Latest News!

Thank YOU, Jesus, for abundant blessings for both Lan and I.
Thank you, Jesus, for the issued visa!
Thank you, Jesus, for me to successfully entered the Duncan Norman Scholarship shortlist.

Thank you, Jesus, for these beautiful moments, for millions supports from so many amazing people, and thank you for my wonderful parents and husband!

Love you, Jesus!

Pre-honeymoon story (1)

This afternoon, Lan already left to fly back to Manchester, United Kingdom. We both felt that we shouldn't even let each other go, but... he had to go, so I let him go and take my heart with him to thousands miles away. Anyway, only after Lan went, then I get the time to share with you all about the days after the wedding. As I mentioned we went to Villa Danoya on 6th July 2007 for a 4 nights pre-honeymoon trip. Yes, it's a pre-honeymoon, which means that the real honeymoon is coming up. We are still discussing the right time for it and the destination. Well, I hope it is coming really soon.

06 July 2007
We were picked up by the Villa's car at around 2 pm at that day. Going with us were Han, Erwin and Yulia. They came along for a swim. And so they swam until afternoon, while I was enjoying the free Internet facility from the Villa hehehehe... At night, after dinner at Cafe Tahu with my parents, they dropped us at Galeria 21 Cineplex. We watched Transformer. I have to say it was a very good movie! I enjoyed watching it very much! We came back to Villa at around 12 at night and feeling so tired.

07 July 2007
The second day in the villa, the day of Kuningan (Hindus ceremonial day), the day of so many weddings because of such a good date, and a day of the weekend! Well, on this day, we planned to go to Dreamland beach with Yulia. I heard that Dreamland beach is a very nice beach, white sandy beach much better than the famous Kuta beach. So, we rent a jimny car for the day. At first, it was supposed to be Yulia, who drove, but Lan insisted to see my not-so-perfect driving skill. Therefore, I drove along the By Pass road. Thank God, Lan said my driving skill is not bad at all, except that I liked to speed up hehehehe...
We arrived at Dreamland beach around 12.00 mid-day. It was so so so hot, but I really have to say that the waves were superb! The water was so clear and blue, the view was fantastic! The three of us agreed that one day we will come back for sure. I did not go into the water, as I don't really like to swim in the sea, so I just watched the waves quietly and enjoyed looking at Lan and Yulia swimming. Lan had his chance to try on the short surfing board and he gave up hehehehe... It was a very tiring effort to surf, since he is a beginner, because the wave was simply too strong.We spent several hours (at least until 16.00 afternoon) at the beach. When we left the beach, both Lan and Yulia were exhausted, tired and hungry. And so, we headed to Kuta Square... First stop was Haagen Dazs. Yes, we had some ice cream there. Our favourite ice cream so far! (Lan & I had Strawberry cheesecake, cookies and cream and baileys scoops together) After feeling refreshed, Lan said he was hungry and he suggested we ate at KFC. He was so hungry that he ate 4 chickens at that time!
Heading back to the villa, Yulia prepared herself to go to the airport and fly back to Jakarta. My bestest friend for more than 8 years now... she really took the effort to attend my wedding. Thank you very very much, my sister! Seeing you leaving, I was so sad, because I don't know when is the next time we meet again. However, my promise is true... Lan & I will definitely attend your wedding! ;) *he already said it!* And I was so glad that Lan and you became good friends!

Ok friends, this is already a long post... I will continue it in several days!

The Wedding

I am -sort of- back now! It went very well on the day! It feels like a dream, but it is so so so true! A huge thanks to all of you, my dear friends, for the prayers, supports and the congratulations! We really can't do this without your precious prayers. Here is one of the wedding photos we took on the day. The others are coming soon. So, I hope you all will be patient. Right now, we are waiting to be picked up by Villa Danoya's car. Yes, we are going to have private time together for 4 nights here in Bali. However, this is not a honeymoon, Lan calls it pre-honeymoon time hehehe... We are still deciding and planning about where we should have our honeymoon. :)

Ok friends, this is a quick update from me!

And we are officially announced as... Husband & Wife
We are Mr. and Mrs. Zhang!!

From Surabaya!

We, Lan & I (accompanied by Mum and Grace), were back from Surabaya last night with all the tiredness we can feel right now. This is the first time I feel so tired that all the things that I want to do for this morning I dreamt last night in my sleep!
However, I am glad that the paperwork was done easily at the Consulate of China yesterday, so tomorrow, we just go to the Civil registration office to submit the letter and sign some documents.
It's only several days away... and Jesus, we need You in our every step; Your support, Your strength, Your grace and Your favour. Thank you Jesus!

On the plane

Yes! Lan is on Singapore Airlines' flight to Singapore right now, taking flight number SQ327 (B777-200) from Manchester, arriving at 06.20 am Singapore time.
Then, he will be on the flight SQ942 from Singapore to Denpasar at 09.35, arriving at 12.05 pm.

So... I am very excited to pick him up at Ngurah Rai Airport tomorrow!

Then? Many things await for us...

Test make up and hairdo

For the whole day, today, I was occupied with the make-up artist, namely Oma Gloria. She did a make up test and hairdo(s) test, both for morning and evening events. So far, everything goes smoothly, it is just that Ce Dewi is in the hospital for almost a week now because of DB (Demam Berdarah). I pray that she recovers very soon!
Things are mostly prepared now. Only little things are left; final measuring of the gowns, the veil and picking up the groom from the airport this Monday! Hehehehe...
I am so excited to meet him again after a very long while.

So guys, thanks for all the prayers! We appreciate your prayers very much! All those prayers have helped us a lot going through this preparation. :)

God bless you all!

Technical Stuffs: Civil Registry

After hearing so many scary 'fact's about the Indonesian's marriage registration requirements here and there, finally The Lord has led me to the right person. She is Eka's (my junior-high school friend) neighbor! She is Bu Arie, the famous person, who is in charge of the International marriage (mixed nationalities marriage) at the civil registration office. We visited her house this afternoon and everything went smoothly! In fact, the fee for it is not as expensive as I heard previously. The fee is Rp. 700.000- So, it is reasonable, since the registry officer will come to the church for us and the certificate will be given to us at once at the church.

She got the application forms, all my required documents and Lan's photocopy of passport, ID and Hu Kou Ben. The only things await are our photos, the translation of the documents and the letter from the consulate which we will obtain when Lan arrives here.

The plan is we will fly to Surabaya on 26th June night or 27th early morning to go to the Chinese Embassy, pick it up in the afternoon and fly back to Denpasar. It is tiring, but I know it is worth being tired for.

Thank you Lord Jesus for another miracles to be added in my unendless list of your goodness! :)

Technical Stuffs: Church requirements

Today, I went back to the church's office for the second time. This visit, I submitted all the required forms for our holy matrimony. That means one very important matter is solved, because, really, the most important event in our wedding is this holy matrimony.
I thank Lan many times for his cooperation, efforts and time. Despite being very busy, he has been very helpful and supportive. Since, I need his signatures in almost every form, I really stressed the importance of returning the forms to me ASAP. And he, returned the forms to me ontime! So, thanks to him!
Kak Rosa (the person who's in charge of the forms) was well pleased with the completed forms and all the required documents. Praise Jesus for that!

Now, one more important thing to think of is the civil registration. I am finding a way to make it not more complicated than it should be, or, it'd be better if it is LESS complicated than it should be. Why? Because... those that know, the birocracy in Indonesia is one of the worst matter to take care of in this country!

While counting the days to our union,
I think of you in each of my heartbeat...
I've missed you for so long...
Too many days to count since the day I kissed you goodbye.

In several days, I will meet you for our unseparable beginning journey of love

I was...

I was waiting for Lan's call today. He made an appointment with my parents to ring and talk with them. Basically, he was saying that he is serious about his feeling towards me, his decision to marry me and to take care of me as his wife for the rest of his life. :)
Starting from today (2nd June 2007, 09.00 pm), he calls my parents dad and mom! I loved hearing him calling my parents like he calls his own parents! Thank you Jesus for such joy! :)

It's exactly a month before the wedding! I am very looking forward to meet you, my love, my beloved husband.

it is officially announced! :)

In a month time, I will be a married women! In a month time, I will be a wife... If any of you ever ask me what do I feel at the moment, my answer is really blur, a simple "I don't know."
It's not because I am not happy! Oh my, I am greatly happy and joyful! However, at the same time, I am so busy with so many things that I have to finish up before D-day! And it is very tiring... Lan, please help me!!!

Things on top of my mind:
1. Do my Mandarin homework.
2. Organising my time for: documents translation, my treatments, sending the last lot of invitations.
3. Finish up on the Church documents and forms and hand them all in on Monday.
4. and many more... hahahaha...

I love you, my lovely husband-to-be :) Several more days we will meet again :)

little notes

Today, unexpectedly, I had no rest because I was so busy doing this and that. First thing in the morning was putting all the 'thank you' cards in the plastics and resizing the plastics. Now, all of those cards are waiting for me to punch holes on them and put the ribbon on each hole. *oh my*
Then, we *the wedding organiser team* had a meeting to discuss many things. Starting from the people who are involved, the dinner program, the timing, the preparation, the civil registration and many more. And the meeting left me with tasks:
1. Go to LP's office to ask for the marriage form
2. Go to the Civil registration office to ask for the registration form.
3. Make lists on the people that are taking photos with the bride and groom.

And probably some other things that I can't remember right now. I am tired. >.< Time to go to sleep.

Invitation cards: ready!

Today, all the invitations are officially ready to be sent. In fact, some are already sent (especially the ones for overseas - Malaysia, Singapore and Beijing) and most likely, tomorrow we will send all the out of town's invitations. For the local ones, my dad said we will send them all by ourselves.
I hope that can be done quickly, because there is a huge (well not that huge!) pile of invitations in my room ready to be sent.

One thing done, still so many of them waiting to be done. Oh Jesus, I am tired! *fainting!*

He's been GREAT to US

I have to testify that our Lord Jesus Christ has been very generous to both Lan and I! Throughout March until now, miracles upon miracles has been continuously granted by Him. From the little things to the big and impossible things.
I even asked Lan, "Can you actually count how many miracles Jesus has given and blessed us with? Can we think how much blessings He has poured upon us?" For me, personally, I can't count them, His blessings and miracles are too numerous to be counted, even just for this wedding. How much more are they for the whole of my life? Simply invaluable and uncountable!

Three days ago, my dad had a meeting with many churches leader in Bali for an important event. There, my dad actually told his close friends about my 'simple' wedding that we will have a holy matrimony at the church and a simple dinner with family and close friends. To me, it is more than enough. As long as we, Lan & I, are happy with that simple but full of joy celebration, that's already perfect.
However, it is not perfect for them. They actually protested and they all said, "You choose the place (restaurant) and the food, don't worry about the bill! We will sponsor you!"
PRAISE JESUS!! What a great miracle!! what a blessing!! It has become a great wedding celebration! Thank you, Jesus, for such a great gift You have given us.

Jesus' gifts that we had received:

1. Our parents' blessings and supports.


2. Family and friends' supports and helps.


3. A brand new wedding gown for free


4. Guests' favor (souvenirs) for free


5. Make up and hair treatments for free by a professional


6. Paid dinner at one of the best restaurants in Denpasar, Plaza Bali.


7. AND MANY MORE...

Once again, thank you, our Jesus!

Invitation cards: disaster!

Today, after waiting for days, about 15 out of 200 invitations I reserved were sent to my house. I liked it; the colour (I thought it will be a bright red, however it became a soft orangy red, which is quite nice to go with the shiny yellow paper!), the layout and the design. I was satisfied...
Until, after the person who is in charged went home and I rechecked line by line, character by character! And I found out that there is a HUGE mistake! They wrote my Chinese name all the way around! It supposed to be 连雪莉 but they wrote 利连雪!!! I was furious, to be honest! It has became a disaster, since all the 200 invitations are already printed out, only waiting for the finishing touch (folding, gluing, etc...). Oh God...

Well, I am stressed out again all of the sudden. Let's just pray that we will find the best way to solve this problem, because reprinting 200 pieces of invitations is not cheap at ALL!

I'm stressed! I'm stressed! Jesus, be with me...

Met the artist 2!

Today, I met with the lady that will do my make up and hairdo. I showed her my wedding dresses, so that she can decide on the best hairstyle for me on the wedding day and also the length of my veil, since it will be handmade by Ce Dewi.
Tomorrow, she will start the facial treatment on me and give me some options for the hairstyles that she'll think about tonight. At the same day, Ce Dewi will take my wedding dress to her house to replace the old beads with the news ones so it looks better. So, things are taking places faster now. The invitations are almost ready, so hopefully, next week, we can start sending the invitations to the guests.
I become very busy now... With 3 times a week Mandarin lessons (@ approx. 3 hours each time), I am really having difficult times adjusting my brain and learning as much as I can, plus trying to do the homework that are not that little!

Pray that I can cope with everything that I have to do! :D God bless!

Sweet News!

His arrival date to Bali has been set! He has sent me the flight details, which also means that he already BOUGHT the tickets! I am very very glad to receive the news! And, another day counter should be set; for his arrival day! After so many months not seeing him (ever since middle of October 2006), my heart is pounding fastly to the day he arrives!
Monday, 25 June 2007 @ 12.05 p.m., will be the time where I'll meet him again and for the journey of union starts!

It's less than two months now... Lately, I have found myself thinking a lot about this wedding (such a huge change in my life). This is the fact that I found about marriage...

Marriage is not one-hundred-percent of happiness, really...
The reality is that...
There are things that you have to leave behind,
There are things that you gain while stepping forward into the new beginning.

Once, you belong to a family.
Now, you own your own family.
It's a kingdom that both of you, your partner and you, have to build to be strong, full of love, peace and joy.

Family, a kingdom that imparts the joys of Heaven in Earth.

- nie, 06 May 2007

Image's credit to: deviantART's Vanishing S

my wedding dress has arrived!

This morning, I received a notice from the post office to pick up a package from Netherland. Voila! That must be my wedding dress!
So we quickly went to the post office and got a white box from there. The dress is nice, although we have to do some fittings again. :)

Thank you, Lord, for the dress to arrive safely.

wedding rings & a surprised present

Going to Surabaya for Easter, I received a surprised present from Dr. Roy Yapri. When I told him that I am getting married in July, he, who owns 3 wedding dress, told me to choose one of the wedding dresses that I like! So... I tried all of them on. I liked all of them, but my choice fell upon this dress. You cannot really see the details of the dress, but it is really pretty! :)
The dress has gold embroidery and a trail at the back. Nice and beautiful. I don't think I can afford to buy it. Therefore, I am really thankful to The Lord for so many blessings He has prepared for Lan & I. Even Lan was surprised when I told him this news. Onto another topic, our wedding rings are done! *Yippeee!!* Beautiful as it was designed and not as expensive as I thought hahahaha...I also have found the right pairs of gloves for Lan & I. Thank God!

83 days to D-day... Lan is sorting out the flight tickets, I am sorting out the invitation, dress, family dinner and many others... So many things and excitements and of course so much headaches :P

Invitation cards: discussed!

This afternoon, as agreed, Ko Wawan, Ce Dewi & I met with Ko Julius. He came to my house, to discuss about the invitation card. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring the samples of invitations and papers. Fortunately, I had one sample (an invitation that I got from somebody else). We are thinking a simple yet elegant invitation, something that is not too expensive.
However, although we have not decided on the design, we managed to discuss the writings on the invitation, tomorrow, Ko Julius is going to give me the draft of the invitation's contents. So, we shall meet up tomorrow again at 6 p.m., then at 6.30 p.m. I am going to meet with the event-organiser (Ko Eddy).

I am really thankful to all these people, without them, I won't be able to do all these things, especially Ko Wawan & Ce Dewi! Thanks a lot!
The unbelievable thing is that, most of them are from the same church as I am and yet it's the first time we were introduced to each other. God is so amazing!!!

Ps. Maybe tomorrow I won't be able to post about the day's experience, because I might be already on the way to Surabaya, to avoid hari raya Nyepi hehehe...

Ps2. When the invitations are printed and done, I'll try to take photo and post it here as a memory :)

Met the artist!

Today, I finally met with the make up artist (and the hairdresser)! Oma Gloria, she is in the same church as my family, nice lady in her fifties. We talked about many things and she explained about her make up techniques (and many other things). I immediately liked her! So, she shall be the make up artist and the hairdresser on my wedding day.
Another thing is sorted out! :)

With that sorted out, that means I will have to start my facial treatment soon with her. Her house is quite far, luckily I just have to have the treatment approximately twice a month, so should not be a problem.

Also, just now, I received a good news from Lan. He is receiving a 500 pounds blessing! Praise the Lord! I am really praying that things will go according to Lord's plan (so far it is, also sometimes the evil ones try to snatch the joy and happiness that The Lord puts in our hearts).
So, whoever is reading this, please help in prayers for our wedding.

God bless you all!