I've been keeping up with the news - the recent disasters in China, Myanmar and last night I read about Steven Curtis Chapman's family mishap. Their teenage son accidently ran into their 5 yr old daughter in the driveway and she died at the hospital. And a few days ago, an old man committed suicide by jumping just opposite our home, we actually saw the body covered and the police doing their checks. Just so much happened over a short period of time. The death toll is still amounting in the disaster zones.

 

All the stories about little ones really tug at my heart. Esp about the Chapman family. How's the teenage son going to live the rest of his life? And the little girl is so sweet. I just cannot imagine. So painful. Lord, have mercy.

 

But then I also read this - Officer breast feeds quake orphans. How amazing.

This is SO COOL. You need to see it - it's a photo essay on "What's on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe?". The photographs are by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet".

 

It's so interesting to see what people eat across the nations and how much they spend per week! One family only spends US$5 but their spread looks about the same as ours! The German family had loads of beer and wine. The American family spread was filled with junk food! Actually most families had loads of junk food except the poor ones. Plus the photos are so nice to look at. I love to see pictures of food and people's lives.

 

I'm half tempted to print the photos out with our new laser printer and play Spot The Banana with Sophie. They seem to all eat bananas. Cools. Sophie's fav food. She can spot it a mile away.

 

Here are our stats:

Singapore: The Lim Family of HV

Food expenditure for one week: S$235, inclusive of eating out or US$142

Favourite Foods: Sashimi, dried mango, sweet & sour pork, soya sauce chicken, banana

Article: Nipping It In The Bud: How and Why We’re Celebrating Friends, Not Toys At Our Birthday Party

 

This is an excellent article. It really humbled me in my excitment to plan Sophie's birthday party.

 

Sophie is definitely a people person. I think as much as she likes toys, she would prefer to play with someone more than toys anyday. It's not just about the party. It's easy to just plan a big birthday bash - expensive cake, lavish decor, presents etc. Nothing really wrong in that at all. But what started as a process of planning her party has got me thinking thru what we are building in her in the long run. The values that are inculcated in her subconsciously as we do these things like planning a birthday party.

 

It's a long article but do give it a read in your spare time.

Ok the reason why i wrote the earlier post is so that i can post this. Since i've been reading, thot i might as well share some of the stuff i've been reading that have been really encouraging me.

Mom Care
Keep up your daily mom maintenance so you don't run out of gas.
By Barb Vogelgesang

"Is everyone buckled up? I just need to get gas, and we're good to go." I looked in the rearview mirror at the four young faces depending on me to get them to their various practices, doctors' appointments and friends' houses. I checked for my grocery list and pulled out of our driveway grateful that our minivan enables me to meet these needs. A few months ago, though, I ran out of gas! The five of us sat by the side of the road waiting for help. Our lives stopped because I hadn't kept up the daily maintenance of our vehicle.

Moms can run out of gas, too. If we don't care for ourselves in the midst of mothering, we'll break down and fail to meet the needs of our family. So how do we keep up the daily maintenance on Mom? Following is my personal care and feeding plan so I don't run out of gas.

Downtime is crucial. If I'm cranky and tired, the atmosphere of our house suffers. I've given myself permission to go to sleep early. The laundry can wait until morning to be put away.

Sharing the joy of raising our children with my hubby is important. Instead of hoping my husband will know when I need help, I specifically ask for his help. When it's his turn to make dinner, I agree that macaroni and cheese with hot dogs is delicious.

Great girlfriends are a must. Real friends don't tempt us down the path of gossip or self-pity. They inspire us, love us, pray with us, keep us accountable and give us tangible help that we can give back. I use e-mail and the telephone to keep in touch and plan mom playdates to keep me in top condition.

Training my children to be a family team is essential. My four kids help with chores and the everyday stuff of running a house. Their participation has allowed me to avoid the stress of disorder and disharmony. The team mentality spreads out the responsibility so it doesn't all fall on my shoulders.

Asking for help when I need it is vital. I am omni-nothing. But God is omni-everything. I continually ask him to place the people and resources in my life to help me accomplish all that's before me. I also work on accepting others' help and beat back the issues of pride that say I can and must do it all myself.

Having a creative outlet is FUNdamental. God, the ultimate Creator, made us in his image, and I need to satisfy the creative part of me. Writing and teaching theatre enable me to pursue goals beyond the household chore list.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is critical. Good eating habits, regular exercise and the continued renewing of our minds is essential to mom health. Taking a walk with some moms while our children have dance class, trading the mocha latte for water and reading a book instead of watching TV are great alternatives.

Learning to enjoy my children is significant. I didn't always enjoy my kids. I had to surrender to motherhood. But changing my perspective from seeing my children as my "work" to acknowledging that my children are my "recreation reminders" has been an incredible blessing to me.

My best refueling comes when I remember to connect with God. I have to be flexible to his plans instead of my own. Ongoing growth and intentional care for my body, mind and spirit fill my mom tank. Then I'm ready for whatever life has in store.

Barb Vogelgesang is a busy mom of four active children. She sees mothering as an exciting adventure because she's never sure what's going to happen next. A popular retreat speaker and MOPS Area Coordinator, Barb loves encouraging and inspiring moms.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/MOMSense magazine.

I've been looking out for nice children's illustrated books. It's actually more of a passion of mine than for Sophie... it's a renewed passion actually since now i can use Sophie as an excuse... heh.

I love children's books esp those that are thoughtfully illustrated! But they are so terribly expensive so we try to find bargains. So far we've been to cho lon, shops around holland, big book store... gonna ransack other book stores and people's houses soon...

We got one yesterday - Noah's Ark (it won the 1997 New York Times Best Illustrated Children's book!) at Big Book Store... and it only cost $3.90! Beautiful work... the work is a bit abstract and eccentric but that's the way i like it! The artist cleverly captured the darkness and the reality of the flood as a result of sin and rebellion... You gotta see it... But i gotta admit it's a bit dark for children... i found it hard to explain to Chris, 4 yrs old, why there were bones in the first page. He asked if they were of dinosaurs. Erm... and he had a puzzled look when i said that God sent the flood to destroy the people.

It's actually quite hard to tell a child bible stories... i realised. Most bible stories are not very pleasant if we don't cover up the facts. Hmmmm...

Excellent Article, taken from HERE

"The sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan. They put fire in them and placed incense upon it, and they brought before God an alien fire that He had not commanded them. A fire came forth from before God and consumed them, and they died before God." (Leviticus 10:1-2)

The Sages present us with various explanations as to what transgression Nadav and Avihu committed, for which they incurred the punishment of being consumed by the heavenly fire. These include:

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Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements that exemplify Bruce Mau's beliefs, motivations and strategies. It also articulates how the BMD studio works.

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

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