Coffee with Christine

I have been so busy that blogging kinda took a back seat....I am very excited about how many of you read my last post on marraige and your encouraging responses. Our family went through a somewhat difficult time recently and you can read about it here . Today I am sharing a much belated post of a coffee exhibition we went to last month. We saw all kinds of gadgets for coffee making and tasted all kinds of coffee....Thought I share some pictures with you - after all, my blog is christinencoffee :) This is the first time I saw green coffee beans in Malaysia.  Many of these beans are from Africa. This barista was showing us how to make coffee with this cloth filter coffee maker, the Chemex - very expensive but not much different from our parents' old fashion coffee strainer!!  However, she was very diligent and her coffee making was an exact science - 23g coffee, specific temperature and brew time! I am not sure how the smoothies managed to sneak into a ...

Recently I posted a picture of myself and a beautiful bouquet of flowers,,,,It was one of those special moments in our marriage. I had been feeling pressured with an unending to do list and preparing for a missions trip. I was sharing with Tony how stressed I was before leaving to have a quick dinner with Vickie. When I returned home, Tony suprised me with this beautiful bouquet. He just wanted to bless and encourage me.  Yes, he's sweet and thoughtful and let me just put it out there once and for all, HE IS ALL MINE :) I was surprised by the number of people who liked the post. I suppose many are "curious" what a pastor's marriage look like...is it perfect? Is it easier because both of us are pastors? I thought I share a few pictures and thoughts on the subject.   Firstly, our marriage is not perfect - it's just like yours - there are always up and downs, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the sweet and sour! In many ways, a ministers...

Tony was in Medan and I found myself at Tabernacle of David as the team was giving their testimonies on the Cambodian trip and had a slide presentation; After the service, many were interested in future trips!  Exciting times ahead! During one of tuk tuk ride in the evening, Christine Yap whipped out her fancy smancy super bright flashlight to help us climb onto the tuk tuk. She told me that it was a gift from Pastor David.  During lunch, I mentioned to Pas David about the flashlight and he ended up giving me 4!! These are expensive flashlights but super duper bright.   When I got home, I had fun playing with them and almost blinding my family! I LOVE gadgets :) My sister, Ann, told me to get this for my tennis elbow...I did but it didn't help :( I received this cute Baby Shower invite from our good friend in Tennessee.  I feel so blessed to have friends in many parts of the world and how we can celebrate with each other even though we mi...

One of the burden that the Lord placed in our hearts since we returned to missions full time is to take teams to the missions team to encourage the missionaries and also to expose churches to misisons opportunities. Recently, I took a team from  Tabernacle of David  to Battambang, Cambodia.  It was such a joy for me to do that as that is the church I grew up in!     We landed in Siam Reap on a beautiful sunny day! We then were on the road for 3 hours to Battambang, our missions destination. Our tasks were to teach in pastors' conference, a teachers' training and teaching in preschool. It is amazing how the Lord put the team together and everyone was operating in their giftings and talents. This is Mui Leng, with 17 years of preschool experience teaching in a village church. She was such a good teacher that she got me really engrossed in her story about the Good Shepherd! The kids were so attentive too. We rode about an hour on motorbike to reach...