So..

I was planning to go back in March with Jetstar - this was before Air Asia came out here. However, I couldn't get a work visa under the Graduate Job Search as I could only apply under that section once. I wasn't too worried at first. Then the second quake happen and I could postpone my flight to later in the year. Then the timing changed and I could get a refund. Which was awesome.

I just read my previous posts and do wonder at how my goal changes. I do know my deadlines will change. The reason why I try to say "tentatively". In November, I got offered a part time administrator job in church. I accepted the job. I really enjoyed working in church and as I was a part timer - my time was quite flexible.

I was offered a full time job in April as a Children's and Family Ministry Administrator in church and I accepted too. I prayed and prayed about it and I think this is where God wants me to be currently. I am in the process of applying for a work visa as my current visa will expire in August.

One big adventure that happened for me this year was the Abel Tasman kayaking trip! The trip, the view, the company, the experience. The 6 of us went away for 4 day 3 nights of kayaking and camping. The February earthquake happened on our 3rd day away. I actually felt for Christchurch. It felt really surreal coming back after the trip.

The sunrise on our last day - that was so cool! I really felt really very sleepy too :)

The five of us sitting on a log on our first beach.

It was so cool that we got to camp right at the beach front. I have never gone on a real camping trip before - setting up tents, sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking on a portable stove thingy, planning.

I went on a "camp" before. But we had other people looking after us then and I can't remember much of what happened. But that trip was really awesome possum! Yup, we met a possum on our last night :D

Last

year - STOMP!

This year - The Ten Tenors!

now

I hope its going to be a nice long post

cause I woke up so early and I have been meaning to update

So we'll start from the beginning..

[although most likely it won't be in chronological order]

in the month of december, the family came to visit : )

emma and thomas enjoying the segway after the disappointment of no ATV

although after watching trauma and the ATV accident kinda put me off it now for a while

there was me, bro, mother and lm

it was quite fun

stressful at times but i think we mostly enjoyed ourselves

it was quite funny bumping into uncle paul and family at the geyser!

that was the only person we bumped into whom we know the entire trip

in april three of my friends graduated at the same time

gen from icf | emma |  jasmine my ex flatmate

jeff from mosaic | jasmine | emma

i should probably mention now that i am not planning to attend my graduation. i know that my parents spent loads on me studying and that is my final goal but i don't really see a point. my mother already told me its my life. i don't mind getting the gown to pose and take pictures but i really can't be bothered doing the whole ceremony. i have actually been to 3 graduations! apparently (after i told mother about my plan), she told me father didn't do it as well so i'm really continuing on the tradition. heh.

Then one fine evening when my flatmate was working and i was procrastinating i decorated our toilet door with something useful

i got this sign from shakespeare house where we stayed at te anau

i really love it!

so u can either turn it that way or this way :)

very useful if you have visitors

also a quite good friend of mine got married!

and she's the same age as me!

=)

Mosaic had its bbq at groynes park in february

i think everybody had a good time

we played games and had yummy food

mosaic has been going relatively well. although we're still quite small but i'm sure God has his plan for us.

on the third of may a couple of us went kayaking down the avon river.

it was extremely good fun. had a blister on my thumb but was worth it.
had lunch at noodle house after that.

i didn't notice that the picture was not coloured. if u can't see clearly the first picture is of me laughing really crazily. we were trying to take a group picture but i guessed the kayak just got out of hand. haha!

on wednesday afternoons i spend babysitting this little girl :)

i know her parents through icf and the mother wanted to attend a course in laidlaw college on wednesday afternoons and since i was so free with only classes on tuesdays i volunteered

recently she has started saying my name so much which is hillarious

although today is going to be my second to last week :(
sadness!
i miss en and children so much

sadly, i don't have any pictures of icf. icf have been going really well at the start of the year. although now numbers are continuingly dropping, we still have faith that everything will be back after the busyness of the semester ending. its sadly going to be my last year with icf as a student. providing i pass all my courses. icf is cooking this week and God gave eunice to organise it! i'm just the driver and atm. haha.

i've also just helped out with the oscar programme. an off school care and recreation programme. so fun hanging and chilling out with the children! makes me miss vbs and the plentiful supply of babies and children in M!

ahh the group picture is in the other camera!

i don't really know what's up with the hand thing

so the girl on the left was moving to wellington and since she is going to drive all the way up to picton the girl on the right asked the bottom three to join them on this exciting adventure!

look at how char's hand just came up like that!!! it looks awesome except of the dashboard above my head. and the other two is in the picture far far behind =D

we left on a wednesday and came back on friday. we stayed a night in kaikoura then drove to picton to say goodbye to the other car where we then spend the afternoon in blenheim and another night in kaikoura before coming back to civilisation on friday. that was really an awesomo time. it happened only two weeks ago :)




thats basically the gist of what have been happening since my proper update last july. mian that was long.


am gutted that two people are moving away from christchurch


last week of uni is next week. i love this season when all the trees' leaves are falling and it looks so beautiful. uni looks exceptionally awesome during this season :)
i'm still quite uncertain about my future. to stay or not. am praying for God to show me the way. :)

Thank you, God

:)

Couches

I rate a shop based on the quality of the couches customers are allowed to sit on. Not on the quantity or quality of clothes. Well not that high I guess.

General Issue has the best couches in Riccarton Mall. It's soft and deep and just right while waiting for your love ones to shop.

SimpleFurniture also has quite a nice couch in the middle on the second floor which is not bad as well.

Yes, I am that bored. I was suppose to be coming back to a week of planning the trip for my family when they come over but my mum can't make up her mind (on whether to come or not to come) because of the influenza. Its killing me. The indecisiveness and the boredom. I tried calling her just now but no one answered :(

On Monday, I was counting the points of my courses and went out with Char and Mer later the same day. I went crazy then. Its either the boredom or the company. Haha! It was so fun to make both of them run for their life. You should ask them to tell you more about it. It was quite a fun day. Just what I needed. Two dose of friends and one dose of craziness. Maybe more.

On Tuesday, Mer had orientation the whole day so I was left to fend for myself. Oh ya I remembered what I did. I went to Orana Wildlife Park with Kayo and her friend. We spent the whole day there! It was tiring but fun. Then I joined a few CU people for Ice Age 3. Which was very predictable but still watchable.

On Wednesday, I headed out to the library to borrow a few books and also to meet up with Char and her four kids. I thought she was going to be in the library until 2 (it was ten ish when i arrived) so I asked Mer to go for lunch since she already woke up. We hanged out at the mall until she left for work at 4pm. I was suppose to go visit Jas that night but was too lazy to go home then go all the way back to Riccarton again so it was postpone. While Mer and I were there, we were talking about boyfriends paying for everything. Me thinks going dutch sometimes is good. But me flatmate's thinks no. So I hanged around LBJ and with Char after that. I finally got me self a United Video card! Wakakaka. I borrowed the LOTR trilogy, Prime, The Bucket List and something Pixar.

On Thursday, I started the day by watching The Fellowship of the Ring and paying my income tax return and signing up for online billing. I finally used my Flexi Debit Visa =)) Tapau-ed KFC with Mer for lunch and continued with The Two Towers. Took out rubbish and shower and continued with The Return of the King. Then visited Jas and Cal and did a bit of groceries shopping.

Today, I cooked lunch! Ciabatta + beef + egg + cheese + mushroom + greens. I woke up hungry cause I didn't eat dinner last night. Played keys for a while. Vacuumed a bit. Cooked for Mer. Talked to her for a bit. After she left, I tidied the whole house. Vacuumed the kitchen. Shifted boxes and random stuff to garage. Which reminds me I still have ICF's tea and coffee box which I haven't unpacked since a month ago. Yeah, that's me. Then shifted around the furniture. Now just sitting and typing all this stuff so that everybody in the world wide web will know what I did this whole week.

In three hours time, results are coming out. Whatever it is, I know God was there.

Am reading this book Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin.

"As J.I. Packer reminds us: Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are - weak, inadequate, ineffective, a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible! Our personal life is a finite thing: it is limited in every direction, in space, in time, in knowledge, in power. But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. He has us in his hands; we never have him in ours. Like us he is personal; but unlike us, he is great."

That is what God has been reminding me during the whole of holidays.

I have been struggling with the names of the HP books. I got HP and the Philosopher's Stone, HP and the Chamber of Secrets, HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban, HP and the Goblet of Fire, HP and the Half Blood Prince and HP and the Deathly Hallows. I kept going round and round my mind but I can't seem to get the fifth book. Finally, I googled and *tada* its Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I want to watch all five again before the sixth but United Video didn't have all five :( So ya..

Sun is going down. I have to go close the curtains to keep the heat in soon. This post is super long. I hope you've enjoyed reading. I had a good time typing.

Yay I finally know how to spell vacuuming. Shame on me!

Butterfly Kisses

a BUTTERFLY KISS is when the eyelashes of one are fluttered against the cheek or eyelashes of another

There's two things I know for sure
She was sent here from heaven and she's daddy's little girl
As I drop to my knees by her bed at night
She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes and
I thank god for all the joy in my life
Oh, but most of all

For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
"Walk beside the pony, Daddy, it's my first ride."
"I know the cake looks funny, Daddy, but I sure tried."
In all that I've done wrong I know I must have done something right
To deserve a hug every morning and butterfly kisses at night

Sweet 16 today
She's looking like her mama a little more everyday
One part woman, the other part girl
To perfume and make-up from ribbons and curls
Trying her wings out in a great big world
But I remember

Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
"You know how much I love you, Daddy,
But if you don't mind I'm only gonna kiss you on the cheek this time"
With all that I've done wrong I must have done something right
To deserve her love every morning and butterfly kisses at night.

All the precious time
Like the wind, the years go by
Precious butterfly
Spread your wings and fly

She'll change her name today
She'll make a promise and I'll give her away
Standing in the bride-room just staring at her
She asked me what I'm thinking and I said "I'm not sure
I just feel like I'm losing my baby girl"
She leaned over...

Gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
"Walk my down the aisle, Daddy - it's just about time"
"Does my wedding gown look pretty, Daddy? Daddy, don't cry!"
Oh, with all that I've done wrong I must have done something right
To deserve your love every morning and butterfly kisses

I couldn't ask God for more, man this is what love is
I know I gotta let her go, but I'll always remember
Every hug in the morning and butterfly kisses

Bob Carlisle

e m m a

My Masterpiece!

awesomeness!

Single-ts

My future tagline for this single-ts society would be

"Nobody was worthy of our attention"

I thought it was quite a good tag line. Heh.

I'm seriously Emma dilema as what Isabel told me. Lol. I seriously can't believe that this friend of mine would do such thing but due to the reasons pointed out to me I really don't know what else to think. He's seriously not the guy I thought he was.

There's going to be ICF's first exec meeting tomorrow. Kinda excited as to what is going to happen. A funny thing is half of ICF's exec is in CMSA's (the university's Malaysian club) committee as well. Also, found out yesterday that Wei Hong is the president of the Lincoln Malaysian's club. Now I can say I know people. Lol!

p.s. My tagline sounds gramatically wrong though. Is it?

In the future

when I have my own place, I want one side of a wall, or even just a section, a rectangular section to be filled with rainbow colours all blending in perceptively.

Then I will have colourful markers ready by the wall for anybody who would want to leave an imprint on the wall.

That is awesomeness.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I bought this card for you last year but was too late to post it in time for Father's Day.
I thought I would be able to send it to you this year.

Unfortunately, certain circumstances prevents it.

I hope that you would still be able to receive it virtually though.

Happy Father's Day!

Summer

At first I thought I should do a new "About Me" page but after writing this, I just want it to be another post.

I had an unexpected summer. I worked at Alliance Bank for about a month until the day before my birthday for which an unexpected circumstances happened.

You see, my father was scheduled to undergo surgery - angioplasty if I'm not mistaken. That was on a Tuesday morning. Everything went all right in the surgery except for the fact that his heart stopped once. He was meant to be back the next morning.

I was at home that night after vomiting and diarrhoea-ing at work instead of going out with Yan Ling as planned. My dad called that night telling my mum he's experiencing heart pain and asked her to go to the hospital quickly. My brother and I followed my mum to the hospital not knowing what lay ahead of us.

When we reached the hospital it was around 7.30pm. Just as we reached the elevators, code blue was announced and my mum suspected it was because of my dad. Soon, we realised it was true. We were standing around, waiting for an hour before they told us the news.

"To lose one parent is a tragedy, To lose both parents is just plain carelessness"

- Oscar Wilde in the Importance Of Being Earnest

The funeral was set for Thursday. It was a good service except for one part where I think my family was embarassed about. Even a friend from NZ came. And a friend from school and college. Many people came to pay their respects. I was very proud of my dad and what he did with 48 years of his life.

I came back to NZ to finish my studies which will take an extra year. I've learnt alot this year. About deaths. Friendships. BGR. Church. Faith. Christianity.

My brother finishes his last year of high school this year. After that, he will be going for Residential Bible School and National Service. My mum is still busy babysitting my niece and keeping herself occupied while learning new stuff like going online.

This whole post just sounds surreal.

Sore and Snow!

It was snowing on Saturday! Wonderful bliss

Garden outside
Another garden
My poor wet shoes

I texted my mum just to, you know, spread the joy around and my brother came back with this text:
"Weyh.jakun nvr c snow b4.hahaha...noob!"

Just because he saw tonnes of snow in USA. *milok*

I did see snow before but it was funner this time round.
Its a pity that I went for YAG and the others went to Cashmere to play with the snow. Before that though, I went rock climbing at Roxx. With Mosaic people. Fun but Sunday was painful.. I don't have pictures though. Have to get it off somebody.

Okay since its study break [not a break from study but a break to study], off I go! Till then..

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We never really did celebrate your birthday as you always said you don't want any celebrations. But you were quite funny about it one time when we didn't actually bothered to do anything and you complained.

You should be forty-nine years old now. Just one more year to go before you reach your mid-life crisis. It has been a hard time for all of us. Especially for mummy and the two of us. And to top it up, it was the night before my birthday. Not that you could could chose when.

The picture above was taken in year 2006 when we took En out to her sort of birthday dinner. It was after that that you claimed she became closer to you because you showed her what fine dining was. Everybody was scoffing at that idea nevertheless there was some truth there.
That was all two years ago. Time seems to pass by so fast.
That was during my birthday in 2006. My first summer back home. It is the earliest 'family potrait' that I've got. Life in New Zealand has been the same old same old. Trying very hard to keep with my studies and trying not very hard to lose some weight.Do you know that En did actually wore the dress that you bought for her? I know we said she didn't and you were quite upset. Haha. I do hope that now you know she did wear it.

I wonder how much has PJ changed in this six months. Not too much I hope. I do pray that you are all right where ever you are.

Your sincerely,
Your daughter

My Wheel

Brought to you by Friend Wheel

----------------
Now playing: Malaysian Artistes For Unity - Here In My Home
via FoxyTunes

Psalm 68:1-5

1 Let God arise,
Let His enemies be scattered;
Let those also who hate Him flee before Him.

2 As smoke is driven away,
So drive them away;
As wax melts before the fire,
So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

3 But let the righteous be glad;
Let them rejoice before God;
Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.

4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him.

5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.

6 God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity;
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

[NKJV]

m a e m

m a e m = e m m a e m m a e m m a

Get it?

This was taken at Castle Hill. See how beautiful God created this world.

Now on to something sad. This Saturday and Sunday I've been thinking about my dad. Exceptionally alot. And everything just seem to remind me of him. Which makes me wanna cry. After all the stress from the two tests this week, I expected to feel happy and relieved that its over at the end of the second test but I felt not exactly sad but not a happy or relieved feeling either. I went to Ancestral after my test with Jas, Mer and Li and felt okay.
I was searching for random pictures to be posted and I saw this and it made me smile. Hope it made your day as well =) Although you might really dislike purple, yellow, green and orange dinosaurs with weird spots. Especially purple.

I went to Nandos on Saturday with Li and Jas and spent the whole afternoon in the city. I guess my brother's MSN nickname also kept me thinking. It says 'miss you dad...' after his name. I really want a good cry. Just to cry the whole night without any worries in the whole world.

Unfortunately, I've got to think about tomorrow as its a school day. Church normally makes me happier and it did. A bit. I think church is the best place to hang out when you're feeling exceptionally down. For me, I just feel a tad bit happier. But after church, I'll deflate again.

I've been listening to the song 'You Give Me Something' by James Morrison over and over again. I just love the tune. Its so cold these days!! I would be freezing if it wasn't for my beautiful comfy duvet.
I really want to re-read this book again. I know its one of Yan Ling's favourite book and after I saw Eloise at The Plaza where it mentioned this book, I really just want to read it.
This is my niece. She has new pjs I think :) She's sleeping on my ex-cuddle buddy (the red thingy) and she looks bigger. I think I made the right choice to go home instead of going to Australia with mum, godma and gang.
I want to end with this song which I heard from one of the Veggie Tales episode. The song is just stuck in my head. I found a YouTube video on the song [Just listen to the song, don't botther watching it]. And the theme song for Veggie Tales. Its really funny. Heh.

God is bigger than the boogeyman
He's bigger than godzilla
Or the monsters on TV
Oh God is bigger than the boogeyman
And He's watching over you and me!

p.s. Its already May. Time has passed by so quickly.

Camp and what nots

Camp was fun. At first I was quite scared as I would be leading an English group in a Chinese camp. And it is the first ever English group for camp. The talks weren't much compared to conference. But I did have fun cause it was more of a games camp.

Agnis | Joey | John C | Jas | Jessie | Emma

And my group won an award for best drama and something else that was related to the drama. I also won best supporting actress. Haha. However, overall our group got second which was surprising and sad.

WZ | Mer | Lee | Em | Jon | Jas

Jonathan's group got first and Wei Zheng's group got third. At first I thought my group would win cause we won an award for best drama (and we were the ones who finished the fastest as well!) but because Jon's group got the CSI game correct so they won. But for the last few awards, all three of our groups was on the list of choices which I thought was funny.

I went to the library on Sunday night after Mosaic to teman Merilyn as she needed uni's computer to finish her assignment. We stayed until half past 3 when we packed up and went home. We wanted to go to Denny's but I guess everybody else was very tired.

I have two tests coming up on Wednesday and Friday. Its maths first then tax. Not looking forward to tax.

I'll add a seperate post on cave stream and white water rafting. Its a bit mean to put them two together. But I can tell you, both of them was awesome!

The place where the scholars receive their certificates

Also, I went to Shah's graduation :) Cause otherwise Liyana would be all alone. I met Oli and Allen there as well and took pictures with them. Heh.

Mer | Shah | Em

On the Thursday that Jas was away at her field trip, Mer, WZ and I celebrated the invention of Nachos as Irene and Jas (both whom don't like Western food) were away. We found out from wiki that there is a International Day of Nachos which is celebrated on October 21.

To Ignacio Anaya!

Now I'm just waiting for the photos to be uploaded. Its getting so sloww. I also 'sprain or twisted' my ankle. I think. I'll be going over to the clinic soon after I finish this post to have it look over as its quite swollen and at times painful. At first I thought I could tahan the pain but I thought wrong.

My hand

I thought I would try and see what my hand looks like to a scanner