Wisdom and guidance needed

Hubby and I are in the midst of getting a piece of land to build a house. A house to call our home.

There is so much to consider, but so far we haven't had much time to meditate on it as much as we'd like to.

We have been receiving both negative and positive comments from various people. Positive being that the suburb has been picked out as a key development area in Perth, with plenty of infrastructure and amenities planned. Negative being that is perceived to be a little further away from Perth.

It is so scary. Scarier than buying the investment property a few months ago. Hubby reckons that it feels scarier than getting married!

So please pray with us over this.

More pics of our favourite little somebody...

We were at Ronald and Diana's house to get our haircut and have dinner. Yes, a haircut - we know a hairdresser who does house visits.

Christopher after his haircut (which was 6 months overdue!)


For dinner, we had this very interesting dish called 'Golden Pillow'. It's basically chicken curry cooked inside a big bun. Very nice! Apparently it originate in Singapore, but one of our church members learnt how to cook it, so we tarpau-ed a couple of them from him.


After dinner, it was play time!



Chrisopher's latest trick: Jump so high, up in the sky!!!



Wheeeeeee.......



For some reason, some people seem to be surprised that hubby gets along with kids so well. Why should it be surprising? He likes children very much lar--his favourite now being Christopher.

Anyway, again we had a tearful parting when it was time to say good-bye. This time he wanted to follow us 'home' and bawled when we tried to explain to him that he was already home. Sigh, hard to tell if it was 'us' that he was really attached to or whether he was thinking of 'koko's special car'. Hubby was starting to get concerned that Christopher might start to remember the sad memories of our good-byes more than the happy play times. OH NO!!!

Anyway, seeing Christopher cry each time is so heartbreaking. I can understand how some parents might be so tempted to give in to their children and spoil them. But I believe it takes more strength to resist the 'flesh' of giving in to your child's tears, and instead focus on the bigger picture of developing his/her character.

Well, all happy times must end Christopher. But remember that there are always more happy times to come!

Congratulations to the Herons!

Congrats on the new addition to the Heron family!



Much love and prayers of blessing from the Yaus here in Perth...

Welcome to the 'family' Little Matthew!

^_^

Our passenger of the day

Today we had the adventure of playing surrogate parents to little Christopher.

Ronald was at worship practice and Diana had to stay home to look after Daylan who is sick, so they asked us to help pick Christopher up for church.

He was very happy to sit in our car. For some strange reason, he seems to like sitting in our car very much... and kept himself amused, looking around and making funny faces with MH-koko.


After church, he insisted on following our car to lunch.

Perhaps he just likes the variety of sitting in a different car for a change from seeing mummy's and papa's cars every day?

I suggested another theory of a subconscious memory of his papa's old Mitsubishi Mirage when he was still a baby?

Who knows?

During lunch at Emma's Seafood, he sat between Ronald and MH--it was quite a comical sight to see the two grown men looking after Christopher. Ronald was trying to get Christopher to eat his food, while MH was trying to keep him clean, wiping his hands and dusting away crumbs... haha, I found the scene very amusing to watch.

Anyway, he had grown so attached to our Mirage, he refused to follow his papa's car home. So we offered to send him home instead.

After all the excitement of the day, someone was starting to get sleepy...


But it didn't last long. Once he arrived home, he was eager to show us his new toy--"Twacks!!!", his new car racing tracks set!

Sadly, our parting moment was tearful... whether it was because we were driving away in the Mirage that he had grown so attached to... or whether his playmate, MH-koko had to leave him to continue playing his "Twacks" alone... I couldn't tell. (OR maybe being the clever little boy he is, he knows that once we leave he will not be able to escape from nap time!)

But don't fret, Christopher... you can follow our car again next Sunday, okay?

I'm modelling

I know I've been neglecting my little cyber-corner a little this week.

Just been preoccupied with my 'modelling' career.
.
.
.
.
.
.

EXCEL modelling lar - what did you think?

. . .

Shopping? Not me...

FAQs about my trip to Sydney:
1. Did you go shopping?
2. What did you buy?

Answer:
1. Yes
2. Nothing

Actually not exactly nothing. I bought a grey winter coat, but then decided to return it the next day, because it wasn't the exact colour I wanted, it wasn't the precise size for me, and it wasn't on sale anyway.

Size is always an issue for me when shopping in Aussie land. Which is why I never have satisfying shopping expeditions here. Size 8 seems to be a myth here. It is honestly frustrating to only be able to shop once a year, and that is only if we happen to stop by Singapore on holiday.

Hubby on the other hand, got a big kick out of getting DVD Box Sets 4, 5 and 6 of the Transformers cartoon series... completing his entire Transformers series...


To top it off, a couple of weeks after we returned from Sydney, while waiting for me to meet him at Carousel, he wandered into the Sanity store and got the complete series for Knights of the Zodiac...


Super pampered hubby man!
(While I freeze my pants off in this cold Aussie winter)

Other "this and that" pics from Hillsong Conference

Waiting for Monday night rally to begin... look at the crowd!!!


A very "Malaysian" looking intersection // on the bus: morning sleepyheads!


Arrghhh... look so fat lar!!! (with Genesis) // Yeah!!! Best seats...


Snackie break... Hello Panda! // with Boon Wai and Mike...


Conference arm band // Sea of humanity behind us...


Closing team dinner... meet up with Kitty // ...and Betty

Hillsong Conference Highlights

So much to share, so much to tell... but instead of boring you guys with tonnes of photos, I decided to handpick a few to show some of the highlights. Of course it doesn't show even nearly half of what we experienced. Every day was just jam packed full of good teaching and inspiring messages.

The sessions started at 9am every day until 3pm. Then we had a break until 4.30pm when we went back for the night rallies, which was also open to the public. And finally we board the bus and head home around 7pm.

Anyway, here are some photo highlights...

Monday night rally--grand opening with full ochestra playing the classic hymn "Amazing Grace"


Tuesday night rally--Chris Tomlin leading worship with old favourites such as "How Great is Our God" and "His Love Endures Forever"


Wednesday morning session--Guy Sebastian doing a special performance to help promote the work of Compassion


Thursday morning--Steven Curtis Chapman!!! Need I say more??? (FYI: Serene is a keen "admirer" of Steven Curtis Chapman's music) singing one of my favourite songs "When Love Takes you In"


Thursday night rally--more of Steven Curtis Chapman singing a couple more of my favourite songs (btw, 2 out of the 3 members of his band are Steven's own sons! How cool is that?)


Friday morning combined stream (part 1)--interview with Bishop T.D. Jakes (I think hubby found this to be the most impactful session for him)


Friday morning combined stream (part 2)--panel discussion with key leaders of Hillsong Church


Friday lunch time session--up close and personal with Steven Curtis Chapman where he introduces his family, including little Shaohannah who was the inspiration for starting Shaohannah's Hope to support parents in adopting children

So cute... she's really sticky to her dad... she didn't even want to leave the stage when the rest of the family went back to sit down but wanted to stay right next to him the whole time...

As mentioned, we had plenty of great teaching... but I think the session that really spoke the most to my heart was one on Humility by John Bevere.

"True humility is your utter and complete dependence on GOD"

This has been my third time attending Hillsong Conference. And it gets better and better each time. This has been the best one ever yet.

Some of you might think we're simply chasing after speakers and music... or simply just a "spiritual injection". But I assure you it is not so. I suppose this is something like those church retreats we used to have every year when we were still kids/teens. Everyone needs a break sometime, so what other more fruitful way to spend a holiday then at an inspirational and awesome gathering like this?

Here some video highlights from Hillsong's Youtube...

Makaning in Sydney

Phew!!! What a week it's been in Sydney. We had a great time at the Hillsong Conference, catching up with old friends, and enjoying the lovely Sydney foodie favourites.

We stayed with our friends - Kah Kooi and Karen in Pyrmont (so nice... near the city and near to lots of yummy makan places). They brought us to try Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Darling Harbour on Saturday night.

The chocolate drinks and food selections taste HEAVENLY. To be honest, I'm actually a moderate chocolate fan. And I'm not the biggest lover of hot chocolate (which to me, seems to be just gourmet milo). But Karen persuaded me to give it a try... so I ordered one for myself. They serve it like this, a jug of hot milk with melted Lindt chocolate on the side. You mix the milk and the melted chocolate in the cup like this... and the moment I took my first sip, oh my gosh... you simply have to TRY it yourself. You can really taste the quality of the pure cocoa essence. It's better than all Koko Blacks and Max Brenners put together.

We also ordered their waffle and ice cream. The ice cream which was white chocolate ice cream is just so delectable. It's really white chocolate ice cream. Not just some vanilla ice cream with a few shavings of white chocolate, but the whole thing just exudes WHITE CHOCOLATE. Yumz I tell you. We told some of the other people on the Hillsong team about and urged them to try it... but I doubt they did (too many things to do in Sydney) but sorry to say that they really missed out. This I must say was the NUMBER ONE food highlight of my Sydney trip.


Sunday night was the Hillsong Conference ZPH Team opening dinner. We had it at Tony Romas... who are supposedly famous for their ribs.

We ordered the combo set which comes with a selection of ribs, sausages, grilled chicken and side dishes to share. Quite nice lar... but hubby said that despite its worldwide reputation for having the best ribs, it still can't beat the local Hurricanes ribs at Bondi.


On Monday, we decided to visit our favourite Sydney Dim Sum place, ZILVER. Mike and Stan came with us.

The food was yummy as ever. But I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get my favourite dessert, those mini green tea buns. But I was consoled with their Mango pancakes at least... I've never found any other place that serves mango pancakes like these. This is absolutely the best dim sum place I've ever been to.


Tuesday night, a group of us went to "Pancake on the Rocks" new branch at Darling Harbour.

I had their Mexicana savoury pancakes... and hubby who was craving for something meaty had their ribs... didn't get a chance to sample their dessert though. The others seemed to be in a hurry to head home... probably everyone was feeling a little tired after a long day at the conference.


After a whole week of sandwiches for lunch, we ended with a final team dinner at Paramatta. Can't remember the name of the restaurant though... probably something like Paramatta Chinese Restaurant. Here is a photo of our table... the old gwailo guy sitting there is our bus driver.

The food here is not bad, but apparently the only reason why they always have the closing team dinner here is because they do not know where else to go... HAIYA... say lar... we'll suggest another place for them next time.

Saturday: Our final mission was to get 3 dozen Krispy Kreme dougnuts to bring back to Perth. The people in Perth are so deprived of Krispy Kreme. Apparently most people around the world think that there are just not enough Krispy Kreme Branches around. I thought 3 dozen was a lot till I heard that another person in our team carted back 7 dozen of the sinful stuff!!!

Sunday morning: waking up for some yummy Krispy Kreme. Just heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave and PERFECTO!


What gastronomic experience it's been in Sydney!

Sick Couple

Back from Sydney.

We had a fantastic time... enjoying all our favourite Sydney food and getting inspired at the Hillsong Conference.

The whole experience would have rated 10 out of 10 except for the fact that we arrived home very sick.

I had a cough and fever on Sunday and Monday... the kind of fever that makes you get all sweaty outside but still feel shivery and cold inside. After a few doses of paracetamol tablets, orange juice, and lots of sleep, the fever has abated but leaving me feeling a bit weak and achy today. Taking some cough medicine which seems to be helping the cough, but now its my runny nose that's giving trouble.

Hubby has been having a dry cough and today felt much worse with a fever and headache. Poor thing.

Yesterday we drove around to THREE CLINICS and not even one of them had a doctor available to see us! Reasons given: No appointments available for the next few weeks, most of our doctors are away on leave, we're having a surge of patients because of the flu season, we're not taking in any new patients now... it's maddening I tell you... MADDENING!!!

Anyway, today we're going to try again at this clinic who has a visiting doctor on duty from 2-4pm. He doesn't take appointments but will see patients on a first come, first serve basis. So we'll be going in this afternoon to see him.

In the meantime, get ready for a flood of photos...

The amazing human spirit

Still in Sydney. The Hillsong Conference is amazing... so much to tell, so many photos to show... but I shall blog about it when I have a bit more time.

In the meantime, here's an amazing video which I received from a friend...