New bicycles in our new home

It was a quiet day at work and I felt prompted to google for children's bicycles.

We have been planning to get bicycles for the kids but the old home was not conducive. There was no place to store and no place to ride since the terrain is too hilly.

Now that we're in our new home, there's a spacious lift lobby and flat ground all around the condo compound.

Low and behold, I found an ad for not one but three (!!!) bicycles for sale, 2 of which are LeRun bikes. I'm not too informed about bicycle brands but I think this is a decent one because I've heard of it. We bought the 'package' of 3 bikes, 2 helmets and 2 bicycle locks from the very nice man. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled beyond words.
The biggest bike (adult size) couldn't fit in the car so we'll have to make another trip when the YongPengTribe comes with their MPV.

I'm absolutely certain this is another of God's blessings because we concluded the sale barely 2 hours after the seller posted the ad. Now mama can ride with the kids while papa jogs and watch for cars!!!

A Castle in the Promised Land

There is a slide in my house that is older than I am. My parents had it made for my older sister. But since she now lives on the other side of the planet and my brother does not yet have kids who can play with it, I am priviledged to possess it. So I made plans to incorporate it into a 'castle'. It's probably the closest to my childhood dream of a treehouse.

After lots of online research, I had some idea about what I wanted - a loft that is accessed by a rock-climbing wall, a 'kitchen' underneath and the slide by the side.

At the same time, a friend asked if I wanted to buy her used Ikea loft bed. And so that's how this blueprint came about...

I 'drew' this blueprint and gave it to my contractor. He gave me a funny look. Like I was mad.

Nevertheless, the castle arrived today!

The kids are so happy. But of course.

I bought the handholds from Corezone. Cost about RM35 each if I remember correctly. Joseph has no problems climbing up by himself. But Joy needs help and that's how I want it because I don't want her going up all by herself.

Joy-Anne's kitchen is underneath the loft, with a small cafe window. I plan to put up a sign over the window that says "J and J cafe".

And she's gonna cook lots of yummy food for me!

Moving into the Promised Land

Joy-Anne turned 3 years old on 18 January 2011. On her birthday, I plopped her on the weighing scale and the reading totally shocked me! I had thought that with Nana gone, she would be less nourished and well, not gain so much weight.

So that's extra weight to lug into the Promised Land...

Some time back, I wrote about why we call it OUR Promised Land. We finally marched into our promised land yesterday - 11 days short of one year to the day we first viewed it.

We had planned to move in before Christmas. But God had other plans.

While I had previously mentioned to Daaling that we are 'enlarging our tents' after 7 years - just like DUMC, he now mentioned to me that we are moving right after a stretch of 14 days-5.30am fast and prayer - just like DUMC did before the church moved into the current premises. (The church had a 21-day fast and prayer before moving.)

And this is only possible because of the delay in renovation works.

The main delay was in the woodwork - the blade at the factory broke and a suitable replacement could not be found. So the contractor outsourced it but the results were not acceptable to him. He rejected everything and started again from scratch. I had initially forgotten to tell him that I wanted the kitchen cabinets to have hidden 'handles'. By the time I told him, he had already outsourced it and manufacturing was in progress. As a result of the redo, I got what I wanted.

This new home is a testament of God's providence and faithfulness. He has led and provided every step of the way. What a faith-building exercise it has been!

It is certainly our hope and desire that this home will be a blessing to many other people.

p/s : Guests are welcome. Advanced notice appreciated.

White walls and what colour doors?

I have to decide.

On the paint colour for our new home. Real soon.

To make things easy, we initially decided on everything white. Yup. A white house. Or rather, home.

But after the weekend at Avillion Admiral Cove, I'm so inspired by the blue/white colour scheme which I find so soothing. Maybe just one blue wall.

Or blue curtains. I can easily change curtains when I tire of the colour.

And what colour doors? White as well? Or something else?

Dinner & Blessing

We had dinner at New Paris Restaurant in SS2 last night. We = myself, Daalin, J+j, Ah Mah & Ah Kong, Nana & Kong Kong, Ah Ku & KimKim, Ah Chor, Pastor Nancy & Uncle Nat.

I've no idea what we ordered because at chinese restaurants, I leave the ordering to my in-laws while I just enjoy the food.

The tau fu (which seems to be their specialty) was good and I particularly liked that thing in the watermelon bowl which I thought was pork and was gonna finish up the last scrawny piece until Daalin pointed out that it was only chicken skin left.

We had tu kha as well. This one is good to eat. The other tu kha I have is nice to squeeze.

We polished everything off....

But Joe preferred bananas (BYO) to the pig's leg.

After dinner, we proceeded to our new home for a time of prayer.

Daalin led in a short time of worship and then Pastor Nancy prayer over the house for cleansing before we walked through the entire place from room to room praying.

Now I'll be busy meeting contractors, deciding on which one, shopping for appliances and mattresses and maybe praying that money falls from the sky.

God's Promised 'Land' to us

I've been told to not "simply use the term Promised Land". Let me explain...

"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. -Psalm 84:3"

This is the promise God gave to me as we pondered about the place we came to purchase.

It all started when my brother offered my dad a job here in KL. Following the move to KL, the apartment in Penang is now up for sale. So the most logical course of action was for my parents to buy another apartment here in KL, preferably near to where we currently reside.

But property prices in this area is sky-rocketing and the nearest they can afford is around Old Klang Road. I brought my mum along to view 2 properties there. Though it is so near, it took us an hour to get there and my mum said, "No Way!" She wouldn't know how to get back to my place.

So one Friday, I was just browsing the ads in TheStar newspaper and 2 ads caught my attention. Both were for apartments over 2000sf in Petaling Jaya. I don't quite know why but I was prompted to sms my enquiry. The first ad yielded no response.

But the agent for the other ad called me back almost immediately. So I made an appointment to view the place the very next day, after our Saturday evening Celebration.

Saturday evening came and it was pouring cats and dogs! When we arrived at the place, we bumped into a common friend from church who also knows the agent, and that was how we came to know that the agent is also ex-DUMC. Somehow that put my heart at peace.

The agent brought us to view 2 units, one on a lower floor and the other much higher up. We took an instant liking to the higher floor, but dared not commit. The price for the unit on the higher floor was RM70K more than the lower one. So after viewing, I told the agent to give us a few days to think, and we would get back to her. By then the rain had stopped. But as I got into the car, there was a streak of lightning followed by a loud boom of thunder, as if God was telling us to "BUY!". My mum felt the same prompting but we still wanted to wait for confirmation.

On Sunday evening, the agent called me. I was surprised because I had told her I would get back to her. She asked what I thought and I told her that we liked the unit on the higher floor. She then told us that there was actually some leaking in the back room (which we did not see because the light was out of order). She advised us to arrange a second viewing in broad daylight.

In the mean time, we made some financial calculations. The downpayment for the property would amount to RMXXK and I realized then that this was the exact amount that we had reserved.

On top of that, we would need about RMYYK for legal fees and stamp duty - and we were not sure where this would come from.

Monday morning - we dropped by EPF to check my account 2 balance, before going to view the unit again. God surprised me - there was exactly RMYYK plus about another RM50 in my account 2. His providence amazes and assures me everytime!

So we viewed the unit again and told the vendor that we would like to view again, after the repairs were completed, before we committed to purchase.

Tuesday night - we went to church for PrayerMeeting and Pastor Jin Leong led us to read Psalm 84. Verse 3 almost jumped out at me. This place that we viewed is nearer to church than our current place. And we have been planning for more children.

After these events - there was 'silence' for almost 3 months, during which our patience and faith was put to the test. The vendor took ages to get the leak repaired. The agent also told us that she suspects the vendor was trying to sell it off as it was, without having to repair it. I must confess that at times, I was worried if the place would not be ours. But each time I passed it, I prayed and claimed God's promise to me.

In April, the agent called and told us that the repairs were finally done. We viewed it and offered a price of RM20K below the vendor's asking price. The vendor agreed immediately and there was no need to even bargain! Praise the Lord! Not only did he keep the place for us, but I now have an extra RM20K for renovations!

When God blesses, he blesses abundantly! He opens the floodgates of Heaven and just pours out all His blessings!

The first part of God's promise is taking shape now. We hope to move in by year-end. As for the second part of the promise, nothing has happened yet. But we continue to trust that God will bring it to past. He is a faithful God and I can trust Him.

Coz though I don't know what tomorrow holds, I know who holds tomorrow!