Journey of Happiness

T iredness is still so thick within my body. Somehow, doing half-day work in the office during this week has not yet subtracted any of my tiredness from last week. However, whether I like it or not, I have to endure it. Tomorrow afternoon, I will have to leave Lan by himself for several days. Honestly, I do not want to leave him, if possible, I want him to come along with me, but train tickets to Brighton is so expensive , that even Lan had to think for awhile to let me go there. Anyway, he is letting me go, sort of... It is because I have to visit Erwin, my brother. This is my second time to go there and somewhat I am glad I am going to be with my brother again for awhile. See how he is doing, give him some support for his final project. The first time I went was December 2005 , I had so much fun at that time, spending my Christmas and New Year's holiday with Erwin. Time flies fast, Erwin is already in his 3rd (and last) year of Bachelor. He plans to go home for holiday after ...

T his week has indeed been a tough week! Lan suddenly fell ill on Sunday night and has not recovered since then. He keeps having high fever, switching between feeling cold and hot, coughing never endingly and losing his ability to taste food! He became completely disabled and spent most of his time on bed. While having to take care of him, I also had to replace him in doing tutorials (we tutor the Bachelor students), did the things I had to do and the things he had to do. I am not sure whether or not I should say 'thank God, it's Friday' ... because I am tired and yet Lan's recovery is not very rapid. However, one relief is that my trip to Manchester on Wednesday (which was extremely cold!) has earned me my Chinese visa to go to Beijing next month for the first time. Overall, I thank The Lord for giving me the strength to go through this week. Have a blessed great weekend, friends! Jesus bless you!

N o special plan we had yesterday evening. Suddenly, Lan proposed a plan for a dinner somewhere in the city center after the office hour. Hence, we went to Bella Italia for such a nice dinner. When we got there, we were said that the restaurant is fully booked, however, the manager was kind enough to give us a table for an hour. So, when we got to our table, Lan suddenly pulled out something from his jacket, it is the toblerone rose chocolate. He said, no need for a fresh rose, this rose you can keep forever. Such a sweet surprise, honey! How thoughtful you are! I am a big fans of chocolate, so, I was very happy! We ate it together when we got home and I get to keep the 'rose'. How about your yesterday, friends? Was it special too? :)

Everyday is a celebration of Love. Everyday is a Valentine's day. So... nothing fancy. Just keep loving each other everyday; truthfully, wholeheartedly and thoughtfully. Love you all friends! God bless you!

I finished crying. Now I will tell you what really happened that we had to cancel the trip this time. 06 Feb 2008 - Wednesday afternoon, I received a letter from the French embassy, 'advising' me that I cannot go on 12th Feb, because of my Indonesian passport. However, Lan's Chinese passport can immediately be granted a Schengen visa. They required me to ring them immediately. 07 Feb 2008 - Thursday around 15.00 - 16.00 (that's their available time!), I rang them many times, only to be greeted by the answering machine and an automatic 'call-ended' system! *God help them!* After numerous attempts, a lady finally answered me. The conversation concluded that it takes at least 3 weeks to process my Schengen visa application because for Indonesian passport they have to send everything to Paris for the visa process! So, my appeal was useless... Finally, we decided to ask them process Lan's visa but don't process mine. Simply because... they do NOT refund our...

W e are not going. I am mending my wounds. I am drying my tears. Just, a good-bye for you, Paris.

I truly am experiencing what they say, "The bigger the blessings, the more the tribulations." It is a VISA problem again! This time it is the French Schengen visa. This time it is MY visa! And this time, it is Lan, who comforts and encourages me... I am truly blessed to have him, my beloved husband. Well, we are still keeping our optimism... Still having the crazy faith of going to Paris ontime. God knows how bold we are and how much we want to go for our honeymoon. Please, once again, help in prayers, friends. Thank you! Jesus, help us... Denger lagu ini di radio... Trenyuh hatiku. Apa yang kau alami kini mungkin tak dapat engkau mengerti cobaan yang engkau alami tak melebihi kekuatanmu Tuhanku tak akan memberi ular beracun pada yang minta roti satu hal tanamkan di hati indah semua yang Tuhan b'ri Tangan Tuhan sedang merenda suatu karya yang agung mulia Saatnya 'kan tiba nanti kau lihat pelangi kasih-Nya