You know those calendars people have at their work desks..? the ones where each day has a page of its own and an inspirational quote to go with it. I have one on my desk at work, but next year, I think I'll think of the planet and not have one ordered in for me. I already have another monthly calendar on my desk already - it looks like a photo frame. Anyway, that daily calendar thing is quite handy to note and make sure what the date&day is every day since the words are SO BIG. But all I do is turn the page every day just as I'm changing my voicemail on my work phone so I'll say the right day&date but I also read the quotes.

Some quotes are pretty good and true and they make sense. SOmetimes they are timely. Like the one 3 days ago : You can't be fuelled by bitterness, it can eat you up but it cannot drive you. ~Benazir Bhutto~

Poor woman..I rememember hearing of her assassination when I was in Brisbane in my cousin's house one evening after dinner in the living room with my uncle. ANd remembering all the years I read about her in the WORLD section of the newspaper as I was growing up...

ANyway a timely quote that sprung up as I looked on at the bolded date, a date that I used to place high importance. As I think about what Benazir said at this point in time, thought it was quite clever how she used the words fuel and drive. I never thought of it like that. Maybe like in a car, the fuel can't be fire, it'll just eat the car up and can't make it move.

ANyway...I leave you with a recent Purpose Driven Life weekly devotional by Rick Warren (24/9/2008). Read on if willing.. =) *warning of length*

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The most important lesson God wants you to learn on earth is how to love. Here are three simple truths about love:


1. Life without love is really worthless. We often act as if relationships are something to be squeezed into our schedule. We talk about finding time for our children or making time for people in our lives. That gives the impression that relationships are just a part of our lives along with many other tasks. But God says relationships are what life is all about.


Jesus summarized what matters most to God in two statements: love God and love people. He said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart. . . . This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NLT).


The point of life is learning to love God and people. Life minus love equals zero.
(Hmmmm...I've actually been thinking more that the point of life is understanding first and foremost about God's love for us instead of the way round..anyway,,,)


2. Love will last forever. Another reason God tells us to make love our top priority is that it is eternal: “These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NCV).


Love leaves a legacy. Mother Teresa said, “It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.” Love is the secret of a lasting heritage. In our final moments, we all realize that relationships are what life is all about. Wisdom is learning that truth sooner rather than later.

..yea I agree..been thinking more about this lately.


3. We will be evaluated on our love. One way God measures spiritual maturity is by the quality of your relationships. In heaven God won’t say, “Tell me about your career, your bank account, and your hobbies.” Instead he will review how you treated other people, particularly those in need.


Jesus said the way to love him is to love his family and care for their practical needs: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40 NRSV).

(Hhmmm....)

People need to understand that when you transfer into eternity, you will leave everything else behind. All you’re taking with you is your character. That’s why the Bible says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6 NIV).


Knowing this, I encourage you to pray this simple prayer every morning: “God, whether I get anything else done today, I want to make sure that I spend time loving you and loving other people – because that’s what life is all about. I don’t want to waste this day."

=(

Boe & Marshall

Yesterday morning, Marshall died.

I was talking to my mum on the phone last night. She was talking about something and something and then suddenly.. "By the way, Marshall died this morning"..and I was like, "WHATTTTTTTTT?????"

I think I raised my voice 2 notches higher then and then my mum went on for about 10+ minutes explaining what happened and reassuring me about it. I was really shocked and I felt extremely truly sad at that moment in time. 2 of our dogs passed away this year and it seems ironic that I had a very heartfelt cry over the dog I neglected the most. I'm okay now, so much so that I've forgotten how I felt yesterday.

Marshall wasn't brilliant..his hind legs were quite weak. I wished he was this and that.....

I think I felt really sad because it was totally unexpected. He wasn't even so old. At least with our other dog who died this year, we put her down because she was just so old and so in pain. Marshall died because of some viral lung infection or something. Last week he was just fine, then for the past few days he wasn't eating, was sleeping all day..and vet said last Saturday it was the viral lung infection and the next day at about 5 a.m., my sister said he walked out to the gate separating him and Boe who was sleeping there, he laid down and died. And Boe started howling. But that was then, she's forgotten he's gone, I think.

It made me think of people I neglect too, people I don't really desire to spend time with, especially people closer to me. If I can cry over animals, what more people?

The Lord gives and takes away. How do we know what will happen tomorrow except to trust God that whatever happens is according to his perfect and wise will. So rejoice and be contented with whatever happens every day, utilising full well our time and energy for His glory.

Goodbye Marshall.

Some photos with workmates

Ok ..I have some recent photos to show from work of what I've been doing other than work with workmates:

So, our company has an annual "Community Day", where we set aside a day to help the community. There were 2 events we could help out with..and I was quite lazy, so I didn't choose the harder one --> gardening (cleaning up the garden of a disabled person). So, last Friday, I chose instead to help out at Stewart House where we just helped open envelopes etc as part of their most important fundraising drive. The House is amazing and really unique. Mainly kids with troubled backgrounds etc are recommended by their schools to take 2 weeks off to spend time at the home and they do a lot of activities and have fun times together. At the moment, one of the female "Dancing with the stars" dancers - Toni something - has Stewart House as part of her charity.

Anyway, it was very interesting...the other workmates who had to do gardening just looked on in disbelief at how we "worked so hard" when they saw the photos =P

haahha...we just laughed at them.

Curl Curl Beach is just behind - it's beautiful! Whales and dolphins actually come out there - but unfortunately, there were none that day.

What we were doing.

The technical team (lab ppl) of which I'm a part of...we've been having some lunches together and we're supposed to make more of our lunch to share. So yesterday, Ivy decided to make us gado-gado - it was yummmmy =)

Gado-gado (Ivy's aunty's peanut sauce all the way from Medan, Indo). Spicy but yummmmy!

Ben & wife, Lisa and baby Mia who came to visit

Rachel (our mummy) & Ivy

Is there something wrong with my food, Maria? I wanna share mine, but you don't want to share yours?!

I love joking with Maria and talking nonsense and serious stuff too...if she has to leave at the end of her contract, I think I'll really miss her.

Anyway, yeah so these are some of my photos =)

gggrrrr!!!!!

I suddenly felt the urge to blog once again after just checking my email and seeing the comment posted by Nat - thanks, Nat..i suppose that was a hint to update? =P

At the moment, I can't believe my forgetfulness -- I just incurred another $30 for the 2nd time in a row...ggrrr!!!! for nothing...!!!!!

I changed my mobile phone provider and the new deal had an internet package with it AND the last time, I didn't manage to cancel my old Internet account in time and this time, I forgot the due date..AGAIN!!! i should have done it earlier...darn it!!

anyway, surprisingly I am not as mad as last month....think I'm learning to accept that it's okay to let go of money...I'm not even that mad. But I'm going to have a shower right now.