Living out Faith

It has been freezing from last week and the freezing weather is probably going to continue for another week. Guess, probably till we fly back to Singapore for Chinese New Year. Last Friday, we had a school picnic. The whole school went to some picnic ground in Fan Ling, somewhere near to the border of China. Boy, was it freezing and on top of that, it rained as well. It was really cold and for the first time, I missed Spore's weather. Saturday came and we caught up with Stanley briefly in Tung Chung. Well, he was really cold too. Let's just say that the weather was so cold to the point that on Monday, we had enough of sleeping in cold that we went out to get an electric blanket. Finally, a warm and nice bed. Normally, I love winter. But I've realised that in HK, winter is not the same. When I was living in Gold Coast, Perth and Sydney, winter was cold but there was the sun as well. I could see the bright sunny sun and nice clear blue skies. But in HK, it's just not the ...

This is just the third week of January and already I've received news of the passing of two persons that I knew in Singapore. Wonder if there are more deaths to come this year. Yes, I'm getting a little morbid again. Well, last week, mum told me that an acquaintance that I knew from church passed on. She's actually the mother of Joanne and Joe's good friends, Jon Nair's mother. Joanne and Joe hang out with Jon and Selena quite a bit and of course Joanne and Joe spent time with the family. Apparently she passed on suddenly. It was pretty sudden that Jon and Selena had to fly back from the UK to attend to the mum's funeral. Yesterday, on msn, Babe told me that mum called in the morning to tell him that Uncle David passed on. Babe told me and for the moment I was kinda stunned. Uncle David was dad's cousin and was the son of our favourite granduncle. He was quite close to us. It was just six years ago that I attended the funeral of his older brother. Feel sad f...

As you know, I love watching television. I really love watching television. The television at home is turned on all the time. I guess this must have stemmed from childhood when my parents plonked us in front of the television to keep us occupied. I even think my strange mish mash accent of American, Australian and Singaporean came from way too much telly! Anyway, that's not the point. Our current favourite shows are Jon and Kate plus 8 and Amazing Race. Watching telly for me is not just for entertainment but I do learn heaps from just watching telly. With Jon and Kate plus 8, I watch the relationships grow between Jon and Kate and their 8 kids. 8 kids is a lot of kids, you know. I watch and learn how the parents try their best to have respect for each other and at the same time, try their best to bring up the kids. It's not easy having so many little ones. Sure, there are times that Kate seems a little neurotic but who can blame her? I would like to see the people who actually ...

We went for an adoption workshop last night. It was on telling about adoption and root tracing. Have to say that it was interesting and it did set me thinking about things in perspective and more importantly, my reality of adoption is somewhat altered to true reality. Not sure if there's such a thing as true reality. During the workshop, we had group discussions on the two topics. I guess telling the child that he or she is adopted is a lot easier than talking about root tracing. Babe and my stand, we want to tell the child as early as possible that he or she is adopted. We'd rather the truth comes from us than from a third party. We want the relationship between child and us to be based on truth and not covered lies. We were also told that it's important to let the child know of their history and whatever details that we have. But there were queries on, what if the child was truly abandoned, dumped in a rubbish bin or his or her mother was raped or a victim of incest. What...

Just got a text from Joanne that they put Peanut to sleep. Talked to Joanne 2 nights ago and she was already mentioning that Peanut was not going to make it. Called last night and she sounded bad, she was at the vet. And this morning, the text. Well, in a way, I am little sad but then again, Peanut led a long life. And it is better that he's no longer suffering. His liver and kidney weren't working. Goodbye Peanut, I'll miss you. Hopefully, mum is not crying her eyeballs out.

Peanut has been sick for a couple of days. He was already a little sick when we left Singapore. Last night, mum texted to say that Peanut was really sick. He has kidney and liver failure. For those who don't know. Peanut is one of our family dogs. You probably know it by now that I love dogs since I was brought with in a family filled with dogs. Peanut is one of my favourite dogs. When Peanut was born, I was not in Singapore. I was still studying in Australia. Think I was only in my first year at uni. That goes to show how old Peanut and I are! Peanut's mummy is Blackie. Blackie decided to walk out one day and never to return. We guess, she went off to die. Peanut was born with Billy. The first time I met Peanut and Billy was when my family picked me up from the airport and my sisters brought the puppies in a basket to the airport. They were so so cute! Tammy is Peanut's father. He died of a stroke about 6 years ago. Yes, I had and still have quite a number of dogs. About 3...

Been thinking and reflecting of the year that passed so quickly that I can't believe that a new year has arrived. Like in one of my previous posts, I wonder, what have I done, learnt and achieved? There's lots, I guess and maybe too much to blog about. One of the highlights of the year, we got Happy. And she brings happiness to our lives! Very corny, I know. Another highlight, the decision to adopt. Will keep everyone updated on that as well. Made a trip to the States to see my cousins and best friend. And most recently, renewed friendships with friends from uni that I've not seen for years. The past year was a year of trusting the Lord. Real trusting. Somewhere in the middle of the year, Babe made the decision to take a break from work as he was very unhappy with his job. Having prayed about it and thought hard over it and discussed about it, he tendered his resignation letter without having a job lined up for him. The plan was for him to do his masters, put the adoption o...

So after about 10 days in Singapore, I'm back in Hong Kong. Glad to be back. Did heaps and heaps in Singapore. This is my cousin, Zhi Wei. We attended his wedding. Lovely boy and his pretty wife. Doesn't he look handsome and his bride beautiful? We stayed in Fullerton Hotel on 28 to 31 of December. It was a nice hotel but a little out from the city. This was taken from the pool. The view is great though! We checked into Mandarin Oriental on 31st. We went swimming in the pool with my godsons, Jim and Sean. It was great catching up with them and knowing that they have grown more matured and sensible. Love them heaps! Miss them. Can't wait to see them over Chinese New Year again. Fireworks from our room. It was nice of Mandarin Oriental to give us a room with the view for the fireworks. The boys were so excited. Well, Mum and Joanne also enjoyed themselves. This is the day view from our room. Sean came into room and started yelling, look, look at the durian! Well, we had a gre...