Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

In Singapore, we travel by train ALL THE TIME.

And when we went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a couple of months ago, we checked out their train rides too, for the very first time.

This time round, during our visit to Indonesia, we all (four of us and Wilson’s family) went from Jakarta to Bandung … you guessed it, by train.

It’s the kids’ first ever train ride in Indonesia, and I must say, they’re very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go on a nice and comfortable one.

[We were on the executive class and the train’s called ‘Argo Gede‘. Return ticket price is Rp 115,000 per person, ie. just about S$16.50!]

Wilson’s parents purchased the tickets in advance and on the actual day itself, we only needed to bring along our bags and went to Gambir Station.

Here’re a few things about our train ride experience that I’d like share:

– It’s a 3-hour ride from Jakarta. They screened a movie, and they have staff going around asking if we’d like to order (read: buy) any food or drinks throughout the ride (btw, they’re okay if we bring along our own food and drinks and consume them on board)

– It can get really cold in the train, so I’d personally recommend bringing along extra layers of clothes!

I don’t know if they usually set the temperature that low, but it was very cold during our trip back from Bandung to Jakarta.

– I sort of expected the toilets to be worse than what they have on board. Turned out it’s not that bad at all (read: better than my expectation, hehe). They have a metal basin for washing our hands, and a toilet bowl (with a flush button!)

Two things about the toilet though:
The cubicle is rather tiny, AND when I flushed, water didn’t only come out from the inside of the toilet bowl but rain down from the back of the toilet too! It was like getting a mini-flood. My slippers were drenched and I remember thinking, ‘Oh please … let this liquid rush between my toes be WATER, not … ‘

[It wasn’t that funny at the time, but now that I looked back, I find it rather amusing, haha]

– The train ride took us across West Java and we saw different kinds of views. From fresh and beautiful paddy fields, valleys and mountains, to heart-breaking slums. Lots to share with the kids at the time, for sure.

– Upon reaching Bandung, a middle-aged man and his mini van picked us up. He’s booked prior to the trip and drove us around during our 3-day trip in Bandung.

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Instead of driving to Bandung, I think it was nice that we took the train this time round.

It’s a whole new experience, especially for the kids. We got to avoid the frustrating traffic jams too!

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[Photos: Other than the photos at the very top and bottom, the rest was taken using my half-broken Canon Ixus which still faithfully follows me everywhere]

Christmas is undeniably one of the world’s most celebrated annual event.

It’s when people remember how giving and sharing are important. 

To me personally, Christmas isn’t Christmas if it doesn’t have ‘Christ’ in it. 

It’s a time when the message of joy, love and hope should be even more shared with others, because God Himself has shown and proven His great love for us to begin with.

I would like to invite you all who’ll be in Singapore this Sunday to come and celebrate Christmas together this year!

We’d be going to the Christmas service held at 4pm (in Indonesian). But if you speak English and/or Mandarin, then I sincerely hope you can come to the service held at 7pm.

The English-Mandarin service will be held at the same venue, True Way Presbyterian Church (next to Queenstown MRT Station), so I hope to see you there before the service begins.

EVERYONE is welcome to attend!

Just drop me a message or an email if you need more info.

Hope to meet many of you there this coming Sunday, December 20th! 

Anya and Vai love the movie ‘Finding Nemo’. Vai especially is very into sharks and the ocean. AND, we have a little fish tank at home.

And so … we made this tissue box fish tank sometime ago.

(Kind of natural for us to make something that’s related to what the kids like *smile*)

And, it’s relatively straight forward to make, actually.

What we used:

– Used tissue box

– White paper carton

– Crayons and watercolour

– Scissors, thread and scotch tape

What we did:

– I drew a few clown fish, seaweed, a seahorse and a starfish (Before we started, I asked them for the kinds of animals they wish to have in the tank, OTHER than sharks, of course!)

– Then the kids started colouring them (Vai chose to use crayons, while Anya used watercolour)

– While they coloured, I cut out our tissue box’s long rectangular sides’ middle parts (see top picture)

– Once the drawings were all coloured, I cut them out and stick them along a few cut-out threads (used scotch tapes on the fish’s backs)

– Then, using scotch tapes, I stuck the threads onto the inside top part of the tissue box so the fish and seahorse dangled nicely (I taped the seaweed and starfish onto the sides)

THAT’S IT!

And you have a little fish tank in the house that the kids can actually call ‘their own’!

Many hopes to live a good and long life.

But life, however long it gets, means nothing, if it’s filled only with selfish purposes, ie. if it’s lived only for the self.

Our life’s meaning does not depend on whether or not we’re accepted by others and the society, or whether we have financial wealth.

One may live a short life, but his / her life is meaningful and fruitful if within that short a period, he / she creates a positive impact that lasts for thousands of years.

Our life, however short it may be, can be meaningful if it’s used by God. 

It’s more about the ‘quality’ of our life.

Not quite the ‘quantity’.  

…

How has our life been lived this year?

And how do we plan to live out our life fruitfully and meaningfully in the coming year?

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[Note: Based on what I’ve personally learned from today’s sermon by Rev. Stephen Tong, as he shared the short life of John the Baptist]

It’s more about nurturing their love for learning,
and not about ensuring they can read and write ‘earlier’ than their peers.

It’s more about discovering their potentials while they play and have fun,
and not about fitting as many enrichment classes as possible in a week.

It’s more about letting them know how they’re much loved despite their mistakes,
and not about expecting them to perform ‘better’ than others to earn our love.

…

How our little ones’ childhood is like will greatly depend on us, whom God has entrusted with the title of ‘parents’.

I’ve just returned from a 2-week holiday!

We all went to Jakarta and had a nice get-together with my family and Wilson’s.

I’ll share stories and photos of our trip real soon (read: once I’m done with the usual unpacking, house-cleaning, washing and … )

For now, let me share with you this family photo.

It’s of me, my sisters and my parents.

It’s been a year since I last went to Indonesia, and we all basically live far far away from each other. So to get together like we did recently, … it was NICE.

…

PS: After I posted this photo on Facebook, almost everyone who commented said I look a lot like my Dad. Which is interesting, because all this while I thought I look more like my Mom, haha. Perhaps it’s because of our similar spectacles …

Being a fulltime parent doesn’t necessarily mean we’re REALLY there with our kids.

I mean, we can be ‘with’ our kids because we’re interacting with them while we’re doing ‘other things’.

But really, when we are there with these little ones, are we really really THERE with them, giving them our time and fullest attention? Being in their world and play with them?

Because I feel we get too easily distracted, even more so today than say, a decade ago.

Today we have mobile phones in our hands where we can send text messages, check emails and surf the internet. We have blackberry and facebook. We have laptops. We have the URGE to check these gadgets regularly for updates.

(not to forget we also have endless list of things to do around the house too everyday)

Now.

Let us ask ourselves these questions:

Do we answer our kids’ questions while looking at the computer screen or our mobile phone?
Do we sit next to our kids while we ourselves read the papers or ‘do other work’?
When was the last time we stay with our kids and truly listen (for a long, uninterrupted, period of time) to what they have to show, share and tell us?

You know, I can’t help but feel so guilty when I reflect upon this.

…

Yes, we parents have endless list of things to do.

Yes, it’s great if we can multitask and squeeze our time (doing ‘more’ at a given time).

But in the end, let us not forget too that our little ones need our uninterrupted time and undivided attention as well.

It’s something that I need to constantly remind myself too.

(And really, they are not asking for much. They’ll be more than happy, I’m sure, if we can spare even one uninterrupted hour out of our busy schedule each day with them)

Let’s remember to REALLY BE THERE for our kids. Starting today.

Checked my emails this morning and found out that the interview is published! Wow!

*Thanks Julie and the Jakarta Globe‘s team!*

Click HERE to read the article.

A big HI to you if you’re visiting this site for the first time!

Please do browse around.

Or add me on Facebook (Drop me a message to tell me you’re a reader yeah …)

Anyway.

As always, my sincere hope is for this blog to reach out to more out there and be a blessing to others.

So I hope you too can help and share my site with others as well.

HUGE THANKS, everyone!