A Warm Bowl Of Soup

Dan bought this packet of dried crocodile meat with herbs and other Chinese medicinal ingredients from Chinatown. He always goes to this shop to get this and we used to get it for the kids when they were younger. The lady there would prepack the crocodile soup and concoct its potency to the age of the drinker. This one is for adults and for chesty and night coughing fits that I have been suffering from the last two weeks. No fun being sick indeed!

Am so blessed to have him boil the soup for me for two hours and to be served this lovely bowl of soup made by him. It did warm my lungs and interestingly my cough went away immiediately the next day. No more cough. Sometimes I really think Chinese Medicine is better than Western for these sorts of ailments.

Best of all, the soup tasted really great! Thanks dear for your lovely soup! yums!

Well Done! :)

Got this in the mail today! Very proud of Jedi and glad that he studied hard and gave his best for the exams. Well done Jedidiah and all glory goes to the Lord!

Nerf Time Fun with Daddy!

My house has turned into a warzone! Almost every available furniture has become some sort of makeshift fortress! Daddy has become the defender of the two princesses while the young prince is in training shooting from behind what was once my orange table for the reading corner!

I can just feel my OCD vibes screaming at me to clear the mess! hahaha! But for now I guess as long as they are having fun the mess dosen’t matter…..hee as long as they pick up all the bullets!

A Blessed Birthdy and 9 Year Wedding Anniversary

 

Had a really wonderful celebration this year on 15th November with Dan and the kids this year. Perhaps the kids are bigger so we had more time to enjoy and less time to tend to their nees. They are growing up..but a bit too fast! Happy that they are older but yet miss their baby-ish innocence. Ironic!

Really appreciate Dan for planning everything. On the actual day, the girls were home in the morning as school has closed for them the day before. So was really nice to have a nice cake with candles and home-made cards from them. All the months of naughtiness and me feeling like literally screaming my lungs away were made up for with their little cards.  And really appreciate Dan for the romantic gesture of giving me flowers which are not his usual style as he feels they are a waste of money.

The most memorable part was indulging in really nice food thanks to Dan. We are not rich and just go to these kind of places at a whim so it was a really nice treat to have celebrated our wedding anniversary with High Tea Buffet at the Cafe L'Espresso at Goodwood Park Hotel. The food was really nice! The ambience was good.The girls got to enjoy it as Jedi was in school. Despite the girls being there, we still had a nice time talking and catching up with each other away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The next day was a really nice surprise as Dan brought us back to the place at Marriott Hotel where he had proposed and the kids were told of our wedding proposal story and got to eat in all the usual forbidden foods like lots of deserts and goodies and sweets! We don't usually splurge on such places so it was a really nice treat!

Most importantly, I feel blessed to have such a wonderful husband for the past 9 years. Without his support and encouragement I couldn't have been a SAHM. I couldn't have coped with raising the three kids without any external help if he had not been such a hands-on dad. I used to feel sorry for myself and question how come others had so much help with their kids but I had none? We had no help at all in terms of a consistent help with the kids all these years and it was just me or Dan. I used to feel so bitter about it but I have learnt to let it go and I am happy that the kids are who they are today because of our guidance. When the kids were sick, we were also on our own and had no one to rely on. Especially when Dan had to travel was tough for me as once again I was alone to fend for myself without anyone I could call for help as my parents were overseas.  It was tough and frustrating at times but I had Dan's steadiness and reassurance to pull me through those tough times. I am thankful for a Godly husband too who prays for me and the kids and makes it a point to daily devotion and weekly family devotion time. Am thankful that he always think about the family first and everything he does is for us.

We may not be rich and live an extravagant lifestyle of branded goods and fast cars but I believe we are rich in the love and unity that we share as a family. This birthday, I am glad for the family ties that have helped me all these years, from Dan to my parents and brother to my dear Aunty (Ah Kor). The Lord has been faithful to us all these years and we continue to commit our marriage and our children to Him to guide us in the years ahead where there may be valleys and mountains to test out faith. In all things we give thanks!

Blessed Anniversary Dear! Am blessed!

A Thankful Heart

The 3 kiddoes did really well this year and we are so thankful for the Lord's favour and blessings upon them. The year was a tough one with adjustments for all three where Jedi was adjusting to Primary 1, Krisalyn adjusting to kindergarten without her elder brother and being an elder sister to Keziah in school, and Keziah starting school for the very first time. There were ups and downs and tears and frustrations but with the Lord's strength we pulled through this year and will continue to rely on His strength for the next one!

Jedidiah did well for his Primary 1 and we are so thankful for his results. He is selected for Higher Chinese and I'm apprehensive as Mandarin is not even my second language so I will have to count on Dan to coach him. All glory to the Lord and am proud of our boy for working hard and doing his best.

 Krisalyn's reading and writing has improved too and its great to see progress in her writing skills. She still loves doing art and craft and cards for us. She also recieved a good behaviour award in Sunday School.

Our youngest, Keziah has done us proud too and with her attending Sunday School and also Nursery School my mornings are freed up to focus on other stuff and settling Jedi's work in the mornings. She was happy to recieve an award in school for being independent which she lovably is despite being the youngest.

All glory goes to Him and we continue to seek His wisdom in parenting these three young lives through their achievements as well as being supportive parents through life's disappointments which they will face when they grow older and face life's challenges. For now, we are grateful and thankful Lord for all that You have given us!

Krisalyn's K1 Concert

Krisalyn just finished her Kindergarten 1 and ended it off with a colourful concert with her little friends! The whole year just whizzed by like this with Krisalyn going to Kindergarten 2, Keziah going to Nursery 2 and Jedidiah going to Primary 2! Will be a busy busy year but we will do it in His strength just as He pulled us through this year! Well done Princess Krisalyn!

Braids @ Work

Krisalyn's

Keziah's

My girls have really really fine hair and its so hard to tie. The minute its tied up they look very messy with all the flyaway hair soon after. Tried my hand doing braids and their hair was neater....for just a little while longer only! The french braid seems to work the best though!

Family Reunion at Last!

It's been 9 years since my whole family has been together in the same country. We see each other at least twice a year but its either in Singapore or in Perth when we visit and not all of us are together. This time Jono's graduation was in September and it fell on a Saturday. My ticket was booked thanks to Dan and really looked forward to that day as finally the four of us could have meal together We haven't had one all together since my wedding day!

It was a wonderful trip as I saw my younger brother graduate from Curtin. I am really so proud of him as he has grown up from the mischevious little boy he was to a young man full of ideals, ambition and dreams.Most importantly, he has grown to be a God-fearing man too. So it was a very heartwarming trip to be able to witness this milestone in his life and celebrate it with my parents. Had a great time too catching up with his girlfriend Est and my aunt. A very memorable moment I will always hold dear to my heart. Am very proud of you smelly bro!!!! hahaha!

 

Dan was a great help and I really couldn't have done this trip without him sacrificing himself to be SAHD for the weekend with the kids. Hee guess he knows know what my life feels like 24/7. The kids had fun of course as the tiger mummy was not around nagging away about homework and tidying toys etc etc. Thanks dear. Appreciate it so much! :)

 

Now the next chapter begins and I'm really looking forward to have my entire family back. Now my brother is back and living with us and the kids are having a great bonding time with him so its very heartwarming to see. A great time to catch up with my brother too as its been so many years! Next year will be a new beginning once my folks are back and it will be great to finally have the support of family and loved ones. It's honestly been tough these past 9 years juggling the kids and the chores and my work on an ad hoc basis without much support at all. Dan and I mainly had to rely on each other and the Lord's strength. I guess family will always be the ones to be there to help you at the end of the day. I'm thankful.

Ballet Shoes

Krisalyn loves to dance and she has been learning ballet since she was about 3. I have been tempted many times to pull her out of the classess as they are not cheap and at times I wondered whether she did learn anything!But am glad we let her continue as she moved from Creative Dance to Pre-Primary and now she is at the Primary level of ballet.

She just recieved a recommendation letter from her teacher to take the Royal Academy of Dance Examination to move up to Grade 1 ballet by April next year. Very proud of you Krisalyn! But the price of the exam is super expensive too as it includes the examination fee and the coaching classess. *wallet pain* Dan felt that if its her interest to let her go for it. The fees get higher with each grade too! So we'll see how it goes step by step.

 

For now, well done Princess Krisalyn! May you be a beautiful dancer for the Lord!

Jedi's First Medal

 Jedidiah was so excited when he came home on evening holding this like it was made of real gold! The school has a sports day for the lower primary and his team had come in first. All of them in his team recieved a gold medal each and he was very proud to have his own medal that he could keep and hang in his room. Most importantly he had lots of fun with his friends!

Gifts for My Mei Meis

I was really proud of Jedi today for thinking of his younger sisters. He told them:

"Today Kor Kor will buy you something from school!"

And these were the two gifts he got them, 20 cents each....which means 40 cents off his allowance. That's alot for him as he eats alot these days with his $1.50 allowance.

 

The girls loved them although they were just tissue packs. Keziah asked to sleep with it too!  Am glad that Jedi is becoming more of a big brother now to them depsite the squabbles here and there. :)

Butterfly Wings!

The kids had much fun watching the creepy crawlie caterpillars morph into pupas. But sadly only 1 butterfly made it. One died in its cocoon, and the other was blown down by the wind. The last emerged but couldn't hang on to its cocoon to dry its wings and as a result couldn't become a proper butterfly. But it was so interesting to watch all the same.

This is a picture of one still a caterpillar and the other one that is hanging just turned into a pupa and spinning a cocoon.

Here is a picture of the butterfly as it emerged from the cocoon and it left behind red liquid as it dried its wings. Jedi was fortunate to have caught this part as he was at home in the morning.

The butterfly was ready to fly by early afternoon and the girls had the chance to say goodbye to it as we released it to the nearby park.

 And this was all that was left of our beautiful friend....

This whole experience was a wonderful opportunity to tell the kids about how marvellous God's creation is. How something so ugly (to me as I hate bugs) can turn into something so beautiful. Most of all, I reminded them that He makes all things beautiful in His time. It was only when the butterfly was ready that it could emerge and become what the Lord meant it to be. Indeed, he makes all things beautiful in His time!