Posted by: sammerz | 24 February, 2011

and the winning Property Management agency is…

Allens Real Estate!

Congratulations!  We were happy to entrust our home into their hands, and even more so explaining why:

  • the Director personally came to visit us,
  • she even took off her shoes which was unexpected but welcomed,
  • her former occupation meant she valued RESPECT with utmost importance,
  • her advice was for us to respect the tenant and they will look after the home as if it were theirs,
  • she saw great potential in our property and her attention to detail was impressive,
  • the  fees were highly competitive, easily understandable and transparent,
  • she even showed us in black and white how much we will be charged on a monthly basis and, most importantly,
  • her professionalism, personality and demeanour meant she and the company she owns is trustworthy.

To the other 5 agencies, better luck next time – to most of you: we thank you for taking the time to visit us.  However I must mention that Ray White never got back to us.

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Posted by: stephtong | 07 February, 2011

Bai Bai Melbourne

The conversation started as we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary at Orita’s.

“What do you think about relocation?” asked Steph.

“I thought I will stay in my current job for at least another 4 years…” replied Sam.

One month later, following much prayer and advice from family and our close mentors, one thing was clear: It’s time to relocate… now is our chance before the kids come.

Read More…

Posted by: stephtong | 28 September, 2010

A little survey to see what ladies look for in a guy

Posted by: stephtong | 22 August, 2010

Respect my hubby

Ephesians 5:33

So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

It’s so true when the Bible says this. Husband desires respect from their wife, and wife desires love from their husband. This is so important for the guys that we girls cannot afford to miss this point. We ought to respect our hubbies with our words, actions and of course everything spans right from the heart.

I feel sometimes I can be critical of my hubbie too. There was one night that Sam had cooked a curry dish. Normally, curry was not my highest preference amongst all the choices of food. Particularly when I already had curry the night before, I wanted to have something more mild and less-flavoured for dinner. Sam took the initiative to cook dinner for the night. He did the hard work because I was too tired from work that night. When it’s time for dinner,  I sat at the dinner table and became a little whiny! “The rice is too dry.” Those were the first words that uttered from my mouth and I didn’t say a thing afterwards. Sam was silent and I knew… Uh-oh… what was I doing! Not wise!

There is power in our words. Our words can tear our husbands down and at the same time, it can also build them up. A wife’s respect can build up the confidence of a husband. If they feel they don’t have the respect from their closest partner, the feeling of “failure” can creep in and they may stop trying all together! We are called to be a helper, and we should use our wordss wisely and build them up! Being critical doesn’t build anything. I’m not saying we can’t be honest with our hubby, but God gave us wisdom to discern the right timing and also words of encouragement to bring the best out of our hubby.

I also have to say, we have to respect our hubby in public, in private, as well as when we are hanging out with our girlfriends. There’s nothing worse than doing one thing when the hubby is around, and have a complaint session when hanging out with the girlfriends.  Integrity is on the line here.

Ultimately, respect comes out from the heart. Actions come from the attitude of the heart. Therefore, like with all things in life, as we develop a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, we will see things from His perspective more and more! Our doing will simply be an outflow of our being.

Posted by: sammerz | 30 July, 2010

Japan Trip!

Our belated honeymoon to Japan (Osaka, Kyoto & Sapporo)!

Some of our favourites are shown below.  For more, please visit our Facebook photo albums:

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Posted by: sammerz | 17 July, 2010

Cafe Vue Heide & Croquembouche Masterclass

To celebrate my birthday (in advance), my dear took me on a surprise trip… firstly to Cafe Vue, located at the Heide Museum of Modern Art; and then finally to a Croquembouche Masterclass hosted by Chef Pierrick Boyer, Pastry Chef & Culinary Consultant of Le Petit Gâteau.

We have a love of food… what better way to spend the day!

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Posted by: sammerz | 19 June, 2010

The Puzzle

As we celebrate our SIX MONTHS, I thought it would be good to share a little part of our wedding theme.  You may have noticed on the wedding programme pictures of little puzzle pieces, and the groomsmen’s cufflinks were also in the shape of puzzles.  As Steph shared her vows, you may have recalled that she gave me a small blue box.

Here are our vows again…

Sam, I will now give you the last “Yes I do” puzzle piece to complete the puzzle that I’ve given you, pieces by pieces from the first month that we started going out in 2006. It’s by God’s grace that I can make my
vows to you today.
I promise you that I will be dependent on God, so I can ask for His grace, strength and wisdom to love, respect and honour you, more and more each day.
I promise you I will be your best friend, your most attentive helper and be your companion in the midst of hard times. To be united with you and march on to expand God’s Kingdom here on Earth.
I will submit to you as God has delegated His authority to you. I will have my poms poms ready to be your greatest cheerleader and encourage you to chase your God given dreams, purposes and plans and most importantly, I will follow you.
I choose to love you with all of my heart, for the rest of my life. Ngo lubi nei.

I remember the day when we began our relationship – that we would put God first in our relationship and let the overflow of His love be the glue that binds us together.  It was then we knew that 3 years would be a good time to eventually get married… and now, 3 years later, the time has come…
My dearest Steph, I love you with all my heart and promise with all my strength to love you a little more each day.  I choose to accept, cherish and respect you for who you are right now and to champion your future as we seek God’s vision for our lives.
I look forward to growing, laughing and crying with you in the adventure we now have before us.  In times of gladness and sorrow, through trials and challenges, failures and triumph; I will stand by you to provide for you, protect you, teach and learn from you.  I will be your companion and confidant: a friend you can lean on.  With unspeakable joy, I am proud to call you my wife for as long as we both shall live.

So what was in that little box?  They were the last two pieces of a puzzle that Steph began to give me from the beginning of our relationship.

From the start she already had the whole picture in mind, and every month she would give me a few pieces of the puzzle.  On the backs of these pieces she would write a word or two – memories of the times we shared.

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Posted by: stephtong | 16 June, 2010

Do you think women can be control freaks?

Thinking about the position of wife in a marriage, and that leads me to Kevin J. Conner’s book “The Ministry of Women”. I still haven’t finished reading it because you will probably spend 5 minutes pondering each page! There are so much to talk about Adam and Eve and how women is put under the leadership of men after the fall… but that will be for a later blog…

God created man first before woman. God’s divine order is man then woman, note that order doesn’t mean superior/inferior here, it’s simply order of 1-2-3.

During the fall, Eve gave the “fruit” to Adam. She ate it first. She became the first sinner. The woman sinned by taking the fruit from the tree. Man sinned in taking the fruit from the woman, his wife. If woman is created as a helper to the man, this woman is surely not being a helper to him. She has “lead” him into sin. The “divine order” has flipped.

Why on earth did Adam listen to Eve? He clearly knows that God told him not to have that fruit, but he listened to his wife rather than standing firm on the instructions given by God. Maybe Adam was trying to please his wife, because listening to her and doing what she says makes her happy?

Sometimes women can be like Eve, not saying we lead men into sin, but taking things into our own hands. If Eve had even thought about asking Adam’s opinion, maybe things will turn out different. Do we push something into our husband’s face that it’s almost impossible for him to say no? Do we subconsciously always think our way is always better because it has worked before? Have we actually created space for our men to lead? Or even perhaps, we want to “win” in the relationship?

Posted by: stephtong | 13 June, 2010

Being a wife

After the Elevate camp with Jim McMillan, I decided to journal publicly on the topic of “Being a wife.”

I will write things as thoughts come in, as I read on God’s words, podcasts that I encounter with, thoughts from books etc etc. Please do leave a comment or feedback too, it’s good to hear what other people think. We can all learn together! Even more so, the experienced ones can share their gold nuggets too:)

I did a quick search on Google just on the word “wife” and came back with top results such as:  cheating wife, swapping wife, free Australia wife and tons of inappropriate images. I have to quickly close that website without even clicking into those links!

How on earth does people know how to be a wife if they didn’t get in touch with the original creator of man/woman relationship?

In my first month of marriage after all the whirlwind celebrations. I remember asking myself, am I being a good wife? There are teachings in the Bible, stuff you can learn from your Mum; but it really only make true sense when you are actually IN it.

I pray that God will teach me daily how to be a wife because I know this is one of the most important things that I can ever do. Marriage makes a home, a home makes a family, families make society.

Posted by: sammerz | 22 March, 2010

Dulce de Leche…

…means ‘caramel milk’ in Spanish circles.  Steph’s little project for our 3rd-month anniversary was a “Dulce de Leche Cheesecake”, courtesy of the cover recipe in this month’s edition of Delicious magazine.  See the photos below for the results…

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