This Too Will Past ( Yang inipun akan berlalu)

Pada suatu hari,seorang Bijak meminta seorang tukang emas yg tua renta membuatkan cincin bertuliskan,"Tuliskan kesimpulan dari seluruh pengalaman dan perjalanan hidupmu agar menjadi pelajaran bagi hidup saya".

One day, there was an old wise man asked a goldsmith to make gold ring engraved the words about the conclusion from every journey of his life and become a good lesson for him.

Berbulan-bulan si tukang emas ini merenungkan kalimat apa yang pantas untuk diukir di cincin emas ini. Akhirnya, si tukang emas itupun menyerahkan cincinnya pada sang Bijak.

For months, the goldsmith was thinking and thinking what he could engrave on that gold ring. Finally the goldsmith found the right words and gave it to the wise man.

Dengan tersenyum, sang Bijak membaca tulisan di cincin itu, "THIS TOO, WILL PASS" (DAN YANG INIPUN AKAN BERLALU").

With the smile on his face, the wise man read the words on his ring,"THIS TOO, WILL PASS".

Awalnya sang Bijak tidak terlalu paham dengan tulisan itu. Tapi, suatu ketika, tatkala menghadapi persoalan hidup yang pelik, akhirnya ia membaca tulisan di cincin itu "DAN YANG INIPUN AKAN BERLALU" lalu ia pun menjadi lebih tenang

In the begining, the wise men did not really understand. But one day when he was going through a difficult time, he read those words on the ring, "THIS TOO, WILL PASS",then he became calm.

Dan tatkala ia sedang dalam keadaan senang, secara tak sengaja ia membaca tulisan di cincin itu "DAN YANG INI PUN AKAN BERLALU", lantas ia menjadi rendah hati kembali.

While he was happy, he read the words,"THIS TOO, WILL PASS". Then he humbled himself.

Ketika kita sedang hadapi masalah besar ataupun sedang dalam kondisi terlalu gembira, ingatlah kalimat "DAN YANG INIPUN AKAN BERLALU"

When we are facing big problems or even when we are too happy, we have to remember these words, "THIS TOO, WILL PASS"

Tidak ada satu pun yg langgeng.
Jadi, ketika kita menghadapi masalah, tidaklah perlu terlalu bersedih.
Tapi, tatkala kita lagi senang, nikmatilah!
Ingatlah, apapun yg kamu hadapi saat ini, semuanya akan berlalu.

Nothing will remain the same forever. So when we are in big problems, we don't have to be very sad. When we are happy, we just enjoy the moments. Remember! Whatever happen in our lives will past anyway.

Karena :
•tetap SEJUK di tempat yg panas..
•tetap MANIS di tempat yg pahit..
•tetap merasa KECIL meskipun telah menjadi besar..
•tetap TENANG di tengah badai yg paling hebat.. &
THIS TOO WILL PASS!!!

Because:
•stay cool always.
•stay sweet and not bitter.
•stay humble even when you are big.
•stay calm even in the middle of the storm.

THIS TOO WILL PAST

Holy Matrimony

Finally, my beloved customer Sally ( whose bag and shoes was on my older post) got married. Yeeeey! Sally is my best friend (Ineke)'s daughter. I can't believe she has a son in law already. Sally and Stephen had two events for her wedding. One is the Holy Matrimony at Bethany Church and lunch party at Shang Palace. The second one is in Bali, I'm going to show you in the next post.

These girls are the big flower girls while there are two other smaller flower girls. All the flower girl dresses are detailed with handmade chiffon corsages.

Here are the small flower girls. They are both Sally's younger sisters.

 

Sally and her make up artist + hairdresser, Angela ( she was also in my older post)

The bridemaids are Sally's best friends. They're wearing full sequined bodice and tulle dresses. Sweet girls!

The mother of the groom and Stephen's younger sister.

This pictures below are my close friends. We are all Ineke's close friends. So, for us this party was such a joy where we can all meet each other since we are so busy with our own activities.

Wedding Dress & Flower Girl Dresses: Nancy&Warren Couture.

Pink Flowy Floral

For some of you already know this is my sister in law also my partner,Warren. As usual she's always more dressed up than me. This pictures were taken in Bali in the afternoon. The weather was hot, but she still managed to look buffed & pretty. I myself so lazy to dress up when the weather's hot especially in the afternoon. You can see the way I dress up in my previous post of Bali trip.

Floral Dress: Nancy&Warren Couture; Bag: Hermes; Shoes:Schutz.

Based on Black

This is the first time that Warren (my sister in law and also my partner in business) are going to a wedding party without husbands. Her husband is not feeling well and mine still have a late business meeting. So both of us take Gwen, Warren youngest daughter with us which happens to be useful because she's the one who takes a picture of us. Not bat huh, for a seven year old girl :)

Warren is wearing a maroon chiffon blouse with flower corsages as the ornament of the neckline. And, Kwanpen clutch which she put extra swarovsky crystal on the gold detail.

I'm wearing a long black pleated dress with a flower embroidery on the chest. I feel so comfortable wearing this because it's loose fitting so I don't have to sit straight inside the car and also I can eat a lot during the party. Hahahahah.

This is the back of my dress which I put layers of pleats as the design for the back.

Pay It Forward (Use Google translation for English version)

BUNDA PENOLONG ABADI
PAY IT FORWARD

Saat terlintas keraguan apakah mungkin perbuatan baik yang kecil dan sederhana yang kita lakukan kepada orang lain akan mampu mempengaruhi kehidupan mereka, mungkin Film "PAY IT FORWARD" bisa menjadi pendorong yang memberikan kita semangat untuk selalu tidak jemu-jemu berbuat baik kepada orang lain.

Kisahnya bercerita tentang seorang anak umur delapan tahun bernama Trevor yang berpikir jika dia melakukan kebaikan kepada tiga orang disekitarnya, lalu jika ke tiga orang tersebut meneruskan kebaikan yang mereka terima itu dengan melakukan kepada tiga orang lainnya dan begitu seterusnya, maka dia yakin bahwa suatu saat nanti dunia ini akan dipenuhi oleh orang-orang yang saling mengasihi. Dia menamakan ide tersebut: "PAY IT FORWARD"

Singkat cerita, Trevor memutuskan bahwa tiga orang yang akan menjadi bahan eksperimen adalah mamanya sendiri (yang menjadi single parent), seorang pemuda gembel yang selalu dilihatnya dipinggir jalan dan seorang teman sekelas yang selalu diganggu oleh sekelompok anak-anak nakal.

Percobaanpun dimulai :

Trevor melihat bahwa mamanya yang sangat kesepian, tidak punya teman untuk berbagi rasa, telah menjadi pecandu minuman keras. Trevor berusaha menghentikan kecanduan mamanya dengan cara rajin mengosongkan isi botol minuman keras yang ada dirumah mereka, dia juga mengatur rencana supaya mamanya bisa berkencan dengan guru sekolah Trevor. Sang mama yang melihat perhatian si anak yang begitu besar menjadi terharu, saat sang mama mengucapkan terima kasih, Trevor berpesan kepada mamanya "PAY IT FORWARD, MOM"

Sang mama yang terkesan dengan yang dilakukan Trevor, terdorong untuk meneruskan kebaikan yang telah diterimanya itu dengan pergi kerumah ibunya (nenek si revor), hubungan mereka telah rusak selama bertahun-tahun dan mereka tidak pernah bertegur sapa, kehadiran sang putri untuk meminta maaf dan memperbaiki hubungan diantara mereka membuat nenek Trevor begitu terharu, saat nenek Trevor mengucapkan terima kasih, si anak berpesan :"PAY IT FORWARD,MOM"

Sang nenek yang begitu bahagia karena putrinya mau memaafkan dan menerima dirinya kembali, meneruskan kebaikan tersebut dengan menolong seorang pemuda yang sedang ketakutan karena dikejar segerombolan orang untuk bersembunyi di mobil si nenek, ketika para pengejarnya sudah pergi, si pemuda mengucapkan terima kasih, si nenek berpesan : "PAY IT FORWARD,SON".

Si pemuda yang terkesan dengan kebaikan si nenek, terdorong meneruskan kebaikan tersebut dengan memberikan nomor antriannya di rumah sakit kepada seorang gadis ke ci l yang sakit parah untuk lebih dulu mendapatkan perawatan, ayah si gadis ke ci l begitu berterima kasih kepada si pemuda ini, si pemuda berpesan kepada ayah si gadis ke ci l : "PAY IT FORWARD, SIR"

Ayah si gadis ke ci l yang terkesan dengan kebaikan si pemuda, terdorong meneruskan kebaikan tersebut dengan memberikan mobilnya kepada seorang wartawan TV yang mobilnya terkena kecelakaan pada saat sedang meliput suatu acara, saat si wartawan berterima kasih, ayah si gadis berpesan: "PAY IT FORWARD"

Sang wartawan yang begitu terkesan terhadap kebaikan ayah si gadis, bertekad untuk mencari tau dari mana asal muasalnya istilah "PAY IT FORWARD" tersebut, jiwa kewartawa nanny a mengajak dia untuk menelusuri mundur untuk mencari informasi mulai dari ayah si gadis, pemuda yang memberi antrian nomor rumah sakit, nenek yang memberikan tempat persembunyian, putri si nenek yang mengampuni, sampai kepada si Trevor yang mempunyai ide tersebut.

Terkesan dengan apa yang dilakukan oleh Trevor, Si wartawan mengatur agar Trevor bisa tampil di Televisi supaya banyak orang yang tergugah dengan apa yang telah dilakukan oleh anak ke ci l ini. Saat kesempatan untuk tampil di Televisi terlaksana, Trevor mengajak semua p emi rsa yang sedang melihat acara tersebut untuk BERSEDIA MEMULAI DARI DIRI MEREKA SENDIRI UNTUK MELAKUKAN KEBAIKAN KEPADA ORANG-ORANG DISEKITAR MEREKA agar dunia ini menjadi dunia yang penuh kasih.

Namun umur Trevor sangat singkat, dia ditusuk pisau saat akan menolong teman sekolahnya yang selalu diganggu oleh para berandalan, selesai penguburan Trevor, betapa terkejutnya sang Mama melihat ribuan orang tidak henti-hentinya datang dan berkumpul dihalaman rumahnya sambil meletakkan bunga dan menyalakan lilin tanda ikut berduka ci ta terhadap kematian Trevor. Trevor sendiripun sampai akhir hayatnya tidak pernah menyadari dampak yang diberikan kepada banyak orang hanya dengan melakukan kebaikan penuh kasih kepada orang lain.

Mungkinkah saat kita terkagum-kagum menikmati kebaikan Tuhan didalam hidup kita, dan kita bertanya-tanya kepada Tuhan bagaimana cara untuk mengungkapkan rasa terima kasih kepadaNya, jawaban Tuhan hanya sesederhana ini: "PAY IT FORWARD to OTHERS around YOU (Teruskanlah itu kepada orang lain yang ada disekitarmu) "

The Bible Says Love Is a Habit by Rick Warren

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:32 NIV)
If you only love on and off like a light switch, you do not love others like God wants you to love. Jesus said, “If you only love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” (Luke 6:32a NIV)

His point is this: All of us can love those who love us back. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love the unlovable – when you love people who don’t love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task, and it is – that’s why we need God’s love in us, so we can then love others: “We know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16a NIV).

When you realize how much God loves you – with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love – then his love will change your entire focus on life. If we don’t receive God’s love for us, we’ll have a hard time loving other people. I’m talking about loving people who are unlovely, difficult, irritable, and those who are different or demanding.

You can’t do that until you have God’s love coming through you. You need to know God’s love so it can overflow out of your life into others.

 

Me and the Mini Dress

I rarely wear a very short skirt. This time I dare myself to wear one even I'm not too confident with my thigh. Since the top part is a little bit loud, I thought people will focus on the top and not on the bottom. The funny things is my eldest son said,“ Mom, don't wear a mini skirt, your thighs look big.” The little one said,“ You're talking foolish. That's not true.” And I asked him,“ So Jacq, which one looks better on me, short one or long one?” It took him a while to answer me. Then he said,“ Both!” I guess maybe he also thinks that long one is better, but he's the type of person who doesn't like to hurt other people's feeling. He's like his dad, he knows exactly what women like to hear. Hahahahah

Hand made flower dress: Nancy Warren Couture

My hairdresser & make artist

This is the engagement party of Evy's daughter,Marina. I'm wearing a one shoulder lace blouse and a velvet long skirt from Nancy Warren Couture.

Evy Soenardi is my hairdresser since 1996. She's the only one who knows exactly how to work with my hair and even I don't have a haircut for the next eight to nine months. The layer still look nice, yet easy to manage.
She's always energetic & full of passion. Long time ago before I was a believer, she always gave me her testimonies how awesome and miraculous is Jesus until she introduced me to Charles. ( I mentioned this in my older post about Charles and how I became a believer) Long story short, she was one of the people who brought me to a serious journey with Jesus. 

This picture below is Angela my make up artist and her daughter, Nissi. She's also Evy's niece by law. At the end of this post I have a little story about her.

This is Greta, Evy's nephew's wife. She's also one my customer. I designed her wedding dress few years ago. Now, she has two daughters. Wow! time goes so fast.

Sequins materials now is very popular in the market. I' so happy I got this material, then I quickly design a clutch out of it. It's simple but I put more detail attached to the zipper's head. For now, this is my favorite clutch.

I knew Angela a while ago. Not long after I became a believer. We repented from the same church, and still the same until now. She and her husband, Nico are like my own siblings. Her uncle, whose Evy's brother in law took Angela to our church. At that time, Angela was still having doubt about Jesus. So one day, the glory of God was upon all the people in our church, some of the people have gold dust on their palm and some of them have oil dripping out of their palm. So when the preacher asked the people who had oil dripping out of their palms to come forward and pray for the sick people. Angela checked on her palm and she found out that her hand is full of oil. So, the preacher took her hand to lay hand to some people and those people were all fell in the Spirit. She was shocked but from that moment she understand that Jesus is real and full of glory. Also, She met Nico in our church, got married and have three wonderful kids. Next time I will tell you story about Nico.

My Journey for the Last Few Months

Last July, God spoke to me to arrange big events for women and children. For the kids, He wants the kids to acknowledge that prayer and having intimate relationship with Him are important. For the women, He wants them to be aware that they can change the world through their faith and prayer. They have to understand that they are special creatures and not only regular housewives who do regular house works. They can produce kids who have the fear of the Lord and to be the next generation who bring blessings to the nation. Wives should also be helper to their husbands and not burden which is the other way around. A wise woman can create heaven for the husband and harmony in the family. When a family lives in harmony, automatically there's more capacity for this family to do more positives things outside the house. The business is better. Their relationships with others are better. They can bless the others because they are blessed.


I was a little shocked and worried because I have never done it before. In the same time, my company has to invest lots of money for the new building. The one we use right now is only for rent. If God asked me while I don't have to invest in anything, I wouldn't be worried at all. But, doing big event like this need quite a lot of money plus I have to invite almost 200 ladies from outside the city of Surabaya. It means we had to provide all the transports, hotels, and food for two nights because lots of them are simple and humble people. Even some of them almost never went outside their cities/ villages.



In the beginning, I cried almost everyday in the morning because I worried if I didn't do it right. I worried that I didn't have good team to do it. I worried if I got the wrong speakers. I worried I didn't have enough money. I basically worried about almost everything.


In the same time, I was super duper busy in my office because of the party season. Every week we had to hand in 50 to 80 something dresses. It was so tiring. I also cried to God for more capacity in my brain to be able to handle my business and the ministry equally. But God is good. He's faithful. He's always with me through the hardest time. He led me one by one, step by step.he gave me perfect team. He gave me dream for instructions what to pray for. He gave me friends who prayed for me and for the events. He introduced me to wonderful people to work with.


As the days went by, I felt more and more His companion in my life and even in my tiniest activities. For example last July before the “Hari Raya”, my partner said we couldn't have salaries because we had to give away lots of money for “THR” (in Indonesia, employees get double salaries during Hari Raya Idul Fitri) So,I thought I couldn't do much of anything because I had no money (I'm not the kind of person who will ask for extra from my husband, because I believe God's never late in providing me what I need.) At that time, my credit card bill came, also I found out my brother in Christ had an urgent need. I told Jesus,“ Lord, my credit card is due in a week, and I found out my friend is in needs, if it's my portion to help, then You're going to give me the money.” That's all I said to Him. The due date came, I intentionally checked my balance in the bank. Then I found out I had the money for everthing I mentioned to Jesus. In that very morning there was also a charity day in my church to donate basic food supplies in one of the poorest district in Surabaya, and I already had the money to participate in it. Hallelujah!


From there, God made me understand even more if it's God's project, of course He's the one who pays all the bills. My faith is rising up everyday knowing Him as perfect God and I'm so proud to be part of His works.


Praise God, the kids prayer concert and the women crusade were successful. God touched their hearts. Their spirits are refreshed and their motivated to serve God even more. All the testimonies through some of the lady prayer warriors were awesome and strengthen them.

Thanks to :
Kids Prayer Networks ( Jaringan Doa Anak) who contributes the materials for the Kids Prayer Concert.
Rev. Fiba Affan (Jakarta), Rev. DR. Ambrose John (Malaysia), Pdt. Hesty Lumintang as main speakers.
Ibu Linda, , Ibu Shirly America (Holland), Ibu Sally Paduli, Ibu Carrollien Widiawati ( there's her notes in my older post), and Ibu Henny for their testimonies.
Ferary Gunawan as translator and being a faithful intercessor for this two events.
All the intercessors and all the workers who work whole-heartedly.
Ibu Emmy Leyder who's more than my right hand to make all things possible even she's not in a perfect health during the whole preparation.


Most of all, I greatly thank God for giving me the privilege to be part of His Kingdom and bringing me from His glory to another glory. Amen.

Love:
Nancy

Feyloon Chinese Restaurant, Bali

Every time we go to Bali, Chinese food is never on my own lists because I always want to try more of Balinese, European, Middle Eastern and Western food since it's hard to find the authentic ones in Surabaya. But, my David is different. Even he's very adventurous in food, he always wants to have once or twice of Chinese food during holiday. Well, the last day in Bali, we finally have Chinese food at Feyloon Restaurant. It turned out to be different than other Chinese food I had before. They're served simple but delicious. If you see the pictures it may look ordinary. But in fact,they taste so good. Actually, they have lots of other delicious food, but we don't order shell fish. My family avoid shell fish due to allergic reason and cholesterol. Too bad huh :)

Grilles Eggplant with Salt

Sauteed Vegetables with Garlic

Minced Beef Seaweed Soup

Deep Fried Pork Rib "JIng Tu"

Stewed Fresh-Water Turtle

Steamed Loofah with stock Fish Superior

Fried Sticky Rice with Chicken and Dried Scallop

Steam Fish

My Favourite Hotel in Bali

Grand Hyatt Hotel at Nusa Dua is one of my favorite hotel in Bali. It's huge, beautiful garden and swimming pool, kids friendly and the most important thing is affordable. Every corner at the lobby is nice to just sit and hang around with a beautiful view. It has a private beach, large swimming pool and slide for the children. The hotel breakfast buffet has lots of varieties and most of them taste good. Hmmmmm...... Telling you about this hotel only already make me feel wanna go back there again. Hahahahhahahah. I imagine sitting around the pool, reading, eating and drinking. So relaxing.