Dear All

Just saw this pix on internet news: Isn't God's creation beautiful? This'll happen today and can be seen by those living in the Indian Ocean area. This is a annular Solar eclipse i.e. because of a slight shift in distance, the Moon does not completely obstruct the Sun from the earth, as it usually does in a total solar eclipse.

Anyway, just thought the pix was beautiful and wanted to share it with you all. 

Happy Lunar New Year of the Ox to you again!! May the Good Lord and Mother Mary continue to bless you and your loved ones with Peace, Joy, Good Health and Prosperity (in spirit, mind and pocket too lah!).

Love

Albert, Theresa, Tiffany & Felicia

Happy "Niu" Year!!

Dear Lovely LC Couples

Here's wishing you all a Happy "Niu" Year!

It sounds so ironical, ya? What with so much bad news...but then, life still goes on...It's just a cycle of life...sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down...just let the Sun goes up and then sets, or we have a season of hot weather, and then the season of rain. We need both in order to grow.

It's tough when the economy is so down...however from my experience of finding my 1st job during the economic down-turn, I actually found my faith. When I was down with job rejections straight from the uni, fresh from school without a shred of working experience, I was so depressed that companies reject me because they want someone with not just a degree, but with job experience. I found it real silly!! Of course we fresh grads don't have work experience, so how do we get it if no one wants to employ us? Silly right? It's like a chicken and egg problem...which comes 1st?? Anyway, it's thru my adversity that I turned to God. Life for me had always been smooth sailing till I had to find my own bread and butter. I realised then that my parents sheltered me ALOT. Don't know if it's a good thing or not, but that's another story I'll tell you another time.

I went to daily mass and started to really read the bible. Then I did a terrible thing! I tested my God, and He spoke to me! (Don't try this unless you were as desperate as me then! You know, the bible says you are not to test your God). Different people speak to God in different ways...I guess God chooses to speak to people in various ways according to what they feel comfortable with. For me, it's through the Spoken Word of the bible passage, and my inner stirring of my heart to His words. After that experience of knowing that God is ALWAYS with me no matter what, when I next quitted my job without having another job, I left it all to God and felt assured that He will provide. That's why when we 1st joined ME and had a little gift exchanged and we received a little plague from Ant & Pat with the words, "God will provide and surply..." or something to that effect, that was the time I went on full-time SAHM after 1 year of no pay leave. It was like what I felt when I got married...a step off a cliff into the unknown, and yet, I didn't feel like I was falling, but it felt to me that I landed with a gentle bump into the safety of the Lord's hands. I don't know how to describe this feeling, but it was real.

So for those who are feeling the gloom of the present economic climate, as we are feeling it now, take it as an opportunity to take a "recess" (that what a "recession" means, right?), slow down a little and turn to God...He's always there, it's just that we are too busy to rest in Him.

God Bless you all!!

Love Theresa, Bert & the girls

St Bernadette - a living saint in her time

Dear All

Isn't it fantastic that we have a living saint just about 100 years ago? Saint Bernadette had seen the face of the Virgin Mary 18 times and spoken to her, so much so that during her life-time, people of her time recognised her as a saint already. We are lucky to have her life documented and her experience authenicated by the Church whilst she was alive.

There are several things I had learnt from reading her book so far.

1) Go to God with child-like faith. Priests had noted that they couldn't recognise her at communion as she looked so young and innocent;

2) she calls those who try to get locks of her hair or parts of her garment as stupid. We should NEVER go and worship the sign (in this case St Bernadette) but should have faith and go to God Himself directly who is the creator of all

3) priests and nuns are all very human, with lots of faults and disbelief. St Bernadette has a little temper at times and not without flaws. And guess what, priests are the greatest culprit to disbelieving AND when they do believe, they act as if St Bernadette is "God", asking her to bless their rosary!! (which of course she can't as she's not a priest!! She just lay her hands on them as she as asked to do so). So there is some hope for us then, mere laypeople and mere mortals.

4) It's amazing how great God's love is for us...we are people with flaws and doubts and very nasty to each other, plus very self-centred and egotist, and YET, God still loves us that He sent Jesus to die for us....and even to this very day, He sends messages to us through his humble "tools" to try to get us to come to Him and be in heaven with Him one day. 

St Bernadette had 3 personal messages given by Our Lady and these are not to be revealed to people. Being a bit impatient (the book is as thick as the yellow pages!) I flipped to the back pages. We can only speculate what are the secrets...my guess one of them was the kind of death...she went through a terrible period of darkness where she started to doubt she had seen the apparitions and wondered if she had made a grave mistake in misleading the people and herself (maybe it was a mistake to be a nun...her very question of her vocation was questioned...perhaps she had wasted her life?!). Bert and I were discussing and Bert felt the secret was that her body would not be corrupted.

Upon reflection, I believe he could be right. She cannot tell anyone this because, if you remember the prophesy of the resurrection of the body of Christ after He was crucified, the Jews were afraid someone would steal Christ body and later claim that He had risen from the dead? People would temper in order to either prevent something from happening, or try to make the prophesy come true. I guess St Bernadette cannot tell anyone, otherwise people (and the Church) would doubt that the Virgin Mary really appeared to her and she was truly a messenger of God. Bert remembered that her body was buried and exhumed 2x and after that, the Church decided not to rebury her as her body was not corrupted.

Lastly, it was interesting to note that St Bernadette was not told if she was to be a nun by the apparition. It was through discernment she found her vocation. Even after she decided to be a nun, she was bombarded with so many vocation choices. Again it took her some time to decide which order to enter. She discerned by observing what God is allowing things to happen around her, and by praying about it. She never got a clear OK by the Virgin Mary, but by discussing with her spiritual director and by her inner inclination and preferences, plus the reality that her health did not allow her to choose her 1st choice. This gives me comfort that we also go through life without having a Eureka moment from God, just like the saint. She's very human like us, and she's giving us an example how we should and could live a holy life on earth without the need to "see" God.

Love Theresa

2nd Week of School

Dear All

It's already the 2nd week of school and Tiff is still going thru the try-outs for the various CCAs that she's interested in. It's a good feeling for her that some CCAs seemed interested in her. She's now super-duper bz...what with coming home at around 3pm the earliest but most of the time averaging 4+pm...life in sec is truly a different and exciting new phase for her. She loves her teachers (at least most of them), she has a new "best" friend, 1st time having a few male teachers, enjoying and living life "to the full" and having lots of fun in school. She truly enjoys going to school and being motivated to study and still have fun. I'm just so happy for her...at least her life is no longer dull or just around the computer and internet. I'm only worried that her studies would suffer with so much time out in school, she's tired most of the time when she's at home.

Feli is having for the 1st time to submit upto 3 CCA choices! Wonder what's happening to schools nowadays...last time in primary school, you just select and go for that CCA. She's also trying for librarian and her teacher has already put up her name. She was so disappointed that she wasn't selected for media monitor, and was so cute...she was so relieved she was not voted by the class to be assistant class leader as this would rule out her being a librarian, as each child can only hold 1 post. Hence, she's choosing Info Comm as her CCA (1st choice). We wanted her to take up a sports but decided to let her choose what she would like to do, as this would be a year-long commitment on her part. She's also lost another top front tooth (left side). The right one came off before Christmas 08 (last year) that I teased her then with the song "All I want for christmas is my 2 front teeth" which she had gamely sang along. Actually Bert yanked the left one off tonite, as a new tooth is emerging. The tooth was quite shaky but she refused to see the school dentist, so I asked the dady to see to it and pull it out. It was heart-ranching for me to see her in tears. Now, she's as happy as a lark...no more stress over her loose tooth!

That's my update for this week.

Love Theresa

Sec 1 Parents Info Nite

Dear All

To all of you LC couples who are sec teachers, our hearts go out to you!! 

We had just attended the sec 1 parents info talk and boy, was it a loooong talk!! The girls were having the camp whilst we parents attend the talk. We need to attend the CCA orientation talk with our daughter tomorrow morning to help her select her CCA. She's to make 5 choices. She was short-listed for the school's choir but after seeing the choir master, she decided she didn't want to bear with him for the next 4 years!! So she told me she decided to sing off-key a little and was told she was out. She felt both sad and happy at the same time. I guess no one wants to get rejected even if they don't wish to join that group. I don't know...I had mixed feelings about her decision. I guess it showed on my face and she knew I was kinda disappointed. She was so raring to go one minute, then not wanting it the next. I told her it's her decision cos she has to live with it for the next 4 years. She also tried out for badminton and was rejected.

There are 20 CCAs to choose from and each CCA only chooses those with talents. Makes me wonder what do the school mean by being a caring community when they are seem to me to be more keen in getting awards for CCAs by selecting only the "best". Shouldn't the kids be allowed to join a CCA that they enjoy? What happens to those without any talent (which is the majority of us?). Afterall, they will be clocking minimum 3 hs per CCA every week and CCA is compulsory at sec level, plus they need to keep up with their studies otherwise they would go to NA or repeat the year. The principal (or one staff) said she doesn't want us to complain and request them to excuse our child from CCA as this is important for character building. I fully agree that CCA has its values, but what if the child is assigned a CCA that she doesn't like? I'll be hard-pressed to encourage her to not just attend but to participate in a CCA that she doesn't like, for the next 4 years. The school says its good character building as in working life (like sec teachers who have to work long hours or advertising work that lasts till 1am) the hours are long and hectic, the girls need to be competitive and I get the gist, learn to tolerate long hours and work they don't like.

After hearing this, I feel kinda sad and sorry for our kids. No wonder Tiff says, (this is extracted from her blog when she was doing some reflections as Christmas was near...I hope you don't mind dear)...."THEN I MAPPED A CHART ON LIFE. 

#1) You Study Whn Ur Young 
#2) You Spend Your Life At Work 
#3) You Grow Old And Die.No One Cares. 
This may seem em0 but it is true for some ppl, isn't it? I'm just stating the facts."

So you see, our kids have quite profound and thought provoking views of life.

Seems like sec school will be giving our girls lots of pressure...as parents our greatest worry is still their academic studies. With such a bleak view of the future competitiveness for our kids (from China and India) for jobs, I do not wish to burden my girl any further with such views, for I feel life is what you make out of it. As long as you have a decent education and work hard and honestly, you can make a decent living, and life anyway, is not just about work...it's also about God, living your faith, family, friends and enjoying life.

Love Theresa

Albert's Mum's 1st Death Anniversary

Dear All

For us, year 2008 has passed by very fast. This coming 14 Jan 09 with be Albert's mum (Alice Mah) 1st death anniversary.

This 1st week of school has been very very busy for Tiffany. We (she and I) have to adjust to longer hours at school, and going for hits/try-outs for CCAs that she is interested in. She really hopes to get into the school's choir and is going for her final audition this Thur (9 Jan). Please pray for her that she'll get what she wants. 

I am very happy that she seems happier in sec school...more alive...more cheerful...more engaged in life. I really hope and pray she'll have a great time in her new school. She already loves her new class teachers and thinks them funny, young and lively. She also loves her new school...it's much much bigger than it's sister primary school and more than what she thought. There's new and more subjects too, so she's kinda apprehensive about coping with her studies but is looking forward to starting fresh again.

Feli is changing her CCA and trying to get into basketball. She had a great school day today compared to yesterday where she didn't have any recess-time buddies. She had a brainwave and asked me permission to bring her basketball to school today to play during recess. She had so many new friends wanting to join her that our dear Feli didn't have time to eat during recess. She came home sticky, happy, bubbling with news about school and VERY famished this evening. Seeing my girls happy as larks make my heart soar with theirs.

Meantime, Tiffy has camp this Fri to Sat...she doesn't want to go, but I think it'll be a lot different from her primary school camp. Did you know her school SACSS will be featured on Sat on "Groom my School"? Look out for it!

Love

Theresa

My Mum fainted

Dear All

My dearest mummy fainted yesterday (3 Jan 09) whilst my girls and I were at the Epiphany play. Luckily she was at home and the maid saved her life.

She had just finished lunch and ate her orange when she blacked out. According to the maid, she thought she was a goner. Her eyes rolled upwards until her blacks could not be seen and her face was pale and her lips slanted crookedly to the right side. When she called me, we were at Tamp Mall window shopping and about to settle dinner since Bert was sick with flu, sore throat and fever at home. It made me lose my cool, with Feli bugging me about if she should get this or that item from the vending machine and then whining that I was buying too many "My Chemical Romance" CDs for Tiff. I just lost my temper and screamed at her at the Popular shop. People looked but I just didn't care less. I felt dizzy and held onto Tiffy and rested at a kiddy ride for a while. I told the girls I was not in the mood to shop and we quickly packed back dinner and went home, but not before making up to them with a cup of Sweet-Talk bao-bao cha and saying sorry to them for the public outburst.

Bert was thankfully better by then, and we quickly did ours and mum's grocery shopping, got mum more panadol as requested and just Bert and I went to visit her.

Only the girls and I saw mum today as Bert was feeling really under the weather this Sunday moring (4 Jan 09) so he skipped church and instead of the weeking evening visit to mum's, we girls joined her for lunch at her home after church. (Bert was afraid to pass the bug to mum and dad, especially dad, who is pretty frail).

Just recently, Bert and I were talking about the best way to go. He said Jeyaratnam went off after his usually evening chat with his son, whilst his heart stopped when he was sleeping and was on the way to TTSH. Bert remarked he must have been a good man for such an easy death. Looking at mum, I told Bert I am afraid that mum may go first or worse, get stroke. I don't think my dad could take it....he is so dependant on her and loves her so dearly and she, him.

Did you know that St Bernadette did not have an easy death? She suffocates with her asthma but even worse, she started to be tormented by evil spiritual forces that made her wonder if the apparitions were even real...and this doubt shakes the very foundation of her faith and calling to be a nun. And yet, luckily for us mere mortals, her faithfulness to God prevailed, otherwise we do not have this Shining Star to guide us and to help us strengthen our faith. When she died, her body was not corrupted and she looked very radiant. So death....where is your sting? We now can look forward to an eternal life with our God.

Love

Theresa

Epiphany Play at Holy Trinity

Dear All

The girls and I attended the Epiphany play for children today (3 Jan 09). The MC/hostess did a wonderful (at least in my eyes) explanation of the epiphany to the children. She hid something tiny in the palm of her hand and invited only 4 children to peek. The other kids wanted to know what they saw. She then told everyone and showed them that she had a sheep in her hand. She explaned that that was what epiphany is...the revealing of God in the baby Jesus. I thought the message was clear, but when I checked with my girls especially Tiffy, she didn't seem to understand...and she was named after Epiphany!! 

Anyway, I personally felt the message was very moving. She told the children that feelings of sadness, anger, joy and pain are all also felt by Jesus, and that He always understands how they are feeling as He is human too. They can always turn to Jesus as He was born to save us.

The message is something we hear time and time again. For me, the message touched me more so, as I have just started to read "A life of Saint Bernadette Soubirous In her own words". Did you know that the priests and even 1 newly ordained priest not only doubted but condemned St Bernadette as a liar? I was quite saddened as I read the great amount of torment and pressure from bishops and powerful political people who try to make her deny she ever saw the versions of Our Lady. It made me think of myself, my doubts of others' faith stories and testimonies, of the testimonies of the Old and New testaments. In 1 account about how St Bernadette didn't burn her hands as she held the candle by its flame when the apparition appeared to her, and how later on, the grownups tried to place her hand in the flame of a candle and it burned her (and she, who was 13 years old then, wondered how come these adults are crazy to burn her!). It's like the 3 men in the Old testament, who were thrown into the burning furnace because they refused to worship other gods except for Yaweh. They were not burned but eye-witnesses say they saw another man with them in the furnace. That happened before Christ, yet St Bernadette's was only in 1858 (less than 200 years ago!) the same experience where a human in our world enters into the heavenly world. We see the human but we can't experience what that human is experiencing in that heavenly world. At that moment, nothing in the human world can touch or harm them!! It happened in the time of the Old testament, and it is even now happening in our time! I come to marvel how God still is moving amongst us, in our world, in our time still. Reading such inspirating books of our modern day saints helps me strengthen my faith in God. As St Bernadette told a priest (Pere Negre) who insulted her and doubted her testimony and tried to make her confuse and doubt she even saw the Virgin Mary...she said very simply to her friend Antoinette, "He doesn't want to believe. Let's go".

I feel "happy" that I am not the only one who stubbornly doubt my faith. It seems the religious are so very human like us lay people, so doubtful and mean too. I suppose too that lots of us, me inclusive, would have great difficulty going to heaven direct. But at least I'll try to stay close to God and by reading all these "guiding stars" (at the play, the hostess explaned that the Bethelhem Star still shines for us today, leading us to Jesus...and those stars are our parents and priests..for me its also these inspirational books) to lead me daily to God.

Love Theresa

Wishing You Happy New Year 2009!

Dear All

We and the girls wish all of you lovely LC couples and your loved ones, a Peaceful, Healthy and Prosperous New Year 2009!

Tomorrow's the start of a new chapter in life for our dear Tiffany. She's feeling the jitters and getting stressed out from learning (crush course) in tying her 1st tie (part of her sec uniform). Luckily we have a man in the family for such things (heh heh). Felicia had a ball these last 3 days going out with her best friend and her mum. They've been hitting explorer kids playland for 2 days in a row, seen a movie "Bedtime stories" and even baked chocolate cupcakes today! I must say, they are really sweet and yummy. 

I must admit I feel kinda of stressed to, having my first-born, going into sec. She's like quite grown up and yet, so sweet, when I kissed her little sis good nite, she was kinda upset I didn't offer to kiss her too. She then got down to kiss me and hugged me tightly twice. Told her she's still my little girl no matter what. Bert gave them both kisses and hugs too tonite. I think hugs and kisses are really great stress-relievers, especially for the kids.

Take care and have a great year 2009 and great 1st day in school!!

Love

Theresa, Bert and the girls