In Thanksgiving

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 few words. Well, which means that sometimes he's not very expressive and sometimes he clams up. Initially, it was hard for me and it was hard for him especially when we have our heated arguments. But over time I've learnt that his love language is different from mine. Babe shows his love by buying me stuff. Stuff that he notices that I've been eyeing for a long time and he buys them for me.

In these ten years of marriage, we've been through a fair bit. Not many husbands would give their wives blessings to go away to study for a year. He did that. Not many husbands would let their wives head off to Hong Kong to work without them. He did that and then he landed a job in Hong Kong. Babe did these for me because he knew that it was what I wanted to do. So when Babe told me that he needed a break from work, I agreed without hesitation because I knew that he needed a break. But he ended up with a short break. And when Babe told me that he wanted to head back to Spore to work, I agreed because I knew that he wanted to do that so that he will be still providing for me family even though we're in different countries. When Babe told me that he was going to quit his job in Spore to head back to Hong Kong, I agreed because I knew that being together is more important than money for our marriage. But God in His graciousness provided Babe a job in Hong Kong even before he left Spore.

Over the years, priorities in our marriage changed. We changed as individuals as well. I remember when we were newly weds, Babe was working in the alcohol industry, we would go out all the time and party but this lifestyle no longer attracts us. Money used to be important for us at one stage but now, we rather have quality time as a family than to be chasing the dollar signs. Priorities shift. I remember telling friends that if Babe and me had a child in the first few years of our marriage, there might be a possibility that we would have split up. And well, it's true because when we were younger, we were less tolerant of each other. God knew that and I guess that's why He sent Baba to us only after we passed out eighth anniversary.

So as a couple, where are we now? We still have our little fights and sometimes it becomes heated but we're aware that we have Baba now and we want him to grow up in a loving environment and we try our best not to get mad and snap at each other in front of little Baba. We're still work in progress. A marriage is never easy. I still read self-help marriage books to better myself. The reality is that marriage is hard work but the rewards are so worth it.

Babe, thanks for loving me and thanks for being a wonderful father to little Baba. Thanks for always being there for me, holding my hand and me when things are rough and when I think I'm about to throw in the towel. Thanks for being there in my lows and highs. Thanks for seeing me through so much. It has been a great experience and Babe, I look forward to more good years because I know that the best is yet to come!

Nope, you're not seeing things. That's me at the optometrist getting fitted for contact lenses because I lost mine on the day of my wedding.

 Babe and I saying our wedding vows. Can't believe that ten years have just flown by so quickly.

 The happy Mr and Mrs Seet. The start of our married life.

Dear Grandpa

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 wrote this on Facebook the other day, Faith's gift is Faith, Hope is always filled with Hope and Amanda (love) is in the Philippines spreading love. I asked Jacqui the other day where did we get our gifts of love and generosity from? Dad is a pretty generous person is showering us with whatever we wanted but I'm talking about going out and reaching out to the poor and needy. Walk the love.

And I thought deeper, I told Jacqui that it's probably from the maternal side of the family and she's like, that depends on nature vs nurture. Well, I kinda believe more in the nurture bit these days. And that's right, you adopted mummy without questions and without asking anything in return. You loved mummy unconditionally and for the longest time as a child, I never knew that mummy was adopted which meant that you treated your grandchildren equally. Thanks for that. And in turn, I saw that and as an adult, I internalized it and told myself that I'd adopt a child. So that's where Baba came around.

When Joanne was younger, she went out to the mission stations in Pakistan and did missions there. She has the heart of gold. Even now, she's doing missions to a certain extent as she's working in a Christian organization helping children with learning disabilities. Jacqui has been thinking a lot about her life. She has recently went to Manila to work with the slum kids. It has impacted her a lot. And she's at the crossroads trying to decide what God wants for her. The pictures that she sent me has me heartbroken for the kids.

Grandpa thanks for giving faith. Yes, faith of our fathers. You gave us the faith in God and loved us and in turn we are trying to live out your legacy or rather your faith. Although when you went to heaven, you were only sixty-two but you have impacted us a lot more than you can imagine. You're probably chuckling and laughing out in heaven when you see me typing this out. Yes, Grandpa, thanks. I am grateful and glad to have met and known you.

Love, Sunshine and Bread

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 brought people to love me despite me not deserving love. He has provided a wonderful husband, a great son, loving parents, supportive family, more best friends that I could ever imagine, and friends in HK that have become family.

Sunshine, God has brought lots of sunshine in my life. If little Baba were a girl, I would have named her Sunshine. There were periods in my life that I was probably slightly depressed or rather saw lots of clouds in my life, I don't even like gloomy weather because it affects my mood. But God has brought sunshine and I believe that He'll continue to bring lots of sunshine to me. I've learnt over the years that God will take care of my life and therefore He will bring sunshine to my life. Which to me is, lots of joy. And in moments of difficulties and situations, He will still bring joy to my life.

Bread, thank God for loads of bread. Today in class, I asked my male students, if the girl that you want to marry would only marry you if you have a house, what would you do? And I asked my female students if the guy that wants to marry you does not have a house, would you marry him? Okay, house = flat in HK. There was a really good discussion and one of my boys, concluded by saying that if he were the girl, he were marry the man even though he does not have a house because he has a kind heart. He put things into perspective for the class. I told my students that if the man love you enough, even though he's poor at the beginning, he would work hard enough to provide for you and the family. That's what Babe did for me. And I'm very thankful. God has been gracious and I'm been very humbled by how much God has given to us. He has given us more bread that I could even imagine.

So in short, Love, Sunshine and Bread, God has brought all these to me. He has given me the essentials. So what do I have to complain? Nothing. Yes, another year passed, which means another year of awesome blessings upon me! So now, how am I going to bless others with love, sunshine and bread. Yes, that's my goal for this year.