This is the view from our room at the Hep Yo Sef Inn. It's one of the most value-for-money, romantic, cosy and clean carriage houses I'd ever lived in. And it's a great way to start our 2 year stint in Savannah. Here's the link to the inn's website: http://www.hepyosef.com/carriage.htm which has got more professional pictures on it.

Tibby looks most confortable in our new home. I think she has never looked so contented as she does now in the carriage house. For some reason, she actually felt quite brave to even wander outside of the room rather quickly, and explored the neighbourhood for a bit. She had never explored our HDB flats so quickly as she did here. She was usually more cautious, and having been lost a few times, she does know her limitations somewhat! However, she seemed more confident of herself in Savannah. Perhaps it's the smell of the hard wood flooring, or the rustic smell of wood on the balcony of the carriage house, whatever the case, she seems much at ease and I don't have the heart to break the news to her that we'd be moving in 2 weeks' time to an all carpet room...hope she doesn't fret too much then. She would only have the four walls of a room and us by then!

Uprooting oneself from your comfort zone is never easy. But I believe the Lord has been speaking to us through Pastor Prince's message for the last half a year. He kept on exhorting the congregation to move out of our comfort zones and into the land flowing with milk and honey. I believe God is telling Don and myself that it's time to move out, so He can bless us with even more! So, as I looked at the little keepsake notebook that Justine and Verna gave to us as a parting gift, I knew exactly the verse to be printed on the front. I added the prayer of Jabez to the first print page. I want to remember everyday, be revived in my soul with the knowledge that the Lord is ever ready to bless us indeed and increase our territory; that we would have wealth we would never run out of and health to enjoy every moment of it all. So when we meet with the little thorns in life, we don't feel like we are alone and that no one, not even God, is anywhere to be found. To think that God is not in control of our lives ever, is a strange thought, for God is God. Even if we were burgled, robbed, facing possible failures in our careers, being spat upon by relatives and looked down by society, we must be clear in our minds that these things are not purposed by God but by satan.

After all these years of listening to Pastor Prince, I think the one thing that I learnt was that if we ever come to a place where we think we've got it sorted, that we have our act together, this place is the most dangerous place and the one that is surely leading to some sort of failure.

Yesterday, I came across a Chinese Proverb (don't ask me what it is in Chinese, cos I don't know, I read it in English!). It carried a statement I quite well agree. It read,"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I write and I understand." I thought that that had always been kind of true for me, which was why I started writing down Pastor's sermons about 2 years back, in my own words, of course. I realised it was quite futile just listening to tapes, or watching him on video. I needed to write it all down, point by point, for myself to digest my broken trail of thoughts and assemble them into meaningful applications for myself.

By making my own notes, my own little drawings, I understand the principles of God better. We're so blessed to have Pastor Prince to preach to us. His words are really words of life, because only words of life can change people's lives. I do not know how Don and my life would be had we not sat under his teaching and put everything he said to good use.

Don is definitely not the man I married, and neither am I the woman he married. Both of us have changed our minds about so many things, it is in fact, quite impossible to meet up with old friends of the past and have them believe it's the same 2 people, just with our central nervous sytem totally upgraded and allocated with much more space for future upgrading :). I used to hate myself and was depressed most of the time, but now, I love myself to bits because I know that Jesus's blood has washed me so clean that there is now, no more, never again, condemnation for me by anyone, any being or anything, till the day Jesus comes again and takes us all to the ever-blessed land of God :). This, is the power of God to change anyone's life.

Howdie! Howdie! Howdie! We're here! We're here! We're here! Hahaha, I can hardly contain my excitement...this must be the longest holiday in my life :) Don and I have arrived, complete with 3 overweight baggages, one of which was oversized as well, and Tibby, in more or less, stable state. The airport custom officer was kind to us to let us through without charging excess baggage, I think she saw the cat and thought we were nice people, that's why. Tibby's air-ticket was USD100. Her export permit was S$50 and her vet certificate costed us S$31.50 from the vet's and $21.50 from AVA. Altogether, we paid about S$250 for her passageway to USA.

And thank God we brought her along. At every customs check in USA, people were friendly when they saw our cat. At Chicago airport, where we expected to be checked thoroughly just like our past experience in New York JFK airport last year, it was surprisingly smooth and swift. Simply because we had a cat, and had to declare her. The usual green "Nothing to Declare" line was a long queue, but our red "Things to Declare" line was bare. We got there, and were simply intereviewed for some of our cat's life and Singapore life in general. Our baggages were not even checked, whilst we saw everybody else's being thoroughly examined by the customs officers on the green line. Wow! It was a good thing we brought her. I don't think it'll be right to have come USA for 2 years and not bring her along. Tibby's family after all, much as most people might not understand, but well, we don't live our lives for others, do we?

Don and my parents might have freaked out a little and questioned the sanity of it all, but we don't really care. We don't see them that often, and we definitely won't be seeing them for the next 2 years :) Haha, this is not to say that we don't respect and love them for who they are, but we make our own decisions and are ready to stand by the consequences ourselves, whatever they maybe, whether good or bad. For which in this case, it turned out to our advantage, and really, we're so glad to have her with us. She's such a dear little thing. Quiet, timid, submissive and obedient. Her curiosity and inquisitive ways often land us in softened chuckles as we watch her in amusement as she sniff and explored her new surroundings. I can't wait to see how she is in winter, whether she'll be cold. It's great!

So far, our trip has been a really blessed one, and I think I must say I learnt that we had so many friends, more than we thought we had in many people. So many people cared for us when they learnt that we were leaving, and Don and I are really in awe of it all. We hadn't realised we meant something to others, I mean, most of the time, we just all live our own lives. But when we held a chalet and so many people turned up, and the generosity of everyone with their ang pows was quite unexpected. It really warmed our hearts. It's not the amount that was given, but the fact that people were early at the chalet (I'm ashamed to say we were late), and that people came to chat with us and caught up with us despite everyone's busy schedule (being mother's day and all that), and the speedy responses to our invitations...all these spoke much of the friendships that we had made for the last 4 to 5 years. We can't thank everyone enough for their well wishes and generosity, but I know we'll remember each and everyone in our hearts and in our prayers for always. People's lives we know who have made a difference in our lives, and whom we'll always treasure. A big Thank You to everyone. You know who you are!