miNd maTter

my life

every time i begin blogging these days, i begin with 'it's been so long' or some derivative thereof - so this time, i'm not gonna write it. life has been pretty busy - but in a very good way! we been in taiwan over chinese new year, then to shanghai over easter, and then a packed april/may with the launch of bubble couture (see pictures here!), mother's day, and finally caitlyn's 2nd birthday (pics coming soon!).

then this week?

saturday: caitlyn's birthday party, followed by dinner w/dai so :)
sunday: spent the day serving mine and my bro's helpers while they watched the kids at home while the bro and wife moved house! cliff's special egg mcburgerbun for lunch, tea and cake for high tea, and japanese curry w/chicken for dinner!
monday: back to work - tired and back to work... w/a company dinner (ON A MONDAY!!)
tuesday: long day of in-house work training, client meeting to top off the day, then an awesome 180 meeting at nite!
wednesday: catch up meetings all morning, more meetings all afternoon (total sitting-at-desk time...15mins), annnnddd

now sitting at home, watching gLee, having a scone and jam wit a cup o' milk tea, while linnet's off on a tram party w/caitlyn and her friends! speaking of which, other than all the weekend work i just described, linnet took caitlyn to cheung chau on monday in cheung chau w/her friend and her daughter, caitlyn's good if not best friend, Noa! :) then tonite they celebrate noa's family farewell w/a tram party - happy and fun, but very sad that they have to leave in a month :(

anyway - this is back to the HK lifestyle. i think the next 6 months will be even more hectic.

1) VC 2. i've probably started many times wanting to write something on this. and each time, i think i just hit the little red 'x' on the top left of the browser, not saving the thoughts. this is such a huge step that my church is taking, and one that has caused a range of emotion that has spanned the human spectrum of emotion. my personal thoughts. i have prayed a bit on this. i have talked a bit also. i've done some of the part of the work on this. i'm so confident that God is leading us in this direction, and that now it's up to us AS A CHURCH to build on the vision, to put our heart, blood, sweat, tears, basically our ALL into the project. i've reflected on nehemiah as we been working this through - and the part that i find missing is that there isn't the feeling that the VC2 is under the ownership of ALL the people in the Vine :(. There are the core that are always there and always supporting, but that's not nearly enough. When Nehemiah was charged with rebuilding the wall of jerusalem, he basically involved, and motivated any one and everyone - no matter from what place in life, and each person did their part in fulfilling God's vision. of course, there were detractors. there were ridiculers. but they stood firm cuz they knew it was from God. Nehemiah 2:20 says;

...“The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.

this was in answer to the 3 jewish officials' ridicule of the project, who, while being jews, still decided to side with king artaxerxes of the persian empire. amazing. as the church moves in unison on this, it's gonna be awesome to see God's power work in Hong Kong!!!

2) 180 - this is a relatively new thing. with derek leaving (i'm not even gonna link him cuz he don't write no more), i've put my hand up to return to the 180 fold and work with the leadership team over this transition period. it's definitely not easy making this commitment, but i believe that God has such great things for 180, and that I've always felt and known that God has put the young adult ministry on my heart. i know the leadership team is absolutely AWESOME, so i get to step into a role and serve next to them, and support them. so the next few months is gonna be very fun and i have high expectations that God will do something GREAT!!!!

3) Work - don't even know where to start. changes over the past year and a half in the office has not been great, at least for me. going thru the worlds worst financial crisis was trying in itself, and me and the team busted our butts over a very tuff year to keep our clients from smashing the panic button. then last year turned out great, and i think our clients were happy with the results of our performance. i felt we did a great job, and for me, i think i achieved almost everything i set out to do in the beginning of the year. my boss didn't (again, at least for me). i don't think i've ever been so wronged in my life, but it's ok. God has placed me at my company to be a light, and that's my main purpose. it's discouraging from a professional standpoint to not be recognized, but i think biblical principle trumps in this case. i'm still there, and i'm still loving my job! it's more b/c of a realization that i'm working for God, and His plans will reign in my company.

4) family - well - i think this has been a constant. God has blessed us SO MUCH and i think all of the above just culminates in our family blessing. we have such a great, balanced life, and i don't think we give Him enough praise. caitlyn is the joy of our life - and despite our troubles earlier this year with linnet's missed miscarriage, we have strong faith that God is fully in control and that we will be blessed with another in the near future! God has also blessed caitlyn w/bubble couture, and i'm so amazed that my beautiful wife took an idea a year ago, and really built it up to where it is now!!! i look forward to what's going to come!

so you see - there's so much to praise God for. there's so much going on. and later on, there's going to be all the more to add to our growing testimony!

here are some pics from mommy's day. i'm so sad cuz this will be one of the last times for a long while that the whole family and kids will be together. i really hope that caitlyn, ethan, max n maya will grow up close and be there to lift each other up!