The Love of God (1917)

"This hymn was written in a citrus packing house in Pasadena, California, by a German-born Christian named Frederick M. Lehman. At age four, Frederick and his family had migrated to America, settling down in Iowa....

In 1917, his finances had gone sour, and he found himself working in a packing factory in Pasadena, moving thirty tons of lemons and oranges a day. One morning as he arrived at work, a song was forming in his mind. He had been thinking about the limitlessness of God's love, and during breaks he sat on an empty lemon crate and penned down words with a stubby pencil.

Arriving home that evening, he went to the old upright piano and began putting notes to his words. He finally had a melody and two stanzas, but almost all gospel songs of that era had at least three stanzas. At length, he thought of some lines he had recently heard in a sermon. (Editor's note: in another version, some say he remembered these lines from a poem on a card, received from a friend).

Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.

--- The above extracted from Then Sings My Soul, Robert J. Morgan

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

The words from this poem were found to match the melody that Frederick had written! But who is the original author of this third stanza? It was later discovered that the original version of this verse was written long ago in Hebrew, by a Jewish poet Meir Ben Issac Nehoria. The first english translation, however, was found carved on a prison wall by some painters, and one of them was so impressed by the words that he jotted them down, preserving it in the process. So "coincidentally", these words matched the metre of this song that Frederick M. Lehman would write hundreds of years later.

So complicated, and while some historical facts may be unreliable in this case, one thing is clear. This hymn was incomplete without the third stanza, and God completed it through His perfect timing and perfect plan :) It is amazing to see how God cares and exercises His providence, even in hymns... so that many years down the road, countless people are edified through the words of this song.

photo: (Write of God's Love Pencils/Notebook - www.projectencourage.net)

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD -Josh 24: 15b (Part 2)

After the cards were settled, the next mission was the wedding deco :) There were 2 things I was especially thankful for... firstly, that the "junk" we have hoarded over the years could be put to good use.. and secondly, for the many loving hands who came together to create a beautiful backdrop ("pretty vintage school") for a blessed wedding :) xw, hl, joce, hannah, gabriel, alanna and abigail, joanna etc.... im sure the list goes on and on and on when you count your blessings and remember the people who have lovingly helped :)  for couples who are preparing to get married, never forget that a wedding is a community project. involve those whom you love and spend time with them preparing for the day :) and you can be sure that on your wedding day, as you see their labour of love and how they rejoice with you, your heart will overflow with thankfulness for how you have been blessed with so many who love you :)

standing chalkboard with handwritten details...

the bride wanted a "mailbox" as an angbao box :) we bought 2 of these, added our own details and propped them up using vases. guests also wrote on little postcards that have been designed to match the mailbox theme.

pompoms galore! it's no joke fluffing them up! many thanks to merrylove weddings for providing these at such a short notice :) do check them out! they have lovely things :)

photos, revealing some precious memories which the couple and their loved ones share :) 

hot chocolate wedding favours, which many loving hands have joined together to make possible! 

dearest 姑姑 and 姑丈 have always showered their love on little ezra boy unconditionally, and we are so much more than happy to do a little something for them :) we pray that God's love will be the cord to join them both together always, in easy and tough times, that they will grow together to love God and each other more :) 

p.s. hope these photos can give you a glimpse into the possible wedding styling that FITW can provide. the props that you see (vintage cameras, luggages, wooden crates, chalkboards, tablecloth, mailboxes and picnic basket) are all available for rental too :)  (we have more that are not shown here!)

some of you have enquired on this vintage bicycle and whether it is still available for rental.... yes, it still is :) you can use it for photoshoots, as part of your wedding set-up, or even for your wedding march-in! being white in colour, it should match all colour schemes, and it comes with a pretty little basket in front, which will look perfect with baby's breath added in. our bike is special because it comes with two seats, perfect for two people embarking on a journey to become one :)

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD -Josh 24:15b (Part 1)

with ezra around, it means that the time to do anything crafty/design-related is greatly reduced. nonetheless, i truly thank God for opportunities that He provides, so that we can be a blessing, and at the same time, be blessed! though there is pressure, I really do enjoy the process of creating something and seeing it come to fruition. best of all? it makes others happy too :)))))) thank God for this chance to be of help to my sis-in-law, who got married sometime back! here are the cards designed for them.

we were working on the wedding deco with a friend (more on that later) and with the bride being girly, the groom being an english teacher, we thought that "pretty vintage school" would be an appropriate theme, which the card happened to match!

the back of the card, also with hand-drawn details. the primary font used was "Jenna Sue". 

The programme sheet was printed on an A4 white paper and folded vertically in half. Primary fonts used were "Jenna Sue", "Kidtyperuled" (for the headers), and "High Fibre" (for the text)

are you looking for someone to design your wedding card/wedding stationery? do get in touch :)

baby hugs - act of kindness #4

from a loving familY, very deserving of Super Good Neighbour Award!

one can never get enough of baby hugs :) 

I suspect this book is more for me than for my little boy. it was very very comforting. thank you. 

a sweet handmade letter

praying that the boys can form godly friendships in future, just like the ones the parents enjoy <3

生日快乐！

comfort (food) - act of kindness #1

circumstances in life have been overwhelming, but at the same time, i am also overwhelmed by the lovingkindness and thoughtfulness of so many, especially some sisters who go the extra mile with their gestures of love. i know these people do not do it for any other motive, but to show God's love out of a pure heart. i need to record all these down, for they are truly blessings/angels sent from God. how true it is, that...

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

When PP was away, dear Sister A offered comfort, both physically and spiritually :) 

she knew i could not take anything dairy, and chose the next BEST alternative :)

i am very sure that she herself is busy with her daily commitments and duties, and yet, she meticulously came up with such a lovely effort. who am i to deserve this? she (and many others) touched me deeply and taught me:

1) not to take the people around me for granted

2) how special it can mean to someone to go the extra mile

3) to focus less on my own needs and to think of the things of others

thank you so much, Sister A. the verses you shared resonate in my mind again and again in times of despair and hopelessness. 

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," Phil 1:3

 

online purchases

being 8-9 months pregnant made me highly immobile when preparing for the home :/ this was when i truly appreciated the internet! christmas shopping, research for the home, and even purchases were made online. thank God for the internet, which has become a blessing in this case. many little things in our house were found online because we were not able to source them from anywhere else, or because they were cheaper :) 

take for example, this chair. ever since we started research on our home, i was especially taken by the simplicity of this chair, also known as the eames chair or the eiffel chair. see the inspirations here. little did i know that it was so common :/ nonetheless, it was comfortable, clean in design and fit the theme of our home. at first, i planned to purchase the chair from here or here, but to my joy, i stumbled on this link :) it is the cheapest version i have seen thus far, and with some hesitation, we decided to order 2 pieces, one for our craft area (above), the other for the iMac area. delivery met with some hiccups because i forgot to state my preferred time slot. thank God the two chairs arrived safely nonetheless and we are rather pleased with the quality :)

sometimes it is all about the details. PP and i spent a long time scouring for suitable wardrobe handles for the wardrobe in baby E's room. Mr A actually suggested some cute "bear bear" handles, haha. we quickly told him we would try to source for our own. to our dismay, they can be hard to find! we had no idea where to get them locally. most of the handles (e.g. in IKEA) are metal and not to our liking. we saw some really special ones on etsy but they were rather costly too. after some searching, we finally decided on these :)

these lights were originally for the master bedroom but when they arrived, they were so lovely that we decided to place them in the dining room instead. it all worked out, as the lamp we got for the dining area fit nicely in the master bedroom too :) (more on that later as well, hehe). initially, i thought that we could just do with simple LED down lights, hehe. no regrets getting these from this lovely shop :) part of what made these lamps so special were the bulbs!

they are known as thomas edison bulbs, also found online here :) love the unique light patterns created by these bulbs...truly one of a kind. apparently, this person can make any kind of bulbs as long as clear specifications are provided!

these are our wall hooks and this is where we got our trash bin :)

ezra's one-month-old thank you favours

we have been blessed by the love of many who showed their support in different gestures since Ezra was born. some have been patient with us, some pray for us. one sweet sunday school boy has constantly been praying for good health for ezra! wow. some keep us in their thoughts, offer words of advice, others shower us with hand-made cards and thoughtful gifts. thank God for all these people, who are blessings sent from God.

while we do not like to stick to tradition and give cake vouchers/gifts for the sake of the one-month celebration, we are grateful to these people. we hence wanted to do a little something, as a token of appreciation. here's what we came up with, by God's provision. 

materials needed:

- a badge front (in this case we got someone to laser cut some wood pieces) 

- badge pins

- foam double sided tape

- glue 

- a card with a heart-felt note

thank God that it was relatively easy to stick everything together and we completed these (100+ pieces!) rather promptly :)

front of the card

back of the card

the card is an adaptation of our wedding card, which we felt was meaningful because truly, by God's leading, we are on to another phase in this journey of life :)

we felt that this would be a nice souvenir for everyone to have, to point people to our Creator as we celebrate the 1 month of life God has given to Ezra. truly a.t.w.o.s.l.u :) 

All the way our Saviour leads us...

designing a showroom vs building a home

long before PP and i got our keys, we were already planning what we wanted in our house. PP's criteria was simple: he just needed a toothbrush and a bed -_- i, on the other hand, am alittle more complicated :) 

nonetheless, we were sure that a house was after all, a place to live in. yes, the houses we see on interior design magazines look so pristine, but eventually, we fell into a pattern where decisions were based more on what we needed and less on how it would look. of course, if it fulfilled both that would definitely be a bonus! :)

hence, we took time to consider each portion of the house and what function we wanted them to have. 

living room + study area

what's your living room like? in singapore, im pretty certain 9 out of 10 houses would have the television as the central focus in the living room. hence the popular concept of feature walls, with sofas adjusted such that they face the television. we were not avid TV fans, and a living room should after all, be for living. this would be the place where we chat, relax after a meal, read, and fellowship. our living room therefore does not have a television or a feature wall. it does, however, have a desk space for an iMac which is versatile and serves the functions we require. any storage is always good :) so we tucked a full length cabinet at the corner, for things such as paper, cartridges, chargers, wires and random everyday things that we want to keep hidden, and yet access easily. 

since the living room would probably be the place we spend our days, it was best if the space was bigger. in truth, it was tiny! we decided to knock down one wall, to open up the space, and combine the living with the study. we wanted the space to be as open, clean and as "airy" as possible. some tips i picked up along the way: 

1) align the bulky furniture, like cupboards, shelves and tables along the sides of the walls. walls were very precious when we were doing our space planning. it was like fitting a jigsaw, to see what ought to be placed against the wall and what did not. 

2) buy low-lying furniture (sofa, coffee table, beds...) 

3) put the tall and bulky furniture (like full length cabinets etc) in corners so they don't interrupt the visual space. 

4) think before hand what kind of wires need to be concealed! for us, we forgot entirely about the internet modem and all the wires, which do a fantastic job at cluttering up the space. thank God we found appropriate furniture to conceal them eventually!

5) choose warm colours, both for the walls and the furniture. they really do wonders in opening up the space!

the open space would be lovely to welcome visitors and for baby E to run around next time :) it would hopefully also be a place for schooling, learning and crafting - how convenient that the bomb shelter was right there and by painting the door with chalkboard paint, it could serve as a magnetic doodle board! we got the paint from art friend at bouna vista. this and this are the popular brands and you can usually also find them at home-fix or diy stores. we asked the painter if there was need to sandpaper the door to smoothen the surface and he said no. cant give any feedback on how it is yet though, yet to use it :)

the brick walls (increasingly common nowadays, but still a feature we love) were immaculately put up by our contractor, Mr L. He has an eye for detail and any wet works and tiling done by him is excellent. he completed the wet works within a few days, beyond our expected timeline. the bricks (purchased by him for our behalf) are from Craftstone and we chose the lightest shade (Austin). all we had to do was select from a catalogue and he did the rest. he did recommend for us to go to the showroom to take a look but since we were sure we wanted the lightest shade, our decision making was easy. 

dining area 

meal times, i read in this book (which btw is a good book about motherhood!), are precious times to spend as a family, to communicate and to promote fellowship. it was definitely a tradition we wanted to keep. we decided to maximise the space by building a settee against the wall (ah, hidden storage). in future if there were gatherings, the table could be moved away for more space. it was long enough to seat more people at the dining area if necessary, and at the same time, accommodated a pull out tray for our printer.  (see photo below) sadly, though this was really nifty, we realised we forgot to consider how the dining table would block the opening of the cabinet, making it tough to access the printer :( well, we shall have to make adjustments in future! here are some more printer storage ideas :)

at first, i was really keen on this dining table (seen at star living) - so affordable, scandinavian and chic! yet, it seemed rather small. the pricing was really attractive, and had the exact feel we wanted! but since dining together was a priority in our family, a larger dining space would be better. 

thank God for a fabulous brother who gamely agreed to customise an IKEA table for us. the outcome was fantastic! another post on that later :) 

bedroom 

the less clutter in these places, the better. an ideal bedroom in our opinion should consist only of the wardrobe and the bed. as i took time to think, i realised it would be nice to read there too. when i was young, i used to adore reading so much that i would hide books under my pillows and in the nooks of my bed, and whip out the books to read in semi-darkness. haha! we therefore set aside a space which could ideally, be the future reading corner for baby E, and had some built-in top hung bookshelves in our room :) 

there is a long corridor leading into our room, and the best way to maximise the space was to build bookshelves on top. inspiration from here! 

of course, there were many more practical decisions we had to make. although grills were ugly, they were necessary. cost was also something we always had to keep in mind :)

now, looking back, we are especially thankful and pleased. this is our home, a unique home built to suit our needs, based on our lifestyle. even if we engage the best designer who uses the best materials, he will never be able to build this home for us, for it is, at the end of the day, constituted by our family. this is where we will spend our days worshipping God and seeking to please Him even in everyday routines. after living here for almost a month, PP and i feel very blessed to have a place we can call home! of course, with a home comes vacuuming, mopping, cleaning, wiping etc..... but that is part of the blessing as well :p