One month

putting my mood in mosaic pics. created using BigHugeLabs.

1. My balloon for Ava, 2. Sewing Spot, 3. The bouquet – Wedding photography, 4. I'm Just a Baby, 5. Have a Very Bokeh Christmas, 6. 15-06-10 Lets Go I Want To Go All The Way To The Horizon ~ Explored Front Page :), 7. R O S E S, 8. A Little Book of Love, 9. The night is lighter than it's hue

was just randomly surfing net on wedding cakes and found this very lovely piece. I thought it looked really sweet. Well but i doubt its cheap too. guess many things does come with a price and that includes the once-in-a-lifetime weddings! haha... every part of it cost a hefty sum. I also love to look at the lovely wedding photography blogs which captured the couple so beautifully. well, of course the prices are like $$$$. :/ Thus, after considering the price, we just have to stick within our budget. But no harm admiring all these stuff still. :) makes me happy nonetheless.

though wedding can a fun and heart-wrenching(for the wallet) affair, marriage is a huge preparation. firstly, the single status was taken off and people will change the way they address you at work. secondly, have new family members and living together and of course, now is no long just about me. many adjustments to make indeed. think its definitely not an easy deal but will be something I look forward to. Praying that God will make the preparation and actual day an enjoyable day for both of us and all. And for the life onwards. one that is Christ-pleasing and fulfilling :)

Save The Date

Haven't been updating recently as was caught up with all the preparations and on top of it all, the never -ending workload I gotta handle in sch. Wedding can be quite an massive and overwhelming affair as there is many details to look into, from the bridal gowns, wedding venues to guest lists, painting our (current) houses and to the little details like the flower girl's basket. I have a very long to do list that awaiting to be stroked off one by one. Thank God for family and friends who helped a lot, making the process smoother :) Time really flies and it's in 7 weeks time. *taking a deep breathe* Still learning to enjoy this moment as it will never come by again.

The hunt has ended

since young, I always hope to have my own house. a house that I can decorate and i would tell myself my house would be a new one. haha, truly whatever we want in life always turns out to be the opposite at times. so the hunt started in March ...actually started last year around April when we applied for the HDB balance flats exercise. applied twice last year but sadly our numbers were too huge. :( this year there is only bto so we didnt managed to get. in the end we started the hunt for a resale flats. the past three months of searching for a resale flat wasn't easy as every weekends will be dedicated to a process of scanning through every single ad in the classified and list out the houses that's satisfy our criteria and budget before I pass on to Aw to call through the list. weekdays I will be scanning the net for the online posts and the weekday newspapers, not letting go of any possible advertisements on the houses. I still remembered the first flat I saw was in hougang and really finding a house for ourselves was a tideous process. cos of our budget constraint and our personal preferences as well ( need to have some wind, it must be bright, layout of the house, no low floor please, good space, no altar, cash low and we even considered Sembawang!) there was once we even seen 9 flats at one shot within 4hours. the types of houses we came across really interesting from tenanted to pretty ones, dirty ones, religious houses, and pretty ones and the really expensive ones....it was really exhausting. In the beginning, I kinda look forward to every Saturday where the adverts is the maximum. Every house represent a hope and a chance that maybe it might be this unit. Yet after every viewing, my hopes will drop cos the time we have is lesser and lesser. we are approaching june!! as the process for procurement for a flat is quite long and it will take about 4 months odd for it to be fully settled. we really face a very tight deadline in the midst of the search. and the pressure i face is truly indescribable. we truly struggle having to decide on our other options as the deadline draws closer. bto? staying with his parents? rent? or even delay the marriage. I was really stressed out. Thank God that aw been understanding and thank God that He sent friends to encourage me and Thank God that He was there helping me and aw to keep trusting. We managed to offer for three houses but all three did not meet the seller's price requirement. It was tough to juggle the disappointment after each offer. finally and thankfully, we found a unit that met most of our requirements. though it was not our favourite of our favourites, yet it was a simple house that we both like. Thank God for seeing us through (we made a count and we saw more than 35 units!) and granting us the favour and also strength to trust Him in all circumstances. Somehow it came timely cos if we did not find one suitable one, it would have to wait till July before we continue our search. Indeed God is our shepherd and we shall not be in want. :) Indeed want to commit the house to the Lord and all the finances that come with it and indeed God does provide :)

***

I wrote the entry above on the day we found our house ( like 3 months back), as I wanted to capture my feelings, joy and pain of the entire process. perhaps when i read it again later on in life. It will remind me to be thankful for the house. Just wanna add too that God really did provide in ways we have never imagine and i am loss for words. :) sharing too some pictures i found online from Yvestown blog. some ideas for the house. love the designs. :)

i heart {shelves}

what i hope my desk will look like ;D

the living rooms look awesome!

can i have one like this?

God's Timing

I always marvel at how God's timing can be so perfect. Neither early or late. Indeed, no matter how man can intelligently map out his plans or even plan ahead, it can never be better or ever more appropriate than God's will for us. And it truly just takes that small step of faith to believe and trust Him. I still remember a few months back, when we were thinking which marriage preparation course we should go. We didn't hear of any from our church. So we put it on hold and recently, decided that now is the time to go ahead. So we wanted to try other churches and call them up. God knows. The next day, the marriage preparation course announcement appeared in the church bulletin. "Last day of registration for couples getting married this year." And it was a timely fit as my Jap course has also ended for the term. Thank God indeed. Even as we have to book the venue and settle all the details in these few weeks, I still can't help wondering if we will be able to make it. Worries clouded my logic and at times even literally shake my trust in God. I need a gentle reminder to trust in Him continually. Do remind me. :)

Travelling

As I was looking through my pictures (I have a habit of looking at them especially when windows vista shows the pictures randomly on my desktop), I thank God for the opportunities to be able to travel to many places. Though travelling can be costly and a hassle, I enjoyed appreciating the nature, understanding the culture and knowing the history. I treasure the experience, memories and the feelings of each trip. I love observing the people and also just immense in the serenity of the vast seas and mountains that God created. And just thinking about how He can made them all so beautiful already made me loss for words. In fact, i hope to be able to travel to many different places whenever I can. Yet at this point in time, I also realized that I appreciate it even more when I have God and my loved ones beside me. This matters definitely much more than the trip.

Interesting Japan

I like Japan for many reasons. One of the reason is their creativity and humour they inject in their lifestyle. The series of posters on their metro was quite interesting indeed. I also love how Tastymiso altered some of the posters. :) Do take a look and it really makes u wonder how Japan can have such not-of-the-world culture. I remembered that we are not supposed to talk on the train and your handphone need to be on silent. It's not right to talk on the phone and even put make up on the train! haha.

Japan 2010

Been away in Japan from 11th - 20th June. It was an enjoyable one as we all ate and shopped and saw many stuff. (I took 500+ pictures!) I actually wished that I can be there longer though when I was there, it felt like weeks. Thank God for His protection and blessings that made the trip a happy one. Though it's been a struggle at times with the language, the complicated train system, some missed opportunities, we still had plenty of laughter and silly moments. And thank God indeed that aw & I had decided to move on to a new journey ahead. :) I felt very blessed indeed. May God be the source of our strength and our provider as i start off my new sch term and prepare for what is ahead. :)

Change

Read this on A R Bernard tweet-
" Change is the essence of maturation. People who refuse to change never grow up!"

Been pondering on this statement these weeks. Changes in our physical, emotional, thoughts and actions towards things, people, words, statements, situations and circumstances, happen daily and every moment. Are we too stubborn or proud to change or are we stuck in our self-proclaimed-lofty principles? Yet on the other side of the fence, are we lowering our expectations or compromising? It's a thin grey line which is hard to draw. As i reflected on this, I realized that my thoughts and expectations towards many things have changed. let my thoughts and actions be pure and right in His Eyes. :)

Faith

Read this on my way to school today.

'Faith is a heartfelt attitude that persists in trusting and praying no matter how tough a situation may be.'

Can I have that kind of faith?


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Bubbly Luv

One of my fav food/ comfort food is bubble tea. Simply just green/red tea with pearl. It's something I can't resist so you can guess how happy I was in Taiwan. I drank many of such tea there at such a cheap rate. It's very nice cos the tea they use is not the sweetened green tea we drink here. The pic above is the real KOI in Taiwan! :) wish I can just teleport myself there now.

Believe

10 years flew past just like that. I still remembered when it was New Year Eve of 1999. I was at watch night service counting down to the Millennium. So fast, 10 years went past. Reflecting, the past 10 years has been eventful as I transited from studying to working. Many things has happened and I wonder if I relive these 10 years, will it be any different? Will my decisions be different? I am glad I made it to Watch night this year despite running a fever and having severe pains just hours before that. Thanking God for what He has done for 2009 and dedicating 2010 to Him is significant. Scrappers love to choose a word for a year. And I would choose to believe in Him.
Believing in Him for what is to come and knowing that He is already there. :)