The three amigos

Today was a day of the three amigos - my mother, Da and me.

When I was chatting with my brother (LG) on Windows Live Messenger (popularly known as "msn") last night, he was still in the office rushing some work. He informed me that he and his girlfriend (ZT) will not be available to meet for lunch today because they have a friend who has just returned from abroad and they will be meeting up.

As such, Da and I contacted my mother at around 12.15 pm today and informed her that we will be going to her home around 1 pm today to take her out to lunch. The lunch venue was one of our two usual venues... the food court at the basement level of Katong Shopping Centre. Today, my mother and Da ordered the mini hot pot whereas I ordered the chicken cutlet.

After a very satisfying lunch, Da and I gave my mother a lift home before we proceeded to church. There is a PC Show 2009 that has been taking place at the Suntec Convention Centre since 11 June 2009 and ends today. As such, it was very likely that the car parks at the Suntec City / Marina Square areas would be full. As it turned out, we were unable to enter the car park from some of the entrances as the "FULL" signboard was displayed. On our way to church, as we passed by the "FULL" signboards, I silently thanked the Lord for giving us a car park lot easily. As I continued to praise and worship the Lord, we managed to enter the car park at the Suntec Tower Four entrance. Guess what? Right at the area where we like to park was one solitary available car park lot awaiting us! There were many cars that were circling the car park, looking for a car park lot but just as we passed by the area where we like to park, we saw one available car park lot. How wonderful and faithful our Abba Father is!

It was a grace-filled church service. It never ceases to amaze me how often the Lord speaks to me during a church service. Many a time, the pastor who is speaking would say something that is very relevant to what I am going through or which addresses an issue that I have been grappling with.

The Lord uses all the minor details in our lives to produce something good. When we face trials and tribulations, God will turn every lemon that the devil throws at us into lemonade. God will cause all things to turn for our good. He wants to bring us to a place where we are conformed to the image of Jesus.

A merry heart does good like medicine. Smile by faith and feelings of happiness will flow. We will never know when the good is coming. Our part is to give thanks.

What hit a chord was the parting shot that the senior pastor said at the end of the church service. He said that we should not let our bosses, our colleagues, our in-laws or anyone else cause us to get angry. Our health and our wholeness are more important than this. I think that many of us in the congregation needed to hear that. It was a wake-up call.

After church, Da and I went to my mother's home and the three of us went to Parkway Parade. My mother had heard that the Japanese Kai knifes were being sold at Isetan Department Store and we wanted to have a look at the knifes. We had heard that these knifes are of superior quality and do not require sharpening. However, we could not find the knifes on sale at this outlet of Isetan.

Before we had our dinner, we went to BATA shoe shop. After browsing around for a while, I purchased a pair of black high-heeled shoes (with heels that are about 2 1/2" or 3" high) that cost me around S$35. The shoes had straps at the back but were sufficiently covered to be used as office shoes. It has been years since I wore shoes of that height, so I think it will take some getting used to. The shoes would probably complement my one and only pair of office pants (which a colleague says makes me look taller than I wear them).

As my brothers (and their respective other halves) were not available for dinner, my mother, Da and I went to the food court located at the basement level of Parkway Parade for dinner. Gosh, it was so crowded at the food court! We managed to obtain a table after a while and we had our dinner. My mother ordered ban mian in soup, Da ordered fried nian gao and I ordered yong tau hu. Da's dish was unusual - I could not identify the noodle. It tasted like it was made of flour.

No visit to the food court at the basement level of Parkway Parade would be complete without ordering some fried dough fritters and drinking the teh tarik.

As the night was still young, we proceeded to Giant Hypermarket where we did some grocery shopping. We also bought a light Japanese cheesecake. It has been a long while since I last ate this type of cheesecake.

Back at my mother's home, we decided to boil some hot water and make hot drinks. My mother had a mug of Chinese tea while Da and I shared a mug of Japanese green tea.

Boy-Boy's ears perked up when he smelt the cheesecake. He was rewarded for his patience with some cheesecake. Yummy!