I'M 27...!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY....
Me n the yummy cake from THE PATTISIER













JB+I with JC n St Nick's friends...Kit, Germaine, Chin Guan, Chee Haw, Ah Tat, Meili!













JB + I w NTUC colleagues... Kelly, Mee Ling n Amy!

Me n NTUC bosses Hin Kee + Choon Shian and colleague, Andrea

Me n babes Satomi, Arati n Satomi's fren from Japan












Me n youngest Flamebearers cell member... STELLA (as u can tell... we will never grow old!)













the other getting married couple... Aaron (photographer for the party n our wedding studio shots) + Elaine



the married couple... Kate (st nick's classmate n she has a twin!) n Ben












lovely Purdue group that are just... aw... so awesome!...

front row: Calvin + Lynn (married couple)
back row: Elaine, Cyn Yi, Huixian, Shihyang (in courtship w/ Elaine)

they were so sweet. decorated my room to give me a surprise as the party was going on at the pavillion downstairs... they made me a poster from pic of me worshipping, we r sitting on the FATBOY human size bean bag that they got me... they even made me a card with pictures of me worshipping in the front.... love ya all!

Lynn n Cyn Yi gonna be the overall wedding coordinator
Huixian is guestlist OIC (though she's getting married next year too!)
Shihyang n Elaine will help with music n technical stuff...
Calvin... well, represented by his wife!!













FANTASTIC FLAMEBEARERS...
they helped me prepare the food, they decorated the place, they were the urshers for the guests, they cleaned up, they are just simply amazing... serving and blessing me and JB w loads of love...

baxk row: Addison, Weida / Caleb, Aaron
middle row: Stella, Sarah (cell leader)
front row: Xinwen / Mary, Alisa, Abigail, Allan

ASTRONOMICAL GRACE!!

So this update is long, long OVERDUE...
My friends... some of you may already know... I am engaged... =) yes, as of 070707... and here's the account of the ASTRONOMICAL GRACE that God has shown me + JB.
He is penning an awesome love story in our lives...

06/07/07
Naomi awoke... it's 6am-ish, a little earlier than usual. Since last evening, she has been feeling a little unsettled. JB hasn't replied her sms for an extended period of time (i.e. since 04/07) and she had been wondering... "WHAT's UP GOD??" She reached for her phone and behold... there's an sms from JB... "phew... @ least he's ok".

Much more relieved, she stepped of her room groggily and bumped into her mom... I guess everyone's a little peculiar in the morning...
her mom uttered something very strange, "Your friend is outside"...

Naomi was like.."Huh???"

Nonetheless, she stumbled curiously into the living room, dressed gloriously in her PJs and adorned with slumber-ruffled hair.

Curious indeed... it seems as though she must have fallen asleep and dreaming once again...

There... sitting @ a corner of the dining table with a flipped open bible, in a tan that's a few shades darker than she remembered but with the same heart-captivating smile, sat a man that she's been thinking more and more about and growing very fond of lately... =)

Instead of the usual "slap yourself to see if you are dreaming" practice, the smart Naomi started poking and tapping this supposed man...

Conclusion
Turns out that he had been planning to surprise me for my birthday and to help me prepare for my birthday party (7/7/7)... Family n some purdue mates n cell group knew of this... which translates to seamless logistics to sneak him into the house at midnight... even while I was still awake in my room (haha... i was watching Korean drama till pretty late!!!...)

Yes... I was very, very pleasantly surprised... this sort of stuff happens in stories and movies... and when it really happens to you... it kind of seems a little unreal... but I LIKE!! =) love surprises....

Boss was super nice... gave me half day off and approved leave for 2 days week after as he stayed for 1 week (06/07-13/7). That afternoon, we had lunch with some EDB folks and then I accompanied him to his interview for admission to NTU's MBA programme (yeah, he even did tell me he was having an interview with NTU weeks before but I always thought it was gonna be a phone interview... obviously I was not fully informed!)

That evening, together with some cell ppl (sarah, weida), we had dinner and went grocery shopping for birthday party tomorrow. Addison and Allan joined us later as we chopped chickens (all 5 mainly by JB), prepare marinade, boiled potatoes and eggs, and made preparations. Solid work for 3-4 hrs till abt midnight... and it was ice-cream time (courtesy of $1 Swensen's deal with HSBC card)!!

Then... well... i guess it's 07/07/07 already....

07/07/07
Something peculiar happened again... JB came into the dining area with a fresh, buttoned down shirt... well, it's too late to think too much, and though she was still in her "working" clothes reaking of food smells... she thought it a good time to take some pictures. After a couple of pictures, JB took Naomi's hand and said, "the rest can wait... you come over here"... He guided her towards the sofa and asked her to stand on it...

was it me... or did the atmosphere seems a little weird now... oh no... this is not happening... is it really happening.... no way... oh yes.... he has a little case in hand... and yes.... he is going down on his knees... oh great, all these pair of eyes.... and here comes the question... alright... where's the hole... this is not happening... it's too sudden... what am I suppose to say?????

so yes... my friends... i was very, very, very, surprised and totally caught off-guard... i quote many of those that have witnessed the proposal... "for once, she was truly speechless". I was already blown away with the surprise visit and to have him proposed... it was just beyond what I could ask or imagine... Since it was pre-planned, the entire proposal was videotaped and if you have not seen it yet... no worries... the video will be shown at the wedding.

we announced the engagement @ the birthday party that evening.... we had an amazing party!!
JB has been accepted to NTU's MBA programme and will be starting school this Nov so he will be here from mid Oct onwards... I just returned from a 2 weeks planned trip (3 - 18 Aug) to see him and we have also fixed the US reception date.

So when's the big day??
Feb 23 2008 in Cornerstone Community Church in Singapore (no big secret to the choice... that's the week that he is out of school)
Jun 21 2008 in Lafayette, IN, USA (for his family and friends in the US)

You are all invited to the Singapore wedding... and if you can make it to the US reception to experience a US wedding... we would love to have you too!!

Email invites should be out to everyone before end of the month and the hard copy invitations some time later.... we really hope to see all of ya....