Mummy and son time...

Well, not exactly a day out for me without the kids but it was a day out where there were no need to care about unfinished household chores, checking on the kids' work, rushing to fetch Ann and doing the sprint to get home before Kai. The church family club organized a treasure hunt for mum. Mothers were only allowed to bring one child and the child's age must be between 7 to 12 years old. It was a great trip as the purpose was to allow mother and child the time to bond with each other. I could only bring Kai cos' only he qualified. Ann spent the whole day bondng with dh.Being a stay-at-home-mum, I have all the time in the world to be with my children but to really spend time with them and just relax and have fun, the opportunities are rare because we are often busy with getting all the various tasks done. Preparing meals, making sure they have finished their school work, clearing up the daily chores...the list goes on. So when the church organized this event, I grabbed the chance so that Kai and I can have some mother-son fun. It was a good chance for Kai to experience and see what village life is all about. Kai was looking forward to it although he had to wake up early on a Saturday morning, his precious morning where he can sleep in.


Treasure Hunt with my Mum at Pulau Ubin


Pulau Ubin is an island south of Singapore, therefore, to get there, we had to take a 10 mins boat ride. It was a beautiful cool sunny morning


Nice to get away from all the urban developments, back to the embrace of mother nature. It was really a good experience for Kai. Yes, they are still using water from the well...not for drinking though. We even spotted a rubber tree


Our first 'treasure' found. The Elephant's Foot, a kind of plant


The king of all fruits in Southeast Asia durian.
This wasn't one of the items which we were supposed to find but one the teams found it!


Then, we made our way to Chekjawa. A beautiful place...


Mangrove trees and we found this rather unusual fruit. I have no idea what it was. I thought it was palm but later was told that it wasn't. Perhaps, one of you could make it out and let me know


These looked like Periwinkles but I am not too sure and of course, this one, we all must know


This is the 21 meter high Jejawi Tower located at Chekjawa. Yes, I did climb up and reach the top, the view is always nicer higher up, I cannot miss the chance!


We made it! View from the top, beautiful, isn't it?

In the afternoon, we had some programmes and one of it was a mother and son heart-to-heart sharing. One of the questions which the mother was supposed to the child was "what is the one time which you would like to tell your friends about your mother?"Kai's answer was "my mum doesn't work." I know being a stay-at-home-mum means alot to the kids. They love having me around the house and always looking forward to seeing me waiting for them after school.

In the evening, we had the good old bar-b-q. It was a great time reminding me of my younger days where a group of us close friends often headed to the east coast beach to have bar-b-q. Being students, we didn't have much money. Our funds were spent on renting the bar-b-q pit and buying food, we would then spent the whole night chatting away under the starry night and with the cold sea breeze blowing at us. Can I still do that now...the bar-b-q, yes. Staying awake the whole night, NO. I have to be honest, time and tide wait for no man (woman). I no longer have that kind of stamina.


The all time favourites - satay, chicken wings and prawns


Sunset at Ubin.

It was really a very enjoyable time. Not only having a fun-filled day with Kai but there were alot of catching up with some old friends too. Events like this remind me that, really, at the end of the day, what matters most, what brings the greatest joy to my life are the friendships and relationships which I have. I hope to bring Ann for the next such event.

Ride with the waves...

Before we leave this home country again, we wanted to find out what have happened while we were gone. We found out that there was this new bridge that has been built. We decided to check it out. It was quite an interesting place. If you haven't been there, do check it out. It is call the Henderson Waves.


Notice the wave-like structure on the bridge. It was really fun walking on it


Breath-taking views from the bridge

Well, we just can't cross the bridge and end our 'exploration', we need to look around and see what we can discover...


We saw this strange looking fruit (Have you seen it before?) That's its name - quite a mouthful to pronounce it

More snap-shots of the place...

Pray, pray, pray

I couldn't believe that it has been 13 days ago since I last blogged. Time just rocketed by without me realising it.

So much to do yet so little time. No, it has nothing to do with time management. (I think I pride myself as one efficient homemaker ;)) In a couple of weeks the movers will come in and we will embark on our next journey and you know what, nothing much has been done. The 24 hours I have are filled with the daily chores...of course if I give up on my sleep, perhaps, more can be accomplished. Pray, oh God, give me wisdom...

The past previous weeks, we had really hot weather. Scorching heat could be felt everywhere even in the comfort of my high-rise, unblocked flat. Temperature was hovering around 34 deg C to 36 deg C. The weather man reported that this hot spell may last for many more weeks.

Oh God, spare us. I prayed. "God, you are the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end and You said You reign over all, please send the rain!"

Guess what, it has been raining and we have been having nice cool weather since Sunday...what a relief!

So, I say, pray, pray, pray...nothing is too small or too big for Him to answer!

He can really make me cry...

After sending Ann to school, I came home and was surprised to see these...



Kai went on to talk about this surprise...

"I heard the washing machine beep (when the washing is done, it will beep). So I took out the clothes and brought down the bamboo pole, clipped the clothes onto it but realised I had no strength to put it out to dry, so I left it there for you."

I was so touched. I thanked him, gave him a big hug and kiss and told him that some things are only meant for adults to do.

Yes, such little things in life make me very happy. I have always believed that the ability to handle the chores of life marks the maturity of a person.

Kai need not to be an A* student, he need not be a member of MENSA (of course all these would be extra icing on a cake) but as long as he grows up to be a sensible young man, having the abilities to conquer the challenges in life, I will be the happiest mum on earth and I know I have raise him up well. So...don't sweat the small stuff!

My son is growing up each day...

Kai has promoted himself. He is now into airfix. If you are familiar with these modelling toys, you know that it takes a lot of patience and hard work to piece them together.



Every minute piece have to be glued together to form the complete model. I mean, they are really very tiny pieces and Kai did it all by himself. I am glad he enjoyed fixing them up. It shows me the other side of him...patient and merticulous. Well done, my son!

Happy Papa's Day

Yes, it was Father's Day! The celebrations for pops began on Saturday morning...In the morning, we went back to the West Coast park and had a fun time just being together as a family. The weather was HOT, really HOT! In the afternoon, Ann performed two songs with her class at church and guess what, she was made the MC and she led in prayer for all the fathers and mothers in the congregation. We were so proud of her.


Ann praying for all papas and mummies and singing with her classIn the evening, I brought them to a great restaurant, it was great because it had dh's favourite food and the kids also enjoyed it.


It was a special steamboat with soup made from wintermelon, some seafood and wolfberries. Very nutritious.
Very fresh and thinly sliced beef which the kids loved, were put into the soup too.


Pops cooking for all of us and there you have it, a very declicious and healthy pot of steamboat.After a hearty dinner, we went home and reveal the gifts.


Kai made a helicopter for dh and he named it the 'Infinite'. Guess, to Kai, there will never be an end to what pops can do for him


For a change, Ann made a Chinese card for dh. I bought him a Samsonite laptop backpack. I am frugal but dh's frugality way surpassed mine. He has been carrying his old laptop for ages and you know what, it was a backpack which belonged to some kind of health drink. Yes, it was a sponsored bag. I told him, he has 'advertised' for them long enough, time to change

I still miss it

Yes, I still miss my US church, the little chapel on the hilltop and I still miss alot of Pastor Winters' messages. Thank God for creating blogs. In his blog, I often find God's words becoming a reality. How about some thunder and lightning for you ;) Many would expect a pastor's blog to be serious and heavy going stuff but one wonderful thing about his blog and one reason why I thoroughly enjoyed his preachings is because he made God's word so simple and so applicable...(that was the whole purpose of recording God's word) to lay people like you and I.

What does packing means?

Now that the house and school are all settled, what's left to do? Of course...the packing! Actually, we haven't really unpacked...sometimes, that can be frustrating.

Inspite of labelling all the boxes, often, I find myself ransacking all the boxes to look for one thing I need. I guess not many have the opportunity to relocate but I am sure many have the experience of moving house...imagine doing that two years ago and then doing it three times in six months. In case you are telling me "at least you get to relocate!" Yes, I appreciate the opportunities and I know the experiences I had and will be having will be wonderful memories for me in the years to come. But before I can enjoy the fruits, in the meantime, it is a lot of hard work.

One wonderful thing about packing and unpacking again, is the joy of clearing and throwing unwanted stuff and finding long lost items.


Old photographs, type-written letters and aerograms.

The type-written letter was sent to us in 1995 by Gabriel. I must tell you more about this friend of ours. A little background into his life. Gabriel was an Asean scholar, smart (I mean really smart) man and when we knew him, he was working in one of the big six. Those of you who belong to the same era, you know what I am referring to. To be able to work in one of the big six, was a prestigious thing. Dh and I think that if he had stayed on, it would have been a breeze for him climbing up the ladder but instead, he gave up the cushy job and went to Kenya to do mission work and has never returned since. We have alot of respect and admiration for him. We count ourselves so privileged to be able to help him pursue his dreams. His mission is to help those less privilege group to move on and live a meaningful and fruitful life. To know more about Gabriel's work and see what this young man has and is doing, go to the river.


With this invitation, many came to witness one of the most important occasions in our lives - YES! This was our wedding invitation. How time flies. We are now proud parents to two wonderful kids...and probably for the next couple of our wedding anniversaries, we will be celebrating away from home.


This pictorial book written by Sandy Lam was given to us by our good friend, Uncle Moses. The book is all about Shanghai and the wonderful food that are available. It was given to us many years back, way before we even know about our relocation to Shanghai. I guess, I can say that God knows what is in store for us, many years down the road. Setting objectives to accomplish is a great way to live a "relocated" life. I am pretty proud to say that my objectives set while in US, were all accomplished. When I return from Shanghai, I must master the art of making 'xiao long pao' - chinese dumplings.