"But take heart! I have overcome the world"

This morning, the title of my blog 'Trying to Live Life' rings so true. I am trying to live life at this trying times.

 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

God, please help me keep my faith intact and help us through this difficult times. Amen.

Ash Wednesday, the start of Holy Lent

Ash Wednesday is today, marking the start of Lent. Coincidentally, I am in my late pregnancy, so fasting for 40 days during the last 2 months of my pregnancy will not be that good for my baby because this is the time she will be packing on the pounds before her birth. Plus, I am kind of feeling the urge to eat periodically, which I would like to attribute to the signal that my baby is giving her mummy's body that she needs more nutrition! I did abstain from meat today but I am unable to fast :(.

I remembered last year I quit Facebook for Lent. This year, I think I would need to give up something else, something that would have more significance. A few ideas came up, quitting TV, abstain from eating out or fast food, prevent myself from reprimanding the kids (and their dad) harshly but show them love and explaining my point of view calmly, etc.. I think amongst those, the last is the hardest for me and it will also be something most meaningful for me to try. Afterall, they are the most important people in my life and they deserve much more from me. I should at least try... Each time I feel the urge to scold one of them, I will say a prayer and calm myself. Following that I will explain what they have done wrong and why they should not do it again.

You can read the Pope's Lenten Message here. Wishing all God loving and fearing brothers and sisters in Christ, a Holy Lent.

A Mustard Seed of Faith

Yesterday, while opening my house gate to park my car, an elderly woman and her 16 year old daughter of chinese descent walked past my gate. I acknowledged them because they are from the same church. The elderly woman started talking to me after recalling that I was in the same church as them. She started telling me her sad story. I know some of the stories from other BEC members about this poor family. The husband of the woman passed away about 2 years ago, he had been dealing with long term illness. Since then, I heard that her daughter gave birth to a baby girl at 15, out of wedlock and then the mother ended up owing the loan shark some money because she was helping a friend out, or something. But the lady shocked me by telling me she has converted to Islam.

She related how she needed financial help and went begging some BEC members and also met the priest but was reprimanded instead. Furthermore, some BEC members went around telling bad things about her to everyone. She ended up sourcing the money she needed desperately from a Datuk staying at our Taman and got financial help and groceries from him and some others. Apparently because of that she and her family converted to Islam. Of course I took everything she said with a grain of salt. To be fair, I believe BEC members did try to help her and the priest/s also have advised her and her daughters on their conduct and for missing Mass, etc.. I think the priest and the BEC members did not really believe all her stories and therefore were reluctant to help her. But I still tried to console her by telling her she should ignore those people and place her trust in God alone. I also told her to follow her heart, if she felt that she wants to be a muslim, then she should follow her heart.

I think this happened in the span of about 1 month. I am taken aback and saddened by how easily people can be converted, how little faith they have. I am sorry I didn't manage to help them or show them compassion when they were in need. And I think the BEC and the church could have shown more compassion for the family. However, I hope God will help them in their chosen path and they may be able to have a more stable life.

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Luke 17:5-6.

I think Christians should always maintain a personal relationship with God and Jesus through prayers and the Bible, etc. Do not reject Christ because of Christians themselves or how Christians behave or how the church is. Men will always fail you but GOD will never forsake you. God, please plant the mustard seed of faith in us and point the faith to the right direction for all you have called, Amen.

Christ is Love, have a Blessed Christmas

Christmas is just round corner. I have been busy with lots of other stuff to really prepare myself and the kids for Christmas. We do have some presents for the kids and the Christmas Tree is up. Otherwise, I am ill prepared. I would love to do some more shopping but do not have the time to. My sister and her family would like to come over for lunch on Christmas day so I will need to do some planning for a small party. I am thinking of making roast chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. Hmmmm, or I could just buy a few Ayamas roast chickens. Will think it over.

Christmas is more than just holidays, parties and presents. But as an adult, I am also guilty of no reflecting on the season and remembering what are we celebrating. Caught up by the lights and the fantastic deco in the shopping complexes and the jingles, it is easy to forget. And Christmas is always 5 days away form a brand new year, they are entwined into, basically, whole lot of happy parties and celebrations. And, for the kids, it is all about presents! This article aptly describes how most people deal with the season of celebration, I quote:

"The Christmas season is always a time of endings and beginnings. The sense of time condensing and then unfolding again is palpable. The Advent season begins, blossoms, and passes by, Christmas comes, with its joy, thick with memories, and then Epiphany, and we go on, leaving the Christmas season behind and entering into the new year. And often this entire season is a whirlwind, filled with preparations of all types. We don’t stop.

We ought to. We ought to stop and be still for a moment. We ought to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. What is it?"

The reason for Christmas is no surprise. It is to celebrate the birth of the messiah, Jesus Christ. Was is the most appropriate way to celebrate Christmas then? Definitely not with lots and lots of food or expensive presents. This is what I try to teach my kids, not to expect many gifts. If we are celebrating Jesus' birth then how do we find the real meaning in the celebration? The article linked above gave us the answer, "We find Christ through love." and "So, if we act out of love, we are acting out of the Spirit of Christ."

For Christmas, all followers of Christ should do some act, any act to anyone, whether they are for your loved ones, strangers or any people in need. It doesn't have to cost you a lot of money, but give your time, your energy and your love. Act out of love and that's the best way to celebrate Christmas as Christians. Have a Blessed Christmas to all Christians and Happy Holidays to all! God bless each and everyone of you.

GOD Loves All, including the Queer

I was thinking I should not talk about this because it is like an over-discussed issue. Plus, I honestly think it is not an important issue which the nation should be concerned about when they are many other more pressing problems that need our attention. This is definitely a ploy to distract citizens and meant to divide and confuse us.

But then again I can't help myself. I did some soul searching and researching and although this subject is still kind of taboo in this region, I wanted myself to have a clear stand on the matter. A stand that will satisfy both my religious view and compassion for fellow humans. It may not be agreeable to all but it is certainly put my mind at ease. So you may have guessed it, I am talking about the recent hot topic on Sexuality Malaysia. Apparently, it is an annual event that had been ongoing since 2008. So it's rather strange that now the issue suddenly becomes the talk of the town. But anyways, it is good that I take this opportunity to clear my own misgivings and confusion on the subject.

My experience with people who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) is very limited. My first real encounter was probably with a lesbian couple living in US. I got to know them through my friend and was their house guest for a few days while I was visiting US. One of them was a Singaporean Malay (i.e. Muslim) lady while the other was an American girl. They were both nice people and I didn't think much of them being any different at all. I am sure I had many other encounters with LGBTs but since they didn't openly declare that they are so, I probably do not know. But there is a point there, it makes no difference to me when I knew not and it would absolutely make no difference to me if I knew. I would have treated them as any regular friends. That's the kind of mindset I had, you could say I was quite liberal thinking.

As some of you may know, I converted to Catholicism some years back and I believe the decision I made to convert also dictates that I need to review my thinking and practice in many things. Including my view of LGBTs. Since the subject cropped up, I did some researching and I am very relieved with the Church's stand on the matter which I fully accept. This is found in CCC (CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH) 2357 to 2359 as below:

Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,¹⁴¹ tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."¹⁴² They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

So to summarise the essence of it, it means that although homosexual acts are wrong and as Christians, we cannot in any circumstance approve of any homosexual acts, homosexuals themselves must not be discriminated but must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. For Christians (probably Muslims as well) who find themselves to have homosexual tendencies, they are called to chastity. It is probably easier said than done and I cannot imagine what a LGBT person has to go through in his/her life. No one should have the right to judge any LGBT person and it is far from my thought to do any such thing, especially so when most do not share the same beliefs as mine. Any injustice against this minority group should be abhorred because GOD loves each and everyone of us (we are all sinners by the way), although many do not love HIM back.

Lastly, Malaysians should quit sabotaging these minority groups and move to more pressing issues. If you do not know yet, our education system sucks and corruption is making us bankrupt. How about we take those responsible to task?

Taking it Whole

I am not a choosy person. I am not particular about food or company. I am not choosy either about clothes, shoes, hair etc. as long as they are not mismatched. And when it comes to belief in God, I am absolutely convinced that you MAY NOT EVER choose and pick what you want to believe. You don't get to choose, you need to take everything whole. I do sometimes have different views than of the Catholic church's on certain matters. But I feel that I need to reconcile my own views to the catholic church stand. One matter that is utterly important is abortion. Before I was converted, I believed that the decision to abort an unborn child should be solely the woman's. It is her body, her life and therefore her decision and hers alone to make.

Generally, I do understand totally the need to protect life, both born and unborn. Therefore, the stance taken by Pro-Life is prohibition of:

• Abortion
• Euthanasia and assisted suicide
• The death penalty
• War, with very few exceptions

At the same time, I also understand the position of Pro-Choice which affirms that all of the following must remain legal:

• Celibacy and abstinence
• Contraception use
• Emergency contraception use
• Abortion, for the first two trimesters of pregnancy
• Childbirth.

 (source: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/tp/Pro-Life-vs-Pro-Choice.htm)

I stand by Pro-Life, not only because I need to take Catholicism 'whole' and I am complied to take the same stand as the Catholic Church, but it really makes a lot of sense to me. What ever gave us the right to take away life from someone, born or unborn? Particularly on the issue of abortion,yes, a unborn child in a woman's womb is imposing on the woman's body but it is also a life that God has allowed to be formed. By aborting, you are killing the unborn child without even giving it a chance to live life. Is that fair to this child? These are solely my own opinion and interpretation only as a lay catholic.
 
Pregnancy is a consequence of sex, so be responsible for your actions. Even in the unfortunate incidents of pregnancies because of rapes, although I totally abhor the rape act and symphatise with the rape victims but the unborn children are also victims, killing them is unjustified. For unwed mothers or mothers who are incapable of taking up the responsibilities of raising children for any reasons, there is avenue of adoptions.
 
I cannot deny that religion has played the main role in my stand on the matter but all the readings I have done have convinced me even more that the position of the Church on this is correct. You may be interested to hear what a Catholic father has to say about this:
 

Bye-bye Facebook and Hello Lent

 

Lent season is just a day away as tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. This year, I will try to do more abstinence apart from fasting and abstinence from meat. I was thinking to myself, what is the thing that I am spending a lot of time on daily. And then it became very obvious, Facebook! It is official, I am going to abstain from Facebook for the whole 40 days of Lent, excluding Sundays. So my Facebook buddies, you will see very little of me for the next 46 or so days. It is definitely not going to be easy but I am fairly confident I am able to do it. So Bye-bye Facebook and Hello Lent! 

Lent is a period for quiet reflection and contemplation. And qouting from a nice Catholic blog, "Lenten resolutions are something different though: it’s to humble yourself for God. Lent’s resolutions should be designed to make you holier; they should be about doing something for no purpose other than to improve your relationship with God."

For the time I would be spending facebooking, I will spend reading the Bible, praying alone and praying together as a family and thanking God for all the blessings. I can also throw in things like cleaning the house, guiding my kids in their school work, spending quality time with the hubby and kids, continue on my project runways, etc.. Oh boy, there's lots of things that I should be doing! But most importantly, spend time reflecting on my principles and direction in life and how to grow in my faith. I know these are big words and big stuff but I am always aware that I need to do such reflections from time to time. How successful you are in life is not measured by the amount of money you make or spend, how many degrees you've gotten and how many 'friends' you have. More importantly, how people see you as and how you treat the people around you and strangers in need. Respect each other, respect mother nature and do not judge or discriminate people on any basis. If you have all that, you have grasped the real meaning of life, regardless of religion. I am trying to on somedays, and forgets on other days. So I need Almighty God's guidance, all the time...

God bless you all and I hope you will have a fruitful Lent.

 

Ted Williams Blew Me Away

Happy new year and wishing all a great 2011. At the start of the new year, we are greeted with the 'open verdict' outcome of the lenghty Inquest on TBH's death. I was not even particularly interested to read up what was written about it on the papers and online portals. I didn't know why until I read this article on Malaysian Insider which depicts the feeling of hopelessness that I have about our country. I feel exactly like what is said by the author in this article, "I felt nothing because I have come to expect little of the country’s institutions. " It is a bad and dangerous feeling to have.

Even when I am busy with the start of the kids' new schooling, I am still affected by the fundamental problems that our country has. Even when I am worrying about my crying princess in her new kindy and my red-eyed son in his new school, I am still affected by the predictament of my country. But I am saddened that not everybody sees the problem or is concerned.

At a time like this, by chance (or by design of the Almighty), my eye caught an article that changed my mood entirely. It is not often that we hear about inspiring stories that gives us a positive feeling and hope. Remember the Susan Boyle story, now we have a male Susan Boyle by the name of Ted Williams from Ohio, USA. See the video below and get blown over, like me, with his God given voice!


I sincerely hope he gets the chance he is desperately needing and change his life around. If you listen to other interviews with him on youtube, you will find him such a pleasant and God-loving man. A far cry from his down period, I woud think. God works in mysterious ways.

Glory to God in the highest. Amen

Shark Teeth Shocker

I have never heard of shark teeth in children until I saw this shocker in my own son's mouth!! See for yourself the picture I took of his mouth. You bet I was scared out of my wits when I saw it and anxiety and worry started creeping into me, I felt butterflies in my stomach, I kid you not! What if his baby teeth won't fall off, ever?! What if they fall off but too late and his permanent teeth would be uneven? He wouldn't have 'perfect' teeth, that hurts me and I was really worried. I was already talking about bringing him to the dentist the next day. My hubby was just as clueless as me. Instead my son was the one trying to console me (and also trying to talk his way out of a visit to the dentist).

Thank you, whoever invented the Internet, for with some googling, I found that it is not that uncommon (about 10% of children may have this) and this is called shark teeth (or the correct technical term, lingually erupting mandibular incisors). I also found a few reassuring articles by dentists which help me understand the matter at hand and rest my anxious heart, a little. So if you are a parent to these 10% of children, you may find these articles helpful (Link 1, Link 2).

Although I am not as worried but I am still worried. If you are a parent, you would understand. And if you are a parent to more than one child, you will also understand how it feels when anything happens to any one of your children. You will be super worried, no matter which child it is. Your heart aches for each one of them, just the same. You may not treat them exactly the same way because they are all different, yet your heart aches the same for them. I think now I can understand how my parents felt when they worry for me or any of my sibblings. This is something so wonderous, all parents feel the same way about their children.

There may be times when disagreements crack the relationships between parents and their kids, but deep in each other's heart, this universal family love can never be broken. We just need to keep mending it. Aptly, this Sunday we just celebrated the Holy Family in church and even made a procession with the Holy Family statues in town. I don't know why the discovering of shark teeth in my son's mouth could make me think of all this, may be that's how God works. HE wants to remind me of my love for my children, the love of my parents for my sibblings and I, and the love of my mother-in-law for one of her daughters, in particular.

I pray for guidance so that I can be the one holding the family together and the strong one giving each one of them the support whenever they need it. When my kids become terrible teens in 10 years and they 'hate' their mummy, I hope that they can read this article which their mummy wrote and understand that mummy loves them no matter what.

For now, I want to say "Mummy loves you, Eron. Mummy will do everything to make sure your teeth will grow out nicely."

Shortbreads, Sweet Buns and Christmas Wishes

Baking been missing for a while from my routine until just two weeks ago when I felt the itch to bake something. Since I have all the ingredients anyway, I decided to try making shortbreads. The ingredient and recipe are pretty simple. I was calling them shortcakes but I think shortbreads and shortcakes are different. A little googling and here we found the difference. So the correct name for what I made is shortbreads. The trick here is the temperature and the length of time you bake them. Too hot and too long, they become too dry or burnt (like biscuits). So I have to make a few attempts to get the correct texture, a little soft inside and not too hard outside. They should still look white and not too brown. I made some tortoise shaped and heart shaped ones.

Then last week, I saw the facebook entry of my colleague's on his wife's Japanese-Style Sweet Bun, I had to try it. So a little googling got me to this recipe. It turned out to be a success and the process was not too complicated. Only problem I faced was that my mixer couldn't handle the dough and I ended up kneading with my hands almost entirely. I was doing this at night and the yeast had no problem doubling my dough much faster than that was stated in the recipe. That's the advantage of living in the tropics! The buns were really soft in texture, however, I think the buns were not sweet enough, I will need to put in a little more sugar next time. You can even add in fillings to these buns if you want, so I think I will be trying this recipe again soon, maybe add some variation to it.

Christmas is just around the corner, still a little more shopping to go. I am hopeful that we will get half day off on Chirstmas Eve cause I did not take any leave pre-Christmas, saving my leave for school re-opening. My sis-in-law will be having eating party on the eve at her house, I do not know yet if I will prepare something to bring over there. But Christmas is not about eating and presents and parties.... We have gone through the (annual) penitential duties and we will be attending the Christmas eve Mass and the Christmas day Mass too. I had previously posted this on my facebook, the Advent Consipracy. It is a different perspective of Christmas, the correct prespective. Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace be with you.

Do it Anyway

I found a prayer card at home which was distributed in church some months back. Never got around reading it until last night. It carries among others, a famous prayer credited to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was said to be found on the wall in the Children's home directed by Mother Teresa. Here is how it goes:

Do it Anyway
By Mother Teresa of Calcutta

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

As I was doing a search on this, I found that there exist an original version slightly different and it goes like this:

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Apparently, Mother Teresa have rewrote part of the original to make it more spiritual. But I am especially touched by the last verse in Mother Teresa's version, it is so true. So when you question yourself for doing the things that your consience is telling you too, while others are doing things against their (assuming they have) consience and are apparently doing well in this world; or when you are getting angry at the selfishness and inconsiderations of others, you can reflect upon this.

It is never between you and them, it is God who will be your ultimate judge.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Monday so soon....

It's Monday so soon.... Had another hectic weekend which also included an off day last Friday for Wesak day. It's going to be school holidays for 2 weeks starting next week and we have no plans yet on what activities to do with the kids. Probably a weekend day out to the Zoo or a picnic at the waterfall.

I have tested my new Nikkor AF-S VR 55-200 lens. Even with VR, I still have problem getting pictures which are sharp at the maximum zoom. But overall, I am still happy with the lens at the price I got it for. Still need lots more practise though. I haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera, will share when I do that.

Today, I also like to share with you a great and really hilarous site, Ask Sister Mary Martha. It's a site by a Catholic sister (in USA) who gives people advices on patron Saints. She is such a funny lady, makes mundane matters interesting. This is a must visit site for Catholics (and everyone else) who are looking for good 'fun' pages to visit in this vast and largely crazy cyber world.

Lately, the sermons by the Priests in our church touched on contributing time to church activities such as BEC, the various ministries, etc.. The priest when interviewing me after my conversion a few years back, did not insist about me getting involved in serving the church since he knew that I had young children to take of. However, I still feel that we (meaning my hubby and I) should do more. We do try to join most of the BEC activities. I even offered my help to the website committee for the church but looks like there isn't much to do. I do hope with the kids growing up, I can afford more time and effort to contribute to other church ministries in a few more years' time. I will certainly keep my antenna up, scouting for areas where I can be of service.

Lastly, to end this post, I would like to relate back to my last post about Bad Malaysian Drivers. I am proud to say that I have consciously been stopping myself from cutting queues for the past weeks. I will persist....

Sad Sad Week

This week had been filled with worries and tears as we watched and could do very little. A young boy has been called to the Lord. A young boy whom 2 weeks ago was still seemingly fine. It hurts to suffer a great lost of a good behavouring and bright young boy who would have had a wonderful future in this world. But we trust in our Lord, Jesus Christ, that You have heard and continue to hear all our prayers for this beloved child.

To You, O Lord, we humbly entrust this child, so precious in Your sight. Take him into Your arms and welcome him into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping nor pain, but the fullness of peace and joy with Your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Good Friday and Easter

Today I would like to post a sign that I find ironic and yet funny. This is from a chinese/taiwanese restaurant that has a sign that says Pork Free (and not Free Pork which is probably better). The ironic thing is, it has a picture of a Chef Piggy running away from something. How did the owner come up with that? Your guess is as good as mine! Incidentally, the shop seems to not be doing so well, it is closed most of the time I pass by it and I pass by it alot. I also have to confess, I never ventured into the shop before. Not because of the ironic sign but because I do not go into a restaurant where there aren't many patrons inside, that's a kaisu mentality. If no one eats there, chances are the things are not nice.

Meat is probably not apt for today's post since I am vegetarian today cause it's Friday. And it is also Good Friday, my hubby and I are off for the day. After a morning of running errands, we are resting with the kids at home while my eldest is in school. We will be attending mass in the evening where the congregation will be following the ritual of the stations of the cross to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. On Sunday we will celebrate Easter, celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. As a new Catholic family, we have done enough to observe the Lent season. I have got to be more committed and passionate about deepening my faith, Lord help me. To end this post, I recommend this beautiful song by Michael W. Smith entitled Above All, so beautiful that it brings me close to tears everytime I hear it. Have a blessed Easter!

Palm Sunday and Cheng Beng

The past weekend saw some interesting events. We celebrated Palm Sunday and in church, we brought along some palm leaves to join in the blessing of the palms. While on the way to attend the Sunset mass Saturday, we had to go collect some palm leaves. I asked my hubby to get from one of the neighbours decorative palm trees but my hubby was too shy, so I went down to try to retrieve from leaves but it was harder than it looked. I gave up since I didn't have any scissors or knives. We ended up driving to my in-law's house and got a few leaves from her African palm. These leaves were thorny and sharp, we got pricked and pricked others too in church. Gosh. I am going to buy a few decorative palm trees so that come next year, it will be a breeze to get the palm leaves.

The reason why we went for the sunset mass instead of out usual Sunday mass was because my in-laws and some relatives need to go to Nirvana park to pay respect to my children's great grandmother on Sunday morning. She died a few years ago in her nineties. She was a dear old lady, very kind towards me and loved my sons dearly. My hubby was her favourite grandson too. When my hubby told me that he needed to fetch these folks to his grandmother's grave, I told him I want to come along too. I have not been to her grave to pay respect, had always wanted to go. So we set off at about 8am and it was a major traffic jam. It took us more than an hour to get there which would normally take maybe 20 mintues. We went in 2 cars and parking was also big hassle there. The relatives did their offering burnings. My family put on some incense on her grave and prayed to Out Father for mercy for great grandmother's soul. Every year a few weeks before Cheng Beng Semenyih will see major traffic jams on weekends because the famous burial sites. Supposedly, you will be lucky if your ancestors are buried well and Semenyih seems to be the prime burial site. In fact my hubby said that it is the most expensive real estate, a small plot cost you easily RM20K to 40K. Chinese are very superstitious and customary people.

Lastly, a bit into politics. MCA had a re-election on Sunday and Dr Chua won. Was not what I expected but oh well, it's not going to mean much to me anyways. I am all for non-race based political parties and politicians. I hope to live to see the day when this becomes a reality in our beloved Malaysia.

Did it, was not that hard...

Yes, I finally did it. Went for confession last Saturday morning and it went well and fast. My parish priest is ever so kind. Didn't really reprimanded me after my confession and gave me and my family many blessings for Christmas.

This experience is really positive. Sometimes, things may seem hard but if you really set your mind to do it and just do it, it could turn out to be a breeze...

Thanks be to God.

Confession

I have been having this nagging thought to go for confession, which is long overdue. I have been researching online and found many helpful links on this but am still very apprehensive. I have so many things to confess about and some more serious than others, some very personal. As I have never been to a proper one after my baptism (2007), I really don't know how the preist will react. I must do this before Christmas, so I pray that I will have the courage to take the bull by the horns and get rid of my fear of Confession.