Journey of Happiness

W e are at the very end of 2007 now with so many memories to keep from the previous 12 months we experienced. There were sadness and joy immersed throughout the year. For both Lan and I, 2007 is the year we made a very important decision; to be together for the rest of our lives. Marriage was something that I did not expect to enter last year, but here I am a married and happy wife of a wonderful husband! I am continuously grateful for the 'one' Jesus has chosen to be with me for the rest of my life. Well, 2008... There are many exciting things, I believe, waiting for us. Honeymoon and going home to Beijing will be the two obvious ones. For the year to come, I am praying that I will keep learning to be a better and better wife for Lan and to help my family. Also that I will do great in my PhD study. Above all, I want to thrive to be a better daughter of my Father, Jesus Christ; to love, to serve and to be closer to Him each day of my life. Oh well, that's all for now. Jesus

W e received the first two Christmas cards Monday, which are from our supervisors. Well, the one from my supervisor is an interesting one! 'Enjoy your first Christmas being married!' That's what she wrote in the card. Hehehe... Both Lan and I laughed on that. It just sounds funny to us. Many people ask what are we doing in Christmas, where are we going to go. The answer is: nothing and nowhere. We do not plan anything particularly special for this Christmas, but I do look forward to being at home and relaxing for at least several days at home. It is after Christmas that we plan to shop some gifts to be brought back to China during Easter, it is because the sale starts then hehe... Right now we are still in the office, finishing few things before the year goes by, getting ready for the business next year, which are already piling up. The building is very quiet at this time of the year, as the students are already on holiday, and some of the lecturers do not come to the offi

J ust been to the doctor. The blood test is excellent *and so she said*. The problem is, she concluded, a muscular problem around my neck. She said the neck muscles are so tensed and, so, create the headaches. Hence, she suggested to do some neck exercises and have some massages. *Yey! I got Lan to massage my neck every night hihihihi....* Well, let's hope what she said is true, in that case I don't have to go and see the doctor again on 02 January 2008 (my next appointment). We had a huge fight last night, which proven to consume our energy so much, that dinner we just snored away and did not wake up until the morning (well, at least, I did!). Such an unpleasant experience that I really pray and hope and will try my best not to make it happen again. Yes, I admit, it was my fault. I was not supposed to leave you alone, I am sorry, dear... I learnt my lesson and will not do it again. Thank you, for giving me chances to improve. You are the greatest gift God has given to me, And

T his morning I was down ill again. I could not get sleep at all last night, my whole body was painful with eczema and it was just so annoying! So by the time I got to sleep was 5 a.m. in the morning and I was like a beaten chicken lying on the bed, exhausted. And there the headache strucked again! *doom!* So I asked Lan to go to the office by himself and to ring the doctor for the blood test results. When he came back at lunch time, he told me that the doctor said everything is normal in the result, but somehow, Lan is not convinced and insists to go see the doctor next week for further investigation of me. Well, I have to say that even I feel it is just so NOT right.

D espite of being married to a Chinese man, I have never been to China, which probably the most odd thing for a person to be married to a person and never even stepped a foot on her husband's origin nor met her parents-in-law before the marriage. Well, I had no excuses, but at that time it was not feasible for the time we had and the money, to have a trip to Beijing. Also, both families thought we will have plenty of chances to meet each other in the future time. And that future time for me is finally coming! After only meeting my parents-in-law (Papa and Mama) through chatting and webcam, I soon will have the chance to meet them in person! I am very excited and happy and cannot wait to see them. Next year we are going home! We plan for the Easter holiday in Beijing, I really look forward to see Papa, Mama and grandparents of Lan and maybe other family members! :) The only issue that I have to work on is my Chinese! So far, I have been improving my vocabularies from Lan, but not

F or the last 2 months, ever since I landed in UK, I have not been 100% healthy. There is always something that keep me in bed; severe headache, painful joints and sometime problematic pain in stomach. I don't know what is really going on with me. My supervisors and Lan are worried and keep telling me to go and see doctor, which I really am avoiding to do so simply because of the possible disappointment of long wait! However, today, I can't take it anymore! I went to book a doctor appointment. Thank God, I can see doctor tomorrow afternoon. I have been worried about my progress, because I spent lots of time staying at home, unable to get a grip of myself. Even checking email and posting on my blog are quite an effort to make. Anyway, I pray that whatever illness I have right now, God will take it away. Update: Been to the doctor yesterday and doctor required me to do a blood test on Friday and to come back and see her 2 weeks from now. Well, let's hope nothing terrible/cri

I t's my new layout! This numbered the sixth design I have made for my own blog. Hope you like it as much as I do. I loved the previous one, but I am giving a new look to my blog. I intentionally looked for a picture of chopsticks, because chopsticks symbolize a pair/couple that cannot be separated from each other. TO eat with chopsticks, you have to use both of them, impossible to use only one. :) Inseparable is you & me. Having you in my life, I am alone no more... dedicated to my one and only love, Lan. - nie, 16 November 2007

23 is officially my age now! Not as depressed as usually, simply because I have someone to be by my side all my life now... Well, I felt better yesterday (Saturday) and was looking forward to have a special birthday dinner with my lovely husband, Lan. Let me share my story of this year's birthday. 16 Nov 2007 Friday night, Lan came home later than I expected him to be, saying that he had to mark the bachelor students' assignments and got really busy. However, I did not realise that it was his excuse to run to city centre and bought my favourite cake, tiramisu. He came home with a box of chocolate and a black forest cake, apologizing for not being able to find tiramisu. I was already very happy though. He is so caring, that I don't want to ask for more. He is simply the best. We had bacons and potatoes for dinner and everything went normal. After dinner, we watched Naruto (the Japanese weekly anime) together. When we finished, he excused himself to the kitchen to cook some w

M y birthday is days to go, bt I am not feeling entirely well this whole week. Have not been to the office at all since Tuesday, fever, headaches and eczema problems and many others that are making me not myself this week. We went to do the grocery shopping on Tuesday night, thinking I was better, but I felt like fainting inside the shop, dizzy and drowsy. *sob* Then heavy rains and winds accompanied us along the way home, making us all wet. More to that, I got worse. Well, I was excited that we are going to celebrate my birthday with a dinner in an Italian restaurant, which I already booked several days ago. Now, I lost the mood completely, but seeing Lan so excited about it, I feel that I am selfish, if I just cancel the dinner. Please pray that I feel much better tomorrow, so we can enjoy my birthday. Special to Anita Christine: A very HAPPY and BLESSED birthday just for you! I pray for abundant love, peace and joy throughout your life! May happiness follows you and your family in e

A s humans, we cannot help ourselves to think about the future. 'Where would we live for sure?', 'What would we do after we finish study/this job?', 'What kind of family we want?' and many other questions regarding our lives in 'sometime in the future' term. We have been going through this issue lately. As a new little family, often in our conversations, we cannot avoid to discuss what kind of expectation of the future we personally want. Lan, being the head of the family, somehow tries so hard to get my expectation of our family right so that, hopefully, he will be able to make it come true. However, it is such a vague and ambiguous issue to discuss. Who knows where the future leads? Only God knows. So, as many times as we discuss about future, that many times I told him to just lead it 'flows'. I believe God knows what's best for us, He has the perfect reasons of where He will reside us at, what job He will give us to do and for all the oth

A s some of you are aware of, my 23rd birthday is 2 weeks away. Well... like never before, I receive a birthday present very early this year. Lan bought me a bright red coat to replace my old black coat that he does not like. He keeps saying that I look old when wearing the black coat, so he had me to leave the black coat in Bali. You can see me wearing the black coat from ~here~ . That means when I returned to UK, I did not have any coat with me (as I only had one coat, it is too expensive to have more than one!). Hence, I struggled with the cold weather, only by wearing jacket. So, as the weather grows colder, my beloved Lan bought me this very bright coat, which he chose and likes it very much. We first saw it in Chester when we had a day trip there last month in a shop named ' Coast ', but did not immediately buy it. Then we looked around in Liverpool for other alternatives, but he only likes that one. Tried to find it in Coast shops in Liverpool, they only have the black

S ince we don't really plan to have baby yet for now, the stomach ache I had last week was quite worrying both of us. Lan really got cold sweat when I started to say "Maybe... I am really preg..." I did not even get the chance to finish the sentence, he stopped me right away. Heheh... Well, a number of people do ask me about the 'good' news and even suggest me to buy a testpack. Thank you very much for being so caring. :) Even my mother asked me the same question. But, the answer is... not yet . Sorry to disappoint you, friends, but I am not pregnant at the moment. Why am I so sure? Because my monthly guest has arrived! *yey!* Well, it is not we do not want to have baby. It is just that we are not ready yet and, more importantly, we do not have a stable income for now. We depend on our scholarships of our study at the moment and for the next 3 years. So, I don't think it is really wise to have baby now and, thus, we are postponing it for the time being until w

T wo nights ago, I was going through the TV's channels until I was stuck to this one particular program named "Dispatched: Abortion, what you need to know". Apparently, UK government legally allows abortion in this country, as long as the pregnancy has not reached the 24th week. The reason is that: the scientific study shows that the fetus (baby in the womb) can only start to feel pain in the 24th week, where the brain is fully developed. Some agree with the 'law' and feel comfortable to carry on the abortion activities in their clinics/hospitals, thinking that as long as the fetus cannot feel pain, they are not 'fully' alive. Not all agree for the same reason. One lady that spoke in the programme, said that we should make abortion legal in the thoughts of the women; What if they are not ready? What if pregnancy and baby become obstacle to their future? And many more what ifs... Some, clearly, disagree to making abortion as legal. One argument is that pre

L ama ga post pake bahasa Indo... tapi sayangnya post kali ini mesti bilang kalo penyakit males ngeblog lagi meracuni aku! Plus seminggu ke belakang perut agak bermasalah, I got some kind of funny feeling! Makan, tidur, duduk pun ga enak. Rasanya seperti masuk angin, tapi kadang juga seperti ditusuk-tusuk oleh tusuk konde. Tidur pun tak nyenyak, selalu kebangun akan mimpi-mimpi yang tak kumengerti... Hayah... ada apa dengan badan ini?!

B een awhile since my last post... I really don't know what to share. From two weeks ago, my routinity has started; going to the 'office' from Monday to Friday. I call it a great thing, being a PhD student in this country (or maybe just UofL , they give us so many facilities. We got a shared office, where we have our own private PC (which includes the fast Internet) and our own desk. We even get all the stationary, coffee and teas provided for us! (You just have to bring your own cup!) However, those facilities really pay off what we are actually doing. Real research, real thinking. No more lectures, you work on your own motivation under the guidance of your supervisors. Well, I have to thank The Lord for giving me such nice supervisors, that I knew well during my Master degree. But I am not pleased to say that I am having a hard time coming back to study after one year of rest. Still, I am trying my best, although sometimes it does give me a severe headache. Another mo

E ntering the marriage life is never easy, especially after the 'wedding fever' is over, honeymoon is done and life returns to the daily routines, where fights start to occur and not rarely the couple starts to think "Did I marry the right person?" The 'experienced' people often say that the first few years of your marriage is critical and, yes, I agree to them. It is the 'shocking' time *if you wish to call it that way* of knowing the very trueself of your husband/wife, that includes all the bad and worst habits, which you never found when you both were still in the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. In my personal experience, after several months of marriage, we had arguments sometimes and that, I think, is not a strange thing. However, what we (Lan & I) realise is that the arguments or the fights are not caused by mistakes, but by our single life's habits. I remember my husband said to me, we are not robots, we cannot change the habits we

H i guys! I'm not sure whether you are wondering how I've been, but here I am! Back to my blogging world, back to LIVERPOOL, back to be with my HUSBAND and back to be BUSY! Hehehe... I arrived at 18.00 UK time on Monday, and every since then, many things I had to do. Buying household appliances; toaster, iron, microwave, groceries, etc. and tidying up the flat. Yep, we are living in a flat, which is owned by the University, we consider it nice enough to live in. It's just... it has a bath, but NO shower! That's the weirdest thing that I've ever known about a bathroom hahaha... Still, we gotta live with it. We are to be thankful that The Lord has provided us with somewhere to live. During these several days, I got sick a number of times too. I got too tired and so sickness strikes. Even now, I am still recovering and getting used to the time and weather of UK again. Above all, I have to say that... I am facing what the real marriage is. Have a blessed weekend,

T omorrow is Hans (my little brother)'s birthday. He is going to be 11 years old! So, A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU, brother! Well, this whole week, I have been doing something that I had never done before. I am a private English teacher now! Only for one week though, because Lee, the Korean girl who is my student now, rang me last Friday. However, she said that she is having a hard time during our lessons, because I am giving her the tasks which are similar to IELTS questions (Because that's exactly what she asked me to teach her!). I would say she is doing fine :) She is good, just need some more confidence. Moving on to my excitement! Well... two days to go! I am very very happy! At the very moment, Lan is busy with moving into our new flat. I hope he is doing fine. Jesus be with him. Although my flight is still 2 days to go, my PhD supervisor has contacted me to arrange our first meeting next week. *Oh God... the study will start again very very soon!* The great thing i

A week before my departure back to be with my husband, my beloved brother, Erwin flew back to London to return to Brighton for his last year of Bachelor. It's sad to face that the family is parted again after these 3 months we were all together and complete. However, there is nothing we can do about it... this is the consequence of our decision leaving home to pursue our education. What I really know in my heart is that, although we are far away by distances, but our hearts are always connected to each other and missing each other. Thank you Jesus and Mami Papi for teaching us the importance of unity. I remember when we were little... Playing like friends, fighting like mad... Loving each other endlessly. We grew up as sister and brother and best friends. Although unsaid, we are inseparable by hearts. Win, I thank The Lord to have you. It's always been sweet time. just for 'Nyo' Win. Love you!

T his morning, when I turned the page of the daily calendar, I realized that I have been home for exactly 12 months now. I remember how happy and sad I was, leaving Liverpool and arriving in Denpasar; happy to see my whole family again and sad to be apart from Lan. Many things have happened in the last 12 months. Up and down, laughters and tears, joy and sadness and many more. However, as you all know, the big event of all is our wedding in July. Lan told me many things have changed in Liverpool. They keep 'refurnishing' the city. Well, going back on the 17th, I am excited to see the changes in the city, but more importantly, I am overjoyed to be reunited with my husband again. Not that I will not be sad leaving my family, I am sure I will, but, now, I have my own family to build, to take care of and to be with. Things are much different to one year ago, in a good way. :) Well, less than 2 weeks to meet my husband again. I miss him so much... I've proven many times, L

Marriage is not one-hundred-percent of happiness, really... The reality is that... There are things that you have to leave behind, There are things that you gain while stepping forward into the new beginning. Once, you belong to a family. Now, you own your own family. It's a kingdom that both of you, your partner and you, have to build to be strong, full of love, peace and joy. Family should be a kingdom that imparts the joys of Heaven in Earth. - nie, 06 May 2007 I once wrote my thought above about wedding and marriage in this post before I was officially married. And yes, things changed and are still continuing to change. But, hey, marriage is not as scary as some people think it is. Well, this post is to answer all of you, who have asked me *and are going to ask me* about how my married life has been. I'd have to say that this post might not be the definite answer from me, because, as most of you already knew, I have to be apart from my husband, Lan, for 2 mon

L ong time no update, Anita asked me why, hehehe... I've been unwell and busy lately. The maid has gone home for two weeks, so... *if you can guess right* I am her replacement. Well, not 100% replacing her, otherwise, I will be lying on the hospital's bed. Mum and I work together, although, for the last two days, I had to force myself to get out of bed and forget the painful headaches on my head. I've been sick for 2 weeks, now. My nose can't breath and, most of the time, it affects my ears, I can't hear *sob*, then, the headache follows. Sometimes, it is really painful that I feel like fainting, it's like there are many nails going through my head. I went to the doctor, yesterday, but he said I'm OK (really?!). I left the doctor with disbelief and complaint for such an expensive cost. He's really making money, isn't he?! Well, that's all I have for now. I am very tired and thinking of having an early night. Tomorrow awaits with its business

17 September 2007 is the date I will certainly reunite with you. Honey, I miss you... Every breath I breath, Every tears I cry, Every blink of my eyes, and every thought of my mind They always think of you. Wait for me and miss me there. Love, Sherly It has been awhile since I made a poem. I think it's coming back to me hehe...

Update: I got my passport and visa now. However, my plan to fly to UK asap has to be postponed. For some reasons the British Embassy has given me a visa that will only be valid on 17 September 2007! That's a month from now... Well, can't do much about that, except wait for another month. I am so sorry, honey... T hat's the most important sentence that I should and have been saying these two days! Thanks also for all of your prayers, my dear friends. As planned, I went for an interview to the British Embassy yesterday for my UK visa application at Floor 19th Deutsche Bank Building, Jl. Imam Bonjol, Jakarta at 10.00 a.m. The interviewer was a very nice lady. She asked many questions, starting from my course title, Lan's details, future plans and the amount of funding available for my living costs during my study. Thanks Jesus for the extra calmness He gave me that I could answer each and every question correctly and comfortably. At the end of the interview, she to

"B een a month already!" Lan said that to me in his email. I wonder which is the real reality; time flies or we've been apart too long? We miss each other terribly that we've gone through some sicknesses one after another. The visa application has not given us a happy news. Instead, on Tuesday, 07 August 2007 at 10.00 a.m., the British embassy requires me to attend an interview in Jakarta. So, here is an extra effort to get my visa. Please, dear friends, kindly pray for me and for this visa application that it will come out quickly. Anyhow, being apart gives us many important lessons; about our feelings towards each other, the importance of each other's presence, the meaning of our marriage and many others. Being apart does not mean we don't grow, instead, it makes us much mature and gives us great understanding about our marriage. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing this to happen. I believe that You have a great plan for us. Amen! OK, friends, that's al

S tarting today, 25th July 2007, until Saturday, 28th July 2007, at GOR Ngurah Rai, Bali Gospel Festival 2007 will be held every evening at 18.00. Today, there were many miracles happened! The deaf can hear, the crippled can walk and many more! I am full of joy to see Jesus really touched Balinese people with His grace and compassion. Moreover, I am glad to be involved as an usher (so is my brother Erwin) to help my dad and the other team members. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for the outcome of my visa application. The application went in on Tuesday (yesterday) and 'they' (the appointed agent) said that it will come out in 3 working days, so we shall see. Lan is eagerly wanting me to return ASAP and I am so impatiently wanting to be with him again. We are missing each other like crazy now! So, friends, please help in prayers for my visa application, so that I can be with my husband again, quickly. God bless you all! UPDATE: Visit my prawedding photos album at my MULT

Y esterday, I received an email from my Supervisor. She told me that the Head of Department of Computer Science has agreed to give me a £3500 bursary for my MPhil (PhD) course! Praise Jesus! Blessings and more blessings keep coming... and I can't thanks my Jesus enough.

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

A s I promised, I have uploaded our wedding photos to my Multiply. *Since in the villa there is a free unlimited (not stable, but you can't complain! it's free!) Internet, so here I am uploading as many photos as I can* So, enjoy the photos and you are very very welcomed to leave comments on each photo. I hope browsing through the photos, you will feel our happiness too! The URL is http://nietis.multiply.com/photos/album/20 . Thank you and God bless you!

I am -sort of- back now! It went very well on the day! It feels like a dream, but it is so so so true! A huge thanks to all of you, my dear friends, for the prayers, supports and the congratulations! We really can't do this without your precious prayers. Here is one of the wedding photos we took on the day. The others are coming soon. So, I hope you all will be patient. Right now, we are waiting to be picked up by Villa Danoya 's car. Yes, we are going to have private time together for 4 nights here in Bali. However, this is not a honeymoon, Lan calls it pre-honeymoon time hehehe... We are still deciding and planning about where we should have our honeymoon. :) Ok friends, this is a quick update from me! And we are officially announced as... Husband & Wife We are Mr. and Mrs. Zhang !!

N ervous? I am! Stressed out? I Unconsciously am! Happy? I am! Feel as if I am dreaming? Definitely! Often I look at my wedding dresses and think "Am I really going to be a bride in several days?" Busy? Well... finishing up the preparation. No matter how up and down I feel, The Lord puts in my heart an overflowing joy to welcome our miraculous wedding day. And if you bother to ask, YES, I cannot wait to pick Lan up from the Ngurah Rai Airport! He is arriving at 12.05 pm on Monday! So, friends, maybe this is the last post here before I become a wife! Hehehe... See you very soon and Jesus bless you always! Image's credit to: ~xStarSoulNightx @ deviantART

I am excusing myself from all of you. The time for Internet becomes so little because I have to spend a great deal of time to organise our wedding. Please forgive me if I can't visit your blogs as often as I always do, but if I have time, I will try to visit as many of your blogs as I can. Hopefully, after the wedding, I can visit all of your blogs again. :) Please keep both of US in your prayers, friends. We appreciate that very much. We would also like to thank you all in advance for all the prayers, the congratulations and all of the beautiful wishes you have given us. Jesus bless you all! Ps. I will soon take my shoutbox off for temporarily. Therefore, I will prefer you to post your message for me in my previous post. Sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks! :) It started with two shy ‘ILU’s in the friendly e-mails, hoping that we won’t hurt each other’s hearts for what happened in the past. It continued with a statement that “ …emotion is like a spring. The more you pres

B usiness are growing taller and I become even more tired and emotional. What my friends said were all true, sometimes things does not go the way I want them to be with the planning of our wedding. Well, today, I learnt an interesting skill! To search words or more exactly chinese characters using the dictionary! My Lord, it is more like mathematics and Sudoku! It is the most unusual way of looking through dictionary, hahahaha! But I like it and it will definintely help me in the future to learn Chinese Mandarin when I am in England :) Tomorrow, Lan has met an appointment to ring my parents at 2 pm UK time, and he requested me to be with my parents, in case there is any misunderstandings. Oh well, I am very happy about accepting the request because it means I will hear his voice again after a while :) Oh well that's all for now! Take care everyone! God bless!

H ola amigos!! Yup yup yup! I am back already. A day later than I mentioned in the previous post. I was too tired last night to tell you all that I am back. Well, I had so much fun in Nusa Penida!! There were 39 of us in the team; 27 people from American's worship team named 'The Burn' and 13 of the Indonesians. Throughout the mission, I mostly played the role as an interpreter, being in the middle of the Americans and all of my Indo friends. It was such a huge blessing to me and helped me a lot in growing my faith higher. It is amazing to see how those Americans, who flew all the way for 36 hours leaving all the comfort and nice feelings of their own places, did NOT complain a single time about the condition in Nusa Penida. They ate the food with abundant of joy and gratefullness, whether they really like it or not, too spicy or too tasteless or maybe also too disgusting for them. It is such a great example to learn to see how they work together hand-in-hand in unity wit

H iatus for two days! Friends, I will be away for two days for a church medical trip to Nusa Penida with a team of 27 Americans missionaries, named "The Burn". I am very looking forward to having a great time there! :) I will be leaving at 5.30 am in the morning. *I hope I can wake up hahahah...* See you soon! :) God bless! Love you until end of Earth Love you until end of Sun Love you until end of Milky Way Love you until end of universe - by Lan. They are just simple things that you said... But they touch me deeply to my inner heart. Thank you, my love.

I have to testify that our Lord Jesus Christ has been very generous to both of US ! Throughout March until now, miracles upon miracles has been continuously granted by Him. From the little things to the big and impossible things. I even asked my husband-to-be , "Can you actually count how many miracles Jesus has given and blessed us with? Can we think how much blessings He has poured upon us?" For me, personally, I can't count them, His blessings and miracles are too numerous to be counted, even just for this wedding. How much more are they for the whole of my life? Simply invaluable and uncountable! Three days ago, my dad had a meeting with many churches leader in Bali for an important event. There, my dad actually told his close friends about my 'simple' wedding that we will have a holy matrimony at the church and a simple dinner with family and close friends. To me, it is more than enough. As long as we, Lan & I, are happy with that simple but full of

50 days to our wedding day, I feel like a busy bee, because I have so many things to think about and to sort out before D-day. The main priority at the moment is the invitations !! The invitations will be done tomorrow, so now, I am busy sorting out the addresses of my parents' friends, because 99% of the guests will be my parents' friends! Writing all the labels for the invitations, making sure that I write the right names, so nobody will complain. *God, that's a headache!* Honestly, although we want a simple wedding, I have to admit that even the simplest wedding in this world is still complicated and you have to think about so many things. Thank God, wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime moment!! With so many things to go through, this will be one more reason for me to never think about divorce and remarry. It will be a nightmare! Hehehe... I am sure my fiance will be happy reading this hahahaha... :P

M y husband-to-be 's arrival date has been set! He has sent me the flight details, which also means that he already BOUGHT the tickets! I am very very glad to receive the news! Monday, 25 June 2007 @ 12.05 p.m., will be the time he is arriving from the faraway country! And the journey to our unseparable union begins from that day. I can't wait to see him ... I miss him very much and I hope time will fly fast so that I can hug and cherish him all I can. Marriage is not one-hundred-percent of happiness, really... The reality is that... There are things that you have to leave behind, There are things that you gain while stepping forward into the new beginning. Once, you belong to a family. Now, you own your own family. It's a kingdom that both of you, your partner and you, have to build to be strong, full of love, peace and joy. Family should be a kingdom that imparts the joys of Heaven in Earth. - nie, 06 May 2007 image's credit to DeviantART's V

I am feeling much better ever since the last post I wrote. I am thanking Jesus for how He answered my prayers through the beloved people of mine. I really experience the love and grace of Jesus through the people that He puts around me; my parents, my new cece Mee-a (who happens to be here and spending days with me in fun and craze hahaha!), Pastor Arifin T and my beloved Daddy in KL. Thanks also for all of your encouragement and cheering up! God bless you all! That's all for now, I am very tired with the new busy days of mine! 'Til the next post!

Hebrews 6: 11-12 (modified) 11. And I (your faithful Father) desire that each one of you (Sherly) show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12. that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. I am in the position of strenghtening my faith, my hope and my patience. There is something really important happening that makes me feel confused, lose hope and want to give up. I am refreshing my memory of all those great things that are impossible to the eyes of men; those that my faithful Father, Jesus Christ, has done continually for me in my life. I am taking a decision that I will not give up, I will not be weaken anymore by the situation I am in. Instead, I will stand up for my faith, for I trust Him more than anything in this world and I believe nothing is too hard for Him to do! Father, I am clinging to you and I know all that You have promised me, they are not empty promises, for they surely WILL come t

E ver since the first posting about Lan-lan, my first turtle pet, I have been very keen on taking care my little cute pets. Now, I have 5 turtles! I love them and keep close observation on them. They all have names; Lan-lan (the first turtle I have), Fatty & Lin-lin (the second pair of turtles I got), and Scooby & Snoopy (the last pair I just bought during Easter holiday). Everytime I went back to Surabaya, I brought them with me, clean their box and change their water everyday (I use drinking water! Hehehe... what a special turtle! :P) At the moment, I am very concerned about one of my turtles, named 'Fatty'. He is not eating his food and does not stretch his neck when I put my finger above him as usual. He keeps avoiding all his friends and stays at one side by himself. I am very sad about this :( Anybody has ever known this problem with their turtle pets? If any of you do, please let me know what to do...

H i, friends! Thank you very much for congratulating us for the wedding and for the birthday greetings for him . We are planning for a very simple wedding, since we really don't have any money at all. So right now, we are really clinging and depending to our Jesus Christ. Please kindly help in prayers, so that this wedding will be organised as we planned. We are only having a holy matrimony and a simple family dinner. For us, our Lord is number one, so, the matrimony is the most important event in our wedding. So far, things are progressing amazingly because of God's grace. I am really thankful to my Jesus, He is faithful and really is my Provider. Glory be unto Jesus always! Amen! These days, I, unconciously, often worry about the wedding. So many 'what if's come to my mind that it disturbs my sleep. However, since it's a once-in-a-lifetime moment for me, I will enjoy every step of my journey preparing this wedding. :) Notice, I have changed my layout to a ro

T oday, as promised, I rang him for his birthday. Seemed that he was looking forward to the call very much that I could hear how happy he was to receive my phone call from his ‘hello’. We talked of many things, had some good laughs and times of releasing our longing towards each other. Although it was only a half-an-hour conversation, I know we are both really happy for the phone call. We both missed each other’s voices very much, the laughter, and the jokes, but we both understood that the cost of a phone call can shock everybody if we did not keep in mind how long we have been speaking. Yes, international (long distance) relationship is really very expensive! However, for the sake of his birthday, it is an exception. I want him to be happy always! Well, I know this is the last birthday of his to be spent without me being close, and he knows that too! Starting July this year, we will be united as one. Yes, what you are thinking is right, my friends! I am getting married!

T he trip to Surabaya, my birthtown this time was not very pleasant. I was not very well when we started the journey, and I was worse when I got to Surabaya. 38 degrees Celcius of fever, bad headaches, sore throat and painful ears, that on the Friday, I had to go to the emergency room of Budi Mulia Hospital (simply because no doctors were opened that day!). Had an injection, which really helped me to feel better, but made my bum a bit sore. Anyway, sadly enough, I am still in a bad condition, because I am still feeling tired, we just got back from Surabaya this morning at 3 a.m.! Despite the sickness, I was still moving on with the business. We went to Pasar Atom, eat some Hay Nam Rice *yummy!*, walked around for a bit, then we went to Tunjungan Plaza. Oh! I was in Surabaya to celebrate birthdays of two special persons! Mee-a and my cousin, Lia. Mee-a's birthday was 06 April 2007. She came to my house around mid-day and had to wait for a little bit while I was in the hospital.

F riends, I will be on hiatus for the weekend. I am going to Surabaya again for Easter holiday by car. It's my cousin's 17th birthday and we already promised that we will be there for the celebration... So even with Lapindo mud in Porong, we are still going. Pray for a safe journey for us. God bless you all and have a great Easter! :) Update: Today, I met Since . Yesterday, she phoned me after she asked my phone number before she left Holland. Well, we finally met and had a very great chat! I am very glad to meet her! Hopefully, after I come back from Surabaya next week, we will be able to meet up again! Looking forward to that, Sin! ;)

not much really... just want to say that I am missing you badly and that I love you very much. Keep thinking about you in my days, hours and seconds. Feel like hugging you tightly and never let you go... So that you are forever mine. - nie, 01 April 2007

T oday, after so many rehearsals, Grace performed sucessfully at the 5th school art exhibition. First, she participated as one of the dancers for the marching band of the school. It went well, apart from the ugly costume and the wet yard of the school because it rained a little in the morning. The marching band played four songs. Two of them that I remember was Oblada obladi and cucak rowo, the other two I forgot. After the marching band is finished with their performance, the art exhibition started. We quickly changed Grace's costume, because she was the third on the list to perform. As usual, in Indonesia, they have introduction speeches from various people, which, thinking that the audience is students, they are really useless and boring hahaha... The first performance was modelling and then continued by a solo performance of girl, singing 'you raised me up'. Not bad at all. I actually adore those kids, they are very brave and confident in performing. Then, it was

Sweetie, I miss you more. You are my day. You are my night. I miss you more and more. Please show up. God bless us. - Him , 24 March 2007, 2:30 pm (UK time) Honey, you are making me sad and fly at the same time... :(

S udah dua hari ini kota Denpasar diguyur hujan yang cukup lebat. Angin kencang pun menemani hujan yang menurunkan temperatur yang akhir-akhir ini cukup tinggi. Kegerahan serasa hilang ditelan dingin dan sejuknya hujan. Aku bersyukur, Tuhan tahu saat yang tepat untuk menurunkan hujan dan menongolkan matahari. Meskipun dunia ini berteriak-teriak bahwa iklim bumi ini sudah semakin kacau balau dan tak terkontrol akibat global warming dan lubang ozone yang menganga, aku tetap percaya bahwa hujan dan sinar matahari semua itu ada di dalam kedaulatan Tuhan yang Maha Esa. Lebatnya hujan tetap punya efek samping. Di rumahku, contohnya, di luar hujan, di dalam pun ada hujan. Kebocoran di beberapa tempat tak terelakkan, apalagi di salah satu sudut kamarku, sudah seperti keran bocor saja. Tapi ya sudahlah, toh kita manusia sudah diberi hujan secara cuma-cuma. Udara dingin begini, aku jadi ingat dia . Aku kangen... pelukan nya tiada duanya. *blush*

H ello... hello... hello! I am back in Denpasar now after 'escaping' from Nyepi to Surabaya. It was a very tiring and busy journey back and forward, but with my family, I was enjoying my time as much as I could. The journey Denpasar-Surabaya pp actually put me in a thought of "when will I be like this again with my family? Soon, I will be leaving to do my PhD back in United Kingdom". I will surely miss the time I spent with my family. In Surabaya, we went to TP , Pasar Atom, BG Junction, and several restaurants including cafesera and Banana leaf. Hufff... My feet were sore and tired. We also went to kota Batu (a little town close to Malang). It had been a long time since the last time I went there. Many have changed, but it is still a cool-weathered town, the water was cold too! The good thing was I managed to meet several of my uncles (whom I rarely meet) and aunties. Surabaya... no matter what, it is still my birth town. I am very attached to it. :) I think this

P asti semua yang di Indonesia sudah pada tahu kalo hari Senin tanggal 19 Maret 2007 nanti umat Hindu bakal ngerayain Hari Nyepi. Kalau yang pernah tinggal di Bali pas hari Nyepi, pasti tahu banget deh... pada hari itu, kita ga boleh nyalain lampu (api dan apapun yang bercahaya), gak boleh keluar rumah, dan gak boleh gaduh atau ribut-ribut selama 24 jam! Pokoknya sesuai namanya "Nyepi", selama 24 jam itu bali jadi sepi seperti kota mati, tidak ada satu orang pun yang boleh terlihat di luar kecuali sang pecalang-pecalang. Siapa itu pecalang? Mereka adalah orang-orang Bali yang sudah terpilih untuk menjaga keamanan Bali, untuk acara-acara apapun tak terkecuali Nyepi. Biasanya, kalau ada yang melanggar, contohnya ketahuan nyalain lampu, rumahnya pasti dilempar batu. Tapi kalau kebetulan pecalangnya baik hati, ya ditegur aja, diperingati. Nah, kalau keluargaku gak pernah betah untuk ngejalanin Nyepi di rumah. Pokoknya gak bisa deh gelap-gelapan! Siasat kita di saat Nyepi tuh,