one year in Pittsburgh liao...

We haven't been posting much lately. Too much going on...

Anyway, we just realized that we have been in Pgh for exactly one year. One year say long not long, say short not short (说长不长，说短不短). Thank God for His daily presence and blessings. For His faithfulness. For how He has seen us through the last 365 days (+/-).

Looking forward to the next 365 days.

Facing the Giants

Waiting is such a difficult thing to do... and it's been a lot of what we've been doing the last few months, waiting for the reply from a company to give TK the go-ahead for his research. We've been living on the hope that things will work out so long as the door is not shut. But our human frailties cause us to fret as time inches towards the research paper deadline.

However, we were reminded last night as we watched the movie, Facing the Giants, to put our trust in the Lord who so loves us... all 100% of our trust... that must also be reflected in our actions. Do we prepare our fields for the rain when we pray for rain to water the crops? Do we praise His name in all circumstances, good or bad, because we know that He is in control? When something seems so hard to do, do we remember that with God, all things are possible?

Maybe I'm not speaking for both of us... and I'm glad that TK is more assured of God's hands in all that he's doing and never gave up on it. Today, he finally received an email to tell him that he can start the survey in early July!

Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." One of my favourite verses that has been repeated many times over in our apartment as Steve Green leads the children in singing this memory verse tune. We're so bless to have God pave the way :)

Isaiah

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

Just completed a study of Isaiah (chapters 40 to 66) with some ladies from the church last Thursday. I've been really blessed to be able to join these ladies in their study just when they were starting on this second portion of the book - prophetic, filled with beautiful poetry and descriptions of His perfect Servant, a reflection of God's heart for His creation.

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:4-6

Our ever gracious and loving God brought me to this group in our first months here... to keep my eyes on Him in times of difficult adjustments, to remember His sovereignty in our lives, to allow Him to shepherd us in our journey here, to read of His comforting words. He sure knows that I'll be totally lost without it and I'm very thankful for that! 

Praying that we'll continue to trust and lean on Him in all things.

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11

Crossing over to 2008

There is no Watchnight Service in the church that we are attending. Nevertheless, it is a time for us to reflect upon the happenings in 2007. The main event this year, of course, is our coming over to the US. And we are very thankful for how God has led us in this journey. In fact, the first step for us started 3 years ago as we prayed about and reflected upon where God's calling us. Over those 3 years, we experienced a lot in our thoughts and plans... but at each step, we could see how He opened and shut the doors. Indeed, He is our faithful shepherd who always leads and journeys with us. By His grace, we received the strength and wisdom to overcome the few difficult "spots" leading up to our move. By His same grace, we enjoyed many wonderful blessings.

Not only had our Lord been gracious and faithful to us, so too has He been in the lives of our loved ones - our families, our friends, and our church. May He continue to be very close to all of us in 2008, which has just arrived for us.

Thanksgiving

It's a snowy day today, a day after Thanksgiving. Although we don't have a tradition of celebrating this occasion, we've decided to join the Americans in giving thanks to our good Lord. Being at their thanksgiving service on Wed evening and listening to their thanksgiving gave us lots to give thanks for as well.

- For keeping us safe and well in this foreign land
- For giving us one another to share in the new experiences
- For helping us to settle down here and adjust to the cold
- For helping TK with his workload and stress with his studies
- For watching over Charis as she grows each day
- For leading us to a church for worship and fellowship
- For love and prayers from family and friends back home
- Most of all, for His bountiful love, grace and mercy!

There was no turkey or pie, but we had one another and a nice warm meal in our new home. Thank God for that!

Recounting God's grace and our prayer requests

It has been almost three months since we arrived in the States. And we truly thank God for how He has been so wonderfully close to us during this time. One concern we had before coming over is how the demands from the studies would affect our family relationship. We are grateful that over the last few months, although the workload is extremely heavy, our relationships with one another and with God have remained strong. We still have time of prayers together; do most of the things together; go on outings together; discuss and make decisions together; eat together.... All these are by His great grace.

Beside the studies, another daily focus in our lives right now is seeing to Charis' growth. We are praying for wisdom, and that we will focus on God and God alone in parenting her in God's way. It is really good to see that she is starting to be more independent (although sometimes she tries to be so independent that it gets to us) and learning more things - both about general stuff and about God. And you know she is growing intellectually when she tries to reason with you like an adult, or asks for things in a more persuasive way. (Just the other day, she successfully persuaded me - her artistically decline oldman - to role-play with her a scene from her donutman DVD... I had to sway and sing and act with her...)

One thing that we are concerned with is the way she interacts with others, especially children of her age or younger. She actually relates quite well with adults whom she is familiar with (thanks to her exposure to all the granparents and uncles and aunties back in Singapore). And she really likes children and babies - she would pray for some of her friends almost every night. However, the way that she shows her affection and friendship is a bit "physical" - she hugs, she sayang, she kisses, etc. We sometimes are afraid that in her love, she would unintentionally hurt and traumatize these children... So we are now going to spend some efforts on her social skills....

Our prayer requests for all season:
1. that we will continuously guard our relationship with one another and with God
2. that we will nurture Charis well

Our prayer requests for this specific season:
1. that we can tahan the winter
2. that we will learn to work the heater in the house correctly
3. that the sweaters and jackets that we have are as good as they proclaimed to be