Beloved

She was more like a grannie to me than my real grannie.
She watched me grew up since I was 10, when my whole family still lived in HK.
I expected her to attend my wedding, although I also knew she was really sick with cancer.

When my grandpa died, I posted this song in remembrance of him. However I knew we would not meet again even in heaven cause' he didn't accept Jesus.
Now she died, I would like to post it again in remembrance of her.
I am sure we will meet again some day.


Tears In Heaven
by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
'Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven.

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?

I'll find my way
Through night and day,
'Cause I know I just can't stay
Here in heaven.

Time can bring you down,
Time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart,
Have you begging please, begging please.

Beyond the door,
There's peace I'm sure,
And I know there'll be no more
Tears in heaven.

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
'Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven.

Being a Missionary's Kid

Alot of times when people ask me, "Do you miss your parents?" I always say no. Most people think I enjoy the freedom that's why I answer that way. I guess it's partly true. Just that I also think unless you are a missionary's kid, there is something always in the deepest corner of your heart that's hard to talk about.

Alot of kids in this world are separated from their parents. Could be short term like for example the parents are always at work, or long term because the parents have settled their kids oversea. As a kid you can miss them, you can ask them to come back, you can worry that something might happen to them one day and you are not by their side.

Well, as a missionary kid, you can really do none of that. Their faith becomes your faith because that's the only way. Your faith can only lie in God. You cannot ask them back because they are serving God, you cannot worry for them because God is already watching. Talking about being there if they get into trouble, well, that's just not going to happen.

Before my parents took off on their 3 years term, alot of paper work was done. One of them involved my brother and I. We were told clearly, and asked to agree, that the mission organization hold no responsibility of my parents death if that should happen. Our cell phone numbers were given to the officials so they could contact us should they need to call us at anytime to deliver "news".

Everyday my parents go to different places deep in China to spread the Gospel. Not too long ago they were caught and locked up for questioning. I didn't know about this until they came out alive and told the tale. Next time I could be getting a call from the mission organization saying that my parents are caught again and they couldn't track them down. That could very well be the end of it and most of the time, bodies wouldn't be found.

Almost everyday when I think about my wedding next year I wonder if my parents could make it back safely by then.

2 months ago my dad was really sick. We were trying to send him to better hospitals in bigger cities for a thorough checkup but my dad refused. It took at least 3 weeks to finally convince him to take our advises. When my dad was away for his checkup my mom skyped me and asked me if I had ever realized that it's truely God's blessings to have my dad walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.

I thought,

"Of course I have thought about that.
I have thought about that long before my dad is sick.
I really look forward to that day when he walks me down the aisle.
I am just not sure if he can, yet."


So when someone asks if I miss my parents,
These are all that go through my mind,
if you know what I mean.

Now that's cool

Coke plots 'Sprite with ice' with help of new technology



Sprite

Coca-Cola is considering the launch of revolutionary new packaging that will create ice inside a soft drink when it is opened. It is understood it is planning to use the technology to launch a “super cold” variant of Sprite that aims to extend its appeal to the urban youth.

The new drink will be called Sprite Super Chilled and it could be launched in the UK as early as next year. Coke hopes the drink will tap into the trend for super cold alcoholic drinks, particularly beers.

According to industry sources, the bottled drink has to be stored in a purpose-built, developed vending machine that keeps the drink at a certain temperature. When it is purchased, the consumer twists the bottle, which triggers a mechanism inside that creates ice made from the drink, so it is not diluted.

It is understood that if Sprite Super Chilled proves successful, Coke plans to introduce the technology across its carbonated portfolio, such as Coke and Diet Coke. The move is the latest attempt by Coke to diversify and create new categories.

It comes as Coke axes energy drink Sprite 3G. The energy drink failed to make an impact with UK consumers and was axed less than two years following its launch (MW August 2).

Coke’s efforts to move into new categories have, for the most part, concentrated on moving into functional and healthier offerings.

It recently acquired a number of functional products, such as Vitaminenergy and Vitaminwater, as part of its $4.2bn (£2.1bn) purchase of Glaceau.

In the UK, Coke is launching Diet Coke Plus in October. The drink is an energy variant of the company’s flagship Diet Coke brand.

Taken from: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/57846/254/260/3

Cirque Du Soleil

2 years ago we were given 2 tickets at discount prices to watch Cirque Du Soleil. It was such a good show that my fiance loved it. After the show we decided that we would watch it again when a new show was up.

This coming Saturday would be my fiance's birthday and just so happen few weeks ago I received an email from Cirque Du Soleil that as a return customer I could buy tickets at 25% off, I decided to take him to watch another show.

This time the show is called "Kooza". It tells the story of an innocent, naive clown striving to find his own place in the world. It uses 2 centuries old circus traditions - acrobatics and clowning to come up with this performance. It's very very different from the first show we've watched and I must say I like this one way more. I wish I can tell you what I like but without seeing it, you wouldn't know what I am talking about.

However the fun part doesn't end here! Guess what we saw right outside of Cirque Du Soleil? It was when we arrived at the site at 7pm, we thought all hopes of having a decent dinner or even just a downtown hotdog were gone, we bumped into THIS place just across the street!!!!



What the??? I know. It's crazy isn't it. At that time we were thrilled of course. We went right into the store and had a delicious meal. I even had the chance of buying some breakfast for the next few mornings!

It was really a fantastic night. Even though the tickets were not cheap, but like my fiance said, compare to attending a HK star singing performance "Yin Cheung Woi" (sorry can't type chinese), this is waaaayyyy more worth the money!



Happy Birthday, my dear.

Carrots Harvest

 

 

I just pulled the carrots out last Saturday. I am happy with the result given the condition.
These are from Heirloom Seeds and the carrot type is called "Ox Heart" named after its shape. In full grown size they should be the size of my fist. However I grew them in a flower pot so they didn't turn out as big.

I will grow them again next year.

Rennovation of my room

I asked for few days off before and after this long weekend, so I had been home since last Thursday. Since we will not be moving into a new house after our wedding next year, I really want to make my current room special for us. I've chosen to paint my room in 2 tones of purple, bought a bed frame and finally today, we bought our new mattress.

It's a memory foam bed that comes with spring box and 2 x memory foam pillows. It's super comfortable and I just can't wait to sleep on it...

Fishing Trip

 

 

 

I just have to repost some pictures here in case some of you don't have access to my face book.

My Sphagetti Squash

 

After many trials & errors, I finally found a method to manually pollinate the squash flowers so the squash would actually grow. Beleive it or not, this is the first success. Hopefully more will grow.

Strawberries Picking 2nd Time

 

 

 

Monday morning Ron & I acompanied 2 friends to go strawberries picking. I was pleasantly surprised that even this late in strawberry season the farm was still able to provide such good quality strawberries to pick from. They were all huge and juicy. After we got home we had them washed and dipped in chocolate. As I was running out of containers Ron suggested to put them in an egg crate. The strawberries were so big that they fit perfectly in every egg slot. It was so cute.

Big Sweet Cherries

 

A closer look at the cherries we picked...

Cherry Picking

 

 

 

Sunday afternoon, I was a bit tired but I didn't want to waste my holiday in bed. I did a little research the night before and found out the closest cherry farm would be close to Niagara Falls. I thought, "If it's that far, I either go this weekend or I won't get to go at all". So right after a wedding helpers' meeting, 2 friends and I headed toward the farm.

QEW was jam packed, we snailed 1/3 of our way and decided to go local. While we were driving through the small towns we saw tons of gorgeous houses that backed on the lake. We also drove through a town called "Old Oakville" which looked like another Main Street. After over 2 hours drive (which was suppose to be only an hour distance) we arrived. The farm that we went to called "E. D. Smith". When we got there we were surprised by their level of security. We were not allow to bring in our own containers, in fact we weren't even allow to bring in backpacks or handbags of any sort! When we lined up to pay for our entrance there were several staffs checking all the girls' purses. Even water bottles were not allowed in the farm. Anyhow, we left literally everything in the car so there was nothing for them to check. Once we entered, we kept on randomly picking cherries off every tree we passed by to taste them but the cherries were all sour! We went further and further into the farm and the flavor didn't changed much. Just as we were getting disappointed one of my gfs found 2 trees which had tons of cherries that were actually sweet!!! After that we basically picked all our cherries from that 2 trees. Believe me, after picking 22lbs, they stilll looked untouched. There were still loads more cherries on them.

My Dream Home

 

I was going to post few pictures of my fishing trip. However that trip had a long story behind which I didn't feel like writing it all out. As I was flipping through the other photos that Ron took (Ron had no interests in fishing so he was playing with my camera while we were on the boat) I saw this picture.

When we were sailing by this house we saw this house with a plane that could land on water. I always told him I wanted a plane like that one day. That way we could land in any water, open the cabin door and fish right off the plane. It would be great if we could live in a house like this off a lake...

Beautiful Butterfly

 

 

This past Saturday morning while I was cutting some lavenders (the purple flowers) 2 butterflies were hanging out in my garden. They were so beatiful. If you saw them up close you would notice the details of their wings, the patterns, the colors.

I love my garden, whether it's the flower beds or the veggie barrels, because they make me forget about work and all the stress in life. It makes me very happy when I see that my plants are growing. It makes a difference in my routined life. It reminds me that living is more than just time-passing.

First Pea Crops

 

I have sugar snap & snow peas this year.
Finally this pass weekend I had the previleage of hand picking my very own peas.

Strawberries, Snow Peas, Green Peas, Sugar Snap Peas & Potato Picking Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning Ron & I went to visit a farm called "whittamore Farm" on the east side of Toronto. When we arrived it was about 10:30am. The farm was already crowded with people. We drove quite a long way into the farm before we were at the area where some strawberry fields were ready for picking. Not only were we lucky to find a parking spot right away, we were also assigned to 2 very good rows to pick from. I only found out about this a bit later that not all sections of the fields produce the same quality of strawberries. In my section, the strawberries were HUGE. The stupid part was after we parked the car both Ron & I found out neither of us had any cash. We only had some $12 change in our pockets. We thought they only take cash. It was even more stupid to leave the farm and find a bank so we thought we would just pick $12 worth of strawberries and leave. After we filled 1/2 of 2 baskets we decided to pay for them first to find out how much they would cost. While we were standing in line the people in front of us paid by interac. Then we found out in fact we could pay by bank card, so we went back to pick some more. After that we also went by the peas section and picked some of those. Neither of us had ever picked veggies in a farm so we had no idea. The farm offered 3 types of peas so we picked some of each. We also found out they had potatos so we went and looked. By chance a mother was there (actually they were the only people there at the beginning) with her 2 daughters. The mother was experienced and she was teaching the 2 girls what to keep and what not. I was listening and also observing for a while before I gave it a try. I think the best description for this experience is "treasure hunt"! You could never tell how big and nice the potatos might be underneath until you dig them out! Also you cannot use the shovel because the potatos are too soft and fragile! So we just kept digging with bare hands and boy that was fun!

At night we cooked the sugar snap peas & potatos for dinner. They all tasted soooo goood.....

I really really really enjoyed myself today.

Overview

 

This is just to keep you in perspective. Now you have a better idea of how big the plant is compare to the size of the flower.

One day later...

 

 

The previous pictures were taken on Sunday. These 2 shots were taken only one day later, this morning before I headed to work. This plant grew so fast it's kinda freaky. So the flower opened and I was glad to have captured this sight. Why? Well, today after work I thought I was going to look at it again and the flower already closed and wilted.

Spahgetti Squash

 

 

This is something new. The plant just grow by inches everyday. This is the first fruit. Interesting thing is, the fruit appears before the flower actually mature to open. I am fascinated by this. It seems the plant has already determined to bear fruit before it has successfully concieved. I've done some research and found out that this is the female flower and it is destined to bear fruit. The male flowers are the bottom of the plant just above soil. I have about a dozen of them there. The flower is smaller.

Long waited peas...

 

Just when I thought I had done something wrong that caused my peas plant to grow only leaves and bare no flowers nor fruits, they bloomed and produced peas. I dropped a tear or two when I first saw this. After weeks of hard work growing them from seeds, finally some crops appeared.