I love you

I think it's great to be an actor because you get to say such great lines. The second half of this sonnet was quoted in Patch Adams.

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

Pablo Neruda
Sonnet XVII (100 Love Sonnets, 1960)

Officially an Aunt -YEA!

Santa came early this year and delivered this bundle of joy (literally bundled up!)



Her name is Eliana! The name is of Hebrew origin which means "the Lord answers." She arrived safely into this world in Assunta Hospital at 4.55am on 13th Dec 2006. She weighs 3.2kg and measures 49.2cm. Aww so cute... like the fact that she's a nice lock of hair and also pretty pouty lips (probably from her father). I know all newborn babies tend to frown but she does seem to look rather serious in the first photo. I wonder if she's going to be a thinker ... serious and siao like her auntie! Har har har ... In my completely biased opinion I think she's going to one super-cool girl. Can't wait to meet her in person. So (drumroll) that makes me an aunt officially!

Keegan (my brother) already bought her a couple of branded pieces of clothing and can't wait to go home for his summer break (currently studying in Melbourne) to adorn her. LOL ... he's going home to adorn the Christmas gift of our family. Of course I've already sent a Roots (Canadian brand) baby tee (literally) her way, which has been waiting for her arrival, and will be my first Christmas present to her. My parents are quite excited that they are now officially Datuk and Nenek. Just as they've been such cool parents, I'm sure they'll be even cool-er grans! In fact my mum took these photos with the digital camera on her mobile phone (check out the size of the photos) and emailed them to the rest of the family spread all over the world, including my dad who was in China when Eliana arrived.

As you can tell, we're all quite inclined to spoiling her silly. Plan to make full use of this privilege of being an aunt, although her parents think they're more likely to send her to me if she needs to be disciplined. Hmmm ... Thank you Lord for this precious gift.

p/s: Being part of such a cool bunch in her family, you probably won't be surprised to know that she already has her own blog and gmail account! Muah har har har har (evil laugh)

Advent Calendar

Today is the 4th day of Advent. Advent marks the first day of the church calendar thus Dec 1st is considered the Christian New Year in some circles. Part of the fun of this season is counting down to Christmas and this too have been commercialised with confectioneries selling Advent calendars to help children in this counting down process. It's all part of build up in the anticipation of Christmas and they have a chocolate in each window. My housemate brought home an Advent calendar, but ours is a serious ("proper") Advent calendar. It does not have any chocolate in the windows and each day we open the relevant window to read the verse for the day. We also have a mini Advent wreath which we lighted the first candle last Sunday.

The church I attend here has a huge calendar which marks the 4 Sundays of Advent. It's a painting of a stable with different windows that peer into the stable. Painted by one of our church members - it's the size of stage backdrop. Very cool and the windows have a bag of chocolates in it too!!

Here are some pictures to give you an idea.
Click on image to view enlarged image. Take a look inside the windows of the LOTR calendar here. I must admit that the idea of a LOTR advent calendar is a little too commercialised for me.

Grace Will Lead Me Home

My church here has just launched our 2nd CD, entitled 'And Grace Will Lead Me Home'. It's a combined project with our church plant on UBC, called UTown church. Think I've mentioned before that this medium size church has a general emphasis on the arts and sufficient musicians to make up 5 top-class worship bands! Very creative bunch. Listen to tracks and see photos of the team at the cd site.

You can listen to my pastors, Jeff and Tom in the interviews under Audio Files in the Interviews section. Ps Tom hails from the UK and felt called to minister here in Vancouver. You can listen to his lovely British accent and he's also featured in the track 'I know I am home'. This is the link to Sopwith world aka Ps Tom's family's blog. You must read Joel's blog ... Joel is his adorable son who is just over a year old and Ps Tom blogs on his behalf! It's hilarious.

You can also visit UTown church's website which basically leads you to their blog. It's cool in a way. No bulletins and everyone is part of the e-community. I'm not sure if they have any handouts for newcomers on Sunday, but it works since most of their congregation are tech-savy. In Point Grey, we can opt to subscribe to receive our weekly bulletin via email. Do what we can to save some trees.