The Blog that I constantly read and reflect...

I read a lot of other blogs but this one always impressed me alot and keep me reflecting a great deal.

http://frlukefong.blogspot.com/

There is so much that I think about but somehow never able to crystalise and put it down in writing and here in this blog Fr Luke Fong's blog is just simply just thought provoking and reflective that keeps me going and searching and thinking. No wonder it is known as Reflections and Ruminations.

I would recommend this blog to anyone who firmly believes that there is a God out there and are constant reflective in their own lives and how God actually fit into own daily lives.

Have a nice day!

AlbertY

Feli's Bronze Swim Test - 23 Jun 10

Dear All

Feli just completed her swimming test for bronze yesterday at 12 noon. As most of you are aware, she's asthmatic so it took her, like since she was 5 years, to get her test completed now (and she's going to be 10 this year!). It was a start-stop-start again then stop for a long time affair. The push factor was her school's going to start the P4 swimming classes after the Jun hols. It'll be bad for her asthma to swim so early in the morning just before going to her afternoon classes in school. So she did a crush course with a private (and exhorbitant!) coach for 1.5 months to prepare for the test.

Just imagine, mother and child, going for the test feeling very anxious and nervous! Our coach was a retired one, and just days before the test when I asked him about the order of the test and the items involved, he asked me for the list of test items for him to see!! I almost freaked out! He kept saying she'll pass within the top 5 swimmers and is 200% prepared. She didn't attend swimming lessons for the past 2 weeks as she got the cough, flu and asthmatic again. The doctor felt she may not be well enough for the test, BUT this is the LAST test under the old system with the National Sports Council, Singapore! Starting July, it's a different system, and NOBODY could tell me any details!! So die-die, must go for test. I assured Feli if she fails, it's OK, as she's not in top form.

Luckily, the tester was a very nice guy. He actually told the children what they need to do for each item. There were quite a number of little ones, and as Feli said "They look so cute, plopping down into the waters like baby penguins!"

For those who are interested in the order of test items, they are (with pyjamas on):

1) going into the water in any dive (tuck, impact or straddle) from 1 end of the 50m pool and swim 50m; then get out of pool unaided (i.e not using the ladders) and walk back to start of pool for next test item

2) enter deep end of pool and tread water without touch sides of pool for 3 minutes

3) remove pyjama top and let it sink to the bottom of pool (this is important for next test item), then remove pyjama pants and make a float. When float is done, tuck your neck between the trouser legs to indicate to tester that you are done

4) dive fully submerged from wherever you are in the water to pick up your pyjama top (or any one's top, but just take one)

5) swim back to start of pool and queue in rows. The smaller ones nearer the side of pool, the bigger one (like my Feli) in the middle of pool. Then one by one, all 3 rows, enter the water in the impact dive and start to swim the 400m test in any stroke. (Most would use the breast stroke).

I am proud to say that Feli came in 2nd. As she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do after the laps were completed, she stayed just an arm's length behind the 1st boy to watch what to do. That was the last test item, and the tester was so nice...he told them that they have passed without them needing to ask him (like what my Tiffy did last time when she took her test like 3 years ago!!).

Feli and I were exuberant!! No need to worry about swimming lessons with the school!

We celebrated with a Sakae Sushi high-tea buffet at Century Square! It's her fav and a treat since she had to be careful of cold drinks and heaty stuff since she fell sick a week before her swimming test. Yay for Feli!! Congrats came in via phone and sms from her sis and daddy!

Love Theresa

Sentosa Sleepover @ Underwater World 20-21Jun10

Bert & I with sealion (above)

Feli & Tiff (above)

Dear All

We had recently experienced a sleepover @ the Underwater World at Sentosa. We felt like VIPs! It started at 6pm on Sun and ended at 12 noon the next day.

As Underwater World closed to the public in the night, we had the entire place to ourselves after that! We had a brief presentation of marine life, followed by a quick tour of the place before we were left to explore the aquariums on our own.

A surprise was a free show of "Song of the Sea" laser show was given to us...the 8pm slot. Since we had not seen it since the old musical fountain show site was demolished, we enjoyed ourselves. However, I personally felt the previous free show was better with nicer water plays and laser effects compared to the current one. The girls love it however.

Dinner, supper and breakfast the next day were provided. As this was a community centre based program and we really paid nominal fees, you can't expect the food to be fantastic. However, we loved the VIP treatments...like having a sentosa bus taking us to the Song of the Sea show and back to Underwater World, being ushered for a "Trainer of the Dolphins" talk especially arranged for us, having a private photo session with the sea lion (see pictures above) and a Pink Dolphin show!

We also have lots of chance to touch the fish, sharks, starfish, puffer fish and the very very cute cow-sting rays and their huge counterpart, the gigantic spotted sting rays! The cow sting ray was particularly cute and cheeky! It always comes to us as we wait for it, so that we could pat it and rub it all over it's head like a puppy!! It would sometimes splash us with water as it waves it's body over the waters edge at the edge of the tank, just to splash us!!

All in, it was an lovely and enjoyable experience for us all!

Love Theresa

Cana 1334 - 10 Jun 10 (Thur)

Dear All

We attended a musical play performed by lay people as well as several priests like Fr Luke Fong. It was held at 7:30pm at Singapore Expo and started proper only at 8pm. It lasted for 2.5h excluding a 20min intermission. In all, it ended at just past 11pm! I've never seen so many catholics at the same place at the same time. Heard that the capacity was 6000 people!

The play was a pleasant surprise! It was exceptionally fantastic! It was actually put up by our own catholic fellowmen, all on a volunteer basis, and God is really great...He sent so many talented people and those in the professional production of theatre and media line! I didn't realise how talented and great professionals many of our catholics are! May God continue to bless them abundantly for they have put up such a professional and slick show.

13:34 is the title of the play. It is actually the quotation from the gospel of John chapt 13 verse 34...Jesus commandment - To love one another as I have loved you.

The play was based on 3 men's live story...1 was called since he was a boy but couldn't answer the calling as his mum wants him to take care of her and his father when they are old. Another was in a serious relationship with his girlfriend when he heard the calling. The last was the good-for-nothing son who lost faith in God when God didn't let his father live through cancer although he prayed so hard as a little boy.

The singing of the songs were of high quality. The screening of video recordings of real priests on their calling and questions like what they are doing in their vocation (like being Jesus to the prostitutes in Geylang - reaching out to them because God loves them too), and the sacrifices they made when they answered the calling, in-between the play, was well-timed and well-placed. Our priests were equally talented too! Some played the saxophone, some the electric guitar, and some sung or danced. A newly minted 2-week old priest, Fr Derrick, and his family consisting of dad, mum & sis, also were on staged.

Met my bro, Ed there, and Anne (ushering) and Eric & Cynthia. Heard from Angie & Raymund that their fam was there too.

Kudos to all who made the production so enjoyable! If only it was not just a 1 night show! This ends the Year of the Priest, a year ending 30 Jun, to pray for our beloved Priests and for more young men to come forward to answer the calling, as we are so in dire need for priests.

Love Theresa

Holiday in Tioman!

Right before the start of the jungle trekking up the hill to the waterfall...

At the pool bar@ Berjaya Hotel, Tioman (taken by Feli, above)

Our guide tapping rubber tree (above)

Coral reef & fish @ Coral Island (taken by Tiff - above)

Another coral fish @ Coral Island (taken by Tiff, above)

Isn't the corals @Coral Island beautiful? (Pix taken by Tiff, above)

Our boat taken from Twin Island waters (above)

Our little family @ small waterfall after jungle trekking (above)

Bert @ waterpool, made by tiny waterfall (above)

Sand pattern @ bottom of sea @ Berjaya Tioman hotel (above)

Bert & I underwater @ swimming pool @ Berjaya Hotel, Tioman (above)

Dear All

We had a fantastic holiday in Tioman. Bert & I went there 14 years ago. The trip was our wedding anniversary cum holiday with the children. It's the first time to Tioman for them. We did many 1st for this trip.

It was the 1st time we travelled there via a tiny plane with just 2 big engines, 2 smaller engines & 4 side propellers, carrying at most 70 passengers!

The beach wasn't a disappointment though...no fish nor sea urchins..only lots of broken dead corals :(

Next day, we went island hopping to 3 islands for snorkeling! Coral Island and Renggis Island were the best in terms of the types and sizes of the corals and the number of fish. The 2nd island, (I think it's called the Twin) wasn't comparable. We took lots of videos and Tiffy managed to take some pixs.

The 3rd day, we went Jungle trekking and visited the small waterfall. It was a nightmare trip for the children and me. We slipped several times. There's lots of obstacles like huge rocks to climb over and non-existent nor safe path to tread on. There were ropes in several spots for us to cling onto to go up the slope. When we finally got to our destination, there were lots of HUGE damsel flys walking on the surface of the water at the waterfall. The guide drank directly from the falling water! The water gushing down was COLD! Very refreshing actually. I dreaded the thought...we were to go back the same way we came up? My worse nightmare came true! Whilst we were climbing up, there was rain, so you can imagine how slippery the going down was! There were dead leaves on the path, so everything was slippery!

Anyway, we made it! It's a feather in our cap! On the way, we saw a cotton plant (we never saw one before, so it was an eye-opener), 1 type of poison ivy (but whose roots is the antidote to its owe poison which is found on its leaves), a ratan tree (which is not cultivated but found only in jungles!), a rubber tree which the guide tapped for us to see, and a plant which is used for beauty lotion and doubles up as protection against the poison ivy, and a HUGE tree trunk that we can pound on for people to hear miles away, if you happen to be lost, a gigantic white ant hill with live ants still inside, and animals like the squirrel and chameleon.

It was an experience which we won't want to repeat. However, the snorkelling trip is really fantastic! I would say that the jungle trekking was also an unforgettable trip for us, as we did learn lots of things that we would never have seen before. Although the waterfall was considered small, it wasn't man-made lah!

Love Theresa

What my Little Girl told me...

Dear All

My mum called me 2 days ago. Dad feels scared being alone especially at night. He's actually not alone, but he wants mum to talk to him into the night and doesn't want her to sleep. He's already 94, so I guess he's like a little child now...afraid of being alone. I am so sad to hear that. I am afraid it could be a sign that he will no longer be with us soon. I prayed for him with my little girl, Feli, that night after I had tucked her into bed.

She looked at me and told me not to cry. "Everyone has to die one day, right? We are born, after that we have to die. Don't be sad. One day, you will see Kong kong in heaven."

Bless her little soul! She's really my little angel.

I asked her what she thinks heaven will be like. She then referred to a quote from a "Quote a day" calendar, which we had given her on her 1st Holy Communion last year. It talks about we being the house and holy temple of God.

She said, "Heaven would be like earth. There are lots of houses. If our hearts are good and we do good things, our houses will be big bangalows in heaven. Those who are not so nice would live in attap houses. There will be macdonalds and when one finishes the milkshake, there will be still be more milkshakes!"

Isn't she cute? That is a different way to view heaven...different types of houses reflecting the state of our hearts, in heaven.

She added that we can also choose what age we want to be in heaven. I told her, in that case, I want to be her age. Then I can teach her my childhood games like char-tek, kicking stones and yay-yay.

She then looked at me seriously and told me."When you go to heaven, write me a letter. Ask God for His special pen so that only I can see your letters. You must promise and shake pinkies!" I did so, but I doubt God has a special pen...she was referring to an email story we had read before. She also made me promise on a pinkie shake that I would meet her at heaven's gate when she comes.

She's really God-sent! Seems like God speaks through little children. We are so blessed with children. It's so lovely to have such child-like dialogues with our little ones. They do teach us more that we do them :)

Love Theresa

Fun day Bonding with the Family - Vesak Day

Dear All

I bought tixs to the theatre show "Girl in the Red Hood" by ITheatre. It was held on 28 May 10 (Fri) Vesak Day. Bert decided to drive there, which was at the National Museum. We left 40 min before showtime, but we caught out by the heavy traffic and roadworks (can you imagine - roadworks on a public hol?!?). When we got there, the carpark was full and we were already late! The show was to start in like 2 mins? We turned off at Fort Canning and luckily we found a carpark, which was just BEHIND the museum! And there was a link from the carpark directly into the musuem! We were just to lucky!

Back entrance to Museum from Fort Canning Carpark (above)

Tiff at the Wayang Kulit gallery (above)

Small dolls used at the Wayang Kulit gallery (above)

Feli in front of the cameras used in the past. How IT advance so fast! (above)

The venue was at the lowest level, so we rushed like mad. We were 5min late, but fortunately, they had not started yet. We settled into our seats and the show started 5 min later. Luckily, there were others who were late too, and the crew had the common sense to start the show later. The theatre was sadly only half filled.

Though the show was short (45min instead of the claimed 55 min) it was an enjoyable experience for all of us. Tiff had not been to a theatre show before and neither had Bert for several years. I think this was the first time we enjoyed a life theatre acting as a family. Feli had been to at least 1 before with her school excursion.

After that, since it was a matinee show, we decided to buy tixs to tour the museum. One of the gallery on Live History, had most of my mum's kitchen utensils there. Some of them were still used by mum, like the pestal (pounder). Bert recognised the kerosene stove that his mum had used before. Some items like kueh tutu, roti prata and chay kuay teow in banana leaf wraps are still available to us in this present day.

What was most impressive was the self guided tour at the History Gallery. It was huge and we had this portable earphone gadget that we need to key in the number we see on the floor in order to hear our own personal commentary. This gallery was huge! It was a waste we didn't go in there first, as we need a lot more time in order to fully appreciate the displays. We didn't expect it to be that big, and had to rush off for Feli's choir practice that evening. She cannot miss it as it was the 2nd last practice before her performance at the Parish Feast Day concert.

In all, our family enjoyed our family bonding time together. We did something different together, and it made for a memorable family time. Hopefully, it'll form part of our girls' fond memories of us as we do for them.

Love Theresa

1st Day without Snowy

Dear All

I called S today to ask about Snowy. S didn't have time for Snowy last night. He left it to his assistant to take care of him. It seems Snowy was moody and didn't eat his dinner. Hearing this made me feel a tinge of sadness and pity for him. However, Snowy must have a firmer owner than us. I think we are too soft on him. A dog should not growl nor snap at its owner without a reason....it just goes to show that he is trying to be the alpha male, the leader of the pack, in the family, knowing that when he bites, we are afraid to put medication in his wet ear canals. He's a smart dog and has learnt that he can get what he wants if he growls or bites. He may be cute in appearance, but I guess, even in animals, their nature varies....some are more docile and sweet, some are just born aggressive, like Snowy. I would say on hindsight, that Snowy is not an appropriate name for him as Snowy denotes a dog with a sweeter temperament. He'll be more appropriately named Tiger or even Growler!

Anyway, we wish Snowy all the best on finding the right owner. Though we miss him, it's the best for all concerned.

At the moment, I am a bit tramautised by him, but just a little. Luckily his bites are not deep. It's his growls and snarls that put me off and I try not to like the images linger in my mind for too long.

Love Theresa