He - Well, I've always seen her around church, and to be honest, she's the one that really caught my attention, but being the me back then, the guy who attends church but knows nobody, talks to no one, walks in and out of church like a ghost, and knowing that she's attached, I did not do much, knowing very well that it's not right, but just continued to be on the side lines, watching, and observing.

However, I'd say that the very first encounter was at our EPCC Family Camp in 2007. She was in the same group as I am, in "Trobosan", meaning breakthrough in Malay. We did a few things together, but the one that is memorable was when we were practicing for our team cheer. Half way through it, she fell down, and never seemed to be able to get up again. Heh, now I know why, but back then, I thought it was kinda serious. She needed a wheel chair, and someone suggested that I drove her around, and I did, for a while, until someone else said, "Okay, okay, her boyfriend is here. Let him drive her instead", and of course I did. She managed to recover the next day, and joined us for practice, and even did the cheer with us. Somehow, she was placed right next to me. We did the cheer together, and almost towards the end of it, I did a wrong move. She stopped, laughed at me, and smacked me on my arm! I can still remember that laughter, and that cheerful face of hers :) It was magic!

She – Well, I never knew that such person exists in church. I first noticed him as one of the guys who went on stage to share about their mission trip to Nepal back in 2007 and remembered that he mentioned something about being a new Christian. I found out later that he also works in Intel when I walked past him a few times in the car park and tried to give him a friendly smile but he just looked down and walked away, ignoring me! *gasp* He later told me that he was shy (yea, right) Haha. I only managed to know him during our church’s family camp when we were in the same group “Trobosan” which means breakthrough in English. I was the assistant leader in the group and I remembered passing a paper around requesting the team members to write down their names and numbers. I knew very few people in this team and everyone looked so new to me so I thought I better get hold of their numbers just in case I needed to call anyone.

On the first day, our group was one of the last 3 groups in the camp so we really practiced hard for the team cheer that was going to be held on the last night of the camp. Somehow during one of the practices, I just fell and I couldn’t get up again. I didn’t know why back then but later on I figured out that perhaps it was due to the fact that I went swimming the day before and I swam really hard after not swimming for a few years. And so I was wheeled around in a wheel chair after that until the end of day. The next day I was feeling better but I was still afraid that I might not be able to stand up again while cheering so I asked him on my left to help pull me up if I was really stuck on the floor =) I managed to finish the cheer and did not fall at all. The cheer went well and guess what? Our group shot up to 3rd place at the end of the camp! The feeling was amazing, first being the last few groups and now we got 3rd place.

I went home feeling so thankful for everything that had happened in the camp and I took out the piece of paper that the team members wrote their contacts and sent sms to each one of them to thank them for being such wonderful team members. I only knew much later that he did not get my sms because I had sent it to the wrong number (If only the paper is still with me, I can show him how terrible his handwriting was, which led me to the wrong number!) The outcome of the camp: The new faces that I first met on the first day are now my friends and I’m even getting married to one of them. It’s amazing =) After the camp, we exchanged a few emails before we got too busy with our own lives and I stopped keeping in touch. After all, it's not appropriate for an attached girl to be talking too much with another guy =) It was only about a year later and we kept bumping into each other in Intel that got us talking again. This time, I'm single and available. The rest, they say, is history.

Aug 5th 2008

He - We may know each other slightly more after the church camp back in 2007, but it was still just "Hi" and "Bye", and a few emails exchange, and that was it. We've never met outside of church, other than occasional bumps in Intel, and even that was very rare. So, to ask her out on a date was out of this world, but it happened! :D

I picked her up in Intel's PG9, after her training, and it was awkward at the start, cause we rarely speak to each other face to face, what more, with just the two of us alone in the car, on the way to Queensbay Mall! We decided on Wong Kok, and we placed our orders.

It was a slow start, but thank God He gave me a good topic to kick things off! What's better than to ask her for help, eh? ;) I was due to have a team building the next day, and needed to come up with a few activities for the children. With her expertise in Children Ministry, we started off from there. I asked her for a few songs, and a few crafts, and she was quick to give me one, with actions too, and she was singing with actions in the restaurant! :D Haha, soon, both of us were singing, with actions! Okay, it may seemed embarrassing thinking about it now, but it didn't feel that way back then! It was just the two of us, having fun! I also proposed to her a craft, and asked for suggestions, and together we fine tuned it to be a great one. We spent almost two hours in Wong Kok alone, and no, that was not it!

We went straight to Swenson's, sat down and enjoyed a chocolate fondue together. We chatted, and really got to know one another even more, and guess what, it lasted another two hours! I didn't know I could talk that much, and neither did she. We talked about everything under the sun, from who's who in our families, to what's what in our lives, and just random stuff that somehow got us both interested! Time seemed to fly, and it was already 10pm when they chased us off! Wow, had they opened till later, we could've stayed on!

It was a four hour first date, and I'm sure I've not spent so much time with someone else just chatting and having so much fun! It was a great start to a friendship :D And as mentioned earlier, from our first date I realised how unique she is that differentiate her from all the other girls I've gone out with before. This is just the perfect companionship. The very next day, I received an email from her, with even more suggestions on the activities that I can use for the children! Isn't she sweet?! :D

She - Our first date was unexpected. After he told me that he would take me out for a meal to say sorry earlier, he sent me a calendar invite and the next thing I know we were arranging transportation for dinner. Frankly, I did not consider that as a date at all but more of a casual dinner with a church friend and the whole situation was awkward but I knew I had to go through this night. Thank God that he brought up some topics about children songs and crafts that he needed for his teambuilding the next day so I gave him some ideas. The night went on better and we couldn’t stop talking after dinner. We continued talking in Swensons while eating chocolate fondue with ice-creams until it closed. I thanked him for dinner and told him I had a wonderful time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had such great time with someone I don’t know well and that was just unbelievable. I went home and wrote him a Thank You card for him, and suggested a few more items for his teambuilding the next day. Later that night at 12.22am I received an email from him with not-so-good news on his teambuilding =P Here goes:

_____________________________________________
From: Tham, Euwing Tatt Wah
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 12:22 AM
To: Teh, Win Nee
Subject: Just have to tell yaa!

Argh!!!

This is one of the times that I wanna talk to you face to face, but I just can’t wait to tell yaa!

I actually just got home! Don’t know if I told you this but we have two rounds of teambuilding. During the day, we work in the school, and during the night, we enjoy buffet in G Hotel! So ya, was at G Hotel, until a friend called, and I had to leave early to help. Oh well, no big deal, but for the work in the school…

Guess what… It didn’t turn out as I’ve imagined! Handling 200 kids is just too difficult a task for an amateur in KJC! Goodness, imagine 200 mostly Mandarin speaking kids talking to me, a banana who doesn’t understand Mandarin! AHH! Very difficult, very difficult…!!! Basically, the logistics was messed up, and we failed to do many things…

For the first session, we did the Arts and Craft, and we failed to even finish that! I thought we were given an hour, but apparently not! Ouch! No games, no songs :S And an imcomplete craft too! :$

For the second session, this time, with the Std 2 kids… We did a game. There were too many kids, so we didn’t do that newspaper-smacking game, but we did simple London Bridge is falling down instead, and guess what, that’s the ONLY thing we did for second session :$ It was just that time consuming, and energy draining…

Man, we survived! Woohoo! And I really want to thank you SO MUCH for all that you’ve done! The song-teaching lesson last night, the singing-in-the-restaurant session (Haha, that was funny! Thinking back, it was really embarrassing! :P), the lyrics in handwriting way nicer than mine, and the backup games! Ooo, and not to mention, that card you left on my desk too! Aww man, now you know how messy my cube is! Arghhh :P But really… very nice of you! Thanks for being there! :D

Hmm, maybe I should be spending you again for all that you’ve done! Let me know when you’ve got no date, kay? :)

Oh, as for pics, I shall share with ya when I upload ‘em!

Good night now, tataaa!

Have a Blessed Day!
Euwing Tham

And that was just the beginning of our many dates to come =)

He - It was a simple surprise, but yet, somehow, God didn't allow it on the first attempt. I wonder why... :) It was a Saturday morning, and I thought I'd leave something at her cube to surprise her so that she'll get it on Monday morning. When I reached Intel, I went in with no problems as I've got access to the Security Post of her building. When I got to the door to her building, my card failed! Argh! I got the security guards to come to me, and help me with the door, but they just wouldn't allow me to go in, since I don't have access!

Oh well! I did it a few days later, when I arrived to work early, and set up the little surprise for her. It was a simple one... I bought her a bottle of Cadbury chocolate. Took out a few, and made up a smiley, placed on her desk, and left the bottle right next to it. I thought it'd be great to come into the office, to be greeted by a smiley of chocolate, her favourite food ;)

She didn't know it was me, until I messaged her on Intel IM, and asked her if she liked it. She said she thought it was someone else! (Argh!) And also said that she had finished all of the chocolates, even those in the bottle! It was a huge bottle! A whole RM12+ worth! From that day onwards, I found out that she's one choc freak! :D

She – He is a very loving guy who has a lot of creative ideas to surprise me. I’m not exactly a romantic person, I’m not the candle light dinner kind of person but thank God he is the opposite because that way, he is always keeping our relationship alive and sweet =) The first surprise/gift from him was actually wayyyyy back then in 2007, Hershey’s chocolates from Langkawi. We were just church friends after returning from the family camp earlier so I was very surprised to receive some chocolates in a nice little bag from him when he went to Langkawi for his teambuilding. And to me, that was the first surprise/gift from him. After we started going out, the next surprise was a very simple but sweet one from him. One day as usual, I went to work and as I walked into my cubicle, I saw Cadbury chocolates arranged in a smiley face and a glass full of Cadbury chocolates! A great surprise I must say, especially for a chocolate freak like me! =D There was more surprises from him after that (there will be one entry on some of the wonderful surprises from him) and I’m so thankful for all that he has done. He is still full of surprises and I’m looking forward to discover more! *winks*

He - Ya, we weren't together back then, but I still remember Julie's comment on what I wanted to do, as she and her other half, Melvyn, helped out lots! Thank you, guys! Her comment was, "Euwing, are you like proposing?!" Heh, no, I wasn't, and in fact, like I mentioned, we weren't even together, but it was just two months after our first date, and I felt, and knew that she's the one. Being ten days away isn't too big to some, but to me, who just found the love of his life, it is HUGE! I wouldn't wanna waste this chance to tell her how important she is to me, how blessed I am to know her, and how much I want us to go on from this stage of just being friends!

So, here's what I did, ten days away, thus ten surprises, one per day! Ya, I may be away, so many kilometers away but that doesn't stop me! That shouldn't stop anyone from showing their love! Distance is no matter when it comes to the power of love! Righttt? :P The first day, it was a simple but yet something that she would not expect... Just a card on her office desk the moment she goes into the office. I wouldn't have had the time to place the card, cause my flight was very early in the morning, but thanks to her very close colleague, Jess, I was able to do so ;) The next day, I needed help from Melvyn, to have him fix a new wiper onto her car! Ya, her car wipers were bad, and to be travelling back and forth the Penang Bridge on a rainy season is no good. I took the chance to give her something practical. It was a difficult task for Melvyn, cause he had to round the Intel car park to search for her car! It's just crazy, thinking bout the amount of trouble I gave him! Thank you so much! :D On the third day, I thought by then, she would be missing me so much (KEKE, kidding!) that I would give her some CDs, to soothe her stressful work period, and to kill time when I'm not with her (HAHA, perasan!). It was all placed in a little box, and again, Jess left it on her desk the morning before she came in ;) Day 4 was a difficult one. It involved a lot of dynamics, a lot of assumptions, and thus, prayers, and also trust of strangers! What happened was, I went to GSC to buy four gift vouchers, each of which is entitled to a movie for one person. I was thinking, after a long week, she must be looking for a few friends to wind down by watching a movie. As I purchased those vouchers, I spoke to the manager, gave her a pillow and a soft toy that has a blanket, and also a card, which had my signature on it, but cut into half. I told the manager to be ready to receive another card, the other half that matches with the signature. And that when she (the manager) receives the card, she would give her, Win Nee, the pillow, and the soft toy that has a blanket. It was for use with the movie, cause I know she gets cold in the cinema real easily! Phew! That is a lot of trust on her, and the attendant at the counter! Unfortunately, Win Nee didn't collect the items as I have assumed. Instead, she was a day late, but, they still kept it for her, and gave both the pillow and soft toy as instructed! Thank God it worked out fine! On the fifth day, she wasn't gonna be in Penang, as it's a Saturday, thus there's no work! Thinking long and hard, I finally figured out who could help me... Again, it's Julie and Melvyn! :P His "hometown" is in BM, but what I asked for was that they could send it via PosLaju, but being Julie, the forgetful one, she forgot to send it on Friday (which will mean it'll reach on Saturday, cause PosLaju only takes one day), but instead, Melvyn had to drive back, and had it over to her by hand! Haha! It worked, but it was more trouble for him! Well, it was just magazines, erm, bridal ones, with a review of my brother's wedding... Hehe, apparently, her mom was shocked that she received such things from a friend, like me. Well, I thought I was just sharing an idea on how a wedding can be done. We did have a short conversation bout that previously ;) Sunday was church day. It was kinda easy, knowing that she'll be at church. I setup my car to have a Forever Friends toy, but with a cloth covering it, so that others and including herself won't see it. I asked Julie to pass her an envelope, and in it, there were my car keys. Heh, not that I wanna give her my car already, but just access to it to the Forever Friends toy ;) I left my car in the parking lot, cause it's really cheap to do that while I'm away! Just RM1, and I can park for unlimited amount of days :D When it's Monday, I would, it'd be nice to kick off the week with food, as she loves food so very much! :D And so, what I did was, I "delivered" her favourite durian donuts right after lunch! It was a pack of 12, in which 8 of 'em are durians :D Haha! She loves those lots! The following day is Day 8, it was a gift with romantic comedies :) And Day 9, food glorious food! Her favourite mango cake from Secret Recipe arrived at the Security Post! :D Last day, it is, Day 10, and it was merely a simple card, with a message. What's a bigger present than myself when I step out of the Arrival Terminal, eh? :P When I first saw her there, waiting to pick me up with the others from church, I went straight to her, and gave her a hug! I missed her so much!

It was a long ten days. I must admit that even though I'm supposed to be there ministering to the people of Nepal, my heart was back in Malaysia for her. The preparation of the ten days also coincide with the preparation of the Nepal trip, and I was a little distracted, but nonetheless, both the Nepal trip, and the surprises, gifts, and notes went really well!

Special thanks to Julie, Melvyn, and Jess for making it happen!

She - When he flew off to Nepal in October for mission trip, he did something that really touched my heart. For the 10 days that he was away, he prepared 10 notes & gifts to be passed to me by either my colleague or his friends. On the first day, after I sent him off at the airport and went back to my office I was surprised to see a card on my laptop deck. That was the 1st day. Of course, I’m not going to write the content of all the messages, cards, notes & letters received from him here throughout the 10 days becos it’s personal. ;) The next day, when I went to get my car after work to drive home, there was a little card & a new wiper on my window screen (previously I mentioned to him that my wiper is not functioning well on rainy days). =) On the 3rd day, I received a gift box with a letter inside with 4 CDs – “The Best of Olivia” & 3 “Secret Garden” CDs. He explained why he got the CDs for me, becos that week was supposed to be very hectic for me hence the songs (that are supposed to be soothing & relaxing) were to help me de-stress after work by listening to it. Day 4 – it’s a very very sweet card with his feelings inside plus 4 movie tickets for me & friends so that we could go unwind after work (as it was a Friday!) When I presented the movie tickets at the cinema counter, I received a moo moo cow which is really cute! It’s a cow hugging a piece of pink warm blanket and you can actually take the blanket out to use and the moo moo to hug as a soft toy. In the card together with the moo moo, it said that I could use the blanket & hug the moo moo in case I’m cold in the cinema. How sweet is that? *touched* On Day 5, I was wondering how was he going to give me anything at all as it’s a Saturday and I was all the way in BM. Well, I guess nothing is impossible for him… He actually got his friend to send it to my house. =S My sister went out to get the gift and guess what – there were 2 bridal magazines inside with a letter. My mom was so anxious becos she thought I was getting married so soon when I’m not even in a relationship - Silly her! Hahaha... Anyway, it’s nothing like that sorts. He just showed me pictures of some nice wedding venues and his brother’s wedding, that’s all. Managed to cool my mom down after that, haha! =P On Sunday, which is Day 6 – I got an envelope from Julie in church, his colleague & friend and also my churchmate. Inside the envelope, I found a letter and his car keys. Apparently he parked his car in church and his note requested me to go to his car to see what my gift was. Well, if only he said that the car key IS the gift instead… =P Just kidding! I went down and found his car. When I opened the car door, there was a Forever Friends bear hugging a big red heart waiting for me. It’s now sitting on top of my keyboard in my room. =) Day 7 – After lunch at work, I received a big box of Big Apple doughnuts with 8 durians and 4 other flavours inside. YUMMMYYY!! I love durian doughnuts, they are heaven! =D =D =D Well, he mentioned in his note that I should share it with others too so I distributed it to some of my colleagues. If only I could have all 12 to myself… =( blek! Hehehe… Okies, Day 8 – A gift box with a note & several DVDs inside, namely “License to Wed” (I finally found time to watch it, 8 months after that =P), “Music & Lyrics”, “CJ7”, “Meet Joe Black” and “Once”… Basically all romantic comedies which we both enjoy. The purpose of the DVDs were to entertain me in case I was bored but well, I didn’t have time to watch it all so right now I have yet to watch any except for one. Day 9 – I received a call from the security post that there was a cake waiting for me outside but they were not allowed to come in to my building, so I went out and there was one whole big Secret Recipe cake waiting for me and it was my favourite Mango Delight! =D YUMMY YUMMY! In his card, he mentioned that he was showering me with so much food becos I’m after all, a food freak! Yes, I love eating and it’s one of top hobbies. =P I distributed it to my colleagues and gave some to Michelle & MS after work as well. Thank you SO much! Last Day (Day 10) – It’s a nice & simple card that said he will be back in a couple of hours, he hoped that I could pick him up at the airport that night and in the card he dedicated Tommy Page’s “You Are My Everything” song to me. We heard this song together in the car before and he mentioned that it expresses his feelings very well in that song. And that was the 10 very special & meaningful days while he was away touching lives in Nepal. I was so touched by his gestures and needless to say, I went to pick him up at the airport that night after work – I was so glad he’s back becos we didn’t need to communicate through cards and gifts anymore although I love the surprises! =P =) Thank you, dear!

He and She - Ya, our first home, and surely, many more to come! :P It was bizarre how we came about this home. Here's the story... We were already browsing for a home, and the first unit we went to see was a unit in Gold Coast. It was on the highest level, and there're only two units at that level! It had a beautiful view of the bridge, the swimming pool, and just about all the great view that you can get in Gold Coast! What's more, it's on the highest floor, kinda like a penthouse, I thought ;) But we didn't go for it, cause ya, it did have a great environment, but the interior was terrible. The living room was dirty, with old cannot-be-used furniture. The toilets were dirty, and even the kitchens too. That means there'll be lots for us to fix. The wallpapers from all the rooms were falling off, and the carpets, which was already "built-in" were dirty. It meant we had to redo the entire place! Well, ya, Gold Coast itself is nice, but the interiors of the unit that we saw wasn't great. BUT, we went ahead and tell the agent that we'll do it despite the renovation required! :D He said, someone else has already verbally agree to it, and told us to wait. We thought, if it's God's will, it will happen. Well, it didn't, so we moved on.

One fine day, a colleague sent a forwarded email, and that was it. The photos didn't look great, but we thought we would give it a try. It was much more reasonable in terms of price as compared to the Gold Coast one, and it was of the same size but the price wasn't the main factor. When we stepped into the place, we just fell in love with it! Somehow, it gave us the peace, and not much headache on redoing the place, cause really, we know we don't have to do much. That was also one of the main reasons why we got this place, because it was already furnished and who knows, we might not even stay there for long (the future is unpredictable, we might even move back to KL after some time!) so a simple home will do for now. Anyway, all was clean, and Euwing was able to move in with just his bags! In fact the owners are Christians and it was really God's will, cause guess what, they were selling the place because the guy needed to go to KL to work for two years, and they were moving to Euwing's place in KL, Taman Desa! Wow! We knew it meant something! At this very moment, they are friends with Euwing's mom! :D

Oh, because we were inexperience with the purchasing of a property, we needed advice, so we consulted Pastor Eddie, and Pastor Mei, and even invited Pastor Eddie up to the place to check it out. Heh, he even said, "Euwing, if you don't want it, I'll take it!" :P Haha! No thanks, Pastor Eddie. Me first! :P But really thankful for him, and Pastor Mei for helping us with it.

In the end, we bought the place, and refurnished it (despite not requiring to, but we wanted to, cause we just love doing it)! Win Nee was the main interior designer, and she did a fabulous job! :D We opened the house for the first time on her birthday on Oct 23rd 2009 for our family, the A2J :D