The journey continues...
I have been in Shanghai as a trailing spouse for the past one year. One year isn't very long BUT it isn't very short either. Has it been good? It all depends on how you want to look at it. It is good because it has been a training ground, it is good because it has been an eye opener, widening of one's horizon. Learning to appreciate that I have been indeed blessed to have so much, the list could go on if I count my blessings.

By the 11th month, my cyber friends became real. Yes, this mama forum which I have joined 10 years ago, those cyber friends which I have made became real. Life is strange isn't it? We have been in Singapore for so long, we have never met but once we are out of Singapore, we got to see each other and I thank God for them.

It has been bad because, there were no friends for a good 11 months, no extended families. Water and air are bad, the harsh weather, people can be rude and even violent. Just the other day, I was with the kids at a supermarket and we witnessed a real physical fight between two big men. Traffic jams are bad, the 'breaking-down' house on no-man street. Food scare is a handful and I still miss sorely, the fresh produce that were aplenty and cheap in US of A. The worst of course was when aloneness crept in.

But God has always been there, when times become unbearable, this song never failed to lift me up.

You Are My Refuge (Words & music by Shannon Wexelberg PSALM 91)

I have found a place
I can call my own
Here in Your embrace
Where Your mercy overflows
It's here that all my doubts and fears
Just melt away
I lay my burdens down
And I look upon Your face

You are my refuge
You are my sanctuary
When I feel afraid
You're my hiding place
You are my refuge
And when the storm is raging
Underneath Your wings
I rejoice and sing
For You are my refuge

He who dwells in the secret place
Of the most high God
Shall abide underneath the shadow
The shadow of Your wings

A Singaporean friend told me. First year is tough, the second year become better by the third year, you don't want to go home. Well, dh's ex-colleague stayed here for a good four years. At the end of the assignment, it was champagne popping and rejoicing her way home and after which she took one year of no pay leave. A time of recuperating and regaining her sanity?

A new year has begun, we have moved out of the crappy house to a much better constructed one. I do not know what else awaits me or the family but life goes on and my journey continues... as a mum.

I have just been sent by my blog report that I have hit 10,000 views. I am not a figure person and have never been too keen with numbers but in this instance, the numbers tell me that there are people reading what I write and therefore, I must write with responsibility, with integrity and I must write to encourage, to edify.

I am no award-winning, bestseller. Just a mum sharing her thoughts. Thank you very much for taking time to read. Thank you and thank you.