Christmas!
Last year we had a beautiful white Christmas and this year we are having a real chilly Christmas...brrr. But whatever it is, the meaning of Christmas is still the same - that Christ came to save us all on this special day. Take a close look at the word CHRISTMAS, it is spelled CHRISTmas. This festive season is nothing without CHRIST. So to all of you out there....
A very blessed CHRISTmas!
When darkness fell
We were left shivering in the cold...in darkness.
There was a blackout in our house last night. Strangely, only our house was affected or perhaps it was because we were the only house that was occupied in that section. For close to two hours, we were left without lights and of course no heaters too. In this cold winter, it was like living in a big freezer. We all put on at least four layers of clothes to keep ourselves warm. Trust me, it didn't help. Winter in Shanghai is damp and cold so that makes it really cold and on top of that, strong winds are pretty common.
The engineers from the compound came first, he couldn't solve it, then the engineers from the power house came and they couldn't fix it too...finally just before midnight, the problem was solved and we survived the ordeal. Ann was visibly upset and said it was the worst night for her. Of course, mummy dearest made use of the chance to remind them to always save electricity and never take it for granted.
Well, everywhere we go, there were new challenges to face and I guess, this is one of them!
We were left shivering in the cold...in darkness.
There was a blackout in our house last night. Strangely, only our house was affected or perhaps it was because we were the only house that was occupied in that section. For close to two hours, we were left without lights and of course no heaters too. In this cold winter, it was like living in a big freezer. We all put on at least four layers of clothes to keep ourselves warm. Trust me, it didn't help. Winter in Shanghai is damp and cold so that makes it really cold and on top of that, strong winds are pretty common.
The engineers from the compound came first, he couldn't solve it, then the engineers from the power house came and they couldn't fix it too...finally just before midnight, the problem was solved and we survived the ordeal. Ann was visibly upset and said it was the worst night for her. Of course, mummy dearest made use of the chance to remind them to always save electricity and never take it for granted.
Well, everywhere we go, there were new challenges to face and I guess, this is one of them!
Winter break, Christmas break...whatever
The children were going to have their Christmas break, some called it winter break...whatever it was called, the kids were just so happy to have the holidays. The school had a Christmas concert and a potluck party for the preschoolers and their parents. Ann was singing at the concert and she has been practising really hard for this special occasion. I must say that she was really good in memorizing that L-O-N-G song.
My contribution for the potluck party. Some kids are allergic to eggs, so I baked egg-less cupcakes with the help from my super assistant, Ann
All the various food. Always a joy to bake (cook) for others....my little humble contribution, standing tall among the rest
Concert day!
There she is, my little princess Ann
The children were going to have their Christmas break, some called it winter break...whatever it was called, the kids were just so happy to have the holidays. The school had a Christmas concert and a potluck party for the preschoolers and their parents. Ann was singing at the concert and she has been practising really hard for this special occasion. I must say that she was really good in memorizing that L-O-N-G song.
My contribution for the potluck party. Some kids are allergic to eggs, so I baked egg-less cupcakes with the help from my super assistant, Ann
All the various food. Always a joy to bake (cook) for others....my little humble contribution, standing tall among the rest
Concert day!
There she is, my little princess Ann
She is one year old!
Our church in Shanghai just turned one. Very strange feeling. Nine years ago, Grace turned 50 it was 50 years of Grace. Now, we are in this young church which just turned one and the celebration was held in one of the biggest hotel in Shanghai-Puxi. Lavish? No, if God has blessed the church trememdously, it is perfecly alright to celebrate God's goodness. The church was also able to support this orphanage. The person-in-charge came and shared about how our church has helped the children get up and go back to school. There were much tears that day.
Yes, Glory be to God...through the many months
The worship team and Kai with his team!
Always a joy to watch the little ones singing
Part of the conggregation and the man in the checkered jacket is the man in charge of the orphanage. It was heartbreaking listening and watching a grown man broke down in public. Yes, so true...my Shanghai church pastor always said, "it is so blessed to be able to bless"
Our church in Shanghai just turned one. Very strange feeling. Nine years ago, Grace turned 50 it was 50 years of Grace. Now, we are in this young church which just turned one and the celebration was held in one of the biggest hotel in Shanghai-Puxi. Lavish? No, if God has blessed the church trememdously, it is perfecly alright to celebrate God's goodness. The church was also able to support this orphanage. The person-in-charge came and shared about how our church has helped the children get up and go back to school. There were much tears that day.
Yes, Glory be to God...through the many months
The worship team and Kai with his team!
Always a joy to watch the little ones singing
Part of the conggregation and the man in the checkered jacket is the man in charge of the orphanage. It was heartbreaking listening and watching a grown man broke down in public. Yes, so true...my Shanghai church pastor always said, "it is so blessed to be able to bless"
When it dropped to -3 deg C...
we have steamboat and lamb stew. That's what the locals here eat to keep themselves warm...so we do likewise.
Yes, just the four of us having steamboat. Ann said that was the best dinner ever...hmmm
Hot comfort food. Lamb is often sold together with their skin intact. Cooked slowly with celery, carrots, onions, potatoes and tomatoes in my beloved Le Creuset pot
we have steamboat and lamb stew. That's what the locals here eat to keep themselves warm...so we do likewise.
Yes, just the four of us having steamboat. Ann said that was the best dinner ever...hmmm
Hot comfort food. Lamb is often sold together with their skin intact. Cooked slowly with celery, carrots, onions, potatoes and tomatoes in my beloved Le Creuset pot
My last dim sum...
Sob, sob...tears of joy and tears of sadness...I have graduated from my dim sum course and these were the last few dim sum I did.
"Ba pao" or meat steam bun. Mine was so good even my teacher said hers wasn't as good as mine. When you have a good teacher, you have a good student
Pearl dumpling. Very special dim sum, the outside is made of glutinous rice and flour. Nice soft sticky feel.
This one reminded me of the famous Crown Prince flaky mooncake but I must say (another Singaporean friend also agreed)
that this pastry is way better than the one sold at home.
From here, I hope you can imagine how flaky is the pastry.
Using the same dough, we tried out a different recipe. Hmm....one word to describe - superlicious!
I have come to the end of my dim sum course. A wonderful learning experience. What I used to see only on TV, I was able to learn from the real expert. What an eye opener indeed. What used to look and seem difficult to do, I now know that it is indeed easy. Imagine the amount of money I will be saving eating my own home-made dim sum from this day onwards!
Sob, sob...tears of joy and tears of sadness...I have graduated from my dim sum course and these were the last few dim sum I did.
"Ba pao" or meat steam bun. Mine was so good even my teacher said hers wasn't as good as mine. When you have a good teacher, you have a good student
Pearl dumpling. Very special dim sum, the outside is made of glutinous rice and flour. Nice soft sticky feel.
This one reminded me of the famous Crown Prince flaky mooncake but I must say (another Singaporean friend also agreed)
that this pastry is way better than the one sold at home.
From here, I hope you can imagine how flaky is the pastry.
Using the same dough, we tried out a different recipe. Hmm....one word to describe - superlicious!
I have come to the end of my dim sum course. A wonderful learning experience. What I used to see only on TV, I was able to learn from the real expert. What an eye opener indeed. What used to look and seem difficult to do, I now know that it is indeed easy. Imagine the amount of money I will be saving eating my own home-made dim sum from this day onwards!
The roller coaster ride
Little Ann brought home a book titled "The Roller Coaster". It was a book for pre-schoolers like her but it contained the most profound thought even for the adults. It talked about people who enjoyed going on roller coaster rides, the ups and downs, the twist and turns. At the end of the ride, some came out, asking for more, some fell sick and some..no big deal.
It had a little message to the story...Life is like a roller coaster ride, the ups and downs, the twist and turns, just hand in there. It was indeed a cute little book but I thought it spoke volumes.
Isn't our life such. We sometimes, go through the mountain top experience and the bottlomless pit of a valley...but like a roller coaster ride, each event will finally come to an end. For me, without God, I don't think I will ever survive life's roller coaster ride.
This was what I had read in my US pastor's blog. Really, God is the main course of our life, the rest are just our M&Ms, Skitties or like what Pastor Winter said "twix bar on our way home"
God is the ballast that steadies and rights our ship in life's rough waters. God is the grid which allows us to see things in their real dimension and to measure those inflationary moments which tend to pop leaving little in their wake. Lest it appear that I'm suggesting that God is the cosmic salt and pepper which adds flavor to everthing in life, let me clarify: God is not a nice accessory to life's ensemble, He's not the spice. He is the substance. He is the main course.
God is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. He can't safely be placed on a shelf to gather dust, we can't pretend He isn't there without risking harm. Even if we become entirely absorbed in our own thing, an aroma will still be wafting through the air that tells our hearts there's someone else bigger and stronger in the room with whom we have to do. We can never be sure He's adopted our agenda rather than His own, so we have no choice but to deal with Him, honestly, thoroughly, first and foremost.
If you're a person of faith, pursuing a vision for life and stretching for goals apart from God can only result in a vacuous moment of achievement that ends with you wondering, "Is that all there is?" Pursuing a vision and stretching for goals with God on the sideline looking on can only lead to an abiding uncertainty that has you constantly wondering, "Is this right?" Pursuing a vision of God and stretching toward Him is what puts everything else into perspective and leads to peaceful satisfaction as goals are achieved along the way.
So, at this place in life, decide once and for all whether or not you're a "God person." You're here because you are people of faith, so I hope you are a "God person." If so, make Jesus Christ your meat and potatoes. It is the only wise and sensible way of dealing with him. Then let everything else be the twix bar on the way home and you'll find your journey was sweet. (thundersounds.blogspot.com. Tuesday 9 June. Twix bar on the way home)
Little Ann brought home a book titled "The Roller Coaster". It was a book for pre-schoolers like her but it contained the most profound thought even for the adults. It talked about people who enjoyed going on roller coaster rides, the ups and downs, the twist and turns. At the end of the ride, some came out, asking for more, some fell sick and some..no big deal.
It had a little message to the story...Life is like a roller coaster ride, the ups and downs, the twist and turns, just hand in there. It was indeed a cute little book but I thought it spoke volumes.
Isn't our life such. We sometimes, go through the mountain top experience and the bottlomless pit of a valley...but like a roller coaster ride, each event will finally come to an end. For me, without God, I don't think I will ever survive life's roller coaster ride.
This was what I had read in my US pastor's blog. Really, God is the main course of our life, the rest are just our M&Ms, Skitties or like what Pastor Winter said "twix bar on our way home"
God is the ballast that steadies and rights our ship in life's rough waters. God is the grid which allows us to see things in their real dimension and to measure those inflationary moments which tend to pop leaving little in their wake. Lest it appear that I'm suggesting that God is the cosmic salt and pepper which adds flavor to everthing in life, let me clarify: God is not a nice accessory to life's ensemble, He's not the spice. He is the substance. He is the main course.
God is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. He can't safely be placed on a shelf to gather dust, we can't pretend He isn't there without risking harm. Even if we become entirely absorbed in our own thing, an aroma will still be wafting through the air that tells our hearts there's someone else bigger and stronger in the room with whom we have to do. We can never be sure He's adopted our agenda rather than His own, so we have no choice but to deal with Him, honestly, thoroughly, first and foremost.
If you're a person of faith, pursuing a vision for life and stretching for goals apart from God can only result in a vacuous moment of achievement that ends with you wondering, "Is that all there is?" Pursuing a vision and stretching for goals with God on the sideline looking on can only lead to an abiding uncertainty that has you constantly wondering, "Is this right?" Pursuing a vision of God and stretching toward Him is what puts everything else into perspective and leads to peaceful satisfaction as goals are achieved along the way.
So, at this place in life, decide once and for all whether or not you're a "God person." You're here because you are people of faith, so I hope you are a "God person." If so, make Jesus Christ your meat and potatoes. It is the only wise and sensible way of dealing with him. Then let everything else be the twix bar on the way home and you'll find your journey was sweet. (thundersounds.blogspot.com. Tuesday 9 June. Twix bar on the way home)
An expat mama story
At one of the forums I frequent, this mama shared her story. I guess she must be an expat wife because at this forum, most of them are. In my previous posting, I have already blogged about life as an expat wife, so we should read this with that background in mind.
"my hubby is not those that shows he cares...not even to me but one of his colleague was away on biz trip and he sms her. not hubby's style, he can be working from morning to night and don't sms or call home.
we had dinner (some time back) with his team of staff, he was sitting beside her thru out the night, leaving the kids to play on their own and me talking to his other colleagues.(it wasn't like i know his colleagues as friends, it was my first time meeting them) altho there were two empty seats in between us, hubby continued sitting beside her instead of me.
i asked him about the events, he said his sms was official and the dinner, he was still looking at the kids. i find it a joke that it required him to "abandon" me so that he could look after our kids. i maybe oversensitive but given the environment i was in, how was i to look at them. then a few days later, my hubby sms me to tell me that other women maybe more successful or more beautiful than me but they don't come close and that he is committed to our marriage vows...do i trust him. married for ions, this was the first from him, it's kind of a little too late. you see, he is not the expressive type, rarely appreciate what i have done, rarely praise me or compliment me. even when i am sick, he has never stopped work to offer to look after the kids for a day, suddenly these words come in thru sms, do i accept it? when he has time, he would rather choose to sleep early than to talk to me....suddenly, it dawn on me that i have been the giving partner in this marriage while he is the receiving one perhaps that is why i am feeling the hurt even more...if i am oversensitive, then he is insensitive..."
A rather depressing posting in the forum but I believed, there are many more sad stories out there. Sometime back, there were also postings from women asking for lawyers in Shanghai who knows about foreign laws with regards to divorce.
When I was younger, I used to love to read this comic - Peanuts, there was one character called Charlie Brown. His friend, Lucy loved to call him 'block head' and I think sometimes, husbands are like that - 'block head'. (Actually, there are also wives out there who are also 'block head')
Why 'block head'? If in all the years of marriage, you are a scrooge in expressing your love, do you expect your spouse to believe you when you finally did it and did it only when something bad happened? If in the marriage, love is often expressed, perhaps, this expat mama would be able to handle it better. Given the difficulties she has to go through as an expat wife, an expat mum, with no one to talk to but a stupid laptop, of course, depression sets in easily. Bette Miller used to sing this song "you got to laugh a little, give a little...that's the glory of love". Yes, learn to give a little all the time. It's like our stomache, starved it for days and stuffed it all of a sudden, it is going to collapse.
The head of the school which the kids are attending said that it is tough on the mothers because the fathers have to work very hard and long hours, the mother is there to shoulder everything herself. Quite true. The worst is that the mother cannot change her environment while the father can - from home to office, from office to home, while the mother can only change from kitchen to hall, hall to bedroom and wherever she goes, it is still the same place. While the father can engage in intellectual conversation with his bosses and colleagues, the mother can only casual talk with the aiyi and driver and not forgetting, children's talk with the kids. Is it any wonder that some expat wives ended as drinkers and smokers. Thank God, I cannot drink and I hate smoking...maybe I will be a glutton?
Many times, the pastor preached about letting go of the bitterness and anger, forgive and forget and move on. This is easiler said than done. For a woman who has gone through so much for ions, it takes an angel not a human to do just that. Let me illustrate with a life example.
Ann has a scar on one of her knees. Each time she looked at it, she always said, "koko pushed me". You see, it was an accident. They were both running along the pavement when we were still in the US. Kai just leaned towards her and being tiny, she was pushed off the pavement and she fell and had a big bruise on her knee. It has since healed but the scar remains and each time she looked at it, she blamed it on Kai. That's the reality, it is really difficult to forget when the hurt has been inflicted and the scar remained.
So, if you are a husband or wife reading this, head home today and express your love to your spouse, don't wait till something drastic happen then do it, it may be too late. Don't be the Mr Scrooge or Mrs Scrooge today.
At one of the forums I frequent, this mama shared her story. I guess she must be an expat wife because at this forum, most of them are. In my previous posting, I have already blogged about life as an expat wife, so we should read this with that background in mind.
"my hubby is not those that shows he cares...not even to me but one of his colleague was away on biz trip and he sms her. not hubby's style, he can be working from morning to night and don't sms or call home.
we had dinner (some time back) with his team of staff, he was sitting beside her thru out the night, leaving the kids to play on their own and me talking to his other colleagues.(it wasn't like i know his colleagues as friends, it was my first time meeting them) altho there were two empty seats in between us, hubby continued sitting beside her instead of me.
i asked him about the events, he said his sms was official and the dinner, he was still looking at the kids. i find it a joke that it required him to "abandon" me so that he could look after our kids. i maybe oversensitive but given the environment i was in, how was i to look at them. then a few days later, my hubby sms me to tell me that other women maybe more successful or more beautiful than me but they don't come close and that he is committed to our marriage vows...do i trust him. married for ions, this was the first from him, it's kind of a little too late. you see, he is not the expressive type, rarely appreciate what i have done, rarely praise me or compliment me. even when i am sick, he has never stopped work to offer to look after the kids for a day, suddenly these words come in thru sms, do i accept it? when he has time, he would rather choose to sleep early than to talk to me....suddenly, it dawn on me that i have been the giving partner in this marriage while he is the receiving one perhaps that is why i am feeling the hurt even more...if i am oversensitive, then he is insensitive..."
A rather depressing posting in the forum but I believed, there are many more sad stories out there. Sometime back, there were also postings from women asking for lawyers in Shanghai who knows about foreign laws with regards to divorce.
When I was younger, I used to love to read this comic - Peanuts, there was one character called Charlie Brown. His friend, Lucy loved to call him 'block head' and I think sometimes, husbands are like that - 'block head'. (Actually, there are also wives out there who are also 'block head')
Why 'block head'? If in all the years of marriage, you are a scrooge in expressing your love, do you expect your spouse to believe you when you finally did it and did it only when something bad happened? If in the marriage, love is often expressed, perhaps, this expat mama would be able to handle it better. Given the difficulties she has to go through as an expat wife, an expat mum, with no one to talk to but a stupid laptop, of course, depression sets in easily. Bette Miller used to sing this song "you got to laugh a little, give a little...that's the glory of love". Yes, learn to give a little all the time. It's like our stomache, starved it for days and stuffed it all of a sudden, it is going to collapse.
The head of the school which the kids are attending said that it is tough on the mothers because the fathers have to work very hard and long hours, the mother is there to shoulder everything herself. Quite true. The worst is that the mother cannot change her environment while the father can - from home to office, from office to home, while the mother can only change from kitchen to hall, hall to bedroom and wherever she goes, it is still the same place. While the father can engage in intellectual conversation with his bosses and colleagues, the mother can only casual talk with the aiyi and driver and not forgetting, children's talk with the kids. Is it any wonder that some expat wives ended as drinkers and smokers. Thank God, I cannot drink and I hate smoking...maybe I will be a glutton?
Many times, the pastor preached about letting go of the bitterness and anger, forgive and forget and move on. This is easiler said than done. For a woman who has gone through so much for ions, it takes an angel not a human to do just that. Let me illustrate with a life example.
Ann has a scar on one of her knees. Each time she looked at it, she always said, "koko pushed me". You see, it was an accident. They were both running along the pavement when we were still in the US. Kai just leaned towards her and being tiny, she was pushed off the pavement and she fell and had a big bruise on her knee. It has since healed but the scar remains and each time she looked at it, she blamed it on Kai. That's the reality, it is really difficult to forget when the hurt has been inflicted and the scar remained.
So, if you are a husband or wife reading this, head home today and express your love to your spouse, don't wait till something drastic happen then do it, it may be too late. Don't be the Mr Scrooge or Mrs Scrooge today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)