside my house. No lar.... Those were tulips HH bought for me for valentine's day. heheee..... yes, I didnt get her any flowers but she did. kinda funny to receive flowers, let alone it's my first time getting flowers. HH also get me a new sweater & gloves. as for me, I didnt prepare for it at all! so bad lah, me.... Did manage to ask her to get something, u can ask her what she get for herself on my behalf.... something that's famous from austria.

Happy Valentine's day.

What would Jesus Drive?

Found this after I google "What would Jesus Drive?"

Funny, although not the proper use of God's Word

What Would Jesus Drive?

Read this article on BBC abt What Would Jesus Drive?

I dunno abt you, but the truth is bigger car uses more fuel. personally i think everyone has to play a part abt environment, yes even Christians. please dun tell me that believers will go to heaven, not need to leave a clean earth. but ur children still need it until the Lord comes back. the fact is that we dunno when Jesus is coming back make us be more responsible abt our earth!

so, pls consider this when you plan to get a bigger car or 4x4.

To sit or not to sit

This was taken in the toilet of my place. Yes, no joke. The toilet seat cannot be lift up permenantly. you have to hold the seat up with one hand and pee with another free hand and it's not easy. trust me, i've tried it & has long given up trying. so, to save energy you pee sitting down - just as the instructed by the picture.

They even tell guys how to do it right.... so wifes, if u dunno any more problems with the toilet seat, i suggest you go look for a similar toilet seat design & train your husband to pee sitting down.

windy Vienna

We just got back from Vienna yesterday nite. Vienna was bigger than Salzburg, just as nice. unfortunately it was windy so it was cold. But it snowed on sat evening & nite, HH & I managed to walk in the snow aka winter sonata style. hehee.... no need to go to korea lor... apparently there is a cemetery in Vienna which has a 'population' of 2.5million. no much? Vienna only has a population of 1.5million. in that cemetery, they hv mozart, strauss... bodies. nope, we didnt go there. too bad, or i could hv show u where is the grave of mozart since 2006 is his 250th birthday.



(top to bottom) taken at the shopping street of Vienna,Kärntner Strasse; we r not in greece but the parlimen of Austria; that's us, HH pinning down the Kalzchurch, dom with 2 towers.

Salzburg is wonderful

HH has arrived for more than 2 weeks. it's great to hv her here with me. During CNY eve, we were in Salzburg. we stayed at a family run guesthouse (below center), it's nice & cozy & it's in the center of the old town - everything is within walking distance. it's just great to spend time with HH. we did all the tourisy stuffs, posing, buying souvenirs, etc... HH even took a photo with the local policemen (photo in HH's blog aka chincau). bottom photo(below) was taken in a church during the tour. photo below is the skeleton Mozart at a rock concert, rock on Mozart...





we also went for a Sound of Music tour, have to lah. HH is a big fan of that musical. good tour, worth the money. God is really good, there were only 2 of us on that tour. so, it's like our very own private tour. thank you God!



photo above taken on another hill top over looking Salzburg old town. far right (in the photo) is the famous Hohensalzburg Fortress. we had a Mozart concert in that fortress on CNY eve night, awesome view.

like a dream

Have you ever get something or in some situation you thought you got to be dreaming that it's real? I'm in that condition now.

HH has arrived in Austria yesterday! I can't help feeling it's like a dream, thank God it's not a dream. It's real! She's here in Austria, after weeks of planning & waiting. Has been keep looking at her last night....

In deed it's by God's grace & blessing that HH is here with me. yes it's kinda like our 2nd honeymoon. Our actual honeymoon was budgeted, in M'sia East Coast. Our Daddy in Heaven is so generous that He blesses us this trip.

It's been HH's dream to go to the land of Sound of Music. The dream has come true. God really knows the desire of your heart, and He will bring them to reality according to His will.

U might think that I'm so loaded to fly HH over to Austria. Let me tell u this: Yes I am, all because of my Daddy in Heaven, He is rich beyond imaginations. BTW, He also owns everything on earth. and He loves all His children. He gives the best to His children.

Thank you Daddy!

WWYC

This is WWYC's CG family photo. Oh yes, we went to a photo studio to have it taken. BTW, the photo shot package was a lucky draw prize. How we got the prize? oh, my wife is an event organiser. Her hospital held this charity concert to raise funds, so my CG decided to support the cause & bought almost 15-20 tickets. Mind you, it was not fixed! The draw was done by somebody else.



Since this photo was taken, WWYC has multiplied to 2 new CGs. Before multiplication, CG membership was around 25 ppl. Barely a month after that, there is some news of new people want to join the 2 CGs. PTL!!

I was really blessed to be in WWYC & i personally think that WWYC is already in the history book of EPCC. Oh, WWYC stands for Without Walls Young Christians. frankly, the CG members has been to Silk Road, Shanghai, Germany, Cambodia, Sarawak, Cameron, Ulu Kinta etc for work, for missions. It was really without walls.

I pray & hope the 2 new CGs will continue to have the same charateristic of WWYC. And I thank God for His blessings & guidances for WWYC & the 2 CGs.

wait lah

the waiting game is hard to play. been waiting for many things.... wait for 12th birthday to get IC, wait for 16th to apply motorcycle lience, wait for PMR results, wait for SPM results, wait for STPM results, wait for uni acceptance letter, wait for graduations... wait for 1st pay...

now i'm waiting for my wife to come to austria. yes! she's coming in less than 11 days. yahoo!!! can't wait lah..... been away from my pretty wife for a month plus already. hey, u got to understand this we got married in June 2005 & i left to Austria in Dec 2005.

been planning & coordinating with HH for few weeks, to get things arranged. air tickets, money, clothes etc.... soon all the hard work & discouragement will pay off.

lately mr SATAN has been trying to distracting me... with issues here in austria & in m'sia. Thank God for His timely reminder to me abt things are in His control. Just got to keep my focus on Him & trusting Him. Amen!

enough

I've decided not to post in my the other blog. It's a blog where I vent my frustrations & it was not very nice lah. From now onwards it's just this blog. of course life is not always smooth sailing but I decided not to be confine by the down side of it. after all, having 2 almost total different blogs is like having a slit personality. I can't do that anymore, I think HS is really doing His job well.

Bye bye my the other blog.......