Wedding Day Highlights

This wedding day highlight is done by Yixin from LightedPixels. Val and I love it.

To Valerie

To my beautiful Wife to be, my partner, my love.

The word "Tired" and Wedding Prep Woes

when i was in secondary school, a girl told me she was tired of the relationship and left me. Since then i have been paranoid when a girl tells me that she is tired about something. (**Val is not tired of the relationship, just to make it clear**)

anyway alot of people have advise me to enjoy the experience of doing our wedding preparation. but it seems to be full of nerve racking experiences and anxiety. Be it with val or family. Thinking about it i guess, everyone is doing it their way and their time on the same item? I think wedding preparation is a training time for teamwork and cooperation and a time to throwaway the individualistic / self centered nature of each person, i guess it is about doing things together, helping one another out(maybe helping to do things the person might have forgotten or just helping when the person is busy). Then again it is also a time for each person to be more sensitive in acting AND reacting, it is not always the reactor that is at fault. My science teacher once told me this "for every action there is a reaction". So before we respond or say something when an issue happens, we got to think and consider the other person's feelings.

With one month and 1 week left, clashes between parties seem to grow more frequent and my "man zhang" character might have make it worst. So val and i had a interesting clash that has not resolved and we identified that this prep process is not going on happily. I am wondering how can we improve on it and feel happy on the 11th April 2009. Well, I dont have an answer neither does val. I guess we will have to submit it to God and really be SERIOUS about making the relationship right with God's help and not our own way or thinking.

PreWed Pics!!

The Count Down Begins

Since the last entry on the wedding, it is now to 1month 2 weeks and 4days!!! Time sure passes by fast. Well, Val and i have been preparing and marking off the items we need to do and need to buy or organise. From helpers list to guest list to bridesmaids' dresses, to the floral arrangement for Church. God has been there all the time to help us through the processes and have bless us with friends who have bless us with so many ways.

As I count the days to that special day, i have been thinking and praying about life as a married man and a husband. Thinking about what are my roles and responsibilities, what are my weaknesses that i need to overcome and what type of changes i need to make in my lifestyle as Val and I exchange our vows. It is not a "play play" or rountine vows, it is a serious vow to each other and especially with God and I got to make sure i remember it and make sure i follow through or improve on it. All these of course i cant do it myself, I will need God to teach and guide me and change me from within in any area that needs changing.

So what have we been up to besides guest list, one of the most anticipated things we did was our prewed shoot which happened before CNY. Below is a collage of it but if you want to see more, the link is here

Are You Approachable? (2)

Taken from The Vine
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce... kindness, goodness... gentleness.

Galatians 5:22-23 TLB

Approachable people exhibit the following characteristics: (1) Personal warmth - they truly like people. In an old Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown says, "I love mankind, it's just people I can't stand." Hello! It's not enough to love people in theory, you have to generate personal warmth toward those you meet each day. (2) Their moods are consistent. Have you ever worked with someone whose moods were constantly up and down? You never knew how they'd be. In contrast, approachable people are even-keeled and predictable. They're basically the same way every time you see them. (3) Sensitivity toward people's feelings. Although approachable people are emotionally steady, that doesn't mean they expect others to be that way. They recognise that good people have bad days; consequently they tune their moods to the feelings of others and quickly adjust how they relate to them. (4) Understanding of human weakness, and exposure of their own. Novelist Ed Howes said, "Express a mean opinion of yourself occasionally, it will show your friends that you know how to tell the truth." Approachable people are honest about their abilities - and shortcomings. They embrace the old proverb which says: "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused." And because they can admit their own faults, they don't have a problem allowing other people to have faults as well. (5) The ability to forgive and ask for forgiveness. Author David Augsburger wrote, "Since nothing… we attempt (Isaiah) ever without error, and nothing we achieve without some measure of the finitude and fallibility we call humanness, we are saved by forgiveness."

Are You Approachable? (1)

Taken from The Vine
When the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce... kindness, goodness... gentleness.

Galatians 5:22-23 TLB

Dr. John Maxwell writes: "Sooner or later, a man, if he is wise, discovers that life is a mixture of good days and bad, victory and defeat, give and take. He learns that it doesn't pay to be a too-sensitive soul, that he should let some things go over his head. He learns that he who loses his temper usually loses out, that all men occasionally have burnt toast for breakfast, and that he shouldn't take the other fellow's grouch too seriously. He learns that carrying a chip on his shoulder is the easiest way to get into trouble, that the quickest way to become unpopular is to carry tales of gossip about others, that buck-passing always turns out to be a boomerang, and that it doesn't matter who gets the credit so long as the job gets done. He learns that most others are as ambitious as he is, that they have brains as good or better, that hard work, not cleverness, is the secret of success. He learns that no one ever gets to first base alone, that it's only through co-operative effort that we move on to better things. He realises (in short) that the 'art of getting along', depends 98% on his own behaviour toward others."

So, what about you? Jesus said, "Consider carefully how you listen" (Luke 8:18 NIV). When was the last time someone brought you news you didn't want to hear? Or strongly disagreed with you? Or confronted you? If it's been a while, you may not be a very approachable person. We can give no greater gift to others - than putting them at ease.