MORE AND MORE..

Got more pressies today at work. I feel like a little child being spoiled :p

I have prepared a christmas present for my family in Indonesia. Bought a nice picture frame which I have included pictures of our family (when we were still kids + present). Hope this reminds us all of the good memories of our past and present.

It is "love that binds us together..." (written on the frame).

Miss them so much still...! It'll never stop..

EMMANUEL HAS COME

Such a beautiful and meaningful song..
A great reminder that Christmas is about Jesus being the part of God's eternal plan, that is to save us and give us eternal life with God.

By Don Moen

Verse 1:

Christmas is about His glory

Christmas is about His grace

Christmas is a gift of love

Our Father gave us

More than just another story

About a special time and place

Christmas is a time to lift

A song of praise

Chorus:

For God is with us

And we celebrate

The glory of His presence

Christ has come

To fill our hearts with love

He came to save us

King of kings and Lord of lords

His Name is Jesus

God with us

Emmanuel has come

Verse 2:

Angels fill the night with singing

God is reaching out to man

Bringing us a gift of hope

In Christ our Savior

More than just a time of giving

This is God's eternal plan

And Christmas is the reason

We can sing again

SURPRISES!

Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing! -- interesting...
I was just watching Dr. Phil show.
Not going to talk about the show though.. :)

Another weekend had passed. It was a busy yet refreshing one. Slept over at Viip's place after a nice get-together-dinner as well as a farewell for a beloved sister, Cherry. The sleep over was sooo nice, felt like sleeping in a hotel. :) Had a nice breakfast the next morning at a nearby cafe. Then was driven home to teach piano. Oh gosh, I was so sleepy because of the late night. After teaching, slept the whole afternoon away, got up at 4pm (arrggghh late for pemuda). So I just turned up at church for a practice at 7pm. Sunday was usual, morning church, breakfast and choir, also helped out with the eve's practice. It was raining hard on my way home.. glad I was in the bus, and it stopped when I got off the bus. Isn't God good? He knew I didn't have my umbrella with me. :p

Monday (today).. it was full of surprises! I got in to work place, was instantly surprised by all these nicely wrapped presents from my boss and few of my students. I was so speechless, never received so many presents (all at once) in my entire life. I couldn't thank them enough. *thank you.. thank you.. thank you..* :D

Is Christmas somewhat about giving? I guess so.. God "gave" His only Son for us. And THAT'S the best gift I have ever received in my life, the GREATEST GIFT!

MISS HIM

Called my dad in Indo today at his shop, my mum wasn't around, she was at the new house. Gosh!! I have missed them all so much. We chatted for quite a bit. Glad everyone is fine.

I have especially missed my dad, he's the one that we often can't meet because of his work commitment, the one that always makes the sacrifice for his family. I can somehow see Jesus' character in him: love, patient & sacrifice. May God continuously bless my both beautiful parents. Love them so much!

Today is Anwar (my brother in law) & Fanny's (my sister) 1st anniversary. Woohooo, congratulations! ;)

SOMETHING TO DO

Main busyness that I had been stressing out about is basically over now. My exams, concerts, and christmas celebration had mainly consumed all my time and effort. Now that I feel so much relieved and lighter inside out, everything had turned out to be so much a blessing though apart from being very tired.

Now that I have more time to relax, I feel like doing something! So I start doing some cooking at home, 1st day cook after a long time intention. It's quite fun actually.. :p

Still confused whether to go to KYC or not.

MY WEEKEND

It was a very tiring one. I had to rush straight to church after work on Friday night to have a general rehearsal for our christmas celebration. We had 3 runs and everything didn't finish until around 11pm (I think it was! Hehe.. can't even remember now). The next day was an end-of-year-concert for all our students. That was the 1st big event we ever had at work place since it existed. It started 1:30pm and went overtime but very very good. AFTER THAT had to rush to church for an actual christmas celebration. I was so hungry at that time because all I had since the morning was a cup of soymilk, no proper breakfast, no lunch. I just didn't have the appetite to eat anything because I was just so busy all day basically. I felt so weak and had a slight headache during the celebration. Then AFTER the service I couldn't wait to get my hand on food and eat it. Afterwards I felt like throwing up. Huh!

Everyone was tired (I think), but we still managed to hang out until 11pm at the Signature Cafe. Naughty.. naughty!! (Considering some ppl were having "pelayanan" to do the next morning) :)

I missed choir today after a permission of course. Thought I needed one, so I could take the time to relax and have a good breakfast, and I did indeed. After morning church, had to teach music theory for 1/2 hour, then off to Zellini's to get breakfast with few friends. Met a new friend today, Anne (Ken's friend). Hope we can encourage her to come to know Christ deeper.

Went home after that, chilled out at home. Hmmmm the best feelings!!! Took a nice nap. Woke up, dinner, cleaned up my apartment, did some laundry, and Fred is still out there playing soccer (I think, coz he hasn't come home yet).

Before I finish here, I just want to share that I have this very loving student. She's very unique, she always left me a message on the whiteboard at the end of every lesson in the other room (which I always found it surprising and cute), such as:

"Thanks Jenny, you are the best teacher!"

"Jenny, Happy Easter to you and to your man!" (Haha.. my man?!)

"Thank you Jenny, see you tomorrow.."


Even very simple messages, they brightened up my day. She's very special and lovely... :)

AUTHOR OF LIFE

Last night, I went to bed pretty early at 11pm (considering it has normally been at least 12:30pm). Just felt very tired after a long day yesterday. It started 7am and didn't finish until around 8:30pm last night. Went to do piano accompaniment for 2 students doing their trumpet examinations. They did really well, one got A and the other B+. Congratulations, guys!

Hmm...
Before I went to bed last night, I got these moments to really reflect on my life so far. How can I thank God enough who has brought me this far so can I can be where I am now? Who could imagine that I would be able to study in Sydney (such a beautiful city); be able to meet all these loving caring friends (christians/non-christians); be able to teach piano as my part-time job (my employer/boss is a christian, very understanding and supporting); to be able to have all these gifts so I can serve HIM in my daily life and at church; and last but not least my most beautiful family in Indo and here (Fred) who have supported me all the way.

Isn't God good?

Although...
My life has gone through mountains and valleys (ups and downs). Alot of times I have complained and been ungrateful to God. But there are always points where I can say "Yes God, you are good!". I now learn to hang in there for God to work in my heart and life, just fully trust Him that He works for my good (as my fav verse says in Romans 8:28). When hard times hit us, it's ok to cry but we need to get up and walk as He leads us through.

In short, my life has always been ups and downs (as everyone's life has been I'm sure), I still can't thank God enough. He's the author of life, He knows where I am going.

GREAT TIME

I have finally finished all my exams. The last one was 2 days ago (monday night). It was a concert examination, so a few close friends came and watched me playing. Stuffed up abit on my 2nd piece, it was actually my teacher's fault hahaha.. anyway.. it's over, I'm glad. :) After the concert we all went to have a very nice dinner, korean food (I forgot the name of the restaurant) in an open space (felt like as if we were eating "ikan panggang" in Indonesia). Very nice feelings, maybe it was supported by the fact that I had finished all my exams..! :D
Then we indulged ourselves with desserts at the Passion Flower, and had a great great time.

I really enjoyed the time. Thanks guys for spending a great time together.