20/20 Vision

I am writing this, sitting in my hotel room in Malaysia, missing my family and feeling heavy in my heart because it seems R1 may need glasses (he is coming to 8). It has always been my hope that my children will grow up with 20/20 vision, even though nowadays most Singaporean kids develop Miyopia at a very early stage.

Incidentally, my daily scripture reading today brings me to Ezekiel 20:20, which says that God, in His perfect vision, has given us the Sabbath as a means to remember that He is the LORD our God. I have always wondered what's the fuss with the Sabbath, and why God put so much emphasis on it in the Old Testament, and is it still relevant to us today? This verse reminds me that God gave us Sunday to keep us real. He gave us Sabbath so that in coming to church and in worshipping/serving Him, we will be reminded that He is our God, and not be distracted/misled/discouraged by the world. Amen!

"Little Brother" By Mildred Mead

Another semester, another show and tell...

Mr Roboto

R1 & R2 Up the Ante!

What is it about human nature that makes us want to keep doing things faster and better. To swim smoother, bike faster, run longer, and to go from 1 Hula Hoop to 2? ;-)

R1 & R2 discovers the Hula Hoop

We are safe keeping a hula hoop for one of the lil' gals in the neighborhood (who left it in the playground). Looks like we gotta get one of our own now. 6-pack abs here we come! :-)

R2 pretty much got it 1st time around:

R1 had to practise a few times before he got it:

Best way to busy up the weekend...

Sorry, I seem to have caught blogger constipation. So much has happened in the last 2 weeks so I have a feeling there will be multiple posts from me this weekend as I purge from my system all the pent up blogging. :-)

Was busy all last weekend - Yup, seems one of the best ways to busy up the weekend is to volunteer to babysit a 5 month old labrador puppy. It also helps that despite claims of being house broken, "Brother" (don't look at me, I didn't name him) peed on everywhere but the papers, and has the habbit of whinning/barking late at night and early in the mornings. Seriously though, it was good fun having him, and a good lesson for the boys on what it means to have a dog. Having Brother for the weekend also confirmed that R1 is the more emotional of my 2 boys - he cried when Brother was returned. R2, on the otherhand, was nonchalant abt the whole episode.

In terms of my daily bible reading, I am afraid I have now slipped to being an entire month behind schedule. :-( Given that the scriptures are being emailed daily to my office email account, this also reflects the sad state of where I am at work. I am literally getting "mailbox full" messages every 2-3 days so I am operating on the "if it is urgent, they will call me" mode. Hopefully when 1st June comes and I hand-over one of the 2 roles I am currently holding, things will get a little less crazy - call me the eternal optimist. :-)

Having said that, I did manage to inject a bit of work-life balance on Wed (23rd April) by participating in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge ® (5.6km road run). Hopefully I can share more pictures later when I copy them off my colleagues. We had a team from work ranging from sub 25mins sprinters to 60+mins strollers, and the company management was kind enough to sponsor race entry fees and even provide company team shirts. Over 10,000 runners showed up, many in their corporate colours, so it lended to a carnival atmosphere right in the centre of town. This was a "self seeding" race, which meant that we were supposed to line up at the start according to our expected finishing times, but it felt like we were the only ones doing it. You guys/gals know ol' nitrox ain't a fast runner, but I was dodging and weaving through strollers and joggers pretty much for the entire 5.6km route!

Despite that, I came in at 31:38 which is a decent timing for me (I am happy to turn in sub 30mins 5 km and sub 60mins 10km), and I was surprised to see that I was 7th in the team from work. :-) I started off pretty slowly as it was hard to settle into any sort of rhythm with the constant "stop-start" squeezing thru the joggers/walkers that decided they wanted to start in front. Felt good and comfortable throughout the run, and when I look back at where I was 3 years ago when even 2.4km was too far to run, I am amazed that 5.6km is considered a short run for me now. I looked at the guys/gals struggling through the route and think to myself "that was me just a few short years ago", and am encouraged that the training has made some tangible difference - Praise God! It is easy to forget that I am getting fitter and stronger when I am putting in the training hours and still rounding out the bottom of the pack in races. :-))

More big news to share including yet another sexy bit of "go faster" kit for my bike, but more on that later...

Updates

Wow, has it really been more than 2 weeks since my last post? Where has all the time gone?

So much has happened since then. I had to stop training for an entire month - essentially sincce the NUS (National University of Singapore) Biathlon - and am finally easing back into training. I am not quite back to race fitness yet, but getting there SLOWY. This week I hope to get back to my full training week - 2 runs, 2 swims, 1 strength training, and 1 long brick. As usual when my training level drops, I start thinking about adding/replacing new go-after kit, so keep your eyes on this space, I am receiving my latest "go faster" kit for the bike this week! :-)

On the home front, the latest news is that R2 fractured his elbow last Saturday night. The lil' guy was playing with some friends after dinner and running with much abandonement when he fell awkwardly. One look at the right elbow and it was pretty obvious that "something is wrong" - there was a lot of swelling and it looked like something was jutting out. So we rush to the A&E (Accident and Emergency) ward of the children's hospital where they confirmed that he has a fracture just above the elbow joint. They were a little concerned as the fracture is very near the joint, but there was too much swelling for proper diagnosis to be done. So they put a full splint on him and we are to go back for consultation with the orthopedic specialist on Thurs.

We were graced with a miracle at the A&E: The poor guy was clearly in pain and was not a happy camper at all for the entire period after he fell to while we were waiting at the A&E. He was cried and complained of intense pain, and finally settled down but his face was screwed up in pain. While waiting, we prayed over him and Mrs Nitrox also text'ed some of her "Mummies support group" to pray for R2. Literally within seconds of laying hands on his elbow and asking the Holy Spirit to come and heal him, he went from being in pain and miserable, to being his usual cheerful self. The doctors were amazed that he was so "cooperative" even when the splint was going on - they warned us that it might hurt, but all R2 was concerned about was not getting the plaster on his shirt! :-) PRAISE GOD! The doctors can't be sure if the fracture needs to be re-aligned (hence the need to come back to see the orthopedic specialist on Thurs when the swelling has come down). But, encouraged by the miracle, we are trusting by faith that the Lord is healing his little elbow, and continue to pray that R2 will receive 100% restoration in his right elbow without surgery. Please do continue to agree with us in prayer too!


Since coming back from the A&E, R2 has been pretty much his normal cheerful self (as you can see from the pictures). He does complain of some pain now and then, but it is more like 3-5/10 level of pain (right after the fall was 8-10/10, and after we prayed for him at A&E it went down to 0-2/10) . Most of the time, he is reporting 0/10 in terms of pain, so we are not even giving him the prescribed pain meds - Ibuprofen - just children's Panadol once so far. Encouraged by the miracle, we are trusting by faith that the Lord is healing his little elbow, and continue to pray that R2 will receive 100% restoration in his right elbow without surgery. Please do continue to agree with us in prayer too! Our God is indeed an AWESOME GOD!

More Puddles, More Mud

I guess the Bedok Reservoir Park is now our favourite bike track - perhaps until we manage to find some place with even more mud. :-) Here are the boys showing off the "leopard spots" on the back off their shirts from riding through the many puddles.

In the words of R2, "Papa, when I am riding through the puddles, I forget that I am not on training wheels anymore!". (We just took off his training wheels last week - despite some rather vocal protesting.

I'm on leave

It's school holidays this week so I've taken leave to spend more time with the boys. :-)


On the training front, I'm still recovering from the flu and hacking out green stuff, so it's another no training week. :-(

R1's Chinese Show n Tell

This is a bit long, so I won't blame you for not watching it to the end. ;-)



My literal translation:

Good morning Teachers & Friends of P2C. Today I am going to tell you the story "Si Ma Kwang Smashes the Pot" (Si Ma Kwang is a famous Chinese scholar/wise man who lived ~ 1019-1086.)

Once, when Si Ma Kwang was a little boy, he and his friends were playing in the garden. There was a large pot in the garden which was filled with water. The children played hide-n-seek, and were having a great time.

Just then, one child decided to find a good hiding spot so that the others cannot find him. He decided to hide in the large pot. He was not as tall as the huge pot, neither did he realise that it was filled with water. As a result, no sooner had he climbed up the pot, that he fell in with a loud "SPLASH".

All the kids panicked and ran around, not knowing what to do. Only Si Ma Kwang remained calm - he picked up a large rock from the ground and threw it at the large pot with all his strength. The rock smashed a large hole in the pot and the water flowed out. The child was saved!

I like this story because Si Ma Kwang is a clever boy. When a problem arises, he is able to remain calm and think of a clever solution to the problem. Thank you for your attention.


[ What follows is some questions and answers, soI will spare you the details. :-) ]

Quick update on training end: No training done since the NUS Biathlon, partly due to work and partly because I picked up the flu bug. I seem to have a pattern of falling sick when I visit India - I think the stress and lack of sleep (4.5 hr over-night flight back) got to me. R2 coughing into my face in his excitment to see me come home probably didn't help either. :-) So it's 1-2 weeks of rest for me then (I am on antibiotics). :-(

R1's Show and Tell

Chinese New Year Goodies

One of my favourate things about Chinese New Year is the high energy breakfast that we wake up to.

At the top pf the picture (the square and rectangle pieces) are what we call the "Nian Gau" - literally the "Sticky Cake". It's main ingredients are sugar and glutinous rice flour so it is probably the original high carbo energy bar. :-) We usually eat it steamed or deep fried with a light coating of flour (as above - my favourite). The Nian Gau is popular not just because of it's taste and texture. "Nian" (Sticky) in Chinese sounds like the word for "Year", and "Gau" sounds similar to the word for "High" or "Rise". So eating Nian Gau also carries with it the connotation to rise ("Gau") in one's position (social/work) yearly ("Nian").

The bowl at the centre is a sweet soup made with all sorts of goodies like brown sugar, dates, dried longans, lotus nuts, white fungus, etc... Perhaps the original high carbo drink then. :-)

At the bottom of the picture (in the plate), is what we call the Fa Gau (or "Huat Kway" in Hokkien - my dialect group). This is made primarily with brown sugar and flour (coconut milk is optional), and I love it smothered with peanut butter for a high energy recovery breakfast.

Chinese New Year is also a time when we see a lot of traditional chinese decorations like these dragons that R1 and R2 made in Art Class. Perhaps the dragon dance was invented out of all that energy food that's consumed around this season. :-)

Blessed Chinese New Year

R1 and R2 decided to made their own dragon and bring in the Chinese New Year with a traditional dragon dance. :-)



Have a Blessed Chinese New Year!