Musings Part 2

Time has really flown! It is already the 1st day of July 2013. So far this year has been quite good! I finally got to go to Bali with my schoolmates and Macau with my sister! To my pleasant surprise, my beloved hubby has been very generous with me showering me with IT gadgets! In another month and 13 days, we will have completed 23 years of marriage and going blissfully into our 24th year!

To say that life has been easy would be challenging the fates as it never was till recently! The struggles are still there with health issues raising it's ugly head and making me rethink my life priorities. 

10 years ago, my main priority would have been to own luxury items, exotic holidays and opulent cars! Today, my main priority is my family....specifically my wonderful husband Patrick Edward Tan and my beautiful daughter Angeline K M Tan. My life would have been devoid of colours without my minx Angeline and my ever patient, long suffering husband.

I never expected too to see through so many people's true colours! God works in really mysterious ways! Where HE took away my Sunshine, HE replaced it with Moonbeam! HE showed me who was really and truly real in their relationships with me for which I am so, so thankful.

I know that some where out there more hurts and more happiness awaits me. I also know through whatever storms I have to weather, God is with me always and HE has sent me 2 stalwart pillars to rely on.....my darling husband and my mischief laden daughter! I thank God for them and I will never trade them for anything!

23 years of wedded life with Patrick has been good. We faced our ups and downs as a couple, we weathered every storm of life with our united front and we came through it, weary but happy. For God so loved the world, HE gave His only Son (John 3:16) to guide and strenghten us, to lead us through the valley of suffering only to reward us with a renewed love for each other and an even greater understanding of  what marriage vows mean in this fickle world.

Our mutual love for our daughter Angeline has empowered us even further and united this family in God's holy name. Abba, thank you for the gift of Angeline.

Patrick Edward Tan, thank you for 23 years of love, laughter, quarrels and making up! Angeline Tan, thank you for loving your loony bin of a mama! You guys complete me!

50 YEARS OF LIVING AND NONE THE WISER

My 50th birthday was a very mixed up one and I totally can see human nature at it's worst and at it's best! 

I spent a lovely afternoon on the eve of my birthday with one of my siblings whom I love dearly. We spent the day traipsing boutiques and finally went to this place in Kota Damansara where I managed to find some very nice clothes that FIT me!We ended up at The Curve and Ikano where my sibling bought me these lovely shirts as a gift for my 50th! We then headed home happily anticipating our evening's activities. If I had known what was going to happen, I would never have asked the question!


At the evening's activity, my sibling and her charge arrived late. I asked another friend to find out where they were supposed to be seated as the seating plans for that rehearsal and the actual function on Saturday evening had been changed. Then when the rehearsals got underway, some thing was not right and I asked one of the people handling the activities about it. All I got out of that situation was the beginning of a nightmare!


I now know what it is like to be persecuted! Due to this incident, my sibling's charge and the other friend stopped talking to me and childish actions started! Sneering looks, cold and angry faces, avoiding and just plain being rude was the order of the day. To make it worst even my sibling is no longer talking to me. It is 2 weeks now since that incident, to say that my heart is heavy and my trust in these individuals is shattered is just an understatement! I have given up on these 2 people who I thought were friends, even went to the extent of  blocking and deleting them from my Facebook account did not deter them from their viciousness. Being Catholic deems that I must forgive any wrongdoing towards me, I have so forgiven but it will take time to get over this insult.


On the bright side, a surprise party was held in Secret Receipe on the night of my birthday after mass! Thank you Larrine Low, Maybelle Dan, Rachel Wan, Carmen Yap, Mary Anne Ooi, Norbert Chan, James Peris, Denis Dunstan and my lovely hubby and daughter Angeline for the wonderful surprise. Thanks also to Joelle and Regina as well for their share in the Thomas Sabo charms bracelet! You guys made my 50th a memorable and happy one!


Thanks also to my god brother Richard Lieu and Jenny his lovely wife for the belated dinner through no fault of theirs and the beautiful jadeite cross and necklace from Yunnan, China. To all my friends near and far, my brother Francis and all who wished me, thank you.


I will live on as I know I should practising  Catholicism and Christian values and just hope for the best in life and never forgetting to thank Christ for all blessings, trials and tribulations too. If this posting has hurt anyone or caused any misunderstanding......too bad! Like the saying goes, whoever eats the chilli, tastes the spiciness!
At least I now know who are loyal and true and who are hypocrites!


Have a great weekend and God bless!

Happy 50th birthday to me?

What a blessing it is for me to turn 5o come April 2011. I am tickled pink that my 5oth birthday coincides with the Christian solemnity of Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday where Christians all over the world prepare for the biggest days in our Christian calender, Good Friday and Easter! It matters not to me that I have to forgo all celebrations on my actual 50th, I know that the Lord will see me through the final days of Lent.

Joy fills my heart when I think of my darling's imminent baptism on 23 April 2011. I also thank God for all the friends we have made in RCIA 20 as well as all our friends from Alpha, Disciple and church who have been very encouraging and supportive! These first few months of 2011 also saw my niece's children being baptised in The Church of the Assumption.....praise God!

Don't get me wrong, it has not been all roses and sweetness either, I too have my share of the downside and I feel it weighing me down even more in this season of Lent. I have thus far managed to abstain from meat since Ash Wednesday. Thank you Jesus for your guidance and giving me the strength to keep to my fast and abstinence of meat.

I wonder what I will be doing on the day I turn 50? Nothing unusual I guess......same old, same old. Life doesn't stop and no surprise parties either I know for we all have our priorities in life and my priority lies in the comfort and well being of my beloved hubby and daughter. 

So I will just take this 50th as another normal day and live life contented that I made it thus far! So would it be narcissistic of me to say, 'Heck! I look darn good for a 50 year old!' Amen! Hahahahahahahahaha!

20 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD

What a happy photo of us, the Tan family at our 'holiday' in Majestic Hotel, Melaka in January 2010. Life as husband and wife this year will reach 20 years in the making! Time really has flown by! Blink an eye and we've been Mr & Mrs Tan for 20 years and parents to our daughter for 6 of those 20 years!

Our marriage has withstood many hard knocks and the biggest was when we lost our firstborn, Patricia in 2001. Nay sayers  gave us 6 months to a year when we signed our marriage papers.  However, the good Lord has blessed us with much more love for each other and a deep love for our daughters.

Fast forward to present.....my greatest prayer has been heard! I prayed  for my darling to consider the Rites of Catholic Initiation for Adults (RCIA) course at my local parish some years ago but he was not at all receptive! Then this year he decided to give the Alpha course held at the church a go, just to see what the hype was all about. He loved it and thoroughly enjoyed the talks by Reverend Nicky Gumbel. The next course of action as our dear friends Jerry and Mimi put it was for Ed to go through RCIA and complete the full journey of transforming our family into a Catholic family.  I was not sure if it would come about but praise the Lord and thanks to all our friends, (you know who you are) Ed signed up for RCIA and this is the photo to prove it!

 I am so happy but also know that the journey will be a long one for the whole family with the final culmination on 23rd April 2011 at the Easter Virgil mass. My heart sings with joy for Ed has opened his mind to fully explore and journey towards a baptism into the holy Catholic faith and church. 

We are even prouder of our 6 year old who can recite the main prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, the I believe as well as the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. My heart swells with love and pride when I see hubby and daughter praying with me as a family; going to church is much sweeter as we now go as a family fully participating in the whole Mass. I can't help but smile and sing out even louder when I see my darling hubby singing the hymns as well.

God is great and my hubby is fantastic! I love him and my baby girls and I pray the good Lord and Holy Mother Mary will be with us as we journey towards 23rd April 2011. Please pray for us. Thanks! 

Ed my love and my life, happy 20th anniversary! I find that I love you even more as the years go by. I am sure that the love that beats in this heart of mine will still beat as strong when I am breathing my last. How did I get so blessed to have you as my partner, hubby, lover, friend and everything we do, it's MAGIC. I love you darling 20 years down the road and I will love you still till all eternity. 

Thank you Lord God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit for this wonderful marriage, good hubby and best father as well as my lovely daughters. Praise you Lord Jesus for all the blessings, trials, tribulations that have strengthened us as a couple and as a family. 

Amen.

What is happenning to me?

Chinese New Year has come and it is now the 13th day of the festival. This year I seem to be in no mood for any festive making.....heck! Guess this feeling has been with me since the economic crash last year badly affected my livelihood. I am under tremendous pressure these days. There just seems no way out of this mess so far.

 

Many well meaning family members and friends have asked me to be patient and to pray for divine intervention. Thank you to you all who have been by my side to keep my flagging spirits up. I just am so glad that at least through this all, my true family members and friends have given me hope. 

My greatest worry is for my daughter's daily needs to be taken care of. She's only 6 this year. Her dad and I are fast approaching old age (he's 52 and I will be 49 soon) and if things don't look up, we may end up losing even this roof over our heads.

The Alpha Weekend Away is just a week away and I am just too bogged down with personal issues to even raise an ounce of enthusiasm for the Alpha Misnistry that I love so much. I find myself withdrawing further into myself and just no desire to go out and meet up with anyone. 

So if I seem aloof or cold where I was once warm and happy, I apologise. I need to deal with these situations and find a better solution bfore I am even fit for human co-relations.

The Majestic Hotel, Melaka-A free holiday stay!

This is the Majestic Hotel Melaka. I was very blessed to have won a 3 day 2 nights stay with all 3 meals included in the package for 3 persons when I attended the Alpha Fund Raising Dinner on 27th October 2009 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Thank you Andrew and Christine Lim for giving me the opportunity to attend the dinner! We (hubby and I lah!) decided that we would use the gift of this holiday on 12th January 2010 immediately after Alpha 2010 was launched on 11th January 2010 at the Assumption Church Petaling Jaya.  So off we went after lunch with our mischievious 5 year old daughter all excited. As the miles separated us further from Kuala Lumpur and nearer towards Melaka, our mood eased into light heartedness and relaxation. Reaching Majestic, we were tickled pink to be faced with this picture of the hotel entrance...old school and well preserved. For me it was even more poignant as I recognised the location as the very place where my favourite Media Corp Singapore drama series, 'The Little Nyonya' was filmed.

Our room was fantastic! Daughter and me were delirious with joy to find a huge claw footed bath tub in the room! The shower and toilet were separated so that made showering or soaking in the bath tub easier and saved us a load of time in the morning! There were soft and fluffy bath robes, huge soft towels and all in all, luxury all round! This hotel is after all part of the Small Luxury Hotel group and opulence was the main theme!

 Dinner on the first night was truly a luxurious experience for common people like us. It was a 3 course meal and started with Appetisers, Soups and main course for us on the first night as we were hungry having had a very light lunch! By the time we finished our dinner, we were so satiated that we decided to have an early night. This photo is the Fillet Mignon I had on the second night! Yummy!

Needless to say, we had a great time in the 3 days we were there. I have no complaints about the place and the staff (made up of people from all over South East Asia) were friendly efficient and went out of their way  to make sure we had a good time! Thanks again to YTL hotels for sponsoring this prize; to the staff of Majestic Hotel Melaka who went out of their way to pamper my naughty 5 year old and us! 

Our first trip food hunting for 2010

1st January 2010 dawned bright and sunny with white clouds and clear blue skies. My husband and I decided to go on our very first foodie hunt for 2010! Knowing that both my daughter and I loved the 'ngap thui meen' from Pun Chun Restaurant (more like coffee shop!) in Bidor, hubby decided the first stop would be to Bidor! So off we went and upon reaching Bidor, we made a beeline for said eatery, ordered 2 bowls (I shared with my daughter) and tucked in with bliss as we were ravenous! Here's a photo of the said noodle!

After we had finished our meal, we went on to buy the seedless guava which is good for lowering blood sugar of diabetics like me. Only disappointment in our Bidor trip was the fact that the 'kok kuih' vendor we always buy from in Bidor was not open.

From Bidor we proceeded to Teluk Intan, my birthplace. As usual, we went to the 'heong paeng' shop and managed to get my daughter's Chinese New Year dress for RM17.00! In Kuala Lumpur we would be paying something like double the price! As all Malaysians know, Italy has it's leaning tower in Pisa...well here in Malaysia...we have the leaning clock Tower of Teluk Intan! We managed to find the 'chee cheong fun' that is unique and only found in Teluk Intan! Suffice to say, we ordered and ate! 

We then left Teluk Intan and started our long drive home to Bukit Beruntung, Rawang via the coastal way. In Sabak Bernam, we came across green padi fields that left me breathless! All that beauty Mother Earth endowed on us can still be found in remote areas. I pray that the pristine loveliness will never make way for more concrete jungles!

We decided to stop at Batang Kali for dinner and as you can see from the photo, we had our usual order of 'loh meen' (with dark vinegar and caramel soy sauce), fish cakes and a generous serving of 'choy sum'  in oyster sauce from our regular eatery in Batang Kali. 

All in all, it was a great start to a funtastic day and I hope a good new year, new beginnings and hopefully the economy will be much better this year!

Happy New Year all! God bless!