How strong is your family bond?

Everything seems to have to be tested and challenged nowadays. We can't say we are faithful until our loyalty is tested. We can't say we are wise until our wisdom is needed. We can't say a friend is a friend indeed until that person has proven to be so. And we can't say our family has a strong bond until that bond is put to the real test.

I don't mean to get too personal here, but I just learned this the hard way. When everything is alright, when there is no problem/trouble, we can find friends anywhere. Because those are the guys we hang out with, go to movies together, eat out together, people we do fun stuffs with. But when we are in trouble (say, financial trouble) and we don't have the money to spend for fun anymore, those 'friends' suddenly disappear. Okay, that's not too odd. What I find really odd is even brothers/sisters can disappear too. It's odd because I always thought a family is a family. Whatever trouble you are in, you're supposed to back each other up. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about financial aid or anything like that. I am not asking for that at all. What makes me wonder is that they never ask about our situation, knowing that we really are in financial trouble. None of them ever call to ask, 'hey, how's it going with the new business?' or just a simple 'how are you?'. I just find it fascinating weird, because I used to think this is a family with the strongest bond that no one can ever break. I was totally wrong. Honestly, we are like strangers now.

Well anyway, I really don't want to be over-sensitive about this. I just want to share the lesson I learned. We never know how strong a relationship is (even siblings-relationship) until there are waves come crashing down on it. But now that I know, I say to myself: I will not do this to my friends or my families who are in need. I will not turn my back on them. I might not have the money to help out, but I still have words of encouragement that I can share.

I hope you guys have a stronger family than mine. And please be good to your family and friends. They're all you've got after all.

Strength Within

Finding the strength within us is not as simple as it sounds. And it's definitely is not as easy. Sometimes we got to do what we got to do simply because we have to. Although it may be scary or hard, sometimes there are just things that need to be done, there are just situations that we must go through. I guess when we finally did it or when we finally went through whatever hard situation we were placed at, that's the moment where we could finally say: "yes, I have that strength within me".

For me, we never know how strong we are until we are faced with difficulties in our lives, until we are really challenged to face those difficulties. Situations may force us to be strong, for ourselves and sometimes for others. So I'm grateful, that until today, I still have that strength within me to fight and to survive. That along the way, there were people who gave me words of encouragement when I was down. Even a stranger's blogspot post can be meaningful and cheer me up at times :)

I've been tagged!!

I’ve been tagged by Jane. Sorry for the late response though, kind of busy lately. It’s so wonderful knowing that you like me enough to tag me, Jane. I’m being a good sport so I’m going to keep this ball rolling.

Okay, first thing first. The Rules:
First, you need to mention the person who tagged you.
Second, you need to tell 7 facts about yourself.
And thirdly, you need to tag another 7 bloggers, let us know what you tag them, and let those bloggers know that they’ve been tagged.

So … have I followed the rules? Let’s see …

Number 1: mentioning the person who tagged me. Checked! It was Jane at Days Of Our Lives .

Number 2: 7 facts about me, eh? Here it goes …

1) I only have one best friend who I can share everything with. Some people may think that’s weird, but she’s the only person who I can confide in without worrying whether she’s going to tell or back-stab me later hahaha … I think I’m lucky that I can be friends with her for more than 15 years now . I have other good friends but my really really best friend is only one.

2)I much prefer western food than asian/chinese. My family thinks this is odd because I'm chinese and have been living in Asia forever, but that's the truth. I can't resist a burger/pizza hahaha ...

3) I just started learning how to drive at the age of 31 ;p

4) I need a cup of coffee in the morning and one in the afternoon to keep me going.

5) I always name my pet either Marco or Polo or Marcopolo. Weird weird ...

6) My idea of exercise is cleaning up the house and taking care of my daughter.

7) I have a fear of drowning and that's why I've never been on a cruise.

Number 3: Who should I tag, eh? Thinking thinking … alright, made my decision. The 7 person I’m tagging are:

1) bxn at In My Sad Little Opinion – because he got opinions on a variety of topics, and his opinion is neither sad nor little.

2) zeththebest at ~i picture what i see~ - because he posted so many different pictures and not afraid to after what he wants.

3) The Laughing Idiot at Life Makes Me Laugh . . . – because she made me laughs to hard that I forgot my problems for a while. You guys should really check her out.

4) SquirrelQueen at The Road to Here – because I really like her posts. She got many uplifting words that keep your spirit up. Btw, SQ, I know you’ve been tagged before. Sorry about this, but I know you’re having fun and I kind of want to know the 7 facts about you ;)

5) Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - simply because it's a very meaningful and caring blogspot.

6) Sharon J at Finding Simplicity - because she's a wonderful bargain hunter, and all for the good stuff :)

7) The Drifter at My Sanctuary - because it's just interesting.

Yeahh I'm done. And now I'm off to letting these people know that they've been tagged.

Just a pic

Honestly, SquirrelQueen kind of inspire me to share beautiful pictures. I took this picture when I was in Canada like 9 years ago. But I still love it everytime I look at it, and it makes me want to visit Canada again. It also reminds me how wonderful, majestic, and great our God is. Please enjoy ...