Serious Campers

The 1st year

Time flies, in 10 days it will be Iwan's 4th birthday, I still remember when we celebrated his 1st birthday at Lemon Garden, Shangri-La. He had a football jersey and a football cake but I believed the daddy wanted it more than him, :-).

He actually befriended some kids that we did not know at the lobby and they seems to get along very well.

Faith

I was baptised Faith, Easter 2002.

When I walked down the aisle in church on my wedding day, 22 May 1999, God was there because I remembered my challenge to him a few years earlier in a mamak stall in Jalan Ipoh. Annie, a good friend of mine was sharing her faith with me, I was definitely in the "low" of my life then. When Annie told me to talk to God and that he will listen, I said to her, well I have spoken to him but I have not felt his presence in my life and I then I added, if God really exist then let him show me thru my husband, let me marry in church. Annie may not remember what I said but that day on my wedding day, I remembered....

God has been kind to me and my family and many a times I forget to thank Him. I named my son Iwan, which carries the meaning, God is gracious.

Wannabee wanna car

It must have been since time inmemorial that my dear husband had wanted a volvo, that is how my wedding car was a volvo; a volvo 122; i liked it - although it was more "in" to have been a S class or 7 series, i liked it. I must remember to insert the picture in when I get it scanned, back in 1999, we did not own a digital camera (oh yes! instead of a diamond ring I got a Nikon F70 for my wedding). We have since sold the car.
Six years later, after a toyota, a fiat and a proton and after Jane bought her S40 and Amran his S60, he finally pruchased another volvo, this time a S80...with a broken mirror, stained interior and apparently belonged to a director of a company. We bought the car under duress - a call from my babysitter that Iwan is having high fever and asking us when will we be back. For a man who sometimes can't make up him mind what to eat for dinner, he was surprisingly confident in spending a 118K on a 4 year old piece of metal on wheels in under 20 minutes. I said a silent prayer as we again sold our soul to the bank. Wanna bees buying a Jones's car with 110% loan, ha ha ha, seriously he took a little less than that.
Above everything else, I can sense his happiness and satisfaction, (you can say "shiok sendiri"), can't remember him being this happy, not even on our wedding day! I am actually glad because I think he has worked hard and he deserves it. I always believe we need to be happy in whatever we do, and if there is something we really want, never ever settle for second best, life is too short. Well, happy till the next "bill" for owning a continental car comes along, that is! And will I ever get to drive the volvo?

Away from my baby

I was recently in Scottsdale, AZ for work, that was the longest I was away from my son in almost 4 years. I was both excited and apprehensive of what to expect.
I missed him teribbly and I still woke up in the wee hours of the morning all ready to make his bottle of milk. What I learnt from this trip however was not how much I missed him, or that I am sorry for being upset with him for being naughty at home and that I should spent more time with him....rather a happy thought that he will be well cared for with or without me by a lot of people who love him.

Boon Pin in Melaka, 2000

Khalil Gibran - The Prophet, on marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said,
'And what of Marriage, master?'
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Across the fence

Aunty Ho, Uncle Bob, Adeline cha cha and Cheryl cha cha used to stay next door till Iwan was 2 years old. Iwan adores Aunty Ho and she loves him dearly. Now they stay a few lanes away and they are still Iwan's 2nd family.

This photo was taken across the fence early 2002.

The "men" in my life....Aug 2005, Penang Mutiara

Iwan and Dylan

Khalil Gibran - The Prophet, on children

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.