Saturday, February 28, 2015

28/02/2015



Today was a pretty amazing day

I was a little more productive in writing my scholarship essays

I watched beauty and the geek season 3 episode 2 and have found a source for episode 3, 4, 5, 6....
I think perhaps I've just always found intelligence attractive (and every one loves a boy who reads)

I had my first tuition session with Kendra and she is such a lovely and proactive student - she asks so many questions, points out and accepts her weak points and really really tries. I have such a short time to work with her though and I really hope she can get something from my teaching.

On the way home, I stopped to buy some bread - sampling everything before finally deciding on vegetable bread and a dark rye loaf. Buying bread is always an antidote to anything and I felt so brimming with joy as I walked to the train, the plastic bag of flour and yeast and plain old goodness bumping against my leg like a happy reminder.

On the train I read a bit more of Tan Twan Eng's ''Garden of Evening Mists" and caught my breath at this particularly beautiful sentence:

'In the shallows, a grey heron cocked its head at me, one leg poised in the air, like the hand of a pianist who had forgotten the notes of his music.'

I loved the delicacy of it, this conceit that so perfectly conveyed the in-between nature of that moment.

On the way home, I talked to the bus driver Muthu properly - usually it's just a hello and sometimes I tell him where I am going or where I came from. I told him about how I was working in a cafe and tutoring, and how nervous I am about A level results on Monday,  and I asked him whether he had children. He has three children, all sons, and the oldest is 12 years old, and taking PSLE this year. I remarked that he must be feeling very stressed which he agreed to with much laughter. I asked him if he wanted a daughter, to which he replied, with more loud laughter "My wife..." I don't know if that was an impolite question to ask but he took it so good-naturedly.

And as I walked into the lobby I caught a waft of sweet perfume - the jasmine flowers are blooming.




Friday, February 27, 2015

Lunch with Dad

Today Dad called up and asked me "I'm coming home in 3 minutes, do you want to have lunch?"

So we headed to The Lawn in Biopolis and I taught Dad how to order a salad, and he surprisingly really liked it! He liked the systematic nature of the ordering process and the buzzers we got to signal when our food was ready and the location which was breezy and bright. And he liked the food too! "I'm so full from eating grass and leaves" said he.


I was so excited because for the first time ever I was trying asparagus!!! Dad got dory fish with his, and thought the tofu was cheese.


We talked about photography, depth of field, why I should have taken science in JC (his opinion), and why on earth humans have celebrations and do animals have them too.




Thursday, February 26, 2015

26/2/2015


Dinner conversation

Me: "Remember the OM performance?"

Mum: "Mmmm, what were you, a tree?"

Me: "... I was a Queen..."

Mum: [tries to stifle laughter, turning red in the face meanwhile]

Me: "And Chance, who was the murderer."

Mum: [Cannot hold it in anymore and is gasping with laughter]

A TREE?!?!?

Apart from that I have discovered that cashews with rice are amazing, and have eaten that for lunch, dinner, and lunch again. I hope cashews help with introspection because I am getting rather tired of writing about my strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failures, career goals, personal goals and whyIshouldbegiventhisscholarship essays.

I also did 50 laps in the pool today, despite the very distracting dongdongdongchiang of a lion dance performance in the background.

I was going to stop at 40 because I HAVE NEVER DONE 40 LAPS IN A POOL BEFORE so i was pretty impressed at myself.

Then for some strange reason the SG50 logo floated into my head and I remembered that poor old Mr Lee Kuan Yew is on life support and I had 10 minutes more anyway so I did another 10.

While I swam I alternated between imagining myself swimming deeper and deeper into an ocean, away from sun-dappled coral reefs and into deep abysses with strange, skinny, fluorescent creatures, and imagining myself swimming through an interstellar-esque space... I must have passed through whole galaxies in 40 laps.

I also tried singing under water (inspired by the poem below), but I sounded rather strangled.

Don’t Tell Anyone

Tony Hoagland

We had been married for six or seven years
when my wife, standing in the kitchen one afternoon, told me
that she screams underwater when she swims—

that, in fact, she has been screaming for years
into the blue chlorinated water of the community pool
where she does laps every other day.

Buttering her toast, not as if she had been
concealing anything,
not as if I should consider myself

personally the cause of her screaming,
nor as if we should perform an act of therapy
right that minute on the kitchen table,

—casually, she told me,
and I could see her turn her square face up
to take a gulp of oxygen,

then down again into the cold wet mask of the unconscious.
For all I know, maybe everyone is screaming
as they go through life, silently,

politely keeping the big secret
that it is not all fun
to be ripped by the crooked beak

of something called psychology,
to be dipped down
again and again into time;

that the truest, most intimate
pleasure you can sometimes find
is the wet kiss

of your own pain.
There goes Kath, at one PM, to swim her twenty-two laps
back and forth in the community pool;

—what discipline she has!
Twenty-two laps like twenty-two pages,
that will never be read by anyone.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

IBNO 2015


The conference began with a very long sermon about Disciples, which honestly I didn't really catch the drift of, because I wasn't sure if the woman was talking about the characteristics of a disciple or the end times or...! I think my brain was also warming up to human speech and so unfortunately I didn't quite absorb the first testimony.

But after that, it was impossible not to be drawn in my the raw honesty and confronting confessions about sin and rebellion and enslavement faced by those giving their testimonies, and the liberation and fulfilling joy they experienced through faith and deliverance in Jesus Christ.

I cannot possibly recount every single testimony, but I hope that such honesty will be a norm in church so that community can be put to the test, to help and love and support in practical ways.

I wrote a short devo based on the benediction the Pastor shared as he closed the conference.

Mark 12:13-17

"Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.“Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 

They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him."

The pharisees tried to ensnare Jesus with a tricky and politically charged question. Jesus' answer was masterful because it took their question away from the natural to the spiritual. When Jesus said give what is Caesar's to Caesar and what is God's to God, he invoked the pharisee's knowledge of the Torah, the old testament texts, wherein man was made in God's image. Just as the coin, stamped with Caesar's image, wholly belonged to the Roman emperor, so we, stamped with the imprint of God, belong wholly to God.

This taught me a few things. First, before we tackle the petty technicalities of our faith (eg tax collection in this context), we must understand the basics of our faith and be obedient and submit to God's will for us. It is no good asking a new born baby to eat a carrot, he'll only choke. You must start him on puree and build from there. Likewise, our faith and understanding of theology should be built on a basic foundation of understanding God's nature and our relationship with him and his commands for us. This is perhaps why I used to stumble so much when I contemplated questions like election, homosexuality, women's rights in the bible sense... I thought only if I could fully understand all these intricate things then I would place my faith in God and be willing to find out more about him. But a relationship doesn't work like that, you must know the person before you can consider his values/deeds. I must know more about God before I can think over his ordinances and this way I'll actually have better understanding of his plans and purposes!

Second, we must give ourselves fully to God. In the conference, we sang 'Christ is enough'. One line went 'I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back'. When we give ourselves entirely to God, we must ask for his power to drive away our stubborn clinging on to sin, so that we can serve and follow him with our whole hearts. Because God wants a broken spirit and a contrite heart purged of sin, not one that serves 2 masters. Letting go of sin is hard, because sin is pleasurable, sin somehow makes us feel less vulnerable, and sin helps us feel accepted by the world. However, if we are claimed by Jesus
 who gave his whole self to us, we must return to him. I suppose practically in my life i need to really saturate myself in his word, and most importantly be not just generous but completely surrendering my time, love, energy to God and his purpose. This means reading my bible at every opportunity - not hiding it on my bag on the train because it's embarrassing. It also means confronting my friends about apparent sins in their lives, speaking to them in love about Gods truth and really caring for them spiritually, even thought i am afraid of conflict or awkwardness in relationships.

And so that is what I took away from the conference: to really live as a child of God, a child who burns brightly for him and loves him and hopes to in some measure walk in his footsteps for his glory.

science of the popiah


The popiah is a humble meal. Scratch. That. It's not humble at all. It requires hours of chopping and grating and slicing and stewing and topping and tailing and tearing (popiah skins, or alternatively hair out of head) 

But all this must be done in a kitchen away from possible early guests, early in the morning or you will not be ready by 3. 

Carrots cabbage turnip onion garlic leek snow peas peanuts lettuce sweetfloursauce egg Chilli coriander beansprouts.


It's beautiful laid out - a confluence of color and taste and texture. And it's vegetarian!!!!
The best popiah will always be my Ama's but all popiah is great.


To assemble:

One popiah skin. Most people prefer the ones without tears so that sauce does not drip through. However, drippy sauce can be remedied by patching the holes in the popiah skin with lettuce.


Lettuce leaf. Break it's spine to flatten it.


Sweetfloursauce. Peanut. Egg. Bean sprouts. When I was younger this would suffice. (Actually as long as I had the sweet sauce there that was enough I was done I was happy) 


Vegetables. The actual point of the whole popiah and it's body and soul. The vegetarian one had taugua inside which sold me I. Love. Tofu. 


This is the hardest part - folding it into an edible, practical, sauce tight roll. Beginning from the bottom corner, fold upwards and roll, fold on the two side corners and roll again.

It's harder than it looks. I saw many popiah tacos and popiah burgers and popiah skins sans filling and vice versa on the 2 days of entertaining with popiah.


Most people hold the popiah like my father does - an ergonomically sound method that follows the contour of the hand to feed it into the mouth.


Alternatively there is caveman-eats-burger style ala my brother.


But satisfaction is always guaranteed.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

crane progression

24-02-2015

22-02-2015

Miss H Dunaway

The countdown has begun - i get my results back on 02-03-2015

Headaches


In the last two weeks I had a series of very bad headaches that woke me up at night and made me sit up, curl up and wish for the pain to go away. And toss and turn, trying to shift the weight that seemed to collect at the lowest point where skull met pillow. And withdraw from snow-pea chopping to rest my head against the cool surface of our long-dead oven and hope for the hammering to stop.

They're gone now.


You come too.




From "First Poems," 

Rainer Maria Rilke



Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too. 

Block Number

 Mum: "Take a picture of her ants!!!" Me: "Her ants?!?!?" Mum: "HER ANTS!!!!!"
"I need to exercise my arms more" - Mum
I thought this looked like a Narwhal, Mum thought it looked like a sleeping person with one arm outstretched - what do you think?
What any sane person would be doing on a Tuesday morning rather than walking around taking pictures of block numbers
 This morning after almond butter on toast, Mum and I went for a walk round the block to take pictures of our block numbers and names to find out their significance and to preserve the heritage of our estate.

Things we saw:

-A hunchbacked bird that looked like a brown cousin of an egret

-So. Many. Empty. Houses. Visions of house-squatting and 'how I would decorate this house if I lived there' surfaced immediately in my head.

-House renovations that caused one flat to be converted into 3 single room (plus a toilet) houses. WHAT IS GOING ON?

-A new picnic spot

-A man playing golf

-A field covered in golf balls

-Tree roots that looked like ocean waves

-Two abandoned exercise equipments

-Woman running with pug dog

We also talked about S clusters and affricates, how science phrasing is splitting hairs (in today's paper: Poor conductors of heat is correct, Bad conductors of heat is wrong. WHAT?!?!?!), and how much a I want a garden in the future so my children can have a running around, playing in mud, natural childhood.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Wild geese



"WILD GEESE"
by Mary Oliver


You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

This poem was such a comfort today as I tried and failed to write a good series of essays for my scholarship applications.  It was a literary form of the times I would retreat to the girls bathroom and imagine myself in outer space and know that the world is so much bigger than my stresses.

After doing a twenty minute workout and feeling less fit than usual (Curse you chinese new year cookies) I went on the balcony, still in my sweaty shirt and shorts, and looked out the far end near the coconut tree and did a few minutes of meditation (I don't know how long because meditation has a funny way of warping time) which gave me a few minutes of peaceful mind space to just think the thoughts that probably float around in my head most of the time but are drowned out by the chaos of voices screaming more practical things. I realised that I often edit things in my mind - and think of how I can tell them to other people in conversation or writing in nicely enveloped sentences. And then I started thinking of how I could nicely package that thought and send it into the wide world of human scrutiny and everything became rather meta and overwhelming and so I focused on breathing and balance.

Gratitude and blueberry crumble (vegan and sugarless!!!!)








Otherwise
by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,

it will be otherwise.


Otherwise
by Miriam Yeo

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
oatmeal, sweet
soymilk, ripe, flawless
blueberries. It might
have been otherwise.
I watched Elizabeth
and thought about strong female characters.
All morning I baked


ate the food that I love.

At noon I made couscous
and started writing essays for scholarships. It might
have been otherwise.
I ate dinner with my family
at a table with mismatching
cutlery. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,

it will be otherwise.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Christian veg


One of the first comments I received when I became a vegetarian was from a friend of my sister's who said "But God gave us animals to eat, I don't think you respect his creation by being vegetarian."


A few days ago someone sent me a verse in the Bible from After the Great Flood wherein God gave Moses the animals on earth for food. Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." 

Which spurred me to decide to write complete this post about how vegetarianism is in line with the bible and how it has enhanced and resonated with my religious beliefs rather than undermining them.

Before I begin, I wish to say I definitely do not condemn anyone who eats meat - I hope that this post inspires you to think more deeply about the meat industry in particular and how that reconciles (or if it does) with your diet, but I do understand that different perspectives exist on this. Overall, I hope that, just as the early church was stopped from being divided by the controversy over kosher/non-kosher food, this post will stop the 'christian' criticism of my chosen diet.

Let's approach it chronologically.

In the beginning, the Edenic humans (Adam and Eve), were vegetarian (and perhaps vegan, but there is less concrete evidence for that so I shall not push assumptions), and God proclaimed 'it was very good'. (Genesis 1:31)God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30)

To me, Eden is God's perfect reflection of humankind - living in close communion with him and entirely devoted to his glory, and so I aspire to live as closely to that lifestyle as possible (where lawful - I can't go nude...)

Immediately after the Great Flood (enter Noah and his Ark), God allowed the eating of meat, which was the verse my friend sent me: Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." However, God maintained that consuming 'blood, which is life' was forbidden (Genesis 9:4, Acts 15:29). This is why Kosher and Muslim slaughter rituals usually mean slitting an animal's throat and letting it slowly bleed to death. 

(For the Jews, this is called Shechita: I think God intended this to be less painless for the animal, as shechita is traditionally carried out by a shochet who is trained to kill the animals with a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a sharp knife which quickly renders the animal unconscious and is minimally painful. However, many commercial Kosher slaughterhouses fail to carry this out with sufficient compassion and skill to alleviate the animal's suffering, and kill the animals in horrific conditions. Many are hung, fully conscious, from ceilings to expose their necks, and then their throats are slit not in one quick motion but in a painful sawing process that they fully suffer. They die slowly, their life literally pouring out on them in front of their eyes, and they choke on their blood as well, compounding their pain with suffocation.) 

Apart from the fact that most commercially produced meats (obtained through stunning methods) do not remove most of the animal's blood, Kosher and Halal versions of meat are still obtained in a way that is horribly cruel, which does not at all resonate with my conception and understanding of God's character of love and kindness and his commands for us to steward the earth.

This here, is the crux of my argument. According to Proverbs 12:10, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." I believe this verse speaks of a basic human 'ought' - kindness/compassion/care/love. The slaughterhouse cruelty that has been so clearly exposed in countless documentaries (Food Inc, Cowspiracy, Farm to Fridge etc.) and newscast reports does not reflect the kindness and compassion that God wants us to display to not just our fellow man, but to all creation, beasts/animals included! 

(I realise I have abandoned any semblance of chronology and I apologise but I never was good at logical progression)

Furthermore,  God has clearly made us stewards of this wonderful, beautiful earth that He created and loves (Genesis 2:15, Genesis 1:28, Luke 12:42-46). I am strongly convicted that as God's stewards, we should live in a manner that is gentle and in tune with nature and the needs of Earth. We should respect God's creation, be it in animals' right to dignity, the conservation of the environment, or in protecting and upholding human rights.

How vegetarianism helps me to be more in line with my beliefs therefore comes in here. Horrible factory farm conditions and slaughterhouse practices have always ethically disgusted me. Flip-over syndrome in the chicken industry, the full consciousness of animals as they die, the process of tearing away baby animals from their parents, grinding up male chicks, unsanitary, cramped, got, miserable conditions the animals are kept in... All these disgust me and fill me with anger at the callousness and insensitivity with which these animals are treated. In Numbers 22, there is the story of Balaam and his donkey. When Balaam beat his Donkey terribly after his Donkey saved him from collision with a wrathful angel, turning off the road/crushing his foot against a wall in the process (a detour and a bruised foot in exchange for his life...a fair exchange I'd say), "the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" ". The Donkey clearly displays both sentience and the ability to feel pain. When the angel reveals himself to Balaam, even he asks Balaam why would he do such a cruel thing as to beat his innocent Donkey. Slaughterhouses do a lot worse than beat their animals, they torture them mercilessly in the interests of expedience and efficiency. Animals have their own lives given by God, their own value and dignity. Where we see meat, we should be seeing a sentient creature loved by God. (a quote by Theologian at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Reverend Andrew Linzey) And therefore we should not harm them.

To raise one pound of beef takes 5000 gallons of water, and the use of land for cattle has destroyed 2/3 of Central America's rainforests. Livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gases according to the 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which exceeds that released by all transportation combined. In 2009, World Watch Institute reported that the more accurate figure may be as high as 51%. Toxic waste from chicken and dairy factories have cause massive pollution (algae blooms) in water bodies like Chesapake Bay - it's so polluted that animals leap from the water to breathe. How can I, as a Christian, knowing that God spoke the world into being and took such great pleasure in designing and creating every precious living creature, stand by and engage in the destruction of God's world?

Finally, above the argument for animals and the environment, is the argument for humans. The health benefits of vegetarianism are rather obvious - lower cholesterol and fat intake being one of the main perks and one way to keep our bodies as God's holy temple by remaining healthy in our diets. But apart from individual health is our obligation to humankind as God's people. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves, and one way vegetarianism does this is by combating the problem of world hunger. About 70% of all grain produced in the United States, a nation plagues with food deserts, especially among the urban poor, is fed to animals raised to slaughter. Most of the animals are over fed to reach the weight and size for slaughter in a shorter period of time. The 7 billion livestock animals in the US consume 5 times as much grain as the US population. In a world where 40 thousand children starve to death daily, the meat industry does not simply destroy animal lives, it destroys human lives by snatching away access to food for so many hungry and destitute people. Dr Walden Bello, executive director of Food First, Institute for Foods and Development Policy, says "The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically much of the world's food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and livestock food for the well off, while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation." If we are to truly love our neighbours, I don't think we should show it by snatching food from their mouths.

To end off, "'all things are lawful' … but not all things are beneficial" (1 Corinthians 10:23). While God permits meat consumption, I personally do not believe he meant for us to consume meat on such a level that it destroys the environment, the right of animals to dignity, and our moral obligation to provide and care for our brethren.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

John 11:35



Cried on the train for the first time the other day. It was very nice because I was the only one in my carriage and I was listening to nice music (The like crazy soundtrack...which reminds me does ANYONE HAVE MY DVD??? I can't find it anywhere and think I may have lent it to someone)

I was considering the possible death of friends and I realised how terrified I was of people leaving me, going to heaven and leaving me with a vacuum where they used to be. And, tired out from my shift and with the frightening possibility that one of my very good friends who was flying off (in the wake of so many of these terrible terrible aviation disasters) might crash and with Dustin O Halloran in my ears - and Dustin O Halloran always tugs at the heartstrings - is just had a little weep and felt much better. Tired - like a balloon deflated or a melted ice cube, but better.

It reminded me again of this article: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/look-at-me-im-crying/?_r=1

Chinese New Year


Usually, I don't like Chinese New Year. I have vague childhood memories of trying to hide in the toilet to read my books, which didn't work because sooner or later another relative would knock on the door to use the toilet (or perhaps hide away as well), and I would have to hastily cram my book up my t shirt and scuttle out to find another place to reclusify myself. Or sitting round a cluedo game with no clue who the murderer was and thinking 'All I honestly want is to know is who the murderer is in 'A Murder is Announced'.'

Thankfully I grew up (although books are still a staple, as is Agatha Christie occasionally)

We began the New Year with Ama's Cake, a spongy yellow cake made by my Ama. (THE MATRIACH and sole survivor of my Gong Gong's three wives) The cake has 12 eggs (!!! goodbye vegan dreams) inside it and millet flour and requires approximately an hour of non stop beating before it is ready to steam.

The MATRIACH
We had Family orange/angpao exchange and picture taking (the light was horrible and there is the silhouette of the table we propped it up on on the bottom of the photo so I won't show it...this is an edited/filtered blog even though it is private), and then we headed to my Ama's house. Unfortunately, this year most of the cousins/aunts/uncles sort of flitted in and out, for a quick distribution of angpaos/a drink of angzhouteh/a bite of tanghoon/conversation about how people have grown and asking about our education. Tim commented in the lift on the way down, "You can tell our family doesn't really care, or they would stay longer." Which was exaggerated, although perhaps to some degree true.

Anyway, from the snippets of conversation I heard here is the latest Yeo family news or just interesting things:

1) Sian is audtitioning in two dance schools in London (therefore her absence from the cousins photo) and sends her greetings via recorded ipad video of her issuing Chinese couplets whilst holding two oranges.
2) JinXiang is in the film industry and has done one documentary and one local film about hanging and has made the discovery that in the media industry gay men wear polka dots.
3) Lauren is finishing her University course in a couple of months and did not like her SPH internship. (which makes her the second person I've talked to who didn't. Hmmm 2/2 who didn't like SPH...)
4) Mark (the eldest brother in the Mark Luke and John trio)is actually 17 and not 15 as I thought.
5) Zenia went to Finland in the holidays (glorious!!!!) and has applied to US and Canadian universities.
6) Beatrice knows alot more about Chinese culture than Hannah, Tim and I and is finishing her university course soon too.

Cousins + the eternal matriach
Yeos
 I really like how somehow Hannah, Tim and I all wore shades of blue. We got home and took advantage of the evening light and our new camera to take a few photographs. Also, Tim decided to chase a Rooster that was casually minding it's own business in the garden near our house, and we found a new swing! Hannah and I also engaged in some full on intense ahir whipping ala tumblr girl hair flick style but I don't think quite the same effect was achieved... And of course, we took some family photographs.



Basically our relationship
Basically our relationship
                           
The remainder of the day pretty much dissolved into laughter (somewhat hysterical)

F A M I L I A



  F A M I L I A

Monday, February 16, 2015

bad bad bad



I was on the bus a few days ago, and two stops after I got on two children got on with their maid.
They were probably about 6 and 4, the girl with her blonde hair pinned in a neat bun and a pair of shorts over her pink leotard, and her little brother with really messy blonde curls.  The girl kicked her slippers off and they both hopped onto a seat and looked out of the window.

 Soon, I heard them saying

"Bad, bad, bad, bad..."

And I wondered what was happening. So I looked up, and realised that every time they spied a pedestrian from the bus window, they labelled him or her 'bad or good' (and mostly bad).

At first I was shocked because I wondered with what standard the children were judging the people - Race? Appearance? Was categorisation and judgement already so prevalent in children so young? And then I realised the children's actions was a mirror of sorts to the way our God would have seen us before we accepted the covering blood of Jesus Christ.

In the beginning, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31), but we turned away from God's Eden and pursued a path of sin. And so it was that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God looked out of the window of heaven, and to everyone that went by he wept and said "Bad, bad, bad, bad..." and turned his face away.

And that is why why the atonement Jesus presented us with is so precious, because now every time God looks out the window he sees the redeemed man - he sees us for who we will be in heaven because Jesus has taken away the sating of death that is trapping, condemning sin.

Thank you God for your little reminders of your grace every day.