Archive for the ‘Church Life’ Category

Celebrating Harvest

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Mamarayou

(Words & Music by Bios Solingkin, Borneo Praise Music)

Mamarayou oku’d Kinorohingan

(I will praise the Lord)

Tontok tadau, do pitinungan diti

(As we meet in this place today)

Sumayau om suminding oku di Yesus

(Dancing and singing for Jesus)

Nokointalang noh kosianan-Nu

(You have shown your love)

Korikatan-Nu minamasi dahai

(When You came to save us)

Royohon noh ngaran-Nu

(Your name is worthy to be praised)

Unsikohon dahai kasari

(We are forever thankful)

Id suang ko id ginawo dahai

(You are deep in our hearts)

Poingompus yahai tumanud Diya

(We follow you all the days of our lives)

Bookmark and Share

Detoxified

Monday, May 4th, 2009

de·tox·i·fi·ca·tion (d-tks-f-kshn)
n.
1. The process of detoxifying.
2. The state or condition of being detoxified.
3. Physiology – The metabolic process by which the toxic qualities of a poison or toxin are reduced by the body.
4. A medically supervised treatment program for alcohol or drug addiction designed to purge the body of intoxicating or addictive substances. Such a program is used as a first step in overcoming physiological or psychological addiction.

Ok, so point #3 is more like it for me with regard to my mini-holiday over the weekend. Being the hypochondriac that I am the term makes the most sense when the Guest Speaker used it at Church Camp.

I am a worry-wart when it comes to the physical health (actually, I am a worry-wart period) of my Kids  and my Husband. For every little physical anomaly that I detect on any one of my Loved Ones, I would be quick to get hold of a Church friend who happens to be a Nurse Sister, and barrage her with a consult on said Loved Ones’ condition. I am also the dietary supplement sergeant major captain Mommy at home. The Kids and Hubby never leave the door without popping that one little pill I made mandatory for everyone to swallow. Until the vitamins run out, but we’ll leave it at that for now.

I grew up sickly as a child. I remember being given all sorts of treatments ranging from medical to herbal to alternative for my condition. It was a drag. And yet if I didn’t follow any of the recommendations, I suffered a severe setback and things would go back to being, well, another drag.

It wasn’t until I found the Lord at the age of 12 that I was free from it all and led the rest of my life eversince with little or no effects from that sickness.

Fast forward some thirty years later and as a Mom, my family’s health is a priority. Spiritual health count among it.

What better way to ‘detoxify’ spiritually than to be at Church Camp where the venue is 5000 feet above sea level and the commanding view of Mt K seem to be at grasp, meals and child care are all arranged for, and opportunities to interact with seasoned and mature Church mates abound to aid in the process of digesting all the principles that was delivered to us by the Guest Speaker.

It was refreshing, rejuvenating and caused the Hubby and I to realign our priorities.

I came away from Church Camp with this. My spiritual health is not to be taken for granted. I must input into my spiritual health with the same dedication I put into making sure my family is in top physical health. It takes a lot of discipline, commitment and time, but it is well worth it.

My ultimate hope and prayer is to be able to see my family and I finish well during our lifetime here on earth, physically but more importantly, spiritually.

Bookmark and Share

Off To Mount K

Friday, May 1st, 2009

perkasa_mount_kinabalu_hotelWe’re going away to Church Camp this weekend.

I hope it’ll be cold. With the sweltering heat we’ve been having the past two weeks, it would be so nice to be thousands of feet above sea level and feel the cool breeze.

I hear they have wifi at the lobby but if you don’t see posts or photos over here, then it means we’re basking in the scenery and feeling the cool mountain air. Of course, it also means we’re taking in Camp sermons from our Guest Speaker, in case any of you Church friends are wondering.

Mt K view from our room last year..

Mt K view from our room last year. Magnificent!

Have a good Labour Day holiday folks!

Bookmark and Share

Our Easter Weekend

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Did you have a meaningful Easter this past weekend? Ours was.

Granted we were directly involved with the preparations for the Easter Service, which saw the family rushing from one activity to another in the course of just those few days running up to Sunday.

Still, the children were delighted to have the opportunity to do some coloring during the Service, for a small competition no less!

eggdraw1

so focused...

looking good Sweetheart...

looking good Sweetheart...

here's Spunky & her basket of eggs..

here's Spunky & her basket of eggs..

The Littlest One was most excited about her coloring project as she had just been coloring some paper eggs as well at preschool the past week.

And… Middle Sis won the consolation prize for her artwork.

the prized pic. yay!

the prized pic..

Yay for Middle Sis!

The Children’s Buddy, J, won 3rd prize. Woot! *Note to J’s Mommy – remember to come collect J’s prize at Supercrew this Sunday. ;-)

On a sad yet peaceful note, we received the unfortunate news of the passing of a greatly respected and dearly loved Church Minister. On the way to Church, I asked the Hubby if it was odd that I felt a little sadness over his passing.  The Hubby reassuringly said no. As a young child who was learning to grow in her faith, this was a man I grew up watching. I always knew him to be humble, soft-spoken and just quietly going about doing what he felt the Lord had called him to do. I remember when he was conferred the Datukship, people said to him that we should begin to call him Datuk, although it would take a bit of an adjustment as he was already lovingly called Gembala (Pastor). He responded by saying that he was Gembala FIRST, and then Datuk. I have held him to high respect ever since.

To have gone to be with the Lord on Easter Sunday is beautiful.

Here’s a video clip that we watched during the Service that just wonderfully reminds us why Easter is the Sunday of Sundays.

YouTube Preview Image
Bookmark and Share

Among Other Things…

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

No, I hadn’t abandoned this blog. And I know that is subject to all sorts of debate among bloggers and non-bloggers alike, but no, I hadn’t abandoned this blog.

I had meant to post about a weekend of sinful indulgence on Monday but in the  process of updating my plugins, I bonkered this site. And because I was in the midst of baking a cake, some cupcakes AND revising with the Kids, it was only late afternoon that I was able to rectify the situation. By nightfall, I hadn’t the physical nor mental energy to blog!

And then there was more revision with the Kids, the Church’s Easter event and the potential of having the Bff move to my neighbourhood. That last one being a highlight. Woot!

But I’m baacck.

Revision is over and tomorrow is the Good Friday public holiday. Yay! I’ve let all hair loose for the Kids this whole afternoon, on the condition that they LET ME BET BACK TO MY BLOG.

So here I am, Kids creating havoc around the house (I’m kidding!) while I happily tinker away at my computer.

So what’s in it for all of you with all of this you say?

Well, I’ve signed up for the 31 Days To Build A Better Blog challenge. You know, to learn how to make your visits here worthwhile.

The first task was a good one. We were challenged to write an Elevator Pitch for our blogs. I had to sweat my brain trying to think of my Elevator Pitch. I wish I could tell you that I came up with a fantastic one. Alas, (thanks to my indiscipline and inefficiency at managing my time!) I have yet to come up with something better than “A Woman’s Weekly is one Mom’s attempt at juggling three kids, her blog and the laundry.”

Can you tell I have a loonnng way to go?

Nonetheless, as with all learning, expect to see some gradual Changes to my blog, one of which will likely be a change to this blog’s template. I had one person tell me recently that my blog had “lots of things going on over there, it’s hard to focus on your post!” Ouch. Ok. Comment heard, hence the motivation to make this place a pleasant, friendly and inviting place to visit.

Wish me luck!

Actually, I also wanted to show you the sinful indulgence that I had made that I was talking about earlier. But somehow it wouldn’t upload to my post. Anybody knows what an HTTP error is?! I’ve given up trying. So maybe next time.

And as for American Idol, aww mann…! I’m gonna miss Scott. :cry:

Y’all have a good week ahead, what’s left of it.

And Have a blessed Easter Celebration Friends. He is risen!

;-)

Bookmark and Share

What I Learned This Week

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Break it down!

– is what I learned this week.

If you remember, earlier this week I desperately looked to coffee to get me off my sorry butt and get going with the 1001 things I had to do – two Kids’ birthdays and a church event, back to back. And then some.

I felt pressure on my shoulders the way I usually do when I’m stressed.  Just categorizing my schedule to urgent, important and important but not urgent caused my face to break out. I was mentally and physically fatigued from all the thinking, planning and driving running around.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m that stressed, sometimes I destress by sleeping. And that was what I meant to do, but my mind kept telling me I can’t do too much of that either because of what’s ahead.

And then I remembered that I chose the song ‘Still’ for last Sunday’s Worship Service. I found myself telling me, you know Didi, the Lord already knew you’d be in this position. Time to take the words of that song to heart again.

Thank God for that revelation!

Because when I hummed the song as I went about my activities, Break it down! just dropped into my head. We hear about how in order not to feel overwhelmed by the task at hand, we should break the task down to smaller, more manageable tasks and tackle those one at a time.

And that is what I have done. I broke it all down. I gave myself an achievable goal in terms of how much time I’d need to complete each task. When the given time is up, I stop and move on to the next thing. (The BFF calls it The Race Against Time!) I’ve even managed to break it down to spending as little as possible on putting together my Daughter’s birthday.

Interestingly, I’ve now achieved more than I thought I would. The mind clears up and suprisingly, things fall into place nicely without me having to worry about them. The Kids’ school tests are next on my list and I find myself happily crossing out items in the run up to that week and even looking forward to the time of revision together with them.

Break it down Babes. It’s the way to go!

Check out Musings for more stories on what others have learned as well.

And check this space again later today for American Idol recap. Hehe..

Bookmark and Share

What a Sunday!

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

“Jesus, you’re my superhero…”

“Better than Superman!”

That song is constantly playing in my head! The Kids have been singing it since rehearsal last Saturday. And they continued singing it throughout the evening, and once again during the actual performance at Church on Sunday, and thereafter!

Hehe… Middle Sis even sang it quietly in the car on our ride home from a whole day of activity which lulled my Youngest to heavenly dreamland.

It was a good Family Celebration that I helped coordinate with the Children Ministry of our Church.  We had wanted an atmosphere of what Sunday School was like for our Church and I think we were able to do that yesterday. With such a fun atmosphere of Sunday School, the new name that was launched at the Service would be etched in the memory of Children and Parents alike quite firmly.

On a personal note, my Youngest was the most adorable little octopus you ever saw! (Yes, I’m biased.) She had not cooperated during the second round of rehearsal the day before because it was her nap time and she made sure she knew everybody around her would know that. Come the actual show however, she was back with gusto! (That’s just like her this my little Sanguine…)

p1020480

I was momentarily distracted from my role as the Floor Manager, standing way away from the stage (but fronting it) to where our P.A system is located, and looked at her directly giving her the biggest smile I could give hoping she would see me. When she was done I clapped unabashedly. My team-mate on the floor with me rolled her eyes at this enthusiastic mommy jumping on the chair. (I’m small. I had to stand on a chair to get a good bird’s eye view of the happenings throughout the Church.)

Of course, Big Sis and Middle Sis had their spot in the spotlight too with their group’s performance. Mind you, they’re called the ‘SuperStars’!

Anyhoo. Back on the floor, I guess the ‘real’ work of our Sunday School under the new name begins henceforth. I have faith in them. I know my Kids are in good hands over there every Sunday.

And look, I found a picture of the Children on a (chinese) newspaper article covering the Christmas Community event last December, at the Bulletin Board at the back of the Church. Haha!

p1020466

Have a good week everyone!

Bookmark and Share

Special Assignment

Monday, August 13th, 2007

I’ve been asked to share on the topic of the challenges of today’s Youth, specifically with postmodern faith, at Powerhouse this Saturday. I’ve titled my sharing as ‘My, Truth, Your Truth, Whose Truth’, adapted from the book of the same name.

Then on Saturday, 1st September, I was asked to share at the Girls’ Ministry, called Sista’s, on protecting oneself from emotional dangers. Work in progress. I haven’t yet got a title for that one.

Always a privilege to share with Young people. They deserve my best.

As such, Prayers greatly appreciated! ;-)

Bookmark and Share

Jesus Loves Me This I Know…

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

My two older girls have started going to our Church’s Sunday School. It’s called ‘The King’s Brigade’ over here.

At first, Miss D was reluctant to leave my side to be in Sunday School. Miss Mel on the other hand, was game for it. In the pre-school class that they attend, Miss Mel is usually the youngest. So when Miss D saw Miss Mel excitedly participating in the activities, she got into it as well. Since then, it was easy to walk them to Sunday School as they look forward to going there. Of course, it helped that they saw some friends from our Small Group and from Day Care, attending as well.. ;-p

They learn their Scripture Verses by doing some actions. It was very nice to hear Miss D excitedly reciting to me ‘God is the Father who never fails us’. Everytime they can recite their memory verse out loud, their teacher gives them a star and some coupons for redeeming lovely little gifts later. ‘KB Sticker Book’ becomes a much sought after book in the run-up to Sunday!

Miss D at one time got a big coupon for going up to take the microphone to ‘give her testimony’. Her teacher later told me that she mumbled something about God bless her mom, her dad, her sister Miss Mel, her friends at Kindie, etc. etc. I told her teacher, she was actually praying her bedtime prayer! But they gave her the coupon anyway.

While we miss having them with us during the Sunday Service, Cool Dad and I are happy that they are settled into King’s Brigade. We look forward to many conversations together about the Lord and about Kids Church in times to come… ;-) )

Bookmark and Share

A New Chapter

Monday, July 25th, 2005

This past weekend, I had the privilege of sitting in the ‘Expository Preaching & Study’ class by Ps Benny Ho of Arrows Institute Australia, at PTCM.

Afterwards, we were also blessed to have him speak at our Sunday Service.

I first met Ps Benny at his Mentoring class at PTCM last year. Usually, at every lunch time, someone from the class gets to take the lecturer out. Together with my buddy and partner-in-ministry Janice, we had that opportunity one day with him.

During that time together, I shared with him my decision to transit out of Youth Ministry on account of wanting more time to spend with my kids. I shared with him that I believed the first five years of a child’s life was the most useful years in which as a parent we can input values and a strong foundation in the Lord into them. I wanted to leave a legacy for my kids that I didnt have the opportunity to receive during my first five years.

Much as my passion is for the young people in my church, I too have ‘young people’ in my own home. I have always believed that ministry begins at home. I didn’t want to be so busy helping other people’s kids, that I can’t make time for my own. What example would I be to both their kids, as well as mine?

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss being with the youth. In giving my time to them, I have learned much from them myself. I also now feel a little out of place when I meet up with my PTCM class-mates as I discover that I now couldn’t ‘talk ministry’ with them.

His response then was simply “Yes, it is a season.”

After Sunday Service today, I introduced him to my Miss D, Miss Mel & Spunky. He said, “That’s why you’ve had to make that very difficult decision to transit eh?”

For the first time since I moved away from Youth Ministry in 2004, I felt that a minister of God, aside from Ps J, actually understood why I did what I did.

He then went on to pray for Cool Dad and I, and released a Word of Knowledge for me.

He saw the pages of an open book, flipped to a new page, and the words on that page were small. He sensed that I was asking, where are the ‘big words’? Is there anything ‘big’ out there now that I am home more? He sensed God saying that for now, I needed to give the Lord the pen and He will write out the next chapter in the story of my life. He will write the ‘big words’ as He sees necessary. He will craft the pages of my life in a way that can only be beautiful and good, as is His plan for me.

Today, I resolved in my heart that rather than whining about what used to be, I would savor every moment that I have with my kids and with Cool Daddy. And then in my free time, I should perhaps write out sermon outlines!

After all, what better time to ‘compile my materials’ than while God is writing the pages of the next chapter in the story of my life?

Bookmark and Share