Ya,.. Finally going to finish my work for the day. and "YES" Mr. Brown is back in Singapore with his witty comments on stuff. Been waiting for a long time for his blog on singapore issue. I think my colleagues at work is labelling me as anti-PAP, due to all the negative things I said about them. But it's really quite hard to find the other side of the story in Singapore in the local papers (got what i mean?).

And finally Ya,.. gg Taiwan on Tuesday, can't wait to see what Leah gg to do to her poor parent when we are on the plane and in Taiwan. Gg to be a fun trip with the family.

Will bring food back guys. see ya..

Birthdays... a celebration of grace

ever thought about it? why do we celebrate birthdays? especially since it will signify the whitening of more hairs, the deepening of more facial lines and the widening of spare tyres when we finally hit passed the peak year.

well, to me, the celebration of birthdays is the celebration of grace, of God's grace. Grace that has led us through another year of ups and downs. Grace that he has sustained and helped us grow physically and emotionally. Grace seen in the mundane everyday things of life that we often take for granted such as being able to wake up in the morning with our hearts still beating, lungs still working, blood still flowing etc.

and on the 12th of oct 2008, my family and i celebrate the birthday of our one-year old precious. God's grace is evident and amazing. how much she has grown! in every aspect!

the day began.... as usual, she woke up early with her hair ruffled and she smiling...

then we got her ready for church... and while we got ready, we caught her rummaging through our wardrobe...


we proceeded to macdonald's and it was the first time she ate hotcakes!




we had our little family celebration after church. Her cake was made by my sister and the cupcakes were made by me.










as you can see, our birthday girl was very grouchy and she was very tired from entertaining everyone on that day!

and lastly, everyone, this is the image of God's grace:

Vweekly

This is not a blog about Leah's birthday party, the wife wanted to blog about it, so I'll leave it to her to share with you on the fun things we had on that day.
Brought some wonderful cupcakes the wife made for my daughter to work today, it's supposed to be for some colleagues of mine. But quite a handful of them were unable to eat it today, why? It's not because they had left me high volume of workloads nor are they in my bad books. It's just that they had met with an accident on their way to KL. I don't think they are even half way to their final destination when the car crash. Thank God that they are not seriously injured, I think the worst case is chest pain (not sure if it's broken lar). The funny thing was, I had msg this one colleague on sunday night and reminded her to bring some books for my reading pleasure, and she replied me saying that she will if she's able to find where the books are hiding. And that was the day when she had the accident. Well to be more accurate they had the accident in the morning and I msg her at night. To her it's like nothing unusual or big and she's even thinking of going to work the next day. haha good for you lar Ms Ding. Voted the strongest survivor in APP.
Today Tristan said " I.. I wan..wanna... go...(long pause) gu gu (that's me ok) hous (ya that's the way he say house)" and he really mean it even said goodbye to mama and papa hahah. " I.. I.. wan.. wanna.. gu gu car..cari" Full of requests today.
Min Min stands without support today.. Twice.. not random ok. my hope of her walking when we are in Taiwan is still strong. May the force be with her. haha

Lost any phone recently?

It really is amazing! This is the fourth time in this month (and it's only been 2 weeks) that I've heard my closest people losing their phone. In order of timing, my colleague, my sister in law, my brother in law and lastly the wife. I think the last is the funniest. It happened today at my home, after we had finish making the icing for the cupcakes that is supposed to be for my daughter birthday on Sunday, the wife ask where is her phone? Tried calling her number, thinking that it might be somewhere in the house (the wife re-stated again to me now that it couldn't be possibly outside as her last msg was to me and it was done inside the house), but the phone was off. Next we tried searching high and low for it, thinking that it might be in some place or corner where there is no reception or my daughter had actually switch it off while playing with it (amazing rite? she's barely one yr old). But still nothing is found. The next crazy idea came into our mind, Tes (our helper) keeps saying that it might be in the newspaper that was laid out on the table when we were having our dinner, and she could have throw it away while clearing it. Must say that she is very persistent in claiming it, so we decided to go down to the rubbish chute, Yes you got it right THE RUBBISH CHUTE, armed with four plastic bags (to cover our hands while searching for the phone in the rubbish chute) and a touch light to light the place up. I shall not go into detail on that, just say that it's not a clean sight and it's a "dirty" job for both of us. Not in there either.

So in the end told Tes to look for it tomorrow when she is cleaning the house, still think that my genies daughter switch it off and hide it somewhere, going to grill her tomorrow to find out where it is.
Really hope to find the phone for the wife, she quite like that Nokia Phone.

Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH!! 2 more days to go to your birthday.

What is man? (人算什么？）

The sermon topic on Sunday " Looking up at the moon that God had hung in the sky". The speaker remind us, what is man? I think the Chinese translation will explain in better <人算什么？> When we look at the the celestial, we see the magnificent sight the heaven holds; the stars twinkling in the sky, the moon shining up in heaven. It really makes us wonder, what are we? We are so tiny compare to all these. If God had not bless and interact with us, what are we?

In Psalm King David wrote, " When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings an crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beast of the field, the birds of heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea." Psalm 8:3-8

In the end what can we say? King David ended with this sentence, " O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all earth." He praised Him and return all glory and honor back to God. That makes we ponder how could I return all glory and honor back to God in my daily life.
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My nephew is so cute, today when we are going back home his mummy gave him a backpack to carry, oh boy, does he look cute in it. That little boy is a creation of God and it fully fit how I feel when I wrote the top post "人算什么？"

Tristan trying to spin around with his backpack

"Hmmm, which shoe goes well with my Ben Ten backpack?"

"ok really to go now, can't find any shoe that goes with my backpack"

Isn't he cute? Should also see him walk with that bag, can't really describe it with words, quote from the Mac'donald ads, " It's like ahhh, you know, when he walk it's like ahhh, you know." Must see to realize how cute he is.

Thank God...

The most amazing thing happened today. We were at 奶奶 & 爷爷 house for dinner. During the fruits eating time (yes over there we have fruits after our dinner, very healthy) my dear dear nephew tried to balance himself with both his hands on the glass table top. The table top has been in the family for a long time. My brother in law, seeing that it was not a wise thing to do, tried to stop him, and I am beside my nephew taking care of my daughter. Suddenly the table top gave way and smashed onto the floor, everything was chaotic after that. Everyone started to get worried and 爷爷 came over quickly and started to scold the two men for not taking good care of "TWO children", and carried my nephew away inspecting him for any injuries as the shattered glass is surrounding him. I for a split second carried my daughter away from the table which is like few inches away from her and the other hand tried holding on the the table preventing it from hitting to the ground or even landing on my nephew's feet.
Pieces of glass were everywhere and the family spent times to clean the place making sure the pieces of glass were cleared from the floor.
I know picture speaks a thousand words but I've no time to take so hope the narrative explains how lucky both kids were at that time. Really thank God for his protection for my family.

"My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do.
The mountain are his, the river are his, the stars are his wonder works too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do,
for you."

A day at the zoo

It's been years since i've been to the zoo. if not for our daughter, it will take another several more years. haha...

Preparing for breakfast and lunch

this was what we had for breakfast and lunch. made our own cos zoo stuff all very expensive:)

all ready to go!

Although i'm not an animal lover, i still marvelled at the beauty and creativity of God's creation. the big cats (ceetah, tigers, leapards) were especially beautiful. and the huge ones (elephants, polar bears, seagulls) made us seem so small. the colorful ones (mandrill, parrots) were amazingly bright...

the highlight of the day for me was the ride on the elephant! and also the privilege of watching (right in front of my face) the elephants do what we normally do in the toilet. Small business and big business at the same time. And they has LOTS stored in that body of theirs! It took quite some time before they're finally done. and we watched in fascination as well as disgust. too bad we didn't video it down as it was quite unexpected.


like i said, i haven't been to the zoo for years... so it was a surprise that besides the animals, there was also a playground for kids.

Shocked! first time sit swing!

enjoying the water!

dun wanna get out!

and after a long day, it was home sweet home!!

How nice if...

How nice if i can shop anytime i want to, without having to worry about money and time... How nice if i can purchase what i set my eyes on, without pangs of guilt and hesitance... How nice if i have a family car, to travel with ease, convenience and luxury... How nice if i have a house of my desire, big enough to invite friends and hold parties...

How nice if i can drink a cup of aromatic coffee without having to debate within myself whether starbucks or 3 in 1 is the "preferred" choice... How nice if i can laze in a cozy cafe curled up with a book and my favorite mocha on a quiet morning; nicer still with rain pattering the windows... How nice.....

I am but human and have these dreams and yearnings every now and then. if i look closely enough at those wishes, it seems to boil down to an important ingredient. yes, the M word, money. i will be going part time soon. do not be mistaken. it is a deliberate choice and i have no regrets. no regrets does not equal no worries. already my husband and i sometimes struggle with a full-time pay, what more a part time paycheck. the nice stuff written above will remain dreams...

but as i think deeper about the wants, i clearly know that these are not the things that will bring me satisfaction in life. how well many of us know the feeling of elusive pleasure. one moment we are beaming because we bought something that caught our eyes. the next moment the delight we felt disappears, leaving us with the dull aching and longing for eternal satisfaction.

the Lord has also been teaching me about the dangers of riches. from first hand experience, i had nearly lost my focus in life because i had set my sight on the "nice things" of life. very subtle attack. but i knew. i knew my vision has shifted and i knew that God brought me back on track. having what we perceive as "not enough" is very good at times, especially when it brings our view to the Provider and Ultimate satisfaction. not that i am advocating discontent. on the contrary, it is strength and wisdom to be content with whatever lot befalls us. this because we know we have much huger riches, the wealth of the soul. what is the wealth of the soul? that which is the relationship with the One who holds the key to all wealth.

How nice if we all know this wealth....