As I reflect on the past 25 years of marriage, my heart is filled with a myriad of emotions. It has been a journey marked by love, loss, and the unwavering grace of God. Our story is not one of fairy tales and happily-ever-afters. It's a story of resilience forged through the fires of adversity. We've faced challenges that tested the very core of our being, and yet, here we are, standing stronger together than when we first fell in love. Infertility was the first hurdle we encountered on … [Read more...]
Parenting Children and Pursuing Their Dreams
“ The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of its parents.” ~ Carl Jung As our daughter turned 16, I invited my husband to to pen his thoughts and wishes for our daughter. He struggled a little before coming up with this piece. The Emperor Years ago, my daughter's piano teacher posed a simple question: "What is your favorite piano piece?" Without hesitation, I mentioned Beethoven's 'Emperor,' performed by Dana, referring to the renowned composer's … [Read more...]
2022 In Review – How life has changed. Or has it?
Every year end, I would invite the Hubs to pen his thoughts on the year that has passed. Here’s his review on 2022. Photo: Cozying up at Queenstown New Zealand. June 2022 We all lamented the opportunities lost when the world came to a Covid stand-still in early 2020. But what were the first few things you did when Singapore and the world started reopening? Since the passing-away of my late father 38 years ago while I was still 13, I have always lived with the … [Read more...]
Teen, Transitions and Travel – Reflection on 2021 and ‘Pandemic Parenting’
2021. A year wrought with sweat, tears and prayers to make family life work. Before it ended, the Husb shared with me his reflections for the year. I asked for him to pen it down and here it is: The ‘Multi-Tasking Working Parents Task Force’ At this point of writing, I’m not too sure if ‘Happy New Year’ is a phrase I’d like to wish others especially since we will enter the 3rd year of this long drawn global pandemic. Truth be told, there were other major ‘shifts’ on the home … [Read more...]
2020 in Review: How we handled setbacks and struggles with our kids
The blog has been quite quiet. Chiefly because of the Pandemic but also because we have been facing setbacks, one after another. In fact, I am half-hearted if I should even publish this post. After all, many shared about how they successfully overcome this difficult pandemic year, but ours was riddled with endless fire-fighting. When it rained, it poured. The Pandemic: For a family who thrives on discovering new places and forging memories through new … [Read more...]
DIY Penang with kids – ESCAPE Park Review
Tips, FAQs and Review (Including new Waterplay area!) Maybe it’s mummy and daddy trying to shed off those extra calories from enjoying all that Penang food but one thing for sure, since our first experience at ESCAPE Penang back in 2015, we have always tried make it a point to devote 1 day to spend at ESCAPE Penang. This huge forest adventure play park situated deep within Teluk Bahang Penang, has, in a way, becomes a default resilience training ground for our kids and an … [Read more...]
A Letter to our Children, on our 20th Wedding Anniversary
Dedicated to our children, Dana and Alexander Dear children, While we pray that God will grant us the blessing of long life to be around when YOU celebrate your own wedding anniversaries, this post is just in case we can’t be there. We live in a world of constant changes. I can only imagine that when you two are adults, your world would be changing so much faster than ours. While some change is good, there are aspects of life that require a lot of work NOT to change. These … [Read more...]
Parenting and Perdition – A Husband’s Perspective
About the post: This post is written as part of a blog train celebrating parenthood. It is part of a blog train started by Deborah of Owl's Well on how “Mothers make it work”. She has invited a handful of Daddies to share their views on how Daddies help Mummies make it work. Here’s my story: Unlike Robert's Frost’s famous poem, ‘The road not taken’, we didn’t choose the road less travelled. It was thrust upon us. But like his poem, yes, it had made all the difference. Our journey to … [Read more...]
From a Father to a Daddy
This is a lengthy post for the simple reason that this post contains gems of experiences which I gathered from a sharing by a large group of Dads. It is my hope that the points shared here would be as precious to you as they are to me in the journey of Fatherhood. Dedicated to all my Daddy friends who inspire me. You know who you are. “Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad”. Before I became a father, I thought this quote was cliché…until I became one. Now, I … [Read more...]
Confessions of a ‘Stay-home Dad’
“Daddy…look! Mushrooms!’ My daughter exclaimed as she caught sight of multiple little fungi which mushroomed next to an old tree root along the foot path. We stopped and observed them for awhile before moving on. I was in no hurry, really. “Today is Daddy’s last day walking you home this year ok?” I asked, with a slight hint of reluctance. “Emmm….ok.” was her reply. Her Primary 2 self not fully comprehending the fact that it has been a luxury for her Daddy to be walking her to and back from … [Read more...]