Your Spouse Is A Gift

(From "Wife After God" book by Jennifer Smith)

Your husband is a gift from God...

It is important to see your husband and yourself as gifts to each other everyday you have together, for that will influence how you treat each other.

The marriage relationship is also a magnificent gift in that you and your husband have the opportunity to bless to others. Your marriage is a ministry where you and your husband can work together as a team to fulfill the needs of people around you, to show hospitality, to pray for people, to show compassion, to love by reflecting Christ's love as you mirror His image.

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for the gift you have blessed me with, my husband and our marriage. Please forgive me for not always receiving this gift with thankfulness and joy. I pray that you would transform my heart and my perspective so that I may always recognize this powerful gift.

I desire to have a deep appreciation for my husband that helps me treat him really good. May your Holy Spirit remind me daily of this precious gift. I pray for my husband to understand that I am a gift, as well. Reveal to him this truth like you revealed it to me.

Thank you for caring about us so much that you would give us the opportunity to experience marriage. May we live as a team to minister to others. May our hearts be sensitive to where you are calling us and to whom you are asking us to bless. May we be prepared to give as you ask of us, regardless of how big or small. I pray that others would see your love story reflected through our love.

In Jesus's name, AMEN!


When you see your husband next, picture God handling him to you as a gift, and receive your gift by hugging your husband.

10 Habits of Happy Couples

I just found and read this article yesterday, and I think it's really great.. That's why I want to post it here today so it can be a good reminder for myself (and maybe for you too :))

10 Habits of Happy Couples

By: Mark Goulston

http://markgoulston.com/valentines-day-rx-10-habits-of-happy-couples/

What does it take to be happy in a relationship? If you’re working to improve your marriage, here are the 10 habits of happy couples.

1. Go to bed at the same time

Remember the beginning of your relationship, when you couldn’t wait to go to bed with each other to make love? Happy couples resist the temptation to go to bed at different times. They go to bed at the same time, even if one partner wakes up later to do things while their partner sleeps.

2. Cultivate common interests

After the passion settles down, it’s common to realize that you have few interests in common. But don’t minimize the importance of activities you can do together that you both enjoy. If common interests are not present, happy couples develop them. At the same time, be sure to cultivate interests of your own; this will make you more interesting to your mate and prevent you from appearing too dependent.

3. Walk hand in hand or side by side

Rather than one partner lagging or dragging behind the other, happy couples walk comfortably hand in hand or side by side. They know it’s more important to be with their partner than to see the sights along the way.

4. Make trust and forgiveness your default mode

If and when they have a disagreement or argument, and if they can’t resolve it, happy couples default to trusting and forgiving rather than distrusting and begrudging.

5. Focus more on what your partner does right than what he or she does wrong

If you look for things your partner does wrong, you can always find something. If you look for what he or she does right, you can always find something, too. It all depends on what you want to look for. Happy couples accentuate the positive.

6. Hug each other as soon as you see each other after work

Our skin has a memory of “good touch” (loved), “bad touch” (abused) and “no touch” (neglected). Couples who say hello with a hug keep their skin bathed in the “good touch,” which can inoculate your spirit against anonymity in the world.

7. Say “I love you” and “Have a good day” every morning

This is a great way to buy some patience and tolerance as each partner sets out each day to battle traffic jams, long lines and other annoyances.

8. Say “Good night” every night, regardless of how you feel

This tells your partner that, regardless of how upset you are with him or her, you still want to be in the relationship. It says that what you and your partner have is bigger than any single upsetting incident.

9. Do a “weather” check during the day

Call your partner at home or at work to see how his or her day is going. This is a great way to adjust expectations so that you’re more in sync when you connect after work. For instance, if your partner is having an awful day, it might be unreasonable to expect him or her to be enthusiastic about something good that happened to you.

10. Be proud to be seen with your partner

Happy couples are pleased to be seen together and are often in some kind of affectionate contact — hand on hand or hand on shoulder or knee or back of neck. They are not showing off but rather just saying that they belong with each other.

Happy couples have different habits than unhappy couples. A habit is a discrete behavior that you do automatically and that takes little effort to maintain. It takes 21 days of daily repetition of a new a behavior to become a habit. So select one of the behaviors in the list above to do for 21 days and voila, it will become a habit…and make you happier as a couple. And if you fall off the wagon, don’t despair, just apologize to your partner, ask their forgiveness and recommit yourself to getting back in the habit.

Cinta Terakhir

Hello from Melbourne!! ^^

Wuah, udah lama banget rasanya gak nulis blog.. and you know what, 5 more days (this Saturday) is our wedding day!! Please support us in your prayer ya.. :)

Sebulan belakangan ini memang wow banget, karena aku udah pindahan ke Melbourne, udah ketemu DM pastinya and no more LDR, hehe.. but a lot of adjustment juga, and it's not easy.. trus, also busy with wedding preparation and stuff.. Excited, but pusing juga kadang :p So, I'm sorry kalo ada email / chatting / message yang aku gak sempet bales satu per satu..

But anyway, today aku sempet-sempetin nulis blog sebenernya khusus untuk share 1 video ini ke kalian (khususnya para wanita singles) yang memang baru di-launching hari ini.. Jadi ceritanya, beberapa bulan yang lalu, ada temen-temen dari Espira yang dateng ke rumah untuk shoot video kesaksian aku.. Tentang apa? Nonton aja sendiri ya, haha.. But lewat video ini, aku berdoa supaya bisa jadi blessing, khususnya buat para singles yang lagi galau menanti pasangan hidup :p

So, enjoy the video and be blessed!

http://www.show2.me/id/video/cinta-terakhir?ep=z9iaZ13ihZ1Z2xZ0

Or you can watch it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9x-DzMuPg&feature=youtu.be

Our 1st Valentine! ♥

Kayaknya harus buru-buru post yang satu ini sebelum bulan February berakhir and ceritanya keburu basi, haha.. As usual, bulan February selalu identik sama yang namanya hari Valentine.. Banyak pasangan (apalagi yang baru jadian) mereka spend time buat dinner bareng pasangan mereka, dan semua restoran malem itu "mendadak" jadi penuh and rame, hehe..

But berbeda buat pasangan yang LDR (seperti kami ini :p), yang pasti kami gak bisa ketemuan pas hari Valentine kemaren (kecuali kalo ada yang mo kasi kita tiket pesawat gratis ya, wkwkwk..) Tapi terkadang LDR bisa bikin kita jadi lebih kreatif! Haha.. So, what happened in our 1st Valentine day? :)

Yes... he surprised me with flowers :) Ini bunga ke-2 yang pernah aku terima dari dia (yang pertama, kamu bisa liat and klik di SINI) and warnanya selalu ungu, hihi.. love it! But gimana cara dia ngasihnya coba?!

Ternyata the day before, dia udah contact and bikin janji sama sepupunya, Felix (anak gerejaku juga) to send these flowers to my house.. jadi kurir, hahaha.. Aku sempet bingung juga, ngapain nih anak tiba-tiba mo dateng ke rumah, gak ada angin gak ada ujan (eh, ujan ga ya waktu itu? :p) but ternyata mo ngasih bunga dari si DM toh.. :) Thank you DM for the surprise! Thank you juga Felix, hihi..

Nah, kalo dari aku.. kan gak mungkin aku kasi dia bunga (haha..) or kirimin dia cokelat (keburu lumer di tengah jalan :p) jadi dari akhir January aku kepikirin untuk bikinin sesuatu buat dia :) Apakah itu??

Udah pernah baca post aku tentang Flat Stanley? Kalo belom, coba cari-cari di blog aku ya.. Nah, kali ini aku bikin yang namanya Flat Cella! Haha.. Gak terlalu mirip aku sih, but at least aku pakein dia baju ungu and rambutnya panjang, wkwkwk.. and setelah jadi, aku kirim dia deh by mail ke Melbourne :) Lumayan lama sih, beberapa hari after Valentine baru dia nyampe (gak tau dia transit ke mana dulu tuh, hihi..) Jadi mulai sekarang, DM punya temen baru deh yang bisa dia ajak ke mana-mana :p

Hi... I'm Flat Cella! :)

Flat Cella ikut ibadah bareng DM :p

Ya begitulah kira-kira cerita tentang pengalaman 1st Valentine kami.. But yang terpenting, don't stop to share your love to others.. not only to your spouse, but to all the people around you :) Pas hari Valentine itu, malemnya, aku spent time untuk dinner bareng temen-temen komsel (yang masih pada jomblo semua, single but happy, hihi..) and we really had a great time.. Aku juga dibeliin cokelat lho sama my dad.. aww, my dad is so sweet :p Feel so blessed and so grateful dikelilingi orang-orang seperti mereka :)

So, I hope it's not too late to say HAPPY VALENTINE to you all...!!

♥ ♥ ♥

"May the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you..."

(1Thessalonians 3:12, MSG)

Little Candles: Valentine Cookies ♥

Nah, ini dia liputan kegiatan pertama Little Candles di taon 2013! Bulan January kemarin kita ga adain monthly activity, soalnya aku ke luar negeri.. So, di bulan February ini kita adain kegiatan yang temanya Valentine :)

Kemarin, hari Sabtu (2-2-2013) aku ajak anak-anak bikin Valentine cookies.. Resepnya aku ambil dari SINI (sama kayak Christmas Shortbread Cookies, cuma kali ini bentuknya hati).. Ada 5 anak yang dateng ke rumahku.. but cuma 4 yang ikut bikin.. Little Justin, as usual, cuma ikut main, liatin and makan cookies-nya aja, hehehe.. :p

Left to Right: Agnes, Ian, Justin, Dhika, Clarissa 

Great team work, hehe.. :)

First, aku selalu explain ke mereka dulu bahan-bahan apa aja yang diperluin, misalnya kayak gula, tepung, mentega dsb. supaya mereka jadi tau and next time mereka bisa inget :) Trus selama bikin kue, mereka bener-bener praktek sendiri, aku cuma bantu arahin aja.. emang sih bakal lebih berantakan, haha.. but kalo gak gitu ya gimana mereka mo belajar :p Pokoknya biarin anak-anak bebas berkreasi.. Seneng deh liat anak-anak pada excited :)

Before...

After...

Setelah masuk di oven and mateng, baru deh didekorasi.. Kayaknya ini salah satu bagian favorite mereka.. Saking serunya, meja and lantai sampe penuh sama sprinkles (meses)  warna-warni, hahaha.. Nah ini dia beberapa foto hasilnya.. nyumm.. ^o^

Karena bosen bikin bentuk hati,
akhirnya mereka mulai berkreasi bikin bentuk yang laen-laen juga, hehe..

Jadinya lumayan banyak lho.. kita bikin 2x resep soalnya.. jadi mereka bisa bawa pulang ke rumah and share to their parents as Valentine gifts :) Sebelum pulang, mereka main-main dulu di ruangan Little Candles.. and sempet bantu beres-beres juga, hehe..

Look at my little helper.. hihi.. :)

So.. that's all for February.. Tunggu post tentang Little Candles selanjutnya di bulan Maret yaa :) Happy Valentine everyone, and Happy Chinese New Year too! Hehe.. ♥