*the love and grace of God in my life..*

Sunday, December 29, 2002

"and this is my cry..my only desire..is to be with you Lord..now and forever..and it's more than a song..my only desire..is to being with You..is to being with You.."

listening to hillsong's blessed album now..

"i stand before you Lord..and give You all my praise..Your love is all i need..Jesus, You're all i need..my life belongs to You..You gave Your life for me..Your grace is all i need..Jesus, You're all i need.."
the ever famous 'now that you're near'. sang it during service today. after quite a long time..yea.

haha..now im so tired i dun even blog everyday, which is wad i used to do so. but anyway..my week has been great nevertheless. had youth leaders meeting yday. not much involvements on our part cos eric chong was chairing the meeting..haha. he prepared everything oso.. yup, had a late lunch or mayb early dinner at pasta-mania after that with him, tina, huiwen and arlene. after that, went to jp to catch a show with eric chong, huiwen, marie, zhongfa, angel. we watched '2 weeks notice' hmm..actually thot it would be a nice show but well, turned out to be average lor. not as nice as i thot it would be. kinda can expect the ending..haha. typical. anyway, had a nice time with them lahz. yup..

today met charlie before going for service. thinks he might be considering joining our church after all. not so sure yet thou. gotta see how things go lahz. went with charlie, wilson, stanley and arlene for lunch. hmm..juz realised it's been a long long time since i last ate lunch at the foodcourt at level 3 after service. haha. went for youth after that. more of a session of thanksgiving today. gilbert led worship for the first time. whoa..not bad! hah. reali glad to see him grow so much these few months. yup..
and after that..that eric chong!!! sabo....!! his arrow not bad lor.. asked me to share on 'speaking in tongues'..i was hoping he will call arlene instead..[oopssiee..haha].
wah..den when i went up there, for the first time, i felt so nervous. usually, it's okie standing in front of everyone. even when i give testimony in church, it seems fine too. but then somehow..i dun feel that good today. maybe cos i was super un-prepared and my mind was like totally blank when he called my name. argh!! i dun like that feeling. haha. somehow, i survived that arrow of cuz..haha. eric chong shared a little about speaking in tongues and slaining.. den had a session of thanksgiving whereby some people shared on how God has carried them thru this year.
after youth, went to liberty with becky and qiufeng to get the food for tmr's pot-bless. had dinner with qiufeng; as well as a time of catching up and sharing.

back home now..slacking. sighing..when i see the state of my room now. it has never been so messy b4. argh~~ even when it's after my 'A's..it still looked better than now. how? sigh..and im like out everyday. where got time to pack my messy room???

hhheeeellllppppppp~~~~~

wun be there for the sentosa thingy tmr..hmm..hope things turn out well. esp the food. but well, i shall trust gilbert..haha

//posted by ivy @ 21:49//

Thursday, December 26, 2002

was too tired from yday and the day before so din go work today. haha. and oh yeah, did u all have a wonderful christmas yday?? i did thou.

went over to qiufeng's place to do my christmas gifts on tue's nite. din get to sleep at all manz. initially, thought that i could get those pencils done quite fast, and that's why i chose it oso. but well, i ended up doin from 10pm to like the next morning..managed to catch about 2 hours of sleep b4 i had to wash up and get going. haha..and the pencil idea was obviously taken from sa. haha..and arlene was saying she nearly did that too. haha...*typical sfc's publicity stuff* --->quoting from shuhei. but that's kinda true after all.

went for service yday. was a few mins late. the place was so packed we stood thruout the service..except the sermon part lahz. but hey, the dancers did a fantastic job. yup..well done guys and gals~. arlene shared some stuffs after that with us and oso the song 'we are the reason'..nice song. i always love that song. ahah. after the service ended, had a mega session of gift exchange. ahhaa..was really difficult to give away those pencils manz. cos gotta look for the person and then, the logis team was clearing things in the meanwhile and people were everywhere!! haha.. orh..i love some of the gifts i got..---the glow-in-the-dark candle with the star, the felt bookmark by joanie and stamford, photo frame by lil' and ndru and the magnet by candice and becky. very nice..love these especially. haha. yeah..and i got lots of chocs, sweets, and cookies. ahh!! fattening stuffs manz. ahaha..but nevertheless, i oredi ate some of them liao. hehe. yumyum..

went for lunch at pizza hut after the service. whoa..i think 3/4 of the youths were at pizza hut. ahaha. after that, the whole big bunch of us went lot 1 to play pool..*again*. haha..got thrashed big time by stamford lor..haha. that guy is good. but keith is hmm..whoa!! haha..played with bowan after that..won him..haha. first time i win a guy mahz..haha. but of cuz, it comes with stanley's and stamford's help. they were telling me where to hit and stuffs lidat..pro's help of cuz will win. haha. after that, went to orchard to meet my fren for dinner. went for dinner at 'dan ryans'. nice place which serves quite okie food lah. im not that impressed by the food, but more of the portion of the food! haha..they serve american portion.!! haha. atmosphere and ambience there is good manz. yup..din go anywhere, went straight home after that. was rather tired and sleepy liao. considering that i din sleep the nite b4 and i actually spent my entire x'mas out. hahah.

going for tuition later at 5 den meeting elwyn for dinner. yup..no jamming today. that si'er forgot all about it. was rather sianz when i saw the sms that he actually forgot about it..haha. but anyway..nvm.

haf a nice day yah??

//posted by ivy @ 13:54//

Monday, December 23, 2002

hey there..im back from the busy week..haha. u miss me yet? haha..

whoa..what a monday today manz. huishan not here liao and that ah-boy took leave so im left with the new temp staff but din tok oso cos she's like so much older than me. haha. had free lunch today, peihuat strike lottery..haha. so treated us to 'mouth kitchen'. we had dim sums. not a bad place and the food was nice too. *yum yummy*.

i juz realised i haven blogged for such a long time yeah..?? hehe..

basically, had a fun week last week.

[friday]
huishan's last day at work so we slacked quite a lot that day. was listening to hillsongs' cds and munching away. haha. after work, we went to tecman to do some books buying spree and christmas too. den i went to meet wilson for dinner before meeting the rest of the cell for a night show--lord of the rings II. hmm..not too bad. thou i think part I was a lot better. but the effects were there lah. full house somemore..hhaa..shows how popular the show must be. go catch it if u haven't ya? *smiggles.* haha. after that, eric and the rest walked me back. haha. nice to be living so near jp thou..no need to take cabby. ahha.

[saturday]
had camp debrief at sac at 130. i thought i was going to be late. den when i reached there, there was nobody yet. ahha. had a long debrief thou but im glad that we are open and we did clear off a lot of stuffs. went to tecman after that to collect the books i reserved den off we went to arlene'e place for the christmas party. wat a journey man!! we (arlene, kailun, reginald, gilbert and myself) waited for bus 7 for like 45 mins before we boarded the bus and it took us another 45 mins for the bus to travel from city hall to dhoby ghaut..which was juz like 3 stops away. can't believe it. in the end, we got down and took mrt instead. din miss much of the party. ate, chatted, sang some carols. went home at 10+..

[sunday]
there wasn't youth so in the afternoon, kailun and i went to join wilson, gilbert and reginald for pool at cck. had quite some fun playing on both the 8 fts and 9 fts tables. haha. after that, had to go down to bpgc for the outreach programme at night. invited elwyn and beng chuan down. hmm..no doubt about it..the band did well. yup..thou there were some ahem..*gabra*..but overall, it was great..haha.~ the testimonies too. yup..had a time of refreshments after that. den some of us went to play the drums a little. hmm..been a long time since i touched that drumset. haha. feels weird. everything seems so spreaded out. haha..mayb cos im comparing it to the drumset at sac container. went back with elwyn after that. sigh..thinks beng chuan is a little unhappy over the event. well..hope not but can see a little lahz.

yeah....that was the busy 4 days i've had. whoa~~
and im so happy ..haha. wanna know why? hmm..din intend to wan to type it out but well..i can't keep it for long. ahha.. pastor told me yday that i can start playing drums for offertry (?? how do u spell that?) song in jan..hehe.*grinz* *smilez*

si'er better start doin ur job and teach me some stuffs!!!!! hahahha

//posted by ivy @ 20:27//

Thursday, December 19, 2002

finally blogging..haha. have been online for the past few days but din wanna blog. was juz chatting in icq, checking my timetable stuffs and reading other people's blogs.

yeah..finally going to be friday liao..FINALLY lor..this week has been like so so long and tedious. even when i was at work, huishan and i were like watching the time crawl by. quite a lot to do in office these 2 days. mainly cos poovana piled up her stuffs and i piled back for her..so the pile gets higher and higher. huishan's last day tmr..den im left all alone in that corner of that office. and the only person who is closest to me is suzanne..ahha. that crazy hyper woman. ahah..and i mean it lor~~ hmmm, going to miss huishan. think we've been really close these fews weeks cos really got a lot of things to share to one another. and our outfits always matches every morning. hah. got telepathy. think it's really great to have a fellow christian in the working place. always sharing stuffs when we are bored half-way into our work. haha. yup, and we learnt a lot about how God works in our lives as well.

hmm....wad have i been doin these few days?
tues went over to ntu to teach elwyn guitar, haha..yeah..me teaching guitar!! ahah..no lah, juz the basic chords cos he wans to learn C, G, A, D, Em..haha. wed had cell. but not really teaching lah..juz a time of sharing and preparing ourselves for next year.

tmr going out with huishan and her two other frens to watch 'lord of the rings'..hehe. den this sat got debrief den got some christmas party at arlene's place. sun got churchie, youth and then the christian outreach at bpgc.. praying that things go well and smooth. still undecided whether i shld go for wac service or the sa service at cor. think is some special service for saints but it clashes with wac as well. well..it depends.

"step out of our comfort zone. look around and love as He loves."...-->that's what u and i should do. yeah?

i got a 'pinky' right beside me now..given to me by yvonne yday. haha..thanks gal. so sweet. haha.

//posted by ivy @ 19:53//

Sunday, December 15, 2002

i dunno if it's cos of keith or what...but this song is stuck in my head...

light of the world, you stepped down into darkness
opened my eyes let me see
beauty that makes this heart adore you
hope of a life spent with you

here i am to worship
here i am to bow down
here i am to say that you're my God
you are altogether lovely
altogether worthy
altogether wonderful to me

king of all days
was so highly exalted
glorious in heaven above
humbly you came to the earth you created
all for love's sake became poor

i will never know how much it costs
to see my sins upon that cross
i will never know how much it costs
to see my sins upon that cross

//posted by ivy @ 22:08//

heylo everyone..did u had a great sunday?
hmm..i did thou.

went to church a little late today cos it was raining and my umbrella was nowhere to be found. sermon and worship was fine, but actually i din get much from the sermons. was thinking about some stuffs from the camp sermons. after church, almost the whole youth went to mos burger for lunch. we were like occupying two long tables. haha.

youth was held at eric chong's place cos clara is away. had a time of feedbacks from the campers on the grp leaders, the camp commandants and camp com. generally, the feedbacks given were encouraging but of cuz, there's always room for more improvements and to further improve the way the leaders can serve. had a long time of sharing by everyone. i think the outcome of this camp is really by God's grace. cos even for myself, i was really thinking twice of attending camp but the only reason i pushed myself to sign up was that i dunno what to tell eric if i dun sign up. it's like so impossible for me to not attend the camp. and oso, i was acting as group leader oredi. can't say dun sign up oso. that point of time was juz sianz of the whole thing but im juz so glad i went for the camp. no regrets manz~.

quite a day today. tok to a few people and i really wanna thank them for their open-ness, willing-ness and transparency. i think it's thru all these that we were able to share. well, so much has been said, now is the time to pray for love and unity to be amongst us. did pray with some of u juz now. felt really lifted up after those prayers. more refreshed and relieved. thx! you know who you are... hehz.

even as we approach the new year, let's really pray for this bond of love and unity to be among the youths, the leaders. that we might be able to rise up and be able to serve Him more in the new year to come. yup..so press on and love Him.

//posted by ivy @ 21:35//

Saturday, December 14, 2002

im so so so glad that we went for this youth camp. for those who were comtemplating b4 hand whether you shld go, i believe that you din regret your decision after all. and for those who have been faithfully attending youth camp year after year, i believe this year is someting that is rather different from the previous years. for me, this is the second youth camp i attended from WAC..although for both camp, i was in committee and sometimes, that caused me to be rather distracted during sessions cos if u've noticed, the games are always after the sessions. so sometimes, i'll be thinking abt the games later, abt the preparations i need to make..that happened to me last year, for almost all of the sessions. but i guess this year, it was totally different. i could really focus on the session and during worship as well. it seemed rather ironic, cos this year, i had more involvement as in games and group leader but still, i could put the duties and roles behind as the music plays and the Word delivered. and i really thank God for that. although it's a tiring camp, with the leaders sleeping so late every nite and waking up early cos gotta prepare for devotions..but i still managed to be able to stay constantly awake thru-out the sessions. yeah..~~

and yes, for those who have went, let's continue to maintain the fire we caught during the camp and even, shine brighter for Him each day. im very encouraged by bowan..very. he's grown so much in these few months and especially during the camp. and for the first-timers like qiufeng, timothy, xiaoying, zhiwen who have been open during the camp. i wanna tell u people that im so glad u came for this camp. hehe....

let's keep on burning for Him yah? and i believe that during the camp, we've all made some form of dedication and promises to Him, so yup, pray that He will strengthen our faith and not let it waver even after the camp. that we'll continue to have this passion for His word, this desire to wan to know Him so much more. let's be open to one another in our spiritual walk with Him. remember that we're all not perfect and we need one another in this journey. being a History-Maker is not easy but..it's possible!!

//posted by ivy @ 20:24//

back from youth camp liao~~ hehe...im still quite tired but gotta wake up juz now to eat my lunch..slept at 12 last nite till 4 juz now..not bad huh? 16 hours..hehe.

camp was great. everything was good. haha. that's what i told pastor juz now when he called me early in the morning to ask about camp. den he went on to ask me why good and i was too sleepy to tell him so i juz told him im still in the sleepy mode. haha.

this camp really shocked me a lot. a few days before the camp, i was juz hoping that the camp will turn out well and that everything will go smoothly, camp com wun have much communication prob and that games will run well too. was hoping that my group will be open during devotion, enthusiastic in games and be open to sessions. that's all that were running thru my mind as i prepare the final details for the camp. but i guess all these were not needed.
first day when i met my group and when we played the ice-breakers, i realised that my group was okie after all, though there were first-timers like qiufeng, timothy, xiaoying and zhiwen, but i was glad to see that they fit in well into the group and youth. games on the first nite was quite chaotic..hehe. overall, the first day of camp was okie.
second day was the tiring one but i din feel that tired cos i slept the moment i touched my sleeping bag. haah. second day was long cos we had two sessions of sharing and two sessions of games. the two sessions were really great cos He really spoke a lot to most of us. games were okie too. i din get to play at all cos all grp leaders were games leaders too. but haha....got sabo-ed on the last game--the yeeky yucky pukey. oh manz..disgusting food. haha. initially most of us thought that that nite, we wun get to sleep early cos camp com has de-brief and still had to prepare for our special item the next nite. after that, the games com had to prepare for games too. but surprisingly, the special item preparation went rather smooth, we finished it really fast. de-brief was short and sweet too. after that, prepared for the next day games den off to bed liao.
third day was taxing cos most of the campers were falling asleep during devotions, sessions. though i was tired but had to keep myself awake. was rather surprised i din fall asleep during the last session. after that, had group fun-nite preparation den we had our last session of games. haha.. all the games leaders got sabo-ed manz. "esther" was the one who went sabo-ing all the games station masters. after they played at my station, si'er came squeezing a tube of colgate down my neck and my shirt and short. and the only weapon i had at my station to retaliate was water-bombs. lucky i predicted that people might start sabo-ing so i made like 20 bombs extra. so when si'er and the rest came, i was throwing bombs oredi. ahah. but no help oso lahz. cos they had so many people. haah. fun-nite was hahah..fun of cuz. hehe. all the skits so funny. yup.. after that, my group had supper together, pop our champagne too. hehe. then that is when my phone kept ringing oredi. people calling to ask how's results. hmm..i was trying to forget about my anxiety the whole nite thou. hha. in the end, i got gor to check my results for me. luckily he nv scare me much. was so happy when i heard my grades. haha...B for all my 4 modules. was so shocked when i heard that i got B for both my mktg and biz law. din think that i deserved B for those two modules cos i din really study much cos they were open-booked and needed a lot of 'smoking' skills which i din have much. but still, im so thankful for my grades. hahaha. shocking manz.
din sleep for the whole of thurs nite. was playing guitar for like 3 hours plus before my fingers hurt so much. tok to some of them a little. crapped a bit. den i spent another hour writing cards to some people. and then, it was oredi 7am liao. most were awake oredi and all in a state of zoombie-ness. haha. after devotion and breakfast, had a session of thanksgiving, testimonies and revealing angel/mortal. took photos after that den officially break camp liao.

qiufeng, jun hoong, kailun and myself went with caroline, david and aunty evelyn for lunch together. after that, the we went to qiufeng's house. was talking about camp stuffs and some youth stuffs den qiufeng fell asleep. kailun and me den yakked thru-out lahz. not bad lehz, think we muz have talked for like 4 hours without falling asleep. ahah..shared a lot to each other.
after that, went cashew heights for class bbq. haha..not bad. i din cook at all, juz went there and eat. cheap oso lahz...7 per person only. hehe. somemore, the bbq pit was those good one. under the shade kind.

sleepy again. haha. im so tired..

//posted by ivy @ 17:47//

Friday, December 06, 2002

woken up by a phonecall from beng chuan. thanks ah gor..woke me up from my lala-landy. so nice to sleep..haha. well, cos this is like the first time in 2 weeks im sleeping till so late. and you, have to wake me up at 11+??!!!! ahah..lucky he called for a purpose, otherwise, i'll skin you alive and bbq you for next week. yup, bbq next fri is confirmed oredi. now beng chuan is calling them to tell them the time to meet. lucky got him to help. or should i say it's a good thing he actually volunteered to help out. heheh.. nice gor i have. never regret having him as a gor. ahah.

yup, going to print down those names in my camp groups, cos gonna do nametags later and somemore, mine so tedious. hhaa. gilbert is going to complain. i bet..haha.

i took the effort to tok to you last night oredi. after much persuasion from a friend of yours though. if not for him, i wun even attempt to tok cos i dun see the point to, i know the outcome. perhaps you are right. it feels weird. but unless you learn to overcome it, it will be weird forever. im sure you know what i mean.. even if u dun, it's ok...

have a great holiday today~

//posted by ivy @ 12:46//

Thursday, December 05, 2002

"ignoring sometimes isn't the best solution. dun you agree? well, i suppose not since you're doing exactly that. sometimes, it takes effort to step out of the comfort zone we are in and take a look at circumstances and things that are happening around us. try it and i bet you'll be shocked. you see things you never did notice or things which have conveniently slipped through your eyes as you fuss over things which you are more concerned about. people's needs who are not met are easily forgotten or overlooked in this surrounding where we are more concerned over people whom we are close to and usually with. think of it. how did these close friends of yours ever get close to you in the first place? it was done through the tedious process of calling one another up, showing genuine love and concern, being there in person and in prayer, taking the time off to be there when needed, the willingness and openness of yourself to the other parties. throughout this process, parties are hurt but forgiven, bond are tested but stretches further. then why? why are we isolating some people out there simply because of a small flaw in their character, their attitudes, their looks.. we all have flaws, big or small, they are there. your frens accepted you for who you are and vice versa. but why then can't you give others a chance as well?"

as i read the above, my heart went 'whoa....i know this oredi'..but yet, it hits. again and again. but yet, it's juz difficult.

juz came back from camp meeting at eric's place. haven been blogging cos i've been sleepy. hha. slept rather early these few days and woke up early too of course. will be meeting gilbert tmr to do the camp group stuffs; sat going down to smps again. sun is preparation day. mon supposedly going down to eric's place in the morning for final touch-up but i can't go; got work. i only managed to take 4 days leave. and anyway, im dead beat now. yawnz..

oh..happie birthday shuhei..hehe. belated i mean. and still got eunice and janice.

//posted by ivy @ 23:10//

Sunday, December 01, 2002

great day today~~ hehe..

went churchie early in the morning, den went for lunch with arlene, clara and qiufeng at long john silver. ate the new fish & shrimp combo meal. after that, went over to west grove primary school to have some work-outs. though i was in hmmm, spag top and 'sarong-skirt' and slipper, but i played anyhow. haha..hilarious sight? after that, went over to cck to buy some materials for camp group stuffs. came home, have dinner and now yakking on the phone and in icq at the same time somemore. haha~

lazy to go on for now..my hands tired..haha. after playing badminton. sigh..growing old.

busy week ahead..wed must meet gilbert for doing the camp stuffs; thurs got camp meeting and sat going down to smps with arlene to finalize the night game.. hmmm, camp is juz next week. whoa~~

little gal walking down
the alley dark and brown
behind her a shadow lingers
a feeling hard to tingle...

//posted by ivy @ 20:59//