Happy 49th!

For the whole of Term 3 thus far, the kids have been learning National Day songs in school.

Every day I've been regaled with versions of Majulah Singapura, We Are Singapore, Count On Me Singapore, Home (English version and the chorus in Chinese), Reach Up For The Skies, 我的家在陋巷, In A Heartbeat, and One Singapore. There have been accurate versions (Noey) and not-so-accurate (Mei). But whether accurate or not, they have certainly been sung with gusto.

The kids had a lot of fun celebrating National Day at kindy last Saturday, with the celebration being combined with a mini-games day for the school. Singing and waving flags was definitely one of the highlights.

Tomorrow, they will sing the songs for the last time, before we pack them away for another year. We don't have tickets to the NDP, so we will be watching the parade at home. I toyed with the idea of dragging everyone out to catch the fireworks live, but in the end, I decided I didn't want to miss the rest of the show. In my childhood and teenage years, it was a tradition in my family to watch the parade together on telly while munching on pizzas. This year, my parents have their own plans but I'll be reviving a part of that at home with the kids. We'll watch, sing, eat, and say a little prayer for this land that we live in and, despite all that we might gripe about, love. 

Happy 49th Birthday Singapore!

Festive Greetings for the Year of the Horse!

祝福您

事业马到成功

好运万马奔腾

身体人强马壮

工作一马平川

生意车水马龙

开心马不停蹄

生活龙马精神!

(Phrases courtesy of Noey's Kindy Chinese teacher, to whom I am very grateful for sorting me out this new year!)

Happy Lunar New Year to one and all!

Hello 2014!

Starting the year right with some sand and sea, and not too much sun at all! Coming from us in Singapore, that is simply glorious weather and I'm glad we managed to make the most of it today.

I have more thoughts and reflections to pen, but that would have to wait, as my resolution for the year ahead is to Make Time For The Things That Matter. And that means putting down my phone and setting aside my laptop, living less online and more in real time with friends and family. It means making time to read my bible, do my BSF homework, and more time spent in prayer and reflection. It means planning and doing and getting my house in order. (And ok, I hope to squeeze in some exercise too!)

I started last night by putting aside the computer because the husband was awake and in a chatty mood. I decided to spend some time with him instead, and it was good.

That is not to say I will not be continuing with this blog. Writing in this space has become so much a part of my life, I can't imagine not doing so. But in the year ahead, I hope to find a better balance between blogging and all the other things going on in my life. I hope to sleep more too so it will be a challenge! 

2014. I have a feeling you'll be an interesting year, and a good one.

Happy New Year One and All!

Blessed Christmas!

Joy to the World
The Lord is Come!
Let Earth receive her King!

May the great gift of God be ever present in your thoughts and minds this day. Blessed Christmas, one and all!

Cards for Christmas

This year, I had to put aside all ideas for a homemade Christmas, no thanks to a fair bit of inertia. Whereas I'm usually picking up stuff or planning my gifts in October or November, this year, I waited till we were well into December before I started panicking. So there are no homemade gifts, and I barely managed to get something for everyone on my list. But I still wanted the kids to make a little something for their grandparents, so the kids and I made a couple of cards.

Naomi chose the tapes and cut the lengths, and both she and Noey did some pasting. Of course, they ran off after a while -- right about when they realised it was not a play-with-as-much-tape-as-you-like-session that they thought it was! So I was left to finish the work myself. It's a simple idea, but I think it came out quite prettily. Yes, I'm in love with washi, like the rest of the world!

It has been a busy few weeks for me, and I'm looking forward to winding down with family to see out the year. Well, that's the plan anyway!

From our family to yours, have a wonderful blessed Christmas. In the midst of making merry, let's not forget that He is the reason for the season.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
~ Romans 15:13

Welcoming 2013

I wanted to end the year with a round-up-sum-up of the year gone by, but in truth, my head wasn't in the right place.

I've been grumpy and frustrated for days. And restless and unhappy.

I couldn't pinpoint the reason why. But after talking it through with the husband, we realised that I've been tired, lonely and I need a break.

2012 has been a tiring year. It's been busy yet filled with boring lulls, fulfilling yet full of the mundane. There is much I wish to say and recap on, but it'll have to wait. Instead, in the lead up to midnight,  I put away my computer and spent some time just talking to my husband for a long while. I think we both needed that.

It's time for me to hit the sack. Recaps and new resolutions will have to wait till tomorrow. (Or, knowing me, next week!)

In the meantime, here's wishing one and all the best in the year ahead.

HAPPY 2013!

Blessed Christmas One & All

It's Christmas morning and I'm sitting with the Christmas music playing, waiting for the kids to wake up.

My ham is baking in the oven, and on the counter, a fruit cake sits cooling off, ready to be packed asa gift for my Dad. 

Life is good. And surprisingly peaceful!

It's been a tiring lead-up to Christmas this year. There's been the daily buzz of activity, but what has taken its toll are the long weeks of mostly single parenting on my part as the husband was consumed by work. He's finally done, just in time for Christmas, and everything is right with the world now. The kids have certainly missed their Daddy and I've certainly missed him too.

Christmas is a time for family, and I plan to be spending it with mine. 

Above all, however, Christmas is about Christ. And we all plan to be celebrating Him on this day too. 

Wishing one and all a Blessed Christmas.

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

~Isaiah 9:6

New Life in Him

It is Good Friday today.

We asked Noey what we remember on Good Friday was and he was very prompt with his answer:

"Jesus died on the cross for our sins."

I hope that in the years to come, he will know this in his heart and not merely on his lips.

For this day, I love the beautiful passage in Isaiah 53. It is particularly apt. The wonderful prophecy of the Messiah made real in the person of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus indeed died on the cross for our sins, that we might have new life in Him.

Easter awaits!

(Yes, that's me, and that's the egg for new life!)

Ushering in the Dragon

I have always had a love-hate relationship with Chinese New Year. I love the food -- steamboat! yu sheng! love letters! bak kwa! kum! -- and hate the obligations and burdens on my time. Maybe it's a sign of age, but as the years go by, I find that I don't mind Chinese New Year quite as much as I used to, once upon a time. The question: "Why meet relatives whom we only see once a year?" has slowly, over the years been answered -- "At least we meet these relatives once year." I guess after year upon year of visits and interaction, I have found that relationships do develop, when you make the effort.

Also, with the children around, I feel more of a need to connect with family and ensure that they know their roots. The fact that I now seldom get the chance to meet my Uncles and Aunties (especially those on my Dad's side), some of whom I am quite fond of, has made me way more sentimental about the opportunity that Chinese New Year affords to do just that.

Yes, I really am getting old, aren't I?

Because of the little ones, we were spared the full schedule of visiting because we needed to factor in their naps. We still had a tiring couple of days, and I definitely complained, but it had it's moments and I can honestly say that I did enjoy it. Noey was a good sport about it all. He still has a nonchalant attitude towards ang pows -- long may that continue! -- but he enjoyed meeting his 2nd cousins at all the homes we went to, and of course, all the Chinese New Year snacks he was treated to. "During Chinese New Year, I can drink Green Tea!" he insisted. He also very obligingly performed his 恭喜, 恭喜, 恭喜你 song, and also another 新年好 song when asked. Repeatedly, when he was asked by his proud grandparents to sing for everyone. I was honestly quite impressed that his school had managed to teach him these songs in the 3 weeks that he'd been there!

And Naomi, she was a trooper. This girl is really a people person. She just gets so excited when everyone is around. She was full of smiles and REFUSED to sleep, only to crash within minutes of hitting her carseat. Thankfully she wasn't cranky. She also endeared herself to all and sundry by allowing them to carry her. This was her first Chinese New Year and I think she enjoyed it. She certainly enjoyed all the illegal treats she was fed!

The main festivities are over, so now all that remains is for us to catch our breath and eat all the yu sheng we (ok, I) can before the season is over.

祝大家龙年幸福，快乐！

Little Ang Pow Girl

LUNAR NEW YEAR WISHES

FROM US AND OUR LITTLE ANG POW GIRL!

Now tell me, is there an uncanny resemblance or what??

Christmas Greetings

From our family to yours.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

~ Romans 15:13

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

~ Luke 2:14

Staycation Vacation

We're on a mini-break for National Day! Both in celebration of our nation and the fact that we survived the month without our helper! Hah.

Seriously, it's just been too long since our last holiday and when I failed to get tickets for the national day parade yet again, I decided to splurge a little bit and get us a room with a view of the parade and the fireworks. It's also an early celebration of DD's birthday, which is coming up shortly.

It's Naomi's first holiday, and the crucial question is: Will she be able to sleep well when not in her own bed? We're about to find out!



We want to sleep on this bed!

Happy National Day everyone! I hope you get a good break too!

迎春接福

I think all the recent wet weather has forced me to be a wee bit more creative with our indoor activities. I chanced on this post while surfing and thought, "hey, Noey and I can totally do that!". And so we did!

I used double-sided tape to construct the word 福 on a piece coloured paper. I guess the traditional choice would have been red, but I didn't have any red paper (since I decided to do this craft on a whim), so I used orange paper instead.

Then I turned it over to Noey for his favourite part -- peeling off the white tape to reveal the sticky surface. He absolutely loves doing this. I guess it also trains his fine motor skills?

Peel, peel peel...

When the tape is all peeled off, it's time for the glitter! Noey demonstrates the vigourous flicking required in order to get the stuff out. (I had created a really tiny hole cos DD has this real aversion to glitter which, as we all know, gets everywhere.)

When the glitter is on the page, use fingers to spread it around and unto the sticky tape.

Noey's Jiujiu pitches in to try to show Noey how it should be done.

Noey is however more concerned about all the shiny stuff on his fingers...

Noey got this done real quick -- finishing his tea-time milk took longer in fact -- and it looks pretty good! And now if you ask him what the word is, he'll say "fú?" in his funny little accent. All in a day's (or half an hour's) work!

And we're just in time to add this to our fish for this CNY!

With the 1st day of the Lunar New Year upon us, here's wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!

新年快乐, 万事如意!

Christmas Tidings

Have a good one everyone. I know one carol-singing little boy who will!

New Clothes for the New Year

One of the traditions that my mother has always kept is getting us new clothes for the New Year. Her tales of how as a child she used to get new clothes only once a year during the New Year still remain etched in my mind.

Of course we are more fortunate these days and get new clothes as and when we want. Still, I try to make it a point to get something new for the New Year. (Ok, so I don't really need an excuse to shop.)

This year I was determined to put Noey in a ching-chong outfit just for the occasion. Finding this outfit however proved much tougher than I'd expected. As usual, there were plenty of nice options for little girls, but for boys, they were few and far between. I was about to give up hope when trusty OG saved the day. The best part is that it's made of cotton and not that sticky and hot satin material. Noey looked quite the part!

My little Chinese boy, all dressed for the Lunar New Year festivities! The hat is from his GuMa, who bought it from Chinatown.

And he was a hit with the relatives, especially with his gong-xi hand gestures which he generously and obligingly dished out.

It's been a hectic couple of days and I'm glad to say: we survived!

Hope everyone had a good start to the new year and best wishes for the Tiger Year ahead.

"Ang Pow!"
The latest phrase in Noey's vocabulary. We didn't even try to teach him this one -- he just repeated after my Sister and that was it. He really knows which words to pick up! (And of course he got loads of them red packets!)

Christmas Greetings

Amidst the feasting and festivities, don't forget that He is the reason for the season.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
~ Isaiah 9:6

May you find Christ in your Christmas this season. Blessed Christmas One and All!

Chinese New Year Greetings!

Welcome 2009

We welcomed in 2009 in the hushed dimmed confines of our hall, just DD, Noey and I. He was fussing a bit and we were trying to get him to sleep. So we did a quiet countdown, gave each other a kiss and one for baby, sang a whispered auld lang syne and that was that. That has to count as the smallest and simplest celebration of the new year that we've ever had!

But it wasn't a measure of the year gone by, for 2008 was a really good year for us and will always be marked by Noey's birth. We'd spent most of the year in eager anticipation of our little baby and that culminated in his arrival in October. To think that we'd started the year with plans to escape the country for Chinese New Year -- for the first time ever, I might add -- in part to avoid the "so when are you going to have a baby?" questions! The joke was on us when we came back from our holiday and discovered that I was expecting.

Since he's been here our lives have not been the same, both in ways that I appreciate and ways which I'm still adjusting to. Having to replace our study with a baby room has left us a little short of storage. Getting live-in domestic help has also been a huge adjustment, especially in the confines of our little apartment. And I still haven't progressed to the point where I can go shopping with baby and concentrate on shopping -- instead I'm constantly looking at him and worrying about whether he's comfortable, or if he's hungry, needs a change, is tired or needs anything else. All that makes shopping (and other activities) rather difficult! I don't feel like myself yet, though I'm trying and I know it'll get better with time.

But then I look at his little face, I know nothing will make me want to return him, which is a good thing since I definitely can't! Since he's arrived, family ties have certainly improved, though we still run into the odd hiccup along the way. Everyone loves Noah dearly and the support offered by our immediate families has been great. And DD has been an absolute rock. He's constantly looking out for me and trying to do what he can to help, not just in looking after Noah, but also to help me find my feet, like taking time off to bring me out cos he knows I'm feeling the constraints of being stuck at home. And of course, he loves his little boy to bits. Now if only he'll actually HEAR Noey when he cries in the middle of the night... (Yes, amazingly DD can sleep through Noah's yelps and cries at night even though the cot is right beside our bed. And I know he's not bluffing cos I still hear him snoring!) But I know I only need to ask (and poke) him and he'll be up to help get what I need. I could never do this without him and I love him for it.

Noah aside, the Lord blessed us with plenty this year. We had an excellent holiday in the US in Apr -- our last big holiday before the baby -- during which I turned 30. It was the quietest birthday I've had in years, celebrated just with DD and without family and friends or my "usual surprise birthday party", but it was special. I just realised I never blogged about it! There was our gorgeous room at The Signature, David Copperfield in the afternoon and "O" at night, and dinner at the Picasso at Bellagio, and a surprise in the form of a huge arrangement of 30 roses from the hubby. But the thing that brought tears to my eyes was a letter he wrote to Noah after I'd gone to bed the night before which he read to me in the morning. There was no more memorable way I wanted to turn 30.

On the work front, I must admit that I went through most of the year feeling like I was serving notice since I was happily looking forward to my maternity at the end of the year. That did make the pain a little more bearable. Most of my colleagues were also super supportive and tried to spare me stress and additional work where possible, which was something I really appreciated.

As for friends, it was somewhat of a mixed year. Closer ties were forged with many though some have fallen by the wayside somewhat. One friendship in particular continues to affect me quite a bit with it's cooling though I pray that things will one day be the same again. I wish them well in any case. One of my best friends got married, and while I'm totally happy for her, her move away to another country has left a void I am finding hard to fill. But on the other hand, having Noah has also brought me closer to other Mummy friends, some of whom are old friends/classmates whom I haven't spoken to in years. That is something that has been great and I'm hoping that in the I would have the opportunity to develop further in the new year.

I'm not sure what 2009 will bring. From a worldly point of view, the outlook seems bleak (or at least that's what everyone is saying!). But I'm not going to worry about that, cos I know who holds tomorrow, and with Him holding our hands, we have nothing to fear. Happy New Year everyone! Here's to 2009!

=============
I don't know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.

I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

Blessed Christmas

Wishes for a Blessed Christmas to One and All! May your Christmas be filled with much love and laughter, peace and joy. Happy Holidays.