Journey mercies

I was thinking of photoshopping my pictures to make it look more snazzy to post it up on my blog, but I would probably take too long a time and then forget about putting them up completely (much like my emailing habits these days). So I thought I should just post them up quickly while I have the window of opportunity.

Like Sarah, I usually keep my birthdays on low profile. But when my birthday came closer, and I have a tendency to talk a lot and most times say whatever's on my mind, I did admit to one or two people my birthday was up. That and some people did actually remember my birthday on their own accord and left me some wishes on Facebook, eventually a few more people caught on that it was my birthday.

I guess God's gift for me was a week of peace and joy, and respite from some thoughts that has been bugging me. On Thursday evening, after the youth work at church, I had supper with AC, Chris and Rupert, where they bought me a beautiful mini cupcake as a birthday cake. It was a lovely night with friends.

On Friday, I was at Jess L's house, the mother of Hannah and Naomi who AC and I spent a day with during the early days of my time in church. She has been fantastic in being my unofficial mentor and friend.

On Saturday, I was helping in spring-cleaning the church, and in the afternoon AC made me go to the park opposite the church to play with some of the girls living around the neighbourhood. It was surprisingly very fun in being a big sister, and for the first time felt strongly what a difference I was making with my presence. Even though I only met them for a few hours, their craving for a role model was that strong and palpable!

Then in the evening, I went over to 52 for what I organised and called a "Games Night" rather than a birthday party. Because I didn't allow certain individuals to cook (because someone was over-passionate with cooking that he's a bit of a monster in the kitchen) another guy came up with the idea of making mini pizzas together. So everyone (with exception of me) helped in the meal preparation because I'm a firm believer of too many cooks spoil the broth (read: lazy :P).

After dinner, I was having so much fun just sitting and chatting with friends, I laughed when Chris placed a big knife in front of me and asked why on earth did we need that since we were waiting for desserts. That was when they shut the lights, brought in a lit cake and sang Happy Birthday. I was actually surprised! A Scottish girl, Marianne, baked the cake for me, which was really sweet.

I had such a busy week that by the time Sunday came, I was quite happy to disappear after service to take a nap rather than wait to be invited for Sunday lunch (a number of church people regularly invite different people to their houses for meals). Was on my way out when Jess L was asking me who she should be inviting to her house, because she didn't know the international people as well as I did. So she made me invite them on her behalf, and because of that, we both felt mutually obliged for me to be there as well.

By the time I got back to my flat, it was 5pm and I was too tired to go for evening service, but still went to church after the service, because a few of us were supposed to have a girls' night watching DVD. Some of the guys decided to crash anyway, so a group of us ended up watching Shrek 3 while having Pringles and ice-cream.

It was a lovely end to a brilliant week. Today, it's back to the serious and not so fun matters. :)