Allen's 55th Birthday

Last evening we celebrated my youngest brother Allen's birthday. He turned 55 and invited all family members currently in town to a sumptious dinner.
Three generations of the family were present as can be seen in the collage below.

 

The family get-together on this occasion was special, not only because Allen had turned 55 but also his daughter and her fiance will be tying the knot next weekend. The wedding will be attended by relatives from far and wide who will be flying into the city in the next few days.

All of us are looking forward to wedding as well as meeting up with relatives from abroad. Allen had a very happy evening surrounded by his loved ones and extended family. My li'l brother isn't so little anymore!

Into the Next Chapter of Their Lives

This year ends on a bitter sweet note. My two grandchildren who have been living with us ever since they returned from the United Kingdom when one was just over a year old and the other a 2 month old baby are leaving us to continue their secondary school education in Singapore. They had to sit for a competitive examination before they could be placed in Singapore schools. Praise the Lord they secured places albeit in different schools.

From a sheltered life, where they were sent and fetched everywhere, they will now have to catch buses to their respective schools in unfamiliar areas and at the end of the school day, return to their apartment to cook their own lunch, unless they eat at the school canteen. Quite a quantum leap, I must say. However I expect they will rise to the occasion as they are big enough to look after themselves, although in their grandma's eyes, they will still be my little ones.

They returned home ( my home ) on Christmas night to unwrap their Christmas gifts which had been waiting for them.

Chloe loves books and she will keep this for the flight to Singapore.

Two days later, we all went out for my grandson's favorite dish, Peking Duck.

This is a dish where the roasted duck skin is eaten, rolled in a pancake with sweet sauce, spring onions and cucumber. A dish of fried kropok or prawn crackers is the starter. The drum sticks are carved out, one for Chloe and the other for her grandpa. The rest of the meat goes to make soup ( with tomatoes, soya bean cake and salted mustard greens ) and to fry with noodles. It's a very substantial dinner.

Stephen savored every bite. It will be a long time before he has another Peking Duck dinner, i.e. if he returns to visit us during the school holidays. This is the home where he grew up and both his grandpa and I hope that our grandchildren will come back often to see us.

Meanwhile, there's always Facebook and the telephone.

We wish them the best in the next chapter of their lives and pray for God's blessings and protection in every step of their journey through life. They have always done us proud and I'm confident that they will both continue to do so.

Last evening, the stork flew in with the latest member of our extended family. Miss Ria Lee made her debut in Hong Kong much earlier than anticipated. She couldn't wait for her grandma to get there before announcing her arrival.

Both mother and daughter are doing well and tomorrow morning, grandma will be winging her way north to see them both. My niece is now the proud mother of an older boy and a baby girl.

Early next month there is the much-awaited marriage of another niece, the only daughter of my youngest brother. She flew in from Melbourne this morning and the next couple of weeks leading to her wedding will be most exciting for her. Her dad has spruced up the house with a new coat of paint and new furniture too.

The wedding date coincides with the birthday of my younger sister, also from Melbourne so it will be a double celebration. I'm eagerly looking forward to this most auspicious day as it will be a big reunion of siblings, relatives and friends.

Shortly after the wedding will be the next big celebration, the advent of the Lunar New Year, heralding the arrival of the Year of the Dragon. In fact December 22 is
the beginning of winter in the Lunar year and this is marked by the eating of "Tong Yuen" ( colorful round balls of glutinous flour with different sweet fillings, floating in a ginger based sweet syrup ).

Eating a bowl of tong yuen signifies that one is a year older.

Life is full of pretty rainbows.

The sheer relief of getting a flight so that I could see my daughter before she goes into the operating theatre for her surgery was so great that I almost cried.

She had just told me that a 5cm cyst in her ovary would have to be removed in a couple of days. I couldn't get any flight before the date of the surgery as all flights had been sold out! The earliest I could get was the day of the surgery itself and by the time I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, she had already been admitted into the hospital.

Praise the Lord I was able to see her before her surgery. My sister and I prayed to the Lord for divine protection and to guide the surgeon's hands. We prayed for mnny daughter's safe surgery and recovery. A couple of days ago I had also requested for pragers from my church congregation.

It was a nail-biting wait and the time seemed to tick by so slowly before my daugher was wheeled back into her room. Praise the Lord! She was drowsy, a post-surgery phase.

The doctor explained that there wasn't a 5 cm cyst in the ovary but there were 3 smaller cysts in the vicinity which she had removed. These have been sent to the lab for tests and my daughter will know the results when she returns for the review.

Praise the Lord for his mercy and his loving care. My daughter is now recuperating at home. I'm boiling her special nourishing soups and making sure that she has healthy food choices during this period of recovery. I am so grateful for all the prayers and support and most of all I'm very happy that my daughter is getting better and stronger. This is truly the rainbow after the clouds of uncertainty and anxieties.