Journey of Happiness

O r should I say praying comes first? We are praying and hoping genuinely for a little sweet baby that will come in His right time. We know God knows best. It has been decided that we are going home for good on 29th July 2011. Thanks to our parents for supporting us and loving us so freely and unconditionally. Yes, I will be moving to Beijing before the end of this year, but before that, we will be going to Bali for a month. I am super blessed to say that Papi has bought our tickets home! *YAY!* We'll be going on Singapore Airlines from Manchester to Denpasar via Singapore. There is something that I learnt about this, that I want to remember. It was the freedom, knowing that he is my dad and that he loves me, I was not afraid to ask. But, what amazes me is his response... I remember being a child, I always dreaded the times I had to ask something from him, because I always got silence. Like as if he is thinking and never finishes thinking. He is a changed father, praise The Lo...

S ince the last post. It does not help either that the Internet at home died. *sigh* It's bank holiday today, and yet I am in the office, just because... of the INTERNET! I have to say I have a love-and-hate relationship with Internet. I want to NOT be a dependant of Internet, but I guess I can't. Yep, I need more than a daily-dose of checking emails and forums that I am registered in. So here is hoping that Internet will return soon! These several weeks after I returned, I have ups and downs... I was badly sick when I just arrived. Got well for a week and then my blood pressure got real low and acting up on me :( But, I've been going to office, doing work, and resuming my driving lessons! I'll be having my theory 'driving' test on 14th September and will be studying again and again until then so I can pass. I need a LOT of work on my clutch control practically! I stall the car so many times that I get so upset with myself :( Other than that I am pretty g...

A nd ten days left! *sob* And half of my suitcase is full of food already! All for Lan and my brother! I am super happy to be at home, just chilling and spending time with my family. It shows me how much I miss my home and how important my family is to me. Don't take it wrongly, I miss Lan terribly! But I am sure he is happy for me, too. I am taking the time to unwind from this extreme fatigue. My love goes to my beloved; husband and family. They are dearest to me.

P hew! After so many delays and awesome few days in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with Papi and Mami, I am finally home in Denpasar last night! I had a great time having private holiday with just my parents, something that rarely happens! I am missing Lan terribly here... but hey, time flies and soon I'd be in his arms again ;) I also miss my scrapbooking communities and my scrapping time too! But I am making sure that I take lots of pictures of my family to be scrapped when I get back to UK. =) I am well, but tired with all the travelling. Thank God that, on my Colombo-Singapore flight, Emirates upgraded my seat into the business class! What a treat!!! OH well, I guess I shall enjoy my holiday as much as I can. Eat good food, love my family and pray for my dearest husband. Eat, love, pray! ;) That's all for now, friends! God bless!

G osh, this year has flown so fast... I cannot believe it is almost the beginning of a new year already! Time rotated around me like a breeze. To think back on this year, I can only smile and smile... It was a year of God's provision in our little family. I've seen many unbelievable things happened in our lives and for all of those, I can only give thanks to The Lord. He's been more than just GOOD. I am so thankful that I was shown how The Lord takes care of my family and that His Hands never fail to sustain us. The way He teaches Lan by Himself (sometimes I am amazed by the words that Lan says by himself!), the Grace that brings our family even closer together, the holiday wishes that came true (Dubai!) and many little but so-sweet things that came into my life. And above all, I am grateful for his guidance on my study; how I once felt like quitting and He encouraged me through my beloved ones. How He provides, oh how He provides... not just financially but in everything H...

L ately, despite the cold dreary winter days, I am blessed to see the sun shining. Just to see a sunshiny-day, it makes me smile! It makes my day a lot better. And, I'd love to think of it as The Lord is smiling at me, that is one of the best birthday gifts that I get for my birthday tomorrow. :) A few of friends have been asking about how I'm coping winter, especially about my eczema. Well, both Lan and I are anxious about it, however, I praise God that so far it is not a tiny bit as bad as last winter. Yes, they still come, a bit on my face (that is one that I hate the most!), bits on my body parts, but they are manageable. I am still able to sleep, thanks to Lan, who's bought me an under blanket to keep me warm at night, thus my skin is not drying out badly. Another birthday gift I got this year from The Lord is a realisation on how lovely my parents-in-love (law) are! To know that they love me like their own daughter, that they want the best for me and my health, that t...

T his year my family celebrates the Silver Wedding anniversary of my parents. Well, it's the first time we ever celebrated their wedding anniversary at all! From the us, the kids, Papi and Mami only wished that the whole family can gather together for them. It means a lot for them to have us the kids gather up together... ever since I landed in UK, it was hard to have my brother Erwin and I going home for holiday at the same time, so the family was sort-of never been whole for awhile. So, this year, we made efforts and, thank Jesus that He planned everything according to His will, my parents' wish was fulfilled! It was fun to be together again, 7 of us make us a big family, but my parents are so happy to have their children gathered up together at home. And, honestly, even that I am married and have my own family, it still feels a lot like home to be with my parents. I do like to have the time to be the little girl of my Papi Mami every now and then. :) Well, let's brief...

I was touched deeply when Lan sent me a text message yesterday, saying that he is missing me and home. Ah... our little home. It might not be posh, just a little sort-of flat with only a bedroom (which is also the living room and the study room), a kitchen and a bathroom full with its own flaws and far from the kind of place we both want to live in. However, we grew to love it over the 2-years we've been living in it. It's our little home, the home where at the end of the day, when we return, we can say ' at last... we're home .' It's the little cocoon, where we both feel most comfortable in, just the both of us. :) Yes, I miss home too... because right now our home is incomplete, without Lan being in there, it feels hollow, as if it's missing something; an element that makes it our little warm home. I wonder whether anybody ever feels like that too? I am thankful to God that I am learning to appreciate Lan's presence more through this temporary separat...

I n our little family, Lan & I communicate in English. Simply because I am most comfortable with English and Lan is practising to be more fluent. There are those times where we just completely misunderstand each other and that, sadly enough, sometimes triggers fight between us. But, to communicate using his or my mother language is just impossible at the moment... We are both still trying to learn. I pick up the Mandarin much faster because I learnt a bit before and, in addition, I hear him chatting with his parents in Mandarin almost every Saturday. But Lan does not really hear me talking in Indonesian, simply because I don't talk to my parents in weekly basis like him. I guess I don't feel that homesick any more. I've lived apart from my family for almost 10 years now... gosh a decade ! Anyhow, lately, since we are closer to the time we are going to Bali, he has been asking to teach me a few words, not that it'll help him communicate with my parents hugely, but i...

F riday, last week, we invited Lan's friend and his wife (Prince & Mia) to come have dinner at our home. Previously, I have always hesitated to invite anybody to our home, simply because we do not have a private living room and our kitchen is so small that 2 people in it will make it look so cramped... However, their kindness while I was away is very meaningful to me. They invited Lan for dinner and even sent some food to Lan several times while I was absent! Hence, in return, we decided to invite them to our home. I volunteered to cook, where Lan was so kind to help me with everything. The menu was: 1. Yellow Fried Chicken 2. Butter Chilli Prawns 3. Sop Sayur Asin (yg mana lupa difoto!) 4. Dessert: Swiss Roll Cake. Thank God all the food turned out to be good. Especially, the Swiss Roll Cake! Lan specifically asked me to make this one for him, I was nervous whether I can roll the cake successfully or not. Voila! It turned out well, although there was still room for improvement...

A s soon as I returned home, I asked Lan kindly to read along with me a book titled "Five Love Languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman. It started when Daddy Timotius Arifin gave a sermon about Love and he mentioned this book, I searched for it but found no luck in Indonesia. They were all sold out! However, thanks a million to Lita & Santo for such a precious gift for us. It is a great book! We are blessed that we are given the opportunity to discover truths from this book to make our marriage better; to understand each other deeper. The book talks about, as you know from the title, 5 Love Languages. Many of us, including both of us, often 'talk' of our own love language to our spouse, whereas our spouse's language might not be the same one as ours. Hence, this book helps Lan and I to learn about our love languages and how we can speak each other's love language(s) appropriately. This way, we keep each other's LOVE TANK full! :) The first one is Words of Aff...

N ot just any home, but my husband's and my home... I am so glad to be back together with him again. It was a series of long flights and 'stomach filled with butterflies' feeling, but it was so worthed it! I had great times with my parents and siblings in Bali. My eczema eventually was gone after careful medication and additional treatment. Praise God! However, I missed Lan terribly... I cannot deny that! My life, my feelings are so much different after I have Lan in my life. Of course, in a good way! I felt I am not complete when we are apart. Thank God for such a wonderful husband I have! When we were finally together again, after two months, we hugged tightly. I was so speechless. Millions of emotions were bursting out of me. I was in joy. I pray that never again, I will be apart from him. Next time, if I must, I will take him along with me... And, now is blogwalking time! :D

Dearest my beloved husband, my huntun, my hunny bunnie, Thank you so so much for such a lovely and sweet surprise! I am so dazzled and touched by your tender LOVE... The red roses are so beautiful. As beautiful as your LOVE! I am so grateful to be loved by you! I thank The Lord each day for the wonderful you! No one but you completes me. I LOVE you, hun! You are the best decision I ever made and will always be! I am so happy that each second passes to bring me back to you. As for the time being, The Lord be The Protector of our LOVE. Let's celebrate our LOVE! Your xiao chun jun, your wify, your hunny bunnie. Bali, 13 February 2009 @ 22.34

W e're back from our Christmas holiday, both are sick of FLU (all the blocked/snorty noses and sore throats). Well, apart from being sick, we had a great time in Edinburgh. We took off by train on Tuesday (23.12.08) morning and arrived around 1 p.m. in Edinburgh. We were 'given' a very beautiful scenery along the way up there; green landscape with hills and mountains, sheeps feeding on the green grass, simply blissful! Arrived in Edinburgh Waverley station, the cold weather greeted us, praise The Lord it was dry all the way. By the time we were out of the station, there were so many people buzzing around... Oh my! This town is so busy! To me, Edinburgh is a pretty historical city. It is unique with the ups and the downs (good for exercising!), also, it has many little boutique-like shops. Cute! I myself, love it! The architectures are simply astonishing... it's like a modern era with a touch of the magnificent past. So unique and breathtaking! As tourists, we find E...

O n Sunday, Lan was so kind to buy me a silicone baking tray and a whisk (a mixer is a bit out of our pocket at this very moment!)... and so, at home, I immediately 'played' with my new toys to make a roll cake. Thinking that 15 yokes on the recipe is a bit too much for only two of us, I halved the recipe. Voila! After a lot of whisking (that made my arms sore) and 15 minutes in the oven, my cake was done! It looked good, but a bit too thin... What to do? What to do? If I were to roll it, it would break to pieces, so, I decided to cut them to squares and stack them together and putting generous amount of 'meises' in between the layers. Hence, it looked exactly like in the photo! Lan enjoyed it a lot and finished it not long after. I hope you enjoy the photo too! :) Aside from my kitchen activities, I have been busy with my emotion going here and there... With winter coming, my skin allergy (eczema) gets worse, resulting in lack of sleep and self-confidence issue :( PhD...

A fter sometime ago, my beloved friend, Since, 'showed off' her beautiful fried chicken on her blog specially for me (plus sending me an exclusive offline message to visit her blog), I would like to proudly present the fried chicken I cooked last night. After postponing for so long, because I could not find turmeric powder (bubuk kunyit) in the supermarket I usually shop, I finally found the powder sitting nicely on the shop shelf of an International food shop. Yay! Thank you Since for the easy breezy recipe, it was a blast! Lan loves it and I... *hmmm* feel like sitting at my home's dining room eating delicious fried chicken with warm rice and sweet soy sauce... Superb! We also had fried tofu (tahu goreng) and sambal matah. (The sambal matah was a bit of disaster, I forgot to put balacan on it hahaha!) Anyhow, we had a great dinner! Thanks again, Since! :) ( Jangan kapok ngomongin makanan sama aku ya hihi... ) As you see on the picture: (Click the photo to enlarge) I have...

A da banyak hal yang sedang terjadi beberapa hari ini. Aku lelah, aku sedih, aku marah, aku kecewa, aku menangis, aku tidak percaya... Namun semuanya memang nyata adanya. Maaf, tidak bisa berbagi tentang yang sedang berkecimpung di fikiranku, karena semuanya begitu pedih dan perih bagiku... Hanya doakan kami ya; aku, orang tuaku, saudara-saudaraku. Mintakan Tuhan kekuatan bagi kami. Saat ini, kami seperti keluarga yang berkabung dan kehilangan. Mintakan Tuhan supaya kami tetap satu melewati semua ini. Terima kasih, teman-temanku. Ps. Kemarin kami (Lan dan aku) mendapat berita duka, telah berpulang ke rumah Bapa, nenek tercinta Lan (Mama dari Papa mertuaku) dikarenakan gagal ginjal. Walau aku hanya bertemu satu kali, tanpa banyak kata, namun jauh di lubuk hatiku, aku menangis karena sirna sudah kesempatan untuk mengenalnya lebih dekat dan untuk dia mengenalku istri cucunya... My Lord, I will cry NO more! I will not let the evil laugh at my tears! 14.10.2008

H is soft whisper woke me up this morning. Ughhh... Cannot believe it has been one year already! Time flies, but through it all, I am so grateful... for my beloved husband, who would do anything for me. I am grateful to my Jesus, for my soulmate, for His providence and hands upon our little family. On this same beautiful day, is my best friend's birthday. One that I have known for so many years and I keep loving her more each day. And, I am so happy that since 2007, we celebrate this special date together until forever! So... Happy Birthday, my sister in Christ, Yulie! We both love you! This one whole year has been beautiful to me. Not because we never fought each other, believe me, we fought quite many times! It is beautiful that through all of those ups and downs, we willing to improve for each other and we really improve. Along the way, we compromise, we forgive and we think alike. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful one year! Thank you friends, for remembering, for the beautifu...

I t's always sad to tell story about how you parted with your loved ones... I still remember clearly that day we took the airport express coach service to the airport, shortly after we had dinner at home. It was Papa's cooking. Those last three days, I had diarrhea so badly. Mama was worried sick... maybe my body knew I was not happy to leave the home I just came into. So, for those last three days, I had to eat vegetables and rice only, no meat to ease my digestion system. Still, Papa's cooking was more than enough... I loved it and I am missing it now. The airport express coach took around one hour to get to the airport. I wished it would take longer, that way I could spend more time with my beloved Papa and Mama. The first stop of the coach was Terminal 3, the newest terminal of BCIA (Beijing City International Airport). We were all amazed... it is a beautiful airport, huge and magnificent. *I'll have to ask Lan to send me the photos so that I can show it to you ...