Whose in control?

A period of 3 months after graduation had set me thinking. Without a shadow of doubt, I had my times of wondering whether I made the right decision in rejecting the job offer for me to work in Sydney. Perhaps, I would have been driving my company's car; using my company's mobile and living a life that is going to be very very different from now. "Oh Lord.. I have seek Your Will at a very young age; let me realized that I have listened to the right Voice".

A series of financial issues; a car that is breaking down continously; health problems and etc aren't really what I would have expected to happen during this period of time. Nevertheless, God has shown that He is in control of each and every situation. Surely, He didn't promise a carefree life; but He did promise an abundant one.

Did I mentioned that I have a secured a casual retail job at a salmon shop? Yes.. It's the same company that I did my work experience as a hatchery technician. Though the number of work hours I am given isn't really alot; it does provide me with enough money to pay for our weekly rent. I guess that's what God promised; that He will provide for our needs. (Matthew 5:25).

I must admit that I do feel abit unease at times; why is this happening? "Oh Lord.. Could you just be clearer with your instructions? Didn't you give me the peace when I made the decision to reject the job offer and to continue serving your people in Hobart?

But somehow You seems to remain taciturn about it and had prompted me to continue to seek Your Will and to fixed my eyes on You. You said that everything will fall into place in Your timing and that I need not worry about losing the hours of my life to this constantly spinning world.

Alright....... I give in.

Unknown flowers

As my blog has been partially abandoned; so it my garden. But even when I have not been faithfully watering them. God has been faithful in tending them.

I am not sure of the names of these flowers..
But nevertheless, they are too beautiful not to share.. Enjoy.. :)

My personal favourite. :) Doesn't it look like an orange pom pom

Mid-Autumn Festival

If the blog has a voice ..... I am pretty sure it is going to say.. " Why have you abandon me?" LOL! I will try my best to summarize what I have been through from my last post till now.

I graduated from my MBA studies recently and had been looking for a full time job since then. It seems that my job with Tassal has been blowed and I shan't go further into it.

Nevertheless, I am currently working casually with Tassal in their retail shop and has approximately 2-3 days of job per week. Meanwhille, God has been providing for us through mooncake sales. Yes. We are selling mooncakes during the mid-autumn festival and had managed to sell 207 mooncakes in total for this season; raising enough funds to cover for 1.5 months of rent. And to share His faithfulness, the mooncakes sales is continuing despite that the festival is already over.

Making the mooncakes were really hard-earned money; but what's easy in life? We slept less than 3 hours per day for a total of 3 days just to complete the order. Infact, we ran out of ingredients to meet orders for approximately 20 mooncakes. (Not that we didn't forsee the order coming; but rather that the local shops ran out of ingredients).

We finally made it to enjoy our home-made mooncakes using the left over dough from different flavoured mooncakes; one day after the actual festival.

Here are some of my personal favourite photos of the mooncakes we made.

Pandan Snowskin

Rose Snowskin

Greentea Snowskin


Durian Snowskin

Enjoy! :)

HollyBank

HollyBank Nature Reserve, Tasmania had become one of

Joanne and mine's unofficial meeting place.

The quiet and serene environment makes it really conducive for couples to *Ahem*

What were you thinking??? = )

For couples to have a picnic....

Yeah.. I decided to do a table setting for the extra atmosphere...

(I initially planned to have it on the grass).

Sparkling White Grape JUICE..

(In place of white wine cuz I can't take them.. =.=")

Pizza rolls from Baker's Delight + Multi Berry scones * White choc Scones

Wat else.... but photos of us together..

AWwwwwwww........

I decided to be a little adventurous with our pose..

As you can see, I am a better frowner.

I like this shot.....

Awwwwwwwwwwww...... -.-"

I like this shot alot too... .. We are suppose to do the tongue thing together...

I mean stick out the tongue (what were you thinking about???)
But in the end, epic failed.. Joanne decided to smile instead..

SO the picture ended up looking like I am the big bad wolf waiting to lick her, while she waits happily to be licked. (Errr.. Sounds wrong)..

She was happy smiling away while I did my own thing..

Yeah... And we ended the picnic by having the toadstool for dessert..

Yah right.... That would have ended our existence...

Joanne was teaching me how to capture the toadstoal from an angle.

The shot of it wasn't this nice initially..

Sorry ! I didn't take the time to enhance the photos.

Seriously, we don't look that pale ... = )

Trios

Coincidental or what?! I planted a couple of Okra (Lady's finger) seeds and out of the lot, only 3 survived into adulthood.

I love the shape of the okra leaves.... . Its amazing isn't it!!

It somehow reminds me of a grape vine..

Okra are heat-loving plants and requires warm temperature to grow.

Sadly, the weather is turning cold and they don't seem really happy about it. They have sending out flower buds (an indicator to set seeds for the next season); which I have to trim away in order to preserve their energy. Its not point allowing them to bear fruit when they are only so small. At the same time, their leaves seems to turn yellow and age away every time a 4th leaf is sent out.

In order to provide them with as much heat as possible. I am growing them indoors, beside the window sill to maximize light intake.

Presenting to you "Do Re Me".

I hope they will last through winter so that I can get some okra to eat.. :p

Byblis liniflora

I have been trying to grow Byblis for the past few years but wasn't able to achieve any results.

It was either that the seeds were bad or that there weren't any available.

I chance upon this website that shared about different germinating methods for Byblis.

One of them was to burn hay on top of the seeds, which was supposed to trigger them to germinate. The other was to grow them in live sphagnum moss. Apparently, the live sphagnum moss produces some organic compounds that triggers it's germination.

And since I have some live sphagnum moss growing on a glass tray

(I was hoping to create a sphagnum carpet), I decided to sow some seeds on it

Much to my surprise, the seeds germinated.

I was so excited and pleased to be able to glance at these cute little creations of God once again.

Only 2 germinated and grown so far...

I am abit apprehensive for them as winter draws near.

Teach them(us) how to grow O Lord....

that they(we) will be strong in their(our) shallow pot;

where their(our) roots are too weak to hold....

Be their(our) strength and firm support.

Teach them(us) how to endure O Lord...

to weather the chill and the things they(we) love not;

that they(we) will blossom when spring comes

and reap the reward of their(our) loving God.

Superhero Me

Look what I found!!!

Superhero Me.............................. Yes..

Yes.. Except that he is in sandals..

(Dun ask me why his name is Poh)

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
Adapted from the Daily Bread

Over the years, I have met many christians who like to post their supposedly "inspired" devotion materials on their blog (Do not misinterpret, there's nothing with it). Infact, these posts encourages other believers and serves as food for the souls. : ) However, what's more important is the lifestyle and actions of the individual, rather than what's being written or posted.

If I were to flood my entire blog with devotion materials or inspired thoughts; will I appear as more God-focus to you? :) If it does, take a second thought... How many of those that constantly blog about their devotion materials had truly remained faithful in their walk?

Let us learn to encourage one another in this life journey walk with God.

I may fall sometimes, but you can be there to lend me a helping hand; instead of telling me that I have the tendancy of falling and will slow you down in your walk.

Its interesting how God never judges us on our speed but rather on how much we call upon Him for help during our walk.

"And I walk with Him and I talk to Him".