Where's the miracle (Sam speaks)

A guy wanders the world in search for a miracle. He shouts out loud! "Show me a miracle".
He then realizes it when he sees another person without hands and feet that he is a miracle.

Look at your hands, your feet, your nose, your feet, your hair. Perfectly and wonderfully made. 


Be grateful for who you are. 


Here in Bangkok, beggers and homeless are aplenty. What can one do to be the miracle to them. 


A thought a day. Inspired by the likes of Tony Melendez and Nic Vujicic.
Good night.

New place, new discoveries (Charis tweetblogs)

Finally! After a month in this new place, we have settled down. No more unpacking, cleaning and bumping into furniture!

As we speak, Sam is going off movies for a week. Running bet is that he'll last only 0.5 hrs, 24 hrs and 3 days. 3 hours and counting.

My nephew is starting to speak. He can sing the "Rain, go away" song and recite the alphabet almost perfectly. I miss him so much! :)

Sales have not been as gd as I had expected on my on9 shop. 2 cut the blues, I baked us sum choc chip cookies & sent sum 2 Sam's colleagues.

 #Bangkok weather is quite tolerable of late. Can't say the same for our building. Consistent water cuts and noisy construction nearby. 

My wishlist for this #Christmas is a sewing machine, an electric piano and something nice. I am, after all, a very simple girl.

Sad that we won't be home for #Christmas this year, but looking forward to a great year-end vacation anw :)

Moving Day (in pictures)

I still remember the day we went house-hunting for our first house in Bangkok - back when Sam was preparing to move to Bangkok. This place stood out among them all, not only because of the price, but because it had a closed kitchen. And you know how important that is with Chinese cooking! Here are some pictures of times in the condo and our eventual moving day. Great times, they were! :)

Great place for singing out loud - we had almost the whole floor to ourselves (paparazzi moment).

Both of us in our usual spot watching the tv.

Receiving our first house guest, Mel, and playing Scrabbles together.

Our first dinner guest, Yumi, and a home-cooked meal!

The packing begins! 

It's amazing how much you can accumulate in a year!

I was box lady for a couple of days, trying to get Carrefour to part with their boxes. So we've got grape biscuits, Comfort and Carrefour giant boxes, it was a nightmare getting rid of them.

It took us two cab trips (filled to the brim) and a pickup truck making 2 rounds to get all of our stuffs over.

Some before and after pictures:

Once everything was out of the house, it hit me how much I was going to miss this place :) It was, after all, our first home together. Nevertheless, we'll be expecting to have as much fun in our new place, as the following posts would testify. Stay tuned!

Finally taking a breather after a hard day's work.

Our first guest! (Charis writes)

I've been meaning to get our Moving Day pics up but it has been sitting in Draft mode for quite awhile now. Blame the perfectionist in me when it comes to pictures and story-telling. Anw, just to whet your appetite a little, I'm just going to go ahead and skip to posting the picture of our first guest in our new place! Joanne, you were a great guest and thanks for warming up the room with your presence ;) Saw your "thank you" note on the fridge - what a pleasant surprise! :D

Joanne and I posing in front of our book shelf.  On the left you can see the
guest room and oops! the laundry too :D

Will get the other pics up soon, I promise! :)

The Touch of the Master's Hand

How many of us have ever felt old or worn out, or worse, useless? So many times we turn away from people, things, ideas just because of who/what we think we are (or who/what others perceive us to be). Let this story help you know your worth under the Master's hand. You are priceless.

'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

Thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,

But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,

"Who'll start the bidding for me?"

"A dollar, a dollar," then two! Only two?

"Two dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

"Going for three..." But no,

From the room, far back, a gray-haired man

Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,

And tightening the loose strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet

As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"

And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

"Two thousand! And who'll make it three?

"Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;

"And going and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

"We do not quite understand

"What changed its worth?"

Swift came the reply:

"The touch of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

And battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,

Much like the old violin.

A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;

A game - and he travels on.

He is "going" once, and "going" twice,

He's "going" and almost "gone."

But the Master comes and the foolish crowd

Never can quite understand

The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought

By the touch of the Master's hand.

by Myra B. Welch (taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul)