Dick Lee Wannabe

Family and friends know that of late, I have been crazy over Dick Lee’s songs and compositions. If you do not know by now, he is a renowned Singaporean singer, composer and playwright, having written numerous musicals such as Beauty World, Hotpants, Fried Rice Paradise, et cetera, et cetera ... As a result, TY and Julian had to endure countless replays of Dick’s 30th Anniversary Concert on DVD! But to be totally honest, I think they'd rather enjoyed it actually. In fact, I believe I made a convert out of my son and he has since been an avid Dick Lee fan and an “aspiring” performer! Who knows? He could be a future star in the making!

Beach Outing with LWPS Gang

On Sunday (March 1, 2009), we had a beach outing with some of Julian's schoolmates from LWPS and by word of mouth, news of this spread and we ended with 8 families and 13 kids in all! Mommys, daddys, mei-meis and di-dis all showed up, and even Baby Asher came along! We had a blast of a time!

  Sandcastle-Building Fun!


Julian: “We are planting a Talking Tree!”
 Baby Asher’s First Beach Outing!

It was so much fun, one mommy suggested, "Let’s do a BBQ next week!” And some of the daddys were even contemplating a drive-up trip to Ipoh within the next 2 months. It was a morning of wholesome fun and goodness for the entire family … what a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day we had!

Do You Sometimes Not Like Me?

On the way to visit my mother-in-law this evening, my son asked me, “Do you like me?” This was a standard question he enjoys posing to me and I replied in my usual fashion, “Of course, I do. I like you and I love you!” His next question, however, somewhat jolted me.

With great seriousness, he looked me in the eye and asked, “Do you sometimes not like me?” I was flabbergasted to hear this question from an under 4-year-old! Very quickly, I assured him, smothering him with kisses at the same time, “Mummy likes you and Mummy loves you all the time!” Guessing this could be because I had disciplined him the day before, I added, “Mummy loves you a lot but I do not like you to misbehave …”

I was reminded of the parenting principle to never tell your child “I don’t like you” even when they have misbehaved badly, but rather, “I do not like what you are DOING.” While young children may seemingly forget what had happened easily, nevertheless, they are more aware of their surroundings than we give them credit for. Therefore, we should never take them for granted. They are God’s gift to us and our gift to them should be unconditional love and careful nurture so that they can grow up to be happy, secure and confident individuals because self-esteem is the foundation of life.

Hearing God In the Ordinary

During this year's Chinese New Year season, I had a “firsthand” experience with simple gardening as TY bought me a potted plant to beautify the house. He exulted the “potential” of this plant and how it promised to bloom multiple flowers of different colors. Daily, without fail, I would conscientiously water my plant and ensure it received enough sunlight in anticipation of what I would see. To my disappoint, a single yellow flower would bloom on certain days, while on others, there was nothing at all! The furthest it got was to produce 2 pink “withered-looking” flowers. But I doggedly held on to the "promise" that one day, the flowers would come into full bloom.

Today, my tenacity finally paid off! After 2 weeks of waiting and watering, I was rewarded with 4 magnificent, brightly-colored flowers that bloomed all at once. As I watched in admiration and wonder, Galatians 6 verse 9 came to my mind, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." I realized that we may not understand the power that lies within a seed but as we do what is needed, the flowers will naturally bloom in due season. The parallel truth is that the Word of God too is a seed. While we may not always understand the need to obey in contrary circumstances, but as we continue to do what is right and hold on to our faith without wavering, we will enjoy all the benefits that His Word promises to bring!

An attempt to tend to a simple potted plant has brought a profound revelation. It is no wonder the Master Gardener would choose to use the simplest things in life to portray and to remind His children of His eternal and unchanging truths. God wants us to hear His voice even through the ordinary things of life.

What A Wonderful World

My belief that human beings are born with an innate sense of beauty was confirmed last week when a group of colleagues and I rushed to behold a rare sight of a double-arch rainbow outside the skies of Suntec City. We (both guys and girls) whipped out our cameras and handphones and started snapping photos of this beautiful phenomenon.

In the midst of this flurry of "clicking and snapping", the lyrics of one of the greatest hits of the late 1960s by Louis Armstrong involuntarily came to my mind, " ... the colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky ... and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."