An important lesson on prayer

Recently, our little girl taught me an important lesson prayer.

One night, just before her bedtime, it was time for milk. As usual, she had to pray before having her milk. After we prayed the usual thanksgiving prayer, I was expecting her to start drinking. But, instead of drinking, she started naming the people she would like to pray for. (She usually indicates this by putting her hands together and giving a name/title of the person)...

So well.. she started with "gong1 (my dad)", then "po2 (my mum)", then "pop2 (my aunt)", then "ahyi (my sis)", then "didi (her little bro)", the "mama" and so on..... Wow, with every person she named, she wanted one prayer said.. well, initially, I did as she requested, but as I realised the list went longer and longer.. I started getting a little impatient. I was thinking, "Girl, it's time for bed, you are late for bedtime...." I think I actually did try to rush her a little...but for a moment, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that I should not be impatient at all.

As a parent, I should be teaching her to pray unceasingly... even if the prayers affect her bedtime... even if it means spending another 10, 15 minutes... I should never ever attempt to stop her from praying or even give her any notion that prayers should stop at some point.

Oh my, I felt so guilty when I displayed my impatience.. So eventually, I went on and on with her... for a while.. .that did not take too long really, but I learnt such a precious lesson and was truly humbled.

I was reminded of this verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Do we pray continually? Are we always tempted to place a time limit on the time spent on prayer?

A side point, this little girl is rather interesting. She has this principle at home, when Papa is at home, he MUST always pray with her during her meals and when she has her milk (sometimes this principle also extends to her bedtime). It's such a huge principle that there were times when I tried to flout the rule by taking over that role out of convenience, and she will insist by calling loudly, "PAPA"... haha :) Basically, wherever papa is, he must drop all that he is doing and take the time to say the prayer... interesting huh :) We find that so intriguing.

Updates on Didi and Jie jie :)

Went to see gynae again today.. the appointments are closer now because THE DAY is drawing near. Well no signs of him coming yet, but well, scanned and estimated his current weight at 3.5kg. Dr. said he will probably break his Jiejie's birthweight record of 3.7kg. "Oh Lord, please have mercy on me and aid me in delivering didi naturally!"

We are grateful that he is growing well. Now, his Jiejie has gotten rather particular about whether didi prays together with us. Whenever it's time for prayer, she will speak with a commanding voice, "DIDI!"...like she's telling him, "didi, it's time to pray ok!"

Putting aside my anxieties about the labour process and how we will cope with his arrival, I think all of us are excited about him. Afterall, he is yet another unique masterpiece of God :) Now, we hope his jiejie will adjust well.. I think we have done whatever we could to prepare her. This girl's really funny, when we returned from church camp, she started using the souvenir torchlight to rub against my tummy every now and then. The first time she did it, I did not quite get what she was doing until she looked at me and said, "didi!"..haha then I realised, she was trying to imitate my gynae doing the regular scan. haha :p

Recently, she will every now and then point to herself and say "Jiejie" :) So sweet.. Well, we shall take things a step at a time and trust that God will just cause all of us to grow.

I have heard that the test of partnership between a married couple can be the toughest when No. 2 comes along. With No. 1, usually mummy's the most involved, but with No. 2, daddy gotta start helping out a lot more. And most ppl say, with No. 3 and on, it's easier.. hmm.... looks like we are in for a challenging season....Please pray for us.

Candra at 20.5 months

Over the past few days, my little girl has been humming the melody of the alphabet song... the whole song, to our surprise! And I must say that she sounds very much in tune :) The 2 other songs which she love are "Twinkle, twinkle" and "Ni2 wa1 wa1". :) For "Twinkle, twinkle", she will sing the last word of every line and for "Ni2 wa1 wa1" she will sing the words which she knows, like wa1 wa1, papa, mama etc. :) Picking up songs really quickly I must say. I am now waiting to hear her hum another familiar melody!

Wow.. she's asserting herself a lot more now and so obedience training's getting tougher I must say. Because she can now express her wants much more than before, we got to guide her a lot more. Now I understand why some tell me that it gets tougher... it really does cos she wants to make her own decisions and wants her own way at times. Just yesterday, she challenged my instruction to put her shoes on the shoe rack and took quite a while before she finally decided to obey. Challenging limits... as usual...

Recently, she's been starting to give me problems with her teeth-brushing at night. She was at that habit for quite a while until she decided to give us problems recently. She just refuses to brush.. but in the morning, she's quite fine. Weird! We are wondering how we should go about resolving that... "Oh Lord, PLEASE HELP US!".

I guess as they grow older, they start to learn how to whine as well. Whining is a no-no in our home. So yup, that's another thing we've been trying to teach her. No whining, as a form of communication.

Ah.. Potty training is another headache for me. This girl knows exactly what the potty is for, given that she's so intelligent and has always displayed such amazing understanding of what goes on around her.. but she simply REFUSES to go to the potty. If she does ever poop in the potty cos I bring her there by force, she will immediately stand up and direct me to use the newspapers to clear her waste away! ARGH!!!! That's all she does with respect to the potty, tell mummy to use the newspapers to clean up. Sigh.. when will she ever learn and when can we stop wasting diapers? "Oh Lord, PLEASE HELP US!"

Well, putting aside the difficulties we have been facing with her growing up.. she's been the same adorable and sweet girl. She can express that it is God whom we pray to, it is God who blesses us with everything, it is God whom we worship in church every week, it is God who instructs her to obey papa and mama etc. She's learning so much everyday.. :) N we trust that she's been growing spiritually, that's what matters the most to us.

This girl's really funny.. recently, she will take special note of how we address each other in the family. For eg, I call my elder sis, "jie jie", and she will do the same instead of calling her "ah ya"!! I call my dad, "papa" and she will do the same... cheekily though cos she knows she's not supposed to. :) She will purposely say things she's not supposed to just to get everyone laughing! SUPER CUTE!

On my end, it's been quite tiring and draining at times because I am about to deliver soon.. and it doesn't help that this little girl's becoming exceptionally clingy...(cos she knows didi's coming probably). Sometimes, I lose my patience towards her and I feel really bad about that. As a human being, it's so difficult to shower unconditional love all the time... we are just so weak. Guess I can only keep turning to God to ask for forgiveness and strength to love in the midst of all the difficulties... especially with No. 2 coming along. Now I really admire those parents with more than 1 kid.... God stretches our capacity to love so much when we have children.

Persevere..getting there...

The last few weeks of pregnancy is usually the toughest for me....

Not so much because I am experiencing any symptoms..but because of the increasing weight of everything in my tummy.

Just feel like relieving the heavy weight as soon as possible.. and I am now waiting for the day when I can sleep on my tummy.

Persevere mummy!!!!!

My boy is a rather responsive kiddo... when I call him "didi", he will move... when I want him to rest at night and stop moving cos I want to get some sleep, he will usually stop immediately... quite a cooperative boy I must say! :) He moves a lot at the sound of music..and when there are lots of human voices around. He seems to know exactly where the activity is. :) He responds too when I sing and read. It's really amazing........I love this interaction that happens at this stage of pregnancy.. but still, I am hoping to see my boy soon, to nurse him, to get to know him...

Another unique human being, woven in my womb by God our maker. I wonder what is his personality like.. and of course, I am always wondering who he looks like. :) And I am looking forward to seeing the interaction between him and his jie jie Candra who already regards him as so much a part of our family in daily living. Candra will never miss out on "didi" when she names the people in our family and she loves to pray for him. :) I think didi already knows his jie jie who kisses and hugs him so often... maybe he already loves her tremendously. hee!

Anyhows, PERSEVERE MUMMY!

Blessed by an angel

Was feeling troubled by life's circumstances again this morning...

To cut the long story short, our family is still going through a season of great uncertainty in light of some things that happened.

It's been a long time since I last faced such great uncertainty... not knowing where we are to head as a family, not knowing what kind of major decisions or changes we are to make (if any). And God seems to be silent still... for now.

Thankfully, God sent an angel to encourage me this morning.. a dear sister who lent me her ears and who understood everything that I said. Sometimes, it's difficult to find someone who can understand fully why you think or feel or certain way. She certainly made me feel that I finally found someone who could understand better why I am handling the current situation in this manner.

Though many questions are still left unanswered and the conversation did not resolve the uncertainties which I am faced with at present, I guess I am encouraged to continue hanging in there until God chooses to make everything clear to me.

The challenge now is to keep trusting God day by day even though the road ahead seems uncertain.

Now, another challenge I am about to face is this, my boy is about 3.3kg now apparently...and I AM ONLY AT 35 weeks!!!! I really hope to have natural birth, like I did with Candra... and this weight issue may pose as a challenge. The good thing is, I don't have to worry about my boy being too tiny..the flip side of it is, the natural delivery part may be slightly challenged. Doc said that the possibility of inducing is always there depending on his weight... just like Candra had to be induced after being overdue for 6 days because she was also getting really big. Doc already said this boy definitely can't wait till after EDD, cos he would probably be too huge by then for natural birth.

Argh!!!.... it may be too late now to control my diet.. but oh well.. I will still try and do all that I can..........

Can't wait to see my boy actually :)