it's the first time i joined city to surf today

it's the first time i ran 12km today

it's the first time i was handing over my LC role today

it's the first time in a long time im going to sleep at like.. 9.30pm

the things running does to you.. gosh.

besides that,

i'm really excited about OCF across the 3 centres in WA!

i know God has great plans and I pray that He'll sustain this enthusiasm in each of us!

i was sharing about my fears of inadequacy to serve in the upcoming term and as i was praying, i think God was saying "you are doing my work, so why are you doubting my abilities to use you?"

how true is that :)

so much for always praying "its through your power that i can do things"

i think i said it so much until i lost the real meaning of it,

but praise God for His wonders.

very very amazing :)

did i ever tell you God is amazing?
He's so.. wow.

life is exciting

:)

i've been able to catch up with old friends the past few days
long chat on the phone with qinyi my 100 years friend
random msn conversations with winniemaid, mr haolian, boyjay123, shimin, teoteo
emails with malichan and stickerfu
im really encouraged by lots of things that have been happening in their lives!

sleepover @ kristi's was exciting too because i'm so excited to see God's work in OCF Murdoch!

discipleship with glenna was great too! Tabs makes good shepherds pie! and leo is a great foot cleaner (their dog.. he licked my foot hurhur). it was a great time of sharing and reflecting on past sermons and also a much needed self reflection thing and we're going to work on time management + being organised

- cut down on fb (45mins per week) [using this time to pray for non believers]
- check email ONCE a day
(that kinda leaves me with all the time in the world hahaha)
- filling a time audit for 2 weeks-ish
- writing my to-do lists in the same notebook


:D isn't life exciting!

kristi makes lovely brownies/bobochacha/barley/strawberry cheesecake/chengteng/ God knows what else..

i love it when my friends love to cook hehehehehe its like God's way of providing me food

http://au.pfinance.yahoo.com/special-features/put-pockets-london/index.html

"Put-pockets" giving back to the community
Yahoo!7 Finance and Reuters
Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose - putpockets.
Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.
Anything from 5 pounds (A$10) to 20 pound (A$40) notes are being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags, along with a small card that explains where the dough came from.
The unique initiative has been in action since July 1st this year across locations in London, including Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and the South Bank.
Signs have also been posted in those areas, advising the public that there may be a few extra pounds in their possession when they arrive home because of it.
The initiative, which runs until the end of August in London before being rolled out countrywide, is being funded by a broadband provider, TalkTalk, which says it wants to brighten up people's lives in unusual ways.
Mark Schmid of TalkTalk said: "Britons have become very sceptical of companies giving money away - so we have turned to Put-Pocketing to give something back. Whilst unconventional, we don't think anyone is going to mind finding a crisp 20 pound note in their pocket."
"It feels good to give something back for a change - and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative.
"Every time I put money back in someone's pocket, I feel less guilty about the fact I spent many years taking it out."
London's police have been briefed about the plan, which will see at least 100,000 pounds (A$200,000) given away.

hello everyone! :)

meet tomato strawberry! i believe tomato strawberry is in fact, a true blue (ok i know its red) strawberry. it has the colour of a strawberry, it has the texture of the strawberry, it smells like a strawberry and it tastes like a strawberry (one of the sweetest in the box too). but somehow it stood out among the rest, because it has a different shape compared to the other strawberries in the box. rose among the thorns? fresh flower on a pile of cow dung? ....or deformed? genetically mutated? odd one out? weird? outcast?

we know it is a strawberry different from the rest, but do we give it equal opportunities as the others to be a strawberry? yes! do we include it in the strawberry family? yes! we love the tomato strawberry! and we know that it is a beautiful strawberry, sweet and juicy! and we want tomato strawberry to know and love and be proud of its identity as tomato strawberry!

and now, meet the hand with arthritis!

rose among the thorns? fresh flower on a pile of cow dung? ....or deformed? genetically mutated? odd one out? weird? outcast?

and meet this man! elderly man? grandfather? man-in-the-wheelchair? rose among the thorns? fresh flower on a pile of cow dung? ....or deformed? genetically mutated? odd one out? weird? outcast?

He is America's 32nd president, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and this is one of the very rare photos of him on the wheelchair as he had been very careful about appearing without impairment before the public. according to wiki:

At the time, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was in fact getting better, which he believed was essential if he was to run for public office again. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons.

what does this say about the society's attitude towards people with some differences? that such an influential man as FDR tries so hard to cover up in order to maintain his position as president? it doesnt even have to be a physical impairment. race? size? intelligence? coolness? dress sense? language? economic status? why do we discriminate?

...we know it is a strawberry different from the rest, but do we give it equal opportunities as the others to be a strawberry? yes! do we include it in the strawberry family? yes! we love the tomato strawberry! and we know that it is a beautiful strawberry, sweet and juicy! and we want tomato strawberry to know and love and be proud of its identity as tomato strawberry!

a massive quote from lecture the other day:

anyone can, at any time, become disabled, or develop a physical or mental impairment. perhaps people's need to distance themselves from this harsh reality makes it convenient to rely on received negative attitudes and historical stereotypes of disability. these stereotypical images are less troubling than accepting the individuality, the joy, the pain, the appearance, the behaviour and the rights of disabled people. this could explain why disability equality has been called 'the last civil rights movement'.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 (New International Version)
17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Psalm 84 (New International Version)

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

[a] 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 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.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look upon our shield, [c] O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

OCF is privileged to have Auntie Merrilyn come join us for a couple of weeks from Adelaide and indeed she has been such a blessing to all of us :) Her intimate relationship with God alone is enough to inspire us to seek the Lord in all that we do. Her hunger for God's words encourages us to read and remember the bible. Her experiences as a missionary and teacher of the word proclaims the wonders of God's love. it is amazing indeed. God is REAL. God is not this distant being that hovers around but has nothing to do with you. God is GREAT, AWESOME, MIGHTY, POWERFUL, HOLY, BIG, and we are small, weak, lazy, judgemental, gossiping, violent, evil, backstabbing, lying, BUT He chose to love us, creating each and every one of us special and different, speaking to each of us in His ways. I WANT TO LISTEN, LORD! OPEN MY EYES AND MY EARS!

Psalm 139 (New International Version)

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

lets play a game.
cough till you drop. bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
i need a phlegm sucking machine. like the saliva sucking machine that uncle colin has in the dental clinic.

lalala yvonne makes awesome shepherd pies YUMYUMYUM
i like hannah montana HEEHEE

the flubug's hopping round and everyone's coughing and getting the sniffles... thank God for tissue companies that invent new ways of making new types of tissue paper.. KLEENEX SILK TOUCH! omg hahahah. i dont know if you all had this experience but when u have a runny nose and keep wiping your nose with the tissue, it starts to hurt after a while BUT GUESS WHAT! KLEENEX SILK TOUCH DOESNT! HAHAHA COOLNESS MANZZZ im so happy with my tissues right now :D

yesterday was quite eventful.. made french toast for brunch at sylvia's, groc shopping at karrawarra, went to the OT clinic with mui2, went to hannah's auntie's house for dinner and watched SMAG's musical- The Boyfriend. i think it's the best production by SMAGS so far! and the french accent was so cute and convincing! over dinner, hannah's lil cousin, dale, was checking out his new glasses and it was completely hilarious. a whole half an hour, he was putting on his glasses and taking them off and kept saying how amazing that everything's so clear. i miss small conversations like that round the dinner table.. reminiscing bout first day at school, crying in class.. haha.

watched a vid in class today. it was an old interview with a young guy who has schizophrenia. one thing that i remembered most was when he mentioned he was walking/driving one day and started having a panic attack and didnt know where he was, what he was doing.. feeling lost and confused.. then he saw a policeman in a police car (trustworthy in his opinion.. because with schizophrenia, sometimes they start getting paranoid that everyone's against them) and he went to him for help: "excuse me sir, im having a panic attack, i dont know where i am, could you help me please" but all the police said was "you've got to sober up son, get your act together" or smth along those lines.. then he wandered around a neighbourhood and decided to enter a house. knocked on the door, woman answered the door, steve explained his case again "excuse me mdm, i don't mean to scare you but im having a panic attack, could you please help me and calm me down? or give me a glass of water?" and the woman did so and managed to calm him down. isnt this just like the good samaritan? i used to think it was easy or common sense even, to offer help to those who need it.. but what are the chances of me opening the door to a victim of a panic attack randomly, especially when you've grown up being told not to talk to strangers/let strangers into your house in case they turn out to be murderers or whatever.. which one would you choose to be?

Praise the Lord! this semester has been beautiful so far and i can see it continuing to be so :)

despite some changes in plans and farewells which i've always disliked, this time i'm excited to move from ocf perth to ocf curtin. not that i don't like ocf perth, because i really do love them and i bet i'll be missing them heaps, but i guess a change in environment is always good. being in a fresh place, looking at things from different perspectives, meeting new people, learning from them and serving wherever God's decided for me to go..

i'm also happy with school because i think all the units are really meaningful and geared towards where my passion lies.. listening to lecturers and other OTs speak these few weeks, im feeling more confident that this is really really something that's on my heart, something that i'll find fulfilment in as a job in the future. if this fails, i dont mind being a firefighter!

lalala. one more thing! im signing up for city to surf- 12km! hahahahahahaha oh man i hope i finish it in one piece. but its turning out great (not the training bit).. its giving me opportunities to talk to freshies/catch up with friends etc etc so im liking it so far =D

OKAY I LIKE TO DO READINGS BYEBYE SQUATTIEEE

EQUALITY? what did people with disabilities do to deserve different treatment?

You reside.
I am a resident.
You move in.
I am admitted.
You may be rude.
I have a behavior problem.
You make up your own mind.
I am non-compliant.
When I go to the restaurant with someone it is an outing.
For you, it is a date.
I don't know how many people write about me or look at my file.
You get mad if someone peeks at your journal.
I make mistakes during my check writing program and a meeting is called.
You make a checking error and the bank calls with a reminder.
I am told not to talk to strangers.
You met your spouse while grocery shopping.
I celebrated my birthday with five other residents and two staff.
You had a surprise party thrown by your family and friends.
I have a report written about me each month which is read by my parents. Sometimes it says what I am doing wrong.
You get letters from family and friends.
I am on a special diet because I am five pounds above my ideal weight.
You are planning to go on a diet, some day.
I have my room inspected every day.
You clean up once a week, if there is time.
I have a goal to learn leisure skills.
You are a couch potato!
I may have enough money at the end of the week to go get a hamburger.
You eat out often because you hate to cook.
I have a case manager, psychologist, social worker, nurse, OT, PT, nutritionist and teaching staff who set goals for me every year.
You are still trying to find yourself.
I will be discharged someday......maybe.
You will move onward and upward.


Ref: ARCA - New Mexico