Our Newborn Baby - Tasia

My article before (The Life That I'm Living For) re. my pregnancy was interesting. I went to have ultrasound & the lady said that the baby was in transverse position. When I went to have my womb checked at doctor's place, the baby was head down.

So he asked me to have a wait for another 1 week & he would examine me whether or not I had to do C-section.

I still wanted the baby to be born naturally, because I knew after C-section I had to bear stitches pain, couldn't go for exercise for at least 6 weeks, couldn't do chores, etc.

So my husband & I prayed together hoping that natural delivery would be possible.

One week later we went back to the doctor & he examined me. Well...I had to have C-section because the baby's head was to high from my pelvic. The doctor chose a date (29 June) at 8am to do the operation.

I was disappointed because it didn't turn out as I hoped. But I still believed that God had a plan behind the scene.

So the baby was born on Monday, 29 June 2009. His name is Austin Yoel Duchesne. His weight was 3.7 kg (huge bub), length was 52 cm & head circumference was 38 cm. No wonder I couldn't deliver him naturally...his head was too big to go down! Normal size is 35 cm.

3 weeks after delivery, my family came over for the baby. And eventhough they drove me nuts, the positive side was that I didn't have to do chores. The first 3 weeks my mum (who came earlier) did the chores & I rested a lot. Thank God for mother. I couldn't imagine how it would be had I have to do everything myself. I could be depressed :)

God was good & He is always good. All the time...

Faith That Condemns The World - Tasia

Today I read from Genesis 6-7, the story of Noah.

God commanded him to build an ark in preparation to the great flood that God would send to the earth due to human's sins that was so great.
God only saved Noah & his family (wife, 3 sons & sons' wives) because Noah walked with God. In Genesis 6 v 9 it says:

"...Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God."

"Just" here means Noah's actions toward other men & "perfect" here means sound, wholesome, having integrity (the Hebrew word is tamim, this word was used to describe the perfection of sacrificial animals). So Noah was actually a balanced man. He got great relationship with God as well as men.

During Noah's ark-construction period, I can imagine how other people would look at him & considered him insane. I read before that it took him about 100 years to construct the ark (The Bible doesn't mention how long).

At that time, everything seemed fine. People had marriages, parties, bought & sold items...so normal, until the day that God sent rain from heaven. These sinful people were overtaken. They could run to nowhere. Rain poured down for 40 days & 40 nights. They died in their sins.

I pondered for a while when thinking of Noah's faith. It took faith for him to believe what God told him His plan to destroy the earth. But because Noah walked with God, he knew God & thus he trusted Him. He obeyed the Lord by his action eventhough he hadn't seen that great flood yet.

I learnt some points about this:

1. It is easier to believe/obey God when my physical eyes see things. It is harder to obey when I don't see things. That's true, isn't that? Because we get used to see things that are seen than unseen.
   That's why it takes faith because there is a reward behind it.
2. Our relationship with God makes us know Him. Our experience of walking with Him enables us to trust Him.
   

The Life That I'm Living For - Tasia

Continued from Walking in the Supernatural

After we attended that meeting, just in a week, some issues come to us.

1. We have a tall tree in front of our house & according to the property map it belongs to us. We receive a 30-days notice from Western Power ordering us to trim that tree 2 meters away from the power cables. Otherwise they would use someone's service to trim & we would be invoiced for that.
   
2. A few weeks before our neighbours complained about another big gum tree at our backyard. The branches fell on their gardens especially during the storm & they had to clean the big heaps of broken branches. Even it happened before that one of our neighbour's fence got broken due to that tree.
3. We went to a doctor for my pregnancy check up (I was in week 37). He told us to go for another ultrasound because something abnormal happened. [For now I won't share what happened, keep this for great testimony later :)]

Well..the trees sure involve few hundreds of money. We just pray, believe and confess God's words. At the moment we only have one income & I stay home.

These issues came to us, we believe, so that God can stretch our faith. We've been asking for more of Him, passion! Yes, God responds in His way. We have to go to a higher level.

Anyway...this morning in my quiet time with the Lord, I just sat down in the lounge. Suddenly the Holy Spirit reminded me of life in Christ.

I was reminded from Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, & the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me & gave Himself for me."

It talks about one of the characters of the bride of Christ, ie, to follow Him wherever He goes.

Many times we put God just in ONE or SEVERAL aspects of life. We give Him some spaces only where He isn't involved in our life too much. We give Him just a little bit, we never really surrender ALL! That's why we miss Him. We can't be a true follower of Christ. If our life belongs to Christ, we shouldn't confuse ourselves with worldly matters. Worrying about things...

Christ demands us to love Him more than our own life. Then only He can live in us fully.

If only Christians grab this meaning of die to oneself, I believe that many people will see Jesus clearly.

Walking in the Supernatural - Tasia

This week God wants to take us to a new level of spirituality. We went to a Christian Prophetic Meeting last week. The preacher came from Canada (Bruce Allan). His main sermon was about walking in the supernatural.

We live in the last days & the passion of Jesus drives us to be a spirit-filled Christian. There's no other way to be a spirit-filled Christian if we want to experience the fullness of Christ.

In his sermon, he mentioned many examples of how many believers experience that fullness. There was an African guy with no money & passport commanded to fly to France to spread the Gospel. This guy was a friend of Bruce's friend. He just packed his luggage, went to the airport & God asked him to go to the gents. God asked him to worship inside one of the gents' room & when he finished worshiping he opened the door. Guess what?...He was in France!

And another testimony was a new believer spent his time daily in his room chatting with God as friend to friend. He just shared with Him what happened on that day, his hobbies, etc. After one year passed by, one day, he heard a noise from outside. He heard the noise of footsteps . Someone opened his room's door, closed it & it was Jesus came to his room.

Jesus told him how pleased he was because this man's heart was so passionate about Him. And Jesus said that from now on he will always see Jesus.

His sermon really impacted me & hubby to seek Jesus more. We have been lukewarm...church is just another religious routine...and it makes us dead spiritually. We need to be matured as His coming is closer.

Bruce also mentioned that not every Christian is the bride of Jesus. There are characters that Jesus looks in that. They are taken from Genesis 24 (a bride for Isaac).

1. v 4 "but you shall go to my country & to my family; & take a wife for my son Isaac."
v 6"...Beware that you do not take my son back there."

The bride of Jesus is willing to follow the leading of the Spirit. She doesn't do things according to her will.

2. v 18 "So she said, "Drink my lord." Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink."

The bride of Jesus draws living water daily, ie meditate on God's word.

3. v 19 "...I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."
v 20 " Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels."

The bride of Jesus has a servant's heart & quick to respond.

Camels can drink gallons of water, yet Rebekah drew waters until they were all satisfied.

4. v 22 "So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring..."

Nose speaks about discernment. The bride of Christ has purity in discernment.

As Christians, we have the idea that once we receive Jesus as saviour we automatically become His bride. We don't spend time with Him. We know that salvation is free, it's God's grace. But we miss out that we have portion to do. We have to work out our salvation (Phillipians 2:12). Every Christian has to weave one's own wedding garment.

So we asked that we would be more passionate about Jesus.

Continued to The Life That I'm Living For....

Mary vs Martha - Tasia

Arrrghh!!!!Busy! Busy! Busy! Running here & there (eventhough only in the house). Cleaning things, baking, calling people, buzzing around & never stopping! What happens? What triggers me to do those activities? They never finish anyway. The more I keep on doing things & follow what my mind asks me to do make me stressed & can't concentrate well. Can't even think with cool head!

Then this comes to me in the midst of my stress : Mary & Martha (Luke 10: 38-42).

" Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said,"Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus answered and said to her, " Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.""

Mary chose to sit down at Jesus' feet & listen to Him. Martha chose to run around. We can choose whether to be silent or be busy. God will not take that away from us. We are given a will. He won't enforce His will upon us.

God is indeed very good. Without His reminder, I would lost in my own panic world. It causes me madness & restlessness.

Actually I'm in the middle of processing marketing tools for my home business (House of Royal Velvet). I'm doing some designs for business card & flyers with my cousin in law in Jakarta. It's a long-distance communication & she hasn't done things fast enough that these things have been dragged too long. They occupy my mind day & night. I feel so consumed with them that even when I woke up in the middle of night they come to my mind.

My mum suggests me to cancel the flyer & leave it with her instead. She will take care so that everything will finish before she flies to visit me. I have to decide very soon & at then end I trust my mum more than my cousin.

Somehow God gives me wisdom to speak to my cousin via email in the way that will not dissapoint or offend her. I feel so much better, so much peaceful after making up my mind.

I learn something more powerful & important from this. That to make a decision, I have to be cool-headed. If I'm like a worm, I would not make the best decision. That affects my emotion & my mouth will then speak careless words. I need to sit down & be silent just for a couple of minutes. That surely helps me a lot.

No wonder Jesus said to Martha that Mary had chosen a good part, which would not be taken away from her.

It pleases Him to listen rather than do your own things without His guidance. Because when we listen & are still, we will absorb more understanding what He wants us to do.

I repent & ask Holy Spirit to teach me more in this area. You make me a more godly person in Jesus.

Watchout When You're On the Top -Tasia

Today I read about Aris, an Indonesian Idol no. 5. He used to busk in the train station between Jakarta - Bogor. Not many people knew him, for that was a lowly job.

Somehow he participated in the Indonesian Idol, that eliminated thousands of wanna-be stars. He ended up being the star!

His life changes dramatically. He lives in an expensive apartment, his name is printed on the media, he has glamorous appearance like other singers, now everyone knows him. He is on the top of the world!

Yet in the middle of his fame, his wife notices something. Aris has changed. According to her (Fani is her name), he has an affair with another woman. He rarely comes home to see her & his son. Fani has some proofs that he does an affair. Everytime she asks him who that woman is, he would say:"She is none, just a uni student."

So Fani decided to divorce him for that. She has to work now to cope the family's needs.

I draw a lesson from this life's story.

Many people want to be on the top instantly. High position, lots of money, wealthy life, famous, and the list goes on. But to reach that stage, do they know how much the costs that consume them?

For example, a fish seller (a lowly job) dreams to be a president. He thinks it's a piece of cake to govern a country. He thinks it would change his life & luck. But the question is, does he have that mentality that will make him a president? Does he have that character that will sustain him when he's on top?

If your mentality is a fish seller mentality, no matter how high God takes you, you will still end up as a fish seller. You will think like one, speak like one & act like one.

That's why with Jesus we will go through a process. He wants to prepare us to a higher place, so that when we reach that place, we will not slip away easily. He moulds our characters & mentality.

The moral of the story is:

Don't desire to reach the top instantly without being prepared in your characters.

On Mark's Exam Day - Tasia

Yesterday 4 May 2009, Mark had to sit for his CPA exam. He had to be in the Perth Convention Centre by 9 am. We woke up earlier & I helped him with the breakfast & coffee to make his day.

I also told him that I would like to go with him while he's doing his exam. I could go to the city & find my own way to spend the time there.

We left the house at 8 am & traffic wasn't that bad. Somehow we missed the place about 8.40 am, which meant we had to make a u-turn to get to Convention Centre (CC). Mark's heart pumped harder..

Thank God, the moment we made u-turn, we were directed to the right lane & reached CC at 8.50! Phew! We didn't want to arrive there on 9 am, because Mark had to walk to CC from the parking spot.

I ended up getting the car & driving it to the city & parked there. The parking spot that we stopped was a 1-hour parking ticket.

Well..eventhough I have my driving license, it was really my first time driving car alone in the city & I wasn't confident about the streets. We had TomTom in the car that could help me with the directions. Anyway, I had no problem parking in the city. So I just strolled around in Myer, Borders & bought a scoop of ice cream. I used a buy-one-free-one voucher, so I got 2 scoops of ice cream.

The seller was kind. He gave me another voucher for next time! Well..that was a blessing.

After almost 3 hours less 5 minutes :) I got back to the carpark & decided to drive all the back to the CC (it was for 1. Less money parking & 2. Mark didn't have to walk all the way to the city to see me). Now I got confused how to get back to this morning's parking spot. I used Tomtom to direct me & somehow in St George's St it asked me to make a U-turn. But the street didn't allow me to make a U-turn.

I just prayed & decided to make a right-turn & it brought me at the end to Mt Bay's Road, which the parking spot lied! Phew! Praise God He directed my path.

I parked there & noticed that I still had to pay for that 1 hour parking. I just popped out from the car to the ticket machine & one officer asked me where the parking ticket was. I told him that I just came. So he walked off.

I realised that the ticket machine was out of order. Well..I had to walk to another ticket machine then. That officer saw me again & he was so nice. Looking at me having a big bump, he asked me :"Are you checking for your bub?" I told him that the ticket machine was broken & he just asked me to hang on & printed something from a tool in his hand.

It says there : "FDR TRIED TO PAY FOR HOUR CREDIT CARD."

He told me that he didn't want me go to to far just to pay for the parking. He didn't even ask me to pay him..I was so happy, so blessed, though just for $2.7 parking ticket. I just thanked him & waited for Mark in the car. That was good, it was a small thing but I saw God's favour.

God is interesting. Many times we miss to see those small things in life. He works & brings joy even in a simple way. Thank you Jesus. You're amazing.

ATTITUDE OF GIVING - Tasia

A couple invited us for their wedding. We couldn't attend because it was overseas and we didn't intend to go there specifically for the wedding.

I prayed, "eventhough we don't attend, should we give some "hongbao" (money in Red envelope)?"

I felt in my heart to give. So I communicated with Mark & he agreed.

We gave...

As a sign of courtesy, which is also part of the culture, when someone gives hongbao for a wedding, he/she will get a token of acknowledgment, normally in the form of souvenir/bomboniere. So, eventhough he/she can't attend but gives hongbao, he/she will at least get that acknowledgment.

1 month had passed...I wondered, where that souvenir was. Could it be that they forgot the gift? Or the person that passed the hongbao forgot to get us the souvenir?

Almost 2 months had passed...I thought "It's so annoying...even if there's no souvenir...not even a word "thank you" ever mentioned whenever I met that couple."

It bugged me...it wasn't the souvenir that I expected, but the acknowledgment. I was so curious. What had happened?? Mark also felt the same. I cross-checked with another couple that gave too. The same story went with them.


That morning, God spoke to me. His voice was so tender yet strong. He asked me "Do you want to learn something from this?" Then he opened a simple truth yet it impressed my heart.

When you give, don't expect a reward back. Just like the love of Jesus (Agape: love that doesn't expect something in return). He gave his life for men's sins yet people don't even realise or reject him. He reminded me of this verse.

Matthew 6: 2-4

"(2) So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. (3) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Well..not that because that couple was needy. But the point was God would reward us for our giving. It was even better in this case because it seemed that they didn't even realise that we gave.

So now I learn that when we give, we should let it go. Don't even get offended if the person doesn't say thank you to us.

REAL WEDDING DAY

PHEWWW...THAT BIG DAY IS HERE! Mark's family came all the way from Bunbury, Aussie, for this BIG DAY!

18th August 2007...How can we forget that day. The day God united us in Holy Matrimony.

We are now LEGAL husband & wife!!!

Pastor Hengky led the service and he brought message pertaining one verse that we received before. We even wrote that on our Wedding Cards. We didn't know him, neither did he. God again confirmed it through his word.

PSALM 127:1a

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;

The ceremony is over now...it's PARTY TIME now...!

This was how the decoration looked like. We had an indoor wedding with about 500 guests. Our wedding theme was Ocean, that was why we picked aqua colour more dominant than others. It was a standing party, which means no seats for the guests. The hall was decorated by Lucky Decoration. Lucky's work was very neat & professional.

Now, it's time for the Bride & the Bridegroom to enter the hall...

We decided to sing when entering the hall. Our Wedding Song was

When I Fall In Love

(Mark sang & walked from a gate)
When I fall in love it will be forever
Or I'll never fall in love
In a restless world like this is
Love is ended before its begun
And too many moonlight kisses
Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun

(Tasia sang & walked from another gate)
When I give my heart it will be completely
Or Ill never give my heart
And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too
Is when I fall in love with you.

Mark was very nervous, Tasia was too. Our voice trembled. To make it more worse, Mark's microphone was switched off when he started singing :D That might be a one & last-time-life experience for him to sing in front of the multitudes. Tasia could feel his hands very shaky when we met in the middle of the hall to walk together. Thank God that song finished...now we would have fun time with "fish"...???



There you go...pouring fish on our wedding party! So unusual huh? Actually it was just a symbolic act signifying that two becomes one. It was Tasia's cousin's idea. Unique, though.

Now...this is how the Indonesians celebrate their wedding. Well...today more & more couples choose simpler Wedding Cake. Ours wasn't that complicated, though. It was about 1.2 metre tall. Tasia's friend, Nathan, designed this cake specially. He did a great job, didn't he?


After we cut the cake, as usual, the next thing was to share the cake. The Master of Ceremony liked this part, she could make us embarrassed before the guests.

She said to Tasia: "After I say 3...you have to share the piece of cake in your mouth with Mark."

Ok, she counted now. "one...two...thr.....thre....three....."
Arghh...please be quick...















Nothing much after that..the guests were enjoying the food...we had group & family pictures. Party was almost over.

Mark's family (left to right): Mum, Luke, Mark & Tasia, Lauren, Arnya, Shaun


Tasia's family (left to right): Samuel, Mum, Mark & Tasia, Dad, Naomi

Finally..party was over. Good bye to you all...

Our real journey started...real marriage, real characters shown up, no more hiding..no more facade.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;"

WEDDING DAY PREPARATION

Continued from Our History...

After that engagement day, we set a Wedding Date. It was 18th August 2007. Just one day after Indonesian Independence Day.

Since Mark was in Aussie, Tasia had to prepare most of the things...the Wedding Hall, Food, Church, Bridesmaids, Tuxedo, Wedding Dress, Make Up, Wedding Cards, Souvenirs, and the list went on...

It was fun, though, getting ready to be a one-day Queen. In fact, it was better for Tasia to arrange most of the preparation herself (with the help of parents & some acquaintances, off course). Less trouble, less quarrel (like other couples experienced) and both of us were satisfied.


We knew someone by the name of Meri. She was a Wedding Organiser. Thus, she knew many vendors that we could use for our wedding. She was Tasia's cousin's good friend & she was so helpful. Through her, we actually got better deals for our wedding. Thank you sister. Your help was really appreciated.

OUR HISTORY

Our journey started in July 2003. At that time, Mark was in Perth, Australia , & Tasia was in Beijing, China, studying Mandarin.

The journey began through a website called Friendster.

Tasia was about to go back for good to Indonesia & thought of working in Jakarta. It wasn't intended to see Mark as future partner, just a friend (since he wrote on his profile "Jakarta" as his location).

We started to email each other until Tasia arrived in Semarang, her hometown. The relationship continued, as we found it was enjoyable to communicate eventhough we were thousand miles apart. From emailing, we exchanged personal mobile numbers. From mobile numbers, we started to send SMS. From sending SMS, Mark started to call Tasia.

It was beautiful of how God met us through this way. The relationship continued for 3 years until we got married at the end. Every 6 months Mark would make a visit to Indonesia to see Tasia.

It wasn't easy to go though those 3 years. We missed each other so much yet couldn't hold or see each other (apart from when Mark visited Tasia). We could only communicate via telephone, internet, letters & mobile. On top of that, we did quarrel a few times especially in the area of finance. We had different view of how to handle money. It was challenging to be in the long-distance relationship. Many people would be skeptical even Tasia's own father.

But God was indeed faithful. For many times His words again and again confirmed our relationship. Our relationship wasn't based on feeling/emotion. It was a supernatural experience. Beyond our emotion, our thoughts, our plans...

PSALMS 127:1a

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;

This was one of the verses we received during that period. Time of waiting...time of preparation...time to be still...

To cut the story short, on January 2007, Mark and Tasia engaged. Ps Agus Gunawan from Bethany, Perth, became Mark's representative (since it wasn't in Western culture to ask for someone's daughter for marriage). Mark gave Tasia a beautiful cross necklace as a token of engagement.


We had a simple celebration. We had a dinner in a Chinese Restaurant called "Pringgading Restaurant" in Tasia's hometown in Semarang. It was attended by family and close relatives.

And the journey continued....