face lift vs heart transfusion result mind transformation

Barney's daddy gave him a hair cut yesterday, the result was horrendous because it looked similar to a parang cut lawn with large holes all over. We agreed to take him to the professional kiddy barber immediately to remedy the situation. Luckily the barber managed to salvage Barney's hair trimmed down to a crew-cut, save the hole on the left of his forehead. Barney went to school today and the teachers didn't recognise him. My baby..i wanted to cry.
So we agreed that he will go to the barber from now on.

The choir is morphing into a new creature. Besides purifying the sound and strenthening it, the new director has read the parable of the sower to the group, hoping that we will take it and somehow God will allow us to be fruitful 30, 50 or 100 fold. So i looked into my email and i see more members being deployed to take on more responsibilities. I make an attempt to make some decisions but i am advised to just follow the directions given by others. Let's combine carolling with the youth as the group is rather small at christmas time due to holiday plans. Then we can try out the buddy system. Overuled by the cell groups are being deployed to do carolling at homes, so if numbers are small, they will combine with other cell groups. Let's not give christmas presents to each other, instead let's do a collection and contribute the sum to cambodian children in need of school fees. Overuled by it has already been decided we give to a charity sponsoring one table for the poor this year. So what you might consider is an outreach to Cambodia next year, members can do this together and bond, meet the children personally and be moved then to give directly. Let's give guru a love offering for teaching us, i think there is no pay in dec cos the schools are closed. The advice is you must go through the proper channels, write an email to state amount and reason. I say it's better I give personally.

Tim's leaving for India tomorrow morning. I feel how Barney feels when he's put in school.

It has started to rain outside. The thunder rumbles. The shower of rain hisses down. Another loud clap and lightning follows. A cool breeze ensues. I want to cry but my heart hurts.

I do my quiet time and God tells me I am part of this community and many would like the lime light to lead but there is also space for people to do the smaller supportive things, and some times it is better to give people your love personally rather then throw money at the problem. Tim also has a night flight instead of morning so we get to spend breakfast together and fetch baby together and do the supermarket shopping together. Baby did not sleep in the afternoon so he was really tired and fell asleep while sending daddy to the airport. This allowed me to go for a stimulating mind challenging talk. God is good:)

Building up

I attended a masterclass yesterday, being invited by my teacher to pick up new ideas for my teaching. Again i was amazed at the details that a master teacher is aware of, and the ability to translate his knowledge into words and action. In music, the ears have to be so acute to be able to pick out what is going wrong and then the brain needs to know how to achieve the correct sound to expedite the action. The teaching the concept and the technique required is necessary, then the student needs to try it out, the teacher assesses the student's attempt and gets him/her to practise the technique motion so that the student will know how to practise later before moving on to the next problem.

After that i watched a free concert played by 2 Spainish pianists. How the touch of the piano is so different depending on the title of the song. So the pieces to represent Don Quiote were played in a tone a lot more harsh to represent the humour of a life without direction and enlightenment. Whereas a life of identity and culture was played in a calm, confident, subtle, sensitive, clear tone.

My friend Morcher had brought 2 other friends to the concert. I realised that she's such a rare gem, always sharing, always trying to help; this time, hopefully her introductions will lead to more friendships and more helping one another grow. She's even volunteered her services to help the choir with a note-reading workshop, to fix the underlying problem of not being able to read notes. I will be faithful in the little things.

The Bigger Picture

I managed to watch "Monsters vs Aliens" yesterday after borrowing the dvd. Susan gets bigger after getting hit by an astroid. She conquers her fears and accomplishes great feats with her new found strength, and realises that living in the shadow of someone else's dream cheats her of her own life.

I was at choir practice today, learning from the guru, how to discipline the choir, how to put thoughts into action. "Most adults are fighting their own fears when learning something new, whereas it comes naturally to a child. Be calm when you learn. Don't be 'kan cheong'." Then the pastor reiterates "Be alert, be aware of yourself, be self controlled, do the right thing, being children of the light we will be ready." The trouble is it's hard waking up, until someone brings it to attention; or get hit by a meteor.:)

Some times seeing the bigger picture requires asking the right questions. For the choir, it is how does melding the choir and the worship team come about? The first answers are watch Godtube or you tube. Being exposed to different presentations of the same song, learning to differentiate, and discern what is good, what will work with this group. What does serving each other mean? Taking on some responsibility to help others grow. How do we get the church together? a combined effort, involve the youth, combine choir...expect great things from God and do great things for God..ok one step at a time.

Getting lost is time wasted

Barney and i visited the grand aunts on monday. Aunty Lucy had called several times during the week asking to see the boy. So we went to Ang Mo Kio, taking the SLE missing the Yio Chu Kang turn and going all the way to Yishun, got lost in the estate and then found a road to Sembawang and thompson. We finally get there and aunt Lucy says we ought to visit Aunt Annie cos she was warded in the hospital the day before for food poisoning. So we troop down to breakfast, bought some grapes for the aunt and got some more T-shirts for Barney who was also treated to chocolates, biscuits and 3 times on the car ride machine.

We get to Aunt Annie's and she's so happy to see us, she lets go of her 'lum-jum' and gets washed up. I also catch up with Lorainne who has the tummy flu and has to stay home, and get a glimpse of Jan. I scrurry Barney downstairs to play with toys and wait for my mum as she chats with Aunt Annie.

Barney has the tummy flu today. We were up since 2am as he slept, tummy churned and threw up 8 times. We brought him to the doctor after washing up wet poo. The doctor was surprized that he was still so energetic after the long night. The whinning and lying on the carpet, and wanting to be carried only appeared after we got home. I switched on you tube and played all his favourite nursery rhymes and he falls asleep in my arms.

I'm learning to not bring baby to visit the sick, and learning that i need to learn the SLE route before driving on it again, otherwise i realise getting lost is a lot of time wasted.

Projecting a happy future

The science centre [ke qi guan as i'm taught by Barney's chinese teacher] is a great place for kids of any age. Barney had a great time yesterday, imitating the T-rex at the door, then he watched the Bear movie, made a bear puppet, was given a chipmunk tatoo, and then treated to a science experiment with a polar bear coming out intermittently. Of course, Barney had the most fun calling for the bear to come out on stage, and the rest of the kids cheered as the kor kor and cheah cheah showed them how to freeze a banana and make it into a hammer etc..There were lots of kids from different schools celebrating children's day at the centre.

I went to the SAM museum myself last friday, as Barney fell asleep on the car ride there. Good to know there was a $50 000 grant given to the winning artist in a competition called Singapore Buffet. Mostly Nafa student entries but i'm sure if there were more publicity more people would have got involved.

Glad Barney's growing up in a place that encourages curiosity and fun, thinking and innovation.

Staying in the pink

Woke up yesterday with a churning tummy, head spinning, loss of appetite. Thought it was due to the fact that i didn't have my usual quota of rice the day before. Looks like it's time to get back to an exercise programme so i can eat my rice and not feel guilty. Anyway there was a spew of health articles in the papers, which i thought was alright but was bent on self medication. So after forcing down a piece of bread and some milo, i also downed a panadol and multivitamins, rested the day and wala! all better.

The thing that gets my tummy churning still is barney still crying as he steps into school. Bells go ringing and i have to swallow hard to wave bye see you later. Maybe i'll take him to the museum after lunch today, that should make him happy.

A society that lacks social skills

The sunday sermon was insightful as it was a challenge to be a KPO or a Busibody in the light of care and concern for people in our social circles, neighbourhood, work place and home. Strangely most people keep to themselves, thinking it is better not to be nosey about things. But to have any impact on others, one of the best ways is to get involved, especially through a personal relationship. We need more leaders to initiate activities that strenghten and encourages people, activities that show people we care; radicals who can ignore the stereotype and reach out and share abundant life, peace and joy that has been given.[1 Tess 3]

The next sunday, another pastor preaches Don't be a busibody, Work with your hands or have nothing to eat, Srive to live a quiet life, most of all LOVE your brother more.[1 Tess 4] Looks like the love is most important.