Filial Piety Sunday

There is Mother's Day, there is Father's Day, how about combining them into just ONE DAY? :) That's exactly what we did when we had our very own first Filial Piety Sunday! It's a time for us to honor our parents and all our elderly too.

The church organized a lunch for us to bring our families as an expression of our love for them. Our own brothers and sisters presented wonderful items which brought a lot of joy and laughter to all. Catch all the action here! http://picasaweb.google.com/tbcalbum/FilialPietySunday?authkey=m_o8Yu0CpAU

Thank God for giving us our parents, whom have loved us selflessly in every way. The bible teaches us in the fifth commandment that comes with a promise "Honor your father and your mother, that you may have long life". To honor our parents is not merely showering them with gifts or monetary things, but to obey them, to love them, is what God requires us to do.

Even more so, our Father in heaven loves us so much that He gave His One and Only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross that we might have life, and have life to the fullest. I thank God for this wonderful love!

Tai Tai Baking Session

YAY! Our baking session begins! Spot my new hair-DO! :)

See, i'm BUSY mixing the formula ^_^

Hooray! ~ The brownie is done!

And here comes the golden brown crispy-melts-in-your-mouth banana muffin!

Kampong chicken on a platter ^_^

Healthy meal complete with leafy vegetables!

To learn baking from our domestic goddess has always been a dream wish, so i was all elated when Cass invited us to her place for the Tai Tai baking session last saturday!!

She patiently taught us how to do the brownie and banana muffins, and hey i have pictures to prove that i did "somehow" participate in the process! haha ~~ We then had sumptuous hainanese chicken rice for lunch! The kampong chicken was soooooo tender and the rice was sooooo fragrant and the entire lunch was just sooooo yummy!! (psss btw i had three bowls of rice!?!)

We all had such a great time of fellowship, and many many thanks to Cass for her hospitality, and i'll be looking forward to more tai tai sessions! :)

Will as You Wish

What happens after you die?

Have you ever had this question in your mind? Well i know i would meet our Lord Jesus in heaven, but what's going to happen to my loved ones whom i have left on earth?

This concern prompted me to attend a talk today organized by the workplace "Will as You Wish", so i can better provide for my family should i be taken away. A director from a financial advisory company came to educate us on the basic essentials on writing a will. It was very insightful, and i captured some notes to share with you guys.

A person can die with a will (testate) or without a will (intestate). If a will is present, the distribution of assets will be done according to the will; otherwise it will be done according to the Intestate Succession Act (ISA) instituted by the Singapore law.

In a nutshell, the ISA states that if a person dies, his assets will be shared equally among his spouse and children. If there is no spouse, then everything goes to children; if no children, then everything goes to spouse. The logic is not difficult to understand, but the only caveat is that the ISA does not provide for living parents. Suppose you have two living parents, spouse and children, all your assets will be distributed equally among the spouse and children only, and parents get nothing. Unbelievable, but this is indeed how the law works. Thus, an added motivation to write a will is so that you can give specific instructions to provide for your parents should you go before them.

The benefits of writing a will is multi-fold. A will makes it quicker and cheaper to ensure your assets are distibuted according to your wishes. With a will, things may get done within a 6 month period; without one it may take up to 1.5 years in the least!! This is because it gets very laborious for the government to trace all the living descendants in order to comply with the ISA requirements.

The following assets/properties cannot be distributed in a will (means no point to write them in your will):
a. CPF Monies - this is done by nomination
b. Joint Tenancy Property - by law the surviving tenant inherits the property
c. Sect 73 Insurance Policy - this is done by indicating the beneficiary at the point of purchase
d. Children Trust Policies - by nature of the policy the child is the beneficiary
e. Assigned Insurance Policy (e.g. mortgages)
f. NTUC Income Insurance Policy - this is also done by nomination
g. Trust Accounts (didn't really catch what this is)

When drafting your will, it should include the following elements:
1. Revokation Clause - say something to revoke all previous wills or instructions (if any)
2. Appointment of Executor/Trustee/Guardian
3. Special Instructions (e.g. i wish to be buried in Mount Faber)
4. Asset Distribution Clause (e.g. x% to Mom, y% to Wife, z% to kid)
5. Common Disaster Clause - indicate what happens if your executor or beneficiary dies with you
6. Signature (Yours + TWO Witnesses)

Doesn't sound that very difficult to write a will, and there are one hundred reasons why everyone should have one. I'm glad i've become more educated in this area :)

Balik Kampong

Hubby is back in Penang with our pastor to conduct a sunday school bible class for co-workers and brethrens. Since 2003, our pastor has been developing our own sunday school bible materials, and so far he has completed resources for 36 out of the total 66 books in the bible.

By God's grace, He has opened the way for us to share the materials with fellow believers in North Malaysia. We are expecting around 40 sunday school teachers being equipped by the course, and subsequently teaching the bible to their sunday school students. If each teacher has 10 students, we hope this will be a blessing to at least 400 students!!

They flew out today and will be back on Saturday. I would have loved to tag along but air travel is not advisable in the first trimester. We covet your prayers for a spirit of keen learning from the participants, and that the Lord may open spiritual hearts and minds to understand the truths and to enable ability to pass it on. May all glory be to our Lord!

1/4 of a Milestone

Super "wu hua" book because can use for FIVE years!

Inspiring mag from Mel ... i also want to be a HOT MAMA!

Cute kiddie cards to compliment the baby resources!

According to records, i am into my 10th week today. Come to think of it, a full term is just but a mere 40 weeks, and i'm already at a 1/4 of the milestone?!? It's like being at the 100m mark of a 400m race! Totally incredible and inconceivable.

Am i ready to be a mother?? (the motion picture of a non-stop crying toddler making me totally insane always plays in my head ^_^) I pray to God everyday to help me cope with motherhood, a big unknown finally about to unfold in my life.

God always answers prayers in the most unexpected way - today i received a super early bday gift from SC and EC, and my first mother's day gift from Mel. Guess what? Both are baby related resources!! Looks like a clear sign from God saying "Read up! Learn from others! Stop worrying!" hehehe

Thank you my dear friends. The book/mag is really very precious to me, and will certainly be very very helpful on this journey. Will definitely share any tips i glean from them! Thank you! ~

All in a Day

A hearty serving of MeePok for breakfast around 830am.

By 11am, i gobbled down the yummy Ban Mian.

For afternoon tea break, i felt so blessed to eat Koo Kee Yong Tao Foo. I didn't show you the noodles!

Can't live without supper, and Tiong Shan Porridge has become a favourite haunt!

Of course there must be side dish (tofu) to go with porride la! ~

Fooooood is still the buzz word in my daily life .... it comes on every couple of hours hehe. I read a book that says a pregnant woman in the first trimester should not be putting on weight. But since i've been eating like nobody's business, i've put on 1 kg per week for the past 3 weeks!?

Everybody comforted me saying the weight gain is making up for the low weight i've always had in the past. Well i certainly hope this is normal. At the rate i'm eating i'm afraid i can't go through the door by the time i deliver. Anyway, i think you know what i mean as the pictures do the talking.

Convocation

Convocation was held in NTU Auditorium.

Picture shows a student giving a thanksgiving speech.

11May now has a significant meaning for both eric and i. On this day, by the grace of God, eric graduated from the Singapore Bible College with a Diploma in Christian Ministry!! He will start serving as a full time Assistant Pastor in the church with immediate effect.

We can still clearly remember the questions we had one year ago: where should eric study? what does it mean to move to Singapore? will he survive in SBC? which church would we serve in? what does the future hold for us?

Trust and obey, as the lovely familiar hymn goes, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. Indeed, we made every step in the past year with nothing but faith, and the Lord has blessed us richly in every way. Helping us settle down in Singapore, enabling eric into SBC, equipping him in His Word, bringing us to serve in a new church, giving eric the privilege to serve Him full time, in all things we saw the mighty Hand of God leading us like a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

Personally, i am so thankful for the Lord's grace. I still remembered a prayer which i did in my younger days: O Lord, i pray that i will marry someone who loves You. God is a very humourous God, He answered my prayer in multiple folds, and gave me someone who is willing to serve full time! I'm overwhelmed with joy that we have this privilege to serve our King of kings! This is a lesson precious for me, that i should be watchful as I pray, because the Lord always answers in abundance! Haha ~~