Butterfly Park - 28th January

After a whole 2 days of eating, we decided to take a walk round the Butterfly Park to enjoy nature and have a break from food for the stomach... Derek had fun "catching" butterflies with his camera...

Spent a whole morning at the Butterfly park, 36km from KK, on the Tambunan Road.

Amazed to see the variety of butterflies found in this small park.

We were completely amazed at the wonder of nature as we walked around. I was facinated by their colours and formation. Pondering on God's gift of uniqueness in creating all creatures.

We were welcomed and brought around by very friendly guides who knew well about butterflies. They explained that the lifespan of the butterfy is 3 months while it takes 5 months for it to finish its growing process to become a butterfly... Food for thought: It's all about the journey, not the destination...













Next to the Butterfly Park, we found a beautiful orchid garden filled with such a variety of species.


The "meditation" time continued as I pondered on the roots of the orchids, clinging on to a big tree trunk. It amazes me to see the beauty of God's creation, showing us the simple and practical things in life...

Taking another moment of "meditation" at the Moyog River on our way home. Such a fascinating scene in this area. The quiet and beauty of the place drew me to a place of silence, away from the unnecessary noises...

Chinese New Year: Feasting with Family & Friends... 25th - 27th January

It's Chinese New Year!! We haven't been celebrating this feast at home for more than 10 years and we have really been looking forward to this!!! While getting ready to go for the celebrations, we had a moment to think about all our friends whom we have been celebrating with in those years of being far from home. Fond memories of the culture and tradition that we have created together to make this feast a special one. While we rejoice having this oppotunity to celebrate the feast in the old fashion way, we're also sad to be far from friends who have celebrated this feast with us over the years... Remembering them, we say a prayer for them. spending some time at the piano in our new home.

The theme is red in this season of celebration, and so is my face... With all the nice food around, my skin has started to react on all those "heaty food"...

Family reunion dinner on the eve of the new year at my aunts' house. It's always a joy to see all of us sitting around the table, having a special meal together...

All these yummy food we missed all these years being away from home. Such luxury not to be cooking this year!!! My aunts' cooking is always special on a feast like this.

Making some glutinous rice balls with my sister, a traditional dessert on a Chinese feast. My brother, Fred, bringing the rice balls to be boiled...

Another common scene around this time... gambling!! In these 15 days of Chinese new year, gambling is not a sin but a part of the celebration... (haha). This is the scene at Derek's parents' place. His parents playing mahjong with Terence, Derek's brother and our good friend, Pete.

Proud owners of Blue Viva 850 - 15th January

Look at the proud owners of this blue Viva 850, a Malaysian made car!

This is our first new car. We are so happy!! Life in KK doesn't really flow smoothly without a car. We have been using Derek's parents' and aunt's car for the past month. We are grateful for their generosity and flexibility in the past month.

Feeling a bit nervous everytime we drive... It's brand new!!! Well, apart from the fact that now, we have a loan to pay off...

2008 - A year full of grace

Our year started with the outreach of the School of Mission. Wow, that seems like a long, long time ago... A great school of 8 participants; one we recall all the time for the amazing people whom we have shared life with for 4 1/2 months.

Soon after the school, the anouncement of the relocation of Allerheiligen was made to the community: the highlight of our year. Since the anouncement, we have been seriously discerning our next steps which eventually led us to take a year's break from the mission, starting in December.

Our journey from Allerheiligen back to KK brought us to see the beauty of friendship in many of our friends whom we have gotten to know in Germany. We were so blessed by them as they expressed their love and care to us in many, many ways.

Coming home was exciting yet challenging as we did not know what was ahead of us. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to get a job with a 1 year's contract the day after we arrive. Derek has a few job offers lined up (part time & full time), waiting for confirmation in the coming days.

Before the year ended, we found a house opposite Derek's parents' place after a long search... The search was over as we marvelled at this 5-room house, with many plans of what to do with the space that we have! Also, we bought a new car!!! Yes!! A blue Viva 850 will be released to us in a few days.

Grateful to God for His goodness to us in many ways and to all our friends and family for showing us the grace of God through their kindness and love!

Christmas in KK

On Christmas eve, we went for mass at our parish, the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The choir presented an hour of Christmas carols before the mass started at 9pm. The choir happened to be led by my (baby) younger brother, Fred, with all my other siblings singing in the choir. It was an amazing presentation, totally captivating and impressive. I was so proud of all my siblings, especially Fred, the choir master, who arranged the whole presentation of the choir, consisting of 25 people.

Inspired by Derek (Choir master 1987 - 1988) who broke the tradition by gathering the choir to present a Cantata at Christmas, all his other predecesors have since been actively improvising and advancing in their presentations. This year, we found all of them present and had a chance to take a picture together. They are, from left, Fred (my brother), Dom Luk, Christine (my sister), Terence (Derek's brother) and Derek. My brother, Adrian has been the president of the choir since 1990. So, it's a family affair...

After mass, after exchanging good wishes to friends and families, we went for supper at a hotel...

Derek enjoying some prawns with fried noodles... Lots and lots to eat. O yummy...



This morning, we had a family gathering at my aunts place. Had this opportunity to take a picture with my cousins...

It does reflect our strong family ties that I have almost forgotten. I thank God for this privilege of having good relationships in my family. This Christmas has brought me to realise this wonderful treasure that I have.

1st week in KK

We have been in KK for a week now and finally our boxes arrived yesterday. We thank God that everything arrived safely!!! The shipping company delivered them to Derek's parents' place, where we are staying for now.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our time with good food, good friends and good time with family. Derek is enjoying some durian, a treat from his dad...

Still getting used to the weather here... it is extremely hot in the afternoons. Eating this "heaty" fruit doesn't help either... We were told to drink a lot of water from the crust of the fruit.

Durian can be found in and out of season these days. This batch, said to have come from Ranau, tastes really "lemak" and extremely delicious... emmmmm

Apart from food... there are also other developments...

I signed a 1 year contract with a private school and will start teaching English to secondary school students starting from 5th January 2009.

Derek is continuing his coaching course and is hopeful to start a business soon...

While looking for a place to stay, we have been offered a few options where we could stay for the coming year. We'll be moving to our neighbour's house in a week's time. They will be away for a few months. So, our search is still on, but we are glad to have this immediate solution...

Grateful to God for His abundant grace in this time of transition.

Home sweat home - 9th December

Our welcome dinner at home... Derek's parents prepared a lovely welcome for us... with prawns, squid, chicken wings, braised pork and yam....emmm.... yum yum!

Our journey from Allerheiligen started on Saturday afternoon. We spent a night at our friends' place near Frankfurt and they kindly sent us to the airport and had breakfast with us after checking in. Their kids were thrilled to be at Mc Donalds and we were blessed to have had the luxury of not carrying the luggage up and down the train...

Spent a day in KL with my sister Christine and her friends. Enjoyed being driven around and had lots of nice food and a great time shopping!

Slowly adapting to the heat, though we must admit that we were expecting it to be worse... The rainy season here has made it cooler.

Much to be thankful to God for as we have been experiencing his goodness and favour day after day...