Thanksgiving for year 2007

Today is the last day of 2007, it is during this time of the year that I always have that mixed feelings..even when I was working full time. On one hand, very thankful to God for the year that has passed but on the other hand, rather apprehensive about what's coming up in the new year - parenting challenges, business, job stability, health of family members..etc etc, uncertainties. Hm..dunno if it is becos my birthday is in January so the fear of growing old too ....ha ha.

Reflecting the past year...I am filled with many many thanksgiving to God.This year, our church fcbc has adopted the theme "Year of Victory" and indeed my family has seen many victories this year.

My list of thanksgiving :

1. Physical Provision :

a. Miracle baby - we prayed for our 3rd child and God provide us a bubbly, healthy and smiley bundle of joy in Aug this year, Nicole Yiang.
b. Smooth and safe pregnancy though I have to oversee the renovation and shifting of the house. Packing the house ready for shifting...ssh..occassionally climbing up and down to pack cos I dont have a maid even at 7th mth of pregnancy. Really thankful for his protection!

c. Fast delivery - 3 hours of labor

d. My two elder kids Naomi and Nathan have indeed grown from strength to strength be it physically, spiritually and development in areas such as music, language and cogitive part..

2. Financial and Material Provision :

a. Granting Seb a new job in the area that is of his interest and a good and conducive environment.
b. Selling our old flat at a very good price that is way beyond our expected selling price and selling the flat on our own (saving the agent's comms) within the day that we advertised !
c. Thank God for helping us to get a bigger flat at a good price..now the prices has increased to $180K more for the same block. Seeing us through the renovation and the moving in smoothly before I delivered.
d. Granting our wish to move to the east and staying near my mum's and sibiling's flats. Naomi and Nathan are ecstastic to move here too since there are more people to bring them out for shopping and more visits to their aunties' homes.
e. God's financial provision for us even though I am not working full-time.
f. Helping me to achieve my goals working in MindChamps, financially and job satisfaction ie helping families and students to achieve beyond their potential. Achieve the Education Success Coach accrediation and also gotten two awards for achieving my targets.

3. Mirale of Healing

a. Mum's constant pain and ill-health - God always heal when we pray. Amen !

b. Mum-in-laws' eyes - operated in 2006 but always complained that her eyes still feel uncomfortable. God healed her eyes during Good Friday service and since then didnt hear her complaining.

4. Mirale of Salvation

a. Mum-in-law was saved during the Good Friday service

5. Other provisions :

a. Providing us an opportunity to travel to ChiangMai and HK at the beginning and the end of the year to bond with the kids and enjoy ourselves
b. Helping us to find a trustworthy and diligent maid at last ! Those who knows me , know that I have nightmare and episodes after episodes of maid horror stories. I can really write a book on "Foreign Domestic Workers 101" .

Last but not least... thank God for his protection and peace and his constant faithful love for us and our family ! Knowing the promises of God and that God is good all the time, we can face the new year 2008 with new hope, promises and many good things to come only if we seek him before anything else ! With this, we can move forward to the new year with anticipation and excitement ! Indeed, I have already have some new year resolutions already...looking fwd to fulfill them, with God's help, in the year 2008.

Arts and craft home lesson - making animals out of straws!

Can you imagine making animal models, even playground and trees, out of drinking straws? Sebastian borrowed an art and craft book from the Central National Library and tried his hands on making a squid and butterfly for the kids. That made the kids happy for the whole morning.

It's good to expose the kids to creative arts so as to expand their imagination and appreciation for the arts.

Thomas the Tank Engine and Barbie

Nathan's first Thomas the tank engine set

Commercialism has hit the heart strings of children! Children these days are so blessed with expensive toys and gifts...

Naomi received a Barbie toy set as Christmas gift from a close friend of mine and she was so estatic when she opened it. It was a toy shown on a TV advertisement and she had been asking for it, much to my objection to buying it. Any how, she got her wish.

We got Nathan a Thomas the tank engine set as his birthday present last June. He has been asking for another add-on set this Christmas, again to our disapproval. That same friend granted him his wish this Christmas! So now, he can fix up the 2 sets to expand the tracks and have double the fun!

A casual and relaxing Christmas day

Our church does not have a tradition of having church service on Christmas day. Last Sunday's service saw us celebrating Christ's birthday with Hall 10 filled with Christmas worship songs and festive decorations on the stage and all. The children's Christmas service at Hall 9 was also packed with children witnessing a Christmas musical. Naomi and Nathan were thrilled with so much gifts and goodies from their Sunday School's teachers!




This morning, after going through some MSN chats with my father in-law and sister (with the kids busy playing with the "winks" feature), we decided to go for a picnic at East Coast Park. It's the first trip to the beach for Nicole! The other 2 kids played "bubbles" and we had an enjoyable time snacking and simply catching some cool breeze by the seaside. Boy, was the park crowded!

Merry Christmas, every one!

HK Disneyland Adventure

Nathan's smile tells it all... Photo with Pooh, his idol

Naomi with Snow White, one of her favourite Disney characters besides Belle.

Naomi and Nathan posing with statue of Mickey Mouse at the lobby of Disneyland Hollywood Hotel.

This is the first time the 2 elder kids (Naomi and Nathan) visit a Disneyland (15 to 16 Dec 07). They enjoyed themselves so much that they kept talking about it for days when we got back home.

Disneyland Hollywood provided a 2-day pass to Disneyland and even gave us a complimentary fastpass for any of the 3 designated fastpass rides. Nathan didn't like the rides (especially the Pooh ride and the Astro Blaster ride) as he was scared. Naomi liked the rides but was scared at the sight of the Disney characters during photo-taking sessions, except the Disney princesses. When we missed the meet-and-greet session for Princess Belle and Snow White, she cried with disappointment. We went back for the next session and she was overjoyed with meeting Snow White and Belle. What a fan of Disney princesses!

Even though Hong Kong Disneyland was quite a disappointment to me (after visited Disneyland in Anaheim, Tokyo and Paris, the one in Hong Kong seemed relatively small-scaled and lacked the pomps), the kids had a wonderful and magical adventure there.

Naomi's ballet performance at Crestar School of Dance

Naomi has been learning ballet at Crestar School of Dance for a few months now. During the school term holidays, she has an excellent learning experience from an intensive workshop --- "Australia Dance Exchange Holiday Workshop 2007", conducted over the past one week at Crestar's Marine Parade dance studio. Tonight was "Performance Day" at Nanyang Girls' High School's Siew May Auditorium. Nothing beats seeing the joy and excitement on her face on stage.

Here's a short video clip (above) on her class (pre-ballet/primary) item "My Teddy Bear", choregraphed by Ms. Emma Nickoll from Australia.

Nathan's last music lesson with teacher Michelle at Cristofori

ment

Today is Nathan's last music lesson with teacher Michelle at Cristofori. Nathan has always enjoyed the "Little Mozarts" lessons taught under Michelle. Michelle is a very passionate and caring music teacher who understands the behaviour of young children. She is instrumental in shaping Nathan's interests in piano and music.

We received notice from the music school that teacher Michelle would be leaving her teaching profession at the school after her completion of employment contract in December. Here's wishing her all the best in her future endeavours. We'll going to miss her jovial and contagious laughter!

Reward system or behavioral modification program?

A week ago, Sebastian and I worked out a rewards system for Naomi and Nathan to motivate them to exercise self-control and instill discipline in them. They have a hand in the design of their own rewards booklets and are very proud of their works. For example, earning up to 5 rubber stamps in the "I will practise on the piano" rewards page will have a "push-and-pop" sweet reward. They seem to be rather motivated to do that. Whatever it takes to motivate them to become more independent and disciplined, we have to give it a try!

A quick search on the Internet show that there are very good materials available for download. For those who wish to try out behavioral modification program for your children, try downloading some very nice incentive charts from the Association of for Comprehensive Neurotherapy. They even have affirmative notes and coupons to constantly remind your children! It's fantastic!