thanksgiving

Happy (American) Thanksgiving! The Canadian Thanksgiving was in October but I was too swamped to think about having a celebration for the sweetheart. She had said that she misses home especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas. So... thanks to the help of some of our friends, we managed to pull off a surprise party for her! And she was pleasantly surprised. It was a good time of catching up, laughing, joking, just like thanksgiving at home, she said. Long dinners and chats over food and drinks. :)

We went round the table to share our thanksgiving too. Before I shared, someone reminded me that I only have 30 seconds (roll eyes). There are just too many things to give thanks for. In the area of work, my kids made an amazing improvement in their grades, that the school management decided I was capable enough to follow up with them through their PSLE next year. For the first time, I was given the responsibility to take care of the top graduating class. Thank God His hands are bigger than mine, and I know they will surely be well-taken care of next year. I thank God for cooperative parents, and how they make me feel that they can entrust their children with me.

In the area of my studies, I thank God for guiding me through the next phase in life, where I made the decision to take the more difficult route of doing my dissertation, which could possibly open up the way for a PhD, It is not so much chasing paper qualifications that mattered, not at all to be honest. I do love studying and would love to do it full-time. I was also excited at the hope of spending a few years in Australia, my second home, with the sweetheart. I also thank God that the only person I had asked to be my supervisor was free and willing to take me with no hesitation at all. She's very knowledgeable and I know I will surely learn lots from her in the next 6 months.

In the area of family, I thank God that Dad is becoming more positive and that he's willing to go out more, I thank God for the upcoming family trip on cruise Star Virgo. I thank God that the sweetheart is able to come along and that my parents like her (I think). I thank God that my parents are quite serious about getting to know God better. I thank God for that cell group that comes once a month so my dad gets a chance to fellowship. I thank God for my colleague and her husband who fetches my mum to church when they can. I thank God for a reliable and hardworking (though expensive) helper I can trust to take care of Dad and still manages to finish household chores. I thank God on how He drew my brother back to Him and how my brother was brought to cell group and subsequently back to church, where he has a group of friends he can hang out with, that I don't have to worry much about him anymore.

In the area of ministry, I thank God for how He has helped me grow through serving His people, whether I was playing for the worship team, or being on audio duty, doing welcome, follow up, or just being able to add value to people in my cell group and around me. I have learnt and have grown both spiritually and emotionally. I thank God for the new cell group Jars of Clay and finally sending someone I can learn from and model after through her leadership. I thank God, most importantly, for His presence in my life, that presence that speaks to me, that strengthens me, that I know I am not alone through it all.

I thank God for sending the sweetheart. It's not in the special things she does that makes me feel loved, but in the everyday things that ensures that I am well-taken care of and how she makes me feel special. She has this amazing ability to be efficient in managing household matters, creating some kind of stability in my life, yet be so spontaneously crazy and restless with the need to be outdoors every second she gets (which I have not quite gotten used to).

I thank God for His strength in helping me stay sane despite everything that has come my way this year. It has not been easy, but I am thankful that I am given some time to rest for the next 3 weeks before it starts all over again.

Lastly, I thank God my holiday officially started yesterday, that I do not have to wake up to alarm clocks for the next three weeks! Woot!
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