I burned my sausage pastry roll...again!

I followed the instruction from the package, put into oven for 8 to 10 mins, so I did for my sausage pastry rolls. Just less than 5 minutes, I smelled something burnt and a cracking sound. I burned my sausage roll..again and cracked a plate! This time more smoke came out and it filled the entire living room. This reminded me when I also overcooked using the microwave oven in the shared kitchen in Roehampton campus. The smoke and the smell stayed for some weeks.
I have three more sausage rolls, hmm..I will try again another time and experiment until I succeed. A crispy sausage roll.

So no sausage pastry roll for breakfast today, I settled for non-preparatory food - milk and cereal.

Awaiting parcel from Amazon.com

I bought two books from Amazon.com last week, shipped on the 9th April. I am eager for the delivery to my doorstep, it's gonna be these few days. Ah ha..an Easter gift for myself. I even wrote and pasted a note on the door to Mr.Postman, saying: "Delivery from Amazon.com? Knock harder at the door or the window. TQ - Mr.Postman!" Just in case I didn't hear him knocking as I put on my headphone listening to songs.

Here in the Netherlands, it is hard to find a Christian bookstore, I haven't seen one and if there is, it's probably be in Dutch. Why didn't I think of Amazon earlier on? The idea just came two weeks ago. I am so glad! As I have not been to church regularly, I feel that I am thirsty for more of Him. I have all sorts of other reading materials awaiting me to consummate them. It has been a reading year for me.

Emancipation

Emancipation. What does this word means? Its root word is emancipate (verb). The meaning from Thesaurus dictionary is: to liberate, set free, unshackle, let go, untie.
To set somebody free from slavery, or other forms of bondage, restrictions or conventions. In Dutch, it is bevrijding, emancipatie.

I first came to learn about this word during my masters study in special educational needs. It appears in many articles I read. But it was one of the classes that I attended last year that I began to take interest in this word. It brought deep meaning to me. Jesus, my Lord, emancipated for human race. The lecturer spoke about the voice and advocacy actions of parents and people with disabilities that have great significance towards the equality and betterment of their lives. Emancipation. To break free from barriers, barriers from social construct that only accentuates the strong, the dominant, the majority. How about those least heard? How about the people with disabilities? What are their voices, their opinions? I am particularly interested to hear and to learn about people's own experiences, their thoughts, their dreams and hopes. This word also reminds me of several men and women who made history in the work of emancipation.

"Every human being is born equal", echoed William Wilberforce, a British polician in the 70's who worked tirelessly to abolish slavery during his time.

Emancipation Declaration 1863, a decree issued by Abraham Lincoln, was a document prepared for its journey in ending slavery.

Dr. Patch Adams, remember the movie? It is one of my favourite movies, I watched it many times, never get sick of it. He is a doctor with a dream, not quite an ordinary doctor. But what is 'ordinary' ? hmm...reflection... Maybe just an ordinary doctor who does etraordinary things?Back to Patch Adam, he dreams to build a free hospital. In essense, what he and his team do is to celebrate life and help patients to live life to the fullest. For me, that matters most despite the span of life - long-lived or otherwise.

I hope to share with you more about the works of emancipation, small or big scale, it doesn't matter. You can share yours too, your experiences, your dreams :)

What's in that creature?

I am fascinated by caterpillar cum butterfly. What an interesting and creative creature! I like it as it transforms. Caterpillar symbolizes the transformation to something beautiful, a caterpillar turning into butterfly inside its coccoon, then springs forth to life! Sure we all have something good inside us to be discovered. So don't give up on a hairy, slimmy, eerie-looking caterpillar.

I am not a caterpillar expert but I did some search in the nets about it.

Cycle 1-Egg: Adult butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves of their host plant. Each butterfly species has certain plants that their caterpillars must eat to live and grow. Some butterfly species are very specific to one or two plants while others may be able to eat a family of plants. Butterfly eggs are small in general (like the size of a pin head) and usually hatch in about 3-7 days.

Cycle 2-Caterpillar: The caterpillar hatches from the egg and usually the first thing it does is eat the egg shell. After that it will start consuming the host plant. The caterpillar will spend the next several weeks eating and growing since that is its main purpose.

Cycle 3-Chrysalis: This stage is often a called a cocoon, but generally a cocoon is the pupa stage of a moth while a chrysalis is the pupa stage of a butterfly. At this point the caterpillar has made its final molt into a pupa and in about 1-2 weeks an adult butterfly will emerge.

Cycle 4-Adult Butterfly: The adult butterfly will spend its time eating nectar and mating/laying eggs. Many butterflies only live about 2 weeks, however, some species such as the monarchs will overwinter by migrating south and thus will live for many months.

I think I have no favoritsm towards these two, I like it both. Butterfly is beautiful, full of life, free to fly and mate, flaunt its beauty and colours. Just as our fingerprints are different, so does the patterns of each butterfly are never identical, the same goes with tiger strips and so on. Caterpillar is cute, oh that little hairy green creature..oh ok not always green, it depends on what species, but I like it to be green. It eats a lot. The first thing it eats is its own egg shell once it creeps out of the shell, leave nothing to waste! Anything good about caterpillar? Sure it does. It is used in industry like in silk industry. But caterpillar can do much damage to plants, so it been a target of pesticide control. Too much of anything good is bad. Too much of honey is bad too.

I will label this post as 'Caterpillar & Butterfly' as I can't split them to two different things, a caterpillar is/will be a butterfly, a butterfly was a caterpillar. So anything about these two goes into this label.

So You Would Come

I woke up early today before my alarm, at 6.48am. Today is Saturday. What about the Saturday? Back in 00A.D., it was a day between Friday the day Jesus was crucified, hung on the cross and at about the ninth hour he breathed his last; and Sunday he was resurrected and history was made, more than history it's a fulfillment of what was and is to come. This is my faith, and today I can't help but to reflect...

The earth shook and stood still (figuratively) eager for Jesus' resurrection. Perhaps it was a long day as people struggled to come to terms of Jesus' death. How would I respond if I'd there? Would I be just a passer-by or an observer from a distant? Would I shout 'mercy!' or jeer or be silenced by such anguish, horrible, bloody sight? Or would I just go by the day like usual, wash my clothes, cook for meal, just another criminal to be crucified? Or would I kneel by the cross, like Mary Magdalene and other women? If I knew Jesus and heard him on the Mount, in the temple, at the villages, by the river, would I reflect upon his words? How would I respond now?

Who killed him? The soldiers who whipped him, nailed him? Pilate who washed his hands? The Pharisees? Judas his disciple who betrayed him?....but it is also my sin that brought him to that cross...it is for my sin and sins of others that He chose to die. A sacrifice of blood, the blood need to be shed.

We all have a choice for each action, and I find it amazing that God has such trust in man so much so that He gives us the power of choice. The choice to follow Him, to believe in Him or to disregard Him. The choice He gives us at the beginning of time. And it is this choice I made...

A meaningful song that touched my heart everytime I hear it, a song written by Russell Fragar from Hillsongs - So You Would Come


Nothing I can do can make Him love me more, nothing that I have done can make Him love me less...it is grace, it is mercy. A gift of salvation at the price of a Son of Man, Son of God. I am forever grateful...I am loved.

Another song - Jesus Messiah by Chris Tomlin


Because of His love for us, He did what we couldn't do for ourselves. Yes He must die on the cross, for only He can shoulder the sins in order to give us salvation, a consequences He willing to partake. for my sins and others.

Will you listen to another song that I like? Three songs in a row...and yes I want it to be in that sequence.

Testify to Love by Avalon


Have a great week, treasure each moment!

Someone Painted Stars by Daniel F Mitchell

Someone painted stars on the ceiling,
Someone put lights into the sky,
Someone made little points of healing,
And hung them for a poet's eye.

Inside, I have a warm feeling,
That someone with incredible might,
Painted all those stars on the ceiling,
So that we would not fear the night.


Sharing with you a poem written by Daniel F Mitchell. I wish I have a poet's skill of writing. The poem leads me to reflect on the creation and the question I had about creation and creator when I was a teen. A turning point where I began to search and to know Him personally as my Lord and Saviour.

The amazing, surpassing, infinite creativity of God the Creator, who made the universe so vast so huge, yet He also creates the very detail, minute cels, DNA and with all its functionality and complexity...it just amazed me. There sure be a God who create all this, cannot be a 'bang' or somewhat something evolves by itself. There is no other but this God who made it plainly, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' (Gen 1:1)..vs 3 follows 'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.'

Finally...my blog is born

The thought of setting up a blog came last year 2008. Asked friends on how to do it. After gathered the information, the blog was still not set up. Wait.. till I have more time, after my assignments, after I get myself ready and handy with few articles to post...Will I keep the blog running consistently? Will it be a short-lived project? I hope not, maybe that's the reason I didn't start my blog...until today. Why today? Because I wrote a comment to a friend's blog and it seems that I can't post it until I select a profile. What profile? I don't have a profile, so I can't post my comment. I want to post my comment. Hence, my blog came into existence. Afterall, I wanted to start a blog since last year, right, without any article at hand. I still have two assignments to complete. Alright, just do it!

My friends told me that it is simple to start a blog, just follow the steps. I hope this will be as easy as 1-2-3. Click this and that, and voila!

I have my title in mind long time ago, so that is easy. Then, I need to choose a name for my blog. A name. What kind of name? Using my name tracytai sounds too ordinary. I googled my name and found that there are a number of people with the same name as mine.
A name that is not too flattery, not too serious, something fun, light-hearted, yet sounds professional and elegant (as my friend said it). Caterpillar...I like caterpillar, I find it quite amazing and amusing too. And I love the children book 'A Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. My students loved it! A caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly, a philosophy of life I believe - each of us has something beautiful to be discovered, to spring forth to life, free as a butterfly!
The word 'caterpillar' is taken, so now I cracked my head again...add a number or a word to it..caterpillar101 ? crawlingcaterpillar? hungrycaterpillar? caterpillartaitai...no..no..
Hmmm... ok, emancipatory. I like it. EmancipatoryCaterpillar, and it's not taken, good.
My friend Charles doesn't seem to be convinced of my persuasion of using caterpillar. Another friend, Rosabel said emancipatory is not common and may appeared too long.
But I like it, both of it as it describes the characters of my blog. Finally, my baby got the name after two hours.

This blog is about my hobbies, places I travel, my journey with God, advocating for/with people with disabilities, volunterism, anything I can think of as time goes.