Three Men & A Lady

I have 3 'men' in my life...

First and foremost...my husband, aka Jimmy, Jim, James or Siong (take your pick), of 11+years (our wedding day was on 12 Feb 1995 which btw is NOT a good idea cos flowers are ridiculously expensive near Valentine's Day). We met in Melbourne during an OCF camp and travelled back in the same car. Funny scenario whereby Kenneth Liew and I talked 'over' him cos he was sitting in the middle. We somehow landed up leading the same Bible study group the following year...then one starry starry night...while driving me home...his car exhaust shot out a burst of flame and broke down in the middle of the road. We had to push the car to a nearby petrol station. Hmmm...some people may call that romantic but I certainly remember that it was very hard work too...ha ha!!!

Secondly...aka Justin, Wei Hoong...my first-born...my pride and joy (Little Biki)...after 14 hours of labour, he finally decided to leave his comfortable home of 9 months to enter our world on 19 Dec 1997. He was most delightful expect for the nightmarish feeding problems...e.g. 3-6 hours to finish a bottle of milk, 1 spoon of porridge with ice-cream or gummy bear sweet, not to mention all the pots, pans, bottles, tupperware, keys, wallet, toys etc. used to distract him (so that he would open his mouth). He also freaked out when presented with water balloons, tennis balls and people dressed-up in clown and animal suits. I have since diagnosed him with sensory and oral defensiveness, but am very glad to say he has improved. He is skilled at drawing, playing X-Box games, 'chi-ko-pak' and enjoys chess and swimming.

Thirdly...aka Jared, Wei Jun...my precious cutie pie (Smelly Pots)! We prayed especially hard during pregnancy cos the results of my triple antigen blood test were slightly below the normal levels. Decided against amniocentesis since we were going keep the baby no matter what happened anyway. Thank God everything turned out fine on 27 June 2001! Jared was quite the opposite of Justin when it came to food...he was a milk-guzzler and still is a 'chicken-king'. However, he had his moments too...went absolutely berserk at the fire-works display during NDP even though we viewed from afar, at a friend's HDB flat. Current craze includes Cars (in descending order of preference: King, Lightning McQueen, Ramone, Luigi, Mater, Sally etc...and lastly Chick), Hot Wheels, X-Box (some car racing game), Thomas Train and drawing cars and trains...and more cars!

P.S. My favourite will always be Lego...long live Lego...Lego forever!!!

Life at 71 Morrah St.

In 1992, I moved into a Victorian house (with an outdoor toilet) near Melbourne Uni...71 Morrah St. As you can imagine, going to the toilet in the rain, during winter was almost unbearable! However, despite such inconveniences, I really enjoyed the time spent there, thanks to the interesting and colourful characters of my dear house-mates.

Lena:

• Favourite exclamation..'Ai Tee!'...which doesn't really mean anything in Foo Chow or any other language ( I hope?)
• Dragged me down to the shops and Chinatown to buy knitting wool, glitter glue, ribbons, guava with asam powder during Swat Vac (i.e. study week)...to satisfy her hobby mania
• Cooked fantastic Sarawak-ian lasak, sambal kangkong (made with authentic prawn paste 'smuggled' in from the home-land)
• Masterful at using a butter knife to 'break in' LM bedroom window because we forgot the house keys

Dr. LM Tan (PhD):

• Just because we have the same initials, he legitimised opening my letters, disregarding the 'Ms' instead of 'Mr/Dr'
• Used to walk about while brushing his teeth and thought it was 'fun' knocking on people's bedroom door after midnight...and running away before they open it!
• Tried to teach young children to stuff their noses with cucumber and peanuts via demonstration
• Drove his car up the street to catch the tram...instead of walking (admittedly it was winter and not summer?)
• I was totally convinced that PhD = Permanent Head Damage!

JC:

• We ate mooncakes, drank Chinese tea and lit lanterns on the balcony outside his room during Autumn Festival (pretty remarkable that it took our weight considering the dilapidated state in was in)
• Had his 1st skiing trip to Lake Mountain with Jimmy and me...certainly had much more sports aptitude than me...*sigh*
• Introduced Singlish expressions such as..'Wah piang', 'Wah lau', 'Beh tahan', 'Boh pien'..little did I know that they would eventually be a permanent part of my vocabulary...not to mention my children's!

Adeline:

• An import from NS, Malaysia who nearly burned a hole in the carpet with the new heater, by facing it up-side-down
• Very neat and thorough lady...right down to washing individual cabbage leaves before cooking...enjoyed the yummy Thai green curry she made!
• Was an unwitting case study for functional assessment of ADL (i.e. feeding)...shoulder elevated and abducted, forearm pronated, gross palmar grasp for holding the spoon...minimal trunk flexion

Jeffrey:

• Helpful, caring and friendly giant...cousin of JC...never said 'No' to supper...be it instant noodles, porridge or toasted bread
• Good company for late night mugging and tv
• Hearty laugh and always counted in for having a great time

Bill:

• A professional cook at a Chinese restaurant...all of us would rush home early when it was his turn to make dinner
• Knew what groceries to buy, where to get them and how to choose fresh meat/vegetables
• Allowed use of his car for marketing on Saturdays (not exactly my forte!)

Made In The Image Of?

When we were growing up under the same roof, my mum used get our names mixed up. She would randomly call out... Alisooon... Meeeng (that's my Chinese name)... Yeeeaan... Donny (no, I don't have a brother...that was our family dog), probably knowing one of them would be right?! We found that habit very irritating indeed, especially when we came running downstairs to discover mum standing at the gate and was actually addressing the dog!

So, I swore I would never subject my kids to the same treatment. I kept that promise until 2005 (it was fine for the first 3.5 years with only Justin, and then another 3 years when Jared was too young to cause serious mischief)...the unthinkable happened! I went "JUSTIN CHANG!!!"...to which he indignantly replied, "It's not me LAH!"...then I screamed "JARED CHANG!!!" (notice the common trend of mothers using the children's full name on occasions such as these?).

The conclusion of the matter is... we do inherit our parents' characteristics and hopefully, not too many oddities. But the good news is that God first made us in His image...designed to worship and have fellowship with Him. Although we have fallen from that initial perfection, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has restored us positionally. Now, we're a work of art in progress...a masterpiece to be revealed at the end...Amen!

Cloud and Fire

Numbers 9:15-23

Isn't this passage of Scripture amazing? 3 million people moving about the desert following a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Stopping and starting anytime...anyday...anywhere...truly a logistic nightmare! I wonder what happened to those who lagged behind because they overslept or were too just tired to move along with the rest of the crowd? What will they miss out on?

God's Providence:
They will need to find their own food since Manna from heaven is only supplied to those in the camp vicinity. The peril of starvation to death is always imminent. Manna is daily food for the people and left-overs can't be eaten or stored up. Our relationship with God must be fresh and new every morning. He will sustain us each new day.

God's Protection:

The pillar of cloud buffered the harsh desert sun during the day and the fire column provided warmth when night fell. I guess that was probably as good as it got to moderating extreme temperatures in the wilderness. Often, we go through yo-yo cycles in life because we exposed ourselves to the winds of temptation, storms of indulgence and heat of anger.

God's Presence:

In order to experience the glory of the Lord, we can't move ahead of God nor trail behind. We have to be exactly where God is. It's very easy for us to rush around, trying to get things done asap and forget to include God in the picture. Sometimes God lingers (few days, months or a year) and sometimes He moves pretty quickly (less than a day). We just have to be prepared and ready to up and go with Him, even though it's inconvenient (night time).

May I never stray away from His 'camp' and I pray that all my family will keep our eyes focused on the pillar of cloud and fire, and follow where He leads! Amen...