my little macho man

What a pose!

Macho Macho man =)

baby lun lun visits his buddy babe Gabriel

Remember baby Lun Lun and his mummy Fengjiao who blessed me and Baby Gabriel with their visit ( previous post)?

Here's an account of the 2 babe buddies' day at Gab's home ....=)

Initially both a little shy so kept a distant with each other...

Then baby lun started to share with baby Gabriel about his mummy's milk which got gabriel excited....and they talked and talked...
Before long, they were good pals and couldn't wait to get a picture together..

Here's baby lun lun excited to take another picture together before heading home......=)

A touch of love...

On a friday evening, my heart was so troubled and discouraged that I could not get to sleep, I knelt down in the wee hours on my bedroom floor and prayed,

" God , are you really there? Please help me get thru this... I really need a physical touch of your love, not just memories of your goodness in my life but a real physical sign that you love me and are still here with me..."

Days passed ,I felt much better and also forgot about my prayer above until one day.....

Fengjiao came over to visit me with her son, baby Lun. on the following Tues aftenoon to catch up with me. It was a splendid time together, baby Gabriel and Lun Lun (2 mths apart) had their own baby talk while their mummies chatted away for the whole afternoon about soo many things...our babies , to work or not to work , how we want to parent our children..etc then dunno how we came upon the topic on breast feeding and she wanted to pass me her BRAND NEW BREAST PUMP which she does not need anymore.

What shocked me was that it was just last night that one of my breast pumps FAILED ( 1st time out of the 2 years and 3 months that I've been using ) and I was concerned about how to continue expressing my milk since my hubby would not be free within the next few days to send my pump for repair. When I went over to collect the Breast pump from FengJiao that very day , I realised that it was the exact MEDELA brand single pump that I needed!!!! So there was no disruption to my milk expressing schedule afterall!

At that point of realisation, I suddenly remembered the prayer that I said a few days back and felt an "awakening" in my spirit that God was showing me his love and provision in a very tangible way =)

It may seem like mere coincidence but I know very confidently that it's God's way of answering my prayer...=)

Also, I was very blessed to have Fengjiao's company and a fellow mummy who understands what I am going thru =)

" And my God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.." Philippian 4:19

The LIFE that children bring

It's my Daddy's and sister's birthday dinner.. @ one of our fav restaurants- The Paramount

And it's the first time that Gabriel is joining us... !

Dining out with the 2 G-kidz is not simple logistics affair, I had to do my packing the night before ( diapers, change of clothes - socks, leggings, , hot water flask....etc ), somehow, there seems to be some nitty gritty thing that I may forget to pack . Being a mother has forced me to be more meticulous than ever =P

Anyway , it was really worth all the effort when I saw just how much joy and life the kidz brought to our dinner... there's never a lack of topics to talk about ... sharing about what the kids did yesterday, today....etc

My high "I" toddler Gracia entertained all of us by going round to "take orders" with her fav notebook and pen.. and Gabriel would continue to amuse gong gong, ma ma and Yi Ye with his " oohss and arrrs" Yes, at two months , he's really quite chatty ! Gabriel even managed to "chat up" with the waitresses at the restaurant.

Indeed, very thankful for the 2 kids that have brought so much joy and life into the family =)

he's smiling!!!!

before I forget his first few smiles.... got to get it down .......... gab at 2 months =0

Gabriel? ..... Gracia?

ha , dunno why , i really lurvvv the pictures of the kids in the bath tub.. somehow it just makes their eyes seem bigger ..... can you guess who's who?

secrets to a happy child

As a mother, my desire is to raise my children to be happy and secure people . I read somewhere that children are happy when they are able to accomplish and achieve things for themselves.. well I really think that's pretty true and applies not just to children but to everyone of us including adults like me =)



Take for eg, myself... for the longest time , I do feel a bit stifled by my mother in law coz in her intention to dote and love my hubby and me, she has offered to do almost everything in the household for us. This include cooking , buying groceries, washing the clothes...etc . Yes , indeed I'm very fortunate to be so pampered but with my extended time at home with my maternity leave, these very acts of love have frustrated me often .



But just as I began take greater initiative in preparing Gracia's and my lunch on my own , there has been a greater sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I begin reading more on nutrition for kids and ideas for enjoyable meal times with children. Boy, it's really tiring esp having to juggle with managing another 2 month old baby Gabriel ( his bath, milk feeding, etc)... but I've a greater sense of purpose and satisfication at home... and also, I really am much happier these days.



My lunches are getting more and more sumptuous... I just cooked PORK RIBS today instead of the boring lunches that I used to prepare. Gracia has also been having tastier and healthier meals! =)



And how about Gracia? Right from the beginning of my motherhood ,I decided to include her in whatever I'm doing ( as far as possible), believing that she's never too young.. since my being home, she's been helping me with the washing of clothes , preparing of food ( marination of meat, beating of eggs) and today, she has helped me to rinse the dishes.....



Indeed ,one of my secrets in raising Gracia to be such a happy child is that I always choose to believe that there's nothing she can't do ( unless it's dangerous) and in whatever ways I can, I would want to EMPOWER her to be able to accomplish it for herself ..... =)

Pictures update

harrows.. eversince my confinement lady left, I have been so buzy buzi beezee with the 2 G-kids ... really no time to blog.. any spare time is used to catch up with sleepzzzzzzz and clearing the mezzz at home ... so many pictures to share.. dunno where to start..

hmm.. tho it's been very tiring but it's really all worth it when I see the two kids so happy together..

Beginning to settle down in a routine and Gabriel 's really a blessing. Tho he still wakes at night for his feed but his timing is relatively predictable. On top of that, he's very easy going... he enjoys the company of his very lovingly and affectionate sister but he's also ok to have his own quiet time at his cot with no one around ( he can play by himself for an hour).

Sooooo.... why am I able to squeeze this pocket of time to blog???? I have someone helping me with the housework... guess who?

none other than my little princess, Gracia =)

Thank you for sharing our joy-Pt 2

This is a bit overdue.. but better late than never... finally got the pictures of my church family who visited Johnson and me at Mt Alvernia to welcome Baby Gabriel.....



Really appreciate all their prayers and love and support through out my pregnancy up till the day that Gabriel is born.......

YP 12 ( from left : Belle , Stella, Aunna, me, Marianne,Mirabel & Julee)

YY 24

Really felt the warmth of family love when they all came down on wed evening.... miss them, miss going sunday service, miss our cell group time... but hey hey.. I'm coming back to action soon .. my confinement is gonna be over soon.. yippppeeeee!!!!!

Missing Gracia

It's funny.. I'm beginning to miss Gracia .

AS I need time to rest, recuperate and breast feed Gabriel, have not been able to have as much exclusive time with Gracia............. and I miss her .=P



There are times I think I feel guilty for not spending enuff time with her during this season.



Well, guess I need to adjust to the changes and find new ways to spend time with Gracia while not neglecting Gabriel's needs. ( Yes, new borns really need LOTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS of attention .. haha)...... so I get her to join me to play with Gabriel together...



She really enjoys it...... hmmm... I think Gabriel enjoys Gracia too... =P

Gracia and her little brother

Ever since baby Gabriel came, Gracia has been very affectionate in welcoming Gabriel....

Of course there are times that she only want my exclusive time without Gabriel...that I totally understand =)

So thankful for her... she has made the transition easier than I tot.....

Gracia's really a darling..... thank you Lord for a wonderful, sensitive and teachable daughter..

Mummy, take a break, I'll take care of di di

Gabriel close up...

For those daddies and mummies who would also be going thru this same transition in introducing their babies to their toddlers, here's a short sharing of what Johnson and I did to prepare Gracia.. which we believed helped in the transition....

1. while preggy with baby, we already introduced baby gabriel to gracia and everynight after praying for Gracia, we would invite her to pray along with us for Gabriel

2. In my personal time with Gracia, would tell her that she's gonna have a little brother and together mummy will need her help to care for di di. Guess this gave her a sense of responsibility.

3. Gracia also accompanied us to every visit to the gynae where Johnson will tell her excitedly that di di is "on screen". This got Gracia very excited too.

4. Forseeing that there would be times we would need additional help to care for Gracia while Johnson and I would have to be away for Gabriel's sake ( eg during the delivery and in hospital, during the one month confinement where I would need to rest and breast feed Gabriel), we began to let Gracia get used to staying over at my mum's place months ahead.

5. At the hospital, where Gracia was going to meet Gabriel "live" for the first time, I made sure that she would not see me carry Gabriel when she walked into my room =)

6. Pray pray pray for wisdom!

Thank you for sharing our joy

Thank you Uncles and Aunties and all who have sent their well wishes to my mummy, daddy and me =)

A note of thanksgiving to those who have joined us to share our joy of Gabriel's arrival.....

My SLA Collegues

Mayers, Ann and Patricia who squeezed precious time from lunch , braved the rain to come by

Jing , Minyi and Lucy who despite the heavy work load at work came to visit me after work .

It was good seeing my collegues coz believe it or not , I missed my collegues and was still concerned about my policy work left behind since my departure. Thank you pals for bringing so much assurance about work and thank you for picking up where I left behind esp my PC team mates, Jing JIng, Ann ,Minyi and Mayers =P

Thank you also to the rest of my collegues in SLA who have shown me so much concern and care during my pregnancy days at work. =P

My Cell Gals, Winnie and Qingxiu

My cell gals (including Joey) have been helping me take care of my little girl, Gracia during service all this while and it's really heartwarming to see them come to welcome Gabriel and share our joy together . I 'm really thankful that my children have these special aunties who will walk the journey with Johnson and me to nurture and love both Gracia and Gabriel.

My MGS buddies

Weiting, Kathering and Jacqueline ( not in picture)

My secondary school classmates and fellow track and field team mates!
Being able to continue to share the joy and milestones of our lives for the past 12 years is something I'm really thankful for! It's really precious to have my buddies share the joy of my new arrival.. just like we promised each other in our sec 4 autograph books =)

Gabriel - my son

Yup, this handsome boy is my son.. was telling my husband that it sounds so strange yet so heartwarming that we now have a "SON " =) It's a wonderful feeling =)

Gabriel - means "God is my strength " , "man of God".

Johnson and I have prayed for a name and since we prayed ,there had not been another name that we wanted for our son except " Gabriel " , right up to the day of his arrival.

Along the way, during the later term of my pregnancy , I was experiencing much struggle in certain aspect of my life that had caused me sleepless nights where I would be crying out for the Lord to help me in those struggles.

The Lord encouraged me during that period, thru the song

" We serve a God who is faithful , He will never fail, when I'm in the desert, He's a river of Hope ,

We serve a God who is faithful, His faithfulness prevails, Lord I put my trust in you...."

Thru the song, I found the courage to face the challenge again and just at that moment, God reminded and affiremed me of the name Gabriel and the reminder that God is always faithful and in trusting in God's faithfulness , God will be the strength of our hearts.

We believe that this is the special blessing that Gabriel will bring to our lives and all around him !

Johnson babies and family

Thank you Lord for your grace that has brought us thru thus far....

Indeed your grace will be sufficient for us as we journey thru this new season and milestone of our lives as parents , nurturing the 2 precious children you have blessed our family to be children who will be a blessing to all and bring delight to you always =)

"Unless the Lord builds the house,

the builders labour in vain,

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stand guard in vain,

In vain you rise early and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat

for God grants sleep to those He loves.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord

children a reward from him

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are sons born in one's quiver

Blessed is the man

whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame

when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Ps 127

( Johnson and Lindee's marriage verse)

Babay Gabriel Arrived on 26th Aug !

YEAHHHHHH!!!! Finally, after 18 hours of almost painless labour contractions (only felt the pain of contractions at the last hour).. Gabriel made his grand appearance at Mount ALvernia Delivery Suite on 26 Aus 2008, 521 pm, weighing 3.2 kg!

Mummy and Daddy ( yes definitely, daddy stood with mummy thru out the 18 hours wait) were so exhausted but very very very very very HAPPY!!!!!

Wow.... I've finally arrived

Jie Jie Gracia.... the next most excited babe =0

Gabriel's Yee Yee, Jolene....She's most likely gonna be Gabriel's fav yee yee just like how Gracia adores her yee yee =)

The above...most experienced co-stars... Gabriel's gong gong, ma ma and nie nie !

Waiting in faith

can't believe it's gonna be soon.... it could just happen within these 2 weeks... maybe even this week.......

Baby Gabriel would be coming anytime =) Excitement and sometimes anxiety.. how will the delivery process be like? How will the experience of caring for Gabriel and Gracia be like?

Well.. guess this season is another one of faith for me.. waiting in faith and choosing not to fear. ( tho many things ard me can stir up fear while in waiting).. this is my daily prayer and declaration to the Lord :

"His grace is sufficient for me

His strength is made perfect

when I am weak

All that I cling to,

I lay at your feet,

Your grace is sufficent for me "

Finally heard the National Day Rally speech today.. was waiting to hear details on the Govt Measures to encourage more babies.. some good news like 4 months maternity leave... but was hoping that there would be longer Paternity Leave so that daddy Johnson could help out with baby Gabriel and Gracia during the confinement period. But well, seems like only a week's of extra leave...but hey... be thankful LIndee!!!!!!

Well actually, will see when these pro-babies perks will be effective.. sure hope that Gabriel will only come out after these new perks are effective....

Yet another faith journey... but I 'm just gonna trust the Lord that He will provide for all my needs in His ways =)

Standard obstacle course ???

Ha... to be a stay home mummy to a 2 year old toddles sure takes lots of ideas to keep my little gal entertained.......

Can you guess what gracia is doing???

hahaa,.. we both had lots of fun together on my bed as I contructed a mini " obstacle course for her... she just loves the challenge and has crawled under the " obstacle" at least 20 times!!!

See that look of satisfaction on her face! =) SHe just loves such physical activities!

Guess what, with all the intense physical activity in the day, she was knocked out by 745 pm which is almost 2 hours before her usual bedtime... = )

That leaves daddy and mummy heng a wonderful evening of catching up with one another too =)

raising my children to .... serve in encounter weekend???

This weekend is my Church tribe ( YCYPAO) turn to anchor the youth encounter weekend to serve all who wanna to come encounter the Lord's love face to face.

Hmmm... logistics wise , we were quite short of YP12 lady guides to stay over the encounter camp to take care of and minister to the lady participants. It seemed so naturally to automatically eliminate the possibilty of the YP12 leaders who are mummies esp the preggy ones like myself and Belle to stay over and serve as guides leaving only the the single ladies as the only choices .

During breakfast with one of my fellow YP12 sister, Julie, we were just discussing on the tight manpower amg the ladies and I was just thinking, something's not soo rite.

It can't be the trend that once we get married and settle down with kids we can't serve anymore in encounter yah????
This can't be the right trend.. eventually , all my fellow sisters who are single are going to be married would also have children ( yes , I claim this for every one of my sisters )and surely this can't be the excuse that we can't serve in the encounter rite????

Then an exciting tot just flashed past me......

While I can't be as involved as I would like to be in serving in the ministry, but the lord has blessed me in that I've had a head start in having children and in the season of nurturing my young children ( plus the little one in me) .

I'm still gonna seize this moment to raise my children in such a way that my kids will in time be ready to help take care of my yp12 sisters' eventual children so that it can relief my YP12 sisters to continue to serve and bless other ladies during encounter weekends...

haha..... just sharing a passing tot.. but it sure does excite me to think that my children will rise up and be a blessing to take care and bless the next generation of children...=)

we are going to the zoo zoo zoo

The Chan and the Heng Family had a wonderful family time at the zoo last Sat FREE.. tks to Exxonmobil' corporate pass that JOhnson managed to get before the pass expires this month =)

Yup, the little ladies - Gracia and Li-anne really enjoyed themselves seeing the animals LIVE before their eyes .

It was also a great bonding time for the daddys and mummys too esp since both the Chan and Heng Family had to squeeze into Chan's Jazz car as mummy heng forgot to buy the weekend car coupon so the Heng could not use their Jazz.......... Nevertheless ,it was really a fun car ride together to the zoo starting our adventure together as early at 815 am !!!

I'll just let the pictures do the talking .....

All still fresh at 845 am , strolling thru the trail in search of the "white Tiger"

see the little gal Gracia, happily strolling on her own with her hands tugged in...Gracia admiring the EMUS........unexpected surprise to see my counsin Stanley and his wife.. we've not met for almost a year! Gracia and her "distant" cousin Gerald , just a month apart in age!The charming Chan Family =)

Daddys with their princesses

Going Home finally....=0

Just in time....

Ever since I started to work part time, i.e only 50% of the work week ( part time).. my pay has also correspondingly decreased to 50% ( ah but then????? )

It's quite a fair bit of adjustment as I have become very consciously aware of my spending habits and have held back buying many things I would have easily spent on in the past. But there's something which I really needed to get but have struggled to buy even in a sale... maternity clothes.

This little miracle & blessing within me ( due early september) has thankfully been growing healthily and bigger and stretching most of my clothes to the max!!!! But with only 2 months to go, I really can't bear to buy any more maternity clothes esp since they aren't really cheap..=P

I passed by the maternity shop at Hougang Mall the last Sunday morning and saw that the clothes were on sale and going only at $20.. but yet, I can't bear to buy so as to save the money for other more important household things. I walked away a little sad ............

(PS : just to clarify, my hubby would very willingly buy for me just that I didn't want our money to be spent on things that I can help not buying as far as I could)


But GUESS WHAT , God surprised me when I went for Sunday service that afternoon! Johnson and I just stepped into church when my G12 sister, Belle ( also a pregnant mummy with her baby due in Dec) walked over and passed me a small bag.


"Nah, I packed some maternity clothes just for you " she said.

I was deeply surprised within, actually I really forgot whether I ever shared with her on this need, even if I did , it was probably jokingly done and many months back.

Then shortly after, one of her cell gals, Kai Yun returned Belle a bag of her maternityclothes that she borrowed during her pregnancy. And Belle just transferred the WHOLE BIG BAG of maternity clothes to me!

I really felt very touched and thankful within esp to receive this at a time that I was really in quite bad need for maternity clothes.=P

Through these 2 angels, I really felt the Lord 's love affirming me that He knows my needs and WILL SUPPLY ALL my NEEDS according to his glorious riches....( Phillipians 4:19)

Actually I have been meditating and claiming this above verse for the past weeks and the Lord has brought it into reality for me this week.

Would also like to share with you a song that has been keeping me strong as I adjust though all the changes in my life this season:

I serve a God who is faithful

He will never fail

When I'm in the desert,

He's a river of hope

I serve a God who is faithful

His faithfulness prevails

Lord I put my trust in you.

I serve a God who is faithful and true

I will hide in the shelter of your wings

For I find my rest , in your faithfulness

Lord I put my trust in you.

And even though this life may bring

heartaches and pain,

but through it all

I cling to you and call out your name!!

Being affirmed of the Lord's faithfulness gives me new strength to face the challenges ahead =)