Rainbow and God's promises

 Spotted: rainbow appearing in our home!

Last Saturday afternoon, S and I were playing at the car porch when we saw a stripe of RAINBOW, from the tiles of the pond to the grass. I was thrilled! How cool is it to have rainbow in your own yard? We started to jump on-and-off the rainbow, touching it, taking pictures, fearing that it might disappear soon. You don’t get to have a rainbow under your feet everyday! By the time we alerted the rest of the household, the rainbow was gone. It was a little miracle for me, a confirmation from God of His promises of good treasure for us...I hope the rainbow stayed in S’s heart, just like it did in mine.

“The Lord will open his good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to you in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed his commandments of the Lord your God…” (Deuteronomy 28:12-13)

Soul nourishment

Perhaps having quiet time by myself, reading the word of God in the morning is what I miss most since my return to work after a long break. I could sit in the kitchen for more than an hour with a cup of coffee, sandwich and expound on daily devotionals. It also gave me the chance to embrace my neighborhood. It is almost certain that by 8.30am every morning that I would hear footsteps of stilettos walking past the alley. The old lady next door would also start to hum the same tune, plucking flowers from her garden or doing her laundry.

No wonder George Muller the evangelist said that the most important thing that he had to do every morning was to give himself to the reading of the word of God and to meditate on it, so that his heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed…

I know that the peace that I felt during these times (although not having to work played a big part) definitely derived from having my soul being nourished. Again, quoting Muller- “How different it is when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, fromwhat it is when the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one without such spiritual preparation.”

The Never Land Pirates

I had not planned to dress S up for the school’s pirates party until the teacher reminded me to do so.

“Mommy, please make sure S comes in a pirate costume tomorrow, it will be fun”, I grimaced.

“No need to buy, just improvise”. Right.

I was consumed by slight guilt on the journey home from school, thinking that I should have done something considering my do-nothing-but-watch-TV schedule over the past 2 weeks!

So I redeemed myself.

In 30 minutes, we whipped up a Captain  Hook look with a scarf, red ribbon, plastic cup wrapped with aluminium foil and pipe cleaner (left over from her 1st birthday party!). I was impressed by myself.

But S was not satisfied and kept demanding that she wanted to be “Easy”!?? What??

“I want to be “Easy” the girl”. We finally googled and found the character “Izzy” in Jake and the Never Land.  Gosh, I didn’t even know this cartoon existed. 

 

Alright alright. Let’s cut a pink T-shirt, reuse the red ribbon earlier, find something yellow (play-doh mould) and there we have it!

 

Mommy is fully redeemed.

Family tree

At the beginning of the school term, parents were tasked to work on a home project with the kids – to create a family tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We plucked a few leaves from the potted plant to create a ‘real’ feel :) Then we outlined the trunk and started painting!

We printed pictures of grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins from all three continents and stuck them by the leaves. Voila!

Note the additional family member named “S mei mei” whom S insisted to paste next to our family portrait, by the tree trunk. I was dumbfounded. She called herself “jie jie” in the family portrait.  Speaking of strong faith from children!!!

This is S, showing off her family tree to the class (pic taken by the teacher). I’m not sure whether she did talk about the additional family member though.

Psalm 8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies
you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries,
so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. (NET)

2013: Key of David

My pastor has envisaged 2013 as the year of key of David – God opens door that no one can shut and when He shuts, no one can open.  I'm full of expecations.

I literally lived up to this message with a "key"hole surgery to remove a cyst. The doc wanted to give me a 30-day hospitalisation leave, but I declined politely, fearing that my brain may just s.l.o.w. down after the relaxing December and with this! Besides, reporting season is just around the corner.

It’s day 1 at home today and I’m feeling a little edgy. S will be starting her full-day session in school tomorrow. What shall I do at home alone with restricted physical accessibility?? Just how much TV can one watch, how many books can one read and how many things can one buy online in 2 weeks?

We shall see.

 

Beautiful

My sis-in-law emailed us a long-overdue picture taken by the talented bro-in-law during our last visit to Melbourne in April 2012. I couldn't stop staring at it. This marks a great post to start 2013!