Getting Ready

Finally, I'm all done writing my post assignments. All our bags are almost packed and ready ( about 95%). We'll be leaving to the airport in a few hours time ( but staying overnight in Bangkok first). Now, I just have to rest for awhile and prepare myself for this trip. Please do pray for us. May we have a safe and stress-free journey with the kids. May our time be indeed fruitful and be a blessing to the people.

Techno Stuff

During our meeting with my Bro, we went to the Berjaya Times Square which has the largest indoor amusement park in Malaysia. The Mall was huge but I didn't find it so interesting especially their shops inside were quite small except for the signature brands.

Anyways, we lingered around the digital area where they were selling all the mobile phones, notebooks and computers. I immediately compared all their prices with the prices in the Philippines and I find it almost the same except that they have a lot of freebies and upgrades when you buy something. I still think Low Yat Plaza ( still in Bukit Bintang area) has the best price and bargain when it comes to digital and techno stuff.

Speaking of computers, have you encountered some problems with your windows that are unable to open File Extension DXR? Then better check out the driver detective than can update your drivers instantly so that you can be able to open File Extension DXR.

Meeting my Bro

My brother is in town today. He actually arrived yesterday but since he came for a meeting, he was only free this evening. So, we met him in his hotel in KL and spent the evening with him.

I haven't seen him for more than 2 years already and it's a blessing to see him even for only a short while. I don't know when we will be seeing him again but I sure hope it won't take another 2 years. I haven't seen my neices for a long time already and it would be nice if Tricia can meet them and play with them.

Thank God for family.. though distance may separate us but nothing can change the fact that they're the closest and dearest to our hearts.

Challenge to Keep up in School

With Tricia going to school at the end of this month, I also have to exert double effort in preparing her for it. Since she's joining school at the middle of the year, then it means she's already half a year behind with all the school lessons. She will even have a Malay subject which she practically has a zero knowledge ( oh wait, she knows 'mandi' ( bathe) and "rotan" ( cane) would that count then?). But the problem is, I will only get to see her books during her first day in school. But anyways, I will try to review and teach her some basic kindergarten lessons in the next few days. I just hope and pray that she will be able to adjust well in school.

I'm excited to see her development in school and of course, I will be a good mom and help her with her assignments :). With my help, she won't need to buy assignment help anymore. Hehehe! Yeah, I just found out that there's this online service that can help students make their assignments like essays and term papers. Times have really changed, we didn't have all these service before. But it's making your own assignments will still be the best option since you learn more.

Online Blessings Part 2

It has already been more than a year now since I started monetizing my blog. What started as a way to keep my family updated with our family happenings and activities has already become a serious hobby for me and a means to earn extra income too.

Until now, it's still quite hard for me to believe that I've earned money from my blogs. I count this as extra means for God to bless our family. With our online blessings, we have been able to book domestic and international flights for family, bought an HP Mini Notebook, paid some credit cards bills, and the list goes on and on. Who could have thought we could book air tickets to Hong Kong as a family? The flights were on ZERO fare , so we only paid 600RM for the whole family. But without my blog earnings, it would still be impossible for us to book such a flight.

Thank God for blogs and thank God for creating extra opportunities for us to earn. Thank God for the year that has passed with a number of online assignments. All glory to HIM!

On Business Plans and Aged Corporations

My Hubby has always dreamed of putting up a restaurant. I always tell him that maybe we can only do that once we are already old and all our kids are grown up and have their own family. Hehehe!

But anyways, his cooking skills has been put to practice when we were in the Philippines and he cooked Kurma and Indian curry for our niece's birthday. Surprisingly, many of our relatives and friends liked it. It's a bit surprising for us because Filipinos are not so fond of spicy food but they did like the curry. So,my Hubby was more encouraged and motivated for a restaurant business, maybe in Balulang, Philippines?? Just kidding!

Speaking of business plans, I have found out some companies that can help you start out with one. If you are looking to build your Business Credit so that you can obtain the most Financing possible for your Business, BusinessCreditMagic.com is one of the best options I found. They also offer Corporate credit for Shelf Corporations and Aged Corporations too. But as for me, I'm not working out about our business plans yet since I know, it's not that too soon. There are still a lot more important things to do for now - bringing up our kids and doing the Work.

The Search for a New Milk

Lyle's pic 2 months back

A few months ago, I posted about Lyle's milk in the Philippines called Lactum. We have really seen how our Li'l boy has gained so much of weight with that milk. He liked the milk and would drink so much and ended up being over fed at times. The doctor said that most babies like that milk because of its sweet taste.

Now that we're in Malaysia, Lactum is not available in the market. So now, he's drinking Dumex Dugro and we noticed that has has lost quite a bit of weight already even if he eats a lot of rice. He's still not thin but I do like to see him chubby and fatty.. hehehe!

So, now, we are in search for a milk which he likes just as much as liked Lactum. Hopefully, we can find the right milk for him.

What's ROI?

I currently have an assignment about ROI or Return On Investment, so I thought I better check it out in wikipedia since I'm not so much of a business person. So, here's what I found:

In finance, rate of return (ROR), also known as return on investment (ROI), rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost (realized or unrealized) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss, or net income/loss. The money invested may be referred to as the asset, capital, principal, or the cost basis of the investment. ROI is usually expressed as a percentage rather than a fraction.

I also found out that ROI is also very important in internet marketing and ROI Analytics can be able to help your business grow through its application. You can even try it out by signing up for their free trial application.

Standing Firm

We are all in a different stages in our journey with God.

Our family is actually in a very 'exciting' stage now. Exciting because there are some prayers that haven't been answered yet but we do know they're coming. Exciting because everything is just right according to its timing and purpose. I can't elaborate much but I can feel my heart beating fast as I write this post. Hahaha! We just had this 'exciting' experience this afternoon and wow! it was indeed a thrilling experience.

Anyways, when our faith is tested and stretched, there is always the temptation to fret or run to the nearest 'help' that is not of God's. But I'm thankful that even during these times, God speaks to our hearts.. and this time, His word for me was to STAND FIRM. Yes, there are times that we don't need to run or to do anything but just to STAND FIRM because it's an act of faith , of waiting for God's hand to move.

Keeping in Touch

Do you want to keep in touch with friends, business partners or customers but don't know how? The easiest and the cheapest way would be through email. If you have a business but don't know your customers email addresses then Tower Data would be able to help you. They have a service called Email Append which uses your customers' names and postal addresses to quickly find their email addresses.

God's Favor and Grace!

God is truly amazing!

Since we will be based in Taiping until December, we thought that Tricia can still have a few months to go to school and maybe enroll in an art school. Tricia's cousin Timothy is enrolled in one of the Tadikas here and so we also thought of checking out his school and see whether they can still accept Tricia as one of the students since it's already at the middle of the school year.

Then, yesterday we saw an ad in the newspaper about the Da Vinci Art School and were excited to find out that they have a branch here in Taiping. When my Hubby called up the art school, the teacher asked us to go to the art school today and let Tricia have a free trial session with her. Tricia was ecstatic.

So, off we went to the school today. We didn't have any idea how much the whole programme would cost but my Hubby and I decided that we check out the Art school first and then the Tadika. If costs are high then we have to drop one of the classes. So, in short she either enrolls the art school and I continue homeschooling her OR she goes to Tadika ( Kindergarten) and drop the Art school. Hmmmm.. which is which now? It would have been very hard to make a decision.

When we went to Da Vinci Center, we saw all the work done by the children and I was impressed. The teacher was very gentle and kind. Tricia immediately felt at home and didn't hesitate to be left alone with the Teacher to do her free trial lesson. The teacher already told us a lot about the program which really convinced me more to enroll her there. But she still didn't say anything about the price yet. So, we let her do her trial lesson for 45 minutes and came back. Tricia wasn't finished with her work yet when we came back and she first refused to leave the center :) So, I sat down with the teacher and continued to discuss with her the cost and schedule for the proram. I was expecting an expensive price for such a course but was astounded when she only qouted 60 RM per month. And she added that Taiping branch has one of the cheapest rate because building rental is quite cheap. Oh yeah! We're in Taiping, that's why. 60 RM is really worth the price considering one of our girl's passion is the Arts. And yes it's affordable! Yippe! Thank you, Lord!

Then our next stop was the Tadika. We already called up the principal earlier and she set an appointment for us to meet her at 12nn. Just right after our meeting with the Da Vinci teacher. We were not sure if Tricia will still have a place since it's the middle of the school year and we were not sure of the school fees too. We heard that aside from the monthly fee, they have a one time registration fee which was quite high. But as my Hubby said, there's no harm in trying to find out and we can decide later on.

So, we met the school principal and sat with her. We were quite surprised that she already knows a bit of our background and wanted Tricia to immediately start school next week. And wait, there's something more... she also mentioned that because of the nature of our work and we're working full time in the ministry, Tricia is going to school for FREE! And that includes her books and uniform! Wow! AMazing! Thank You, Lord! It's really God's favor upon us.

Until now, I'm still overwhelmed but such favor and grace from God. I'm just so excited for our little girl. Since we are still going to travel next week, she can only her classes at the end of May. Exciting! ":)

For IT Professionals

Did you know that the IT profession has one of the highest paying jobs in the world? Yes, even in the times of recession, the IT profession is doing very well. Are you are an IT professional or do you have an interest about it? Then read on.

Many companies now are more vigilant with their companies' security and therefore are hiring skilled IT professionals for this job. If you're an IT professional but is not so familiar with the IT Security profession, EC-Council offers special courses about IT Security. For example you can be a Certified Ethical Hacker. Yes, you read it right, Ethical Hacker. When you help companies with their security issues you are officially called an "Ethical Hacker".

With a lot of internet security issues facing many online companies now, there is a rise on the need for IT security professionals to counter such 'attacks'. And you can be a certified IT security professional by simply enrolling for a course at EC- Council.

Here are some of the categories they offer:

-Security Fundamentals
-Ethical Hacking
-Penetration Testing
-Computer Forensics

-Disaster Recovery
-Secure Programming

Interested? Then you better check out their website and learn more about the course.

With Cousin Shawn

It's our 3rd day here in Taiping and we're glad to be home. The kids are enjoying being with their 'indian' cousins Timo and baby Shawn. But Lyle boy tends to bully Shawn so much that he ends up crying even at the sight of Lyle. Hehehe!

Shawn is turning one year old this Saturday and he is going to have a party tomorrow. And guess what, we are expecting about 150 people to come for his party! Woahh!! This is actually a typical guestlist for an Indian occasion. But if you have this number of people coming for a birthday party ( Filipino context), I guess the party host will faint! Hahaha!

Anyways, thank God for a year added in Little Shawn's life. He has really been a joy to his Ammachi and parents. Happy Birthday Shawn boy!

My Li'l Boy's Wound

Last week, Lyle had some wounds on his head. He didn't hit his head but his wounds looked more like rashes. He doesn't complain of any pain but sometimes, I see him scratching his head. So, we immediately went to to the doctor but he was a bit unsure about it but gave us an ointment for it. He said, if his speculations are right, then the 'wounds' would disappear in the next few days. We tried the ointment, saw a bit of improvement but until now it hasn't totally healed yet. The wound has been there for a week already. So, I guess it's time to go and have it checked here in Malaysia. Maybe we'll have to go to the doctor tomorrow. I just hope and pray it will soon be healed.

For the meantime, I might check on some sites on the natural ways on how to cure ailments. I'll check on one of the sites which knows Know the ways of curing ailments through the wisdom of Dr Daniel Amen, the founder of the Amen Clinics. More about The Amen Clinics here at Amazon.

Memorable 6 Months

I've been thinking a lot about home lately. Yes, I admit it's an obvious sign of homesickness. But who won't be homesick after staying home for 6 months straight after 7 years? Today, is only our 4th day here in Malaysia so, I guess that explains why my heart and mind is seeming left behind in the Philippines. When I go outside, I remember seeing the river and feeling the wind on my face. When I see some children playing, I remember Tricia and he cousins playing happily in our lanai.

Looking back at our last 6 months stay in the Philippines is indeed a blessing. We have a lot of memories left behind including the FLood. Though it might seem that the 'highlight' of our stay was the flood, but then it was through that experience where we have seen God's faithfulness in our lives. But setting the flood aside, the highlight of our stay was actually the precious time we spent with family back home. Even if we really didn't have a lot of activities and family trips together but just being with them chit chatting over meals, going out to the malls and even the silent times is just precious. I'm especially happy for my Li'l girl who has really maximized her time with her cousins. They played non stop, ate together, bathe together, laughed together and fought too! Now, I miss seeing her with her cousins and playing 'house house'. I'm thankful to God for allowing us to stay in the Philippines for a long time. I know, we'll have to wait for a long time ( 7 years!?) before this could happen again. I thank God for my precious family and friends back home. We love you and we will surely miss you!

New Malaysian Number

Yes, we have a new Malaysian handphone number. I can't even remember how many times we've changed our handphone number. You see, pre paid SIM cards expire if they are not used within 3 months. And since, we are usually in and out of Malaysia for a long time, our SIM usually expires by the time we get back. So, for friends who got our old number, please delete that number and leave a message if you're interested for our new number. Sorry I can't divulge our new number here in the internet. :)

Speaking of phones, I've also heard a lot about internet phones that turns out to be cheaper especially when calling overseas. I better check on VOIP Reviews and find out which company offers the best services. I've also heard about Spectrotel. Spectrotel is a telecommunications company offering the best deals in internet phone services. Visit the other Spectrotel profile here.

Anyways, as of now, let me be contented with our handphone, buy some italk cards for overseas call and send sms through Chikka.

Malaysian Visa and Passport Renewed

Our day yesterday was indeed very productive. We have processed both my Malaysian visa and Tricia's passport all in one day. THank you, Lord!

Renewing my Malaysian visa has always been a stressful experience for me and my Hubby. We usually go to the crowded immigration office in Shal Alam at 6-7 oclock in the morning with a lot of people already on queue. And then there were times that they would ask for the original receipts for fees that have been paid for the past years. Some of the immigration officers must be so tired too that they end up being rude to some of the foreigners. So, that's why renewing my Malaysian visa is not an event that we look forward to.

But yesterday was different. We went a bit late because of the 45 mins. traffic jam in the Klang bridge so my HUbby and I just decided to just fill out the papers and go to the commission of oaths and come back the next day. But surprisingly, there was not much people in the office. The lady was kind enough to explain to us that we have to fill up all the forms first then go to the commission of oaths and then come back for our number. Wow! Then it means, they are still giving out numbers. Amazing! So, we did what she told us and true enough we got our number. We had breakfast, processed Tricia's passport renewal in the same office and waited for our number. After 2 hours, our number was called. And guess what, the officer told us that we can get my passport with the renewed visa at 3pm on the same day! So, that means, we only have to wait for another 2 hours to get my visa. This process usually takes 3-4 days but it seems there has been a lot of changes in the Malaysian Immigration lately which is really great news.

So, we just took our lunch and waited for Tricia's passport and my Visa to be released. Thank God for a fast and easy process now at the immigration. Now, I guess going to the immigration office won't be a stressful experience anymore. That's another answered prayer.. Thanks be to God!

Eco Bags and Going Green

One great thing about big companies these days is that they are doing their little share for our environment. Take for example big department stores like SM, they encourage shoppers to use their green eco bags as opposed to plastic bags by giving away advantage points for their SM advantage cards. I remember my Mom bringing the 3 eco bags with her so she can redeem her SM advantage points.

Then just yesterday, when I read the Malaysian newspaper, I saw one company which made the biggest Eco Bag... I'm so sorry I forgot the name of the company but I have to check on that newspaper to get the details.

I just hope more and more companies will do their little share of 'going green' and sustaining our environment for the future generations. There are even companies that aims to be environmentally friendly even from its conception. If companies such as these can bring in more income with less expense with a Go Green Business Opportunity then I'm sure it will become a good trend in the future. I've heard of a fellow named Jon M Queen is an alternative energy businessman and a finance attorney who helps individuals interested in establishing a green home based business. Know more about this company through Jon Queen's profile here. Let's Go Green!

Amazed..

Last Sunday was our last Sunday in our church in the Philippines and God has touched my heart in a very special way through the worship song that we sang. I've actually heard this song countless of times as this was used as the background music for the powerpoint presentation for our center ( which was prepared by our friend). Singing this song as an expression of worship to God has made me realized how special we are in God's sight and how His love is just so amazing. Here is the lyrics and the video of the song.

(verse 1)
You dance over me while I am unaware
You sing all around but I never hear the sound

(chorus)
Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
And how You love me

(verse 2)
You paint the morning sky with miracles in mind
My hope will always stand
For You hold me in Your hand

(bridge)
How deep how wide
How great is Your love for me