The last day of 2009 and here are the questions I posed to myself with no answers.. as yet

Dear all,

Today is the last day of 2009 and very soon it will be 2010. Along the way in 2009 despite of the streesful that we have encountered, some questions came to my mind but still with no answers yet....yet..

Here are some:

If God have chosen not be among one of us i.e. God is God, and human is human, where would I be today? Would I be a human wondering around without knowing God, Himself.

How is heaven like....this morning as I travelled on bus 39 along the TPE, I come across a greenery patch filled with trees and a river, it was a peaceful sight indeed. Is heaven going to be like this? I figure out if it is so, heaven should be a happy place.

When I was still in primary school, a close friend of mine told me that our planet is indeed a very old planet - millions of years. But our human race is just only a few thousands of years that exist on this planet. How can this be and this is what he told me...human existed many times around on this planet and after each human existence on this planet, God destroys it entirely and recreate another human generation from scratch (perhaps due to our sinfulness?) and so we have many cycles of human existence but always the same planet - earth. It is just thought - a contemplative one on the marvel of God.

Happy New Year1

AlbertY

Handover Day!!

Dear All

Our contractor told us change of locks and handover is delayed by half day to Wed afternoon. So we decide to go see the place.....horrors of horrors....not much was done since Fri! The promised kitchen cornices, splashback and installation of taps weren't in! We were only there tonight around 8+pm and Bert was really mad. There was debris everywhere. I was very disappointed. We couldn't even clean the place. I told the contractor general cleaning was part of the contract so why was it not done? Know what was his reply? The cleaners say after unpacking there'll be rubbish so after we unpack is the best time to clear! What utter rubbish! I was so blabberghasted!! I told him how am I to place my sofa and beds which are coming tomorrow morning if there is rubbish everywhere and not clean? Bert was unhappy indeed. The contractor will be getting his cleaners and personally supervise them tomorrow morning. Bert ticked him off for not coming down personally to see what's happening.

I feel so stressed now. 1st priority is to get the house cleaned before the furniture shifts in. Thur is the major move of our barang of 9 years to our new home. I don't know how I'm able to wash and prepare my chicken if my tap isn't even installed nor gas-stove ordered! Perhaps this christmas we'll be getting something off the rack rather than cooked for our LC party. If so, sorry guys :(

Love Theresa

A prayer before house moving...

This morning as I stepped out of the house, I was feeling kind of a bit stress...stress from the thought of move out form our current place after a long period of almost 9 years. I told myself all this happens because I am doing this for the family..as the family is really in need of a bigger space from the current 990 sf. Making money in this property boom is certainly the last thing on this plan. So, in that sense, I believe God will help me out in this coz I have align my plans to that of God's plan for me to see to the family's needs.

So, I decided to say a special prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and to my best spiritual friend, St Therese of Lisieux. My senses sort of come a calm and I know that Mary and St Therese is behind me, supporting me. On the train, I have the opportunity to squeeze myself to a corner and with some music on, I continue to think about St Therese in what she has written in her autobiography. Her thoughts and feelings as written in her book sort of have some peaceful effect on me.

Mother Mary, calm my fears and drive away all my stress and be with me in this period of house moving.

St Therese, please guide us and be with us. Pray for us!

ALbertY

Countdown...only 2 more days!!

Dear All

Today (Mon) is just about 2 days left to the big move! Scary leh! We are hardly completely packed! I forgot to call SPH to change our delivery address! Bert is soooooo very sweet and a non-procastinator like me :( With my bro down, he is doing the maid renewal for my parents and practically taken over those duties. Makes me feel that he's a better son than I am as a daughter, but no complaints, just praises for my dear, caring hubby :)

Today, I made the girls clear more of their stuff, and I 2 more bookshelves...and horrors...we are running out of boxes!! Boxes are like NEVER enough! It's amazing how fast they are gone!

Since our chinese tutor can't make it for lessons this afternoon, we decided to make it a day out instead of just lunch.

Tiffany wanted to see the Orchard Road lightup. I wasn't sure if it is totally up yet. We took shots of the deco in the day and in the night. It's much nicer at night, but you can't see the details like in the day. I need Tiffany to upload her pixs before I can upload on the LC blog as I can't find my cable or whatever is needed to upload stuff from my camera and hp! (Yes, I AM that techy illiterate, so don't laugh!).

My other objective is to replace our 8 year old christmas tree. You can imagine how worn out it is after 8 years. Bought it from Carrfour with my mum when she are healthier at $19.90 . Saw the ad that Carrfour was having a sale on its 240mm tree from original price of $170+ to $39.90 so after roaming the streets from Tangs to the new 313 sommerset, we headed for Cityhall for the tree!! Yes, the 3 of us, from 2.30pm till 9 at night!! Told the girls no fancy restaurant meals and no buying unnecessary stuff, and they were pretty good. The only expensive stuff was the drinks from Orange Julius....2 drinks for $10.90!! I gave Felicia $10 and she came running back to me for another $1!! But after tasting the drinks, gosh, they are really good stuff and quality ingredients, so I think they were worth it. Felicia's was 3 kinds of berries and Tiffany's was some kind of vanilla and they were both so good. I think the vanilla can have a good fight with Starbucks, in fact I think it's better and more value for money.

Anyway, back to the main objective of the outing, was to get the christmas tree. This was strategically orchestrated by Tiffany to be at the very end of the trip, so that we can take a cab home. There were 210mm trees with either metal or plastic stands for $29.90 or $19.90 respectively. Tiffany says the 240mm would be too tall for AzP so we looked for the $19.90 one. But since the ad was out on Sat, this cheaper one was sold out! We then went for the 210mm for $29.90. The metal stand made the packaging heavy, so the 2 girls sweetly carried the package between them, for me! It was embarrassing seeing families looking at them as I carried the other carrier bags behind them, like I was a slave-driver or something. They lugged it down the escalator and to the taxi stand. So sweet of them, yah?

Bert was fortunately early home, so I called him to wait for us at the lobby to carry the tree up. Just imagine, if I had gotten it just 1 week back, I would have been $100+ poorer!! And now, I have a much bigger tree for an extra $10 more than what I had paid for 8 years ago for a 4 ft tall tree!! I was so worried the trees would be expensive (which they were last week) that I thought we'll have to do with the old tree which I had promised the girls we'll replace last christmas!!

Love Theresa

BBQ & Our new haunt - T3

Dear All

Yesterday (Sat) was raining. McDonald now follows Delifrance...they do not deliver if it is raining :( As I usually don't cook over the weekends plus my freezer is low on food (done on purpose cos of moving), we decided to park at Expo and take MRT to our new haunt - T3! I thought of saving some $ by eating at the foodcourt there, but Bert decided to give ourselves a little treat - 1st time eating at Sweet Recipe. I'm a bit mountain tortoise and thought this was last time a cake shop...and felt foolish when Bert told me that cake shop was named Sweet Secrets lah! Aiyoh!

Anyway, Bert was introduced to Sweet Recipe when he was on course. He says the mutton soup is great. As we are getting on with age, we decided to go for chicken. Bert ate the grilled and Feli and I each took the breaded chicken chop rolled inside with ham and cheese.....sinful right? But well, don't know when I'll be eating my next yum yum food, so better get it while I can, hee hee.

Tiffany ordered her garlic and butter fish. Gosh, hers was the best! So yummy! The soup is good and so was the toffee smoothie.

Actually, an unusual soup that the girls and I had tasted recently (the day of the pony ride) was from Manhanttan Fish Market at WhiteSands Mall. It was cream of asparagus with sotong rings. That's the first time I've tried it...usually soups are topped with crotons (toasted bread) or with cream sauce, but this was different and tasted great.

Anyway, back to T3...word must have gotten out! The place is now sooooo crowded. What's more, they now have car boot sale/flea market at the carpark too!! If this place gets too crowded, we may have to change our haunt to somewhere else :(

Today (Sun) Tiff best friend invited her and Feli to Escape Theme Park followed by a BBQ at Aranda Country Club at DownTown East. We've been to their BBQ before, and they sure have lots of delicious homemade BBQ food!! Needless to say, the girls had lots of fun, the BBQ was fantastic (sting ray - sedup and shiok that Tiff and another friend were like rushing to eat the next piece as it came off the grill!!). Instead of the usual sausage, they grilled cheese sausages, very salty and the kids love it! They also made great pasta with guess what...mayonaise...seems like it's some philoppino recipe. Needless to say, I asked for the recipes, but it's all just oral and only the ingredients were given. So I'll need to try it later and see how. And do you know who are the people who prepared and did all the cooking? It's the HUSBANDS! Yes, 2 men!!

Tomorrow, more packing to do to burn off some of the fats accummulated from all those yummy meals done this week!

Love Theresa

The Coming is near!! Azalea that is!

Dear All

We are soooo excited about the coming move...excited and apprehensive. You all should know us by now, that we are a very "worrying" couple...we worry about the "what ifs" that we think until our brain hurts. We are worried about the mounting costs, the headache of moving, the worry of if we can pack everything in time, if the contractor can complete in time as our moving deadline of 10 Dec draws near.

We finally got our aircon guy to fixed up our aircon at a much reduced price...about half the quoted price, after much haggling! He's coming tomorrow to do the job, so we hope it'll solve our leaking aircon problem and cover our hole in the ceiling.

Bert has already passed our MP housekeys to the housing agent to source a tenant for us.

This evening, after Felicia's choir practice, we went to see the reno at AP. It should be completed today. Tiffany, who disliked the house at first, cause it looked old and dilapidated was now pleasantly pleased with the reno and repainted house. She commented that it looked like a hotel from the entrance. That's a nice comment from her. We were SOOOO worried she'll still dislike the house. Afterall, the main reason why we are moving is for the girls' sake...more space.

The new kitchen is in...looked pretty good though smaller than MP :(

The walls are painted in the colours that each of us selected but tampered by the reno guys to keep the rooms bright still. The kitchen basin, cooker hob and hoods are installed...by-fold doors to 3rd toilet and store-room installed, now left with Tiffany's room lights, kitchen and backyard lights to be installed. Backsplash will be installed next week and all door knobs and locksets will also be changed. We are quering about replacing the WCs as we can't afford to renovate the toilets. Let's hope the plumber can do that. That should please the girls :) Now our worry is if the girls dare to sleep in their own rooms! Otherwise, it defeats the main purpose of moving in the first place!!

My mum says Dec is a busy time for priests, and also, we need time to unpack...hence, the house blessing would be postponed to next year, hopefully by Jan. Need to check when's CNY though :(

Love Theresa

Today (3 Dec 09) Fun time at Pasir Ris with my Girls

Dear All

If you recall, we recently went to the Turf Club to pat the horses and watch them race. Tiffany told us that Pasir Ris Park has a white horse, so today (Thur) we ventured there. There was not only a white horse, but there were several horses and 2 miniature horses too! In fact, it is a horse-riding stable/school.

Firstly, we booked 3 bikes for 2 hours at only $5 per bike! Pasir Ris park is a much smaller park than the East Coast (EC), however, it has so many interesting things there, like:

- a big playground with rope tunnels and looonnng slides

- a small garden maze

- a steep slope to zoom down

best of all, it's not jammed-pack crowded like EC.

We also investigated a pool of water on the beach on which a family were excitedly scooping up things from. It turned out to be a low-tide pool filled with tiny sea-snails, tiny fish and very very tiny hermit crabs. Our brave Tiffany held one up to show us and was pinched on her nails...she quickly dropped it into the pail of the little girl who was scooping things with her mum.

We cycled the entire park and returned our bikes about 1.5 hours later. The girls wanted to see the horses. As we were not allowed to pat the miniature horses, we each took a pony ride at $10 per person....a bit ex but I guess if we travel abroad, we probably would have paid more to ride a horse!! I rode one in NZ before I knew Bert, and remembered it to be an exhilarating but scary ride as I almost rolled off the horse's neck when it picked to nibble a flower at the cliff's edge then (in NZ that is!!). So when I rode the pony/horse, the same feeling like I could roll off the horse's neck came back. It was a new and fun experience for the girls.

The highlight for Tiffany today was the hermit crabs. For Felicia, it was the pony ride. For me, I liked both. In all, the girls and I enjoyed our little family (minus dady) out...a relatively "cheap" holiday without leaving Singapore :) Actually, there are fun things to do in Singapore without need to go overseas especially when the kids are still young.

For those who are interested to know where this place is, ask me at the LC Xmas gathering.

Love Theresa

Moving from one park to another park…

Dear all,

As I have I have shared with you in our previous LC gathering, it has been a stressful year for us in our little family looking for a house.

The year kicks off for us looking for a bigger house as our family is feeling the pinch of lack of space although we have been conscious in our efforts not to accumulate things more than is necessary.
And when we finally managed to decide on a particular house, our stressed begins when some problems encountered along the way and after many stressful nights and deep thoughts and some advice from the legal professionals, the transaction was finally completed but not without after a much delay.....and finally are moving in a week’s time.
We are moving from our current Melville Park to another park nearby, Azalea Park..
Through this little experience, I have recollect a list of good things that comes out from this stressful experience and here is the list:

1. We prayed to Our Lady and dedicated 9 novena sessions to ask her to intercede for us – she hears our prayers and granted our petition on the 7 th novena session.
2. We started going to Divine Mercy devotion on Friday evenings at Holy Trinity.
3. Now that is over, I still do continue to go for novena at the Holy Trinity.
4. Our family has come closer and especially Theresa and I where we see oursleves dialogue more than ever thru this experience…

This experience has certainly drawn me closer to God for sure and this house will always reminds me of the presence of God and that this house is given to us through our fervent prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
We are now almost done with packing and what is left for us now is the feeling of nostalgia of Melville Park….I just confirmed with movers this morning on the date of shifting and it has been a good 9 years here and I hope life will continue to be peaceful in our next chapter in our lives in azalea park and that the Holy presence of God will continue in our lives. This is what I wanted to share with you all…that God is real…Our Lady is real...12 Dec will be the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
You have a blessed evening!
AlbertY

Nite at RaceCourse

Dear All

This evening (Thur, 26 Nov 09) Felicia, Tiffany and I went to the Turf Club for a night under the stars with the horses.

There's horse patting and trial rides. We didn't stay for the trial rides as we were pretty tired...it's from 5 - 9pm and the rides were like at the end of the program. Bert joined us directly after work. It was fun for Felicia...there's a clown bouncer and games stalls and some rides. Felicia was thrilled to be able to pat the horse, not to mention the momy too lah! Tiffany wasn't interested...she felt that man is too cruel to the horses, dragging them by the harness to get into the stall for the trial race. We saw 2 trial races. Those horses are very fast. They are so warm and muscular under our touch with very fine hair, and although they look so big, they have doe-like gentle eyes...so sweet like a rabbit. The lady in front of me in the queue suddenly turned round to ask me to take a pix of her with her daughter, so I told her "Sure," but if she could do the same for me. So I now have a rare pix of me with Felicia, that's not taken by Tiffany!! And where is Tiffany, you may ask? She's happily and very patiently waiting for us at the grandstand, listening to her ipod music. Later on, she asked me to buy a Moonlight (under Twilight) poster, NOT for herself, but for her senior, as a token of appreciation for all her help. So sweet huh? Of course she's paid me back, but it'll be in installments :(

Love Theresa

Finalisation of minor reno and moving date

Dear All

Tonight (25 Nov 09), Wed, our reno guys were able to give us the confirmed date for completion of reno. We had to change the kitchen laminate as our previous selection was out-of-stock. The polishing of the parquet floors were pretty good...no regrets now for deciding to go ahead with the job. Also finalised the colours for the entire house interior walls, ceiling and doors. Can't really imagine how the colours would work out but we trust the reno guys. We are pretty impress that they (2 coordinators) still attend to our requests patiently though we have halved the reno costs/works to minimise costs. We decided to leave the toilets as it is as budget is tight and anyway, we had already factored the condition of the apartment in our agreed purchase price so we might as well enjoy what we had already paid for!

Next week starting Monday is where all the action would start. Installation of kitchen cabinets, window grails for the 3 bedrooms, painting, fixture of lights (missing ones), changing of false ceilings where necessary and minor repair works. We like the original colours of the living and hall areas, so we are getting back similar colours.

Guess what? Lots of people are renovating and shifting house in Dec!! Must have been the superhot sales over the last quarter...it takes about 3 months for the sales transaction to be completed and the house to be handed over, so Dec is the busiest time! Just our luck! We don't have much dates now to move house as our reno guys could only confirm the date of completion to around 7 Dec and some movers are already fully booked in Dec. Hopefully we can confirm a mover for Thur, 10 Dec. 2 movers are coming down next Mon to see our barang and give us a quote. Wah, no fun to see our bank account go down :( nevertheless, we are all SOO looking forward to a bigger house. It's quite exciting actually. I do hope the kitchen would look beautiful especially when we are spending quite a bit in it. The downside is I am so afraid of the rubbish chute....so much croaches!! I tremble with fear and get goose pimples just thinking of opening it! That day when I first opened it, I saw about 3 croaches CRAWLING just under the lid!! Yuck!! I don't get this at MP so for me this is con of this place. Other than that, we think this house is
worth "fighting" for as we think it's a beautiful house. No wonder the previous owner feels so sad in parting with it. He had actually put in quite a bit of reno and we can see that he had really loved this house.

Our moving house is dicey and pretty close to our LC party! Not to mention, Fridays and Sats morning and evening would be busy for me....rehearsals for Felicia on Fri 10am for smalesland handover ceremony, Fri evening choir rehearsal for Christmas Children's Mass, Sat morning the actual handover ceremony cum party then off to LC party in the evening! Hopefully I can get the chicken roasted in time as I am now drawing down on the food in my fridge starting today, to get ready for the big shift. You should see our house now...like a war zone, no space to move, that even now the Chinese tuition teacher exclaimed when are we shifting? We look like a warehouse now!

Please help us pray that the reno and moving goes smoothly.

Love Theresa and Bert

Smaleland Exhibition at National Library - 19 Nov 09 (Thur)

Dear All

I brought the girls to the Smaleland Exhibition at the National Library. Since the new library was up, this is the 1st time we've been there. We were like mountain tortoises!! We thought the library being so big, only had a library at the basement level (which is the kids' section) until we

took the private access lift to the 16th (topmost) floor where the exhibition was held.

Tiffany sitting under Library notice "Please do not sit on the floor!"...

Felicia had fun playing and running around with the other smaleland ministers. Tiffan

y was so happy I had cancelled her math tuition that day and brought her along. She enjoyed the view from the top and the yummy swedish buffet spread. It had her current fav...potato salad with sour cream. Here are some pixs taken by her.

Felicia in front of her recorded interview..

Felicia and the ministers at the exhibition..

View from 16th floor..

Girls having fun at Swensons, Suntec City..

Bert & I at Swenson, SC after getting the massage seat..

All in all, we had a great mother and daughters bonding time as we travelled from Bugis Junction to Suntec City, then we called Bert down to join us for dinner at Swensons as we had bought him a massage seat for his Christmas present. I could see his face as he thought I was getting him a massage CHAIR (which is way way beyond my meager budget!), then he realised the cost was like in the $100+ range that it was only the SEAT!! Not bad, they now have portable massager to place it on any seat with a back lean which suits our budget and needs very well!

Love Theresa

KittyLab @ Expo

Dear All

On Wed (18 Nov) my neighbour invited Felicia to join her daughter for the KittyLab. It is VERY expensive...$17 per kid on weekday and $20 per kid for weekend. Adults were $35 for weekday and $38 for weekend. She doesn't want to go in and just want the kids to go in...cheaper that way. So we +Tiffany waited for the 2 girls. The HelloKitty people are real smart....they reward the kids with a badge if they complete the whole tour within 35min! That means $1 for 2min! No prizes for knowing what the kids did..they called us via hp after just 32min! They happily showed off their badge to us. But I must say it's not entirely a rip-off. They got a pretty hellokitty landyard with cardholder (cost I guess about $6+) and those who completed before 35 min, the quality of the badge is pretty good. On top of that, they took a shot of the kids and gave them an account with password to download the pix and to play some on-line games.

Felicia then went with my neighbour to play whilst Tiffany and I went to T3 to shop for a birthday present for Felicia's friend for this Sunday. We ended up from T3 to Century Square to finally TM!! Not bad yah...we visited all 3 places within 3 hours and still got home by 7:30pm (we left Expo at 4:30)...amazing if you are a shopoholic....however, unfortunately, this "shopholic" is mostly a window shopper, as you know, my supply of vit M is pretty low..:)

Love Theresa

P1 Orientation in SACPS

Dear All

I recently joined the Praying Parents in Felicia's school. We had a retreat last week, Thur. It was a long time since I had a retreat so it was a treat :P

Anyway, payback time...I spent whole 3 solid hours trying to recruit catholic parents of P1 girls to join us. We are only a miserable small group of 8 mums. These group of mums are powerpack full of holiness, that I feel like a little devil amongst them :(

No one came to our booth (yes, we have a booth...1st time I heard, so was the retreat, so I guess I am richly blessed by God, came in at the right time) so I suggested to another mum (the nicest one) why don't we go jalan-jalan and kay-po a bit and recruit people. Luckily, she was super-experience in talking and persuading people (she reveals, comes from years of recruiting for the church activities) so we managed to get a handful. It was great fun at the orientation. Although it rained, the mothers were wonderful people who give without reserve. One bought drinks, another bought pastries for tea-time. 1st time had to go on stage to be introduced too! Really scary, having hundred of eyes looking at your every move! I try not to stumble and walk and stand calmly. It was a great experience. I hope this is the right area to get involved in.

Love Theresa

Is there a day that passes you by without you thinking of God?

Dear all,

This question surface to my mind this morning as I was leaving for work...Like a I mentioned in my earlier entry... towards the year end I slowed down momentarily and contemplative questions...like this one in the caption comes to mind.

To know who God in our lives is to keep thinking and praying to Him so that you will know Him better as time passes...God is a mystery, it is the unseen quiet force behind our lives.

To me, God has to be on my mind constantly so that I get to know Him a little better though I am not holy - to know Him entirely will not be possible, but at least to some level and to some degree - each day.

I cannot imagine what life will be for me without God and without knowing Him. I guess it will be just full of emptiness - nothing else.

Just yesterday, 19 Nov I was going thru my old e-mails and came across an old e-mail which is from my boss announcing the sad news of the passing away of my colleague James, last year 19 Dec. I was saddened and at the same time also wondering where is my friend now? Heaven? Purgatory?...where are these places? A different dimension I suppose in which all of us will go there 1 day. but to go there, one must 1st know who God is and be in communion with Him. So we need to be purged of our sins and to be like Him....in Holiness. Coz God is Holy, we are not. It is SIN that separates us from God since the beginning of time......it is like fire and water, these 2 elements cannot exist together in the same place..it is either we have fire or we have water. So God is like that. God is Holy and to be with God in heaven, we must be as pure and holy as God. Coz in heaven there is no more sin and misery.

We are called to holiness - everyone of us are, indeed. Hopefully, as we strive for holiness we can be counted to be among His chosen one - one day.

For many are called, but few are chosen.

You have a nice and blessed weekend.

AlbertY

Felicia's City 2050 Group idea (Monster Team) exhibit

Dear All

Felicia had the opportunity to brainstorm with her group named "Monster" (I think, as there were 3 groups and we parents were only allowed in to see their presentation). The result of their half day session with the architectural group named RE-ACT will be as follows (e-mail extract from Smalesland, Ikea) -

> 1. Cities 2050 Exhibition at the National Library
>
> We hope you had a great time at the Cities 2050 workshop last Saturday! Your creative ideas, which you shared with your Temasek Polytechnic facilitators, have been made into an exhibition for display at the National Library during the Singapore Design Festival 2009.
>
> The Embassy of Sweden and the Eurpoean Union Council would like to invite you and the other ministers to join them at the National Library on the 19 November ( Thursday) to see your ideal City of 2050 come to live. Please reach the National Library by 11.15am to get ready for the tour.

After the brainstorming session, the children had to be interviewed on 3 cameras by an adult...seems it's for the records of the Swedish Embassy as I think they are sponsoring this brainstorming program. It's in line with Ikea's aim to nurture youth to be inspired to be architects in the future.

Love Theresa

Its the end of another year again...

Dear all,

This coming weekend marks the Feast of Christ the King. It marks the end of the current liturgical year. And following which marks the Season of Advent which also the start of another new liturgical year.

For me it is always the best the time of the year...it is a time that we should slow down in our lives and to take stock of our lives...to ponder..to reflect..how the good Lord was with us thru and thur this year...it is a time to reflect on where we are, how do we want to move forward from here..what do we really want to do for the remaining time of our lives...

Over the past Sunday, the church readings talks about the end of the world as reminder that all things in this world is passing and there is always a end to all things in this world...when? no one knows except God the Father.

Lately I have slowed down considerably as we moved into less than 2 months for 2009...reflecting on what I want to achieve..not materially but spiritually..

I have been thinking on getting myself more involve in church of holy trinity since I conclude that we will be around in Tampines/Changi area for the long haul..( I have been in this area for the past 13 years and Theresa was raised in this area)
I too guess that with the church of Divine Mercy coming up in Pasir Ris, there might be some manpower shortage in Holy Trinity church (after all it is the largest parish in Singapore with 13000 parishoners to serve)

Warden? Helping hands?Lector?well perhaps cathechist...still thinking seriously over this idea...canteen helpers? too bad they don't have permanent canteen helpers for the sunday canteen...as the canteen is operated on a rotation basis by various church organisations. Well, what about the care taker of the church? I still don't know...perhaps being hold back by fear of not able to commit my time.. I guess that is the reason..

Whatever I may end up doing in the church i think i may have to prepare myself a little sacrifice to walk a little way off the comfort zone a bit to fulfil God's will for me.

I take comfort in Fr Aloysius Ong blog in which one need at time to walk a bit off one's comfort zone to discover God's wish for him.

http://alongcorner.blogspot.com/

I completed my usual run at the stadium in the afternoon today. The sky was dark and looks like a heavy down pour is anytime soon.
It was pretty much very quiet at the NYP stadium (as usual coz normally people do not exercise at high noon)..I was thinking about God, thanking Him for the gift of life and then this question came thru my mind...here it is:

1. Why did God create us here on earth? If the intention was really to ultimately know HIM and hence to LOVE HIM with all our strength, all our soul, all the days, then why can't He just make us angels and place us in heaven? After all, that is the final destiny whether one is created an angel or as a human who loves and abide God's Law. So why did God chose to create us as human here on earth, to know Him and ultimately to meet Him and hopefully be with HIM in heaven one day. For me, never mind if you take away my freedom of choice in life..and never mind if angels are of lower life form than we humans...

I do not know the answer and I don't think I will ever know the answer...


I want to be an angel

You have a nice day!

AlbertY

LC300 5th Anniversary

Dear All

It had been quite some time since we met up with you lovely LC couples. We almost couldn't make it today, as we were busy with activities since 10+am this morning. Luckily the Opennet guy called to come earlier at around 1pm instead of between 2 - 4pm to install the free

broadband point. At least we could catch an afternoon nap before Bert fetched Tiffany to church for bible sharing whilst I fried the springrolls, samosa and hashbrowns. Never fried so many things before and realised how much oil fried food contain!!! Gosh, I had used up half bottle of my oil over 2h which normally would last me 2 months!

Anyway, as things turned out, Bert got his much needed rest so that he can fetch us safely across the island and back :)

Err, next time, it'll really be further across the island as we'll be moving to Loyang :(

It's with God's grace and blessings that we managed to go to LC tonight. We only have a couple of weekends more to pack our stuff for the big shift and we have only packed bearly HALF the house. Bert is getting frentic and the rest of us, being proscastinators, are beginning to feel the panick too as the deadline draws near.

We must firstly thank Lenz and his better half, Josephine, for taking the initiative and time to organise all the LC meetings and social gatherings. I think those extra gathering really help mesh us closer together. It really helps that for most of us, our children are of around the same age group, so as couples, we can relate our situation more with each other and give other emotional and spiritual support.

Tonight's sharing, especially from Desmond and Jenny, really touched our hearts. Our personal problem and crisis cannot compare to theirs as ours are only financial hiccups whereas theirs are about people.

Here's some shots taken by our lovely host leaders, Lenz and Josephine, who show us today, that to lead is to be a servant to all. We received not only lon-tong and si-you bak, but only a specially made CD and newsletter celebrating the 5th Anniversary of our LC300 circle.

The LC300 5th Anniversary Cake..yummy chocolate ;P

LC300 Couples (absent but sorely missed..Jean&Chris and Chloe&Colman)

We couples and our children, the fruits of the vine :)

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY TO ALL YOU LOVELY COUPLES! Thanks for being always there for us and with us!

Love Theresa&Albert

Felicia Elected Ikea's Family Minister

Dear All

This is the second attempt by Felicia in running for a post in the cabinet of Ikea's Smaland.

I think it's because of her maturity at 9 years this time round that she had won the elections. Needless to say, I AM PROUD OF HER lah!

This is what she wrote during her election campaign:

"I love to play board games and collect recycled bottles for craft work, dogs and chicken rice. We could help by collecting recycled items like plastic bottles, newspapers and going online to see what we can create and after we make it, we can decorate our rooms.

I imagine that in 2050, earth will be filled with clean air and is a beautiful planet with families spending time and happiness together".

Her scope of work is quite daunting....to help design a city in 2050! Attached is what her 1st assignment is:

The first project that we have is to assist the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore create a vision of a City in 2050. Your ideas will be shared with students from Temasek Polytechnic School of Design and made into an exhibition for display at the National Library during the Singapore Design Festival in November 2009.

We will be having a workshop for you to meet with the rest of the Ministers in your Government, as well as meet Ministers of the previous Government. We will also share with you your roles as a Minister. The workshop will be held at IKEA Tampines store, on 7 Nov 2009 (Sat), 9.30am to 3pm.

Thanks once again to all who had voted or supported Felicia!

Love Theresa

Divine Mercy Prayer Chaplet Format

Dear All

Found the Divine Mercy prayers to share with you.

Website is : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2384879786&ref=nf

==========================

How to pray the Chaplet?

say it preferably (at 3:00 p.m. if possible Jesus' hour of death)

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. On the Our Father Beads say the following:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son,

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Lastly

' O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in

You!'
==========================

Love Theresa

Today's (4 Oct 09) Sunday Sermon

Dear All

Today's Gospel reading is about the indisolvable union of marriage between husband and wife.

We have a new parish priest, Fr Edward Lim. He gave a clearer understanding, at least to me, on marriage and parents' responsibility in instiling moral values in our children.

He lamented that divorce rates are now very high. The children are the ones most affected. They would probably grow up with psychological scars. He understands that couples have challenges and quarrels, but the "victim" should go to the cross to pray for their errand spouse. This reminds me of the movie Fireproof. We need to turn to Christ, fall on our knees and pray for ourselves to be Christ-like in our response to our spouse although we are hurting within us and can no longer give.

He said spouses must always remember to give and take. If one is always giving, it will be draining. If one is only receiving, then that partner will get fat. That is not good either.

He explained that when 2 catholics are married in church and are divorced, if they don't remarry, they can still receive the host in communion. Once they remarry without getting the approval of the Church for a divorce, they commit adultery and cannot receive communion. They cannot get absolution for this sin at confession either BECAUSE they will still go back and live in sin.

The point is, the Church ONLY recognises the marriage if it is celebrated in Holy Matrimony, in the catholic church. ROM and living together are not considered as husband and wife in the eyes of God.

He also touched on the importance of parents saying "no" to children and teaching them right from wrong. He said parents should not give their children colouring books or pens and paper to draw during Mass. They should teach them to sit as quietly as possible and follow the Mass. Of course he don't expect kids to remain quiet all the time, but parents have to tell them to quiet down. Otherwise you'll disturb others and get them irritated and cause them to sin. It's better for such family not to come to church then. Parents should not wait for others to tell their children to keep quiet. Some parents even get angry when others tell their children off. Such action of parents are wrong.

He noted that working parents who rely on maids to take care of their children do not side the maid when they discipline the children for bad behaviour. Instead, they scold their maids.

Once, a warden saw a young child pulling the curtains in church. He quickly told the child to stop. Do you know what the parents' response was? "Don't worry, we can afford to pay."

We parents have to teach our children what is right and what is wrong. We also need to learn to tell our children "no" sometimes as that is for their good. If we don't teach our children well, these same children would abandon us in our old age. The saying "We reap what is sow" is so true. That's why we see old parents abandoned in old folks home or nursing home, or children not visiting their parents. Our overindulgence in our children and protection of their ego would only encourage their self-centredness and their cravings for instant gratification without knowing the meaning of waiting for gratification.

I find that this is a timely reminder, at least to me...to sometimes say "no" to the girls. For e.g. when the elder wants another poster, though it doesn't cost much, I need to say "no", as she already has one. Then the younger one also hanker that if I get che che one, she also must have one...it's so unfair. But the younger one is too young to fully appreciate a poster, especially when it isn't the cartoon sort of poster that she'll like. She just wants one so as not to lose out. In such cases, we parents must learn NOT to give in and let the kids control us. We must be in charge and be in control of the kids. It's something I have to always remember.

Another e.g is asking the kids to do their work BEFORE they do other things like turning on the TV. If you catch them watching TV and their school work is not done yet, don't make the mistake of asking them to turn off the TV and do their work. You MUST tell them clearly "Turn off the TV and do your homework" instead of "Can you please turn off the TV and do your homework?" If you notice, the first is an instruction that you expect them to follow. The other is a request, so you are unknowingly putting the power in your kids' hands. They can tell you..."Wait, let me watch this show first" or they can choose to ignore your request or question. This would cause conflicts between you and your kids. (This last part was something I read on the internet few weeks back about empowering yourself and taking control back from your kids).

Just food for thought to share you with.

BTW, I tried the instruction method, and it worked about 90% of the time. Just be careful HOW you say it.

Love Theresa

Novena Sermonette, 3 Oct 09

Dear All

I'll like to share with you on today's novena devotion's sermonette by Fr Albert. It's about the various devotions.

Fr lamented that youths these days loathe going to church. He is saddened that this is because the congregation do not fully appreciate the richness and indulgences the church pours out to us.

What is an indulgent?

There are 2 types of indulgences. One is plenary (not sure the spelling) indulgence and the other is partial indulgence.

He explained that after our confession, although our sins are forgiven, our penance is still there. We cannot escape from the punishment and consequences of our sinful ways. That is why very few souls would go to heaven directly. Most would need to go through purgatory as God is holy and we are not. We cannot bear to enter His holy presence until we are purified.

If we attend devotions and services like novenas and the Divine Mercy services, we receive partial indulgence. Some of our punishment is reduced and hence we need to spend less time in purgatory. A plenary indulgence is a fantastic deal, as far as I know. What it means is, all our penance until to-date is COMPLETELY wiped off! So if we die, we are on the express stream to heaven! Isn't that fantastic? Plenary indulgence is gotten by attending the Divine Mercy Mass. This is given to us by Saint Faustina who gave us the Divine Mercy.

I don't know about you, but I sure would try to attend a Divine Mercy Mass. Meantime, I'll try to attend the Novenas to at least get some partial indulgence. I didn't know about this indulgence thing before, but all I know is Our Lady always comforts me when I am troubled and helps me. I like attending the Novena as I get inspired and moved by the petition and thanksgiving letters as well as the meaningful sermonettes. Getting a partial indulgence is the cherry on top of the cake!

Love Theresa

My Birthday, 2 Oct 09

Dear All

We just came back from the mid-autumn lantern festival held at Holy Trinity. It's a celebration for children actually, but the magic show are pretty good. We ate mooncakes and bought snacks like fishballs and packets of various kinds of indonesian koropok.

We had celebrated my birthday earlier...last week actually. We went to T3 (our new fav haunt) and ate at Sakae Tappanyaki. Bert took the chicken set, Tiffy the beef and Feli and I the seafood. The food was super yummy! We ended with 2 tubs of Ben and Jerrys ice-cream from NTUC.

Since tonight's my real birthday, so sweet of Bert to surprise me with a cake. We cut it after we came back from the mooncake festival.

Here's some snap shots of me with my cake....see the glee in my face!

There's really so much to be thankful for. I thank the Lord for Bert who is such a loving husband to me. I thank the Lord for 2 lovely girls. I thank the Lord for blessing us with good health. Indeed, there is just too much things to thank the Lord for and I don't know why He has blessed me so, and for that, I am eternally grateful to Him.

Love Theresa

Remembering St Therese of Liseux on her feast day

It is the feast of our beloved saint, St Therese of Lisieux on 1 Oct (Children's Day) but in some websites her feast day falls on 3 Oct...whichever is correct let us remember this great saint that God has given to us.

St Therese died of Tuberculosis on 30 Sept in 1897 at the age 24..wrote her one and only autobiography Story of a Soul. This saint is indeed a very special one to me for she has thought me the little ways to daily holiness. You don't have to do great things to be stay in the path of holiness. All it takes is just small insignificant ways and give thanks to God and in through this little ways stay the path of holiness.

St Therese of Lisieux...pray for us and grant us ample graces to live this life meaningfully and pleasing to God.

I thank God for France for if there is no France we do not have great saints like St Bernadette, St Therese, St Joan of Arc etc etc.

AlbertY

I felt the earthquake Tremors in Simei!!

Dear All

I was at the PC around 6.15pm when I felt nauseous and felt myself trembling uncontrollably. I thought I must be getting old, with all these different parts of me having wear and tear. I was afraid I was going to get a stroke or what not. Little did I realise then that I was experiencing first hand my very first earthquake tremors.

I looked down at my legs. I could felt them trembling but I couldn't SEE them trembling. It was like the trembling came from within me, from my tummy downwards. Needless to say, I was scared. I thought I had some serious ailment. I laid my head down for a while and the trembling stopped for a while. Then it came back. I decided not to dwell on it and got back to my PC screen and concentrated really hard, and then the trembling stopped. After that, my legs started trembling again. I think it went on and off about 3x and the whole episode lasted maybe 3 minutes. I then decided to off the PC and return to my cooking.

The experience was scary as I thought I had some serious illness. Though I was very sad somewhere in Indonesia where the epicentre was, and I can't imagine how badly those people have suffered, I am selfishly glad that my trembling was due to an earthquake and not me being sick. After going through this experience, I now appreciate somewhat what earthquake victims go through. I only experienced a little tremor, but for them, it is so much worse, and probably they had lost their lives too.

Let's pray for the victims and their loved ones.

Love Theresa

Felicia's 1st Holy Communion, 27 Sep 09

Dear All

Yesterday was a BIG and Important day for our little Felicia. She has received her very First Holy Communion! I am so excited and happy that she can now receive the body and blood of Christ with us instead of just going up to receive a blessing. I feel that now she is all grown up to better understand right from wrong, and to be in full communion.

Here's a photo of our little angel in front of her cohort of P3 classes from Holy Trinity...

Sermonette @ Novena yesterday

Dear All

A nun gave a sermonette during the Novena @ Holy Trinity yesterday. It was a timely and lovely sermonette.

In life, we will meet all kinds of people...some nice ones and some not so nice ones. Sister shared with us that we must remember and "we are children of God" and this is a PRIVILEGE. We cannot reciprocate negatively to those who had wronged us.

She gave us the image of Our Lady. She must have felt and heard lots of criticism and ridicules from relatives, friends and people when they taunted her for being an unwed teenaged mother-to-be and later on as a young mother. Those words and behaviours must have been like darts piercing her heart. Later on, when her beloved Son died a criminal death on the cross, those same people must have again made fun of her and her faith in her God. They must have told her that Jesus can't be a Son of God if he is allowed to die such a shameful and public death. But did she waver and reciprocate in a negative way? NO, she DIDN"T!

We are all called to holiness. Holiness is not having a halo over our heads or to be saintly. Holiness means living our lives in Christ-like manner.

It is difficult. Our human nature tells us to take revenge. To take an ear for an ear. An eye for an eye. But Christ calls us to act as a child of God. To act with kindness to an unkind act.

Recently, our family have encountered some people, be it classmates or colleagues who "sabo" them. Feelings of hurt, disappointment and disgust were there. Fortunately, they did not react back in a negative way. Looking at yesterday's sermonette, we may be called idiots by others, idiots for being cheated, not seeking justice etc, but if we look at the actions of the Holy Family, especially Mother Mary and Jesus, we are called to act differently from what the world would normally do. That's why it's so difficult to be a Catholic. People have certain expectations of us and when we react negatively, non-believers would quickly point that out...that's because they most probably are taking advantage of our faith to their advantage. If that is so, so be it.

Love Theresa

Healing Mass on 21 Sep 09

Dear All

Yesterday, Bert fetched my parents to the Healing Mass for the elderly and sick at Holy Trinity Church. Father Monsineor Francis Lau was chief celebrant and gave the sermon.

What I wish to share with you is the sermon by Fr Lau. It is about the true meaning of suffering though it cannot be explained fully.

He began by calling to mind how much Jesus suffered before he died. The torture he knew he will be going through made him sweat blood. Yet he chose to suffer for our sakes when we are still sinners, for our redemption.

He asked "Is suffering evil?"

Suffering IS a physical evil.

Next he asked, "Do we suffer because of our sins or because we are sinful?"

He told us that Jesus suffered greatly but he was sinless. Hence, a person that suffers greatly doesn't mean that he is very bad or sinful. (Of course some physical sufferings like AIDS and certain cancers are self-causing by our lifestyle choices, so is the consequence of our own sins). So then, why do we suffer?

Fr Lau brought us back to why Jesus suffered so greatly for us. It was to reconcile us with God and in penance for our sins. We are all part of the mystical body of Christ....when 1 part is sick, all the other parts of the same body suffers too. Those who suffer do so for the sake of their brothers who have wandered away from God. That is the mystery of sufferings.

Fr Lau himself is quite old. He has leg cramps, even as he was climbing up the steps to the altar. He shared how he accepts his suffering. Focus on the cruxified Christ on the cross. Jesus must have suffered excuiating cramps in his limbs but couldn't move them because of the nails holding his legs down. Fr says how lucky he is to elevate his own cramps by being able to move his limbs compared to Christ.

He said suffering also can be good. There was a man he knew who never felt any pain till he felt some discomfit in his abdomen. When he saw the doctor, it was too late...he had 4th stage stomach cancer. So suffering and pain is an indication for us to seek medical attention early before it is too late.

We should also learn to accept our sufferings. It would be difficult to do so when the pain comes or is unbearable. That's when we should turn to our suffering Lord for inspiration and offer our sufferings for the good of the sinners of the world.

I found the sermon very sobering and touching. It gives me a better understanding that when I suffer, it is not because I am bad or that God has abandoned me. Afterall, Jesus also felt that way in the Garden of Getsemani when he asked God three times why He had abandoned him, and prayed if this cup of suffering could be taken away...yet he accepted the cup of suffering for our sake.

Love Theresa

Classic Stomp Moment...

Dear All

After fetching Felicia to school for librarian duty last Friday, I went to McDonald's at TM for breakfast. I was lucky that day to find it relatively empty, and zoomed in on the corner seat with high-back sofas/benches. There were no one sitting on the row of tables next to me on my right and the table in front of me, left side (I was sitting at a corner, so no left side) was empty too. It's let a L shape and I was sitting at the corner of the L.

I was settling to enjoy my muffin and coffee when a shabby looking man came to sit on the vertical side of the "L". He had only a cup of black coffee and 4 satchets of sugar. I kind of pity him at first. He used his teeth to rip off his satchets and that was when I noticed he had only 1 arm...his right. Then he did the unspeakable....he used his only hand to scratch his head!! It was then I also noticed he had long dirty finger nails. The next classic moment was, he started to clean his nails by flicking his dirt from under his fingernails using his thumb nails!! Oh my....I drew my cup of coffee which had it's lid off closer to me, and kept my muffin safely guarded by its wrappers close to my mouth ALL THE TIME!!

I then thought of moving horizontally but it was too obvious. I don't dare irk him...he looks capable of showering vulgaries at people.

Next, a family of mother, grandma and 2 little boys came and sat on my right. The mum and her 2 boys then went off to buy their breakfast. The grandma then took out a tiny little coin purse from her bag. She was just sitting next to me. She opened my purse and guess what? She took out a nail clipper and started to CLIP HER NAILS!! Oh boy!!!

Here was I, looking forward to enjoying a leisurely breakfast, was now cornered (literally) on both sides by such inconsiderate people! Don't they know I am eating????

Bert said this was a real Stomp moment!! Yeah, sure....lucky I didn't have diarroeah...and you know what he's rebut was...."Maybe you have some tapeworm or something residing inside you now". Yuck! That's definitely no consolation!! You can guess, I quickly gobbled down my chow and got out as quick as possible ;(

Love Theresa

Pulau Ubin 6 Sep 2009 (From Lenz)

Cycling, or is it walking? on Pulau Ubin.. (above)

Dear all,

1) It rained in the morning when we were on the way to Changi Ferry Terminal.
2) J&J text they are not coming, C&C text they are also not coning
3) Jo & I start to think about plan B. After all the weather is so bad.
4) But it was not raining in Changi!
5) We are among the first few visitors to Pulau Ubin, although it is Sunday as the weather don't look good. The bicycle shop owner looks worried.
6) We decided for bicycles instead of van as we want to tour P.Ubin in our own time.
7) Soon we selected our bicycles and off we go…. Target : Chek Jawa, about 35mins by bicycle.
8) In Pulau Ubin, it drizzle once and we took shelter at Pekaka Hut for about 10mins, otherwise from 9am to 3pm, the weather was overcast, but fine. Good in fact, as it is not sunny.
9) Even without the sun, we were the unfit, were sweating, and wonder if we can make to Chek Jawa
10) Looking at the map and taking measurement now, all of us could have easily cycled 10km! or rightfully, 9km of cycling & 1km of pushing. Not bad for a couch potatoe like me!
11) Attap huts, chickens running freely around, jackfruits, rambutans trees were interesting for the children and us, but imagine looking face to face with a wild boar!

Everyone was so excited, and camera just clicked away. They are really wild, not domesticated.
12) Visit to Chek Jawa is like science lesson in classroom comes alive, mangrove trees, mud skipper, mud lobster intrigue the children much.
13) Tired and hungry we have a good lunch of 7 dishes at the seafood restaurant.
14) After lunch, the children wants to continue.
15) This time we cycled westward to the Mountain Bike trail.
16) not a bad way to spend the weekend with the childreb.... but now we have to bear with body aches for a few days!

Wish all your children a happy Sept holiday…. Don't work then too hard!

Btw, I have Joycelyn taking “O” level this year, and Lennon taking PSLE….. but they still need to play their computer games and have some fun with the families outside.

Bert 45th Birthday

Dear All

We celebrated our daddy/hubby's 45th birthday today. Instead of getting the usual off the rack cake (read as...to save cost ;) haha), the little wife made him a butter cake (recipe courtesy of Janice). I made it on Friday evening and kept it in the fridge. When we cut it this evening, boy, was it hard as stone!

I baked it will tender loving care, making sure it didn't burn on top, watching it very carefully, adjusting the flame to bottom flame only and later turning the temperature down. It looked perfect UNTIL Bert cut it....eeerrr, it was a bit charred at the bottom. If only I had X-ray vision, I could have seen through metal....well, goes to show there's no such thing as perfect, ya? The main thing, Bert appreciated it, and it taste good. Thanks again to Janice, I made sure I used Golden Churn! Haha!

For dinner, the girls wanted to go to Crown Plaza at T3 (again! It'll be our 3rd time this year alone)...seems like this would be another one of our favourite haunt, except we can't do this too often cos it's like so ex! So we will keep it just for special occasions. We had the buffet and fortunately, Tiffany's still 12 and considered a child, so she was charged half price. This time, they changed the buffet spread but still kept the nicer ones like the pasta with cream sauce, the chilli crabs, delectable western deserts and Felicia's fav...the sushi. This time they added the Japanese baby octopus. We all ate till we almost popped! This time round, there were fewer customers, so the service was superb till the waitress almost took away Felicia's plate when she was not done yet! Talk about personal butler service ya?

T3 is a great place to do last minute shopping too. As teacher's day is around the corner, the girls suddenly decided that they need to give all their teachers a present! That now includes cateschism teachers and even Felicia's choir teacher!! So we popped over to Candy Empire and grabbed boxes to chocolates and then over to Mini-bits or was it Mini-Toons, and grabbed a few artificial flowers. I didn't want the girls to get the usual teacher's day stuff as when I was at Popular bookstore on Friday, practically all the school kids were buying the usual gifts. I pity the teachers who'll be receiving countless similar gifts. With all the buying, did the girls offer to foot at least part of the bill? Not a peep there....all costs are borne courtesy of mum and dad! I think I need to have a word with them tomorrow, as they are now so bush and asleep. Sunday is a very busy day for us as it's 9:30am Mass followed by 2h Chinese tuition and then visiting my parents at night after we ta-pao our dinner.

I better hit the sack too. Good nite.

Love Theresa

LC Sharing Session @ Anne&Matthew's

Dear All

For those who couldn't make it for the LC gathering last week, the sharing question was:

John 15:16-27:

"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: Love one another."

Reflection question:

How would our children describe me as a husband or wife especially to our grandchildren?

Here's the hosts - Matthew & Anne

The yummy ice (Rice) cha-chang? cum nasi lemak

Love Theresa

It will be my 45th birthday this Sat...

Dear God,

This coming Saturday will be my 45th birthday. I have walk and breathe on this planet for a good 45 years....as such I have so much to thank you in a way that sometimes I feel that I did not thank you enough...so I think I better thank you for the following that happen in my life...Better than never...!

1. In all my 45 years I have never been admitted to a hospital for any serious aliments.. ...For that I thank you.
2. I thank you for giving me a happy family and my spouse.
3. I thank you for giving me a stable income enough to feed a family of 4.
4. I thank you for my late mother, without which I don't think I would be a Catholic, perhaps a Taoist or maybe Freethinker of sorts or maybe a Buddhist, I don't know...
5. I thank you for the peace that you have given me and am still having it.
6. I thank you for the small cosy house of which now I am staying.
7. I thank you for giving me that ability to sleep very well at night.
8. I thank you for at the age of 45, I still have most hair on my head.
9. I thank you for at the age of 45 am still able to run and jog quite a distance which is my passion.
10. Lastly but not the least, I thank you for your presence in my life especially during my difficult times, all these great 45 years.

THANK YOU, LORD! THANK YOU!

P.S. I also would like to thank you, Lord, at the age of 45, I am still able to type this Thank You note to you on the computer...

Sincerely,
AlbertY

Feast of Assumption of Our Lady

Dear All

We recently celebrated the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady. Fr Joseph gave the sermon. We attended the 1pm Mass on Sat. As Tiff's common test starts this week (and the marks are counted towards her final exams), she grumbled why must we attend Mass today and again on Sunday.

Fr Joseph summed it up so nicely. We honour and talk to our mothers and fathers often. This special day is dedicated in honour of Our Lady just as Fr Joseph have a family gathering on every dead anniversary of his mum to remember her.

He asked us...how many of us pray to Our Lady? Numerous hands, including Tiff and mine went up. Next he asked...how many of us had our prayers answered by Our Lady? Again the same hands shot up including ours.

Even before Jesus came to serve His people, Mary was already doing that. She said Yes to God and she went to help Elizabeth though she herself was expecting. She truly is a good example to Jesus as a child, as well as to us.

Fr said the very fact that Mother Mary has been answering our prayers is a testament that she truly is in heaven today.

As a parting challenge to us, he asked that instead of always asking Mary and our parents for things, we should try to tell our parents how much we love them. We should speak to our parents the way we speak to our girlfriends and boyfriends during courtship times...with concern and love and attention.

Have you told your parents, if they are still around, how much you love them? Perhaps we could pray for them and especially for our parents who are no longer with us, and the Good Lord and Mother Mary would bring them to heaven.

Happy belated feast day!!

Love Theresa

FireProof Website

Dear All

You can go to www.fireproofyourmarriage.com to read sample pages of the 40 days dare featured in the Fireproof movie.

The 1st day's dare is : If you are tempted to say something negative, hold your tongue...it's best not to say anything.

I've asked Tiffany to apply this today. The siblings are daily at each other's throats whenever they are at home together. So whilst at dinner, when Tiff was about to call her sis names to even just mentioned a negative comment, I gently reminded her to stop. She did. And guess what? No negative reaction from Feli. If you remember science, we were taught "Every action has a reaction". So if the action is stopped in time, there'll not be any reaction. That translate to a more peaceful family environment...at least for a couple of hours tonight ;)

Who says the LoveDare needs to be applied only between couples? I think it applies to all relationships, especially amongst family members starting from the immediate family. Afterall, the LoveDare was taken from the Holy Bible, and the Holy Bible is the true guide for mankind to live a holy way, the way God meant us to live in order to be truly free.

If I remember correctly, Day 2's dare is to do an act of kindness in addition to not saying anything negative.

Love Theresa

Bert's Colleague

Dear All

For many of us, this National Day weekend is a wonderful long weekend. Some may be partying, some may be shopping...for us, we had decided to keep it simple and rented DVDs and just stayed home.

During this financial crisis and H1N1 situation, we must thank the Lord for all the wonderful things He has given us instead of grousing and complaining.

Bert's colleague, who is just 29 years and planning to get married next year, is now lying in ICU fighting for her life. She is a victim of H1N1.

She's a slim and healthy lady who had just completed a marathon. No underlying ailment whatsoever. Yet another colleague recovered from the virus, but she's in critical condition. She just had 3 heart ops and the docs had decided not to sew up the opening just in case they have to go in again. And it all started out with a flu. She saw the GP who diagnosed it as H1N1. As her symtoms were mild then, she was given 7 days MC to stay home. She was supposed to be back to work tomorrow, Tues. Her lungs are also filled with fluid.

I am worried for her and pray for her and her loved ones. I am worried too about this virus. Why? At first it's because those who are asthematic are at risk and Feli is asthematic. Now I'm worried as, at least to me, the virus seemed to have mutated somewhat...it's attacking even those who are apparently healthy and young.

Hopefully, researchers would find an effective vaccine for this virus soon.

The good point that came from deciding not to go out this long weekend was, we finally got to watch the movie Fireproof. I saw it 2x, once with Bert and the second time with Feli. I even cried on the second watching. It's truly and beautiful and touching story. I realised from the show now more clearly the LC question and Bert posed last month. How do we see the crucifix in our married life?

To me, it's to love Bert even if he doesn't respond back. It is to give and never expect to receive.

This would be particularly so when one of us gets senile or ill or in such a state that there's no response. It is to live our wedding vows, with the grace and strength of the Lord, to love our spouse even if we hurt inside. That's the way the Lord wants us to be because that's the true meaning of love.

Love Theresa

Learning to Learn Workshops

Dear All

Tiffy's school has engaged this vendor to teach the children how to learn. It's a once a week 55 minutes session that will last, I think, 6 or 8 weeks.

I don't know what they are teaching the girls, but Tiffy is really enjoying the lessons. She's been quite motivated to study. Don't know if it's due to so-so mid year exam results..that may be a contributing factor, or that her new bible sharing youth group are mainly made up of tertiary students from ITE, Poly, the U or young working adults, or perhaps it's this workshop.

Anyway, she's learned it's impt to prioritise work. Procastination is bad because the work has to be done anyway. Do things in small tasks and importance of taking little breaks.

Today, she told me that most humans make use of only 1 - 2% of our brains. Geniuses use 3 - 5% and that include Albert Einstein. They were told by the faciliators that if only people use their brains more, cures could be discovered for lots of diseases.

She also shared with me that we all have 3 brains (and I thought it was 2!). The left, right and BACK brain. She was dismayed she's pro right brain which means she's a procastinator and leaves things to the last minute. Geez, I thought most geniuses were like that ;)

That's what little nibblets of wisdom I've learned from Tiffy today.

Love Theresa

Austere Diet (Today's paper - ST27 Jul 09)

Dear All

Firstly, there's an error in my earlier post on brandname of the Ikea plastic sheet...it's Kolon. Post corrected. Yah...funny name, but don't laugh, it's true...maybe in means something else in Swiss..

Today's Straits Times had an article on aging. It seems if you cut down your calories intake by 30% (from your ideal weight) you'll most like live longer. That's because your internal organs age slower. (But sorry folks, it does not reduce hair fall!!!). Ailments like cancer, and old age associated ailments are reduced. You look younger too. (Some of the summary was taken from another website given by a docter friend).

Anyway this article's writer commented...why do anyone want to live longer if they are living in misery, especially if you live to eat.

My take is, enjoy your food, but in moderation. Have routine exercises. Have a hobby, have some good close friends and go for retail therapy once in a while. Live life, play with your kids, be a teen again with your spouse, and don't be a slave to your house (if you're a SAHM like me) or to your job. After all, life is short, so live it. Don't know what I'm rattling about...must be the late hour...just my rambling thoughts for today.

Love Theresa

Trying out a way to cut noise of dragging chairs

Dear All

The kids are generally "rough". They just don't know how to lift up the chair when they get up from their study tables. The end result....scratched parquet floors and irritating dragging furniture noise, particularly at night when you want to sleep! We tried putting carpets (too much friction), rubber mats (also too much friction and the joined pieces keep coming out or are squashed by the chair legs), felt leg tips (the glue just don't stick well), nailed leg tips (the nail also scratch the floor). The best so far are the tied on leg booties.

Today, we went to Ikea and found this plastic mat brand name "Kolon". We are currently trying it out. It definitely protects the parequet from scratches, but does not dampen the noise. So I remembered the show room had carpets UNDER the "Koton" so we placed a rug under ours. And guess what? The noise is significantly reduced! So now everyone, including the complaining neighbour below us, can now sleep in peace.

The cost is low..just $59 per plastic sheet. But be warned...it's pretty heavy (heavy duty I suppose) and needs some strength to bend it to fit into your car boot.

Just to share something that is useful to us.

Love Theresa & Bert

In GOD I trust and believe...

For all those who happen to stumble upon this blog and happen not to believe in the existence of the Almighty God.......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbg_dhI4XCs

Thanks Cynthia for the sharing!

AlbertY

Compassion & Teamwork - a sharing

Dear All

As all kids know, when they hit primary 4, they have to pass NAFA. It's a battery of tests. Our Tiffy didn't pass her 2.4km run, so she had to do a retest (her second re) yesterday.

I am soooo glad we had made the right decision to place her in a mission school. Although not all teachers are "angels" or "holy", her PE teacher was very wise. She asked those girls who had already passed the 2.4km to also run with those who failed so as to encourage them.

Tiffy is so blessed with very good friends.

One made her a banner that says roughly, "Tiffany you can make it" or something to that effect. Another pulled her arms to drag her on. Another told her a lie that there was only 30 sec left so she ran like mad to the finish line. But actually, it was 1 min left. So she passed with 30 sec to spare!!

I'm so happy that Tiffy has such wonderful friends around her, and such compassionate and wise teachers around.

Love Theresa

My 3 petitions to St Theresa of Calcutta

Mother Theresa has just been declared a saint, according to the e-mail I received... and here are my 3 petitions to St Theresa of Calcutta.

Petition 1

St Theresa of Calcutta, please intercede for me to take the soul of my beloved mum, Alice Elizabeth Mah Kwai Pheng to heaven. She passed away last year on 14 Jan 2008 and I hope the her soul can be in heaven.

Petition 2

St Theresa of Calcutta, please intercede for me to grant me a peaceful and painless death.


Petition 3

St Theresa of Calcutta, please take me to heaven when I die one day.

That's all.

AlbertY

Bro discharged today!

Dear All

My bro was discharged today (21 Jul) 3pm. To tell you the truth, though he's discharged, I still am worried for him. Dr says he needs to think of getting better and nothing else.

I believe in community of prayers...so please, continue to pray for my bro.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love Theresa

My crucifix..

This afternoon, I decided to talk little bit more about my little crucifix in which on that LC300 sharing nite, you may not have a good look at it. So here it is, here is a photo of what is in my bag. I bought this crucifix sometime back from Waterloo Street (Catholic centre) at a cost of SGD 15. It is an ideal one, not too big not too small. I carry it in my bag wherever I go..It is to remind me of my daily commitment to my Christian life, to my married life (in which the crucified Christ is the main focus) and lastly I wish that if I were to leave this world one day, I would like to die holding the crucifix (like St Therese did..) ..how beautiful it is to die in the grace of God.
But don’t be mistaken, I carry the crucifix is not out of superstition or neither having the belief that it has magical powers to ward of evils etc. The reason I carry it is to visually remind myself of my Christian life in this world and as main focal point of our marriage. But having said that, I did not abandon my wedding ring (in which I told you all I have stop wearing my wedding ring during our sharing). My ring is now constantly hanging in one of the those hooks in the kitchen. My fingers are cleaner now as bacteria tend to grows in places like underneath your watch, ring on your finger etc.
So I still keep my ring safely…in fact in one of the most prominent places in the houses.
It is a hot afternoon outside and the sun shining brightly…what a beautiful day the Lord has made!
You have nice day!
AlbertY

Today's (19 July 09) Sermon - Lord's Our Shepherd

Dear All

Today's sermon by a priest whose name escapes me (me old lah, so can't rem)... was very touching.

If you remember today's readings, it's about the good shepherd. There are also bad shepherds who let their flock scatter. God will deal with these bad shepherds, but He PROMISED to bring the lost sheep back to His fold.

I will hold God's Promise that He will bring my bro back again to FULL recovery. My mum and I may be called fools, but we hope for the best!

Before I digress, let's get back to the sermon. I was surprised it was about how a psychrist treat a patient...the logical advice is for the psychrist to be detached from the patient so as not to be too emotionally involved and hence not be emotionally drained. But according to the famous psychologist Carl Jung, for a patient to be healed, he needs to know that people care and show warmth and empathy to him.

He gave account by Mother Theresa during a visit to a well-oiled nursing home in Switzerland. This home houses only 40 old folks. The residents are well taken care of by the nurses. However, she noticed that NONE of them SMILED! She also noticed they kept looking at the doorway. She asked the nurses about it and they said, these old folks look forward to their sons or daughters to visit them, but none ever came. The priest said that the worst feeling anyone can have is that of being ABANDONED. They feel side-lined by society. He clarified he wasn't against putting old folks in either nursing or old folks home, as the circumstances of each family is different. What he wants to put across to us is that people should not be put away and forgotten. We need to visit them and to do so often and more regularly.

Don't know if it's a message to me for whatever the future holds for my bro. I just find the message today to coincidental to our current situation. We can only pray and hope for the best but prepare ourselves psychologically for the worst.

Sometimes, I feel people could be abandoned at homes for many various reasons. It could be that they are not easy people to live with. Not easy people to communicate with perhaps because they are so negative or domineering or even aggressive. Last weekend, there was this old lady in a wheelchair who came to church with a maid and no other family member with her. At first I thought the family members will come later, but there was no one else except the maid. During the mass, this old lady seemed to be a little senile...she followed the lector, reading very loudly the bible passage just after the lector, like a LOUD echo. I don't really know her family situation, but I guess there are reasons that she's alone...so we best don't judge others.

Just to share with you today's sermon.

Love Theresa