HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!!!!!!

Mummy, the one who has labored the most for me in my life, even before I was born, carrying me in her womb for 10 months, feeding and 'rearing' me into a fatty fair baby, teaching and guiding me, to speak my first words, to write my first words, to play my first song on the piano, to comfort me when I fell down (both literally and un-literally), to simply, just love me (its not easy to love the unlovely!! haha =p).

No one can fantom the greatness of a Mum's Love, unrelentless and tireless, forever giving and NEVER receiving.

N yesterday was Mummy's 5_th birthday! I can't believe it! Time just flies past like a bullet train! Before u know it, u r already at the next stage and next stage and next stage of ur life! Anyways, it was truly a memorable birthday for her and us too!! had a whole weekend of birthday celebrations! N the highlight was a mega SurPrisE on the night of 27th April for her initiated by Dad !!!! It all started with my Dad booking 2 hotel rooms on 27th and 28th April with his complimentary vouchers..( 27th was at Swissotel and 28th at Raffles the plaza) Dad thought it would be fun to gather her loved ones in the room on the night of the 27th......So well, we called up my aunties and uncles and cuzzies from both Mum's and Dad's side....

The big plan was this..that everyone will 'report' at the room before 9pm and my Dad will fetch Mummy from work and reach the room at about 9pm!

So, I left work at 6.45pm (its a feat for me!! haa!) , rushed to collect the bouquet of lovely roses from the florist, ordered pizzas, then zooomed to Swissotel 54th floor!.. (yes the room was really high up! I had thought it was on the 5th floor when my Dad said the room no., was 5456 haha!)...Entered the room and was taken in by the breathtaking view!!!! Wow! I didnt know Spore can actually look quite prettty!!! Spent the next hour alone in the room waiting for 'guests' to arrive...at 8 plus...the guests started arriving...n by about 8.45pm..we were all planning the 'Operations'. It was hilario0us disccussing how to hide where to hide etc etc..Aunty Asta was most worried 'My 2 sons dunno how to hide! Ethan will keep laughing and Christian can't keep still! what to do???'....But, well..everything went on extremely well as planned! Some hid in th toilet, some behind the curtains, some against a wall. It was really funny! Asta and Christian hid in the toilet with the cake bearers. N after the whole thing, Asta said 'I was sooo worried Christian will make noise so I gave him soap ah shampoo ah and whatever i can find in the toilet for him to play!' haha! Thanks Asta for ur efforts =))).....

Aniways, my mum finally entered the room! The 3 of us did not hide as she already knew we would be in the room...so we gave her flowers and pretended that it was just us.,..hhaa..she was admiring the flowers and did not even realised there were 3 pple standing against a wall she was facing!! haha..We were really bemused! haha...when she finally realised, she broke out in absolute joy!! haa..just look at the video! hee..n I will let the pics tell the rest of the story!

Thank you all so velly velly much for taking the effort to turn up and making the whole party a fun filled onE! =)

The STAR!!

27th April Time check: 7pm...Me fooling ard

in the room

Sunny Singapore!

8.15pm: Every1 started streaming in

Preparing for the SurPrise!

where to hide?!?!

The video! (im becoming more tech savvy! haha)

Most of em were hiding behind the curtains!

Imagine my mum's shock when the whole grp

started streaming out from behind the curtains!

Look at her gleeeful smile!!
Nothing beats the inexplicable joy of having
all your loved ones ard to sing that bdae song with u!

Happy Snapshots

Beautiful skyline, topped with a calming

breeze that night..

Quite amazing how flowers can melt a girl's heart!

28th April morning!

Went to Soup spoon for breakfast (now my mum's

a fan of soup spoon) and walked

ard the whole day!

Dinner at Prego's!

Raffles the Plaza was gorgeous!
The interior was much better furnished than Swissotel.

N... i love their toilet best! =P

2nd round of Birthday Celebrations!

Mum is so blesssed! with treasures (brats?) like us! N we are treasures cos we have a Mum who's more precious than a gemstone!Love you mummy!

Random *ShaKe Paw*

Just at the dinner table with my sista Rochie and Scruffy also sitting on a chair, I turned to Scruffy and said 'Shake paw!!' and Scruffy only lifted up his left paw. It was absolutely impossible to get him to lift his right paw. N my sister said 'I think Scruffy is a left hander' LOL!!!

waiting for hair to dry

Yawn..very sleepy but still waiting for my hair to dry....

Decided to grab some pics from Mel's blog! Thanks ah (from the one who takes 10 years to upload her photos! hee hee)

ESSRs at Mel's place over Chinese New Year 2007....

Lou Hei!!

mY dearest Family..... =)

My name is.........

f-r-a-n-c-E-s.....the 'E' is important.. stop replacing it with an 'I' ! It makes a whole lot of a difference! Can you imagine someone whom you have been working with for 4 over months spelling your name wrong this way? N like 5 times in ONE email. Well, not that Im particular or anything, I just think its pure courtesy to at least get ur subordinates' names right. N the team is small, only have about 5 of us! How difficult
is it to remember the name of every1 and spell them right?

aahh..anyways, tts just a small thing of the whole week which went hay wire! Work issues seem to be bulldozing towards my direction...non-stop. One issue after the next. What is going on? I keep telling myself it's alright, it's ok.. everythng will be fine...But..something bigger seems
to be happening the next day..n then the next n next..... I m someone who cannot tolerate myself making dumb mistakes, n I did..today...The email got shot out to directors in the company. I feel so bad, so ashamed.
The feeling is horrid. I feel terrible.

But well..I just thank God, its the weekend again. For me to get away a little from the above mess, to simply space out, watch the world go by....like this old couple who was sipping wine at 3pm at Clarke Quay on a sunny Wednesday... Please do not be mistaken, I do not have such luxury of having fun in Clarke Quay on a weekday afternoon...was only there cos I went with another colleague to Clarke Quay to 'recee' for a venue for a party we are organising for the department of about 50 over pple! *Gosh, feels like planning for some hall bash* n wow, Clarke Quay looks really different in the day! N all the pubs too, just looks funny in the day..Anyways, we have settled on Kandi Bar (next to MOS) at Cannery.
http://e-clubbing.com/Reviews-req-showcontent-id-83.html
Please check that place out! The interior is just so cooool!! Negotiated quite a good deal at $50 per pax.. with food and 1 hour of free flows..Quite fun to organise such 'bashes'! We got to pop into every pub under Lifebrandz that afternoon (Fashion Bar and Barfly's nice too!) Well, pray the party will turn out fine! Need to host games too! *faints* Pray my Children Church skills will come into good use.

Below are some pics from last weekend! Had a crazy nite ...er..or rather 'early morning' of baking with the peeps! The nite started with a good dinner at Waraku (my all time Favorite..Finger Lick'n good!), but this time, at the new branch at Central, then went on to lick up a whole cone of Hokkaido Green Tea Ice Cream (still feel the one in Kyoto is much nicer!!).. Following which, we didnt know what to do again (as usual, we were renamed 'The Exclusives to The Indecisives' by Leb)..Toyed with the idea of prawning..But FINALLY..Ash came up with a MAD idea!!

'Let's go to a supermarket to buy whatever 'raw materials' we need to whip up a dish that you have always wanted to cook in ur entire life!'
(just in case u r interested, my choice was...'江葱炒牛肉' (Stir Fry Beef with Spring Onions))

It was then about 10 plus..n the only place we could think of for shopping for stuff is non other than the 24 hour..MUSTAFA CENTRE!!!!!!!!!! So wheeeeeee off we went to Little India!!! I have passed by the place countless times, but never once have I really entered the building to
SHOP!!...So well, it was quite an experience, felt like I was suddenly teleported outta Spore... N the best thing is, MUSTAFA has some of the local produce of countries like Vietnam and Thailand! I found my fav Thailand coffee nuts there!!! N also saw some Vietnam chips. Cool.

So anyways, we walked ard a bit ... amazed at ridiculously crazy range of products they have. You can get almost anything there! From groceries to household ware to books to shampoos (even e old Vidal Sassooon packaging shampoo!) to luggage to even work SUITS! haa.. Now I know where to do my last min shopping in the middle of the nite b4 a holiday trip!

Well, by the time we really shopped in the supermarket for supposedly 'raw materials' it was already about midnite...n we kinda were a little tired by then and felt lazy...Hence, from 江葱炒牛肉' the raw materials were relegated to 'Betty Crockers' Cookie and Brownie Pre Mix'!!!! N for Mr Joel, he decided to be the great chef of the infamous ' Campbell Soup' that nite! hahahaaaa

So after grabbing these very 'raw materials' (at least they need to be processed ok!), head off to Jonnie's place. Ha..Once we stepped into his house, we dashed into the kitchen, for fear we may just doze off on the couch and leave the 'raw materials to rot to its expiry in the cabinet.

Waraakku!!

Quany needs to show some love

Yummmy ice cream! I tell u we are pigs!

Eating thrice in a row in a nite is no feat.

Off we went to Mustafa but...No pics of Mustafa!! =(

FOoling around outside Jonnie's

place while waiting for Quan and

him to da bao prata

(see i told u we are PIGS!)

N the real 'Job' begins..

Look at what
serious bakers we are!

In goes the Brownie and COokies@

(some1's doing the dishes ... )

Our 1st Tray Of Crockers' COokies!

(looks pretty? =P Scroll down)

just remember whatever u do...

never 'overturn' ur life..

Mr Joel Campbell's soup

N the BroWnies!

Finally...got to sit round the table

at 3am to enjoy our *ahem burnt

cookies and brownies* n of cos

the EdiBLe PRATA!

Never fail to thank God for this bunch of crazies

*MUACKS!*

Knocks and Knock

Life is never a smooth direct one way journey...Just like driving a car, many times, I look back and ask myself, 'Aiya! Why didn't I turn left instead of right?' 'Why didnt I go straight instead of turning?' 'Why didn't I stop and think before deciding on this left turn'? Why Why WhY??' Before I know it, I have reached my destination?... ... ... There is never one correct way of doing something, or making the correct decision. There may be a shorter way, or longer way or more exciting way..But what is important is enjoying and learning something from every bit of that journey, whether long or short or sweet or tough......

Sometimes, I hit the 'wrong' (or rather unexpected) road, but end up learning about a new way to this place, or being surprised by some place which is a pretty site but which I would have never gotten there had I not hit the 'wrong' road. With these little surprises and nooks and corners, life just gets more exciting....N every bit of life's journey of life’s experience is precious…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Think some of u guys may know...my Dad kinda got 'retrenched' a few months back. This threw the Yongs into a frenzied situation. With a whole long list of monthly bills to pay for, housing loan, property tax, road tax, petrol expenses, helper's salary, utilities bill (n the list goes on and on), worry shrouded the family. *sell the house* *sell the car* *tell the helper to go back home* *Rent out more rooms in the house* *Start moonlighting somewhere*

All kinds of thoughts ran through everyone's minds and the worry of $$$ casted a black shadow in the Kelichap nest of the Yongs. Other than this worry, a greater cause of worry was my Dad's health. In the last few months heading up to his last day at work, he shrank, losing kilo by kilo slowly everyday, caused by all the tension and stress in the organization. Went to A&E for extreme acute back pain. N, the lost of smile on his haggard face. Almost everyday, I dreaded coming home, I dreaded seeing my Dad in such a sad stage, I dreaded hearing talks about the lack of $$$, I dreaded hearing complaints, I dreaded questions about the stability of my job, I dreaded the feeling of helplessness. I dreaded it all. Although my faith was shaken, in this situation of helplessness, my only source of joy and hope was still…only God. Although I dreaded all that was going thru in my life, I somehow know that God is still in control and He will see us through... I kept the joy on my face, though my heart was hurting most times.

About 3 to 4 weeks after Dad's last day at work, was the start of Tung Ling Bible College School of Ministry 3 month term. Church friends have encouraged him to grab the golden opportunity to take up the course. However, it seemed he had not really intended to enter Tung Ling. He was simply just spending all his time and effort, trying all ways and means to think about finding another job, to provide the bread and butter, n concurrently losing more weight and joy than ever.

I rem on the first day (beg Jan 07) of the Tung Ling 3 month course, my Dad got admitted to A&E for that acute back pain. This somewhat caused further distress and distracted him from joining Tung Ling. However, on the further encouragement of church members and most importantly my mum and us, he decided to join Tung Ling and went to school on the 3rd day of Tung Ling Sch. Since then, albeit amazingly things were never the same again. Color, yes literally color, slowly started to seep back, brightening up his sunken appearance. The once forgotten smile found its way back to the face. This brought much comfort to the family.

N just around the 4th week of school, a call came from his ex colleague, and offered him an opportunity to join his firm, doing the same thing as what he had been doing for the past many years. How amazing is that? That someone who is nearly of retirement age will be ‘headhunted’ *hee* Instead of terminating his studies at Tung Ling to grab this job, he decided to honor God first and continuing in Tung Ling, with faith, not knowing if this golden opportunity will still be there, 2 months down the road.

2 months passed quickly, with his spiritual and physical self slowly nursing back to health. N with the family surviving alright financially. =) After 3 months of being immersed in God’s word and being blessed by the fellowship and encouragements of his teachers and fello brothers and sisters, the Yongs finally got to attend Dad’s graduation ceremony on 29th March 2007. I knew deep in my heart how important this graduation ceremony is in his heart. It’s definitely not about the glamour or glitz about being seen on stage receiving that certificate, It’s about that unspoken love and support a family exudes, just by being there at that ceremony. (If u think about it, usually unseen intangibles are the most precious in life) Seeing Daddy walk up the stairs to collect that certificate, filled me with unexplainable joy. I know in my heart, the Lord has answered my prayer, to fill Dad with that faith, joy, hope and confidence once again.

N...Just a little bonus to the 'story', the job opportunity which his ex colleague offered him, was still around the corner, waiting for him to start work on the very first Monday after his last day at Tung Ling. =) God is Good, All the Time.

Without the hard knocks and what not through the whole incident, I would never have discovered how much bills and expenses my parents had to clear every month. I would never have discovered how strenuous and painstaking it was for my parents to bring us up with a more than comfortable lifestyle all these year. I would never have discovered even the head of a household can be weak at times, and needs constant love, support and encouragements. I would never have had the chance to experience another of God’s miracle, once again.

I know He has been upholding the family all this while, to bring us through the waves and tides, to bring us through this humbling process. I believe, God leads us to some weird, unexpected roads on purpose when we are complacent with our lives sometimes. To bring us surprises and to teach us lessons in His ways. I thank God that He has held all 5 of us in his palm, close together amidst the storm. I believe there is still work to be done building stronger unity and bond in the family. As long as there is God, there is hope. He is unseen, but His hand is always there, upholding us. You just need to knock on the door and He is always there welcoming you with wide open arms.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Picture taken at the Graduation with the Dean of the School
Can you see that glow?















A little symbol of God's miracle =)

A Purpose...a Hope?

All has been said...All has been done...the time has finally come...for the sole purpose of this whole Easter act to come to past.
Whatever's gonna happen tomorrow...is safe in God's hands...The harvest is His.
No worrying no fretting...Just a committed heart and soul to put the act together, for His Glory...in sharing the hope of life....

**What on earth are you living for?**

AaahahhHH!

Im feeling it..the stress the pressure's mounting..
its month end closing again this week...N having lots of issues at work...
been staying till almost midnite for the past 2 nites...
Feeling extremely drained and at the same time, worried about the Good Friday play.
I need the energy God...Refresh and fill me with your joy and peace!!!