A wedding, a birthday & a funeral

There's just so much to say, but just couldn't find the time to do so and there's not so much inspiration going on the past week...not wanting to talk about it though. It's just a really though week at the office. Found myself on the verge of tears several times at work. Sigh. So much for the first week of turning 27! Hah! Leaving that aside....yup, last Saturday was my 27th birthday & it was my friend, Rosty's big day too! She tied the knot! Whoohooo! A very happy day indeed. My friends and I attended the blessing at Holy Trinity Chapel Lambir and the night reception at Rosty's place. Everything felt as if it went sooo so fast..but we enjoyed every moment of it...being part of a joyous & memorable occassion that is! It does seemed rather surreal to see her as she walked down the aisle, beaming in her beautiful wedding dress...who would ever thought that this day would come so soon! :) Here's wishing her & her hubby a happily ever after. :)

After the reception, we headed for Marina Seahorse for supper but not before stopping at my place for a piss stop...hehehe. :p During supper, my friends suprised me with a cake! Hehehe...yay! And sang the birthday song. It still didn't really hit me that I'm a year older and to tell you the truth...i'm in a bit of a denial...still. Hah! And oh, I got some really nice pressies & cards (a handmade one made by Sue as well! Looove it!) from my friends & family! Am trully blessed to have had this moment. Thank you to my friends for a great time that night and thank you to my family and friends, who are "jauh di mata tapi dekat di hati"! :D

Well, it's time to head off home. It's been a long day & an even loooonger week. I attended a funeral this morning. Subdeacon Roland's dear mother passed on earlier this week. The eulogy by SD Roland was very touching & emotional and it left me teary eyed & sniffling all the way. I have never heard anyone talked so fondly of their mom before. My heartfelt condolences to SD Roland and his family. And I do believe that his mother is in a better place now. May she rest in peace...

Show & Tell

I've made some crafts & cards after the Raya holidays last month. It's time to show them off..hehe! And each of them has a little story to tell. Here they are...

.

First off is a frame I decorated as a birthday gift to my friend Jo. I stamped the words 'Dance', 'Sing', Love', 'Live'...and then handwritten the words below it. Was a bit nervous while writing them down...takut salah spelling, hehe. I decorated it with some pink lace, fabric flowers & acrylics. Love it! :) And I had that feeling again...of having second thoughts to give it away..haha.

Next is my Ice-cream card, which I made for LLC's challenge with 'Food' as the week's theme. I intended to make a cupcake but look what came out from the craft oven....ice-cream! Haha. I used felt & corrugated paper for my ice-cream & a red button to top it off. I actually stamped 'Happy Birthday' at the bottom right of the card...but it bled & got all smudged up. Aiya. The 'birthday' didn't look that happy at all. So what I did was write "Happy Birthday" and paste it onto the stamped image. Tadaa...problem solved. ;)

Lastly, is LLC's this week's challenge. The theme was 'Indian' with henna designs! An idea given by Jo. The first thing that came to my mind was saree! But decided to scrap off the idea...seems a bit difficult. I ended up drawing an elephant (as they are considered very important to the Indian culture, so it fits the Indian theme...i think) & doodled some henna like designs on it. Do you think the look henna-ish? ;)

So there....a lil 'show & tell' session from my craft world. Time to head back home. Enjoy your weekend everyone! Til then, God bless! :)

My Series of Fortunate Events

A lot have been happening in the past two weeks….whooh! :) I went back to Kuching (of course!), on Friday for the Raya holidays!

.

I got a chance to visit my secondary school, SMB St. Teresa. I spent 5 years of my life there. The place has changed so much! So many wonderful memories…sigh. Met with my Chemistry teacher, Pn. Foo, as well! It’s been 10 years since I left high school…waaah.

On Saturday, I attended Bishop Aeries’s consecration service & celebration dinner with my family. The dinner was a pretty grand one with various cultural performances and the 6.45am choir also preformed several songs…very impressive! Revd. Roannie entertained us with some songs and Jerry Kamit performed as well!. Such talent!

It was indeed a blessed & memorable day! I also met my Sunday school teacher, Uncle William at the dinner reception! Wow…it really does bring back lots of memories. Makes me wonder where my Sunday school friends are now….

The next day, I stuffed myself to the max during Raya visiting. Haha…don’t dare to step on the weighing machine dah. I went out lepaking with my friends & mi familia too. Got to see my little cuzzies play sand art…haha (I think it’s the new craze for little kids. Heck even grown ups play ‘em). Found out a new hang out place called BarSaga. Pretty cool! It was indeed a great time…and always NOT enough time. I didn’t get to do one thing, though. I actually planned to watch a movie at the new MBO cinema at Spring. But tak sempat…as usual. Haiya…

By Wednesday, I’m back in Miri. Work starts loading on my table. (am procrastinating quite a bit already…hehe.) And then there’s the AYC AGM which was on Sunday. The LLC’s weekly challenge's due as well. Whooh, so much things to do! Well, am glad I managed & went through the week in one piece, haha.

On Friday, the youths…Vic, Elsa, Tim, Lydia, Shannen & myself joined Revd Alfred, SD Julius, SD Jackson & the MWF to Sg. Liam longhouse. There’s a service at the longhouse’s chapel that night which was celebrated by Revd. Alfred. It started off with a Praise & Worship session and then we’re divided into groups. Elsa, Vic, Shannen, Lydia & I handled the youth group. Our mission was to reach out to them. Revd Alfred mentioned to us that the youths there are being challenged with problems as such as drinking, gambling & smoking. We even saw some of the boys smoking at the tanju just before we started off our session!
The session was at the ruai of the longhouse. We started with an ice-breaking game. They enjoyed themselves! However, we were a bit concerned with the decibel level going a lil’ too high that it might disturb the longhouse folks…oops. The sharing session was on how to prepare for exams. They were proactive… they asked questions & responded to ours as well.

We took turn sharing & I struggled with my ‘jako Iban’..oops! as I’ve never done any sharing in Iban before and found myself searching for words or rather trying to translate my words in the midst of my sharing….haha. Nama meh penyadi… :p And lastly, before we bersurai, we prayed for them & ended the session by encouraging them & challenging them to improve themselves and do their best. After the service, we had supper at one of the longhouse folk’s bilik. They served very yummy local dishes and also durians! Haha! But, am not a fan of durians. So I just took photos of ‘em instead.

.

The next day, Saturday, was another busy day…especially in preparing things for the AGM and also Family Service. (It’s the youths turn to lead in Praise & Worship). I was up & running since morning….helping out the Teenz practicing for AGM’s praise & worship session, practicing for the Family Service & then choir practice for the Miri Xmas parade. Apuu..ka luput ku..haha. I ended the day with Maggie at Chilipeppers. A nice time chillin’, releasing the stresssss & laughing out loud…literally!

.
Come Sunday, we had a Family service in the morning, which is held every 4th Sunday of the month. And in the afternoon was the AYC’s AGM. We’re very impressed with the number of youths attending this year. For the past several years, we have never exceeded 40. This year, in fact 50 youths attended! Praise God! All the various youth ministries handed in their reports, which was verry good indeed. Aiseh. We also distributed our new keychains in conjunction with AYC’s 40th Anniversary….designed by Mr. Chairman himself. The meeting went smoothly & we’re encouraged by words of wisdom from Ven. Solomon Cheong, Bro. Tommy (our advisor) and Bro. Bajeng (Mr. Chariman).

.

Kudos to the Praise & Worship team..Zara, Lydia, Cyril & Shannen for the great effort. It was their first time & I could see that they’re nervous but they are very brave indeed to take up the challenge. The guitarists were Daniel, Bartholomew & Melvin. Very proud of them!

.

.

After the meeting, we had some refreshments & fellowship, as usual…di bawah pokok. :) By 5.30pm it’s time to pack up & go home.

Finally! I can let out a bigggg sigh of relief & thank God for His endless blessings & guidance. :D