Wisdom preserves those who have it.

Hello Sunshines! So... I've been lazy (Yes, I admit it) so here is my weekly update :)

19 February, Tuesday
Work was as per normal like any other ordinary day! I got to spend time with ESTHER TAN JEN JEN at night at NEX! It has really really been ages since I have spent time with her. Considering how we used to be really good childhood friends, I never realised how much I missed her. We met for dinner at M.O.F and enjoyed great food. 

We talked about everything and anything. We realised how much we have really grown. Our conversation involved God, spiritual lives, feelings, universities and.... boys. *smirks* It was an amazing time spent together and I believe that it is a starting point for us. To begin a whole new phase of our friendship and for myself to gain another spiritual buddy. That's got to be one of the best feelings in the world. 

20 February, Wednesday
Just an ordinary Wednesday until Raeyong appeared. He has been looking for me ever since the year started. Due to a twist of fate, we didn't meet every single time he came. And finally, we did! The sense of accomplishment when you see someone you taught, come back and find you. When he told me that he missed me and when he was seemingly so obedient and mature, I just felt so happy. The happiness cannot be put in words. I felt so achieved knowing that all the patience and love I put into caring for him, paid off. He will always remember me and I will always remember him. To know I made an impact, to know that he goes home talking to his parents about how my lessons make him happy, to know that he would bother coming back to his childcare to find me, to know that he misses me even at his primary school, it moves me to tears. Hugging him made me realise how much I missed him too. (And he was all shy and cute) As much as in the moment it was tough, I persevered. It's worth it.  

21 February, Thursday 
Visited my grandfather at CGH which was an emotional moment for all of us. We almost lost him that day but God decided that it was not time for him to go. I'm thankful for that. 

22 February, Friday
CAMPUS BAND WAS ON STAGE. *scream faints and dies* (Okay, I'm sorry I can be so exaggerating sometimes) Al Baird preached an amazing lesson and one line that I brought back with me was, "You will never have as much time as you do now."

23 February, Saturday
Had lunch at Canton Paradise. 

Really AWESOME to have Tim Sum for lunch since I have been craving like crazy! And Canton Paradise has amazing congee. If you are a crazy timsum lover, CANTON PARADISE IS A GOOD PLACE TO TRY! I went to the one at Compass point since it's near my place. Visited grandaddy after that and went to courts with Mummy. 

The most hilarious thing happened to me. I was just sitting on one of their beds when Mummy was looking for an expensive pillow. And due to my severe lack of sleep and fatigue, I decided to lie down. So after about a minute, this lady walked to me. In my head, I was like...."She's coming to scold me or something. Oh well. I'll wait till she comes." To my amusement, SHE BROUGHT ME A BLANKET. So there I was, chilling on a 6,000 dollar mattress with a blanket. 

I told Rachel and I said, "I MUST BE THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD." 

Went over to Rebecca's to stayover and had a really great talk with Sarah and her. Haven't had a stayover in SO LONG! But it was fulfilling and they are two really amazing sisters, so glad to have them in my life. 

24 February, Sunday

A memorable day because we appointed Elders in our Church! I had an impromptu spend time with Elysia which turned out to be unexpectedly amazing. The BAND was awesome, as always. Chloe's biblestudy was too. It was just a whole day filled with GOOD crying. Wisdom preserves those who have it. And Al and Gloria definitely are living examples of this verse. Great weekend, again. Epic and life changing. 

Uncle Takaeshi and Aunty Manami. I love them so very very much. 

"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference."

Jimmy Carter. 

The greatest of all is love.

I'm so glad that I have been sick for the past two weeks as much as it is really tormenting, but it was a well deserved break that I had to have. Even though I didn't get to receive like angbaos and I didn't get to go visiting, it just felt good to stay home and recuperate. Recuperate from the sickness and from life. 

So, I've just got to say that I've had one of the most romantic weekends of my life! Of course, I never expected my Valentine's weekend to turn out that amazing, but it did. As much as I was coughing my lungs out, I really felt so much love. And I've got to say that I'm really grateful. 

14 February, Thursday. 
My Valentine this year was ClaireChanBun. We were supposed to head out for dinner but I was suddenly inspired to do something for the teens ministry. So, we decided to bake brownies! I had a great time really, as much as I felt I was dying. It just felt so good to put in effort for people, to just show love through spending hours baking. 

 Took some fancy Polaroids but we look the same in every picture. It's as though we zoomed and unzoomed. (I had some smiling issues especially with all the skin peeling by my nose.) 

I would conclude it was a pretty good Valentine's Day. 

15 February, Friday
I woke up really early in the morning just to bake the next batch of brownies because afterall, there are at least 60 people in the teens ministry. I baked, wrote "Happy Valentines Day" Seventy-five times and cut out Seventy-five hearts. And then I packed 60ish bags with either brownies or chocolates. It was pretty crazy doing all of that by myself but yet, it was really worth it. 

Heading to church, I felt so much like Santarina with three huge paper bags filled to the brim. And who knew, we were going to have S.A.D (Sisters' Appreciation Day) <3

It was so cute with all these brothers dressed in white and how they were really shy because they had to each escort a sister. And my escort was the lovely Gregory Lai. Our first game was really encouraging! We had papers stuck on our backs and people around would write encouraging things about you. My paper was filled with so many amazing things and I'm like... *heart melts*

And then..... the brothers sang for us! It was so sweet to have them sing and change the lyrics to My Favourite Girl. It was such a blessing to have heard them sing it. I was so moved. And I especially love the part where it goes, "I wanna have my quiet times with her." That just shows me how much these brothers are so pure, so genuine. It was an amazing night. To top S.A.D, I had a great talk with a friend that I have drifted from and yet, that talk seemed to have bridged every thing. And that's none other than Esther Tan. We realised how much we've grown. And I realised, with everything I've learnt from the Teens ministry, I can actually make a difference to other people because, I know I have grown. And to top that even more, the poly brothers got me a rose! It was their S.A.D as well but they got an extra rose just for me! No words could explain how much love I felt that night. 

The Best Sister
Verse 1
You sisters always seem to be
So lovely in the thoughts of me
Cause you're so spiritual
You help us when we fall
And hey maybe we should pray
That hopefully you'll stay like this forever!

Chorus
And don't you know you are the best sister
I wanna have my quiet time with her
And if you promise not to fall away
Jesus will bless your life in every way
We singing oooo oooooooooo
We really thank you
oooo oooooooooo
We really thank you, we thank you
The best sister

Verse 2
It's great that you encourage us sometimes
But actually it's every week and we appreciate your time
But hey maybe we should pray, that hopefully you'll stay like this forever!

Chorus

Bridge
You're so awe-awesome!
You're so awe-awesome!
You're so awe-awe-awe-awesome!

Chorus (X2)

Lyrics to the song the brothers sang for us <3 Fridays never felt so amazing.

16 February, Saturday

Date with Samuel Khoo. 

I woke up really early because I wanted to prepare breakfast. In the end however, I convinced my sister to help me cook. I only... mashed some potatoes. Claire and I were late to meet Sam and Sean but they were really gracious about it. (And I knew they met earlier to get us roses) It was such a joy to be with them because we were a comfortable group of four. We took LRT to Anchorvale CC and thank God for sending the drizzle or we wouldn't have found that amazing spot behind the pool. It was so quiet and the perfect place for a picnic because you could see the river from there. 

We also met Uncle Edwin and he gave me the best advice I've heard in ages. "If you don't know where to go with your results, then just do what you love. Because most people don't end up in jobs that they major in their universities anyway. Just do what you love. Pursue what you love." And I never thought of it that way. 

We had a great time eating and honestly, Sam says the most epic things without even realizing. We played a really heartwarming game where we chose adjectives that best described the person we were going to share about. Mine were Patient (Sam), Righteous (Claire) and Loving (Sean). We recorded all of our sharing and it was just so nice. It shows that we sort of really know each other as much as we aren't all best friends. And... WE GOT TO PLAY BOGGLE! (Without being judged and stereotyped as JC kids) I was so happy. We then wrote cards for each other, a sad and a happy card to open after we get our results back. Good fellowship while we did that too. A really epic date. 

After that, I was surprised by Jadason and Samuel Tay and was asked on a crab date. So I dragged Claire along and it was great. It was a great time catching up and just knowing how they were doing. Of course, they got to know Claire better and vice versa. It was such a long and emotionally draining day, I felt like I had two dates in one day. But it was good because, I felt so much love. From the care and concern from all these people, I really felt so loved. 

17 February, Sunday

It started off really lovely because I got to spend time with the lovely Joween Song. And the better thing was that she initiated it so I felt really encouraged. (I know I used this word so much in this post but I really cannot find any better word) I finally knows what it means to be an older teen. As a teen, I always thought like no one would get it. But the thing is, I do. I've been through being secondary three. And I know that with my experience, with what God has put me through, I can inspire the people around me. Joween is a great girl and I really can't wait to watch her grow in the teens ministry. 

The lesson after, was THE BOMB. I've always doubted that age was directly proportional with wisdom. But with Al and Gloria Baird, it really is true. The way they can be so resolved with their lives, the way they can talk about things with so much meaning, passion, zeal, love and every good quality. His lesson was, "Hard times, a blessing or a curse?" 

"Hard times are often the tools that God uses to reshape us into the image of Jesus." 

I just was so convicted. And apt that this was preached just two weeks before the release of my A level results. And I'm so ready to say, bring it on God. 

More sweet things happened. Eve baked me a cheesecake. Yunsheen gave me the sweetest letter just for the brownie. Jinyang gave me the most real letter in the longest time. I never knew that he knew me so well. The content in that letter made me feel like, this is why I have this community. And... I got to talk to Angelo. For the first time in a long time, we talked. And having known him for my entire life and then just not knowing him, it just felt good to talk to him. Believe me when I say I was on cloud nine with the series of lovely events happening. 

It was such a romantic weekend and I wouldn't trade it for anything else on planet earth. It really shows me how God works everything out, as long as I submit everything to him. As long as I surrender my life to Him, the best plans will unfold. 

Nature beckons.

I've never been the sort to love getting muddy and dirty. Or let hundreds of insects swarm around me. Sadly in a tropical country like Singapore, that's pretty much what you get when you try going hiking into a forest.

In my mind, nature is beautiful. The grass is soft, lush and green. The kind of grass you wouldn't mind to have as a bed. The Sun peaks through the outlines of each leaf, casting their shadows on me. It's warm, the kind of warmth you feel as you sip hot chocolate on a stormy day or the first few moments as you snuggle under your blanket in an airconditioned room. 

As much as right here, every tree is strategically spaced about 1.5m apart and the fallen leaves are raked periodically so you only get to admire them for awhile before everything is clean and green again. I love it. I love the view. I love watching flowers fall. I love walking 6 kilometres for this. Even though it's next to a canal, all I see is a beautiful river that is surrounded by the dense greenery. There's this special white bird that is always there, striking a muscle pose. I smile to myself every time I catch the train of my thoughts ongoing about how beautiful this is. How God is just so amazing. 

Not only that, the amount of cute old people I meet really impacts me as well! On my recent long walk, I smiled at the old man that was on a wheelchair. I would believe he suffered a stroke as he seemed to be paralysed and incapable of making much facial expression. The maid pushing him was obliviously talking on the phone as he stared forward. I smiled at him, hoping that it would brighten his day. And in return, with every effort, he tried to smile back as much as it was difficult for him. As I watch his lips form that crooked smile, I thought to myself, that's all it takes. 

Every walk is a journey. I get to know myself better after I clear my head, I get to be inspired and impacted by the silence conversations I have through smiles and peoples' eyes. I get refreshed. I would say, it is God's best form of communication to me. 

And I honestly love it. 

Painting rainbows with love.

To bake a normal vanilla cupcake is easy and it's exactly what the rainbow cupcake tastes like. But for the rainbow cupcake, it really is a tedious job. As from the first picture, you make the batter and the separate them into four different bowls and add different colouring. Slowly, layer by layer you put the different coloured batter into the cupcake sleeve. (The recipe is dense enough so that the colours don't merge into a crazy looking tiedyed cupcake.) Bake for 20 minutes and you get the second picture! I wasn't that hardworking to make frosting so instead I used Nutella to stick my candy rainbow and marshmellow clouds into my cupcake.

Something I realised, from my baking experience, is that when I bake with my heart, soul, mind and strength, the cupcakes come out really amazing and delicious. But when I bake for the sake of baking, they turn out really bad and gross. I guess this teaches me that in everything that I do, I must do my best. I cannot put in a small amount of effort and expect to reap a whole lot of results for it. 

I baked these for my adorable children and teachers at House Of Kids and they loved it. 

If you have the time and patience to do this, I would encourage you to get down baking! Everyone loves a rainbow cupcake. As the saying goes, there's always a rainbow after the storm. It will make someone smile :)

Who are you, really?

Truth or dare.

Vintage

I'm in love with vintage tea cups. Those with really delicate floral paintings and extremely detailed curves. Those with the slim handles that threaten to break under the slightest pressure. Of course, not just the cups but the pots too. Completely mesmerized by the beauty of these objects. I'm also in love with authentic icecream flavours like Earl Grey and Pistachio. Also, floral teas. Floral teas are probably the most beautiful concoction on planet earth. Watching the petals dance in your teacup as you sniff the floral scent is an absolutely amazing experience.