Life is a faith journey

That was the revelation I had when we met with another oh-no in our life. This morning I discovered that the Malaysian consulate office in Oslo was closed down last week and all communications will have to be done with the embassy in Stockholm. This could mean extra work to apply for Karalynn's birth registration and passport while the embassy sort out another party to replace the honorary consular here.

So Janet and I were like "here we go again" but not so much of a complaining tone. Last year has taught us that faith as small as a mustard seed moves mountains, and it looks like this year's journey of faith has begun.

2011 - What a year

Five significant things that happened to us in 2011, all faith related.

February: We left our family and our precious "son" Leone and moved to Oslo, a country with climate and language strange to us Malaysians. To work in a company and position that God has given me so much favor with, found Oslo International Church and friends that feels like family here.

April: Lost our passport on the train but faith helped us to recover it.

May: Getting a replacement passport during our two-week trip home in Malaysia wasn't as easy as it seems. But God sealed the deal!

June: Found out that Janet was pregnant! Our prayers was answered, with the promise to expect something in 18 months that came to me early 2010 has now been put in motion. It has been a long journey of praying, believing, claiming and faith of the unseen and unknown.

October: As a new life is on its way, another life was being threatened by cancer - my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer with metastasis to the liver. A trip back to Malaysia with God's perfect timing, a sister's wedding brought forward, and a smooth surgery undergone by my dad. Our God is able, and God you are so so good, there is none like you!

Passport in Malaysia - May 2011

It was in May 2011, we returned to Malaysia to replace our passport. We thought it was the usual process of filling up a form, wait a few hours and then voila - passport. We woke up a bit late on Friday because of the jet lag, went to the Kajang immigration office around 10+am and handed in our application. Surprise, we were told to submit a translated copy of the police report we made in the Netherlands in BM as we are dealing with official matters, and it will take a month to investigate our lost passport case and then decide if we will be allowed to be issued new passports. Panic! To top it all, we were told we need the translation to be certified by proper authorities like a Court Translator or the National Translation Agency. Wow! 2 setbacks, but that's when we kept on praying furiously. Words can't describe our anxiety.

Quickly I thought of the courts in Putrajaya so we rushed there arriving around 12pm. There was a helpful guy at the court translator office but unfortunately they don't translate documents from Dutch. Searched the web, found 2 agencies which can do it, but they wanted RM1200, and it takes a few business day. Called the Dutch embassy in Malaysia, was told by a lady they don't do translation,and she sounds like she has entertained this kind of request many times before.

God is our Provider

Remember the loss of our passports? (post below)


Good news!! Kang Wei's HR said that we are covered by this company insurance. So two days ago, he made a report on the loss online (the offices here are too high tech, they prefer online reports rather than calling them). Two days later, the insurance company replied him, which is today, and they approved our claims for the loss of passports, bag and camera lens!! PRAISE GOD everything is fully covered!!!! :) And the best part of it is that when Kang Wei submitted the report on the loss online, they never asked for any police report or receipts. They work based on trust.


Just wanna leave you readers with this - when the enemy plans to steal, kill and destroy, do not be discouraged or dismayed. Put all your worries and trust in God and He will pull you through, and bless you out of your socks! :) 


Psalm 55:22

Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

The most adventurous Easter holiday

We made an Easter holiday plan to visit Keukenhof, Leiden and The Hague in Holland and Brussels, Belgium from 19 to 23 April 2011.

Keukenhof was super awesome! And funny part was, we bumped into Julia & Jessica Wong in Keukenhof! Such a huge flower garden, and of all places, we bumped at each other under a huge tree without flowers! HAHA!!

I will post up photos of Keukenhof very soon.

Little did we know that the NH Leeuwenhorst hotel we stayed has a HUGE tulip farm just next to the hotel. Simply breathtaking, no words could express our feeling when we stood at the farm that evening. The sunset makes it a whole lot more special. :) Definitely recommend this hotel if any of you guys are planning to stay in Holland in Spring! :)

We enjoyed every bit of our holidays even when we were in Brussels, where we managed to have a free night stay in Stanhope Hotel because of the Thon Member points when we stayed a month in Thon Hotel, Oslo last February. Again, little did we know that Stanhope is a 5-star boutique hotel! Service was excellent, and the room is superb! This pretty yellow flower display is one of the beautiful thing we saw at Stanhope Hotel. I love how they placed the quail egg together with a pearl on this flower display. Soooooooooo pretty! :)

In Belgium, we had the best rum & raisin ice-cream on Belgium waffles in the park, best strawberry waffles at the shopping area, and bought so much chocolates!

After a great holiday and adventure well spent, it was time to get back home to Oslo on 23rd April, 2010 (Saturday) and spend Easter BBQ-ing with our OIC church friends. Our flight was at 8.50pm, so we took the train at 3.22pm from Brussels station all the way to Schiphol airport, Holland to catch our flight.

And, little did we know again, our great adventure didn't end there. Just three hours before our flight, of all things that could have happened, our passports were STOLEN!!

Now, how were the passports stolen :-