christmas 2012 - part 1

sometime has passed since christmas last year, but we would still like to record this down since our christmas projects are pretty much a tradition. see here and here.

when working on these projects, PP and i are forced to reflect on our relationships (with those we give gifts to), write a note of thanks and encouragement to them (while saying a simple prayer), and work on something together! It is always a very blessed process. here is what we did last year :) a set of 4 postcards for various occasions, so our friends can use them to bless others in the coming year..

after drawing the illustrations, we scanned them in and editted them by adding the relevant verses.

"congratulations!" - for happy occasions such as weddings or good news

"thank you!" - to thank anyone who has been a blessing

"keep growing" - to encourage a fellow brethren to keep persevering in our walk with God

"praying for you" - for anyone who is struggling or going through a trial

 We believed that in the coming 365 days, there would surely be an opportunity to write each card to anyone who needed a word of encouragement. 

Our inspiration actually came when we were packing for the moving of house. I was going through (and smiling endlessly) the little notes written by many many people to us. some people, we have already forgotten. reading what they have written reminded me of them! some notes, were heart-felt and reading them once more warmed our hearts. i am so glad we kept all these! when i feel down, I am very sure going through the many boxes of letters and notes will surely lift my spirits because all these people were once used by God...to make the effort to pick up a pen and thoughtfully pen down something for us!

we used washi tape to attach the postcards to the envelopes before sealing them by wrapping a slip of kraft paper around them. 

after writing our messages to them at the back, we bound everything with twine.

we really enjoyed working on these. While we cant buy expensive gifts or work on specific gifts for specific people, this is the next best option. doing these also teaches us how to cooperate with one another and brainstorm on what is the best way to do certain things. I strongly believe that it is through these projects that PP and i learn how to work with one another and build on each others' strengths and weaknesses. next time, baby E will be part of these projects! that would be excellent family time! exciting :)

p.s. (edit) since there are a few enquiries, the postcards are available for sale if you are interested :) all designs, concepts and illustrations are original. more details here.

a new day

how often do we wake up each day feeling joyful, purposing in our hearts to rejoice because God has given us a new day? 

i confess, being nothing like a morning person, i wake up each morning probably "mournfully" and groggy as i drag my feet to wash up and begin a new day. 

with the coming of baby E, i have been forced to become otherwise! it seems like my boy is a morning early-bird, who blabbers and chatters away as he lies next to his sleepy mama. this morning, as i talked to him, i was thinking of what song i should sing to him and this song came to mind. every day that the Lord gives to us is precious and we ought to rejoice in it, and strive to live abundantly :) i am also especially thankful for each new day that God gives to Ezra, but it is not of our own efforts that he is sustained. 

God does not just give us a new day for us to trudge through, or barely survive it. neither does he give it to us to wear us out. With every new day He provides, He also gives the strength and grace, just sufficient and enough for what we need. may we press on, to live each day for him, rejoicing and being glad in it!

2 months

ezra,

you're coming to 2 months old! it's amazing to see how you have grown within the past two months. you are no longer a tiny, fragile little one in our eyes, but an adorable baby boy who has started to express your wants and displeasures. this second month has been nothing less than a roller coaster, more for us and hopefully, less for you. we moved into our new home, we went out, you met (many) people, and we survived the many chinese new year visitations! day after day, we learn and learn. we learn that somethings are not worth fretting about, we learn that many of our worries are uncalled for, we learn that so many people love you...so many....

we adore your babyishness. oh, please slow down! everyday you look different and everyday you seem to develop in a certain way that we are simply in awe. you have learnt to turn your head from one side to another really quickly, and to coo and grunt in response to us. you are also able to push yourself up briefly when we place you on your tummy. and your neck muscles are pretty strong - able to turn your head from left to right when doing tummy time. wow! we are amazed by how God helps you to grow, and we are so enamoured by how God has made you SO adorable :) i always ask PP, are all babies this cute? or is it because you are our baby, and we are biased? 

it is not just you that I am thankful for. I am especially thankful for PP (papa :)) who is so committed to supporting us and doing everything he can. you like his broad shoulders just as mama does, don't you? and only PP dares to venture into the depths of your nostrils to pick out all that pisai that irritates you. he is the one who cuts your nails, cleans your tongue and changes your diaper when things get too.....explosive :) not too long ago, PP had the time to read to you your favourite book - Jonah and the Great Big Fish (not that you have many at the moment hehe!). i loved that sight very much :)

bathtimes are your favourite! you seem to like it cool. how blessed we are that our new home is cooling and breezy most of the time. 

morning routines for us can be abit daunting with the amount of things we need to do. thank God that He gives mummy strength and enables me to go through the daily experiences. you have peed, pood and puked on mama during the most unexpected times. but after each morning when you take your nap, mama looks at you with a grateful heart (and quickly jumps to clear up and gobble up some breakfast).

i love how you snooze each morning, when you are not yet hungry, but about to wake up. you open half of your eyes, to peep at me, smile and fall back to sleep. repeat 5-10 times. i can sit there and look at you do that forever :) 

like we have said, when you are deep in sleep, nothing can really wake you up. this is what your "ah jek" did to you that day. through it all, you were still soundly asleep. he even had to ask, "is he alive??" we are thankful for that, because our place noisy with planes and construction in progress!

all in all, as we watch you grow and as you make us smile each day, we are filled with thankfulness because you are a precious gift from God. we are trusting in our Heavenly Father to provide us daily with what we need to take care of you :) 

Mr A - a wonderful, flexible carpenter!

A carpenter seems to be pretty much a crafter as well :) He takes the various materials, works on them and fits them together to eventually create a masterpiece! it was extremely easy to liase with Mr A. Although we engaged a contractor, Mr A seemed to come from an ID firm and he even drafted various 3D illustrations of our carpentry so we could see if he understood our concept :) 

we truly thank God for him. firstly, for his flexibility. I wanted a "white-planked" texture (not sure how else to put it) and asked him if it was possible. no problem! he said. he could even work with fabric, eventually creating a beautiful open-concept cabinet with cushioned fabric backing. the laminate options he provided were comprehensive (we took sooooo long to browse through them!) and he even advised on or against certain colour choices. with his experience, we fully trusted him. nothing seemed to difficult for him, heehee. 

we were also thankful for his helpfulness. he was ever ready to help in this or that. he helped to drill in many of our own furniture! 

because of his flexibility and readiness to accede to our requests, we are thankful to eventually have a "home of many textures" :)

the beautiful fabric in the first picture was purchased from Fanny of laughing house. it was truly a blessing to stumble upon her shop! we spent some time at Spotlight and looking through online sources but alas, met with so many hiccups along the way. this was our first option and this was our second, but they were unavailable or rather expensive to ship in. this purchase was delivered really speedily and Fanny was also very prompt in responding to my enquiries. i really like the final fabric bought from her. it has a touch of peranakan and whimsy, and on top of that, is a colour i really like :)

as for the laminates, Mr A gave us catalogues from formica and lam chuan. wow, the variety of options are amazing! it took a long time for us to scour through all the options and visualise the outcome. our suggestion is to first decide the main colours you would like for each room, and hence eliminate all the other possibilities. consider the textures as well. for example, it would not be sensible for a table top to have rough wood grain textures. a glossy laminate would also cause fingerprints to show up more easily. Mr A also suggested that each room has only a maximum of 2-3 different laminates so as to minimise clashes. our living room furniture turned out beautifully even with just two colours - wood and white. it's all about how you want to work the colour combinations and the textures, and i really love the outcome :) don't forget that you can have an option of a different colour backing in your built-in cabinets, just like how we chose to have fabric instead!

it really helps to visit the showrooms so you get to see the laminates in big pieces. formica, especially. its showroom is small but they have huge sheets on display for you to view so you can see the wood grain patterns. as for lam chuan, we were rather disappointed :/ all we got were a4 sheets after request, which i guess were better than nothing anyway :) 

these are sneak peeks :)

one month old

my dear Ezra, 

u are, in the blink of an eye, one month old. it does not take long for us to fall in love with u. being a first time mummy, I confess I had no idea how to relate to u as a person. it all felt so unreal to me. yes, when u were in my womb, u brought smiles to me with your relentless kicks and hiccups. your presence alone was comforting, because it reminded me that God was taking care of you and me :)

this is our first sight of you, all wrinkled up :)

now, so quickly, you already have such a personality :) your smiles are rare but precious. u fuss when things are not to your liking. it's comforting that you are not fussing for no reason, and it is also comforting that you fuss because you long for human touch, and for someone to carry you. it's perfectly normal to desire the love of others. we too, do that. and we do love you very very much. but remember, our Heavenly Father loves us most of all, and His blessings bestowed on us are a wonderful testimony of His love. 

you have the softest head of hair. everyone adores your hair, and I cannot stop stroking it. your cheeks are getting rounder by the day, and I love your side profile as I watch you in deep slumber. did I mention how you can really sleep? even when your neighbors are renovating their homes, your sleep goes on :) your eyes are round, everyone says you have my chin. you look at people in all sobriety as they talk to you. as they do so, you seem to respond by pursing your lips together and sticking out your tongue.

oh, not to forget your dabian face! you must be confused why your papa and mama break into fits of laughter when you are seriously engaged in business. that's because you look too funny, my dear!

we are still learning everyday as parents. and it's not just about how to take care of you, but also how to relate to others about you. you're growing too fast! slow down, my dear. lets enjoy, together, this journey God has placed us in :)