Strengthening Family

In God's will, I landed at Auckland International Airport on 29 August 2009 1130am. Hours later, I checked into my house ( a motel-like apartment unit ) at St. Johns, Auckland and united with my 3 beautiful princess ( Goldie, Sylvia and Sarah ) plus a cutie grand daughter ( Baby Tiffany ) for a two weeks vacation in NZ.


Here I am posing in front of my house and parking next to me is Mr. Toyota Camry which we bought in December 2003 when my girls are studying in Dunedin, Otago. We still own a 3 bed rooms house there ( pic below ) under the care of Edinbrugh Property Manangement. Rent $NZ300 per week. The house is vacant at the moment.








Now in the evening, I am at the junction of St. Johns Road / Felton Mathew Ave which is about 50 meters away from my house. Auckland City Centre with her distinctive Sky City is seen at the back ground, taking 15 minutes driving or 12 minutes by train to reach. The bus stop to the Auckland Harbour City is just next to my house.

Since then I attended many rounds of shopping therapy at the Botany Town Centre, Mt. Wellington, Sylvia Park and Pakuranga plus having lots of fun with my 8 months old Tiffany.

There goes the saying that to be a master, learn from the master. Experienced an one hour strengthening family meeting session together with my beloved youngest daughter Sarah. We were clients to an expert psychologist Rosemary and Yogie, a caring social care worker from Whirinaki Mental Health Care Centre at Botany. A touching moment, very emotional. We discussed about acceptance, self esteem, future plannings, unfinished business, expectations and past experiences. Guess I and my dear half feel so guilty to send our little Sarah oversea at an age so young and left her entirely on her own and occasionally under the care of her two elder pharmacist sisters living at different places. She missed tons of parental love. Anyway as parents, we are so blessed with our 3 lovely daughters and we vowed to look after them, take care of them and pray for them and family till the end of the world.

Dear friends. Life is so short. Please make yourself best out of today. Joy is found when giving joys to others. Love and you will be loved. There are so many organisations and good peoples out there who are willing to lend a helping hand. And Strengthening Families is just another one in NZ. I am proud to be a PR here. They are so organised and ready to accept you without conditions.

Strengthening Families is a family welfare support group which helps you sort thing out when life's challenges weigh you down. It brings together the agencies that can help your family dan deal with your concerns. You help decide which agencies will be at the meetings and you can bring family members (whanau in Maori ) and friends for support. By having everyone together at the same time, you only have to tell your story once.

At the first meeting, you talk about what is important to your family and what you want to see happen. The agencies invited to be there will talk about how they will assist you and your family. Together you and the agencies will develop a plan to help you achieve your goals. This plan identifies what everyone will be doing in the days and weeks ahead. Following-up meeting will be held to ensure the plan is working for you.

Benefits of Strengthening Families are family friendly, voluntary for families, respectful of cultural diversity and good at helping families connect with their community.