Sunday, January 12, 2014

20140115 Farewell Hsi

My way of saying goodbye...
A sketched noted eulogy

星喜小妹 再见
祝您一路平安

Xing Xi xiao mei zai jian
Zhu nin yi lu ping an

Little sister "Star of Joy" 
till we meet again 
Blessing you for this journey
May you have peace, shalom.



Godspeed Hsi.
I started writing this on the flight from Singapore to Wellington for her funeral.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.
A favourite quote of mine from Shakespears play "Romeo and Juliet"

And it reminds of the sorrow of parting
And the Joy that tomorrow brings.


In the Christian perspective
A new tomorrow.


A reflection of yesterday:
Walk down memory lane
Half a century.
MYF and Dawnbreakers choir days.

Getting married
Having babies.
And birthed from their email address our monikers:
Binzies.
Minzies.

Picnics captured on humongous videocamera.
Princess Kaya.
Big Bad Pirate.

Asthma injection 
All other kinds of fun.

Train to Cameron Highlands
Bible study: the book if the prophet Nahum.

Penang
Roast pig 
Durian. 

Picking mussels
Plucking cherries.


Lake Ferry
Sleeping on open deck
The fish fillets that got away.

Trips to Bali, island hopping cruise with line dancers.

Great Wall of China, brush painting course in Shanghai.

Patient aids to be returned.

Her cross stitch above her piano.


Eagle scroll from China.

Reflecting Goh heritage from Semarang. Indonesia.

Her kitchen.



Stages of grief.



Psalm 23



At satay palace.

Working on Eulogy.

Version 1.0

Bible Heros: Barnabas.


Who was Barnabas?

What was Barnabas like?

Being a Barnabas.


Encouraging one another.

Concluding remarks.

At Scorch-O-Rama.

Frying Up big wokful for 14 mouths.

Working on V2.0

The elephant in the room.

What we should talk about but don't.

People's skills ala Thomas Bolton.

Restricted Access.

Private message.

The three part assertive statement


Proverbs 31:10-31


Facets of the star of Joy 



Aida plotting the design,

Aida working on mum's "surfboard".


Hsi's favourite Tock Tock egg (6 minute, half boiled).

Hsi's famous kueh talam.


At Little Penang.

Yidee renders a tribute on the violin

Family meditation.

Su Min
Selene had a transcript of Helen’s testimony (given at church on 10 March 2013) – for you and Sing Yu.  It continues to speak. Hebrews 11:4b!
Blessings!
Jim
 
Subject: Fwd: My testimony (edited version)

In 2004, I had an operation for colon cancer. My surgeon wanted to tidy things up by giving me a small doze of chemotherapy but decided against it when he found out I was also a heart patient. Since then I had lived a fairly healthy and active life until middle of last year, when I began to feel lethargic, lacking in energy and motivation to do anything. I also had a persistent cough which I didn't pay much attention to. I finally went to the doctor's at my husband's insistence end of last year.

The long and short of it is that my cancer has come back with a vengeance and is now affecting my liver and lungs. My surgeon very quickly ordered a scan, followed by a liver biopsy. So I waited patiently for the results and for a consultation with my surgeon, scheduled for the 15th of January.

The Sunday before Xmas, during breakfast, I suddenly developed the shakes that went on for just over 20 minutes. I knew it was time to get to hospital. An xray showed I had a lung infection, and parts of my lungs had actually collapsed. I was warded, put on antibiotics and drips, and it was when the oncologist talked about palliative care that I suddenly realised My, this is getting serious! There was talk of radiotherapy for my lungs and chemotherapy for the liver, and wherever else the cancer might be lurking in my body.

I was soon settled comfortably into the oncology ward. I had my family with me daily , with soups and congee to tempt me. Our daughter made Leon and me a special X'mas lunch,with crackers, hats, and sparkling juice, as I had insisted that the rest of the family went for a pre booked Xmas lunch.

On boxing day, a radiotherapy doctor came to tell me that they had arranged for me to start radiotherapy on my right lung that very day. Have you ever heard of any decision and action being taken so quickly in a public hospital? I had 5 sessions of radiation on 5 consecutive days, and all the side effects that I was warned against, like nausea, burnt and blistering skin, a possible sorethroat, etc never happened. There is not even the slightest colouration on my skin.

Then the oncologist came to tell me more about chemotherapy and all its possible side effects. Lying there on the hospital bed with nothing much to do, the mind began to wander. Do I really want to go through all that? How much more time is it going to give me? It could be just a few months. Do I want to drag my whole family down this road with me? I spoke to the children. I wanted to know if they would support me should I decide to refuse treatment. It's my life, my decision.

The next morning, in my semi wakeful state, I had a revelation. Wrong! I was so wrong! If I truly believed that God got me into hospital earlier than scheduled, that God made it possible for me to have radiotherapy at such short notice, and for me to have come through it all unscathed,...... and I had been emailing friends from far and near to say, '' Don't  worry about me. I'm in good hands, God's hands''...... If I truly believed all that, then how dare I now say I want to make my own decision regarding my treatment! So that morning I handed everything over, to let God and the oncology team decide what the best treatment for me will be and I will go along with it. I felt such a sense of peace, and relief, with no sense of anxiety, no fear. That morning God taught me an important lesson in submission, submission to the God I have worshipped all my life, submission to a God who knows what is best for me. After that, this chorus just kept going around in my head. '' How marvellous , how wonderful , This my song shall ever be. How marvellous , how wonderful is my Saviour's love for me. ''

Then I had another revelation. I felt a strange detachment from my body, and I told myself, "My body is not me, and I am not my body. I am ME. I am spirit, I am soul." It matters not to me should I lose my hair. It matters not to me should my remaining days on earth be few or many. The only thing that matters is the fact that when this cancer riddled body finally gives up, I know where I 'll be going! I'll be going home, back to my creator.

Therefore I shall continue to sing this song through my treatment because it is true! God IS marvellous , God IS wonderful , and my Saviour has proven time and time again of His great love for me!

Dear friends, God is real! Jesus stands at the door and knocks, but He is not going to come charging in to take over our lives. WE have to make that all important decision and to take that courageous step TO OPEN THAT DOOR!! Then, and only then, can we experience just how real, up-close and personal He can get. So, that is my prayer for all of us, that we experience the reality of God in our lives, knowing  that it has all been made possible because Jesus died on the cross for the love of each and everyone of us. Amen.

Helen 



 
 
Email: Please usejimchew2005@gmail.com


Goh-father "organ-izers" the piano rendering "I stand amazed in the presence"


Aida reads the scripture passage
Psalm 51:10-17, KJV.


Bin Liong, flanked by Yodee and Aida, thanks the guests.


Jim Chew provounces the benediction .

Farewell at the crematorium
I did a ukulele Alohaoe

Sketch note at the beach.


Committing the mortal remains back to God.

So ends the unpacking of my Sketchnotes Eulogy to my "Star of Joy" friend.