Living out Faith

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...

I guess part of living overseas or rather part of life is making friends and then saying bye to them. This week, I found out that a good friend of ours is moving back to Spore. I've known A since we were like six years old. We've known each other since kids. And I've gotten to know his girlfriend and now wife quite well over time. C is one of the rare ladies that has actually become a friend. For me, it's not common for me to be really good friends with my guy friends' wives. But C has become a really good friend. I guess having kids around the same age, sharing the same faith and genuinely enjoying each other's company play a part. So when she told me last week that they're moving back to Spore, I was kinda bummed. But then again I thought about it, at least they are moving back to Spore. We'll still be able to meet up and catch up. The same week that A and C leave, there's another a couple that would be leaving HK for a year. They are another cou...

So early this morning as I sat on my white throne, I was reading Strait Times and came across this letter written to the Strait Times. After reading it, I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or be angry. In other words, I was pretty lost for words. So I started googling to find out the supposedly true story. Got to love Google. Anyway, manage to read the news or article on it. So how did I feel after reading? I felt glad that I no longer work for the same employer. Got a feeling that I might be unemployed for the rest of my life if I head back to Spore! Yes, I'm baffled, bewildered, flabbergasted, gobsmacked, speechless and yes the list goes on, why would anyone knowingly not be at his or her spouse bedside or at least be within hour's of driving distance away, just in case something happens. Sure, wife said, go! But surely, you would stay and be with her because I know that I sure would be right next to Babe if something like that happens to him. And of course he was h...

So today's Babe's birthday. And this year, I seriously ran out of ideas for a present for Babe. Guess that happens when you date for too long and you're heading towards the 10th wedding anniversary. Not that it's a bad thing but rather something really good. I'm glad to have someone like Babe and I'm really glad that I've married my soulmate. Sure, there are times that we disagree but ultimately we know that we love each other and that's all that matters. Thanks Babe for loving me all these years. I know that I'm not the easiest person to live and love but you still love me regardless. Love you! And Babe is turning out to be such a great dad. He's such a hands on dad. Every Sunday, he'll take a bath with litte Ba Ba. Both of them would be in the tub talking and chilling with each other. He cuts his hair and some nights when I'm out with my friends for dinner, they hang out. Babe was just telling me the o...

So after months of sort of badgering Babe for months and weeks, he finally got me a Kitchenaid stand mixer. And I was over the moon! Super duper happy and excited. So for the very first bake to honor Babe was to bake something that he has always wanted me to make, curry puffs! Well, for the first or actually, the second attempt, it's not that bad. Turned out pretty okay and Babe was very glad with them. And Raspberry (yes, so much for creativity) has been whirling and churning out bakes at least twice a week. And I try quite often to bake things that Babe likes to eat. He's not really a sweet tooth person unlike me. But so far, Babe has been happy with the bakes that I've baked for him. Who knows, someday, someday, this might be my retirement plan! Raspberry, isn't she a beauty? Been dreaming of her  for ages and ages and now! Can't believe that I've  finally gotten her and it's in my fav colour too! Thanks Babe!  The first bake off Raspberry. ...

Once a upon a time, there were three little boys. Well, the reality of it, they were not born into the most ideal family. They were kinda raised in a broken family but as broken as it was and is, everyone around them tried their hardest to make it as workable as possible for them. When the three little boys were younger, I was in Singapore and I would try to bring them out, hang out with them and try to be as involved as possible without intruding too much into their lives. The three boys were our page boys. When we got our apartment in Singapore, we would try to bring the three boys over to our place. As time passed, things became a little difficult at home for the three little boys and their aunty offered to bring the oldest little boy to America but, over time, the oldest boy returned to Singapore. At some point, my family offered to take in the youngest little boy but well, a year later, the youngest little boy went home too. By then I was studying in Australia and over ...

Yes, I'm still around. Just a little busy with life and busy with procrastinating too. I've got loads to write but at the same time, far too many thoughts running through my head. So going to try keep my thoughts focus and not be all over the place. So yes, we had a great Easter break. We as in Ba Ba and me but not so much for Babe. So as usual for Babe, the Easter trip back to Singapore turned out to be another work trip again. He was basically working on Tuesday and on Wednesday, he went to Jakarta for a day trip and on Thursday, working again and on Friday, he had to fly back to Hong Kong and work on Saturday as he had a couple of meetings in Hong Kong. But little Ba Ba and me had a great time hanging out with the family. Well, there were plans that we had but because of the weather we couldn't do what we want. And plans had to be changed but still, overall, it was good. He had loads of fun having out with JC. And even till today, he would point to my phone and shout...

So Ba Ba didn't make it through the kindy interview. Well, not that I was really expecting that he was going to make it through. He can hardly speak at this stage so I wasn't really expecting him to pass the interview. Was I upset? No, to be honest. In some ways, I'm glad that he didn't make it through the interview as it would give us a chance for him to stay at home for another year. And I can continue to pick and choose the playgroups or classes that I would like him to go to. So it isn't that bad. And we can still go on holidays whenever we want to without having to pull him out of school. So it's still all good. A few weeks ago, I was at the pediatrician with little Ba Ba and I was checking with him about little Ba Ba's speech development. Little Ba Ba is not speaking as much as we would him to. And I also mentioned about him attending his kindy interview. So the pediatrician told me that Ba Ba is developing fine. Yes, he's not speaking as much but ...