Journey of Happiness

W e had a great great time in Paris for 5 days. I would say it was NOT enough... I wanted to stay longer, but maybe it's the sign we should return there soon :) We spent the first 2 days in Disneyland, made me feel like a little child going into a fantasy land! Then the third day we went to Eiffel tower and Arc de Triomphe. Fourth day was spent at Notre Dame, Musee de Louvre and Champ de Elysees. Fifth day, we went to Chateau de Versailles before heading back to Liverpool. Those 5 days were spent with lots and lots of queuing, burning feet, tiredness, good food, happiness and fun! Now we're back to the reality that we have only a few days here for packing, cleaning up and all the other stuffs to do before flying out from Manchester for the one last time to Bali and then to Beijing. I will keep those sweet memories of Paris in my head for now, maybe once we're settled I might write them down in this blog. :)

I n a few hours we are off to Paris for our 5 days of VERY belated honeymoon!!! *woohoo* I am excited and feeling so surreal... we finally got to go this time after a fail attempt back in 2008! I'm praying for good weather and awesome holiday! I am just so so thankful for this opportunity! Praise The Lord! He is good all the time, no matter what. :) See you when we come back.

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

W e are leaping with JOY! Lan's passport has arrived this afternoon! I was actually jumping to my husband's embrace when I received the envelope! My heart and mind constantly saying: "Prayer works!" and "God never forsakes us!" Oh I am so so so happy! I thank The Lord very much! Also, I thank my parents, daddy Philip and daddy Arifin! Not forgeting, thank you to all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ and all of my friends. Thank you for the encouragement, the support and, most importantly, the prayers! Tomorrow, we are going to send our passports to the French embassy to get the Schengen visa. Another battle to face, but I am so strengthened right now that I have so much faith that we will get the visa on-time! Another prayer battle, but I trust in Jesus. In Him alone, we put our trust. Thank you!

Y ou may be bored because I keep talking about Lan's passport not being back yet. Well, we both are exhausted, to be honest... However, starting from last night, I decided to continually pray in my heart. I am knocking the heaven's door. I am clinging to Jesus' unfailing love and might. We are surrendering to Him, whatever comes may, but our God is the God who can do, even, the impossible! No authority, no hindrances can stop God's plan to happen. Amen! I changed my point of view... Through this, we will appreciate and cherish the time The Lord gives for us to enjoy even more. He knows what He is planning, and I trust, His plans are to build us not to destroy. Thus, I am clinging to The Lord. I am trusting in the power of prayers, and... I am holding on tightly to His promise to hear whatever I ask in Jesus' name! Sekarang lagi jamannya award dan contract ya?! Well, dapet ini dari Febrie . Thanks ya! :) And here's the contract! After serious and cautious conside...

W aiting for Lan's passport to return has become something worrying. I dreamt of it to return in our hands, and last night was the second time! Seriously, it was not a very pleasant sleep, in fact, very tiring... What is going on?! We are so anxious, hoping, day by day, it will return NOW. As the time to our Paris honeymoon is drawing closer, I am going insane... Don't know what to do... In fact, we can do NOTHING about it... Lord, we cling to You. Only You can do the impossible... *speechless...*

O nly the fourth day of the year 2008, yet, we are already facing an anxious situation. Lan submitted his passport for a visa extension in early November 2007, thinking that it was way too early since his visa will not expire until March this year. However, since we are planning for a honeymoon and a trip back to Beijing, I kept pushing him to send it early to avoid any problems. Well, thought it was 'too' early enough to send it in November was a bit of a mistake! His passport is not back yet after 8 weeks of process and this morning he rang the UK immigration to ask the status of his visa extension. They said it is still under consideration ! ~ Well, what is more to consider?! He has all the documents they need and he is a STUDENT, for the love of GOD! It is not as if he is working or anything... ~ I just can't understand why it takes so long to do it when we pay such an expensive price of almost £300! I have been mad the whole day! Simply because, we are supposed to appl...

C ontinuing my story about our prehoneymoon! Actually on the night of 07 July, after we said good-bye to Yulia, we swam for a little while. The water was so cold that both of us were shivering. Do you think it's romantic to take a swim under the starry night with your husband?! Hehehehe... Anyway it was fun! :) The next day we had an early morning. It was Sunday, 08 July 2007, we took a taxi at 6.30 to take us to the church, GBI ROCK Lembah Pujian, that is the same church we had our holy matrimony. We have arranged to meet my parents there, so that after the service finished we went home with them. After getting the swimming suits, we headed back to the villa. Grace and my parents swam until afternoon while Lan slept because he was so tired. As for me, I just watched TV and sometimes browsed around the Internet. For dinner, my dad took us to Pepito Restaurant (close to the Ngurah Rai International Airport). We had quite a big dinner there, that afterwards all of us had difficult...

T his afternoon, Lan already left to fly back to Manchester, United Kingdom. We both felt that we shouldn't even let each other go, but... he had to go, so I let him go and take my heart with him to thousands miles away. Anyway, only after Lan went, then I get the time to share with you all about the days after the wedding. As I mentioned we went to Villa Danoya on 6th July 2007 for a 4 nights pre-honeymoon trip. Yes, it's a pre-honeymoon, which means that the real honeymoon is coming up. We are still discussing the right time for it and the destination. Well, I hope it is coming really soon. 06 July 2007 We were picked up by the Villa's car at around 2 pm at that day. Going with us were Han , Erwin and Yulia . They came along for a swim. And so they swam until afternoon, while I was enjoying the free Internet facility from the Villa hehehehe... At night, after dinner at Cafe Tahu with my parents, they dropped us at Galeria 21 Cineplex. We watched Transformer. I have t...