Life is beautiful :)

Although I had a bad night in terms of sleep and I am physically feeling super tired today... my day started with lots of thanksgiving. I am thankful for a few things:

1. Hubby's coping pretty well with his part-time studies although he has got loads of homework to do. I am thankful that he has been enjoying the learning process despite the difficulties which come along with that. I try to help where I can and last night, I told him, "Why do I feel like I am going through theological training as well? :)" heehee... guess I am half a student too.

2. Candra's been maturing. She now seems to understand the concept of "work". She hardly whines now when we leave for work, instead, she can sign happily "work" when we ask her, "where is daddy and mummy going to?" And she receives us happily when we return. On weekends, she would sign "no work" or shake her head when we ask her, "Is daddy/mummy working today?" Yesterday, when she wanted me to carry her, I tried to explain to her that I would experience some discomfort when I carried her because of the weight...and after hearing my explanation, she gladly turned to daddy and asked him to carry her instead. My little girl understands.. :) Although she's been more clingy lately.. I think that's just part and parcel of facing the new reality of another baby. Whenever she points to the baby in my tummy, she would also point to our neighbours' place (3 month old boy next door :p). All these show that she's growing in her understanding of life and what goes on around her.

3. On the work front, I am still ever so grateful for the part-time arrangement. Although some stress is inevitable at times, I would say that generally the hours, workload and stress levels are still manageable. The arrangement has given me so much more time with Candra and I really appreciate that. My domestic helper and I have recently come up with Candra's new timetable so as to inject more order into our daily lives.. :) I am hoping things will work out well.

4. God recently sent me a marvellous book!!!!! I chanced upon it in my sister's cupboard last saturday because I was feeling bored and wanted to read something. Amazingly, the contents of the book just speak so well into my situation right now. I have been feeling rather bored about my Christian life and have been thinking more about evangelism and what I have been doing with the time God has given me. Through God's amazing arrangement, he led me to this book which just resonates with a lot of thoughts which have been going through my mind lately... when I started reading it, I could not stop! :) haha. I love it when God sends such books into my life. He has done that many many times... and I know He will continue to do so. Nothing beats reading a book which is so timely! (Book review on this blog should come pretty soon!)

5. Yeah! Hubby managed to get zoo passes as part of his staff benefits! So off to the zoo tomorrow with little Candra and probably some friends :) I am so looking forward to that!

All things work for our good :)

Thank God!

The song presentation went pretty ok in church.

Though I really freaked out when the performance was about to start. Reminded me of all the violin performances and exams I had in the past (more than 16 years ago)...I came to realise that I really underperform under stress :)

God did another miracle for me yesterday. Right before the service started, the E string on my violin just went completely out of tune by itself... scary.......maybe it was the temperature in the room or just the violin itself... I prayed, "God, please please please keep the violin in tune until after the performance." And of course, God really kept the violin in tune all the way until.......shortly after the performance, the E string went completely out of tune AGAIN!! But to me, God's grace was so evident :p He heard and answered my prayer so that I could at least play an "in-tune violin" (that was super important because I already had a tendency to go off-tune, haha).

Though I did not perform as well as I hoped to, I was glad yesterday's playing was a performance unto the Lord. That's so different from all my performances in the past. There was some stress still, but ultimately, I could really enjoy because I was playing by God's grace and strength. And although the playing fell short of my own expectations eventually, I could tell myself that God loved that :)

As I look back on all the unpleasant experiences in those years of learning...the stress, the discipline etc, I am glad God healed me from them all and left me with a skill that I now possess for a lifetime. I love the music the violin produces. And I thank God that despite of the pain in the past, I was given an opportunity to pick up this instrument....:) All things indeed work for the good of us.

God can use every unpleasant experience in our lives ultimately for His glory and for our good.

I am just so thankful......And I can't wait to get my own violin again!

Perfect timing

Brought Candra out to meet Aunt K and little Q :) We went to Bras Basah to get some kids' books and thereafter had a great lunch at Seah Street Deli.

Well, Candra happily decided to skip her first nap and lasted all the way till after lunch.. (I know she is dropping this first nap soon.. but I was still hoping she would at least sleep for a little while).

Being the worried me, I was worried that if she skipped her 1st nap, her napping schedule for the whole day would be messed up. And I hoped she would only start to nap when we got home cos that would then mean an undisrupted long nap.. but guess what, she started to nap immediately after lunch, on our way home. :(

When I got home, I tried my best to transfer her out from the stroller onto my bed and I gave her air-con... She woke up.. but thankfully, maybe because the conditions were really conducive, she decided to continue with her nap.. :)

The best part was this, she napped for another 2.5 full hours at home.....:) And that to me was a miracle from God. A sister came over this afternoon to catch up.. and that long nap really gave me the time to spend with her. We ended up having a long stretch of time to share and catch up and I enjoyed that meaningful connection today.

I felt that God really knew that we needed that time and so He caused Candra to take that long nap....(which she might not have had cos she usually wakes up from all forms of disruption).

He is amazing......:)

Candra at 16.5 months

This little girl never fails to amaze and amuse us...these are some things that she can do now...

1. Yesterday, my domestic helper asked her to help retrieve her cup so that she could drink some water, little Candra walked into the kitchen, got Aunt R's ceramic cup, and brought it over to her carefully...:)

2. Last weekend, this little girl kept signing, "No" and "Work" together, while she was with mummy and daddy, and she smiled each time she did so.... on the weekdays, when we asked where daddy/mummy was leaving to, she would sign "work" :p

3. One day, after daddy stepped out of the house for work, she rushed to daddy's bag (which he intentionally left behind at home) and kept pointing to it and tried to tell me that daddy forgot his bag. When I told her that daddy was returning from work soon (in the evening), she rushed to daddy's bag and pointed to it again... :) When daddy finally got home, the first thing she did was to go to daddy's bag and pulled it over to daddy..and she, in her own words, told daddy that he forgot his bag :p So sweet........

My girl is growing, growing and growing.. :)

After 15 long years...

After 15 long years, I am finally getting back to playing that instrument...

I feel so excited... so excited that the notes kept running in my head last night.

Why the excitement? I wonder....

I guess deep down, despite the traumatic experiences related to that instrument in the past, I do have a passion for the playing of it. I love the sound it produces.

It's been a long time since I felt energised by something I loved to do...I don't even think playing the piano invokes that kind of response from me.

Feel like practising over and over and over again...

A pity I am not playing on my own instrument but a borrowed one... hmm...contemplating buying a new on for myself some time in future.. and getting in touch with my teacher whom I lost touch with many years ago. :)

Memories...