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I'm currently waiting for lunch to be ready at the ARK Cafe with Dori my sister... thought it'll be a good time to drop an update and let the reader in a lil' on what's been going on. The ARK Cafe is located at Ann Siang Hill by the way... and it's opened by JJ Lin. It's funny sometimes to hear of Dori's stories of her personal encounters with him... haha. And the cafe's currently blasting Chris Tomlin's latest album! :)

Anyways, was at SGH with her earlier in the morning for her quarterly bone marrow test and check up. Dori has been responding well to the trial drug which she has been on for the past nine months... besides the initial reactions and hospitalisation last year, all's been alright thus far, the blood test results, bone marrow test results... thank God. :)

Marriage life has been sweet thus far... evident by my weight gain. Hahaha... nah. I was standing in the bus this morning on the way to the hospital when the thankfulness came once more... I guess there were many things that Char and I worked out during our courtship days that led to this rather good transition... and now that we're staying together, we find ourselves having more opportunities to be together, to do things together, to go out together... amidst all the family and friend gatherings... yay to that! :) There are things to work out still... like our sleeping patterns - Char cannot sleep too late into the night because she has to wake up early for work the next day while I find myself more productive work-wise in the wee hours... well, when two become one, we'll have to work out our schedules to become one bah. Some of my boys came by yesterday... it's heartening to see how they're rather at ease with one another. (:

Dad, mom, Char and I were in the same room last weekend when we returned to visit... I was doing my work on the comp while mom looked on in bed... Char was doing hers when dad started talking about his work... then she started replying to him. As I looked back... I'm really thankful how God so graciously allowed us to be favoured by our respective in-laws and sisters... in that as much as it means much to us, it's also a sign to us that it's a God-blessed union. Hahaha oh... I realised I'm in another season of having a smiley at the end of every paragraph! :P

A few more days and it's officially back to work... with the H1N1 situation, no one really knows if the home learning would occur for the first week... but regardless, Char and I are both making preparations. There are things to do that I've been putting off which I know I can no longer put off... and it's not because of inertia, but rather a little tinge of helplessness within me to know that it really isn't my cup of tea when it comes to event management. Well, shan't say much for now... just hoping that things will turn out okay eventually.

And yeah... I'll be shifting office soon. I've been in this student lounge type place the past year or so playing caretaker to the place for the boys... now management feels that it's not good for me to be isolated from the rest of the staff, and with the under-utilization of the place, they've decided to shut it down and move me to the staff room. I have to admit about the isolation part... think it isn't really healthy for an introvert... Mmm. So on one hand, while I'm looking forward to the prospect of being better integrated with my colleagues, I am aware of the loss of opportunity to interact with the boys who would pay a visit once in a while. Well... somehow I don't find it so hard to let go this time round. Some things... I finally found it easier to leave in God's hands then to constantly seek for the circumstance that I would want. :)

I must admit that there are times now and then when I actually ask myself if it's worth the energies to constantly step out of my comfort zones in my current job. I must confess that the temptation to fall back on the things that I've placed on my backburners are great - firstly would be the time freed up... and of course, the ability to better support the family in terms of finances... It's getting harder to remember the reason why I'm back here in the first place. Was taking the photo messages that my boys did for me for my birthday last month out of their frames yesterday morning... reading some of the messages again made me remember. Sometimes I don't know if they realise how powerful their words of encouragement can be... they are, at least to me. And the amazing thing is that some of the most meaningful ones came from those whom I don't have the privilege of time and situation to interact with them. One of them thanked me for the hard work and encouraged me to be the same for future batches to come... another one reflected on what I wrote to them before on relationships. Yeah, I write to them from time to time (to most, I would probably be just an online persona since I don't meet them in their classrooms) not knowing if any of them would actually remember any teenie bit of the things I write... well, apparently some, if not, one, did. :)

And yeah... haha. More than a teacher... more than I can ever think of...? That message was short... but I looked at it for a long time. :)

Haha yeah... I don't how the next half a year would be like... but if anything, I'll continue to learn to do as God says... and continue to live this life of thanksgiving along the way. I will be involved in a worship concert coming up in July... looking forward to seeing the Oops! Asia family! :)