What a way to end the year.

It was indeed a year of many happenings and I don't even know where to begin. But first off, yours truly has just turned 30 years old and I would like to steal a little of the time to thank God for his faithfulness and blessings in the past years. Without Him, there would be no me and no today definitely. That I am sure of. Besides thanking God, I also took a little time to thank some close friends who stood with me and accepted me over the years. So, I threw a small party at PC's house on the 17th. One of the first gifts was 99 stalks of roses! hehehe...

Poor PC. She cut her finger with the knife while preparing the food. We were gonna have steamboat.

The discipleship girls started coming and we all chipped in to prepare. As I was thinking about throwing this party, I just realised that we girls were in this discipleship group for about 6 years together. Wow. Without us realising it, it was already 6 years that we shared lives and shared tears and heart. Although we were not all best of friends but we did go through some of the good times and bad times together. It was a beautiful thought for me. So, the party was especially dedicated to thank them.

They asked around and know that Words is my love language and so they made this specially for me. There's a chocolate with a verse for 30 days! haaha... I almost cried when I saw it. It was most thoughtful of them!

Immediately the next morning was followed by a wedding. Some of you may know them - Kevin Tan & Laurene (Chai Leng). They were with us when studying at at IMU and is still very much a part of Eaglepoint even now. The wedding was held at One World Hotel. It was a beautiful wedding and all of us were happy to see them get married since they were high school sweethearts and had been dating for so long! I'm sure the people who are most happy would be their parents!

Caught the cheeky face of Pastor Shawn & Jill's daughter (Kristen) and can't resist to post it up! hahhaa...

The wedding crew were powered by some Eaglepoint-ers! I was NOT the coordinator but YC ended up cue-ing the sound?! YC the soundgirl?! hahaha..

Aww... PC and the bride. She was also the one that shared a verse during the ceremony in the morning. Pastor Steven was the "spiritual MC" and Pastor Shawn preached a message.

Followed closely was the church staff christmas gift exchange party! yahoo! Was supposed to be a lunch thing but due to changes in schedule, ended up being a breakfast thing. The night before, many of us toong-siew (work overnight) and stayed at church and woke up to the party! hahaha... Everyone was supposed to come in something red or green and bring a present for another staff that they picked the name out of a bag. They were also supposed to share one thing they discovered about the person in the week preceding this event.

I wanted to thank the staffs and so the food was on me this morning! It was a Malaysian breakfast - there was sausage and egg and bread and there was pau and siew mai and such - whatever goes. Everyone tried to discover something new about their colleague and shared. I got something from Pastor Steven - Tesco Voucher! hahaha... Pastor Tim actually sms-ed Aaron to find out what would Chrystin like and got her a hand bag! wow! hahaha..

Then, it was Christmas Service already. Felt like we just had the Christmas service last year and now it's already here and over. This year, 1a.m. pulled the plugs and did a musical journey with the FLC ensemble! It was really good!

Cuzario's drummer students came together for one of the piece as well!

And of course Pastor Tim preached on the gift that changes everything!

Every year, PC and Kel will throw a family party some time during the Christmastime. Gathering all the family together for a meal. For the past few years, it was held at Pastor Tim's house but THIS YEAR, they moved into their own house by the lake and we were all gathered at their place! I was the god-sister so I got invited annually too ...

Being a chemist by education, she was not preparing salad but making a "chemistrically-felt-right-mixture" of the ingredients!

I helped to grill the chicken wings...

After that, there was the Community at Heart post coming up. And I left to Bali for a break with Yean Ching and Jocelyn. Annual retreat from the busyness in life! See you next year!

Merry Christmas from Eaglepoint office!

Ok. When I did this, I didnt know that blogspot does not support animated gif.

YOU HAVE GOT TO CLICK ON THE PIX!

THG Update for you!

The Heavenly Gift is a project by Community at Heart partnering with IOI Mall, where we offer free gift wrapping services, at the same time making known the community needs to the shoppers, encouraging them to join us in making a positive change to our community. It has started on the 3rd of December and will adjourned on the 24th!

This is how the booth looks like a day before we put up the profiles and the bunting at old wing. I was both nervous of how things will turn up yet really excited to see how things will turn out!

Eaglepoint Damansara student team took a time slot and chipped in their efforts as well. They were so diligent and unabashedly introduced the profiles to shoppers and collected over a thousand ringgit for their time slot... and of course photo taking is a must part of the event!

This week, IS THE PURCHASING WEEK! Purchasing week spells out to 3 to 4 days of buying and buying and buying and buying.... you get the idea... Last year, we spent one whole day from about 11am to around 8pm at Jusco and then unload to office and head over to Tesco to continue another round. This year, we spent half day at Tesco for the first day, about 12pm-10pm on day two at Tesco again, about 2pm-9pm on day three, two hours at Jusco on day four and 11am-2pm at Tesco and another couple of hours at Mydin just now. Every single gift pack are bought with thoughts and different from another pack.

These are round one of the uniforms and I called in the teens to help sort it out.

This was day two, round one spending at Tesco.

See how long is the list? hahaha... even the staffs at the shop was staring at how much stuffs we bought. Four trolleys piled full. It was indeed tiring. Me and Chee Wei was in charge of buying for BRO, Agape and Joanna was buying for Shelter Homes, Keith and Tabitha was buying for Rumah Juara and Rumah Shalom. I think we practically cleared all the uniforms at Tesco between the few of us!

Upon reaching office, everything will be sorted to profile numbers, ready to be wrapped and then we will do a final run through the list again to ensure each child's pack is not left out before we sealed it into the big bag according to homes. It is a lot of work and a lot of mixed up that caused us to constantly revisit the list to compare. Friends and family from all walks of lives contributed to make THG a success... from the teens, working adults, parents, CEOs, Businessmen, students and the mothers that cannot be stationed at the booth, came to wrap these gifts for the children at office.

let there be light....

two nights ago, pastor tim called me and asked if i could resurrect the christmas tree... so yesterday, after spending thousands at tesco, me n keith came back around 10:30pm to start working on resurrecting the christmas tree and ..... tah dah..... below is the result and we finish around 1am! (then, keith went home and started decorating the christmas tree at his house till 3am)

see?! told ya i've spend thousands at tesco! this is just round one of many rounds! IT IS THG PURCHASING WEEK! By the time me n Keith came back from Tesco, it was so late that nobody was here so two of just walked like a hundred times up and down the stairs to bring everything from the car to the kids room 2! by the time we finish, we were drenched in dripping sweat...

The Heavenly Gift

Every year, or at least from the past few years, from the first Friday of December till Christmas eve, Community at Heart organised THE HEAVENLY GIFT at IOI Mall.

It all started when we did not know what to do but wanted to bless the community and so we organised groups of friends to wrap gifts for our community during Christmas month in the year 2007! But ever since then, The Heavenly Gift had transformed to be an annual community event partnering with IOI Mall to bridge our community with the needy.

But we still keep the Station 1 but renamed to ANGEL'S GIFT PACKS. We still do free gift wrapping services to our community first but it has also serve as attraction point for shoppers to come to us.

Then, there's Station 2 & Station 3 (PICK A GIFT & BE AN ANGEL). Where we encourage the shoppers to sponsor a profile or sign up as volunteer to serve the community with their skills. We put up profiles of orphan's Christmas wish presents at a tall Christmas tree. And there are always a shortage of volunteer help to distribute food and to do visitation. So, if you have a heart to do community work, there is definitely a spot for you to fill in.

At Community At Heart, the tagline is WHERE EVERYONE CAN GIVE AND RECEIVE! It's more than just asking the you or the community to kept giving money and sponsoring but you get to receive also. How? At Community At Heart, we also provide a range of events that help to promote family, values, health, safety and such and you can definitely sign up for gain!

If you want to do something, make a difference but don't know how, start some where! Start right here! Sign up now.

If you have blog or a website, do join in by adding the banner at the bottom with a link to Community at Heart website (www.communityatheart.org) to create more awareness.

more updates on the frequently asked questions coming soon.

Get your Tesco Vouchers today!

If you've not heard, Eaglepoint is raising church building fund. And one of the ways you can support your church is by getting your monthly groceries from Tesco!

Exchange from us the Tesco vouchers for the usual amount of what you spend at Tesco and at the end of the day, 5% of what you spend there goes back to church building fund! It does not cost you more but it helps to build the church! So, grab your Tesco vouchers from 1a.m. Kiosks or from the church office today!

You can purchase by cash or cheque (write to "Eaglepoint").

Nobody but Pastor Tim!

This year, the media team came out with this super honoring video for our senior pastor!

This is a cover version of the song "Nobody".

Yesterday I missed a celebration! The celebration of the multiplication of the LG. Alan & Jaime was leading one LG and the group has grown so fruitful that they have now multiplied to two LG with Dennis and Peggy leading one LG now! Well, a big congratulations to all of them!

Just, FYI, me and Chrystin went to visit the bridal fair at Mid Valley exhibition hall yesterday. I was trying to collect information as a wedding coordinator and Chrystin was obviously looking for ideas for her wedding. I guess we had high expectations for a fruitful night but it was really just a bridal shop affair with the vendors literally dragging us into their booth and would not let us pass without taking a seat! I felt like we were ambushed! hahaha... but there were some good deals. If you are ready to get a package and knows what you want, no harm checking in but if you have no idea and not planning to sign up yet, then maybe doing online research would be better for a start! =)

Combined Service with Pastor Steve Murrell

Ok. This is kinda long overdue but then no excuses... just a teenie weenie bit swamped here in the office ever since APEC... (will post about APEC later) .

This combined service was super special because for the first time in Eaglepoint history, three Eaglepoint churches came together in one combined service!! Talking about that, let me take this opportunity to thank you if you've hosted some or any of the friends and family from Eaglepoint Penang! Thanks Thanks Thanks!

As usual, we kick start with the 1a.m. Youth Band and Kidzone for the first song! This sure got parents hyped up!

Then 1a.m. band took over leading everyone into praise worship!


Then we had Pastor Jonathan Lim from Eaglepoint Penang to collect offering translated by Jia Huey from Eaglepoint Damansara!

Pastor Shawn from Eaglepoint Damansara was the chairman but Pastor Timothy took the stage to welcome the new spiritual family members.

1a.m. Dance team did our own share of welcoming with a dance number with the song "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home". From the first moment I heard the song months earlier when I watched the movie Hannah Montana, I was already set in my head that it will be a good song to dance for the Welcome to the Family celebration. Indeed, Doreen did such an outstanding job with the choreography with dancers from Eaglepoint and Eaglepoint Damansara practicing for more than a month. They were all amazing!! So Proud Of My Team! hehehe... I know... a little hard sell...

After that, the most awaited speaker of the month, Pastor Steve Murrell, the President of Every Nation ministries, shared the word. If you do not know, Eaglepoint is not an independent church but a church that is part of Every Nation worldwide ministries with church planted at more than 50 nations. Pastor Steve and some of the other pastors were here for APEC conference and also made the time to grace our combined service.

Of course, combined service ends with satay party! Even the foreign pastors couldn't resist the smell of barbequed meat and had to have some before they head to "real lunch."

If you've been there at the combined service, you walked in, found a seat, chat with the person on the right, stood up to cheer for your kids or sang a worship song, sat down again and listened to the sermon then excitedly ran out to get satay, had your fill and drove home, let me tell you that behind the scenes, A LOT OF people chipped in to get you that experience and convenience.

More than just a half day's work for the rest of us... the band had practice after practice, the crew all came in in the middle of the night to load equipments to the hall, woke up before dawn to go setup and run rehearsal, ps steven went out real early to get breakfast buns for all the volunteers on duty, the ushers stood for so long with a smile on their faces to welcome people, the dancers had sweat after sweat of practices, the event team ran around like headless chicken early in the morning to prepare the place, the booths, ensuring satays are there for everyone...

nothing just happened... everything was effort. Next time you are at a combined service or just a service, please do remember the volunteers on duty was the effort that made your day! =)

birthdays n more birthdays...

Seems like more birthdays happening at year end. Yesterday few of us celebrated vanessa's birthday in a simple dinner and cakes.

Watch out for pastor Tim's music video coming soon...

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Aaron & Jaq Now And Forever - behind the scenes

ok... maybe i'm not behind ALL THE SCENES but I was behind SOME OF THE SCENES during their wedding. First of all, I just want to say that Aaron & Jaq are such a down to earth couple that some times I feel I was being more particular about the details than they were about them! But then again, I can't help seeing the details bigger than the big picture! hahhahaha...

The evening before the wedding morning, I asked nailin for help to produce the program sheets and she called in a few of the students to join in and little did we know, it took so long that even with the six of us, we took around 6 to 7 hours! Dead tired by the time I drove home at midnight! But I heard that the bride could not sleep and came down to chat with Nai Lin some time around 2am?? Does all brides have bridal jitters the night before? mmm.... (Jaq was staying at Pr Shawn & Jill's house that night)

Nice or not?? Please say nice!!A lot of effort were put in. I was told to come out with the program sheet a couple of days before the wedding day! Sometimes I amazes myself! =)

Nai Lin told me the color theme was white or pink but then I think the other chi muis came in maroon...?!?! Jaq's mom commented that I look like a 'bride' ... erm... that was kinda embarrassing! ops...

all the chi muis that came out with the tortures for the heng tais! They even sms Jia Huey (their leader) to get permission not to be angel for the morning and Jia Huey replied "Permission Granted"!!! hahahaha...

That's Jaq's brother behind the gate. Poor him! We had to lock him out because he was the assigned person to open the bridal car door when Aaron arrives (traditionally, it's the younger brother or cousin or nephew that does it). We locked him out when Aaron said that he'll be there in 3 mins but he arrived 30mins later! So, Jaq's brother came all the way back from Germany to stand outside in the hot sun and 'sweat it out.' . . . . .

I was standing nearby when they were squeezing wasabi to the 3 spoons and Philee walked over and calmly said in her cute voice, "Be generous. I don't need the tube back." Took a moment to sink in and then all of us burst out laughing! OMGosh!! The angels were really no angels in broad daylight!!

See that below? It's bread soaked in SUPER SOUR APPLE CIDER! The smell was enough to put me off and I can't imagine how the guys managed to gulp it down! EWWWWW!!!

They actually started off with the bitter gourd!! Seeing the guys' faces here already let you know that it's terribly BIT-ter!

There was bitter, sour, hot-wasabi, there must be sweetness... and I mean honeyed-eggy-sweet! gross!

ok. I'm not really sure they were drinking the honey or the sour bread but Chee Chiaw's expression is priceless but the glimpse of Aaron here seems to tell that not only the chi muis were laughing....

After all the eating and angpaus and penalties, the guys searched for the keys in a tub full of ICE-COLD water to open the gate while the chi muis retreated to the other gate!

And guess what the girls thought of to TORTURE the guys?! OMG-NESS! They waxed the guys! And the last I heard before I went upstairs was them calling Joescher's name because he was always bullying the girls during weekend in church! hahahaa...

This is Mun Hong, Aaron's best friend since childhood days and he was the bestman, of course, first to 'gets it'! Not sure if biting his belt helps but at least he didnt scream out! hahaha... one funny guy if you get to know him!

Aaron gets it too! He didn't eat any of the stuffs but after none of the guys put forth their legs for the dare, he's got to do it himself! ahahhaa... good of Mun Hong to let him bite! I kinda 'kesian' all the heng tais being tortured. I wished that they would have explained all the reasons behind doing all those actions like from now they will have to go through 'tian, suan, ku, lat' in life and proclaiming his love for her loud enough for the whole world to know ... that kind of thing and not just for the sake of torture...

See the patches? hahahaha... and I heard that the guys waxed the rest of their leg after we left the house. The photos of the waxed pieces were all over facebook albums! gross....

After the wax, the guys were made to sing a Hokkien love song and then guess the room door and struck a final 'sexy' pose before Aaron was finally allowed to see his bride! Not sure if this means going through thick and thin but definitely torture after torture...

Aaron in his cheekiness showing off the leftover angpaus that was prepared for the chi muis but were not used!

next on, to the groom's house!

Jaq's really a shy one. When the photographer say give a kiss, she immediately say no! And when ask to do this nose-to-nose pose, she was shaking in giggles!

Aaron's parents, the groom and bride and Jaq's parents. They were all super-sporting parents! After this pix, the photographer asked the parents to struck poses by themselves!! They were giggling like school kids! hahahhaa...

That's Nai Lin blow-drying Jaq's hair! Jaq called Aaron asking for the hair-dryer that belongs to his father but Aaron was unsure if he would lend it to her - in which I laughed and jokingly told him that his dad was such a exhilarated-new-father-in-law for the day that he would give her anything that she wants! True to my words, he came with the hair dryer few minutes later! hahahaa...

Proud to say that I tied that flower to the ribbon to the chair for the tea ceremony at Aaron's new house! yeah! first attempt successful!

We all proceeded to the hall for the wedding ceremony. It was such an eventful happening that I told Pastor Steven that I had to take medical leave the next day cos of post-wedding-ceremony-traumatic-experience! =)

Right when we want to start the ceremony, the sound system died - zilch sound! Once it's up and we wanted to start the ceremony and the groom stationed in front and the computer went overheated and shut down!

Once that was restarted, halfway through the bridal procession, the song restarted by itself and then right before the bride walks in, this time, the computer restarted by itself! "OMG-NESS-ES-ED!"

Poor Mei, the MC, had to start talking while waiting for the computer to restart! and the Bride can't walk in! It was really one of the most embarrassing moment for the wedding coordinator although technically, it's the problem at the technical side! But all went off well after that and we caught up in timing and the rest of the ceremony went on by itself. I was relieved.


Now, it's dinnertime! All the parents queued up for the grand walk in before dinner starts. You should see it from the outside instead of sitting at the table inside. When Aaron's parents led the grand walk in and the spotlight on them, and the smoke machine whoosh-ed out so much that those of us standing outside were just enveloped in white smoke! I can't help but started grinning but Aaron standing at the end of the line started LAUGHING OUT LOUD at his parent's super grand entrance!!!

After that I stood and waited til Jaq's change of gown before I was done for the night and can start eating. I was sitting at the same table with Alex & Jia Huey and of course Nai Lin and gang. Once KG's band started singing the 'nobody, nobody but you' song, Jia Huey started doing the song's moves with a prawn-stick in hand!! It was hilarious! She's super funny!

This pix was taken almost at the end of the event and after the photo, I congratulated the groom and bride for getting married successfully (which is the MAIN THING)! Time to head home then... around midnight!