It's my last day at Sparkletots since we are returning to Shanghai on October 13. Mummy even bought a lot bunch of tidbits for me to distribute to my little friends in class today. However, she received a call from one of my teachers this afternoon who warned about the likelihood of getting HFMD as there are two confirmed cases and two suspected cases under observation in my class. Sigh... what a letdown... This is the second time something like that has happened when we returned to Singapore. The last time we returned in October 2008, we had a scare too as Zoe 姐姐 got it and I was playing with her. As a precaution, Mummy decided that I should stay with 婆婆 for a few days until my incubation period is over, as I always like to touch and kiss Mei Mei nowadays.
Well, as Mummy picked me up from Sparkletots today, the teachers all gave me huge hugs. One said it was a pity as I have already adapted very well there. Another said she loved me for cheeky grins. One even said I was cute that I always like to play hide-and-seek with her. Mummy was glad that my short stay at Sparkletots left the teachers a good impression...
I had my usual flashcard sessions with Mummy before I left to go to 婆婆's place. Mummy's glad that now I am able to say certain animals in Mandarin, including cat, dog, cow, horse, pig, chicken and duck. However, after a while, the cheeky me grew rebellious and no matter whatever animal flashcard that Mummy showed me, it all became CAT... Mummy didn't know whether to get mad at me (for being so uncooperative) or happy about it (that I am smart enough to know that it irritates her) Hahaha...
A Kite Flying Experience...
Aunty Pauline's company organised a kite flying event a few Saturdays back and 姨姨 brought me along. Check out the colorful kites in the blue skies out there...
More Acts of a Big Brother...
Mummy taught me how to carry little Shannon today. So now, the big baby (That's ME!!!) that always screams "抱抱" to Daddy and Mummy now learns to carry a smaller little baby...Another new phrase that I have learnt today: "抱妹妹". So now, Mummy is trying to teach me to add "我要" so it becomes "我要抱妹妹".
Other acts of love:
Daddy's Thoughts - Reflections & Crossroads...
Daddy was on the way back from church today that he noticed the early darkening of the evening that signals the changing of the seasons again. Daddy always enjoys the walking down Chang De Road alone as it is a time of reflections and walking and talking with God. Here’s Daddy’s reflections and thoughts:
This is the fourth autumn that we are in Shanghai. Time really flies and it has been almost three and a half years since we left Singapore to work and live in Shanghai. God has been faithful all this while, from having paved the way for us in Shanghai by surrounding us with friends and a church which made integration into new life easier, to providing for us financially and blessing us with two wonderful children of our own.
Through these years, by God’s grace, we were given opportunities to be of service to Him and to draw closer to His Word, which enabled us to grow spiritually and to mature in His wisdom. Whilst we sometimes still do wander off the narrow path, but by God’s grace, we are always able to find ourselves back onto the path again.
As with the changing of the seasons, many things have changed over the last few years. The first batch of friends who came alongside us to Shanghai have now either all left or are planning to leave, with Wan Pin and Fiona being the most recent couple to relocate out of Shanghai (By coincidence, we met them whilst Daddy and Mummy was firstly scouting for a place to stay and happened to view their old rented place. They definitely provided a lot of help to us when we first came to Shanghai). In fact, we are very much on our own now, save for our colleagues, cell group, and a handful of remaining friends.
Over these years, we are thankful to be able to experience alongside our Chinese friends the pride and the challenges of China. We have seen how China has grown from strength to strength, from the recovering from natural disasters like the snowstorm and earthquake to the unrest from Tibet and Urumuqi, to the launching of Chinese rockets into space, to the hosting of the 2008 Olympics, the celebration of 60 years of nation building, to the preparation for the 2010 Expo. Even the landscape around us has changed dramatically with skyscrapers now towering in Nanjing Xi Lu when there were few back then.
Three and a half years down the road, with the birth of Shannon, it appeared that we are standing at the cross-roads once again, seeking God for a new direction for the family. Subsequent to the financial crisis, the world has become a more uncertain place, as the economy and job situations do not look as rosy as in the past. Companies have restructured and are becoming more cost conscious whilst placing greater expectations on employees. On the flip side of things, there are more days than in the past that we feel that our energy levels are not as high as we wish they are, not to mention that 24 hours a day never seemed to be sufficient.
Even though we have been praying for a new direction for some time, God seems to be silent in His replies. I must admit that waiting can really be trying from a humanly perspective. Finally, during my walk with God today, I was reminded of His promise in Isaiah 40:31: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings of eagles; they will run and not feel weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
It was a reminder that even as the world changes so rapidly around us and whilst we may not know what tomorrow brings or how our job situations may change, we can still place our hopes in the One who never fails us, that all things will come to past in God’s perfect timing.
For now, all we need to do is to continue to trust Him and to lean on His strength. To God be the glory.
Reflections - Search for A Dream Property
Reflecting on the recent property buying experience, Daddy and Mummy decided to pen it down as a reminder to us as a family that “A Man plans His path, but the Lord directs his ways (Proverbs 16:9)”. In all things, it is important to commit our plans to God and to trust Him for His timing and purposes.
For the last two months, despite the ongoing economic crisis, Singaporeans have jumped into the property market because of several favorable conditions:
- The economy has stabilized
- The bank lending rates are low
- The returns on bank deposits are low
- The property market had took a dip to almost pre-2007 peak levels
- The rental yields are more than sufficient to cover for monthly interest (ie. Some properties become self financing after the 20% downpayment)
- The 2010 IR looks to bring property prices higher in the near future
For the same reasons, both Daddy and Mummy decided that it was probably a right time to invest in a property with the objective of securing higher returns for our deposits. However, it did not dawn to us that we did not commit our plans to God.
Along the way, we made several other mistakes as well. Being first timers in the property investment market, we lost time because we lost focus and prices caught up with our indecisiveness. Some of our mistakes include:
- We did not have a focus on what we really wanted. As such, targets changed from spacious 3 bedroom apartments to those near MRT, to those in nice residential areas, to those where there is good rental yield, from new launches to the resale market, etc.
- We did not stick fully to the budget we started out with. At a certain point in time, our budget very much exceeded the amount we had in mind to invest as we were following our hearts (nice showflats) rather than our minds.
- As prices were appreciating at $10,000 per week, we lost focus of our initial objective and became a slave to the chasing of prices and bullish market sentiments. This is dangerous as people can end up paying unreasonably high prices which is artificially propped up by the market frenzy.
- Most importantly, we almost lost sight of God as we start to shrug off biblical principles of contentment and affordability (from sermons and friends’ advices) as we sink deeper into the market frenzy.
For two months, we spent hours surfing the Internet for information on ideal properties and using our humanly analytical minds to try to understand, calculate and minimize the risks involved. Being accountants, we ran simulating models to weigh the risks and benefits. We relied more and more on ourselves and less and less on God in the search of a dream property.
Perhaps it is not in God’s plans that the timing is NOW because, by His saving grace, we encountered many obstacles and warnings along the way, each seemingly to suggest that we should act contrary to our humanly wisdom to invest now:
- Delays from HDB approving our request to invest in private property
- Warnings from sermons to invest within means
- Advice from friends/parents’ to stay off the overheated market
- Missing out on the possible closing of one deal
- Being delayed by an agent for 2 weeks and eventually losing a bid by $5000
- Potential changes in Mummy’s job situation
- Market dampening measures by the government
Despite all the obstacles, we continued to be caught up in search of that dream property that it eventually almost climaxed to the closing of a deal yesterday. As Mummy proceeded to execute the deal, Daddy (who is back in Shanghai) did not quite feel the peace in his heart. It suddenly dawned on us that we were paying a much higher price than our personal valuation of the place if not for the market frenzy. Deep inside, Daddy was hoping to call off the transaction, but was thinking that it was too late in the process.
By God’s grace, for some reason, there were some delay in the process and we managed to hold off the closing until today. (Our sincere apologies for all the inconvenience caused to Uncle Kit and the seller.)
Although it was a real struggle today to decide whether to proceed with the deal, God’s voice through close friends and daily devotion (which read “Letting Go”) appeared too strong for us to ignore. Though all our humanly analysis still points to this being a feasible deal, we decided not to proceed as we felt that God is not with us on this transaction.
Whilst we do not know at the moment whether this is the right decision (as prices could continue to escalate despite the dampening measures), we decided that God needs to be in the plans in order for things to work. Though our search did not materialize this time round, we benefited from other areas such as better understanding ourselves and each other (our risk adversity, our tolerance for investment losses and financial freedom) and most importantly to always commit our plans to God.
For now, we have decided to stay off the market until God gives the green light. All glory to God.
I Am 22 Months Old...
Time certainly flies. I am already 22 months. My vocabulary has improved tremendously in the last 2 months plus since we returned to Singapore.
- New English words include: ok, big, girl, boy, blue, there, star, robot, pear, wolf, bee, uncle, auntie, call, hello, school, yes, no, deer, bus, come
- New English phrases include: One more, no more, big cup, big cupboard, throw away
- New Chinese words include: 爷爷，奶奶，姐姐，哥哥，姨姨，好，怕，下，还有，还要，包包，抱抱，走，盖，笔，画，拿，给，要，车，大，煮，骂
- Can count 1,2 and 4 in Chinese
- Hum along and singing the chorus "Yipee Ya Ya, Yipee Yipee Ya..."
I Kissed My Little Sister...
I have always know that K is for Kiss as I have learnt it from my Baby Einstein board book. I always liked giving kisses to Mummy and Daddy. Today, other than asking me to "sayang" Shannon, Mummy asked me to give her a kiss. How's this???
Mummy's Little Rascal...
Going into what the people call "the Terrible Twos", Mummy definitely thinks of me as a little rascal, who can be really naughty at times. Like using the toy golf club to hit against 爷爷's LCD TV, climbing up the dining chair and then the dining table or even the TV console... But on the other hand, Mummy also thinks this little rascal can be really adorable at times, especially how I treat my little sister... being a little BIG brother. Mummy loves to see me running into the room to watch over and stroke Shannon gently whenever she cries. I even help Mummy bring Shannon's milk bottle to the kitchen when she's done with her feeding (although the bad thing is that whenever I see Shannon having her milk, I make noise for milk too, when it's not time for me to have a milk feed).
Our Little Princess, Lil' Shannon
It's been a week since Mummy had the time to sit down to update my blog again... Trying to adapt to be a mother of two is definitely not easy, especially at times when I refused to be pacified by anyone other than Mummy. Imagine the scene of Mummy running back and forth to Shannon and myself when we take turns making noises. That was exactly what happened yesterday evening when I came home from Sparkletots, down with a running nose and refused to be pacified by anyone else except for Mummy...
Anyways, Mummy thinks it's time to start training Shannon on a routine. For several nights now, she has been able to sleep for a straight six hours without waking up for milk... Cross our fingers - Let's hope this carries on, cos Mummy doesn't want to spend a first three months being a panda, sleeping only 3-4 hours a day, just like what she did for me. Shannon's definitely smaller milk-drinker than me, so Mummy now has quite a bit of milk stored away in the fridge, that she started giving them to me too...
Shannon's been sleeping a lot for the first two weeks, only started to be more awake these few days. Today, whilst she slept away the morning s Mummy slinged her to the ICA to collect her passport and then to the China Embassy to apply for a visa, she has kept herself awake for the entire afternoon up to now (Haha, that's why Mummy has some time to blog...)
Here's our little princess...
