Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a mem'ry,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy sunshine, Thanks for dark and dreary day!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for church,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav'nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks thro' all eternity!

words: August Ludvig Storm, 1891
music: J A Hultman, 1910

``

firstly, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone out there!
i can't believe Christmas is over.
although you may say that there're 12 days of Christmas... but whatever.
well, it was the usual Christmas eve family dinner at my aunt's place, then my parents, brother and i went to church for service.
and welcomed the Christmas of 2oo8 in the house of God and among loved ones.
went high greeting everyone - i think it was the pent up excitement from months ago.
its like, finally Christmas is here! i've been waiting for it since goodness-knows-when.
went home, crashed.
woke up in the morning, then church for Christmas day service!
went high greeting everyone again.
had nice curry katsu lunch at novena square with parents, then went to sleep HAHA.
relatives over for dinner, awesome food again.
got ready to go to bed, and spent the last minute of Christmas saying "merry christmas" to ben on the phone.
haha retarded shit, still can't believe we did that.
(:

rewinding a few days back, to the 23rd of december!
had some from the yangshuo team over for a Christmas party!
met the girls first at novena to get lunch and ingredients for tiff's potato salad.
then we went to the attic to paint our nails green and red :D
first to arrive were lew, jerome and ant..
jerome hid in my room while the other two helped tiff and i make potato salad and bread and butter pudding.
soon everyone came and the place was getting really busy!
sent wenbin to get white sugar from j8 but he tried to be smart and got castor sugar instead. -.-
but thank God it didn't ruin my desert.
anthony and lewis were a great help in the kitchen! such rare guys. (:
although ant kept asking for bread... he was like some starving kid haha.
after popping the desert in the oven, i took out my mahjong set and let them play.
watched them pong here and there until edmond came along to ask for dinner.
and everone ate! i was kept busy attending to everyone's needs, hardly had time to eat myself.
but i managed to, eventually.
we all went up to the attic to fool around, and exchanged presents at 930.
edmond's present from ben was hilarious, and so was jerome's from edmond. LOL.
jerome got me a snow globe thingy that plays a song! its so cute. (:
gave rai her present - hope she likes it!
later in the night when some had left already, ben deicided to style ant's hair.
and i must say it was kinda nice (: but doesn't suit ant.
so he washed it off in my bathroom lol.
then ben made me open his present to me and OMG IT WAS HEFFY!
or rather another heffy (since heffy was going to faith).
i was soooo happy :D
heffy's a soft toy heffalump by the way.
haha i LOVE it. (:
wenbin wanted to watch ong bak, so we watched it into the night up in the attic.
then the guys became little boys when the movie ended and tried imitating the muay thai moves. HAHA.
mel decided to stay over, and the rest left.
all in all, even though the party tired me out completely, i enjoyed myself to the max.
watching everyone having fun and fooling around made it all worth it.
i miss everyone again! ahwell.
oh, and thanks for all the presents that i got...
jerome for the snow globe,
kenny for the chocolates,
jolyn for the WALL.E calander,
fang for the stars,
and lastly ben for a heffy to call my own. ((:

met up with my sec4 clique on boxing day...
pat, nette, yang and leng came.
had dinner at far east and laughed so much as usual.
man, it felt good to laugh with them again. i missed those times!
leng left, then pat, nette, yang and i went to starbucks for a drink.
ended up people watching and reminiscing about the old times... about our teachers, our classmates.
ahwell it was really good catching up with them again. (:

went out with danielle on monday!
omg like FINALLY i'm seeing her again, after so long!
i miss her like hell, seriously. still do!
well, had a quick lunch and exchanged notes about our GCE trips...
then watched Yes Man after that.
the movie's so-so.
had starbucks (again) after that to continue our catching up session!
haha told her all my interesting stories. (:
then i had to leave for a family dinner.
man, i've known her for only less than a year but it feels like much more!
and she means so dman much to me omg.
i'm really going to miss schooling with her. :(
wish i could still have more time with her. :(
ohwell at least God blessed me with her friendship and company.
ILOVEYOU STINKY! (:

high tea with raveen and laurencia at goodwood park hotel yesterday!
faithie came too. (: (:
omg the food was awesome, faith and i ate so much! haha.
had a wonderful time talking with raveen and laurencia, about everything under the sun.
i'm so sad they're leaving tomorrow.. really going to miss them!
but then again i always say that whenever they go back to england.
ahwell before i know it they'll be back soon enough. (:
and hopefully raveen and i will both be going on next year's mission trip, God-willed. :D

```

well, back to the present!
its new year's eve today.
like, OMG IT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE.
time passes so insanely fast.
it seems like just yesterday that i entered JC.
ohwell, time just flies past faster when you're older i guess.
never felt like this when i was young.
sighh now i know why everyone hates growing up.
life certainly is too short.

i must say, 2oo8 was much more eventful than 2oo7.
or at least i think so.
entering JC, meeting my classmates and danielle, making tonnes of new friends, joining rocmoc, meeting the awesome team, going to yangshuo, watching my brother go through his first year of army smoothly, maintain old friendships.
man, just gotta LOVE this year. (:
although what's missing is the youth camp and mission trip..
mainly mission trip though haha.
but whatever, i'll thank God for blessing me with the oppotunities and experiences of year 2oo8.

the wounds have healed.
pretty fast, eh.
even i'm surprised.
well, they've healed well enough to consider someone else.
someone who's been there for me through my darkest moments.
someone who shares an uncanny number of things in common with me.
if only.
if only i wasn't going to australia. can't be helped, i guess.
my only wish is that when i come back, the feelings would still be there, as fresh as ever.
then all those years of waiting would not be in vain.

love?
probably.