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grace came down in little bethlehem 2000 odd years ago. our Lord Christ the Saviour :D merry christmas everyone!

coffee :(

i miss brother baba budan, st ali, seven seeds, cafenatics, rojo, caffeine, degraves st and even the little coffee stall in the subway. sobs.

of adulthood, life and its purpose

good morning or afternoon, wherever you are~

it rained again. it is still raining. i woke up this morning with a tropical thunderstorm raging outside my closed blinds. no jogging today. i went downstairs to daddy's workstation and voila, escaped to virtual world whilst the rain is still pouring steadily, windows clattered with every sound of thunder.

five days in indo and i have started to feel bored. living a holiday feels really purposeless. God, help! is there anything meaningful i can do here? i'm msn-ing with my dearest melbourne friend at the moment and we are talking about building one's own life. gosh, it really shows our age, isn't it, this serious topic? i still believe in whatever you do, you need to have a passion, a strong zeal for it. otherwise, what is the point in doing it? still, it comes back to the question, what am i doing here?

as for now, maybe i am here to touch people's heart, to affect people's life, for the better. starting with my family, let them see the JC in me.

blessed

spent half day with cuz, shared stories, heaps and heaps of stories. there was one moment, one sentence that really touched me and made me feeling so grateful for my family. be grateful of what you have, for not everyone enjoys the same luxury. thank you Lord. i love u mum dad sis bro.

"kerang batik"

few hours of: walking devon, two-and-a-half lap jog/walk around the block, a trip to the market with mum; after the last post, here i am, again, blogging in exhaustion, no no, not because of the jogging if you can call it jogging, since i walked most of it (we need to start slow, eh :p), but because i just came out of a war against a kilogram of my favourite bivulvar creature, "kerang batik". cleaning them is hard work! you have to slip the edge of a knife into the minute, if not non-existent, gap between the two shells, then wash them under running water to remove all the muck, of course they would resist and gosh they are strong! i gave up, leaving five stubborn unopened shells, which my mum flicked open so easily. my super mum! i am left with these battle scars: sore fingertips and chipped nail polish that i must redo now :(

ah, mum just called! time to eat! time for revenge!! muahaha~

mozzie bites :(

four days and a dozen mozzie bites later.

i went out with dear old friend yesterday, trying to catch up with each other over some korean BBQ. went home smelling of ox-tongue and pork ribs instead of the l'eau d'issey i originally wore, went home with a full tummy and a much fuller heart. the conversations, again, just like the conversation i had with sis and jessie during her stay-over, reminded me of how we all have grown up and matured over the years passed. duh, it is the end of the year indeed. i cannot stop reflecting back on my life whenever i have the opportunity. have been so really blessed :)

so, the boys dropped me off at dad's shop since dad and mum and sis and bro were out having dinner just on the roadside across the shop. met ma cuz and made appointment to go out with her tomorrow. she's changed too, we've all grown up, each in our own ways.

this phase somehow feels like a different stage of our lives. and it is! the first happy-go-lucky quarter has passed, now it's time to start thinking about different things, more serious things, things of the future, and such thoughts scare me sometimes, filling me with doubts if i will ever be able to go through it...

God knows best, though. i went to my old church yesterday morning and did not expect much from the sermon, however it caught me by surprise when the evangelist said that this is the time we need to know JC better and deeper, in a more intimate way. it's like confirming, yes, allie, you need to grow more. He knows my worries, and He wants me to know Him more so i can trust in Him more. just like yesterday, it was raining cats and dogs, absolutely pouring, anthony had to ran and brought the car to the front of the resto for us, and it literally cleared up when we reached the gates of my home complex. i jokingly said to him, "God knows that i am going home, He made the rain stops" and we all just laughed. but i truly believe God takes care of me to the littlest of things, like the rain.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you"

...i am thankful i've known JC, for in Christ alone i have my hope and my strength. He is my Saviour, my Redeemer, my Lord, my King, my Shepherd, my friend.

surabaya

one day, nineteen hours and 700grams later after i landed on beloved humid surabaya, listening to jack johnson blasting away from dad's super stereo, raindrops falling on mum's frangipani tree and pots of orchids in our minute backyard, sis playing with devon on the deck, i feel truly grateful. coming back home after living the melburnian life for years gave me a slight cultural shock, people has different attitude towards matter here and it annoyed me like hell, not too mention the unbearable humidity and heat that leaves me feeling sticky the whole time. still, there is no place like home :) no matter how much you complain about all this trivial annoyance, being home is still the best!

hmmm... no waking up at 6.30, no running after the 7.49 train, no working my ass off from 8.30 to 5. it feels weird and great at the same time!! oh holiday~~ blissful holiday~