Oh What Fun!

This is what I find Buddy doing
when I let him out to play in the backyard...

















If you haven't figured out yet, he is playing with a lizard.
That lizard is scared-stiff! As soon as it moves,
Buddy takes it in his mouth, tosses it over, and as soon as it
tries to get away, he grabs it again in his mouth,
brings it closer to him, watches it; if it moves, he grabs it again,
and so on and so forth. Interesting past time, eh?

So thankful!

Every morning we wake up we are so thankful to God for so many things. We are daily reminded of God's faithfulness in our lives, so even though in the past two years we had missed out on the traditional Thanksgiving Feast, we celebrated it in our hearts with much joy. This year's Thanksgiving Day was extra special. We celebrated it with TWO wonderful feasts (Thursday and Friday) and with TWO wonderful guests (Helen and Gina) from one of our sister churches in the U.S.! So thankful!


Thanksgiving Dinner #1 at our home, before the turkey was carved.


The spread.


The spread close-up.


Expert turkey-carver.


Thanksgiving Dinner #2 at our friends Lisa and Damien's place.


Without the hosts.


At the other end of the table.


More guests.

Good friends.

The reward for volunteering to carve the turkey. Matt looks jealous.

Spoiled! Not the food! Me!

These are some of the MANY delicious things my gourmet-chef husband has been cooking and feeding me:

Beef & Mushroom Stroganoff on Friday.

Shrimp Bisque on Saturday.

Potato Soup for Sunday.

These are some of my favorites!

P.S.: None of these are my actual pictures (I was busy savouring every morsel and forgot to snap photos). But they are pictures I found on the web that look the most like Jim's creation. No matter what it looked like, it tasted SUPERB.)

Irresistible Love or Irresistible Horror?

Lately my stomach has been in knots. There's a lot of turmoil and distress in and around all our lives due to political, economic, and personal life challenges. It's so easy to lose sight and suffocate under a cloud of negativity during vulnerable times. A dear bother up in Brisbane sends out a weekly encouragement message to his community, and below is what he sent this week. It reminded me of our hope. Thanks for the encouragement D.C. I hope it brings some comfort to any disquieted heart our there.

Christians live in these uncertain times too, but with the assurance of a present reality and a future hope. The present reality is that God, as the well-known song goes, has got the whole world in His hands. The future hope is His return to make all things new. These are the truths our friends need to consider as they ask where is God in all this. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote this comment to the question of why God has not landed in force and invaded this troubled world.

"God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it."

Age-Defying Beauty

Today it celebrated the 35th anniversary since its opening by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 Oct 1973. To my surprise, there were no celebrations of any kind that I know of. Kind of sad. Well, this is my own dedication-entry to this unique landmark. Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed Sydney Opera House, you are right!

This photo of us was taken back in November of 2006.

Congratulations Sydney!

Hairdo Update

It's growing, yay!

P.S.: I love his sexy dimples!

Homesick

Yesterday marked our two years anniversary in Sydney. Two years! I can't believe it... A lot of people ask us "So does Sydney feel like home?", or "Do you feel settled?". Some people ask "Do you ever feel like going back?", or "Do you miss home?". Strangely, most of the time I don't know how to answer those questions because two years feels like a long enough time for me to have missed a lot of important events and milestones in the lives of all the loved ones back in the U.S. Time and distance seem to have inevitably caused a certain kind of "disconnect". It seems so long ago that we packed or bags and waved good-bye to our friends and family who blessed us and wished us all the best. I can tell it's been a long time because the emails and phone calls have been fewer lately (hint, hint ).

But at the same time, it is still too short for us to feel like we have built a strong solid base here. We feel like we have barely scratched the surface here; there is still so much to learn about life and people here. It takes time to nurture the relationships we've built here thus far, and we're constantly trying to build more. Also, old habits die hard so we still find ourselves getting frustrated from time to time when things don't "work" the way they do back in the U.S. Like the other day we arrived an hour late to a picnic because we couldn't figure out how to get to the other side of the park! Strange and confusing mixed-emotions...

So where IS home? Is home where the heart is? Is home where the loved ones are? Is home where happy memories grow? I read an interesting excerpt about a post-war family who moved from place to place in search of a place to settle. "On one occasion, the family was standing in a train station surrounded by their tattered suitcases, boxes and bags when a bystander approached the family's six-year-old daughter and remarked, 'You poor darling, moving about so much with no place to call home.' The little girl looked up in surprise. 'You are mistaken,' she replied, 'I do have a home I just don't have a house to put it into.'" It is interesting how this little girl's response resonates with me because since the time we have been "floating" in preparation to come live/serve in Australia to this day, our motto has been "Home is where our king-sized bed is."

So why is it that I can't even explain where home is and yet still have this longing for a home? It can only mean one thing: I am homesick for heaven. Do you sometimes feel this way?

Each day brings me closer to life's curtain call,
When the face of my Lord I will see.
I'll no longer be homesick, for I will be home,
And with Jesus forever I'll be.

(from "Homesick for Heaven", a poem by Betty Jo Mings)

It won't last...

I mean the hairdo, not the romance between these two.

Sharing is Caring

One of the things we love to do is open up our home and invite friends and people we meet to break bread with us. In fact, we have an "open door policy" in our home and people are welcome to drop by anytime and stay for as long as they'd like. Recently we hosted a Spanish-themed potluck dinner and I had to post the photos that our guests took because they came out simply awesome!

The following dishes were made by our friends:


Tuna Empanadas


Tortilla de Patatas


Almond Cake

These were the dishes Jim and I made:


Garlic and Butter Calamari


Red Onion and Orange Salad


Paella Valenciana

Mouth watering isn't it?!

Life is Sweeter When Shared With Loved Ones

As soon as our two MTW interns left, our fellow teammates (and dear friends) came down to Sydney from Brisbane for Tony to attend a conference and also to get a passport for their newborn at the U.S. Consulate. After taking care of business, they extended their stay to take a much needed short vacation break and we had the privilege of hosting them. The timing was perfect because we were able to take a few days off too! We had a wonderful time and cherish the sweet moments we spent sharing our lives with one another.

The beautiful family: Tracy, Tony, Aidan and Kathryn.

Waiting for lunch.

Drinking a "babychino" like a true Aussie kid.

The boys acting like "Nacho Libres" at a Mexican fast-food place called Mad-Mex.


Baby Aidan bundled up like a burrito.

The girls at Watson's Bay.

Chillin' in the sun at a playground.


Day trip to the Blue Mountains.