It is finished!

A year ago, on the 1st of February 2013, Jeff and I commenced this "read-the-bible-in-a-year plan". It involved reading 3-4 chapters of the Old Testament and 2-3 chapters of the New Testament each day for one year. This challenge was prompted by my wise and godly sunday school teacher. She said, "how can you call yourself a Christian if you haven't even read the whole bible at least once?" I couldn't agree more. It got me thinking of how to achieve this. I talked to J and he suggested choosing a random website on google. This was the one (highly recommended). It lets you choose which day to start reading, what version of the bible you want to read and how to split up the passages (e.g. OT --> NT or OT/NT each day). N

Now, I had tried to stick to reading the bible previously, but I had never really succeeded. I was always "too tired" or "couldn't be bothered". It was a leap of faith as I asked God to help me persevere with this. At first, J and I kept ourselves going by assigning a 'punishment' to the one who forgot/skipped a day of reading (shouting the other person green tea ice-cream). However, as we did our bible reading day-by-day, it got easier, and eventually we fell into a routine of doing so. I admit that I skipped about six days of reading, and Jeffy only skipped out on one or two. Rain or shine, travel or home, energetic or sleepy, joyful or angry, the bible had been read!

Here are some screenshots of the last few passages of the bible: 

Malachi 4

Revelation 22

I remember during a sermon from a while ago, someone said words along the lines of this: "Isn't it amazing that the Old Testament ends with God bringing about a curse on men. Compare that to how the New Testament ends in Revelation - it ends with a blessing of Jesus' grace upon the saints (those who accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour). The gospel (what God has done for man in Jesus Christ) has turned a curse into a blessing. We have been pardoned from the penalty of our sin (death), and given something we do not deserve (eternal life with our Creator God) - all due to the infinite love of God." 

So what now? Personally, I plan to study the bible in more depth. Reading the bible through this plan has given me an overview of the bible, but now is the time for detail. I will use my application bible to study shorter passages and meditate on God's word. Ignite strand group #2 definitely sparked a curiosity for the area of biblical theology and the Old Testament in me. I'm now reading the Goldsworthy Trilogy by Greame Goldsworthy, a theological professor in these two areas! I'm nearly finished the first book Gospel in Kingdom, and it has helped me develop a greater understanding of how the different epochs (periods of time/era) in the bible all point to the gospel. Biblical Theology is the process of interpreting what the bible says, and that's what I aim to do this year (at least). It's a pretty ambitions goal, but then again, reading the bible in one year was too! 

For those struggling to read the bible, especially the dryer sections, the more you read, meditate, understand and apply, the more you will thirst for the Word of God. It is our spiritual food, which gives us strength to live out our lives in a joy, faith and hope that only comes from our Father in heaven.

Sweet Treats

A couple of nights ago, Huldah and I went to this little cafe, Sweet Treats. It recently opened, so I suggested for us to go there. It was really nice inside, with cute little decorations around the place. The stuff on the menu wasn't too pricey, and since it closes late, it's a good place to sit down and have a chat.

A new start to a new year

Hard work produces nice results. In this situation, this was the case. It took me days to move furniture, wipe dust off everything, buy storage boxes, find space for storage, move everything into storage, chuck things away, vacuum and take photos, because quite frankly, I'm a hoarder. When I sort through my stuff, I'd say less than 20% of it actually gets thrown away (which is already pretty good). These couple of days have been tiring, cleaning constantly and having my parents pester me about getting it done just because they don't like the sight of things in the corridor/on my floor. 

Alas, I have completed my job, with the help of my trusty boyfriend Jeffy. He did all the stuff guys do (e.g. tightening handles on my old desk, moving my bookshelf, build the desk + bookshelf). 

I LOVE the bookshelf that the desk attaches to! Such a nice and simple way to display my things and have them
close without having to clutter my workspace! I used the Rejoice cup (courtesy of Huldah and BD) to hold my
stationary, and an organiser frame thing from Muji to hold random things that aren't pens (e.g. cute totoro!)

The two empty spaces below are for my uni books for when I start. 

Down below to store random things.
The holes in the bookshelf is so convenient for cords to reach my power bar. 

I decided to hang fairy lights that my friend Borthi gave me for Christmas!
They're so pretty to look at with lights off.

This dish was $1 from a garage sale! What a bargain. It's holding my earrings now :) 

All in all, getting this desk was a good idea, and I'm so glad it could FINALLY happen. 

I'm ready for study now!!! 

Forever a Dominoid.

What is a Dominoid you ask? Well, I'm not 100% sure if it can be used in this context, but whatever. So I consider myself a Dominoid as an employee of Domino's Pizza Enterprises (actually, as of now - EX-employee). Today is the 25th of January 2014, the day after I officially quit my job (I'll let you know why later on). I began my life as a Dominoid sometime in September in 2010 and since then I've had incalculable number of encounters and experiences.

I first acquired this job through my friend Sidney Wong who was already there for about 1.5 years. There began my glory days at doms (lol not really). Anyways I've seen numerous people come and go in these few years. The most significant few first began with Liane and Jacinta Milligan - my store manager and assistant store manager. Yes they're related, mother-daughter duo actually. Liane (Millies) was really nice to me and made sure I settled into the store all right. Jacinta (Cinta) and I had a lot of time to get to know because we worked a fair share of close shifts later in the days. These two taught me so much over these years. Cinta taught me most of my skills as an instore, how to cut pizzas, prepare sides, do dishes then eventually making pizzas. Millies, during 2012 trained me up to become a shift runner. She taught me how to count stock, prepare driver floats, organise and deposit money, input data into the system, pay staff correctly, order stock and actually closing up the store. These two played a huge part in my time at Domino's Springwood. However in late 2013, a sudden decision from corporate meant for an end of an era. Millies, who's been at Springwood for ~11 years was transferred to Upper Mt Gravatt. Cinta, who's been at Springwood for ~7 years was transferred to Calamvale.

Then comes Sam who left for a fulltime job at Telstra sometime early 2012 I think. Sam actually taught me how to answer phones, it begins with picking up and saying: "Thank you for choosing Domino's Springwood. My name is Jeff. Would you like pick up or delivery today/tonight?". Of course I eventually turned this into a more concise version and just said: "Thank you for calling Domino's Springwood, was that pick up or delivery? "In doing so, I've also eliminated taking responsibility for whatever happens by taking out my name from the introduction. Sam the cutter became Sam the saucer then eventually Sam the traitor hahaha. At least he left us with his legacy aka LUCY Macgregor, his sister.

I'll talk about Lucy for a bit. So she's pretty fun to work with. I can never be nice to her, I always have to insult her or just be mean to her cos it's fun.. I'm terrible to her but she seems to be friendly still. Once she actually threw several dots of cheese at me and one rolled into my ear and I shivered really hard. She is still at Doms and I don't think she knows I quit yet, but she's said on numerous occasions that by the time I leave, she will also leave cos everyone she knows is gone.

Next is Shann. I actually went to highschool with her, all the way back from grade 6. We were never really close, but working together we had a good run. I took over her Monday closes (the easiest night to close). She eventually left for a full time nursing job at a children's hospital after she graduated at the end of 2012.

Clare and I had a good run too, we were the only close shift runners in the store for a while from late 2012 to early 2013. We had to basically run the nights when the Milligans were away on their cruise. It was a stressful time and we felt pretty worn out by the end of it. Then there was a period when Clare and I closed together (tuesday nights when we still had 3-man-closes). It was either Cinta, Clare and I. Millies, Clare and I or Dylan, Clare and I. We would absolutely destroy the night and have everything ready for close at 9:30pm when the store closed at 11pm. That's the perks of having 2 shift runners on I guess, we shared paperwork and cleaning for maximum efficiency. Clare had some rough times at Domino's, from misunderstandings and miscommunication to inconsiderate treatment and unproductive resolution. Eventually Clare left to work at Dan Murphy's sometime mid-2013.

Which brings me onto Dylan, who's actually still with the store. This guy is unique. He got his red Ps I don't even know when... so he became a driver and then I think within the year he crashed at least twice and lost his license like four times... Despite all that, he's actually a really nice guy, I've had some good times with him.

Last but not least Sidney Wong ofc. This guy came from Malaysia and joined my school in grade 10 and became one of my closest friends. We had a solid run at Domino's actually. We did Tuesday closes for about a year I think. We would slack off so badly haha. We'd get most of our cleaning done then just talk about cars or go on our phones and end up losing our head start. This guy was always ahead of me, took me ages to get onto make bench to make with him, but it was fun when we got to make together. We would often get yelled at (jokingly) by Cinta cos we're too busy talking about what we'd do to a wrx or an evo, or talk about the mechanics behind torque steer or something awesome. He eventually left in 2013 while working at a design place. I guess he just had enough of Domino's, which is fair enough as it HAS been like 5 years for him...

I think that's enough people-talk. So couple of things that meant it was time for me to go:
- I actually made a joke a while ago about Millies and Cinta leaving, I thought it was so improbable that I said I would just leave if they were gone.
- Justin (who is now a Regional Manager in-training) became our acting store manager and Lachan became our Assistant Store Manager. Lachlan made an effort to promise me I could continue what I was doing until I found a full-time job, as we both understood that it was nearing the end of my time with Domino's. I was really thankful for that.
- Lachlan was transferred and promoted to acting store manager of Nerang and Bree came in as our new store manager.
- AJ and Dion also came along as assistant store managers so we had three full-time workers at our store requiring 40 hours each (per week).
- I was unable to work any close shifts and my pay rate is just too high and from a business perspective it was undesirable and wise to pay me for something a 16 year old could do (and pay them half). In saying that, I do it like 3x better.. and I know what it's like to have to close so even as an instore working during peak, I'll try my best to clean as I go and just get things done before I leave - whereas someone without any closing experience would do the minimum and go home. The couple of weeks before I quit I was essentially working one peak shift a week (2 hours on Monday). With these little and uncertain hours it was hard for me to commit to this job, whilst retaining my practical skills, head knowledge and keeping up with online training.

So I guess with all of the above, I knew it was a good time to go. I'm actually pretty sentimental and I really treasure memories. I thank God for providing me with such an awesome work experience and the ability to generate an income for myself during my uni days. I'm now left with one job at PBJ Certification which pays much much less ($16 an hour as compared to $24 at Doms). However, I'm grateful for having work to do and being able to earn some money in doing so. Even before I left Doms, I was challenged with various issues and I know God was helping to prepare me for the real world. I hang onto a passage from Job 1: "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, praise the name of Yahweh." Although I sometimes worry about my financial circumstances until I find a full-time job in town planning, I am able to remain hopeful in the unchanging God and know that these things happen for a reason and according to His will. I will continue to do the work He provides me with, to the best of my abilities, with a joyful heart.

To finish up, at least I know I can make a Supreme pizza from the beginning to the end in 23 seconds: Tomato sauce on a classic crust -> flour the edges -> put a make ring over it -> 90g of cheese -> 8 pieces of peperoni -> 30g of capsicum -> 30g of mushroom -> 30g of pineapple -> 30g of beef -> 30g of sausage -> 30g of bacon -> sprinkle of oregano -> take make ring off.

Ikea - the one stop shop

I've thought long and hard about this - to desk, or not to desk? That is the question. I have decided to get it, for several reasons: a) I've wanted an external monitor for a while (my mac is not big enough to open many articles and documents especially when I am working on an assignment) and my current desk is not deep enough to fit one, b) it's aesthetic and functional (will hold all my stuff), c) I need a change. I bought the expedit in white, so it'll look different to the picture below.

I finally took the step to get someone to come pick up my old desk so now there's a gap in my room - it's kind of good to have more space, but I'm very keen to start assembling the new desk. I'm doing a massive cleanup this week and putting old things away into storage. Getting ready for a new year!

Right/top: J being a man and doing the heavy lifting.
Bottom: We couldn't resist ($1 for each item) - I gotta say, Ikea knows
how to do business. It's a win win situation really.

So happy it's finally happening!!!!

After ikea, we went to DR Lee's house to have lunch. He's so hospitable and cooked for a bunch of us. Here is his classic udon with bak choi and balls. 

Books, books and more books!

When you're somewhat of a bookworm, on holidays and have some extra cash to spare (not in my case) why not head off to the local bookfest? I had never seen so many books in one space all my life! The books were sorted into paperback fiction, hardcover fiction, comics, reference books, Australia, cooking, crafts and gardening, games, rare and collectables, history, war and vehicles, music, health, new age and comedy, sci-fi, religion, foreign languages (I might have missed some). 

I had a really good time trying to see if anything tickled my fancy. I had a pretty big pile of books by the time I finished, but I cut it down to three in the end. Jeffy was so good carrying all the books for me (a good 1.5 hours spent doing so) and hanging around even when next to none of it interested him. I knew from the start that he would be bored, yet he trodded along patiently and happily. Here are some photos of our adventure. Enjoy!

For some reason we found an awful lot of these books (not just in this pile but scattered throughout the paperback
fiction section. I figured that this series is either a) very popular or b) unwanted by a lot of people.

Here is J looking through a meat cookbook. He wanted me to buy it and cook him the food in it. I told him I could
but in the end he didn't want to buy it because he was determined not to buy anything. I think he was just
craving some meat because we had fish + veges + rice for lunch. I was getting pretty hungry by the end of the browse.

The three books I ended up purchasing!

The Shakespeare Curse; by J. L. Carrell ($5)

A brutally murdered body is discovered on a remote Scottish hillside - with a mysterious knife beside it. The victim was a beautiful young woman, throat slashed by an unknown assailant. The circumstances of the murder suggest ancient pagan sacrifice. Then a trench on that same hill is found filled with blood. The shocking discoveries seem to be linked by the ancient curse of Macbeth. From the streets of New York to the twisting corridors of Hamptom Court Palace to a remote loch in the Scottish Highlands, the race is on to stop a deadly modern serial killer who will do anything to uncover priceless ancient treasures... 

Soups and Breads; by Jane Price ($10)

From light and zippy soups to more substantial main meals, and accompanied by delicious bread recipes, Soups and Breads offers a tantalising array of dishes for every occasion, no matter what the season. Some soups I am keen to try out are: Ratatouille and Pasta Soup, Vietnamese Combination Seafood Soup and the New England Clam Chowder. 

The DaVinci Code - Special Illustrated Collector's Edition; Dan Brown ($6)

Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre, Jacques Saunière, has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizzarre riddles, they are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo da Vinci - and suggests the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of history.

Langdon suspects the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - a centuries-old secret society - and has sacrificed his life to protect the Priory's most sacred trust: the location of a vastly important religious relic hidden for centuries. But it now appears that Opus Dei, a clandestine sect that has long plotted to seize the Priory's secret, has made its move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, the Priory's secret - and a stunning historical truth - will be lost forever.

In this exclusive edition Dan Brown allows the reader behind scenes of the novel, which now incorporates over 150 photographs and illustrations throughout the text showing the rich historical tapestry from which he drew his inspiration. The visual sources, which provide both the backdrop and the stimulus for the novel's action, are revealed for the first time and uniquely complement the reading experience. 

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

What's been happening these days? Quite a few things. As J makes the transition to a FT job, there are several major changes to be made - one of them being selling the car. He bought it a bit more than a year ago around the time when we started dating. I guess I will always associate this car with this period of time. :) J washed and waxed the car just so we could take a few 'glamour shots' at night time (apparently darkness brings out the shine). I must admit, this one looks pretty good :D Apart from the memories, I will probably miss the tight suspension and recaros the most. I won't miss the 2 doors, tiny glove box and power distribution. 

Honda Civic Type R

Last Sunday I had Max for dinner with J, Wells, Charles, VChan, Calvin and Jason. It was quite a meal - VChan had a whole chicken to himself... not surprised. I haven't had this in a while, so it was delicious! It was nice having dinner with the guys. 

Speaking of chicken, my mum was unwell so my brother made this massive chicken. It was cooked to perfection. I deboned and cut it all up for us to eat. 

Borthi came back from Bali and gave us these bracelets.
Triplets!

You know those bubbles J and I made (previous post), we made it for real this Sunday for the Children's Holiday Program at church. It was not as successful as the ones we made previously, but still good. It was so nice to see the kids have fun :) 

When hungry, eat 2 minute noodles.

Holiday read - Almost finished Allegiant, and just started the Goldsworthy Trilogy. I just wanna read more! This is pretty much the only time of the year when I can dedicate chunks of time to reading, so I hope to make the most of it. 

Ignite Training Conference 2014

What a week! Praise God that a whole bunch of us have had a solid week of spiritual food, equipping us to serve more effectively in ministry. It was definitely a very full on conference, with a talk in the morning, followed by strand groups, an afternoon workshop and a night talk everyday. 

The theme of the conference was 'Church Matters' with LT Hopper and Peter Lin coming to speak with us. They were crazy good and I learnt a lot about what it means to be God's people and how to go through ministry and life serving Him. Lots of the sermons were pretty challenging (which I really liked). I don't remember a lot of things, but I remember Steve Nation saying this: "Sound theology being preached should flick the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted" - AMEN!

I attended Ignite for the first time two years ago in 2011 with NATMAN and I found it really difficult to keep up with the strand content. Because of this, I decided not to attend last year so I could grow in knowledge and be better prepared to learn as much as I can. I think the plan worked. This year I completed strand 2 YAAAY! :)) 

Steve, Eric, Ezekiel and I went to Yuen Si Hong to get some asian snacks for morning tea.
We tried to get the cheapest of everything and ended up getting pandaroo jellies
which not many people liked. Oh well. 

J: Give me the grapes Fer Fer
F: You're not getting any grapes off me! 

As a group outing, we went to Celia's parent's house. It was crazy cool!!! They have a huge pond with an island in the middle. The grass looks really cool to roll in but don't be deceived! There's HEAPS of geese poop everywhere. 

Celia's dad built this bridge. What a handyman dude! 

Dragonfruit is growing on the island!
Steve and Josh picked some and cut it up for us to eat.
Tasted much better than the ones we bought from the supermarket! :) 

We all tried to be Nat doing her 90 degrees peace sign :) 

Strand 2: Biblical Theology

I'm no expert, strand two helped us to understand the old testament and how it fits in the big picture of the bible. We studied the passage of Jeremiah 23:1-8 which talked about God bringing judgement upon the evil shepherds and promising to raise up a righteous Branch who will save His people and gather them back to Him. This event will be so great and unforgettable that it will make the exodus seem insignificant and forgettable!

It was so so interesting learning from Steve and Celia - two awesome, godly and knowledgable strand group leaders. I was trying to soak up everything they said like a sponge - I learnt so much! I have always wanted to delve into the old testament to a greater extent than just reading it and moving on, but I've never quite known how to approach it. But this week in strand group, my yearning to study God's word has been ignited ha.. hahaha. Here are some general things I have learnt: 

1. Everything in the bible is there for a reason - we just need to work harder to figure out the relevance 

2. There is always connection between any passage to Jesus

3. There's a concordance at the back of my bible! So useful for BT

4. There are many different ways to approach/understand a passage of the OT (Steve printed out an article for us)

5. The general history and geographical migrations of Israel that represents the current state of their relationship with God

There have been so many mind blowing moments during this week it's crazy. Here are some books that Steve brought along to show us. I'm particularly interested in reading The Goldsworthy Trilogy and An Introduction to the Old Testament. 

Thursday Night: Came home and wrote my bible study (with Jeffy's company and help). I had a much firmer understanding and direction this year compared to two years ago (my strand one leader made me redo my bible study because it 'wasn't good enough' :( sad). We split off to girls and guys and I presented my bible study to Celia and Theolynn. It was really good getting some comments and feedback. There were one or two things to improve in the questions, but overall I did a pretty good job. I'm glad I have this skill now! 

It was now the leader's turn to present their take on Jer 23. Celia did a fantastic kid's talk which focussed on Jesus being the good shepherd who looks after His sheep. Whenever she mentioned 'bad shepherd' we all had to do a big 'booooo' and when she mentioned the 'good shepherd' we all shouted 'hooray'!!! It was really fun and kid friendly. Steve on the other hand did a sermon. He handed out his outline and pretty much read it out. It was pretty good (I've always been interested to see how pastors plan out their sermons and what their notes look like. Now I finally have a copy hehe)!! 

To top our last strand group time together we had a few games of Articulate. We went around the circle and described as many words as we can in one minute. The categories we chose were random, object and nature. I finished with a score of 27 making me the winner yaaay! :) It was all that taboo practice I reckon haha. I sucked at guessing though - wow my group members are so sharp!

Last but not least, FOOOOOOOD. Wow the cooks cooked up some pretty fine meals! Spaghetti, wombok, beef brisket, carrot and potato, chicken wings, slow cooked pork in sweet bread, curry, beans, mushroom, RICE and more! Everybody was so grateful for this service - isn't it great that we can all serve God in so many ways?!