Selamat Merdeka!

Proud to be Malaysian.
Happy 49th Birthday Malaysia!

Don't worry, I'm still alive!

Hi Guys,

Just in case anyone was wondering why I haven't replied to your comments or wrote a posting for a while, I haven't been kidnapped. Well, actually I have...I've been kidnapped by Miss Genevieve Kalnins to Fort McMurray. She is such a meanie...she doesn't allow me to use the internet coz it's a "vacation!" Hahaha, jk! She's an awesome hostess (though I have to sneak to write this post)...anyway, I'll be back Monday and will update my adventure in this oilsands city with tons of picture then!

Until then, tata!

Nature at my backyard

I'm trying to be a better photographer. Really, how do I take close up pictures? Any professional photographers there care to give me some tips?

These are some pictures taken two days ago at my backyard. Like it? Hate it? How can I improve 'em?

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And lean not on your own understanding
In all your ways acknowledge Him
And He will make your paths straight

The Kari Ayam was awesome!

btw, don't ever buy lemon grass in Canada, it's VERY EXPENSIVE! two sticks of grass for CAD$2.50!

Malay Chicken Curry

Kari Ayam

Ingredients:

2 Onions
2 Garlic Cloves (crushed)
Chicken (you decide how many pounds!)
5 Potatoes
2 Tomatoes
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil (or Canola!)
5 tbsp Curry Powder
1 tbsp Black Soya Sauce
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
½ cup Santan (Coconut Milk)

Instructions:

1.Marinate chicken with curry powder for two hours (preferably).
2.Fry the onions and crushed garlic till it is fragrant.
3.Chuck in the chicken and continue to fry on high heat. Add a little water to moist.
4.When chicken is cooked, transfer it into a pot. Add in more water, curry powder, tomatoes and potatoes.
5.Reduce heat and let it simmer for 45 minutes.
6.Add in santan, soya sauce, salt and sugar for final tasting.
7.It is ready to be served!

Aunt Su's recipe plus a little of my own creation (and imagination, especially on the instructions part) here and there.

I am going to attempt it tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Ashoka

Ashoka's mission is to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated, and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world.

Veronica Khosa - South Africa

Rejecting the premise that healthcare is something devised by experts and imposed on patients, Veronica has created an environment where chronically ill patients command respect and can make decisions about their own health. In a country where the formal healthcare system is unable to treat the millions of people ill with HIV/Aids and other diseases, Veronica has established home-based healthcare that teaches family and friends to care for the ill and even to rehabilitate them. She engages healthcare workers and teaches skills to young people by employing retired nurses and others to conduct healthcare training in the community. Her project creates healthcare that not only improves people's lives but uses resources in the most effective way.

Veronica learnt about the HIV/Aids epidemic firsthand nursing infected patients in 1990 in Mamelodi, a township outside Pretoria. Her office was inundated with families seeking help for dealing with dying people. Veronica started keeping statistics and found that in Mamelodi four hundred twenty-seven bedridden people were not being cared for by anyone. Veronica decided to create her project after she witnessed one of the many personal tragedies of the HIV/Aids epidemic: a client of hers, alone in a locked room with barred windows, asked for water and then gasped and fell dead to the floor.

Profound words for the day

"So often we pray and then fret anxiously, waiting for God to hurry up and do something. All the while God is waiting for us to calm down, so He can do something through us."

Corrie Ten Boom

Youch...

Woke up with a very bad back pain. :(

Studying for final exam...slightly stressed. si**...

Tuesday

It's only Tuesday...but I'm feeling kinda tired. I'm done my ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Course today, earning my last bit of marks with the final presentation. I dug up this pair of three-inch heels last night (can't find a lower black heel) from the upper part of my closet in a bid to look nicer (and taller) for my presentation. And though it may have made me look taller, uhh, it was quite a nuisance wearing a three-inch heel on campus. Really, I barely wear heels in Canada just coz it's impractical...imagine walking long distance and taking public transportation in them! So anyway, my back kinda hurts now, and my feet too. :(

So I have one final class tomorrow for Econ, then it's final exams on Thursday (PLEASE PRAY) then I'm done! It's crazy to think I'm done two courses in 5 1/2 weeks. Weird. Anyways, really looking forward to a two-weeks holiday, spending one in Fort McMurray visiting my crazy friend Genevieve. Can't wait! Okie, gota get back to the books...

AIDS 2006

The 16th AIDS International Conference themed "Time to Deliver" which is held in Toronto has started convening. One of the keynote speakers questioned the crowd what exactly needed to be delivered:- better preventives drugs? drugs to control the virus? a cure? funding? support to HIV/AIDS infected patients? education on AIDS? elimination of stigmas to people inflicted with AIDS? all of the above?

What can You and I deliver?

Eonfire - University of Alberta's Mission

“To impassion students to create social change through education in Social Entrepreneurship and to create opportunities for students to become actively involved in the social aspect of business.”




Wanna join?

On two wheels

Having not ride on a bicycle for almost nine years, I had the pleasure to do so yesterday. Wai Han was nice enough to lend me her bicycle for 5 mins while she walked on. It was quite an experience riding in the rain, and no, I don't think it's "romantic" as how Wai Han and Geri said it to be, but more of a feeling of sheer joy. It felt like I was young and innocent again. I felt like a bird flying with wings on higher ground with an immense sense of freedom.

Miracles do happen!

Like some of you know, I live with my Aunt SY who is an atheist. Not only does she not believe in the existence of God, but she happens to hate Christians and the Christian-God. But one thing which attracts her to Church is the choir. Yea...she loves the choir. So anyways, I have family visiting and my Aunt SY read about the Taiwanese Children Choir which is in town and wanted to bring my visiting family to watch the choir.

At first, I had to think a little if I wanted to follow them or go to my Church - Central Tabernacle (which recently changed its name to North Pointe) and it was a small struggle coz I had missed church last week to have Dim Sum with family and was really hoping to go to Church this week. So anyway, like I said, my aunt doesn't like to step into church, and somehow (I don't know why) she chose to go watch the Choir on a Sunday Service instead of one at night. Weird? Naturally, I think she knows that the Choir on a Sunday Service would entail the regular singing, prayer and sermon...but somehow, she chose that. I think the last time she stepped into a church was two years ago when it so happened to be a venue for a local chinese choir. So anyways, I thought it was a great opportunity to go to Church with her on a real regular sunday service though to be honest, I'm er...chinese illiterate. Yes, after four years of Mandarin tuition with 'Chai Lou Si' with Ee Mei, I can't read or write Chinese!

On the way to Church, I prayed so hard that the message won't be CONDEMNING non-believers of their sins and that hell's gate was waiting for them...and that the service would just be simple and non-threatening. The first praise and worship song (er, I think I recognized four chinese characters) and didn't understand the entire song. It was then taken over by the Taiwanese Children's Choir and they presented about six songs in Mandarin. Thankfully, there was English translation on the OHP and I could understand what they were singing! Whew! They sang all Chinese Christian Songs...and I was so glad when they sang my Aunt SY's favourite song - Handel's Messiah. The last song they sang was a really touching piece: Unseen Hand (author unknown) which was talking about God's tangible love though they can't see God.

The sermon was long by my Aunt's standard and she was shifting uncomfortably in her seat but hadn't been as rude to leave right after the choir performed. I liked the sermon quite a bit coz I actually understood it (amazing, my ears were opened, eh?) The pastor was funny and used interesting analogies to explain the Scriptures. Half of the sermon was evangelistic, and I think he presented it in such a sincere manner that really spoke to the heart.

Naturally, my Aunt complained that the sermon was too long and the choir was too short, but the fact that she actually stepped into church and listened through was a breakthrough. Please pray with me that the lyrics of the chinese choir will stay with her - continue to touch her heart, and that words from the sermon will ring in her ears and touch her heart that the Unseen Hand is indeed real.

Alpine Farm

After Church, we went to Alpine's Park in Kalahoo, Alberta for German Tea. It is such a beautiful beautiful place and makes me wanna marry a German Farmer! The authentic German bread, pastries and cakes were sooooo delicious and the freshly brewed German coffee was irrisistible - I had three cups!

My theme song

You may have noticed that I just changed my theme song on the blog from Mercy Me - Here With Me to Vineyard's Surrender. (And I really have to thank Voon, the official tech guy on my blog for helping me with that!)

This song really touched my heart in May when I was in Cypress Hills for 10 days. During the Navs SEW Conference, I felt that the Lord was continuously asking me to surrender each and every item that I was holding back or holding too tightly - back to him. Letting go of something he impressed upon my heart throughout the conference was not only painful, but a struggle.

Well, and I thought once I've surrendered it all to him, it was all good. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. I found the surrender theme to be recurring in the last few months, and especially so this week. Hmmm, I guess having surrendered it once doesn't mean it is completely dealt with - there is the part of surrendering - a continuous effort to do so.

The theme song will be a reminder to me of surrendering my entire being - heart, mind and soul to God.

Heavenly Father:

I give You Lordship over my life,
I give it all to you -
I will follow as You lead Lord.
My life is not my own,
My life belongs to You
I surrender it all to you.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Surrender

I'm giving You my heart
And all that is within
I lay it all down
For the sake of You my King

I'm giving you my dreams
I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride
For the promise of new life

And I surrender it all to you, all to you
And I surrender it all to you, all to you

I'm singing You this song
I'm waiting at the cross
And all the world holds dear
I count it all as loss

For the sake of knowing You
For the glory of Your name
To know the lasting joy
Even sharing in Your pain

And I surrender it all to you, all to you
And I surrender it all to you, all to you

A surprise

I got my very first 22nd birthday present today. Yeah, I mean, it's a whole month early and I thought that was awfully weird!

So, anyway, I unwrapped my first gift from Paul, and you wouldn't have guessed what it is! It's Nabeel's newest book, "Unshackled and Growing." After meeting Nabeel in January, I had been mesmerized by his work and had wanted to get his book as soon as it was out, but it was delayed and I haven't gotten to buying it. So anyway, it was truly a delightful surprise, and I love the gift! Thank you Paul!

But yikes, I think I'm gona be getting older...

Just a summer's day

At Corbett Hall

Chal Ga, Julie

This posting is dedicated to my Korean friend Julie (Eunju). The first time I met her was in September 2005 when we were in the same car driving to Nordegg for Navs UOA/UOC Winter Retreat. I still remember how cute I thought she was (still do) and genuine as a person. Throughout the year, she has been very consistent in coming to our small group meetings (come prepared too, that is!) and she was very keen to learn. I remembered being really touched when after a time I had not been in Small Group because I was in Calgary due to my aunt's condition, she looked me in the eye and said she is very worried about me in very cute korean accented english. That really touched my heart, and still do. It just shows me the kind of person she is: caring.

She is leaving for Korea next week and I don't know when we will see each other again. We had a little lunch farewell today at Yokozuna, and after shopping at City Centre Mall, I guess it was time to say Chal Ga (Goodbye)





Chal Ga, Julie. God bless you, and I will always be Gi do (praying) for you.