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Bento #98 - Teriyaki Cod Fish

My taste buds and appetite aren't really well lately and I really do face a problem dragging myself out of bed nowadays. However, I really miss preparing bentos for my boys!

Hence, I told myself I must wake up no matter what to prepare a lunchbox for my hubby. It got me a bit stressed that I kept waking up in the middle of the night....

And so I did it! But I will need the next few days to recuperate........haaaaa......

给妈妈的一封信 - 2013

我的妈妈为什么最伟大？

她爱我们甚至能牺牲自己的性命，这一点我一点都不怀疑。

从小，爸爸在外赚钱养家及做神的工。家里大大小小的事都由妈妈负责。锁头，电灯，水龙头坏了她换。敲敲打打就做出了一个架子。漆脱了她油，水管塞了她通。就算现在，我家里有什么破了，断了，焦了，坏了，旧了，只要拿去给她就能起死回生。（有些夸张）她就像我们的小叮当。她连生孩子也是自己去医院，生了隔天自己回家。真是难以置信！

就算有一段日子，她需出外打工，回到家筋疲力尽的她仍然把家里打理得井井有条，还能煮丰盛的晚餐给一家人吃，有精力陪孩子聊天。我现在才知道有多难，自己做工回家后只剩半条命。看着我的儿子，我只能尽力不让自己睡着。

有一次她需要动一个很重要的手术，若不尽快动就会有生命危险。但她毫不犹豫地对医生说她要延期因为她要等我哥哥考完试了才动，以免影响他的心情。医生摇摇头，我看着妈妈的脸，面对死亡的她一点也不害怕，怕的是我，我怕会失去她。

我也不算什么乖小孩，人家是少年叛逆，我成年了还叛逆。我开始觉得朋友比较重要，家庭聚会有点无聊 ，忽略妈妈，甚至有离开神的倾向。妈妈每天焦虑不安，有几年的新年都不好过。无奈的她只能每天为我祷告，希望我能早日回头。

现在我也是妈，我更加觉得做妈妈的很伟大。我不是说我自己，而是我妈妈。因为她不只爱我们，也爱我们的孩子，她的孙子孙女。刚生下我的大儿子后, 他每晚都哭到深夜。我觉得很烦，很累，只想快点睡觉。但是不管多迟，我的儿子哭得多久，我妈妈都会很有耐心地把他抱在怀里，温柔地安抚他。我看着我妈妈的背影，很感动，但我却还是很想睡觉。

现在我妈妈在照顾我和我哥哥的孩子。家里每天有五个孩子在吵吵闹闹。我妈妈每天四点起床去买菜，然后打扫家里，把该抹的东西抹干净，每晚还能三菜一汤。我的儿子到了婆婆的家，玩到哪儿，趴到哪儿。

有一次，我的儿子也趴在我家的地板，
我很生气地说:宝贝，不要趴在地上，很肮脏！！！
儿子说:那为什么婆婆的家可以趴？
我回答:因为只有婆婆的家每天都那么干净！
我妈妈每天从早忙到晚，一天做足十六,七个小时。她总是说她不累，但是看到她坐在沙发打瞌睡，怎么会不累呢？
我妈妈有时会说她很羡慕那些女强人因为她们很能干，读了很多书。

我说:怎么会？你才是真正的女强人。
每次和上司讨论我的事业长远的规划，问及我长远的目标时，我都很想告诉她们，其实我长远的目标就是要成为一个像我妈妈那样属灵美的女人，无怨无悔地为家庭付出一切的女人。

讲真的，如果生在对的时代，有机会受教育，有哪个女人不能在外打拼事业。但又有几个女人愿意为家庭牺牲青春，不求回报地为家人奉献一生的精力以及时间。我希望我做得到。

每天都应该是母亲节。不管有空没空，都尽可能与妈妈吃顿饭，聊聊天，我想她们要的也只不过是这些。但母亲节也确实是个向母亲表达爱的好机会。

我们身边的人还能和我们在一起多久，谁也不知道，所以我们应该更珍惜和家人相处的每一分每一秒。

我妈妈是世界上最美的女人。至少在我心里，确实如此。

世上只有妈妈好

世上只有妈妈好。

在妈妈怀里，我就像个宝。妈妈照亮了我的世界，有她的地方没有黑暗，只觉得温暖和感受到满满的爱。

有人说世界这么大，不去看一看不是很遗憾，但我却觉得只要待在妈妈的身边，哪里的风景都一样美。

妈妈是我心目中最美的女人。她脸上的皱纹都诉说着她为我们无私的付出与牺牲。

妈妈是女强人，不是因为她读了多少书或是能赚多少钱。而是因为她无怨无悔地把生命奉献给我们。尽管受尽委屈，却总是把我们放在第一位，让我们健康快乐地成长。

妈妈是我最重要人。我从小最害怕的事情就是有一天妈妈会离开我，可我也有解决这个问题的方法。我总是告诉我自己，若妈妈走了，我也会跟着她一起去。

当然，现在我明白了我们没有一个人为自己活，也没有一个人为自己死。我们若活着，是为主而活，若死了，是为主而死。所以我想了一个更好的办法，就是好好地照顾我妈妈的灵魂。那就算有一天她真的离开我了，我也很肯定她会在一个更美好的地方，与神同在。而有一天，我们还有可能再相见。

妈妈是石缝里的野花。在她柔弱的外表下，隐藏着一股强大的力量，她有着顽强的生命力，不管生活多困难，也不会轻易向命运低头，还越战越勇。我希望我也能成为一个像妈妈那样的女人。

但妈妈，你要记得，是神创造了你这朵野花，也是神赋予你这股顽强的生命力。你一定要记得，再也没有人比神更加爱你了。他无所不能，你一定要相信你能从他那里得着力量与勇气来克服你心里的挣扎。

A week in my life as a blogging Mum

I'm a novice blogger so I don't feel the stress as I have no deadlines (blogging) to meet.I blog when time permits and I thank God that my present working arrangement allows me to spend most of my time with the people close to me.

Eventually,I hope my boys will be able to join me on this journey too as children (or even adults) nowadays seem too busy  or distracted (from a teacher's viewpoint) to reflect on their life, missing out on the true, purpose of life.

My Mornings......

My day normally starts at 430 am everyday. This is a precious period for me to accomplish several tasks. I plan lessons both for school and Sunday School, I mark, I cook, I read. I pray. This week is a bit challenging because it is Primary school's CA week. Being a language teacher, I am flooded with compositions everyday, and to add on to my usual work load, I have to complete 114 pieces of exam scripts within these few days. Oh, and not to mention about setting exam papers. For this morning, my goal is to clear my stack of compo in preparation for the exam scripts. Being a working mother of 2 young boys means I can only work when they are asleep. which means either late in the night or during the wee hours.

A cup of coffee every morning, keeps my sleeping monster away 

Stacks of examination scripts to complete

Morning is also a good time for me to prepare resources for my boys' Bible time. This is a still-in-progress file folder game for classification of New Testament Books. 

File folder game for classifiaction of New Testament Books

Also preparing my resources for teaching children Bible Class. The theme is Noah, a man of great faith in the Bible, someone who withstood 120 years of mockery and ridicule from people around him but yet still stayed focused on his most important task on hand, building the Ark. The kids and I sure have a lot to learn about him!

A simple game for the lesson on Noah

But thank God for His guidance, amidst the hectic schedule, I still managed to squeeze out time in the morning to prepare bentos for my hubby and son. As requested by my elder boy, Char Kway Tiao with egg and luncheon meat for his lunch and egg mayonnaise sandwiches for his breakfast.

Sandwiches for my boy

For myself!

Lunch for my hubby

Char Kway Tiao for lunch

And the most important thing to do, I pray before I start each day. There are too many things to pray for and my heart can't settle till I have handed this day to the Lord. I pray for safety, I pray for forgiveness, I pray for health, I pray for the sick, I pray for some angry hearts who are unable to let go of the past, I pray for wisdom to play my role as a mother and teacher well, I pray for my students to do their best in whatever they could and that they may work hard and soar together with me, I pray for the leaders of Singapore and I thank God for this wonderful country and life that He has blessed me with. 

Our afternoons......

I am really thankful for being a school teacher because I have quite a number of working options to choose from. I have taken two and a half years of no paid leave, during which I continued to teach at school with flexible working hours (with support from school management of course!). This year, my no paid leave officially ended but I have chosen a reduced workload scheme leaving most of my afternoons free. This is of utmost importance as I feel that my presence is necessary for my boys' growing years, to lay a firm foundation for them so that they know who to follow (Jesus of course!) and be immuned to peer pressure (hopefully!) 

So how does our afternoons look like?

Time after work is mostly spent with my boys.

After some enlightenment from a sister-in-Christ,I stopped doing academic stuffs with my boys at home.I used to dutifully revise school work, prepare activities, phonics and Chinese word cards for both of them but I think that all these took up too much of our time that we are left with little for our Bible study.So as advised by my sister-in-Christ,I decided to leave all these academic stuffs to the school and focus on just learning God's word at home. Besides learning God's Word, I believe this is also a good time to teach him some life skills, how to manage his time, be focused on his task at hand and the importance of prioritizing, well, of course they still have much to improve, this is a never ending journey!

After unpacking his bag and having his tea break, he will proceed to learn his spelling and 听写. We always learn the words one week in advance so that he will not have to cramp so many words in a day. He will do his learning while I bathe and settle some misc stuffs......

#1 learning his 听写

Thereafter, he will spend some time doing some stretching, he has started learning Wushu recently and flexibility really plays a very important role to help him do his stances well. Thank God we finally found and settle on one Wushu school which I am very happy with, hopefully, he will continue to learn well in this school for many years to come. I varied the training a little everyday, depending on his needs from my observation of him during his Wushu class.

How is his 'horse stance?

#1 loves drawing on his Boogie Board and #2 doing his dotting (DOTS??) activities

Bible Time

After #1 is done with his stretching, we are ready to start with our Bible time! We have a variety of choices for our Bible time. Sometimes, we will cuddle together to read a Bible story from their Children Bible followed by a discussion and some reflections in which both boys can contribute.

Sometimes, we read books from these "God, I need to talk to you about" series.

"Bad Words" and "Greed" from "God, I need to talk to you about" series

Sometimes, I will choose a parable, a devotion, or some verses to share and discuss with them. A day or two in a week, my boys will be watching the Bible stories from these vcds. They love the stories inside, "David and Goliath", "Joshua", "Moses". "Creation" etc, and even act out the stories on their own. My #2 learned one very important sentence in English (he speaks only Mandarin) from watching these :"God is my Friend!"

While they are watching their vcds, I will make use of this time to continue with another project of mine. Intend to create a giantic Bible timeline so that my boys will have a clearer idea of the happenings in the Bible in chronological order, but I think this project is going to take some time......Pictures are drawn and colored by me.

Our Bible Time will usually end with a memory verse session. I will introduce them new verses according to their pace of learning.

Memory verse cards for my #1

As for my #2 who is 3 this year, he is still learning these 2 memory verses- Gen 1:1 and Eph 6:1-3.

以弗所书6：1-2
你 们 作 儿 女 的 ， 要 在 主 里 听 从 父 母 ， 这 是 理 所 当 然 的 。 要 孝 敬 父 母 ， 使 你 得 福 ， 在 世 长 寿 。 这 是 第 一 条 带 应 许 的 诫 命 。

While I am busy with #2, #1 will then be doing some independent activity. For now, he is learning Old Testament books so he will need to arrange the books in chronological order.

So this sums up our Bible time!

For this week, I have to do this in the afternoon also.....both my boys have been plagued with this phlegmy cough ever since they started school. Must have been a virus spreading around, this is already the 2nd or 3rd bout.

#2 with his nebulizer

Our Evenings......

Our evenings are pretty simple but fruitful, as I mentioned earlier in my post that I will try not to spend too much time touching on academic stuffs at home, our evenings are used to read, read and Read! There is nothing more important than nurturing their love to read during these early years of their life.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Borrowed more English books this time round because the previous trip we chose
so many more Chinese books

So yes, I hope my boys will learn how to fish soon. Once again, I am really thankful to be in Singapore! Libraries are all around us and there really isn't any excuse why we aren't bringing our children there. Libraries are comfortable, free and load our brains with so much useful stuffs. And although we do have a small collection of books at home, I still hope my boys will cultivate the habit of going to libraries as the variety and collection of books is so much more. We will try to go to Jurong Regional library every fortnightly. So far, it is something that my boys enjoy and look forward to.

The brothers reading together after choosing their books

Sending #1 to his Wushu class is one of the things I look forward to in the evenings as I enjoy watching him progress little by little every week. After searching for such a long time, I have finally found a suitable Wushu school, Xuan Sports Wushu, with dedicated coaches who are able to maintain great discipline during lessons. I hope this will be a long-term or possibly life long learning for my boys. 

Xuan Sports Wushu classes are held at Bukit Batok East Community Club. I think the learning environment is great as the beginners and higher standard students all train in the same hall which is a great source of motivation!

My nights after the boys are in bed......

By now, I won't have much energy to do any markings unless I am left with no choice. So I will make use of this time to surf the net, update my blog or prepare the ingredients needed for my bentos the next morning.

Preparing the egg mayonnaise for my sandwiches the next morning

Our weekends......

The long awaited weekends is finally here! We love weekends as it's a time when papa can have more time with us!

We are fortunate to receive complimentary tickets to the "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" performance at the Singapore Repertory Theatre, We really enjoyed the show, their singing is superb and their harmonizing skill is comparable to HI-5!

We usually engage ourselves in some free and fun activities that keep our bodies and wallets healthy like swimming, picnics or some mountain climbing.

Yea! We reached the summit!

Exploring the track after our climb

Weekend is also a time for me to settle my household chores! I do the basic minimum. My house is generally tidy and clean and always ready for visitation but definitely not spick and span.

Boys helping out with the chores

Saturday evening is our family Bible time and we are starting the boys off with some verses from the book of Proverbs, for this session we studied chapter 3 verse 11 and 12.

We usually will not arrange any gatherings on Sunday as our time is spent in the Church and thereafter with my in-laws.

A good night rest to prepare ourselves for another week.

I relish every moment of being a mum. It is a dream come true and I have been blessed with more than I deserved. Though a strong-willed boy and a strong-willed mum sends sparks flying all around the house everyday, though I go to bed sometimes feeling wretched and can't help but wonder if I have wrecked my boys' lives, though I still stumble and struggle at the same spot and has yet to cross this hurdle, I am thankful. Perhaps this is God's way of training me. And perhaps this is how I will learn that I am nothing without Him.

This is part of a blog train by the Singapore Parent Bloggers to share about a week in the life of these Daddy or Mummy bloggers.

Look out for Shermeen at http://www.meeningfully.com/ tomorrow, she's a full time working mother who spends her day in the world of marketing, becomes cleaner, laundress, teach, cook, listener and friend to her only child J after she sheds her corporate do. Together with the men of her life, she shares their experiences as a family on the blog. Read on to find out how she manages all these and blog at the same time.

Sew Cute Singapore - Handmade personalized gifts for all

We all struggle to find the right gifts for our friends, family or loved ones.

Instead of scouring the malls for something that is easily available to all, why not consider preparing personalized gifts for them?

Personalized gifts are a great way to show people how much you care. It is an avenue to express how you feel or show how much you know someone. Each personalized gift is unique and tells a story, adding much fun and excitement for both the giver and receiver.

Sew Cute Singapore

Sew Cute Singapore is a local start-up by Miss Jasmine Yew who is passionate about sewing. She sees herself as a ‘sewist’, which is a combination of sewer and artist. We see her creativity unleashed in her works, which ranges from coasters and tissue holders to baby bibs and blankets and even buntings. Well, you name it, she makes it.

This a lovely blanket which is meant for a cute little baby girl with one of her characters '恩' sewn on.

For more details on product pricing and design, kindly visit her page at Sew CuteSingapore and online store, or simply drop her a message at 9135 9205 or email at sewcutesingapore@gmail.com.

Bento #97 - Rice cooker chicken rice

Cooked this all time favorite for my hubby and son.
My #1 requested for the whole lava egg instead of sharing it with his father for his next bento.

Lava eggs:
1) Bring a pot of water to a boil. (enough to cover the egg)
2) Thereafter, turn down the fire so that the water is simmering.
3) Put the egg gently into the water and set your timer to 6 min. I took the egg out from the fridge so I set the timer as 6 min 30s.
4) When the time is up, take out the egg and put it in ice water. ( I put the egg in room temperature, running water, works too it seems)

Marinade:
Water: Soy Sauce: Mirin in the ratio of 3:1:1, if you prefer it to be saltier, can adjust the ratio to 2:1:1.
Immerse the egg into the marinade and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Hubby's lunchbox

Son's lunchbox