Living out Faith

Yes, it's been a long time since I've updated my blog. The busyness of life got the better of me. We're back in Spore for the Christmas holidays. So far so good. Not complaining or actually will stop complaining. Caught up with some friends and it dawned upon me that I don't seem to appreciate Babe enough at times. A couple of friends told me that their marriages broke down, a few told me that mutual friends of ours have cheated on their spouses. And then conversation shifts to fathers not very involved in parenting and not appreciating the efforts that the wife puts in and the list goes on. And then, the topic of gifts came up too. And I sat back and listen and look at myself. I've got a great deal! Sorry, rather God really blessed me with Babe. He hasn't done anything that I believe would make be suspicious of him. He's been very involved with little Baba and sometimes too involved as little Baba sometimes misses him too much. And Babe has always been ve...

It's just probably an hour or so ago that it dawned upon me that our wedding anniversary falls in the week of Thanksgiving. It's funny how only after ten years of being married that it hit me. Maybe God's telling and reminding me something. God has been very gracious towards us in our marriage. I'm very humbled and grateful at how God consistently reminds me of His goodness towards us in this area. I've mentioned this many times that Babe and me are very different, polar opposites people and to stay committed and married to each other takes more than just tolerance. God played and still plays a major role in our marriage. The truth is that there are times that I thought that we're never going to make it through those tough patches. But God in His mercy and graciousness provided me a man that's quite the opposite of me. Although I'm such an opposite of Babe, he accepts and loves me the way I am. Everyone that knows Babe knows that he's a man of fe...

Dear Grandpa, It's been a long time since I've written you a letter. Things are kinda the same but yet different in some ways. There're lots of times that I wished that you're around to see how much you have taught us. Yes, even in your absence you're still teaching us. Guess your legacy will always be around. I'm always ever thankful that I'm the oldest in the family because I got to meet and know you and know how much you have loved us. So grandma lives with us. I guess she's happy most of the time. She hangs out with Jojo and she's like a playmate to Jojo and she is always delighted to see little Baba too. I'm thankful that every time I head home, I get to hang out with Grandma. Her health is fine, except for her memory. Grandpa, thanks, I'm always ever grateful that you and grandma adopted mummy. When three of us got baptized, mummy decided to name us, Faith, Hope and Amanda, which means love. She did a great job naming her kids. I ...

So a couple of days before my 38th birthday, I was looking into the mirror and then I noticed, horror of horrors....wrinkles on my forehead! Yes, tiny little wrinkles staring back and smirking at me! And of course, I told Babe and his reply, 'You're getting old, you know that right?' Yes, got to love my Babe! And then he proceeded to remind me that I'm hitting 38. I have to admit that I hate the process of aging. Seriously hate wrinkles and if I can have it my way, I would go and zap every one of those freaking wrinkles away. But the reality is that, I won't be doing that in the near future. So, I've got to start getting used to these wrinkles of mine. But these wrinkles or rather me getting another year older reminds me of God's blessings upon me and my family. Love, I'm very thankful that over these years, not just these years, but rather the day God brought me to this world, He has constantly showered me with love. He has lavishly love me and brou...

About a month ago, little Baba and I headed back to Spore to surprise mum for her birthday. We had an extremely long weekend. It was really hard to pull off a stunt like this. I speak to mum almost every day and it's hard to pretend that we're not heading home. Anyway, we pulled it off and mum was majorly excited and beyond happy! Anyway, I digress as usual. This is post not about mum's birthday but to a certain extend, it's kinda related. So after surprising mum, I drove Jacqui's car with Jacqui at the back with little Baba to my mother in law's place for little Baba to hang out with her. While in the car, Jacqui and I were just chatting and talking nonsense as usual and Jacqui turned to little Baba and asked, 'So Didi, do you want to be a economist when you grow up?' And I said, 'No, he's going to a missionary doctor going to Africa!' And what happened next kinda changed some things. Jacqui kinda exclaimed something like, 'Do you know...

I know over the years, I've blogged quite a bit about friends. And once again, the topic of friends came to mind recently. And I've been thinking about it and realized that God really has blessed me with friends when my extended family is not around and even with my extended family around, God still blessed with with wonderful friends. On 28th of September, little Baba and I flew back to Singapore for a long weekend. It was a surprise for my mum for her birthday too. Well, actually Mum and Dad's birthdays, their birthdays are just a few days apart. Mum was beyond shocked and of course she was superbly happy! Anyway, fast forward, a night before we left Singapore, we had dinner with a couple of our friends. We had dinner with Stanley and Dorcas, who are Baba's godparents (Eve is also Baba's godma), Adrian and Cindy and Mum and Joanne. And the kids, Victoria, Joanne and Baba. While having dinner, it hit me, the guys that were at dinner, I've known them for mor...

Yes, the blog is still kinda alive....Been caught up with life and well, been busy too. Been at the new school for about a month and love it so far. Learning lots from the kids and there are days that I walk away feeling a little sad knowing that some of the kids do not have much but most of the time, I walk away from work feeling glad that I've made the right decision. I've been thinking about the haves and the have nots. As a child, I've never really been part of the haves but over the years, the family got into the middle of the haves. But we're still not really the haves. I wouldn't say that we're the haves now but rather we're in the category that we can be the haves if we want and be happy as the have nots. It wouldn't kill me that I can't have the designer bag that I like or the nice watch. My basic needs are met and I'm happy. But as I work with some of the have nots, it pains me at times. Some of the kids that I work with live in sub...

Dear Little Baba, Ma Ma is in one of her pensive moods again. Da Da's away and I guess this gives me a chance to have some quiet and to reflect on stuff. There's a couple of things that came to my mind this evening. One of them is obedience. Yes, it's kinda interesting that I'm going to be writing to you about obedience. Don't worry, I'm going to be lecturing you on behaving better but rather I'm going to write to you about me obeying God. So you know that I'm not working in the school that's five minutes' away from home and I've got to spend more time commuting and less time with you. It's kinda hard for me that I'm further from home and I get less time with you. No more thirty minutes lunches with you. But why did I give all these up? Yes, why? Reason, obedience. Well, a few months ago, the opportunity to move to another school came up and I resisted the move. I was thinking, I'm happy at where I'm working, I get to spen...

Yes, we've been too busy to update my blog. We're back in Hong Kong. Came back on the 19th of Aug. Little Baba started school on the 20th and I had to be at school for a meeting on the 21st. We had a great time over summer. There will never be enough time to do all that I want to do in Singapore even when we were there for more than three weeks. There were still places that I wanted to bring Baba to but guess that'll happen when we head back for Christmas. Baba had lots of fun. When I asked him about Hobbit (my dog in Singapore) he replied saying, 'Ming Ming'. That's Joanne's dog in Singapore. And sometimes when he plays by himself, he suddenly will say Jojo, guess he misses her too. Melbourne trip was a blast. It would have been better if Babe had time for me. But that didn't bother me as I had time to explore a city on my own. I've not done than since summer of 2010. Yes, before little Baba arrived. Melbourne was great. Met up with old friends,...

We've been in Spore close to two weeks this Thursday. So far it has been really great. We touched down on the 19th. It was a little nerve wrecking in the beginning as I had to fly alone with Baba but Baba was absolutely great! He behaved so well.  The moment we touched down Singapore, we had a ball. A week later, Babe arrived in Singapore. Initially Babe was worried that Baba would forget him but of course Baba didn't. In fact, every night before Babe arrived, he would ask for Babe. And sometimes Baba would give me a sad face when he asked for his dada. Babe arrived and we had Baba's birthday party last Saturday. It was a blast! Sorry no pics for the moment as I was too busy to take pics and Jacqui hasn't given me any pics yet. We had to have Baba's party early as Babe might be busy with work and he might be traveling during that period. I'm really glad that every year, I get more than four weeks off and it's nice to be able to chill and spend time with ...

So we're just a footstep away from summer holidays. Yes, just a tiny baby step away. Monday will be the last day at work and my last work of work at the school too. It's kinda bittersweet as well. Anyway, this post is not about leaving my work but rather summer plans. Months and months before summer, probably just after Christmas I started making plans for summer. And notice, it's I that was making plans. So I had grand plans from going to meet Eve in Hawaii to going to Europe to going Maldives again and a whole range of plans. But I forgot Babe in the equation and then I started discussing with Babe and plans started to roll again. But time and time again, we had to change our plans as Babe has to work and also travel for work. We had to factor that in. Finally, we had our plans firmed last month. Singapore first, then Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and then maybe Bangkok. And in Singapore, we were meant to have little Baba's second birthday party there too. And restauran...

Last Saturday, 30th of June, Babe and I were getting ready to go for a farewell party in our estate when Babe received a text message. He yelled out to me that his grandma passed away. Obviously he was very upset and he told me to go ahead to the party without him. So I went to the party with little Ba Ba and returned home in less than an hour. I wanted to say bye to our friends. I first met Babe's grandma more than twenty years ago. I met her in church. I actually met her before I met Babe's mother. Babe told me that he was brought up by his grandma. When he was young, he lived with his grandma and his cousins and he lived with them till he was fourteen. So understandably he was quite upset. Popo was a very God fearing lady. She would read the bible and pray for her children, grandchildren and great grand children every day. When we got married, Popo was very elated for us. She loved Babe heaps. Over the years that I've known her, I've never seen or heard her raise h...

In my professional life (huh, that sounds so nice and glamourous) or rather in my working life since graduating from uni, I've only two employers. And it's interesting that my employment with my current employer is ending in a few weeks and it would be six years that I worked with them too. But the both sets of 6 years are vastly different. The first 6 Years The first 6 years of my working life was quite different from the next six years. At that time, I was young and just done with teachers' college and in my mind, I was going to be the best teacher and change the lives of the many students that I'll come across. In the first year, I worked really hard, churned out lots of worksheets, did the best for my kids and at the same time, tried to please my superiors. And the next year I did the same. And at the same time I wanted to be friends with my colleagues and have a 'family' there. I was really consumed with work and it became a situation that I was spending...

Have you paused and wondered if your life has turned out to be the way that you've envisioned your life to be as a child? Sometimes I do and when I do, to a certain extent I'm filled with gratitude and thankfulness to God for allowing my life to be the way it is now. I remember once during one of my oral exams, I was asked what my ambition was. I remembered vividly replying that I want to be married by the age of 25 or something like that and be a mother of three kids or so by the age of 30. And I even remembered saying that I just want to be a good mother. Looking back now, my examiner must think that I must one of the the most 'bimbotic' girls that he has encountered. And I remember as a teen, I shared secrets with my cousin, Monster, well, we still share secrets, I told her that wouldn't it be nice to just wake up on my wedding day to be married to the love of my life without having to go through the heartache of finding the right one. Well to which she replied...

Dear Ba Ba, I know that you miss Dada very much. He's in Tokyo and just one more night, he'll be home. It's hard to explain to you that Dada is in Tokyo so Mama just makes the airplane sign for you. Hopefully when you get a little older you'll understand. Yes, sometimes Dada travels a little more than he likes and Mama misses him heaps too. Baba, as Father's Day draws nearer, Mama is writing you this letter to encourage you to grow up to be like your Dada. Some twenty years ago, Mama fell in love with Dada and some ten years ago, Dada and Mama got married. Mama is ever so thankful that after all these years, Mama is still in love with Dada. That's why Mama wants you to be like Dada. Sure, Dada has his flaws but even his flaws are sometimes endearing. Here are some of the reasons why Mama still loves Dada after all these years. 1) Dada is Dada. He does not pretend or try to be someone else. Dada doesn't care if someone or some people don't like hi...

To be really honest, I am what I am largely to what my dad has ingrained, inculcated and instilled in me. My dad is the third person I love after Babe and Ba Ba. Sorry, daddy, my nuclear family has to come first now. The last time I saw dad about a week ago, I noticed that dad has aged. Well, you've got to see it from my point of view. Dad is only 18 years older than me and he's always being the strong man but I guess last week, the waking up super early in the morning to catch flight to Hong Kong and thereafter spending time out the whole day before me seeing him and waking up early again the next morning, must really have taken the toll on him. In some ways, I'm quite like my dad. Very independent, opinionated, strong willed and always figuring a way out when the world tells me the answer is no. Well, it's these very traits that are similar to dad that makes us clash. In other words, dad raised me to be him and that's when sometimes our opinions defer and we cla...

In the lead up to Father's Day, I'm kinda inspired to write a couple of posts related to Father's Day. The first post is obviously for Babe. Yes, that's right, Babe. The most important person in my life. As most of you would have known by now that Babe is very different from me. Even our family dynamics are very different. And for the fact that our family dynamics are very different, we have different characters and it can be hard when we have family visiting. I have to admit that when Babe''s family is visiting, it can be rather stressful on me. Please don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy their company but for the fact that our apartment is kinda small and sometimes being in small and confined space does get to me. Anyway back to Babe. He has been very tolerant and accommodating as possible last week. Babe has been and is still having a rather packed schedule at work. Not sure if it's the lead up to summer that he's trying to ...

Once upon a time, there was a girl that was born into a lower middle income family. She had all her needs met but not her all wants met which is sort of fine. One can't have everything in life. When she hit fifteen, her richer friends had Guess bags and she told herself that once she's able to buy that Guess bag, she'll be very happy. So she got herself a part time job and subsequently she got herself a Guess bag. Well, she should be happy now, right? She was for the time being. Then she saw her friends with Coach bags and she thought to herself, yes, a Coach bag would make me happy. So at twenty, she got herself a Coach bag. Life went on, then she noticed, maybe a Kate Spade bag would make me happy now. And yes, she went to get herself one. And then she thought, maybe Gucci now, will make her happy. Well, bags after bags and each bag more expensive than the last one. But at the end of the day, did the bag make her happy? Only the girl has the answer. Well, the main c...