Saturday, January 13, 2007

We're here!

It's day 5 in Sydney. And today has been a day of rest for us. We stayed home most of the day and only went out for a half hour walk around to check out the shops nearby.

The past 5 days have been exciting. We're thankful that Charis was alright on the flight here. She was her normal self, holding her toes and looking at other passengers. Our friends, April and Kenneth have been a great blessing to us. Kenneth met us at the airport, they prepared a 'welcome pack' full of groceries and other daily necessities (eg. diapers!) Kenneth even made sausage rolls and Ching Teng to welcome us! These few days they have been taking us around to get our admin stuff done. We're very touched but their generousity as April tirelessly avails herself to help us even when she has a 7 month old to care for. Her daughter, Chloe, and Charis are fast becoming friends. Chloe is fascinated by Charis and wants to touch her face when Charis is within reach, and somehow perhaps understanding Charis, she cries when Charis cries. =P And when Charis sees Chloe, she'll smile. =)

Another great blessing is the Fong's (Edmund, Mei and Phoebe) generousity in letting us stay at their place for the time being, before moving in to our own place. Which means that Charis gets a comfortable cot to sleep in and we get the internet access to update this blog! (Amongst many many other things.... =) ) We're really grateful.

Thank you very much for praying for us, for supporting us, and most of all, for loving us. We are well. New beginnings are exciting, and together with the excitment comes struggles of learning things anew, of adapting, of facing the uncertain. We are plodding on...counting our blessings along the way and praying for God to help us respond in a godly manner when things don't go our way.

Here are some photos of us at the airport and in Sydney... proof that we are alright and eating well. =)


1. With friends at airport
2. Chilling out with Charis
3. Home-cooked lunch (Roger cooked the veggies!!! =P )
More photos at flickr.
God bless!


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Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Debt We Owe

We're leaving in another 9 hours.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the days of packing and saying our goodbyes. For me (mayhsin), it's feeling a bit overwhelmed with the realisation that I'll be sleeping in Sydney tomorrow nite. Greater still is the sense of being overwhelmed by the love and support of our family and of our friends in church.

Thank you all for your love, encouragement and blessings. To our family, thank you for tirelessly helping us run errands and for the kind thoughts and words. To our friends in church, we are thankful for your partnership in the gospel and for all the practical help rendered. We've been overwhelmed by your love, and it's a debt that we owe you tremendously. Yet, we are keenly reminded that this is but a glimpse of the love God demonstrated to us through Christ. Jesus gave His life to save us from the punishment that we were suppose to bear. The debt we owe Him, we can never repay.

And so we walk...in His grace.
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More Than We Can Say

Dear PUNJers,

We had a great time yesterday at the farewell. Thank you for looking into all the details of making the farewell a memorable one. Thank you for buying lots of local delights and yummy desserts. The hei mee, kueh pie tee, satay, otah, oyster sauce chicken will be greatly missed. (Right Sarah?) Thank you too for those who rolled up their sleeves and made a dish for the gathering. Thanks too for those who also rolled up their sleeves, but did 'behind the scenes' work of carrying stuff, running errands and contacting people. Thank you for giving us an occasion to enjoy good food and fellowship.

You have been a great part of our lives, and we're grateful that we have the opportunity to be involved in PUNJ. We've been blest by your encouragement and love. Most of all, it never fails to excite and encourage us to see you desiring and striving to live for Jesus. Keep pressing on in living for Jesus k? We'll do so too! =) We'll be bringing your farewell cards to Sydney, and we'll stick them on our fridge (when we get a fridge =P)

Sighz...We'll miss you and your fellowship dreadfully, more than we can say.

With love-in-Christ,
thechias.
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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Really Powerful

Packing can be filled with surprises. 'Lost' documents unearthed, shoes you don't even remember you had. The best surprise came from a food processor that one of my parents passed to us when we got married. We never had the chance to use it, hence it was in one of our kitchen cabinets...until we decided to open it a few days ago to check if it was still in good conditon.



Yes, it is still in working condition. It looks brand new... and we wondered when our parents bought it. We looked into the box and found a guarantee card. We nearly rolled on the floor laughing when we saw the date on the card. See it yourself!


Yup, it's 18th March 1986. This food processor is older than some of you! As the label on the food processor said, we think this appliance is really 'powerful' and so are our parent's 'storage skills' =)

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