" If someone wants to be a part of your life. They'll make an effort to be a part of it. "

Celesto Journey & another blessing....

Beberapa hari yang lalu, tepatnya tanggal 25 May 2010, jam 10:24 AM, akhirnya lahir juga putra dari my partner in crime, Claudia Harvienda & Yoses Adrianto.

Dinamakan Celesto Journey, yang secara tidak langsung mengingatkan kami 'om&tante', dengan telenovela jaman dahulu, macam Maria Mercedes-Marimar-dll.

Lahir dengan proses CS. Panjang: 50cm Berat: 3630 gr Planningnya maunya normal, namun setelah 40 minggu menunggu, dan ternyata posisi baby CJ belum di posisi yang benar, maka diputuskan utk dilakukan CS.

Anw busway, baby CJ lahir dengan sehat - kuat - lincah. Congrats to my beloved best friend: Doetz-Oteph. I'm so happy.... very very happy. Akhirnya dapat keponakan yang punya mata belo - rambut kriwel. ;p

Thn ini dapat 1 keponakan dari teman baikku & tahun depan, bakal dapat 1 or maybe 2 keponakan lagi dari my sis. =) YAY!

Yeapp... pengobatan yang dilakukan sm my sis & bro in law di KL, memberikan hasil positif. She's pregnant!!! Hohohoho... God is good. =)

Next year gonna be a great year for me and also my big family.

Curhat 1

Ngga berasa sebentar lagi uda mau bulan Juli. Hohohoho yeapp.. setelah menunggu selama satu tahun, akhirnya saat yang ditunggu - tunggu sudah hampir tiba.

Masih ngga kebayang sih, bakalan gimana nanti kalo pas ketemu sama Andi. =) Pastinya rasa deg-degan & grogi mendominasi. Maklum dong ah.. Kan satu tahun ini, ketemu-nya cuma lewat skype. Jadi yaa wajar kalii.. ;p

Sempet beberapa kali becandaan bareng Andi, jangan sampe nanti pas ketemuan, ujung2-nya kita salaman sambil nanya apa kabar. Gara2 salting ngga jelas dan grogi. *knock knock on the wood deh..* ---> mudah2an engga ya sayang.. hehehe

Takut, Deg-degan, Grogi, tiap kali ngebayangin suasana ketemuan nanti.

Disisi lain, ngga bisa ngebayangin juga, gimana rasanya harus nganterin Andi ke airport pas bulan Agustus nanti. =(

Mungkin waktu hari itu tiba, aku bakalan nangis bombay. Huhuhuhu... maklum deh.. Secara pacaran long distance. Ketemuannya cuma beberapa bulan sekali. Pastinya pas harus pisah lagi, bakalan sedih banget.

Apalagi kemungkinan kita baru bisa ketemu lagi itu, tahun depan. Itu pun kalo Andi di awal tahun dapat cuti. Kalo ngga dapat, yaaa ujung2-nya, baru bisa ketemu beberapa minggu sebelum kita married.

Anw, diluar cerita2 pertemuan & farewell. I'm totally sure, kalo bulan Juli - Agustus nanti bakalan jadi bulan yang paling menarik & berkesan, buat aku khususnya di tahun 2010 ini.

Kenapa menarik & berkesan?? Hehehe

Soalnya selain kita berdua bisa ketemu pas bulan Juli. Kita juga ngerencanain buat foto pre-wedding pas aku di OZ. Hehehehe emang agak kecepetan sih..

Tapi mengingat waktu ketemuan kita yang cukup sulit, jadi yaaaa... sekalian aja deh..

Konsepnya sendiri belum semuanya dapat. Belum fixed sih lebih tepatnya. Mudah2an aja bulan Juni nanti uda bisa dapat fixed concept, sebelum brangkat ke SYD. Jadi bisa ngelakuin preparation u/ kostum2nya & property-nya.

Selain foto pre wedding, aku bakalan kenalan sama keluarga-nya Andi. And also kita bakalan holiday bareng. YAY! ;p

Uda gitu sekalian, aku coba liat2 gimana sih, pola hidup & rutinitas kehidupan di SYD. Biar paling engga ada gambaran dan preparation sebelum aku bener2 pindah ke SYD.

Untuk Agustus sendiri, juga bakalan jadi bulan yang berkesan. Karena di bulan itu, Andi bakalan ketemu & kenalan langsung sama my parents.

Sekalian minta ijin sama my parents untuk bisa menikah sama anak bontotnya ini.

(Dan abis itu status-nya kita, jadi engaged ya sayang??! ;p)

Anw, lamarannya juga mungkin ngga akan seperti lamaran orang2 Indo lain. It's gonna be simple dan ngga formal banget. Karena emang ngga akan melibatkan orang banyak. =)

Nahh.. abis pertemuan resmi itu, baru deh kita berdua bisa mulai bergerak untuk preparation wedding day.

Survey tempat langsung ke Bali (sekalian foto pre wedding lagi ya sayangg... ;p). Trus ikut pre-marital counseling di JPCC. Trus siap2in surat - surat untuk pendaftaran pemberkatan. Andi juga musti ikut baptism class (thank u sayang. ). Wuahhh pokoknya many good things bakalan terjadi di bulan Agustus ini. And i'm soo excited..... (emang ya kalo soal married, pasti cewe yang lebih excited dari pada cowo-nya ;p )

Hehehe pokoknya uda ngga sabar nunggu bulan Juli & Agustus.

We gonna spend time together 'quality time'. And also with our big families and besties.

Ahhh.... can't hardly wait.. counting counting counting.... *wink

Sedalamnya hati ku

Sedalamnya hatiku, Kau pun tau

Dan kasih Mu tak jauh dalam jiwa ku

Didalam kesesakan, didalam kemenangan

Ku tau Engkau s'lalu bersama ku

Hanya Kau tempat ku berlindung

Hanya Engkau Gunung ku dan kekuatan ku

Ijinkanlah ku datang menyembah

Membawa syukur ku

Sedalamnya hatiku, Kau pun tau

Dan Kasih Mu tak jauh dalam jiwa ku

Di dalam kesesakan, di dalam kemenangan

Ku tau Engkau s'lalu bersama ku

by. Sidney Mohede

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of my favorite song.

Di buat & di nyanyiin sama my youth Pastor, Sidney Mohede. http://sidneymohede.tumblr.com/

One of the most talented - funky male singer and worship leader in Indonesia

The Essence of relationship is 'respect'.

If there's no respect, that is not relationship at all

~ Mara Badudu ~

"Listening can be a very powerful form of
influence"

RANDOM THINGS, FACTS, HABITS, OR GOALS ABOUT NATZ.

Random things, Facts, Habits, or Goals about me, Natz :

1. Paling hobi gigit2 kuku.
2. Punya cita-cita pengen jadi PASTRY CHEF terkenal. Trus punya cake shop - bakery terkenal di Indo.
3. Lagi belajar u/ bisa makan Sayuran dan temannya si buah-buahan.
4. For me family is very IMPORTANT. Can't life without them.
5. I love charity. For me, BERBAGI dengan orang yang memerlukan, membawa kepuasan sendiri.
6. PHOBIA sama RUANGAN yang gelap, sesak, dan RAMAI.
7. I LOVE DOGS. Specially my buddies, Boogie & Casper.
8. Don't know why, tapi dari kecil gue suka sekali sama angka 8.
9. Once i’ve set my mind on something, it's difficult to persuade me. Otherwise, i do not like to leave anything to chance. PLANNING means SAFETY for me, as well as order and dicipline.
10. Takut banget sama kucing. Lebih tepatnya: I HATE CATS. Dan juga semua binatang melata, berdarah dingin. @_@



11. Paling NGGA suka ketemu sama orang yang SOK. (Sok Tau, Sok Kenal, Sok Akrab, Sok Pintar, Sok kaya, Sok rohani, ETC.)
12. Suka bangetttt sama HUJAN!!! (DANCING IN THE RAIN.. )
13. Berusaha untuk hidup sehat, dengan cara minum air putih minimal 10 gelas / hari.
14. Bisa baca buku dan nonton DVD seharian, tanpa makan & mandi. :P
15. I always show my feelings openly.
16. ADDICTED sama yang namanya FRENCH MENICURE-PEDICURE.
17. I LOVE TATTOO.. Punya tattoo dan berniat untuk menambah lagi, soon setelah married. :)
18. Traditional values is very important for me.
19. Ngga begitu suka sama minuman ber-alkohol, tapi bisa minum ngga mabok2.
20. I'm reliable and well organized.



21. I LOVE BALI....!!!
22. I prefer to prove my feelings by actions and quality time.
23. I cannot stand discord; conflicts make me very unhappy. I'm a harmony addicted.
24. Ngga pernah berasa kalo diri sendiri itu, soft - feminim. Eventhou banyak yang bilang " loe feminim iihhh..."
25. Paling suka pake shortpants. Gue punya 1/2 lusin shortpants. ;p
26. Addicted sama 1 fashion label, yang berhuruf depan Z, dan terdiri dari 4 huruf.
27. Sebelum tidur, paling suka nyemprotin badan pake parfum.
28. Ngga bisa lepas dari yang namanya GULING. -__-' *entah bagaimana nanti di syd?!
29. Suka travelling dan wisata kuliner.
30. Hobi masak. Tapi kalo uda masak, biasanya ngga mau makan. :( *eneg*
31. Suka sekali main air dan berenang... :)
32. Paling ngga bisa nonton film action - pembunuhan - setan, yang ada bisa lari-lari di tempat, kuku habis digigitin, ngga nonton film-nya malah dengerin ipod.
34. .... next...
35. bingung mau tulis apa lagi... ;p

Hehehehe itu sebagian besar facts about me. Ngga penting!!! Biarin aja, emang gue pikirin, ini blog punya gue ini. ;p
wakwakwakwak

Waiting for a wife

Found this article and found it interesting. Let's share.

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Waiting for a Wife


Genesis 6:1-3, Ezra 10-11

Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life ... (Ecclesiastes 9.9)

The Biblical Perspective of Finding a Spouse.
There is no doubt that waiting on God for the right wife is crucial to living a godly and good life.
There are many women out there. Many are attractive. A good many are talented. Some are rich. These traits are trivial to our most basic question.
Will we wait for God's woman for us? We will see in our following discussion that once discretion is lost in choosing marriage partners, then the whole society quickly deteriorates.
Whenever the selection process of spouses is minimized, then the society reaps the consequences.
It heads full steam into a world of sensuality.

One Crucial Question
Several scriptures highlight the problems that occur when a man recklessly chooses a woman as a wife. When a man is quick in making a decision after his desires, then he shows that his understanding of marriage is shallow.
He is not thinking of preserving or establishing some heritage but fulfilling his desires.
The godly man must wait upon God for the wife God has for him.
The opposite of this occurred in two different passages that we will now look at.
Let us first look at Genesis 6.

The Selection Process (Genesis 6:1-3) Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:1-3, NASB).


Their decisions for choosing their wives were faulty for several reasons.

* When the eye focuses on beauty.
The sons of God were markedly different than the sons of man.
Up to this point there was a special distinction between the men who sought after God and the ones who had forgotten God.
They were known more by their commitment to God than their father.
This tension to preserve our godliness is the very same tension we face in our secular world today. These men should have paid more attention to their heritage and preserved their distinct vision. Without a vision of godliness, they got lost in other things which they saw.

* These God men "saw that the daughters of men were beautiful.".
They were not careful enough to govern what they saw.
Some might think this is unstoppable but it isn't.
If we are going along fine and then just start gazing at the women that cross our paths, whether in a magazine or on the street, we are in extreme danger.
We will start comparing them and being subtly enticed by these women.
The only way that we are ale to compare is to notice their different parts and gauge what pleases our eyes.
Once we notice their beauty, we deliberate on it, and our minds are influenced.
This is the reason we can not look at any pornography or any programs that entice us to pay attention to women's physical features.
Remember that these women are paid a lot of money because they do entice!


Once beauty became their focal point, then this is what their decisions of life were made upon.
They lost the ability to reason and reflect
The flesh seized control, and they never got it back
They lost it all.


* "They took wives for themselves."
Let us assume here that each man just took one wife, but I doubt it.
Notice here once beauty became their focal point,
then this is what their decisions of life were made upon.
They lost the ability to reason and reflect.
The flesh seized control, and they never got it back.
By the way, we are not saying that a beautiful wife is bad! Sarah was beautiful.
The issue is that beauty controlled them.
The way she talked, looked, walked, simply enticed his attention.
Reason and God's guidance took a far second place to the woman's beauty.
Women became too compelling for him to think otherwise.




* They became indiscriminate in their choices.
"Whom ever they choose."

This is a clear statement that the men of God took wives that did not share similar perspectives.
Genesis goes on describing the headlong fall of the society after this point.
Not much dirt is needed to make the clean dirty.
This is true with holiness too.
It stands as the highest priority to train our sons and daughters to spiritually judge things rather than physically or emotionally 'feel' things.


* The LORD responded to this right away.
He did not have to wait for a generation to prove His thesis.
Once the godly seed is lost among the ungodly, then there is no godly seed left.
God had no choice but to shorten life expectancy in order to preserve man,
otherwise the ungodliness would soon destroy the world.

A godly person must marry a godly person.

Balaam's big payload came about because of insight into this very principle.
Godliness must be protected. A church must carry on discipline.
A family must have rules. A government must have laws to preserve itself.
If what distinguishes God's people is lost even for just one generation, then it is gone.

Intermingling Unto Death (Ezra 9-10)
Ezra's response in chapters 9-10 all too clearly confirms the absolute finality of deadly compromise. There is no way to get it back. Once the seed of godliness is lost, it cannot be recovered. Whatever has been lost must be judged. Ezra heard it like this.

Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying,
"The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. "For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness." (Ezra 9:1-2).


All of God's marvelous works of bringing His people back into the land was going to be made irrelevant if the people started to intermarry the people in the land.
The leaders were accelerating this process by setting the terrible example. In 10:1 they said it might not be too late if they actually put these ungodly wives away along with their children.
There was no "Let's convert them" campaign.
Worship is influenced by heart love.
They could not just say, "No more." They would all perish within a generation if they did not cut off this intermingling. Fortunately, they followed through with this.

The scriptures say a lot about who we marry. It is not a trivial matter.
Below are some other suggestions in finding the right wife.
What kind of wife am I looking for?

A man must think concretely, "Is this the woman I want to sacrificially devote myself to all my life?"
He should not marry a woman unless he is willing to bind himself to her.
Once married,
then he must remain dedicated to loving her no matter how bad she is.

Here is a list to help us avoid getting married to the wrong woman.
The right phrase amplifies the thought on the left.

# Only marry a woman if your parents approve.
# Parents' decision is scriptural dictate.
# Learn to love the qualities that God loves.
# You will choose what you like.
# Get out of any pornography and lust.
# Porno makes the physical compelling.
# Stop watching the standard movies and programs.
# Need to stop being trained by the wrong thing.
# Pray regularly for God's provision.
# God's pick is more important than your own.
# Pay attention to character quality rather than beauty.
# Her character shapes the quality of relationship.
# Observe the way she responds (attitude) to her parents, especially her father.
# Her relationship with her parents reflects how she will respond to her husband.
# Grow in your own character so she will like you!
# Are you what this woman deserves and likes?!

We tend to go in the direction that we like.
We will choose what we deep down are looking for.
Unless we have changed our values to match with the Lord's,
then we will be going after things that the Lord is not pleased with.

Just think.
If your mind wanders from woman to woman now,
do you really think you are looking for a woman who is trained by God? No.
The one that entices you will hold your attention.
Use any pre-marriage time left to train yourself in self-control,
obedience to parents and devotedness to serving others.



A Quick Word to Single Women

When the husband is committed to his wife with constant love, then she has no fear of abandonment. She grows from her anticipation in what next step of love the husband will show.
The woman that is seeking a husband needs to think quite carefully about the man that she will in the future train herself to respond to.
She should ask,
"How mature is he? How much does he care about God's ways? Does he lead a spiritual life? Does he respect his parents? Do I like his leadership?"


In Summary

We need to do everything to instill a great vision for passing on godliness to our children.
Our sons must be trained in areas of self-control or they will not have control over lust.
Otherwise they will fall in with the world.
Positively, when a godly man and woman are matched up,
it becomes a beautiful place where more godly people will come from.
Our eyes must be shielded from all the 'beautiful' women around us.
They are made to entice us to look at women through the 'fleshly' eye.
We are all susceptible. We all must be careful.
By God's grace we will stand strong and raise a new generation of godly men and women.



100% copy-paste from "Waiting for a wife" (emphasis added), Bucknell, Paul J., Biblical Foundations for Freedom, http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/Topics/WaitingOnGod/WaitUpon016.html, last accessed July 4 2007.

Picture copy-paste from http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=361350 browsing using google.

No Excuses .How to have a great marriage even if you had lousy role models

Taken from Everett L. Worthington, Jr., and R. Kirby Worthington


ADVERTISEMENT
Carrie's six-year marriage ended in an ugly divorce-not that it surprised her.
"I didn't have a chance," she told her best friend. "I grew up watching my parents fight constantly. I still remember Mom throwing a bag of flour at Dad. They divorced when I was 15."

On the other hand, Carrie's twin sister, Cheryl, is still happily married after 13 years. Carrie and Cheryl had the same parents, but they interpreted the turmoil in their childhood home differently. Carrie used her parents' angry, conflict-ridden relationship to explain the failure of her own marriage. But that can't be the whole picture, especially in light of her sister's healthy marriage.

A number of factors contribute to the success or failure of any marriage. And while the quality of your parents' relationship influences how you approach marriage, it's not the sole determinant of your future happiness. These guidelines will help you break any unhealthy patterns and show you how to make your marriage the close relationship you and your spouse desire.

Look to God for guidance and support. If your parents had a dysfunctional marriage, it will be difficult for you to develop a healthy relationship when you're not even sure what one looks like. But remember, God wants your marriage to thrive. Trust in him to direct you to the resources you need. Together with your mate, learn to rely on prayer to break through the roadblocks you encounter.

Learn from your parents' example. Seldom is a marriage so bad that a husband and wife could be mistaken for Darth Vader and the bride of Frankenstein. Even a bad marriage has some redeeming elements. Challenge yourself to look for the good in your parents' relationship and learn from what you find.

for example, Cheryl's husband, Doug, grew up with a father who didn't take his wife's concerns seriously. Whenever Doug's mom would try to talk about a problem, his dad would dismiss the issue with a "Yes, Dear." Yet Doug had to admit that his father loved his mother, because every year on their anniversary his father arranged for a special dinner out and ordered his wife's favorite flowers. Years later, Doug kept up that loving tradition with Cheryl.

At the same time, Doug vowed that in contrast to his dad's example, he would listen with respect to his wife and not brush off her comments with a pat answer. You can learn a lot about what you don't want to happen in your marriage by considering what your parents did poorly.

Study successful couples. Shortly after Cheryl and Doug got married, they became friends with an older couple Doug met at work. This couple served as a sounding board for Doug and Cheryl as they worked through the stressors common to newlyweds. In contrast, Carrie and her husband struggled alone-one possible reason their marriage failed.

Don't try to go it alone. Get to know a few happily married couples and ask them how they make their marriages work. In your search for good role models, think about couples who show uncommon courtesy to one another, who serve each other, and who are honest about their struggles-yet confident they can be worked through.

Pick up a good book. Hundreds of helpful marriage books are available, loaded with case studies and tips on what makes a marriage work. Read one of these books together and then put what you learn into practice. For a place to start, consider one of the following: Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, by John Gray; His Needs, Her Needs, by Willard Harley, Jr.; Love Is Never Enough, by Aaron Beck; and Letters to Karen, by Charlie Shedd.

Expand your horizons. Even if your marriage is going well, consider attending a church-sponsored marriage seminar, a marriage retreat or a marriage-enrichment weekend. These programs provide an excellent opportunity to focus on your marriage and give you time to begin making some needed adjustments. If you're going through tough times, consider getting counseling from a pastor or therapist who values keeping marriages together.

Take the initiative in making improvements. It may sound overly simplistic, but you need to ask your partner what you could do differently to strengthen your marriage. Often your spouse can detect a bad habit you picked up from your parents without realizing it.



Listen to what your mate tells you. Better yet, repeat what he or she says in an effort to clearly understand his or her position. Resist the urge to become defensive. And remember that small changes can make a big difference.

Prepare for the inevitable times of stress. When tensions are high, couples are more likely to backslide into habits they developed from observing their parents. In my (Everett's) family, for example, we tended to manipulate each other by sulking. Now, when I get stressed out over work demands or other issues, I'm alert to this tendency. Rather than sulk, I try to work through my stress and keep the lines of communication open with Kirby.

Watch out for unspoken expectations. You may not be aware of it, but your parents' relationship communicated certain expectations about marriage. If both of you picked up the same expectations, it won't become a source of conflict. Likewise, expectations that you are aware of usually don't figure into marital conflict. Because Carrie's father drank heavily, she was determined not to marry a drinker. She and her husband had long talks about alcohol before marrying. True to their discussions, alcohol never played an important role in her failed marriage. But other factors, not as easily identified, did.

It's when you have hidden expectations-and they don't mesh with those of your mate-that problems can arise. Carrie never talked to her husband about how she expected him to talk to her or how she thought household duties would be divided up. Those unspoken, unrecognized expectations were grist for the argument mill throughout her marriage.

When conflicts erupt over hidden expectations, couples often dip back into their families of origin for strategies to deal with the situation. If your parents had poor conflict-resolution skills, you're likely to do just what they modeled.

Does your marriage have a strike against it if your parents divorced or had a less than ideal marriage? Possibly, but not necessarily. If you choose to take positive action rather than dream up excuses, you and your mate can work together to make your marriage what God intended it to be.

Everett and Kirby Worthington are co-authors of Helping Parents Make Disciples and Value Your Children (both published by Baker). They live in Richmond, Virginia, with their four teenagers.