THERE GONE MY BELOVED ELDEST SISTER AI CHIN - TAI KA CHE

This is definitely not a good Sunday....

Su Yee brought me the bad news in the morning that my beloved eldest sister has passed away peacefully in the afternoon in one of the private hospitals in Malaysia. ( our time is 08/30/2009 2:00 AM).....

My Eldest sister is Ai Chin, I like to call her as "Tai Ka Che". she has been suffering from terminal illness and has her pancreas removed last September. Since then, she had been fighting strongly with this "devilish illness" until this July where her body was getting too weak to continue the fight! This could be the time she felt she has completed her missions for the family and in this world that she marched gradually towards the end of her journey

This news came at time while I was chatting and sending prayer to her ....... not what I anticipated to receive but it came TOO SOON.....

This is a hardest thing and most emotional experience to accept. I was very upset and sad for being unable to join the rest of my family to mourn for the loss of our beloved sister ; Also, I felt so bad that I was unable to offer my condolence and comfort to Fong family for the loss , the grief and the bereavement. I beg for the forgiveness!!!

From here, I could only hope and continue to pray that everyone is able to see beyond the sorrow and may the love and care given to my sister be shared and helped through the days ahead.

To my brother -in -law, Mr Fong, I thank you for all the care and love that you have shared and given to my beloved sister for over 50 years. You are a wonderful husband to my Tai Ka che. May all the past sweet memories you had with her remain to give you the strength to get over the loss soon. Remember, you have your lovely children and grand kids who love and care for you just as much as they loved my Tai Ka Che. I sincerely hope that you will adjust your life and move on. Your grand kids are there to give you joy and happiness. They all love you!! So, please accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your beloved wife!

To all my nieces, Yee Mei , Molly, Suo Mein and husbands Bryan, Jo and John plus kids and my nephew Jason's family, I am beyond word to express how I appreciate your dedication of love and care for your mother during her life time. It is through your love, care that your mother has the desire and the will power to fight for survival till her last effort failed. Thanks to you all!

I strongly believe that my eldest sister is now in good hand; Soon, she will be in good company with our deceased parents and eldest brother in the other world and they will look at us moment to moment with smile.

These are precious collection of photos of happy moment in our memories

My dearest Tai Ka Che,

You are the best sister in this world......

You loved and cared for all your siblings unconditionally tille the last minute of your life.....

Now ... you may be gone and no longer around in sight.....

We may not hear your voice or perhaps listen your complaint that came with advice.......

But, we know you are still watching us from above and still wanting us to be safe and better...

You will always remian in our hearts......

We love you just as much as we love our father, mother and eldest brother whom you are going to be with......

We were so lucky to have a Tai Ka Che like you...a warm and beautiful woman

Tai Ka che, I love you forever!!

Lastly, I like to dedicate this song to my Tak Ka Che.......... "GONE TOO SOON".........

Yes..... Why didn't she wait for my next trip home ? I missed holding her hands before she's gone !!
Please ignore the opening message from MJ.... just listen to the lyric of the song ........ "Gone Too Soon"!!!

HOME ALONE AND THINKING

Ah Don is away from home again. He left for New Jersey on Thursday morning. He is on official trip this time to fix up our company's computer and servers to be co-located at Jason's house. I am sure apart from the work, he can spend sometime over the weekend with kids and grand kids. I did not go with him as I wanted him to be with them without me.

So, when he is not around, I am able to take care and amuse myself. Once a while , it is nice to be able to have the time to unwind myself and do what I like ! First of all, I played my Chinese CD to top volume and sing along !

Oh, I really missed those Chinese oldies ! When I played those line dancing music it made me feel bad for forgetting all the dance steps!!!! . The music brought me back to those Thursdays nights where a group of us were having fun & sweat practising the line dance. After the class, I would go to the "Pasar Malam" and buy my favourable "rojak"home to eat. What a sweet memory and melody~~~ "Chili Cha Cha"~~~~ "It's so easy to fall in love" ~~~~ "Macarena"

While flashing back to those old good time .......all of sudden my brain alerts me to the hospital in Malaysia where my eldest sister Ai Chin is dying with dips, struggling and fighting hard with terminal illness. My tears starts to wet my eyes..... I can visualize how difficult she is suffering right now with pain attacking her all over the body. I was told that she looks calm and sleepy but the agony look on her face while at rest does not hide the fact she is suffering the pain even with the drug. Her body is too weak.

On the other side of the bed, I can see that my brother-in-law Mr Fong is looking at her, praying earnestly to reduce her pain and suffering......Every moment is so precious and a blessing to him. Over the phone, he told me... My sister is a wonderful wife to him. They had never parted with each other except for once when my eldest sister was away in overseas with my niece. He is uncertain if he could adjust his life without my sister around should my sister no longer live. Frankly enough, they are such a great and loving couple. They shared their lives through ups & downs for over 50 years. It's sad to hear this ........ but life has to go out no matter what happens. I hope Mr Fong would be strong enough. All my nieces and nephew would be around him to give all kind of support.

Next to the side of Mr Fong, I can see all members of my nieces' families and nephew's are there around the clock to look after my eldest sister. One of my nieces, Molly is back there from Vancouver for over a month now. She told me this is the most precious moment in her life to be able to take care and hold her mother's hand as well as to close to the father. At the mean time she has an important task to prepare food for siblings and kids who are in the hospital to take care of my sister. They bonding of love is so great that I believe my sister would smile even it may be the end of her journey.......I pray and hope she will live with the strength she receives.

Love and care is flooding the room where my respectable and beloved sister is hospitalized. I am always proud of my sister and Mr Fong. They brought up 4 brilliant and successful children ( 3 daughters & 1 son) and grand kids. They are the living role model to happy marriage.

I am sorry for being unable to visit my sister at this time. My heart is with her always. My daily prayer is there to reduce her suffering. She is a kind person, she should not suffer like this !

Dearest sis " Tai Kak Jie", I love you and I never forget all the good things that you have given me. I hope you will fogive me for not going home to see you. To all Fong family, I understand the hardship that you are going through. I am thankful and grateful for everthing that you have done and given to my sister. She deserves to live longer. She should!!!

Me, my 2nd Sis & 1st Sis

JIGSAW FUN

Let's Play!

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

Went to a Toga party Saturday night. Watch the video and you will see BYL in the congo line. Had a good time. Danced our legs off

TIME & LIFE CHANGING

It has been a while since I last wrote about those exciting items that I bought from the Garage sales. Since then, I have some other interesting clocks added to my collection..

By now I have more than 40 clocks in my collection. All clocks are working and displayed to remind me that time will keep moving no matter what. If I want to make thing happen, I should make it happens today. Yes, there is always "Tomorrow" for us to catch up. We fail to realize that once "today" is gone it falls into "Yesterday" ans we are not able to gain back the day to our lives any more. It is not possible for us to duplicate, rewind or change whatever we have done or happened yesterday. There is no way that we can re-date today to be 5th August 2009 this lifetime

However, once a while, I like to remain myself in the past. Perhaps there are things that I like to keep, situation that I hope to change; Some not quite good action that I hope to recall or even to hold back some bad decisions or some sweet moment that I hope will stay.

This is why I love to take and collect my own photos .............Each photo tells me how my image change with the passing of days,months and years that will never return to my life any more.

Our image will never be the same with the clicking of time .......every clock tells me I have to treasure every second that I have .......

The following 2 photos are definitely not my favourable collection. However, they are here to remind me that I look terrible and uncomfortable with long hair. Perhaps this should be my attempt to allow my hair to cover my ears ! :):):)

Now, I feel so much better with short hair.

When the age number is "+", my hair is "-" (:(:(:

I love my silver hair at both side..... Not need to highlight !! :):):):)

IT'S MY LUCKY SATURDAY!!!

It's one of those days that we hope thing will move as planned, scheduled, and happened the way we wanted it to be . Yesterday was my normal routine for Saturday......Go Garage Sale. Nothing much could I expect during summer day. There is less garage sale to shop around.

But, it turned out to be even more interesting and exciting than I could have anticipated!

So, I got these pots that I can use when some of my plants need a bigger pots!!!

Asking price $10 ... my price $1.00

Asking Price $15....... My price $7.00 Come with dried flowers !

$2.00 for this original Painting ( No bargain. owner sold me cheap)

Then at our last stop, I spotted this wild peacock resting at one of the cars parked at the visitors parking lots. I went as close as possible so that I could snap the photos

As proud as Peacock ????

Say "Hello" to me ... " Do you have any food for me ? "

"Sorry, You are unexpected Friend, I don;t have anything for you!"

See How friendly is this proud peacock. I was touching its bead

I could have caught it home if I wasn't that aggressive & anxious to touch it !! :(:(

hmmmmm. if I ever have the chance to meet it again .. it will be mine....... for sure.

Meanwhile, I am happy with my 3 birds at home.... We love to look at them, play with them .. they are our darlings !! They give us joys & fun!! Ah Don tends to pamper "Forever" and I want to discipline her !! We have different approach to handle pets!! :(:(:(

See how beautiful is my "Forever "!!! She is growing Fast & "FAT" ha ha ha ha..

I love this picture. 2 parakeets are like penguins standing behind the " Forever "

"We are happy together at the patio. We like sharing food, fly a bit and back to get some foods but we do not like the idea of living in the same cage ! "

WHAT'S HAPPENED ???

This is how we celebrated 4th July 2009 and the Strasburger Family Reunion in Indiana!

There was a lot of fun........!!! Particularly when I have the chance to "Abused" the following people in the Pictures ! ha hahahahahah.. Just love it !!

We have a eventful and fun night together. I am thankful to everyone for being supportive and sporting in participating all games that I organised for the night.

The significant event was the decade celebration for members who are going to be 50, 60 , 70 & soon to be 90!!!!

We have jigsaw competition, newspaper dressing design contest, face painting . The most exciting one is the American Idol !!! You got to see how our judges worked their way to be real !!!

We casted th vote for the best & the Worst American Idol!! Gramma is the winner!!!

Ah Don will capture and edit into DVD.

Hmmmm... There will be more fun to view the video with sound effect !

DEADLY CACTUS TURN GREAT WITH FLOWER!

About 5 weeks ago, I bought this pot of cactus from an estate sale. It was completely neglected for months without watering. It was dry and part of the branches were turning from green to red and white.

I thought I might be able to save the plant with more care. The asking price was $10 and I bargianed to $3.00 ; it came with a rusty stand that required some touching up.

As soon as we took it home, I topped some soil and watered the plant every morning. I watched how the stems graudually turn from white to red then to green.......

Then one morning, I noticed a small bud coming out from one of the stems !! Gradually,it grows bigger and bigger. . When we left for Family Reunion in Indiana on 2nd July, I was disappointed and thought we might miss the chance to see it blooms into flower since we would be away for 5 days....... but, to our surprise... the bud waited for us as though it wanted us to witness the fruit of my effort.

The following photo was taken this morning before we left for work. It looks like the bud I is big enoughand should open or burst by today. The bud is very hard and solid.....we were anxious to see what are inside !! this is the first time I planted this kind of cactus. Certainly I couls not wait to see its tranformation!! It's strange to have such a big bud with unhealthy stems!!!

This evening, when we reached home, the first thing I did was to rush to the patio to see what happened to this bud ......I was so excited to see the flower wide opened ! It is so sweet and unique !!!! I love it.........

There are still some white stems that require more time to be good !
One small bulb is blooming soon !


I am so glad that all my plants are doing well.

I hope to have a place where I can have more plants in the garden rather than at the patio ! :):):)

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While we were away, our boss helped to take care of our Cockatiel " Forever". The 2 parakeets were doing fine at home. They were all excited to see us home. We are thinkingof getting another cockatiel for her company. "Forever" is definately our sweet heart right now. Our boss likes her very much too. She is growing fast. She is getting pampered by us only in the evening. She knows when she can get out from the cage and jump on our shoulders!

OUR 3 BIRDS

These are our lovely pets.... Putera, Puteri and the new comer "Forever" the cockatiel.

"Forever" is tame,discipline,sociable and smart. She likes to stand on our shoulders. Unlike the other 2 parakeets, we still can't get close to them even after 9 months They were very scared when we first tried to put "Forever" into their cage. After few attempts, now they are fine for this new friend to hang around in their cage for a while !!! Sooner, we need to get a bigger cage for Forever.

See, this is the favorable place for "Forever" She likes to play with the chain !

Ah Don likes to carry her around.. She is his new love !

I was teaching "Forever" how to kiss... hmmm.. this is my first lesson.
She is learning fast......

The weather is very hot this summer..... I don't like hot sun.... For the fun of walking and hopping from one garage sale to another I have to bear the hot sun and the dark skin. Look at my hands and the arms. There are multi-color tone ! :(:(

I stopped taking much picture of myself recently. I noticed that my face has changed. Well, I hate to use the word "old" but it is written on my face !! I like to look at my old photos.... I think some oldest photos gave me sweet memory. The reason for putting my ugly photos here is to allow me to view them I am more "matured".... like when I am 70 ??

Wait ! I don't think I will live up to 70 because one fortune teller told me that I will die at 67....and it's really not very far away from now;

Do I worry ? No ! I am ready for the day to come. 2 great stars passed away yesterday. It is shocking and sad to hear someone die. We have to accept that every one has to die one day when on gets old. I really people who have strong fighting spirit to survive. Definitely...it won't be me. If I were diagnosed with terminal illness, I would opt to die. I don't want to go through horrible treatment. I can't stand to suffer the pain and the process of treatment.

This is my decision and I am writing it in my blog ... I want to die beautifully if possible

I am thankful to have a good family, a lovely husband and a wonderful daughter and now I have 3 birds to play with. What more should I ask beside good health ???

Nicole's Graduation

The evening of the day after I arrived in Seattle my daughter Nicole celebrated her graduation from High School.


There were 589 students attending the graduation ceremony. It was not easy getting pics during the ceremony. However, below are a few of the scenes I captured.

Jaclyn Sings

The evening, of the day I arrived in Seattle, my daughter Jaclyn performed in the school's choir concert.

Below are some scenes from that performance.

Disney World With Dwang And Amy

WOW! Times flies when your having fun.



Anyway, finally getting some pics and video together. Here is the video when we went to Disney World. Spent the day in the Magic Kingdom.

OUR 4TH ANNIVERSARY !

When people get older,(I like to use "matured" instead of "old"for myself !) , people wanted time to move slower but it spins even faster than before !!

This is particular true in my situation. It seems like only a couple of days ago that I was thinking very hard to decide should I come to USA or should I just drop the idea. But, I am right here is USA for more than 4 years and today is our 4th Anniversary.


To mark this occasion, Ah Don bought a cockatiel for me 2 days ago and we named it " Forever" Since our "whatever" is gone; we want this cockatiel to be with us forever just like our marriage.

I woke up early this morning as usual to prepare my breakfast and cook lunch to bring to work. But when Ah Don came from from upstairs he gave me a big hug and told me that he is very happy to marry me !!... What a nice & sweet word !!

I think, we have learned and got to know each other very well . We are fully aware that a good marriage is 2 ways and we have to be sincere, caring and understanding to each other.

When I went upstairs to get myself ready for work .... then I saw a Coach paper bag on our bed...... OH OH OH!!! it is a lovely Coach bag from Ah Don!!!

I love this Coach bag...it is very nice and elegant. Thank You Ah Don..... but you have to stop buying any more handbag to me......hahahahahaha....

After work, we went to Bangkok restaurant for dinner. No wine for me.... as I would feel sleepy after a glass.....It was a nice evening, good food & good talk !!:):):)

Latest Edition To Our Family

Here is the latest edition to our family. We named the cockatiel, Forever. It is one of Ah Don's Anniversary gifts to BYL.

AH DON IS AWAY AGAIN

Ah Don seems to have more travelling recently..... first he went to Jason's house is New Jersey last month to help the painting work to his new house then it turned out he became a Door Fixer !! ha hahahah

For this trip, he went to Seattle to see his 2 daughters; So, I am left alone at home for 5 nights (to be exact .... 10th to 15th AM!!!! ) He is there to attend Nicole's graduation from High School; He is also there with his earnest desire to find out why the girls are mad with him lately.

One of the girls said " WE need to talk!" So I hope they will TALK it out loud and clear the air with open heart. There is no misunderstanding that can not be solved or clarified.

With that particular mission to accomplished, I decided not to join him for this trip. I believe, it's good for me not to set my hand. All I know is that I have not been their favourable person.

As for me, I have been a single mom myself. I know what would be the side effect of failing marriage. I brought up my daughter all by myself and taught her from very young that she has to respect and connect with her father no matter what; Do not blame him for not supporting her.One thing I could be sure he loves and cares for her; it was only during his bad time that he was unable to help out. I had a good job so that wasn't a problem then. With the respect and the connection that established, I am thankful that he is there for her since I left Malaysia.

As I am writing this, Ah Don sent me an Email that he is checking out from the hotel...so he is leaving Seattle this evening. Hope everything will work out fine for him. Poor guy, he has to travel overnight and be here tomorrow morning with red eyes!!! I will go to work as usual. Luckily, we have a new colleague Chris who is kind to fetch me to work!

Missing my Garage Sale is something that cannot made good like relationship!
For garage sale, once the things are gone... they are gone.. For relationship,there are times & opportunities for both parties to reconsider and reconcile before calling it off.

Hahahahaha... I have been reading a lot of letters to Annie and Abby that I think I am able to see the situation much clearer these days. I have learned to adopt "one step forward and 2 steps back" kind of thing....:):):)

My mother's memorial day falls on June 17th.....as usual I will draft my message for my brothers to insert in the local paper to mark this memorial day. This is the only thing that I can express how much I missed My mother. She was a great mommy on earth. I weep whenever I think of her. I was not by her bed side to see her gone.This has been my greatest regret in life. Even with her last breath, she told my siblings that she wanted to make sure that there is someone to take care of me after she is gone. Mom ..... your love for me is so great ! You are my role model forever.

Ah Don, if you are reading this.... I believe you must be the one arranged by my mom to take care of me, Right ?? :):):):):)