"I love you...but..."

After the last posting...I was reminded of another time when I sneak out of the house at 11.00pm with my mom, my aunt and my brother for a midnight snack, about 2 km away. Both the kids were left with the mummy in the bedroom.

After parking the car and while we were walking towards the coffee place, I got a call from the house phone. It was my eldest son asking, "Pa why you didn't take me along?" I managed to brushed that aside and ended the conversation.

While I was about to have my sip of the coffee, I got another call. This time it was from my youngest son. And he said this "Pa...I love you. I miss you, Pa. Why you don't take me with you?".

And The Plot Thickens

I was driving Ivan back to my mum-in-law's place and I tried to hatch a plan to get 2MaMa to really miss the kids and would want to take care of them. So I told my son "When you see 2MaMa tonight make sure you ask her two questions. Question 1 "You love me or not?" Question 2 : "You want to take care of me or not?". And it must be delivered in the cutest possible manner.

Ivan says : "Noooo! I must 1st say 'Hi 2MaMa.' Number 2 is to hug her. Number 3 is to kiss her. Number 4 then is 'You love me or not?' And Number 5 is 'You want to take care of me or not?'"

I gave him a two-prong approach and he gave me his 5-point strategies. I was out-strategised by my own 5-year-old son...(he is too "goh jhiu"...cannot keep up with him!!!)

Our Family - Ian's Story - Prequel

Why I Cannot Hear

This morning our youngest son woke up with some mosquito bites over his face, ear and body.

Poor baby.

Ivan : See so many mosquito bites. See my ear also got. That's why I cannot hear lo.(Referring to our every day question : "Wern, why you cannot hear one ah (after calling him for ten over times and yet without a response) ?"

Our Family - Ian's Story

Please click on the picture to enlarge

Growing Up

The missing tooth. One of the many signs of our son growing up.

My God is a Promise-Keeping God

Work had been (and still is) really challenging and as hard as I tried to trust God in my trying circumstances, I was complaining and whining a lot...to God and to my family, friends and colleagues. My routine every morning would start with prayer, or more like crying out to the Lord, before the day started. Then after sending Ian to school, I would head to the office cafeteria for breakfast and my personal quiet time with God, usually doing my BSF questions during this precious time with God. However, on this particular morning, I flipped to Exodus 6 which detailed God's promise of deliverance to the Israelites who were suffering as slaves under the Pharoah's wicked and punishing ways, just before their exit from Egypt. And then God spoke to me through the following verse :

Exodus 6:5 "I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant."

I felt so comforted because God had heard my cries...knew my "suffering"...and remembered His promise made to me back in August 2007 (from Isaiah 41:9b-10, 13-14)...a promise that would carry me through the many challenges I would be facing, challenges He already knew about then when He first gave me His promise because He is the :

1. Promise-Keeping God - He remembers and keeps His word
2. Unchanging God - He doesn't change His ways, His plans doesn't depend on what man does or plans and He is the same God who delivered the Israelites then who delivers me now
3. Sovereign God - all things are under His control and nothing or no one can thwart His sovereign plans to fulfill His plans according to His good will and purposes
4. All-Knowing God - nothing escapes His eye, no one can hide from Him
5. Personal God - He is the Creator and Almighty God but yet, He is my Personal God who knows and meets my every need, the God of all wisdom and comfort; nothing is too difficult for Him nor does he consider anything too small for me to bring to His attention.

...and this Almighty and Great God...is MY GOD.

1st Of May

"When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall..." so the Bee Gees song goes. Today will be a marathon for us. We will be marching over to my Mom-In-Law's place tonight to celebrate the life of my Father-In-Law who past away on this day 12 years ago before I had a chance to meet him. But because of this man...whose legacy is left via my loving and sweet and one-in-the-world Mom-In-Law (she is the ultimate in disputing the epitome of the world's view of a Mom-In-Law) and also his family though my dear loving wife and the ever caring and fun brother and sisters-in-law.

Later after that, we will be marching over to my brother's place to celebrate his 50th birthday. The very brother whom I fought with throughout our entire pre teens life...He is fifty. The big 50. Wow. I always thought 50 will be ancient and now my own brother will be 50. I thank the LORD for HIS calling upon my brother to serve HIM in his local church with passion for the youth. May our GOD supply my brother with wisdom in ministering to the youth as well as for his daily provision...which may (as well as for all of us) be very challenging.

My daily reading today was "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7