The First Dozen

It's been 12 years since I wed my ex-JC classmate.

I've seen him around since I was 13 yrs old I guess, being in the same sec sch and all that.

We were in the same class in JC. I don't think anyone from our dear class would've guessed that two of us would end up marrying each other! ... Though I did think that he was kinda cool for being clever, especially in GP. We were basically a bunch of nerds then. 

We have watched each other grow up through two decades. From late teenagehood to our twenties, from being undergrads to becoming teachers, to being married to each other to becoming parents 4 times over. 

Happy 12 years, Hubby! Here's to many more dozens of years to go!  

Junkyard

Yup. My current place looks like one. I try to crop or angle the junk out of my Instagram shots most of the time, but no matter what, in reality, the piles of clutter are there. My first excuse? Well we moved from a 110 sq m flat to squat at my in-laws' condo. It has been 6 years of squatting. Here, we only have 2 bedrooms to ourselves. From 2 kids, we grew to double that number. 6 of us stayed in 2 bedrooms. Things just started spilling out of our bedrooms when we didn't have enough storage space. Shelves of books overflowed. Storage boxes of snacks overflowed. Toys were everywhere. Books--story books, school books, assessment books, they just kept increasing. There was no space to store them. My kids didn't have a study table of their own as there was no space to put any. They had to do their homework, art work, etc. at the dining table, of which 1/3 of the table top space was again, filled with piles of letters, snacks, medicine, vitamins, batteries, wallets, watches, brochures, odd Lego pieces. It was an eyesore that everyone just gave up trying to clear after a while.

It was BAD. 

For the past few days, I have been decluttering. I bet I've thrown away at least 20 bags of junk. And that was just from 2 areas in the living room area! My kids are like, "Wow Mom! The place looks so nice now!" Ha. Ha. Ha. 

I think there's gonna be at least 30-40 more bags of junk to throw away! 

-____-"'

Post conference

Situation D. Much ado about almost nothing.

Probably a sweeping statement that got carried away and got misunderstood. 

I shouldn't have let it fester for so long. So much (probably) unnecessary churning and possibly warfare.

It was nonetheless a journey for myself.

Note to self: next time fasterly clarify instead of multiply doubts.

*FACEPALM*

Situation D

So Situation D is probably going to happen. It's been months of mental, emotional and spiritual preparation. Given a choice, of course I'd rather not go through with it. I'd be okay to hide my head in the ground like an ostrich, like forever. But it is not going to be the case. The other party has contacted me again. I've to grow up and do the right thing. 

ARGH................

Temptation

Mark 1:

12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

--

I just noticed that in the Temptation of Jesus, He was: 

1. all alone in the wilderness

2. tempted by Satan

3. with wild animals

4. ministered by angels.

The big eye-opener tonight for me is the fact that Jesus not only has to grapple with temptations from Satan, hunger and thirst, loneliness, He actually had to face WILD AMIMALS! Real. Physical. Danger!! 

Oh my goodness. As if physical weakness, great emotional and mental struggles weren't enough, WILD ANIMALS were thrown in to give ALL-ROUND STRESS for the FULL WORKS!! I don't think we're talking about wild bunnies or wild squirrels here. Probably real potential predators. BIG, scary animals that could KILL. 

I'm already scaredy-cat if I had to handle wild snails or wild squirrels. I can't imagine 40 days of all the above.

Faint. 

Thankfully, angels ministered to Him. Was Jesus comforted by their presence? I mean, they were with Him before He came to earth as a baby, weren't they? Perhaps they helped to remind Him of His mission too? I donno. Just wondering out loud here. 

The 40 days in the wilderness was no joke. Hats off to Jesus. 

Sigh. How could this happen?!

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/10/22/ive-cried-a-lot-lately-embattled-pastor-mark-driscoll-reveals-terrifying-and-severe-threats-his-family-has-faced/

Themes

These are the recurring themes I've often come across this year.

Abide in Him

Dwell in Him

God is faithful

Trust in Him

Graduation's done.

N had his graduation concert just a few hours ago. That marks the end of his kindergarten years. I think he has learnt well in his school and has been quite happy there. 

Time does fly! It wasn't too long ago that I remember checking on him on his first day as a nursery kid and when he caught a glimpse of me outside his school toilet, he cried! He has blossomed and grown so much through these 3 years.

It also wasn't too long ago that his first time being at the kindy grounds was when I was carrying him in my arms while he was having high fever during his Kawasaki Disease episode when he was almost 6 months old. Why was he there when he was so ill? At that time, we had just finished getting his blood tested at Mt A hospital (to test for KD) and we rushed like crazy to the kindy to see his oldest sister perform at the mini-concert in school. Now he is almost 6 years old and going to primary school in 2 months' time!

Which primary school is he going to? Remember I wrote about the divine appointment a few months ago? That we met my old friend and Hubby's colleague at a cafe at Gardens by the Bay? They advised us on how they got their son into the affiliated school and what we should do. Well it was really divine. N is going to that school! 

We are happy. We were actually also content to send N to the neighbourhood sch that is 10 min walk away from our new place as there was no news from that affiliated school ever since the registration exercise was over. Until a couple of days ago, when we finally got the news that N is going to that school. It is that famous Christian boys school. One that parents fork out a million or two to buy a property near that school to stand a higher chance of getting into that school. The one that parents spend at least 40 hours to volunteer at the school for the same intention. Or spend a few hundreds to join the school alumni if the were old boys of that pri sch.

We didn't have to do all that. It was God's hand. From moving Hubby to teach at his current school (instead of staying put in his previous sch), to having colleagues and friends encouraging and advising us to send N to that better (but MUCH FURTHER) affiliated school, to having that divine appointment. God was at work behind the scenes all along.

Thankful.

With much blessing comes great responsibility. Why that school? Let's see what God has in store for N, for us...

We got our keys!

The apartment looks nice overall. The rooms are very small, the noise from the expressway is quite loud, the living and dining area is quite tight too. 

But it is our home. 

Finally our own home, after 6 long years of squatting at my in-laws' place.

Had my father not insist that we accept his $100k help to get a 4 bedroom (compact) instead of a normal 3 bedroom unit, we would be getting keys to a smaller, tighter unit today. At the time of purchase, we only had 3 kids and we thought we were done with that and we were comfortable with having 3 bedrooms only. But thankfully we accepted my Pa's generous gift, cos now we have 2 boys and 2 girls, and they would be having their own boys and girls room! Plus, we have a small, tiny room that would probably be our study/play room. I've got the best earthly father and Heavenly Father! 

Defects are manageable : the oven, hob and hood don't seem to be wired properly, the floor tiles are slightly uneven with minor damage on a couple of them, and the common toilet door and main door need to be realigned. Nothing too serious, unlike some units that have very shoddy workmanship (we've seen the terrible defects of other units in our condo's FB group). For this I am so thankful! 

Side note: Our condo is using some fancy pneumatic waste disposal system, and the one at my lobby has been choked. The chute stinks of rotten food. Major stinko. Hope it gets cleaned up properly soon! 

For the next few weeks, we'll be shopping for lights, fans, curtains, kitchen appliances, pots, pans, knives, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, and a TV. We might have to make a kezillion trips to IKEA (I totally don't mind) and the supermarket. And then also at the same time, declutter our current place, pack our books, toys and clothes, move them over hopefully before Christmas, and be ready for 2015 in our new place. And then I've to start learning how to cook real meals for my family. I'm gonna own the kitchen and menu. Exciting. 

Need to not only be friendly to my new neighbours, but also befriend them. Ministry starts from the home. Onward!