I’ve been photo-less for quite a while
October 29, 2009 
so, for those back home:
I made smores. smores rocks! they make people happy. and making people happy makes me happy :]
well, everyone loves smores.
people enjoy my smores :]
they love it, really!
the lovely singaporean girls, that make life so much brighter in cold minnesota. (& kenneth too. but mich’s camera ran out of battery before we could take an all-singaporean shot)
(:
more photos, here.
we had really really yummy food. kudos to head chef, kenneth (:
Provocation.
September 18, 2009 
I am thankful for you, because you were the only one who challenged me to think harder than I already it. I did not say much, but you understood and you were not afraid to tell me what was the right thing to do. yet, you didn’t spoon-feed it to me- you let me think. you corrected me with love. you challenged me with truth, you asked me questions. you would not let my rationality rest as rationality: you asked me what mattered to me. you didnt allow me to be borderline, you challenged me further towards holiness. you showed me with your life, not perfect, but always encouraging. you let me in. you let me see the dark sides you struggled with. you allowed me to correct you when I thought you were going off tangent. you reminded me of the grounding of God’s word. you reminded me how much we need to be holy, because He is holy. and it’s not merely bordering or taunting the thin lines of right and wrong. you taught me what was gentleness and love and firmness all at the same time. you showed me what maturity meant, you were patient with a self-centered me.
for a godly friend & sister like you: Thank God.
cheers, friend.
you are here<3, despite being so far away.
quite a sight that jolted memories
September 14, 2009 
So I am sweaty and I am done with tennis tryouts, i take a look at my phone and realized that the two kids are studying in cassat. I walk over, tired, and lethargic, well obviously, because I havent played tennis in like a million years. I open the door to a study room in the basement of cassat (the newest dorm on campus!) and then I see books sprawled all over the table and two very humourous girls trying to practice spanish- bobo & wong. It was quite a sight. It jolted memories from the days spent mugging at the airport till unearthly hours with marian poon, sara, liz and gera. and my heart just filled with a myraid of emotions. for a moment, I felt I was transported back home to Singapore. I wanted to shed a tear, but all I could mouth was: “who wants to hug a sweaty abby!!!!!”
The past college year was pretty much spent doing work alone and working it out alone in the room struggling to keep above water with all the work and making of a website and what nots. and thereafter heading to the gym to scream out all the stress. ocassional study sessions with julie, I still remember and even lingyue. but then, it can never ever be the same like singaporeans come together and fretting over the A levels like its judgement call day, or in this case, over spanish homework, that we struggle even to complete because we dont have a slight clue what the teacher was saying on the first day of class. it’s amazing, really. I’ve been doing things so much alone that I’m not used to this: “lets get together and study!” but I love it. Yet at the same time, give me sometime to get used to it. all this togetherness, that has been foreign to me my freshman year in college. and I thank God for bobo and wong. for being themselves, and through that triggering memories that brings warmth in my heart.
today, I also remembered my friends at home. I think about how often we say: “I miss you” or “I love you” sometimes, I wonder if it carries enough meaning of what my heart desires to say to you. A part of me laments for the very fact that we cannot share similar schooling moments as we transition out of our teenage years- maybe, perhaps, the highlight of our youth. but I also know that being far away allows the heart to grow fonder. and the experiences that we bring to the table when we meet over coffee, dinner, or a car ride- be it in singapore or all over the world, is one that is so rich and amazing. I wished you could have the same experience that I am undergoing now, but I wouldn’t want any less than what God has for you. I wished we could talk like there’s no tomorrow and have all the shared moments we used to have. but i guess, it doesn’t work like this. and for the record: I think about you guys everyday! you’re still on my wall in all those picture & shared memories. May God continue to blossom our friendship and let it grow despite the distance. You are more than precious to me, you know I am always here for you.
and with all the sincerity of my heart, all I want to say is: I love you and I miss you.
I love the parn sisters.
I returned from a thought-full Sunday morning and I open up my facebook inbox and was greeted by this:
Dont they look stunningly alike!
They look so cute. Thanks for sending me this photo sara, I know you miss me and feel sianz while I’m far away (teeheehee!) It made me burst out laughing till my sides hurt. yesyes, I feel the love even being miles away. :]
What say you?
Today, I talked and ate non-stop.
I feel like a talking pig. (teeheehee)
Thanks be to God for opportunities to catch up, encourage & share.
Those I met today: you are precious to me.
let us not stop encouraging & edifying.
Paris, you are wonderful
Just a week and a half in the United Kingdom and I been to: London, Canterbury, Coventry & Paris. Amazingggggggg. Just about 2.5 weeks more, before I go home to my bed. ( I miss it very much.) While I am having the time of my life, there is seriously no place like home, and my own bed. :]
Canterbury & Joan
Canterbury, is one of the most delightful places! peaceful, quiet, secluded. Most of all, spending time with joan which I havent seen in gazillion years was most splendid, and helping her catch spiders…. (joan if you’re reading this I will forever remember this!)
Then, Coventry.
at Nando's, African food!
Warwick was quite surreal. Never imagined I’d make it there alive dragging my heavy luggages with me, but I made it. and we had African Food at Nandos, yum! My dear monthly foodie gang, if you’re reading this, WE MUST GO TO COVENTRY to eat this. (veryyyyyyyy nice.)
And, PARIS.
Funny how one Paris trip changed my view of the not so distant future. It was just a bored 6am at East Midlands Airport, being terribly bored and I opened a crucial email and met a crucial dateline, right there and then. It was a few hours close shave. I am just grateful for the opportunity to even try, mere chance some might say, but I say not. For the open door, Thank You. One poorly planned trip to Paris, brought many surprises, it’s pretty amazing. Paris: you are too beautiful.
Paris' skyline.
The Famous.
The company
More photos, Facebook.
I’ve been thinking: and Thank God when He gives and when He takes away.
Cos He alone is worthy.
worthy.
Ilovemyroomie<3
She has already gone to bed like 30 mins before me, and as I climb into bed, she says:
Alex: oooooohhhhhhh, SO TIRED I TELL YOU!!!!!! I have to get up at 6am
Abby: Are you sleep talking?!
Alex: NO, I AM NOT!!
Abby: Are you sure? the last time you were sleep talking and I asked you if you were, you said no, and in the morning you couldn’t remember you spoke to me in the middle of the night!
Alex: No I am not sleep talking! see…. I can spell CAT. C-A-T CAT!!!!!
Abby: -burst out laughinggggggg-
:)
she is hilarious eh?
I savor the last few days I spend with her as room-mates, I’d miss her for sure! She said she felt like crying at room-choosing yesterday, cos I wasn’t there. She was there when no one else was- the days when I spent my miserable winter times in bed wondering if this was all a mistake, the days when it snowed and we both marveled together, the days when she would draw the curtain because I was too short to do so, the days we’d head out on road trips, the days we’d deal with obnoxious friends, the days when we’d reorganize our room on impulse, coffeeshop days and surely the day when that anonymous stranger stepped in to our room and we were thoroughly freaked, and the tons of other good times. saying I’d miss her would never be enough.
in a time like this, with all the love in my heart for this unique and special individual, my first room-mate, I wish her not all the beauty in the world, nor all the guys she could ever have or all the money in the world, but I wish her salvation. For truly, that is what is everlasting. and that is the best, my very best, that I could ever share and give to her. and for sure, you will be at my wedding….
Alexandra Gabrielle Hall, this is for you.
One picture sums it all up.
Crane Beach
So, the weekend has sadly come to an end. Photo of crane beach with peter and pat wright- the most amazing people I lived with for 3 days!, people whom I’ve come to love for myself, and roomie alex- who is most awesome too :] More photos of much fun on facebook, but still this taunting reality of finals in 2 weeks has begun to sink in. and my body just tells me that all it wants to do is fall asleep in the sun. fairly impossible. I better get cracking.
Too many activities over this weekend break to sit down and do QT and read the bible, but long trips on the road has led me to reflect, and for one thing I know, disappointments always provide a way for me to rely ever so much more on Christ, my savior. The immediate reality surfaces when I can no longer rely upon myself. He is forever faithful, everytime I call, He hears, oh all the time. He is so palpable, when I come running back to the surest assurances that His word provides. There is no greater comfort.
Oh, take me where you want me to be,
for surely, you will be with me to help me make it through.
everyone needs someone like you.
Everyone needs someone like you to remind them constantly that it is not by their own effort, that they’ve survived this treacherous venture away from home. thank you that over a phonecall, I can listen to your encouraging and wise words- that reminded me that it was not bccause I was any physically, emotionally and spiritually stronger than anyone else that I am surviving, but because God showed grace. but also, that I had an army of prayer warriors back home keeping me accountable and praying for me often enough that I can experience such grace and mercy. I am so blessed. thank you for letting me go, and reflecting trust and faith in God that He would keep me, though I know that we both desire that I could be right by your side, and you could be right by mine and we could be serving together and carrying each other’s burdens. and I know of the gazillion things I have to say to you when I return home, my dear sister. and I miss you a million tons, especially the days when we served side by side and trudged ahead. and though I know you dont always reply my emails, I am in your prayers, just like you are in mine.
everyone needs someone like you;
and thank God I have you.
