WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR

this year has got to be the most amazing year of discovery as I've literally shed the light on many things in my life and the life of others. And as the year draws to a close, there's one thing that I've learnt from this whole ordeal and everything that has come to face... that one thing is to say: "WHO CARES!" and not let anything affect you because people will always have their own little version of you carved in your head but you know who you are and who you want to be... and nothing someone said should change you ever! Esp. those you hardly know you. I remember this song that our youth group sang... I dont know who the artist are... but it went something like: "Dont you be the judge me, dont you be the judge me...dont you be the judge I, dont i be the judge." ALSO! Don't let ppl influence (in a negative way) your relationships which those you love dearly.

Living in Melbourne has been a great experience in my life. It's allowed me to step back and be focused instead of pining around the dark, intoxicated with teenage love across distances which ultimately led to it's own demise, in the face of constant intervention and influence. I've been able to focus on my life, the life of others... and I've been able to help my family out more. I've been able to establish myself and know what it is that I want in this life.

I've learnt lots about myself and much more about who I am in Jesus Christ. I've meet many great people who have influenced my life greatly. They've taught me many things in which I am eternally grateful.

hope you all have a lovely new year
and it gives you lots of peace and joy
If I were to sum 2007 in a sentence...
I would describe it as: "a year that when in the appearance of lost, I have gain much more than I could every comprehend."

some reflections of the year and the years gone past...



TABC Youth Group @ the youth pastor's wedding



Some members of my youth camp at the waterfall, which after wandering miles to get to see it, we found that the creek had dried up and there was no water falling down.



Practicing the coconut dance



The malinkis on holiday



The Muppets soccer team kicking their way to win their division.



Graduating from Auckland University... now time to put the skills I've learnt to work?


`
Reuniting with my cousins who migrated to Aussie in 2001.
My family of which I love very much!



Our beloved Hegdewinsky... I bought him from a Harry Potter store at movie world and we had many little adventures with him, but unfortunately he has been stolen... The last time I saw him was at a medical centre. Dearly departed :(



Where would I be without Avatar?



beach adventure in New Zealand



Visiting tasmania



Uh Stony Point! Where you go to leave...

GIFTS

Although we shouldn't be giving into the commercial woes that plague us at these times of year, it's also nice to be able to give to those you love... to say thankful for what they've done for us and the hard work and effort they've put into helping us throughout this year. So off I went to chadstone shopping centre (opening 24hours over 23/24th dec) in search for the remaining presents. It was jan 24th when I walked into the shopping centre, which is reportedly the largest in the South hemisphere, and I was automatically thrown into a human traffic jam. People from all directions crossing paths with bags upon bags of Christmas shopping, chattering away like lorikeets. Five hours later I managed to find half the things I needed. But I suppose all the mad rush is worth it as when it came to giving the presents, to say thanks, it was quite a joyous occasion. Just as the three kings gave gifts to Jesus to say thanks for what he will do for us.



I have been really blessed this year. I think the gifts that I most appreciate are ones which arent of material value. The gift of spending Christmas with my family and having each and everyone join the church service. The gift of my friend giving his heart to the Lord. The gift of finding out that all my good friends will be coming to parachute with me. And most important, the gift of Jesus...

the purpose of blogging

it's really funny how your year turns out. at this time last year, i would've been reading a letter, a sweet letter - filled with sweet words to soothe anyone's worries. However, now facing the reality that it was only just a letter with sweet words, it kind of makes you feel a bit silly. Who knew that sweet words can keep someone so silent. On the bright side, it teaches you a very good lesson. Trust God and God only :) Not because ppl are bad and manipulative, but because we waver and change and are confused easily. In times of desperation we are usually not ourselves and resort to other things not normally in our character.

... it also bought me to think of why I started this blog. Thinking back, it was to originally keep my, "love of my life" informed with what I was getting up to in Australia. It's actually a pretty good method because with being oceans apart, and living in different timezones it's hard to communicate and blogs provide that place of expression. ALSO you can keep other ppl informed at the same time.

SBS RADIO

...so apart from coconut dancing and glorifying our Lord, we were also invited to comment on incorporating our traditional Khmer culture in the church. It's such an honour to be able to glorify and worship the Lord in any language, anywhere you go. We can do the coconut dance, climb trees, sing passionately at the beach, bush... dance around with every fibre of our bones... all to scream out Hallelujah! Thank you God.

the whole interview with other church folks can be listened to on SBS radio's recent broadcast. There are few other new pieces before then and its completely in Cambodian -

http://203.15.102.143:8080/ramgen/record/khmer.rm.

here's a little soundclip of the one they did of me - of course sounding very timid.I was eating chicken and then they asked me to comment on a few things. So I had to put down my piece of chicken and had a microphone in my face. hehe.. completely unprepared.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/kalyanky/interview.mp3

A dance for our King

...getting into costume.

"let there be peace..."

we had a beautiful Christmas service today. It was beautiful because we were all celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus. The birth of the one who came to save us from our sins.

The youth did three performances, a song, an R&B dance and the coconut dance, that our worship leader re-wrote to be in worship of God. You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GWODE_Trkk
We originally started out with 5, which turned to 4, and a week before the performance, one of the guys broke his arm and couldnt perform... so we had to change it for three people. Then about 30mins beforehand we had to change it again, but it turned out okay :) PPl thoroughly enjoyed it and we enjoyed performing it in dedication of our Lord Jesus.

The sunday school did a performance of the nativity story. My brother played Joseph; he was rushed in @ last minute çoz the other Joseph couldnt perform. It was so lovely and they sang "away in a manager" as a closing song and it made me cry. It was so touching. The words were so beautiful.

I love God. He has place my family and I in the right place... and introduced a church for us all. There is so much joy in our lives this Christmas season. Peace to all! May you grow evermore in His favour.

Some pictures...

God's Grace

I'm thinking of Mary.
Thinking of her journey to Bethlehem.
Thinking of how she coped with being the unmarried woman bearing a child in a time where if this happens, you were stoned to death.
I'm thinking of the courage she had.

I'm thinking of times where God has asked of me to a small simple task - to wait, have patience and the right timing will arise. I'm thinking of how even I couldn't do that even though my life was not @ risk. In fact, in hindsight, I feel that if I had listened to Jesus, that everything would turn out for the better. Not just with me, but 4 my family. '

Then again, if I had not gone through what I did, I would not know what I've overcome and would not have learnt a lesson that I would carry through life. It has definitely made me stronger.

the sky has cleared... God's mercy on us

Yay the sky has cleared and the weather has cooled. Awesome! thanks to God. This morning the heat was extremely intolerable and you felt as if you were pushing your weight against the hot thick air - but now there's a gentle cool breeze! Can you hear what I hear? It's an answer to our prayers.

It's almost Christmas - and definitely the best time of year. It reminds us of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came and sacrifice His life for us - so that our sins maybe forgiven.

In a stable He was born... as a carpenter He lived... as a man He taught us how to live our lives in accordance to God's will and word... and as a God, holy and divine, He died and rose again.

He is my life, my everything. I was just thinking back on my life and realise that many of the things I have done were in the name of God, not for God as I though... when someone said: I think God said that we do this or God has plans for our future, I would comply... i would concede, that i neglected to realise that everything we do should be for God, not for what ppl think God's command is, or not because ppl say it's God... and no one can actually tell you what that is because it's between you and God - they can lead you in the right direction and give you advice, but the final call is between you and God.

That's why is so important to watch and listen. I think that's a big lesson I've learnt over the course of this year. if you put your faith in God, nothing can go wrong.

fire hazard in victoria

It's not everyday that you wake up - stare outside your window and witness a smoke cloud blanketing a majority of the sky - From a clear blue sky to an ominous murky white.

I went outside earlier and a gush of heat just blew me over - I felt as if my skin would literally peel if i stayed outside for a large period of time.

The fire hazard is mainly in the north east, but it seems to be affecting a great number of victorians, especially when the wind is blowing the smoke south. It's hard to get around or do anything and makes breathing very difficult.

It just keeps getting hotter and hotter, and the air is becoming much more thicker.

Most ppl have evacuated their homes.. They've given ppl an option, to stay and defend their homes or flee of safety. there's lots of guides on what is important to take...such as passport, diplomas, impt docos and what to do if ever confronted with this situation. I suppose if you look at how vic is structured, you can see how it's an extreme hazard zone> There's the city and then there's surburbia and surrounding that is forest and grassland far as the eye can see...

however, there are ppl who live right in the middle of the hazard zone who are refusing to leave insisting that it wont stretch that far.


i suppose all we have now is to pray. Pray for these ppl's safety and pray that we will be struck by beautiful rain and weather to settle the situation.

The temperature is expected to rise to 39°C

FOOTSCRAY AND AVATAR & My Lord Jesus Christ

Yesterday, I tasted the most delicious pasta dish in Melbourne - the best would have to be the Jordans - He made the nicest white sauce with pasta, chicken & mushroom, blended with bacon! hmm chicken e pollo! *and something fancy in italian here, if only I knew :)*

Anyway... It just made me remember how much I love mushrooms. It has to be my favourite vegetable after cucumber that is. Raw rushrooms, BBQ mushrooms, steamed and fried mushrooms

This morning I drove over an extremely treacherous bridge. It's what connects the west side with the mainland and it built high up over a stretch of water (which most bridges normally are...but this one just seem rather out of place, unsecure somewhat) Anyway, sometimes when you drive over the bridge, a gush of wind from your left blows pushing your car and I think if you're not careful and steady, it could easily topple. I could actually feel the car being pushed aside and I had to try so hard to gain control. It actually made things worse when you had to stop/start a manual on a bridge filled with cars, and a menacing wind just gushing by.

On the bright side, I got to my destination and back home safely to enjoy an evening practicing songs, watching Avatar with the brother and friends, and drinking sparkling grape juice. What more can a girl asked for? Anywho, Avatar has ended for the season but it is an absolutely remarkable show. It's humourous, gives lots of good advice and has a very intricate intelligent plot - ALSO the characters are very interesting, and not one-sided as we use to seeing... there's a bountiful of characterisation going on. Not bad for a cartoon ah!

Today, the GURU was telling AANG, the main character (AVATAR) that in order to acheive balance in himself he needs to let go of any earthly attachments. I thought that was very relevant. That's what God has been telling me to do over the last few years and I think Í've actually managed to do this - there were so many things and so many people that I could not let go of. I couldn't give them up, but God has been saying in order to serve Him, in order to be a light to this world, I have to surrender myself to Him, and I need to rid myself of earthly attachments... and in return I will gain such AWESOME peace. I think I've managed to do that.

I've managed to forgive myself (rid myself of GUILT - I've given them all to God, I've repented, he has forgiven me and now I have forgiven myself)

I have accepted that the Lord is my saviour and that I live to serve Him. I know who I am in Him. There was once a person who told me this and I couldnt understand what he meant - How can you not know yourself, but know who you are in the Lord? Because does that not mean you know you are...which is a contradiction. But knowing yourself in this world is just knowing what you want to be. It is not you. We think we are a certain person because we convince ourselves, or people have planted that thought into our head. But when we know who we are in the Lord, we know who He wants us to be, who He has CREATED us to be. We stop caring for worldly assumptions but only take on that which is between us and God.

I think most importantly, I've managed to just LET GO... of the past, of past wrongs, of what maybe or what has been. I was in such a beautiful relationship with someone that it would almost kill me to let it go. This clouded my thinking, my focus on life, my relationship with God and others. And God knew this... He had once told me to wait, told me it wasnt the right time but because I wasnt listening, and because I was tied to this earthly attachment, I had faced the consequence of my actions. Even to the point that I forgot what things were like and everything just seem dark and wrong. Earthly attachments make us want, and hold on to things that we know are bad for us, but if we Let go, and accept God's kingdom, everything in it is pure and good.

But now I've learnt to completely surrender myself, I feel more at peace. I feel joyful. I love living, I love life as it is. I have all I need. It's enough. I don't want anymore.

God has taken everything but I am eternally grateful. Because He is the only one I need, the only one I live for.