3 Paintbrush of parenting

I managed to steal some time and did some reading last week, I'm reading a parenting book by Dr.William Slonecker, halfway through I find the book quite interesting with a lot of practical insights in parenting, most importantly, it's based on biblical principles in which hubby and I agreed there could be no other better way than our God's way when it comes to bringing up and nurturing our precious gems.

The writer shared 3 must have paint brushes of parenting which are love, authority and trust, what I like about the book is there are no heavy stuff, more on principles and a lot of life experiences from the writer who serve as a pediatrician cum family counsellor for more than 40 years. It's not written for American parents, in fact I could relate the principles and his examples in our Asian family context. Therefore I strongly recommend this book to parents who are open to parenting principles based on a biblical point of view.

Happy reading, God knows how a daunting task it is being parents. :D

Kids' Sports Day

Last Sat was the kids' kindy sports day and it's quite a grand family affair with both our girls taking part in 5 team games. In the wee hours of Sat morning, I ushered and rushed everyone from their lumber sleep, it was a big day for Michelle as she's the flag bearer for the team. She has been seriously practicing for the past weeks. It's funny how such little thing excite and make us parents so proud of our children.

We had a good time, cheering for the kids and other children. The children are so simple minded and sporting. I can really see them going all out, giving their best effort in each obstacle. Well the result? Emily's team turned out to be 1st runner up and Michelle's team, 2nd runner up, not bad for a family with no history of sport genes in us except for hubby. The kids are so thrilled to receive the trophies as their teams were among the weakest during their weekly practices. It all showed that determination and good team work pays off.

Actually the day before, I prepared them to face failure (just in case), I stressed the importance of playing hard and simply enjoy the games, winning is not important. I'm not sure if this is right..... parents in dilema...

I hope my girls learned the important lesson of giving their best in the things that they do. We are so proud of them!

A family portrait for sweet keepsake...

Travelthon...

The past week has been spent travelling by air and land... really tiring.

Last Tues - Friday, Penang - Manila, Manila - Penang
Sat, Penang - Sitiawan
Sun, Sitiawan - Kampar
Mon, Kampar - Sitiawan, Sitiawan - Kampar, Kampar - Penang, why the repeated journey, you may asked, well all because of me forgetting my handbag with everything in it... "tai tau ha"

We end up reaching Penang at 8pm, cleared our stuff, took dinner at 10pm and knocked out by 10.30pm.

During the recent trip, I found out that my company President knew the existence of my blog and has been reading it......how? Because I've been using the hotel free internet access in the executive room, did not clear the history and when he accessed later, saw my blog title and clicked onto it... gosh...luckily I did not write something bad about him...anyway nothing bad to write about also.... so I'm safe and still employed.. :)

Reading "pleasure"

I'm planning to read more and before me I've already lined up books hoping to deligently read them. Yesterday evening while Emily is still napping, I took out my book, found a nice spot, rested my feet on the foot stool and started reading.... while still at the same page, Michelle came running and started to barge into my comfort zone. I pleaded with her to let me read for half an hour and we could play badminton thereafter. She agreed and decided to take a book and sat beside me.

She started reading aloud, by then I was quite annoyed and could not concentrate..then she started to ask me every single word that she's not familiar with...... you guess... yeah I gave up, I end up listening to her reading and correcting her pronunciation..... by the time she finished with her reading, Emily woke up and it's time for the promised badminton session......

I actually envy mothers who find time to read.... I guessed I have to resort reading in the toilet while doing my daily business... but then again do you think they will leave me alone, No! They won't leave this mummy alone, Emily has the habit of coming into my room, knocked the bathroom's door and asked repeatedly what I was doing! Kids...

Ha ha I'm flying again tomorrow, will take the opportunity to read then, as for tonight I will stick like superglue to my girls!

The best gift ever

I got this tag from Ling, hmm... what is the best gift ever? As a Christian the best gift I ever received is the gift of Salvation given by my Father, 20 years ago. It's so easy for us to link something tangible when we think about gifts but many a times we failed to realize that most of the best and richest gifts are right beside us and before our eyes. That is why sometimes God has to send "waves" into our lifes to wake us up....to me, the best gift is the gift of life....many of us wanted things to enjoy life but God give us life to enjoy things....May God teach us to be thankful for every good gifts for all good and perfect gifts comes from Him.


Friendly Rules:

1. Simply copy the inspirational and in the end write down the lesson you have learned out from this.
2. Put your own blog name and link. Pass or tag this to your friends to inspire them.
3. Start copy from "Begin Copy" until "End Copy" to your blog.

#begin copy
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom. And knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study.

His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somehow disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.

Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" And stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possesions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of his things. When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He begun to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and begun to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt. 7:11, "And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?"

As he reads those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words...PAID IN FULL. How many times do we miss God's blessing because they are not packaged as we expected?

I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for... PLS. SEND THIS TO AT LEAST FIVE PEOPLE SO AS TO LET THIS GREAT LESSON FLOW AROUND.
***END COPY***

I would like to extend this tag to whoever that is touched by this message...

Fun play time

Sometimes my girls and I played "princesses", what we'll do is we will do our hairdo, wear accessories and parade in front of MIL and daddy. There are days we do hip hop, buns, rock n roll, china dolls.... Sometimes we tie daddy's hair too.

This is how Emily looks like in one of our session... :D

I want to become "Jeh Jeh"

This is the statement made by Emily the other night..... While we were lying lazily and about to doze off, suddenly Emily got up, sat at one corner and demanded that she wanted to become a Jeh Jeh..

Emily: I want to become a Jeh Jeh
Me: Startled....
Emily: Faster deliver a baby so that I can become a Jeh Jeh!
Me: You can be Jeh Jeh to Sin Yee (our neighbor's daughter who is younger than her)
Emily: No, I want to become a true Jeh Jeh not Sin Yee's Jeh Jeh
Me: In our role plays games, you get to become Jeh Jeh also right?
Emily: I don't want fake one, I want real one...
Me: (Thinking hard how to answer her).. mummy and daddy plan just to have both of you only..unless God decided to bless us with another babylar, then you can become a Jeh Jeh lor..
Emily: I want you to give birth to a baby now!
Me: (Getting frustrated already) We can't choose to become a Jeh Jeh or Mei Mei, like mummy, mummy is the youngest also, so mummy can just become a mei mei, same goes with daddy.. daddy is the youngest, so become ti ti.
Emily: (Wanted to cry)... Jeh Jeh can become a jeh jeh, I can become mei mei only, Celeste (her classmate)can become Jeh Jeh...(giving me all examples of who and who is jeh jeh)...
Me: Okay... enough, go to sleep already, I know you can become a good jeh jeh.. you become jeh jeh to........... (list all her younger friends)..

Conversation forced to end...... LOL

How do you explain to a 4 year old that you don't plan to have another baby?? According to her teacher, Emily likes to take care of her younger friends and proof to be a good jeh jeh........hmm... actually felt quite vulnerable having to dissapoint her.