sorry this took forever. uploading 51 pictures is not an easy feat!
thanks to all who came! im about give a 3-hours speech now haha. A BIT mushy but bear with me. heh (:
well to me, the most important person on a birthday is never the birthday girl but the One who gave her life.
with goosebumps i admit, that i’ve went astray in the days when i was youngER (note: now still young).
havoc and "live life to the fullest" is what i terribly enjoy, close ones know.
basically one of those who "live in the futility of their thinking", fallen so short of the glory of God.
i can never fully understand why Jesus Christ is willing to leave all His glory above to come on earth & dwell among man. to come in flesh & blood & experience pain. pain He doesn’t even need to go through, at least not for sinners anyways cos sinners deserve to be condemned no? but He came to live a blameless life & died a blameless death, to redeem wretched people like me.
and you of course.
my mum was lamenting that she didn’t give me much for my birthday, that is totally nonsense cos she gave me everything she possibly could. im thankful for a mum who brought me to church. cos she brought me to know the one & only true God & realize that Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him.
i am really blessed to have Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life. without which, i live in vain.
this year i celebrated my 21st birthday. next year 22, then soon, 30! 40! 60. OH NO before i know it, i’d be all old and wrinkley already :/ (DON’T YOU LOOK TOO HAPPY) but whatever it is, in Him i trust my life.
i said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from You i have no good thing." (psalm 16:2)
and surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, whether in richness or in poverty, in health or in sickness. for i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God.
so, for the past 21 years of life which i’ve messed up but He has put together, CHEERS (:
now, have fun looking for your big face or your big name (:
many thanks to those who came: - weizhong(for the tremendous help rendered), joseph, eleen, jiekai, hanbin, lichuang (for coming early to help out & stuff) - all 4 mentors for coming: uncle timothy(despite having theology exam the next morning), weiling(for hearing me out as usual & all the affirmation throughout the party), marcus(for making me cry - haha read on) & shir (for being my camera woman!) - eunice yip si en The Paikia(for coming in the midst of exams), shao(nope i don't clean up your mess often, silly girl), REDDIE(for the funniest card ever), wenling & meiling(for the encouraging letter in my laptop), rene(for the counselling when i needed it most) - aunty biqing(for her motherly presence), aunty connie(for treating this party like her own, catering food, making jiekai run errands & all) - cockroach, david & wenjun(for doing SO MANY waterbombs to hit me & also for being fishiest fishy fishbone's friend) - yannie & yangwei, shen & paul (for coming despite sebas' departure and for coming in dresses!) - bestie & aunty, kaix, kang(for not being late haha), del(for coming even though kate was at your hostel), cris & glenn (haha i know ang mo kio, bishan & hougang is far) - geri & sammikins (for your settling presence), jonman, jayrius (for coming for ME & not cos of booze/boobs cos there isn't any at my party.i wouldn't allow it anyways) - mark chookopeh(for coming from clementi.thanks minnie!), russell(for coming even though there's no foi gras or escargots plus knowing that your bookout "time is precious" haha), darius chen(for the speakers, mic, CDs etc. & staying till so late even though you were so tired) - weiwu(for coming after booking out as well so the mok family is complete), rufford(for taking my invitation card seriously & dressing to kill.haha) - melv yeo(for getting mc to come!), jay(for coming early <-- this is important to me man), junz(for coming after your dancing lessons) & yijun(i like this girl, don't know why), lala & ian(for forking time out from their precious time together since ian's finally back from auzzie but not for long :/ ), cind(for coming despite diarrhoea) & rachel(for turning up in the pretty dress!), robin, toon, aviel(for coming after..was it driving?) - sokhui, seokping, shuling(for coming even though aerobics ended at 8)
and last but not least, - my mum & sis for helping with MOST of the preparations - my dadddd for coming after work (he won't see this but yeahh im so glad he came so uncle tim had a chance to reach out to him & talk to him for a bit) - doodoo for amusing my guests & also for coming even though she doesn't want to stay over cos of her 10 o'clock show the next day.
all in all, total turnup: 59.
next up, the pictures: (mostly taken by shir & doodoo)
aunty biqing touching up her lipstick & aunty connie touching up her hair before taking photos. SO VAIN.
aunty connie, mummy, me (all drenched from the water bomb!), aunty biqing!
aunty connie made me cry very badly on wednesday morning when she called & ask me for the exact address of the party cos she's ordering beehoon, fried wings & fried fishcake for 70 pax. i told her 70pax is too much but she said nvm, don't worry bout the money, she's paying. then she & aunty biqing even bought me a diamonds-studded white gold cross. i told her that i don't need all these things but she said, "from the first day you stepped into church, grow in Christ until how you're now (ni yi kai shi lai, zai zhu li chen zhang dao xian zai), it's worth it. this kind of money spent on a repented sinner (de zhao xin shen ming de zui ren), it's worth it one." then i bahhhhh cannot even talk already. thank you aunty connie & aunty biqing for all that love (':
my birthday cake
my very disjointed & highly-emo speech. so embarrassing. actually i cried before that not cos im too upset or what. but cos i was telling marcus that im rather dishearted cos some of my closest friends won't be here in time to hear my testimony & he said just fang dan jiang (bravely say), we're behind you all the way.
birthday song (:
blowing the 2fat1skinny candles (:
many hearts to wong kangwei for doing THIS. oh man.
so brave.
it reads
cutting the cake
family photo (: papa, mummy, yiwen, me, doodoo.
i don't need any presents actually.. my greatest concern is that my dad is so old already..i really wish that he will come to know God personally soon & one day accept Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour with trembling joy.
alot of people say, since as long as before we die, we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour then we can have eternal life already then let's continue to live in folly until the moment before we die then we accept Him & believe Him lor.
but i don't want that for my dad ): i wish he'd know God earlier cos the joy of being a child of God beats anything else.
highness! i know you're a smartass but thanks for coming despite your exams.
me & wenling
me & shuling
me & seokping
me & sokhui
thanks for rushing down from hougang after your aerobic lessons!
yannie & shen!
shen you're always my indian friend
last hugs before they went off to rescue fangs from post-sebas'-departure-depression. cheer up dear girl, he'll be back very sooooooon..
del, me, kaix, yan, cris, kang yan & cris brought dresses and never wear! cheat my feelings ):
i think this is super funny HAHAHA
glad YOU'RE HERE bestie (:
bestie & mum! auntie came even though she had a backache )':
cris with the strawberry i dropped
random
cris & kaix!
jonman with his cowboy hat!
& jayrius the best-of-friend
thanks for coming bros. be good, jonman! remember to save up SAN MAO everyday. & jayrius please hire me (instead of cuttlefish) when you become a successful entrepreneur next time.
rahh, wish you were here!
in simple yoda language, i say: geri, i can't do without.
and her beloved sammikins who hates to be called sammikins in public BUT I DON'T CAREEE
maniacs & jayfool with the L. haha kidding. jay came the earliest & ALONE omg. but good thing he could click with jonman, for some weird reason.
MELV YEO! sorry you got into trouble trying to get mc. glad you cameeeeee!! forever my best-guyfriend.
my dear mentor, weiling. i'll always remember how she reached in 5 MINUTES upon receiving my SOS call.
weiling & rene
the MOK family (:
thank you uncle timothy for being so edifying everytime you TALK.
mark chookominniepeh, russell, darius chen & me. thanks for coming guys, SO HONOURED (:
me & gaychen!
my lilclique! junz me cind lala thanks for rushing down from your dancing class junzieee & kudos to cindy who had to stopped at 2 Essos cos of the stupid diarrhoea. diarrhoea is not our friend.
slept at 2plus then gotta wake up at 9 to pack up & check out at 1030. this is the next morning. mummy & yiwen eating the watermelons.
haven't brush my teeth yet. HAAAAAAAAAAA
mummy examining the vodka that jay bought for me lol
finally reached home at around 11plus. WAS SOOOOO GLADDDD TO BE HOMEEEEE I MISSS MY BEDDDDDDDDDIEEE. showered, unpacked, then went church at 4 for mission trip committee meeting, followed by choir prac, then dinner at Shaw Center, The Ship with chen & his mum.
so so tired but manymany thanks to those who didn't come as well:
- RAHRAHBANANAPAPAYA! (: hearts to sarah-ann khoo choo choo train & melanie for sending love from shanghai! how sweet is that! sorry jonman called me to call you back but i couldn't cos hardly had time to breath! i'll reply your mail soon sweets! much appreciation here DEAR RAHANNIE! sending my kisses from sunnyisland to cheenaland!
- aunty xiu qin who knew about my birthday party when aunty connie called her to call our church's caterer. i'm like very touched cos she quitted her job as an architect to study theology full-time so she's no longer as well-to-do as last time yet she still po fei to gimme ang pao & perlini's.
not forgetting - shimu & mushi for the angpao, - roomie for the self-made card (artistic & pro as usual), - ade & chenxu for the presents!
and also - eunice's mummikins for the cake. after Sunday School, she came to look for me & wished me. haha i thought she came to ask me for young adults' Sunday School attendance. was going to "SEVENTEEN!" when she tell me i've got a cake outside the treasurer's room. SO MOTHERLY..
truth forever
on the scaffold,
wrong forever
on the throne.
yet the scaffold
sways the future,
and behind
the dim unknown,
standeth God
within the shadow,
keeping watch,
above His own.
| verse of the day
| beautiful, i just want you to know, you are my favourite girls
not what my hands have done
can save my guilty soul
not what my toiling flesh has borne
can make my spirit whole
not what i feel or do
can give me peace with God
not all my prayers & sighs & tears
can bear my awful load
Your work alone, O Christ
can ease this weight of sin
Your blood alone, O Lamb of God
can give me peace within
Your love to me, O God
not mine, O Lord, to thee
can rid me of this dark unrest
& set my spirit free
Your grace alone, O God
to me can pardon speak
Your power alone, O Son of God
can this sore bondage break
no other work, save thine
no other blood will do
no strength, save that which is divine
can bear me safely through
i bless the Christ of God
i rest on love divine & with unfaltering lip & heart
i call this Saviour mine
His cross dispels each doubt
i bury in His tomb
each thought of unbelief & fear
each lingering shade of gloom
i praise the God of grace
i trust His truth & might
He calls me His, i call Him mine
my God, my joy, me light
'tis He who saveth me
& freely pardon gives
i love because He loveth me
i live because He lives (:
