Happy Mother’s Day to all our friends!  Hope you all had a very enjoyable time with your families.  We certainly did.  My only regret is that I forgot to re-charge the battery of my camera and so I did not take any pictures!! I know, I know, I should be more careful ….. next time.

I received gifts from both boys this year.  Athan made a little picture frame at day care for me and he scribbled a little picture for me as well.  That was a first and I was very touched and proud of him.  From Calvin, I had a couple of very pretty crafts that he made in school with his teachers.  They have put in a lot of effort and thought into it, I have to say.  And, I also gave him $2 to buy me a little gift from his school’s Mother’s Day stall.  It was a fundraising event for the early childhood program and so I had to donate something nice to the stall too.  Calvin was excited to have $2 in his pocket and when I asked him what he was going to buy for me, he said “toy!”.  🙂 Well, in the end he chose a pack of homemade cookies for me.   That was nice.

We had a very meaningful sermon at church this morning.  Our pastor preached from the well-known Proverbs 31:10-31.   I have heard preaching from this passage man times, and yet each time, I learn something new from it.  Perhaps now that I am both a wife and mum, I appreciate the passage even more.

In the evening, we cooked up a storm for Robin’s mum and his aunt who is visiting from Malaysia.  Well, not quite a storm, but it was certainly a lot more effort than our normal meal.  I was glad that the meal turned out well and our guests enjoyed the food.

I did not forget to ring my own dear mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day.  She had a great time with my sisters and brother and all her grandchildren.  She sounded very happy, and I was really glad to hear the joy in her voice.  I remembered I told a friend when I was a teenager that I had  the best mother in the whole world! I meant it, really, even till now. Of course she has her flaws, but she is the best mother for me and my siblings.  Most of all, God has given her to us.  She has such influence (she doesn’t realise this) on me, and I believe on my sisters too.  The way she does things and the way she cares for her family has imprinted into our minds at a very young age.  I believe I am like her in many ways.

I have only been a mother for a few years and so I still have lots to learn and lots of hurdles to go through.  I am blessed to be called as a mother for my boys.  Sometimes I don’t realise what an important job I have! I am overwhelmed by the responsibilities that come with the calling, and at times I feel I am not up to the job.  But this I know — that my God is my helper and guide. That itself is a great comfort and encouragement.  What more? God has also blessed me with many friends at church who are at the same stage of life as me and these friends have been a great source of encouragement to me.  Together with the support from the husband, I feel I can take on the challenges to be called a mum.

There was a *surprise* fire drill at work recently.  I was in a new office working with the mining guys when the siren went off.  Everyone had to leave their office and assemble at the front of the building.  I thought that was just another routine drill, but I was a little wrong.

On the way to the assembly point, we saw a fire engine and several firemen working on something!  That was interesting because I thought they only wanted to test the fire siren and the people’s response .  Anyway, we later found out that they had staged an emergency scenario where a pregnant lady was stuck in a 4-wheel drive and several people were hurt or dead and were lying by the road side.  The “injured” people had patches of “blood” or laceration stuck onto their faces and bodies — looked quite real to me.  All first aid officers were called to help out while we stood on the grass and watched.  The building was full of smoke too!  That was an eye-opener to me because I have never experienced such an exercise.

After about 20 – 30 minutes, the exercise was over and everyone went back to their office.  I think such exercise is quite important because we won’t know when a real emergency will happen and we need to know what to do when there’s a real case.

After thought: I am sure my 4.5 year old would love to be involved in the exercise because he loves fire engine and he has always wanted to see how fireman rescue people! 🙂