Hope floats

I've always enjoyed reading letters from the international development and ministry workers whom I've served with and supported over the years. I was particularly encouraged by an update from a friend who recently led a short term microenterprise development project in the Central African Republic. The CAR ranks as one of the worst countries on virtually all global socioeconomic and political indicators. Yet, similar to the premise of the initiative I helped to start with the United Nations back in 2004, his team and their local partners believed that entrepreneurship is an engine of growth that brings about "signs of life, creativity and dreams for a new tomorrow." He cites: "One of the deepest casualties of poverty is hope - and people's capacity to dream about a better future."

Furthermore, hope as a tool to alleviate poverty can also be a blessing for those "poor in spirit," who face unrealized dreams or debilitating illness. This resonated with me given my own reasons for and journey in relocating back to Asia this year. Here are some snippets:

"When I was younger, hope seemed to dance upon my heart with no inhibition. As I grow older, I am learning that I must train my heart for this to remain so. Grief, struggle, and disappointment have a way of muting the music that our hearts long to sing.... Scripture tells us 'hope deferred makes the heart sick.' (Proverbs 13:12a). Yet, I am learning that I can teach my heart to twirl, leap, and skip, even amidst painful disappointment. Our thoughts shape our emotions. The Apostle Paul understood this psychology, telling us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) and to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8)...."

"In this season of life I am discovering that hope floats best when it hopes in an unfailing, unflinching, totally dependable, all-powerful, great and gracious God. Psalm 147:10-11 tells us that the Lord's 'pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the power of human legs,' but rather; in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.' Hope, when anchored to Jesus, is like a buoy that cannot stay submerged, it is tied permanently as an 'anchor for the soul, firm and secure.' (Hebrews 6:19)."

Lost in space?!

Where have I been these past few weeks? Some highlights:

Week 0. Had a scare when I came down with dengue fever mid-July (ironically, after the World Cup). This means I'm now immune to the first viral stage for life - you can read about it here - but will also be susceptible to even worse infections if I get near that darn Aedes mosquito again. Unsurprisingly, my paranoia about being caught in an epidemic (be it dengue fever, bird flu, food poisioning, etc.) has grown exponentially since then. Delighted to be back in Singapore after wrapping up my Indonesia project early August.

Week 1. Hubby and I threw our belated housewarming dinner party - first with the in-laws. Everyone had a blast, survived my cooking, and left with a warm fuzzy feeling in their bellies. Our strategy of spiking dishes and serving liberal quantities of alcoholic beverages and desserts worked! The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of our new 40" flat screen LCD TV and portable DVD player.

Week 2. We bundled off for a relaxing (but wet) vacation in Borneo where we ate great food, played lots of bad golf, added to our cheap DVD collection, and provided free IT services to my parents in Brunei. Developed a fascination with bridge (thanks, mom!) which will be a nice addition to our scrabble, poker and boardgame nights at home ... as long as we don't pair up with each other! Most of our forays outside were deluged by a string of tropical storms that week - Saomai, Bilis, Prapiroon, Bopha, Maria. Random factoid: Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean are called cyclones in the Indian Ocean and typhoons around the South China Sea. There's also an A-Z primer on hurricane names.

Week 3. Back to my-so-called tai tai life in Singapore. Apart from visiting or having meals with the in-laws, I spent the week deliberating my future, surfed the web for football gossip, movie spoilers and new job prospects (albeit half heartedly), continued or started up multiple books and personal projects (which I'll probably never finish), created a geek blog for my science fiction, fantasy and tech alter-ego, contemplated Chinese and cooking classes, driving and golf lessons. Free time is cool!

Week 4. Present time. After last week's random idleness, my "J" personality is threatening to take over soon....