Faith, Hope and our Little Poppet

Thought I'd record this just to laugh at a few years down the road.

We've been watching the news about Michael Jackson's death in the last week, especially since my helper Lily is a big fan of his. Elliot wasn't interested at all - he'd keep asking me to change the channel to Nickelodeon - whereas Emma would try to get into the conversations Lily and I have.

She asked why she didn't know any of the songs he had sung after we mentioned quite a few. Finally, when I said "Black or White", she excitedly went, "Oh! I know that one," and started singing.

Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world!

The kids enjoyed it so much that we watched it twice in two days, two weekends ago. And they're pestering me to take them again!

I lost this post a few months ago, but somehow it just surfaced today!

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(Originally written in Feb 09)

It's been hectic since the year started and on most days I come back drained of almost all energy. I've also been nursing a bad throat since Chinese New Year and it became a full-blown one two weeks ago when I completely lost my voice, coupled with some other stuff like viral conjuntivitis (flu-related), diarrhoea and fever. Thank God I've since gotten my voice back and the kids didn't get it as bad as I did.

So I was on my way back from work last Wednesday, feeling a little worn-out and tired, both physically and mentally, when I spotted the most beautiful rainbow across the sky. In fact, there were two! A fainter one in the background, beautiful, nonetheless. I quickly drove back to my mum-in-law's, and all I could think of was to share that lovely sight with the kids. It was such a nice surprise when I turned into her lane and spotted it again, right behind my in-law's place.
I quickly went in and called the kids out. They were so excited to see a real rainbow - I don't think they've ever seen one in the sky before. Emma asked me where it 'started from'. I have no idea, I told her honestly, but said we could try to find out. On impulse, we jumped into the car and drove down the lane, 'following' it, looking for some answers. It was everywhere! (Apparently it was really everywhere - almost everyone on our little island had seen it!)


We had a great time chasing the rainbow. We didn't manage to find the start of the rainbow, nor the end, but as the sky darkened and it faded, we decided it was time to go back and the kids concluded the rainbow was tired as well. I was just so glad to be able to share that special moment with them. My daughter reminded me, A rainbow is God's covenant, mummy. Yes indeed, a promise of hope in these bleak times.

Finally got down to taking photos for updating of the kids' passports. The last trip to Malacca, the customs officer reminded us that it's about time, after staring at them for quite a while. Currently, both kids' passport photos were taken when they were about 2 months old! Now, to find out if I can do it online. Anyone knows the procedure?

Here's another song they brought back from school.


It's nice that Emma was taught by the same teacher last year, so they share some similar experiences. In this way, whenever Elliot comes back with something new he learns, Emma is able to join him and they have loads of fun going through it over and over again. I thought this song was really cute, especially the actions. But the 'botak head' part - I can't figure out if they actually sing it in school (!) or my kids put it in themselves (!!).

Elliot started pre-nursery this year and so far, it has turned out a lot better than I imagined it would. All this while, he is definitely the more clingy one (particularly to me), so we decided that Clarence was going to be the one to take him to school on the first few days. It worked pretty well, and although I feel bad that I wasn't by his side those few days, I guess it wouldn't have been such a success if I had been there.

According to his teacher, who was coincidentally Emma's teacher last year, he cried a little the first day he was unaccompanied, and at snack time asked for second and third helpings, but after that, "no problem already"! She also gave feedback that he was "vocal and responsive", unlike Emma, who refused to open her mouth for the first 6 months of school. In fact, she was so quiet that the teacher thought she couldn't speak yet. It was only in the second half of the year that her true colours (some of it!) showed...and then I think she wished Emma really couldn't speak.

Anyhow, I'm glad they've both settled in pretty nicely and I just hope that they will be happy in school...for the next 15 (at least!) years. Gosh. Poor kids!

Well, back to my main point of this post, It was about a year ago that I uploaded this video of Emma reciting some memory verses she had learnt in school. Last week, Elliot came home and when I asked him what he learnt in school that day, he recited the same verse from Philippians 4:4.

15 minutes late, only because I couldn't seem to post an entry to littlepoppet earlier.

Clarence's colleague passed him a gorgeous Mulan costume for Emma a few days ago. It looked too big but she wanted to try it. When she put it on, she just started dancing and singing the night away! I think it's the flowy sleeves and all that made her feel the role.