Archive for August, 2009

High Tea With The Ladies.

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

This is what I had today! Beautiful, isn’t it?

I had such a lovely time with the ladies from church today.  Someone turned 30 today.  I was so glad and thankful to be part of the celebrations. Including myself, there were 11 of us at the long table. We chatted, laughed real hard, ate, drank tea, chatted some more …. — all without the kids.  It was good to be able to concentrate on having a conversation with the girls without being distracted by the kids, even if it was only for a few hours.  We were at the restaurant for a whole 3 hours. Time just flew past us.

It was also good to be able to catch up with the ladies in a relaxed social setting.  We hardly have chance or time to talk after church service. The ladies were so keen to come out and have a good time. We will be going out again, I think.:)

Before Dinner Fun.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Can you guess where the boys are in the picture above and what they are doing?

We have just arrived home after a day of work for me and a day of childcare for the boys.  The boys immediately started to play with their toys when they set foot in the house. They seemed happy enough to be left alone and so I quickly went to prepare dinner. The boys played well this evening — well, there were a few complaints of hitting etc, but nothing major enough for me to interfere.  Then the house went unusually quiet.

I turned around and found the 2 boys sitting under the dining table!  They were whispering to each other and seemed to be very busy with something.  Well, they were *building* their spaceship! With what?  With the dining chairs and the extra-large cushion and their trucks.  Apparently, they were fighting off some monsters. How creative.

I did not want to spoil their fun by asking them questions and making them aware that I was watching them, so I watched them from afar.  It got to a point where I really could not help but want to take a picture of them ….. Athan saw me with the camera and immediately turned his face away (can you see that he is wearing sunglasses in the picture?) while Calvin gave me his great big smile.

Sunday Conversations.

Monday, August 17th, 2009

On our way to church this morning, we had the following conversation with Calvin:

Calvin: Papa, you are grown up. You are old!

Robin: (driving) Yup, I am old.

Calvin: I am still little. How come I am not grown up?

Me: You are growing up, Calvin. You are turning 5 remember?

Calvin: Yes, I am growing up. When I am grown up, I will be 10!

What interesting concept of age he has. To my little boy, the number 10 seems to be a very large number so much so that if he reaches 10 yrs old, he is all grown up! Oh dear …. if he knew my age, then I must be ancient! 🙂

At the dining table this evening, we had this conversation with Calvin:

Calvin: Papa, you are a man.

Robin: Yes, I am a man.

Calvin: Mama, you are a woman.

Me: Yup. What about you?

Calvin: I am a boy, but when I grow up, I will be a man like papa!

Me: Yes. What about Athan?

Calvin: Didi (Athan) is a boy. He will be a man too, when he grow up.

Athan: I (pointing to himself) a man!

Calvin: There will be 3 men and a woman in my house. (pointing at each one of us and started to count) One, two, three, four.  I have 4 families!

Me: (quick to correct) You mean 4 people in your family, right?

Calvin: Ya. Can I have my fruit now?

What fun to talk to a 5-yr-old! He seems to know the difference between boy and man, and between girl and woman. That’s a progress.

Calvin tends to be chatty when he is happy.  I really enjoy listening to him because he often makes me laugh with his silly ways of using words as well as his childish way of talking. I enjoy him being himself at his age. He likes to make up his own little song too, with words that he knows. I wish he won’t grow up too fast!

Weekend Boys.

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

 With pouring rain and windy conditions outside, the boys were stuck at home drawing, playing, fighting, arguing …… what a fun-filled house I had! The picture shows Calvin helping Athan to *draw something*.  I am not really sure what Mr A wanted to draw, but the brother seemed happy to help him.  They looked quite *serious*, ya?

Picture Post.

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

I finally managed to edit a picture successfully to post it here! There were a few hiccups along the way, e.g. file size.  I’m glad it’s all OK now.  By the way, this picture was taken during a recent trip to a botanic park.  More pictures to follow ….

Today’s Mercies For Today’s Troubles.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

The other day at my mother’s group, I shared one of my favourite daily readings with the ladies.  It was taken from a book entitled “A Godward Life” by John Piper.  The main message of the reading was that “Today’s mercies are for today’s troubles. Tomorrow’s mercies are for tomorrow’s troubles”. (quote from the book) The references for this passage was taken from 2 bible verses:

1) Matthew 6:34

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

2) Lamentations 3:22-23

[22] The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
[23] they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

I found these verses very reassuring. Our sharing and subsequent praying time was also very encouraging.  It was a good reminder for all of us that God gives us enough mercy to go through each day and he gives new mercies for tomorrow’s challenges.  At times, being a mother with young children can be very tough.  We not only worry about the children, but we also worry about finances, relationships, housework, jobs etc.  The list is endless.  These worries can really weigh us down if we let them.  That’s why we really need good like minded friends to be around us to remind us of God’s promises and to pray with us.  I am thankful to have a group of mothers whom I share and pray with.  They bring me a lot of encouragement. Thank you, my friends!

August.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

It’s August already.  I have not been writing in this space for a while because ……

First, I have been learning to use a new image editor software.  The previous software that I used to churn out pictures to post in this blog is no longer available to me and so I am being *forced* to learn a new software.  I have to say I am not very good at using all the features and I have to ask the husband for help a lot or look up help files which for most times, confuse me even more! Anyway, I believe I am getting there.  It is always good to learn something new.  I’ll be posting pictures again, soon.

Second, the flu bug has been going around the house yet again.  Athan had it first, and then the husband caught it.  He had sore throat and fever — he was so afraid that he had H1N1, but it wasn’t. Thank God.  And then, Calvin caught a stomach bug last week.  He complained of a headache after church and it did not go away after his nap.  I was concerned, but not too worried at that time.  By dinner, the headache was gone, but he could not eat anything.  It was so unlike him — one who loves his food.  I knew something was wrong.  And then he threw up.

We immediately separate the boys — I took Calvin to the after hours (Sunday evening) GP near our home while Robin looked after Mr A at home.  The wait at the clinic was soooooooo long! We arrived 10 minutes after it was opened and already we were told the waiting time was 1-2 hrs! What?  I thought of leaving and going to another clinic, but I realised that other hospitals and clinics were just as packed.  Unfortunately, it was the time of the year (mid winter) where the flu was at its peak. So, we waited.

Calvin threw up several times before it was his turn to see the doctor.  Poor fellow.  He looked so weak and miserable.  He had a fever too.  Eventually, his name was called and after a check, the doctor announced that Calvin had a viral gastro and it was not H1N1.  The doctor was confident that Calvin would feel better the next day.  I was relieved, thank God.  Calvin was back to his normal self 2 days later.

As for me, I am still going strong.  Just can’t imagine what it would be like if I were to be ill at the same time as the boys.  That’s really God’s mercy for us. I really hope that the boys will be ill-free for a long time. I am also looking forward to next month because it will be spring time then!