KYCK2006 - Paradise Lost?

We had a great weekend at Katoomba at Kyckstart with the EDJ group!
The talks were punchy and to the point, the multimedia presentations were thought provoking and very creative, the songs were awesome, the atmosphere electrifying (especially on Saturday night) and the company was priceless! =)
Many photos and videos to show in 2 weeks time in EDJ....

My main take aways from the weekend:

1. To look up to celebrities and pursue our own image is cheap glory. Is Jesus your pin-up boy?

2. Paradise is NOT Queensland, with its pristine beaches and endless sunny days! Paradise is NOT about fulfilling our inner most desires. Paradise is us walking with God, as at the beginning. This is what we were created for - a relationship with our Maker and King.

3. Sin matters so much that God would rather unmake the world He had created than let it fester.


INDESCRIBABLE

Chorus:
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

1. From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colours of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

2. Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Hello World!!

I'm married!!
=)
hehe
It has been that long since I posted.
Very strange....Matt is sitting next to me writing up on his blog as well...
Ah, the joys of married life!
If you want to have a look at our wedding photos, they are up on Matt's blog....

Finished!
Finished!
Finished!

YAY =D
*happy dance*
Big thanks for yinan, andy, dennis and tran for their study sessions + notes! hehe reminded me of the good ole uni days where i would leverage (read: leech) off the brilliant minds of those around me. thanks a bunch esp to andy who explained so clearly what convexity really means!
was nice to go back to macq - i can't believe they upgraded the foodcourt AFTER we left! the food doesn't look as dodgy anymore (mind you we didn't try any but they definitely win in the presentation stakes!)

now i can get back to wedding planning/unit renovating!!
yay!!!
aiming to decide on the carpets this saturday so we can get that laid in the following week.
then after that - matt can move in!!! hehehe
but we still gotta clean up the place and scrape off paint which dripped onto the tiles.........tomorrow night!

and lots of dinners with people i've neglected =D

its good to be back!!

I'm still alive!!!

=D
hahaha
okay....just barely there though
doing too many things at once really wears you down
not only are there many wedding decisions to be made, matt & i are renovating our unit - this is SO time consuming!!! and then there's EDJ things to be done even though i'm trying to not do any programs this term.....and on top of it all i'm doing my part III exams!!!!
the good thing about doing my part III are my study days....atm i've taken all wednesdays off in feb and march, and then still got a couple more before the exam. the bad thing is i should be studying.....
but my study days are productive in a personal sense.....i can make lots of phone calls, go to dentist, optom, get my own medicare card, get haircut, buy wedding stuff, choose and buy tiles, buy bathroom fan and meet up with ppl! hehe o yeah and i get a couple hours of studying here and there so i guess its okay.....
don't think i can handle 5 day weeks anymore! hehe
the unit is coming along slowly.....the kitchen has been ripped out, carpet half ripped out to put in phone line, old warbrobe ripped out, fan installed in bathroom, new locks on doors
once kitchen gets installed, we'll have to start painting!! hehe if you want to help let me know =)
mmmm.....and then carpets, warbrobe, blinds and FURNITURE!!!
=D
yay!!!!
furniture shopping is soooo much fun =) i think it defintely beats wedding shopping cause wedding is for one day only but furniture hangs around much much longer!!
ikea is quite cool =) and its affordable as well!!
i can't believe how exy it is to set up your own household......
hope we've budgeted enough for everything!!
i've been struck by a severe case of buyers remorse lately whenever we purchase some $$ item or make important decisions.....=( *sigh* now i understand the time value when you have options available to you!
weekends have been spent doing wedding/house things...i tried to study last weekend while matt was up at mkc but i wasn' too productive =( should've gone to the picnic!!! sori guys!!
mmmmm
come to think of it
i haven't done anything that is not work/wedding/house/church/study related lately!
=( can't wait till exams are over!!! more time to pore over wedding mags hehe =)
oh on monday when we were walking back from bball at lunch from the kgv we almost saw princess mary at shangri-la!!!! hehe how exciting! think we just missed her so just got the large convoy of white statesmens and police surrounding the place! the police cars had little dannish flag flying which was quite a nice touch!
=D
okay enough rambling.....

Goodbye 2004.....

Happy new year everyone!!!

2004 has been a fruitful year indeed:
1. Matt got baptised at Northside!! The beginning of another exciting journey ahead :)
2. We got ourselves a mortgage......30 year commitment! WAH! It's kinda sad to see all our money get sucked up into this monster (meaning less for the wedding....) but it's all good. Quite a neat little place to call our first home =)
3. Evicted our tenants because of noise complaints.
4. Working full-time (for 1 year now!) and have only taken 1 day annual leave (for my graduation....) and a couple of sick days.
5. Changed jobs once.
6. Spent countless weekends looking for my wedding dress - finally found it at Roseville :) (although I had to up the budget to accomodate this)
7. Got to know an interesting bunch of kids at EDJ. Very exciting and challenging at the same time to see how they are growing and changing.
8. Had our engagement party - very honoured to have all you guys there to celebrate with us!
9. Spent way too much money and time on wedding magazines.
10. Had an interesting time at the pre-marital counselling course we went on with Anglicare....have put some of those conflict resolution skills into practice already! hurrah =)
11. Slowly discovering how amazing the sovereignty of God is throughout his dealings with the people of Israel in the OT.

The Countdown....

NYE was spent with workers' group people. Thanks heaps to KC for organising and scoring us such a cool apartment to watch the fireworks from! :)

Hello 2005....

I can't believe we're getting married THIS YEAR!
=)

Where is God?

Was reading the SMH article tonight, and just want to say:

Yes, I believe God is still present in this world today. Despite all the suffering and disasters that abound in this world in which millions of innocent lives are lost or damaged, I still believe He is working and active today.
No, I don't think God was not powerful enough to stop it. God flooded the earth in Noah's time, rained sulfur on Sodom and Gomarrah and gave Moses the power to part the Red Sea. His spoke and the earth was formed. And He is sustaining all things at this very moment in time.
Then if He had the power, why didn't He stop it?
I'm not sure....but I don't think God is playing games with humanity, wanting them to suffer and laughing from the sidelines. His very nature is love and He sent Jesus to live among us and to die for us so we could be reconciled to God.

But theological issues don't deal with the raw pain and sadness felt by so many now......
nor the enormity of cleaning up and for survivors to rebuild their lives.

So everyone, please donate $$ to those aid organisations.
(from SMH)
The Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP): 1800 007 308 or www.afap.org
PLAN: Vist http://www.plan.org.au or call 1800 038 100.
CARE Australia: 1800 020 046 or http://www.careaustralia.org.au
Australian Red Cross: Call 1800 811 700, visit http://www.redcross.org.au or post a cheque to GPO Box 9949 in capital cities.
Oxfam: 1800 034 034 or http://www.oxfam.org.au
Medecins Sans Frontieres http://www.msf.org.au/
UNICEF: 1300 884 233, 1300 732 240 or http://www.unicef.org.au.
World Vision: 13 32 40 or http://www.worldvision.com.au.
Baptist World Aid Australia: Call 1300 789 991, by mail to Baptist World Aid Australia, Locked Bag 122, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, or http://www.shareanopportunity.org.
Caritas Australia: 1800 024 413 or http://www.caritas.org.au.

I told Matt to donate money to Oxfam via Westpac - they have this cool matching policy where for every $1 an employee donates, Westpac will match that $1 :)
Go you good corporate citizen!

Pork =9
Thanks iris for the big cookout on Tue night! Good fun good food and good friends =)
One day I'm going to make guacamole like rosa but without the chilli powder........ well actually Matt reminded me I have 9 months to learn to cook....is cutting and mashing vegies considered cooking?
Thanks for the pressies iris and teri =) and i'm sure matt will use him somehow...??? hehe

Random observation:
Chinese ppl use plastic chopsticks with round heads
Japanes ppl use wooden chopsticks with pointy heads
Korean ppl use metal chopsticks with flat heads

Choices:
Hokkaido or Fiji?