HeFirstLoved.

Money $ense

yimei — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:17:58 +0000

(I really should be doing work, but it’s a Saturday!)

Recently, Ben and I had been talking about money. We were not really counting money, but talking about it because we were counting our blessings, and giving thanks that God has blessed us with more than sufficient.

A little less than 2 years ago, we got married. We put in almost all our savings in the purchase of the house, which left us with just enough to get by each day. We were blessed by people who bought us the washing machine, who blessed us with an oven, who blessed us with furniture, who blessed us with utensils etc etc. We bought little items for the house and slowly built up our home. At the same time, God blessed us with pay increments and bonuses so that we became more and more comfortable. This Christmas and Chinese New Year, Ben and I were happy to say that we are more than comfortable, and have slowly built up our savings.

However, we both shared this same sentiment – we were uncomfortable to be spending too easily! How odd.. Ben could only sum it up with – I think I don’t like to be rich. Not that we are scoffing at money, but I think when we were not so comfortable, we were more cautious with our money, and we make our every penny well spent. Perhaps of course, the more one earns, the better things one buys. But perhaps we were already happy in the way we were living, and may perhaps choose to stay in that manner for a little while more.

Whatever the case is, I think God for every little blessing He has given to us. With a comfortable life, it means that we can save more so that if a little one comes along, Ben won’t be too stressed with me being a SAHM!

~Mei

Into 2012

yimei — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:27:08 +0000

2011 came and said goodbye, quite quickly. Thanksgiving for 2011 on another day, but it’s now 10 days into 2012, and hello to yet another fast-moving year

This year, we turn 30, and Ben pondered for a long time on his resolution. (Mine was to read 25 books :p). It struck me that he repeated the phrase “Jesus began his ministry when he turned 30″ several times and I wonder what wonderful things God has in store for us this year. More importantly, I’m thankful that, as the head of this household, Ben asked what resolutions our family unit will be making. Indeed, we, as a family unit, will be seeking and asking for God’s directions and we pray only that we will be obedient to Him! Keep us in prayers!

~Mei

First year anniversary….

yimei — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:23:24 +0000

For our lovenest

We’ve been staying in our lovenest for a year now and we are loving every moment spent here. Memories created and a home being established.

耶和华为我家之主！

Snippets of life at Serangoon…

yimei — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 23:04:25 +0000

Our friends came over last night after a late diner/supper and we played four rounds of monopoly deal :p It was a fun night! We haven’t done this in a long while. When we were younger, we often play card games overnight at youth camps :p

At 5am this morning, our ~~friendly~~ neighbours decided to start quarrelling. In Tamil. So early in the morning! sigh.

Taste Paradise

yimei — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 23:29:57 +0000

Was at Taste Paradise (Ion Orchard) with Ben and Emmy yesterday. We were supposed to meet Sarala for dinner, but she ended up having too long a meeting with her client. It was my first time at Taste Paradise, and my first thought was that it is quite an “atas” place We had wanted to go for dim sum, but Taste Paradise did not offer dim sum for dinner.

Taste Paradise is a very nicely done up place. There were big portraits of the kings of the various dynasties, making the place feel important and grand. At the same time, the soft yellow lights created a warm ambience, lulling Ben to sleep :p I enjoyed the attention paid to details, and definitely enjoyed the food!

Look at the spout

Close up

I particularly liked the teapot! It was well-chosen because the spout makes it almost certain that there will not be a spill. Loved the intricate cups as well. The xiang pian tea did get a lil too bitter for my liking towards the end though.

Grilled pork with plum sauce

This was a chef’s recommendation and definitely a winner! yums! The pork was very tender and the sauces infused! Reminded Ben and I of Naughty Nuri’s in Bali

: Mango Puree with pomelo and coconut ice cream

I had this for dessert. When it came, it sat on a cup of dry ice, so it was “smoking” non-stop. A winner in presentation The mango puree was yums and the coconut ice-cream was a very good complement to the mango taste must try! Ben tried the fried durian puree which was just as delicious!

Thanking God for religious freedom

yimei — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:38:48 +0000

Ben and I had been having some of his Dreamz friends coming over our house for prayer meeting once every two to three weeks. They had been trying to start this for a long time, but had not been very consistent, so I’m thanking God that it is happening at a more regular basis now. Well, the purpose of the prayer meeting is to be praying for their non-believer friends, but it is also a time for us to be praying for the needs of one another.

During the prayer meeting that just passed, we happened to be talking about the upcoming Presidential Elections. We were speculating about who might be the next President and if people would be making informed voting. Anyway, it impressed upon my heart to be praying for the process of the elections, and to be praying for God’s wisdom for Singaporeans to make a choice, as well as for our nation to continue to enjoy religious freedom. It hit me then that we had been very priviledged to be able to worship anywhere and at anytime. I imagined that if we had been surpressed, Ben and I would probably have been one of the first to be arrested, since we always have people gathering at our place for bible study and prayer meetings. I give thanks that God has placed us in this nation, and is using our place for His Kingdom. I would like to pray that this would continue to happen, so that we, as a nation, can continue to be a blessing to our neighbours.

~Mei

Things around the house (Part 2)

yimei — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:02:27 +0000

And so as we grow with our house, we started to add more things to the place we call home

sign to our house

I bought this blackboard sign when I was out with my alto buddies, and decided to hang this outside the house! I have friends who identified our house through this sign, instead of our unit no., because the unit no. is kinda hidden away.

: Smoothie

Meet Smoothie, our resident soft toy Our BSF friends gave us some capitaland mall vouchers last year, and we decided to buy something to keep. So we bought this toy! Smoothie has a friend too, called Milkshake, who stays in Peu Peu.

: Espresso “machine” from Minghui

: Machine at work!

Minghui bought us a coffee maker when he was in Germany (?), and it is really a very interesting thing! Well, I don’t really drink coffee, but Ben does, so it’ll be most useful for him. Otherwise, it can be an interesting object for conversation when we have friends over in future! I imagine I could use it to make tiramisu? I don’t know!

Updates!

yimei — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:13:19 +0000

Wow, from having been away at Desaru to having gone away to London, we’ve certainly fallen behind a great deal in updating our lives

Since coming back from Desaru in May, my conference to Harrogate got confirmed and Ben’s leave got approved too! He had decided to join me in London after my conference to Harrogate. I was very excited then because it would be our first long trip! We both loved travelling, and it would be our first trip to a European country. It turned out to be a lovely lovely trip with lots of beautiful memories. We spent the days with Minghui as well, and it has definitely improved our friendship!

Us at Tower Bridge

Ben brought me to buy Paddington Bears!

Updates

yimei — Wed, 11 May 2011 02:05:59 +0000

I realised that the last time we wrote was almost two months back. Poor neglected blog.

Ben and Mei are getting on fine. We have been having friends over at our house once in a while, just to chill or eat or play monopoly deal, and most recently, to try to stay up for the elections results. But, my friends had to go home earlier. And on that same note, we had gone from being in the PAP GRC to being in the WP GRC. Thoughts on that another day

We attended Skye’s wedding last weekend (CONGRATULATIONS SKYE!), and something that the Pastor said resonated strongly within me. He said that the addition to a married couple is that they no longer live as individuals. They now live as a couple. What the wife used to do, the hubby might now have to be involved and vice versa. How true. I thought about how I used to be able to plan my own nights. Not that I can’t now, but I will sometimes have to go with him for certain functions, we need to factor in dinner with both families, we need to fulfil church duties and we still need to find nights out for ourselves. We don’t have that many nights really! hehe.. ah well, the life of being married! but I’m loving my married life!

We went away for a short trip to Desaru over the labour day weekend, so photos of that to be up soon!

Snippets of life @ Serangoon

yimei — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:17:29 +0000

Sometime around 3am, this crazy driver drove his car around our estate and pressed on the horn repeatedly. He parked his car for a while at the carpark just behind our kitchen and pressed the horn at least three times, each time pressing on it for at least 2 – 3 seconds. Ben thinks the driver is drunk. I think he is crazy. Our neighbour shouted at him.

Please la. 3 am. We need our beauty sleep

Mei