Celebrating Faithful Love in Tambunan

My cousin, Susan, celebrated her 25th Wedding Anniversary in Tambunan. Susan and Basal got married in the same church where the whole family was actively involved in the planning of the wedding then.



Together with them, her parents, Uncle Stanley and Aunt Lily, celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary while another cousin, Stanley Jr or more known as Joe to us, celebrated his 7th Wedding Anniversary with his wife, Leslie.



That brought us all to Tambunan for the day to celebrate with them this very special and beautiful occasion. May God continue to shower his blessings upon them.

Christmas Party at the Chongs' Blue Residence

Christmas Dinner at mum's

Our annual party on the evening of 25th at mum's

Christmas Cupcakes

Had been wondering what to give as Christmas gifts for the neighbours this year... Thought of this, enjoyed it and am surprised at my own creativity...

Christmas Greetings

The Picture: The statue of the Holy Family, Derek's Christmas gift to me last year. It speaks to me of the care of Joseph for his family, the father covering his protection on spouse and child. May this also be your experience of the Father this Christmas.

Living Room Makeover

After the ceiling is done, the lights went up and now, the paint. Hmmm... what colour shall we paint our living room?????

Carolling

Memorable Manila

A trip we planned as a family holiday abroad, our 1st ever... Mum didn't make it even after much persuasion...



Manila was beautifully decorated in preparation for Christmas. This was at the buffet counter which I thought... it's the wrong "spirit" surrounding the Holy Family...



We shopped, walked, laughed, joked, teased and fought with each other... But we had a ball of a time together!!


A simple trip with the jeepney can bring so much joy!!! We had great fun together! So grateful to God for this opportunity.



Our tables at meal times are always full of a variety of food. We enjoyed it so much!!



One of our highlights - Haagen Dazs Buffet... A sweet moment to remember.

My new job at Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd

On 4th October, I started working with the Good Shepherd. It has been 6 weeks now and I am just starting to discover the various ministries within the organisation... from a Primary school hostel in a village called Pukak and a secondary girls' hostel in Tenghilan to the Youth Drop in centre in Alamesra, where my office is. Then, there are the crisis centres which shelters women in need.


I was in Pukak recently to collect a cheque which was presented to the hostel kids. It was their last day of school and I was moved to see them with their trophies and certificates of full attendance, which was made possible by the hostel service since most of the kids live up to 4 hours walk from the school.

I have begun connecting with some of the girls and they are so sweet... Most would come clinging on to my feet for some "pampering" moments. It's always a joy to see them!


I was amazed to see how well they played together, caring for one another.


They had cooking lessons as part of their Life Skills module. It was fun to see them preparing a meal together.


God, you have again surprised me with your love through this new job and all the people whom I have met and experienced so far! Truly, you are AMAZING!!!

Weekend with Trainee Nurses at Bundu Tuhan 29 - 31 Oct

Knowing God Knowing Me - the theme for the trainee nurses weekend at Bundu Tuhan. As we shared about God and about our heritage, we began to see many opening their hearts allowing God to correct some images and scripts that had conditioned their lives.


The openness of the participants had led them to so much freedom as we heard them share their testimonies on the last day.


Go against the flow... We encouraged them to make some concrete choices of their lifestyle before returning home.


Brenda, Jeannie and Sylvia joined us in sharing various topics and testimonies. Brenda will soon do the School of Witness in Singapore while Jeannie just returned from the Philippines after being there for 4 years, initially with the Formation Team of ICPE.


The trainee nurses meet every Thursday and are under the care of the covenant community. Sylvia, who leads the group, invited us to run the weekend after working with us at the RAY camp early this year.


Broken hearts found a place in Jesus' embrace during the weekend. We are so happy to have witnessed these changes and decisions.

Lifeline's BGR 2010

The Young Adults Ministry at Sacred Heart Cathedral - Lifeline, organised a seminar focusing on healthy relationships, specifically relationship gearing towards marriage. "Building Godly Relationships" as it is called this year, was attended by about 20 people.


Both Derek & I shared on the principles of relationship, focusing on building the foundation with the right image of God and self.




We spent the weekend at Nuluhon Retreat Centre in Inanam.


All the participants were encouraged to express "who am I" in a creative way on paper, with colours or items from nature.




We were blessed to see many of them sharing on being enlightened and have received a wider perspective on relationship in preparation for marriage.


Honouring Men & Women: As a celebration of God's gift of the uniqueness of men and women. The brothers, serenading to the sisters...



All the ladies received a yellow rose each with words of encouragement from the guys...

Thank you Jesus for being with us!! Thank you to all who prayed with and for us.

12th Wedding Anniversary at Tenom

Celebrated our wedding anniversary spontaneously in Tenom. Spent a night at the Perkasa Hotel.



Since we were very near to our friend's farm, we dropped by to visit and saw a cow giving birth that morning!




Georgina's son, sharing a moment of being "manja" with me...


Also had a chance to drink fresh dragon fruit juice. Mmmmmm yummy!

Angelic Baptism

So honoured to be godmother to the daughter of my friend/ex-classmate, Jackie.


Adorable Angelina was so happy to be dressed up today and was very well behaved throughout the baptism.


We are so happy to see her presence in the lives of our friends, Charles and Jackie. The long awaited Angelina is a blessing to us all!