True Love ...

A rich businessman had a beautiful daughter, who fell in love with a guy who works as a cleaner. When the girl's father came to know about their love, he did not like it at all, and so began to protest about it.

It so happenned that the two lovers decide to leave their homes in order to build a happy future. The girl's father began a frantic search for the two lovers but was unable to find them.

At last, he accepted their love for each other and request them to come home via advertisement in a local paper. Her father said, 'If you both come back, I will allow you to marry the guy you loved, for I had accepted that you truly love each other.'

So, their love had won and they returned home.

The couple went to town to shop for a wedding dress. He was dressed in white shirt that day. While he was crossing the road to get some drinks for his wife, a car came and knocked him down. He died on the spot. The girl lost her senses. It was only after sometime that she recovered. The funeral and cremation had to be held on the following day as he died horribly.

Two nights later, the girl's mother had a dream. In that dream, she saw an old lady. The old lady had asked her to wash away the blood stains of the guy from the daughter's dress as soon as possible. But her mother ignored the dream.

The next night, her father had the same dream as well. And he too ignored the dream. The following night, the girl had the same dream. She woke up in fear and told her mother about the dream. Her mother then quickly asked her to wash the clothes that have blood stains on it.

She washed the stains but there are still some remained. The following night, she had the same dream. Again, she went and washed the stains but some still remained.

Next night, she had the same dream again, and this time, the old lady gave her last warning to wash away the stains, or else, something terrible will happen. This time, the girl tried her best to wash the stains, until the clothes nearly tore, but there are still some stains remained.

She was very tired. In the late evening, while she was hole alone, someone knocked on the door. She got up and went and opened the door. She shouted with fright and fainted for there stand the old lady of her dream.

The old lady woke her up and gave her a blue object. She was shocked and ask "What is this ?"

The old lady said, "Try la Dynamo Liquid Soap... Just a dab and it will remove all stubborn stains !! "

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I know how you are feeling right now... Don't look at me like that, I have been through this too. I am also hunting the idiot who sent me this... ;)

Gong Xi Fa Cai ...

This year will be the first time we celebrate Chinese New Year with Daniel. I remembered last year, because of me and my confinement, everyone stayed back in KL.

This year, we will all be gathering in Ipoh but as my grandma had just passed away last month, no ang pows will be given this year. But we can still receive ang pows.... **wink**

So, in lieu of this coming Chinese New Year, we (Egbert, Elena and Daniel) would like to wish everyone

A Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Gong Xi Fa Cai !!!!

My Dream Car

I have a dream. And my dream is to own this car:

TOYOTA WISH

But that dream is still very far above reality line... Wait till I have additional Rm1k to spare every month, then only I can think of it. Now, it's only a dream...

Michael Schumacher

Oh boy... This year's F1 gonna be sooooo exciting with the return of 7x World Champion Michael Schumacher. Though a bit sad to see him change from Ferrari to Mercedes, but I am glad that he is still competitive based on the recent tests in Valencia.

Ferrari seems to be rather strong this year when they topped the time sheet for 3 consecutive days. But lets see how things go once the race starts next month. Massa has also recovered from his almost-fatal injury last year. Good to see him back on track. I am sure he is thrilled to be back behind the car. Wonder how will his partnership with Alonso goes ? Surely not as good as he had with Michael, I believe.

Well, can't wait for the season to start. Wonder if Daniel likes watching it as much as his mummy does ?

Hehehehe....

Like Father Like Son

Oh, how I love this two darlings...

Breakfast At McDonald

This is a story which never fails to give me goose bumps and tears in my eyes, no matter how many times I read it. And it gives me hope that God is there, listening to each of our prayer, answering our prayers in His time. And there are angels surrounding us, not the ones that flutters, but real people, who stood by us no matter us, who supported us, who laughed with us, cry with us - these are normal people, but yet, they are God's angel for God send them to watch over us...


I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.' The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'. His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching..

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted..

He said, 'Coffee is all Miss' because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand..

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope..'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son,the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE

Gud News

Finally, after a long wait, some 8 of us received the letter of acknowledgement.

We are now Research Officers Q44 (Memangku).

Congrats to everyone.

New Layout

How do you like my new blog layout ?

I personally like it very much but still trying to figure out how to play around with the HTML codes.
Looks like my memory already 'berkarat' and needs to be 'asah' balik ni...

"Da..Ddy" and only "Daddy"

That is what Daniel will call now...

"Daaa... Ddyy"

Even when I asked him to call me Mummy, he will reply "Daaa...ddyyy".
Aiyoyo, susah la ini macam.

Lee See Oi (1930 - 2010)

My grandmother passed away on 11 January 2010. Short of 1 month and 12 days to her 80'th birthday.

Initially, she fell and broke her hip bone and right leg as well as sprained her right arm. Then she was hospitalized for11 days, awaiting for operation, which was suppose to be done on the 11th.

Her diabetes level was very high during hospitalization, which was why the Doc did not do any operation on her. We went back on 9 and 10 Jan coz she wanted to see Daniel so much.

She passed away within half an hour in the operation theatre. I guessed, being such an age, her heart couldnt sustain it. She died of severe pulmonary embolism.

I guessed in a way, she is much better off now. She don't have to suffer the pain anymore.
May she rest in peace, together with Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Must Read For Everyone

I came across this article on Marina Mahathir's blog Rantings and I think everyone must read especially those who felt threaten by the High Court's ruling earlier.

Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians

The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 A.D. it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person, says Muqtedar Khan.

Muslims and Christians together constitute over fifty percent of the world and if they lived in peace, we will be half way to world peace. One small step that we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonization.

In this article I propose to remind both Muslims and Christians about a promise that Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) made to Christians. The knowledge of this promise can have enormous impact on Muslim conduct towards Christians. Muslims generally respect the precedent of their Prophet and try to practice it in their lives.


In 628 AD, a delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery came to Prophet Muhammed and requested his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, which I reproduce below in its entirety. St. Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mt. Sinai and is the world’s oldest monastery. It possesses a huge collection of Christian manuscripts, second only to the Vatican, and is a world heritage site. It also boasts the oldest collection of Christian icons. It is a treasure house of Christian history that has remained safe for 1400 years under Muslim protection.


The Promise to St. Catherine:

"This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."

The first and the final sentence of the charter are critical. They make the promise eternal and universal. Muhammed asserts that Muslims are with Christians near and far straight away rejecting any future attempts to limit the promise to St. Catherine alone. By ordering Muslims to obey it until the Day of Judgment the charter again undermines any future attempts to revoke the privileges. These rights are inalienable. Muhammed declared Christians, all of them, as his allies and he equated ill treatment of Christians with violating God’s covenant.

A remarkable aspect of the charter is that it imposes no conditions on Christians for enjoying its privileges. It is enough that they are Christians. They are not required to alter their beliefs, they do not have to make any payments and they do not have any obligations. This is a charter of rights without any duties!

The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 A.D. it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person.

I know most readers, must be thinking so what? Well the answer is simple. Those who seek to foster discord among Muslims and Christians focus on issues that divide and emphasize areas of conflict. But when resources such as Muhammad’s promise to Christians are invoked and highlighted it builds bridges. It inspires Muslims to rise above communal intolerance and engenders good will in Christians who might be nursing fear of Islam or Muslims.

When I look at Islamic sources, I find in them unprecedented examples of religious tolerance and inclusiveness. They make me want to become a better person. I think the capacity to seek good and do good inheres in all of us. When we subdue this predisposition towards the good, we deny our fundamental humanity. In this holiday season, I hope all of us can find time to look for something positive and worthy of appreciation in the values, cultures and histories of other peoples.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

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Now, when that delegation from St Catherine's monastery came to meet with Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), I suppose it's fair to assume that they spoke Arabic to one another. And when they were conversing, surely the word 'God' must have come up. As in "May God Be With You" and such like. What word did the Prophet (pbuh) use for 'God' I wonder? And what did the St Catherinians use in return? For monotheists like them, was there a 'your God' and 'my God' type of situation, or did they understand that they were both talking about the same One?

While some idiots are mourning over the 'loss' of the word 'Allah' and therefore basically telling the world that they are people easily confused by nomenclature, and others are predicting riots over what is basically a 'copyright' issue, let me define what I think a confident Muslim should be:

1. A confident Muslim is unfazed by the issue of God's name. God speaks to all of humankind in the Quran and never said that only Muslims could call him by the name Allah.

2. A confident Muslim has 99 names to choose from to describe that One God. My favourites are Ar-Rahman (The All-Compassionate) and Ar-Rahim (The All-Merciful).

3. A confident Muslim never gets confused over which is his/her religion and which is other people's. For instance, a confident Muslim knows exactly what the first chapter of the Quran is. And it's not the Lord's Prayer.

4. A confident Muslim will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word 'Allah' and then think that he or she is in a mosque. A confident Muslim knows the difference.

5. A confident Muslim is generous, inclusive and doesn't think that his or her brethren is made exclusive through the use of a single language. The confident Muslim is well aware that in the Middle East, all services of ANY religion are in Arabic because that's what they all speak.

6. A confident Muslim knows the basis of his/her faith are the five pillars of Islam and will not be shaken just because other people call God by the same name.

7. A Muslim believes in only One God. Therefore it makes sense that other people should call God by the same name because there is no other God.


ART THOU NOT aware that it is God whose limit­less glory all [creatures] that are in the heavens and on earth extol, even the birds as they spread out their wings? Each [of them] knows indeed how to pray unto Him and to glorify Him; and God has full knowledge of all that they do:(Surah Nour, Verse 41) (Asad)

So I would ask those people demonstrating against the Court decision, have you no pride? Are you saying you're easily confused?

And before anyone says I have no qualifications to say these things, read what Dr Asri Zainal Abidin (who does have qualifications no matter what JAIS says) has written about this very subject here.

And here's something interesting. In 2007, the Majlis Agama Negeri Perlis, which is a large majlis filled with people very learned in Islamic religious knowledge, discussed the question of the use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims. Their unanimous decision? They issued a fatwa to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with non-Muslims using the word at all.(This was told to me by Dr. Asri but I cannot find the fatwa anywhere online because all the religious departments' websites are so useless.)

Are we now going to excommunicate the whole of Perlis?

1 Happy Family

My precious ones...

Why Banting ?

I used to ponder upon that question in the past, when things seems so bleak and dark, when I was searching for the sun to shine on me.

Soon, I accept that it is part of God's plan for me - to be a better person, to be a responsible person, to gain more knowledge. I realized that God is blessing me in His own special way. There were lots of graduates who could not find a work, but here I am, fresh out of university and I landed on a job that most people envy of me (till now)... A job that opens to world beyond the one I know, a job that opened me to know the universe and whats in there.

Today, a friend of mine asked that question again. When I was about to give him the answer, something struck me or my heart actually. Something that I have never thought about. I gave too much credit to myself. Everything was for me but God corrected me today. He said to me - "I placed you in Banting, so that you can be my instrument to serve my people there."

I don't know for sure if it is God who is speaking to me, but I like to think so. It really felt as though He is speaking to me.

Last year was a year full of challenge in serving Him at Banting, a year where I was hurt and bruised, where I decided to acknowledged my defeat, my limited capacity, energy and resigned from holding any position in the church. I retreated back to a world of my own, serving from the back, no longer fore front.

Now, as I have made peace with myself, I am ready once again to be Your Intrument, O Lord. Teach me Lord, not to carry all on my shoulder, but to let Your Wisdom be my guidance in everything that I do.

This is the prayer I would like to begin my year with. To acknowledge that I am ready to serve You, O Lord, with my heart and my mind.

Daniel's 1st Birthday Party

I am 1 year old already ...

Daniel's birthday cake - made from jelly so that he can eat it as well since he has Cows Milk Allergy

Cake cutting ...

Blowing the candle, or more like trying to put it out using fingers...

Thank you to all those who came and helped in preparing the party. Special thanks to my syg, my family members, my bro and sis in-laws who came and spend the time with us...

Love you all !!!!

Happy New Year To All !!!

Hope is not to late to wish everyone - friends and families, a Happy New Year.

The year has gone but it has made us stronger,

The path was long but we have walked with a song,

There were fears and tears, but we also had reasons for cheers,

Wishing you Happy Memories of 2009 and Great 2010....