http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcjkJp9VxY8
Sacrifice by Bob Fitts

Very catchy tune and meaningful words. It's base on Abraham obedience to God that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. Enjoy.

Jayne is doing a play that depicts the Peranakan culture. She is playing the role of a wife who was betrayed by a husband who is keeping a mistress. to win his heart, she cooks this curry with the nut (Buah kelauk). She brought home some of those nuts so I decided to try cooking this Nonya curry. I asked the children, do you think I can win my husband's heart with this curry? Most of them said can. But Joycelyn answered:" I don't think papa will leave you in the first place!" Well, it's good that our kids have confidence in our husband and wife relationship! And I' m also glad the curry turned out well.

Daniel had chinese spelling on Tuesday and I only realised it on Monday. Normally,I'll spend more than 1 week to help him review and be prepared. But I guess it was the CNY that threw me off! So in 1 afternoon, he had to read, recognise and remember 8 characters. I thought he did well, but he has no confidence and kept worrying about it. When i fetched him from school this afternoon, he told me not to be sad or angry with him because he mixed up 3 and 4. I was quite surprised because he could do it at home and there's no reason to get it mixed up. we didn't talk further about it till Ting and Davy brought out some test papers for me to sign then he said, Mummy, i tricked you! (He could do his chinese spelling!) I can't believe that at this age, he can be so cheeky!

Sat night Daniel was praying with me and his first statement: Thank you Jesus for coming into my life....! Amen to that. Lying in bed, he told me that he's still afraid of death but just little bit. Sunday morning, Joycelyn,Daniel and I were in a taxi going to church. Joyce was complaining about all the mosquito bites she got from her P5 adventure camp. Daniel was quick to assure her " It's OK. God will give you a new body, no bites, no boo-boos." Joycelyn didn't know what he's talking about, but I'm proud that he knows how to apply his faith!

Daniel had been rather paranoid that his heart might stop beating. He mentioned it again this morning and said he's afraid of death. I felt it's time to deal with the issue. We read a book together that talks about why physical death is inevitable and brought up the aspect of the spirit part of us that lives forever. He seem to accept it well when I said that the Daniel body is made of dust and to dust it will return. But the Daniel spirit will live forever and God will give a new body that will never die. He like what he heard. I shared with him that he needs Jesus to live in his heart. "Do you know how you can let Jesus live in your heart?" He said no and is ready to asked for help to pray and invite Christ into his life!

Late afternoon went to visit a colleague's father who had been ill. He had accepted Christ but his wife has yet to make a decision. Hopefully with our visits, she too will be open to Christ. Came home to fix dinner for the family and was pleasantly surprised by Daniel. He took the trouble to clear up the messes in the living room and other places just to give me a surprise. Isn't he a darling!

Finally, the last day of the CNY. I was taking a walk with Aik after sending my mother-in-law to the bus stop. Above the busy street with cars and people, stood a serene round moon. It's really beautiful with streaks of small clouds passing by from time to time. There's no time to stand and stare; not on a busy street. But I can still take a glimpse or two from time to time as I walk.Hmmm, sounds so philosophical. I want to enjoy the beautiful things in my life no matter how busy life can get. It's not wishing to have more time, but the attitude of enjoying the moment.

We were invited to a cell group CNY celebration dinner. It was a great time getting to know more people as well as renew ties with some old friends. In a more relax setting, the kids get to mingle with those present and I'm sure it will help them feel more at ease with these new friends. For me it's a challenge trying to remember the names of the adults as well as remembering how many kids and their names! It's going to take a while...The people here are just as caring as our family at GBC. Steve sent us home even though he was having a cough and his wife had just returned from Australia!
Daniel ran to get the lift and shouted,"Hurry up, I cannot tahan so long!" Just where did he get his language training from...?

Daniel had been greeting his siblings Happy Valentine's Day. It sounded so sweet and cute coming from this little guy. Anyway, we had a little VD celebration after dinner and popped a bottle of sparkling grape juice. We were talking about how our friends celebrate this occasion. Seems that the girls received chocolates and flowers and had fun today. Jayne and Ting were commenting about people they like....and Davy butted in and said," I like papa and mummy". It's good to know that, especially coming from a teenage son! That's the best present ever!

Happy Valentine's Day!
To me this is a day to celebrate friendships not just exclusive relationship like boy/girl friend. Jayne asked me recently who are my friends. I listed some from GBC... She said they are just churchmates. But honestly, to me ,they are friends,period. We relate to each other not because she is from XXX! I hope I haven't lost my friendships even though there had been changes in our routine! Only time will tell.

We have decided not to watch TV during dinner so that we have more time to share and talk with each other. Daniel was sharing about what he learned in school; small, smaller,smallest. Ting wanted to know if Daniel is tall for his age. She asked: Are your friends bigger or smaller than you? Daniel answered, 'We are same age; 5 years old'!
Later at night, Daniel was dancing around with a box(the one that holds mandarin oranges) over his head. Ting asked Daniel,' Why do you have the orange box over your head?' Daniel got upset and replied,' It's a red box what..'!
Looks like we really need to work on communication in the family.

$5 shirts

After church Jayne and I had to make a trip to Chinatown to get some blouses for her exam piece. I was telling her if she could borrow it from somewhere because we had been spending money for this and that since the beginning of the year in preparation for this piece. I gave her a very difficult challenge: Buy it only if it cost $5. After scouting around in 2 shops, we really found some suitable ones at $5 each! God is so good! We can't believe it can be done.

After 2 days of visiting others, it was a nice change to have guests at home. I'm so glad JH remained steadfast with his decision to visit. The kids were delighted! Of course things turned up even better when Aaron, Abner and the entire Teo Family showed up. It's nice to have holidays like this for us to get-together. After all, these are relationships that grew over many years and we really treasure them, even though we cannot meet weekly.

Tonight's dinner time was really weird. No one wanted to eat even though each had only a small portion when the guests were around. Eventually,the entire dinner was wiped clean when I took the trouble to spoon feed all 5! It's true. They will always be my babies no matter how old they are.

Jayne helped Davy with his Maths, Joycelyn watched Ting play 'Audition'. Daniel set up a souvenir shop and gave Ting and Davy some paper money he drew to buy from the shop. Davy drew some bats and paste it on the ceiling because bats are Daniel's favorite. Ting helped me baked carrot muffin. ....It's nice to see family members involved with each other. It brought joy in my heart.

Davy's haircut

Sunday afternoon, Davy went to a hair salon to get his hair cut. Monday, the school have a hair check and the teacher failed him and say his fringe is too long. if he don't do anything about it and attends school tomorrow, they will send him to the school barber and pay $10 to cut for him. Poor Davy, he's really getting very frustrated. He tried hard but it's never enough.( it happened in Jan too) This is frustrating for me too. I cut his hair in Jan and so I thought maybe my standard is not acceptable. I spent money to let the pros do it and end up I still need to trim the fringe! It's time to make a trip to his school.

God loves Jayne

Jayne called from school and asked me to buy some chicken meat for her to practice her play. I was so busy with the cleaning of the house for CNY that i forgot all about it. After dinner, my husband and I went out to attend a wake. When we got home, it was close to 11 pm. I rushed out immediately and the supermarket is already closed. However, one of the shutters was lowered 3/4 way down and they were closing a/c for the day. I peeked in and requested for them to let me buy a packet of chicken. They were so gracious to let me. Thank God for His amazing provision!

Level heads

Papa and I were talking with Jayne about her fast and furious J2 year. She mentioned somethings that her level Head told the cohort. Papa said with a straight face," so the rest of them are not level heads?" We do need humour from time to time!

Daniel coaching Jayne in dance

While I was busy fixing dinner in the kitchen, I over heard Daniel asking Jayne if she was practicing her dance for competition. After watching a few steps, he asked her to count and started counting out loud for her. "1 and 2 and 3 and .... "After a while he said, "I don't know if you can win, show me another one" and continued counting.." 5 and 6 and 7 and ..". Speaking like a pro, he concluded. "I think you can win" Sure sounds like he'll make a good trainer. Dance training, anyone?

Joycelyn plays again

Joycelyn and Daniel attends EKC ( Electric Kids Company) at 11.00 am. During their children's worship, I noticed that they do not have a drummer even though there's a drum just sitting there. After talking with several people involved in the program, they are interested to have a drummer at their program. So 3rd Sunday of Feb, Joycelyn will have a chance to play. I'm happy for her to have as many opportunities as possible to gain experience. It's good for her to use her talent to serve God!

Daniel speaks Hokkien

After a shopping trip with Daniel, we were coming down the stairs of the overhead bridge. I saw Bus 10 leaving the bus bay and I commented: Aiya, missed the bus. Daniel held my hand tight , lookup then said," Nevermind, we can cheong!" I was shocked to hear a Hokkien word coming out from him. I wonder where he picked that from...?

ACJC J2 parents talk

Attended a talk at ACJC for J2 parents. Feels very overwhelmed by the workload and pace that my daughter will be working thru! Hope I can be a good support to cheer her on in this race. One perspective that a teacher shared with us regarding career guidance opens up my perspective on how I should help my kids in this generation and time. In the past, people tend to stay in their line of work all their life. Now the trend is that one is expected to hold at least 4 jobs in a lifetime! She gave the example of a person graduating and say work as an engineer. After a few years, he might face retrenchment. Then he might sign up as a teacher then pursue Master/Doctorate and end up as a scientist. If this prediction is correct, our kids today need to be very adaptable to flex with the situation and have a heart to learn and keep progressing! Sorry kids... i don't think you are going to have it easy. But with proper attitudes in life, you can with God's Grace!