A post just for P

I only heard of this phrase in recent years - “Daughters are Daddy’s lovers from past lives.” I think it’s so true! This post is specially dedicated to P, who works hard for the family and bears with all sorts of characters and situations, just for us. 

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An exchange between Calista and I just before she went to bathe today...

Ca: Mama, do you know, when people laugh at Daddy, I feel sad. 

Me: Awww.. why would anyone laugh at Daddy? Who?

Ca: Korkor.. when Korkor hit Daddy with the balls and went “Hahaha,” I felt saaaad..

Me: Aw, it’s ok, Korkor was just having fun with Daddy. Daddy was having fun too! You don’t have to feel sad for him. 

       Wait. Why did you suddenly tell me this? 

Ca: Because I think of Daddy all the time, cos he is not home.

💕

A recap - End 2014

So..what has happened in the past 3+ years? I think it would be best to do separate posts of various time periods, starting right from the start of when we arrived in HK.

Let’s make a little list now (I love lists..they help me gain a little control of my tumultous topsy-turvy life): 

IN END-2014: 

1) I left my job, friends and family in Singapore

2) The family moved to Hong Kong to be with P

3) The kids joined the International Montessori School, Calista at the “Casa” level and Christian at the Primary 1 level

4) I adjusted to being a stay-home mum with part-time help

Parts 1 & 2:  From Singapore to Hong Kong

Calista's birthday celebration during sports day practice at Pasir Ris Park.

  She was only 3!

Still chubby-cheeked..with her "bf" Tze Zin on the right...

 Christian showing off his first prize trophy from the school race - they apparently ran a total of 2.4km and he won due to his regular and steady speed:

 Some farewell presents from friends..

 

Teacher Dani thoughtfully helped the children create some going-away presents for the grandparents.

She bought the lamp and lantern from Ikea, and let them draw on it themselves..Christian's lamp had portraits of the family, and was so meaningful.

 Leaving Singapore 

 Arrival at HK - he was still so short then!

First look at our tiny apartment in Stanley

A revival

It’s been a while! 3 years, 4 months and 10 days. 

What has happened in that time? So much, that I barely know where to start. 

Perhaps let’s start with why I am blogging again. We are expecting the arrival of Baby No. 3! She is due to say hello to us on 9 November 2017 (or 5 November, based on my first scan), but perhaps we’ll see her a bit earlier than that. 

Not sure what prompted P to revisit this blog, but a few days ago, he sent me the link to Calista’s birth story on this blog. I was so grateful that I recorded all the details of her birth, for I have truly forgotten most of it 6 years on. This led me to realise that this blog serves such an important role in recording the little moments of my family life. Given P’s and my poor poor fish memory, we will not remember these years of raising young children, when we finally make it to the season of reminiscing. 

(I was going through the blog, looking at old pictures of the children when Calista joined me. It was so surreal when she started reading out loud my post on her first steps! I certainly did not imagine her reading the post when I first typed it. :))

And so, here is my valiant attempt at restarting this blog. Hopefully I will still have time after baby no. 3 pops out! 

For starters, here’s a look at what the children look like now, before I go back to being homework police: 

Cain and Seth

Here’s another story I’ve been recounting to my colleagues and friends:

About 2 weekends ago, Christian asked us “Why is there war? Why do we fight and kill each other?”

I was silent and waited for P to answer (he takes ‘weekend duty’ since I am responsible for answering all of Christian’s questions during the weekdays).

P started going on about Cain and Abel, and how one was jealous of the other cos the other won God’s favour. This triggered more questions of “what is jealousy?” and “How did Abel gain God’s favour?” We told him that God was pleased with Abel cos Abel offered God the best, whereas Abel kinda gave God his leftovers =7

P continued and said “So we are descendants of Cain…and that’s why we have sin in us..”

At that point, we had just parked at a multi-storey carpark near the Old Airport Road food centre, and were walking down the stairs. I asked P whether he wanted to take the lift instead, cos he had slipped and injured his knees just a week ago. He didn’t hear me, but a few seconds later, said “Let’s go take the lift.” We trekked across to the other side of the carpark and went into the lift, which was just about the point when P said “So Cain is our great great great great great great great greeaaaaat greeeaaaaat greeeeaaaaaat grandfather.”

I stared at P, willing him to keep quiet in a packed lift full of strangers. We reached the ground floor a few seconds later and were heading towards the food centre when a man chased us and said with a look of hesitation “Actually, we are not from Cain’s line. Adam had another son after Cain and Abel and we came from that line.. Sorry I don’t mean to embarrass you..but I know we came from that 3rd son’s line..and from that line came Noah.. you know Noah?”

I laughed out loud at how ignorant he must think we were, to not even know Noah. P immediately accepted being corrected and I thanked the man for telling us.

After the man left us, I told P that God must have had enough of his nonsense, and thought we should not propagate falsehood to our children. =7 A quick check of my electronic bible revealed that Adam’s 3rd son was Seth and yes there was a long lineage down from Seth to Noah..

I took the opportunity to talk to Christian – “You know how you always ask me where God is, why can’t you see him? We may not be able to see Him, but we can feel Him.. just like we cannot see the wind, but we can feel the wind right? And we can see the leaves moving because of the wind..”

Christian caught on and said “Yes! Just like I cannot see God, but God sent a man to talk to us and tell us what is right.”

I beamed and P could not resist taking a dig at me “Wow that is the most profound thing I’ve heard you say since I dated you.” (This coming from a man who got his facts wrong in the first place! =7)

This was a pretty long story, but this showed me how God is in control of everything. What were the chances of us meeting a man who knows this story, a man who was present at the precise time when we were at the lift? I was SOOO comforted the whole day, knowing that He cares, about every little thing, and is present at every moment of our lives. This gives me courage and strength to do what is right by Him, instead of what is conventionally done in this world.

One Sentence, for our children

If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis that all things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied. ~ Richard Feynman

If, in some cataclysm, all of my knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to my children, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the simple truth that all of us begin as an ego — heeding our parents’ voices gives us knowledge that gets us to reason — heeding our inner voice gives us clarity that gets us to intuition — heeding our creator’s voice gives us wisdom that gets us to holiness. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little humility and introspection are applied. Remember too, the pareto principle that 80% of us will vacillate between ego and reason for most of our lives, and that the only true bridge (or shortcut if you will) between ego and holiness, is Christ. ~ Daddy O

(This was a guest post contributed by P, which was inspired by us witnessing Calista vying with her brother for the skate scooter and promptly losing interest once he gave in to her. =/)

A special question

This is a backpost…Christian asked me about 3 months’ ago (24 Jan):

“Mama, I have a very special question for you.”

I braced myself and replied “Yes…?”

Christian: “What if….the grasscutter doesn’t want to cut grass anymore and the grass grows to outer space then when the grasscutter finally cuts it down and it falls onto Earth, will the Earth explode?”

*Mama laughs heartily*

Oh, the things that preoccupy the mind of a 5 year old. (This was when he was interested in outer space and the various levels from atmosphere to space.)