Crocodile or Hippo?

When we were at Ikea, where Sarah spent most her time playing at the waiting area, there were many of "these" hung on the ceiling....What do you think this is?

Sarah pointed at those and said "crocodile!"

Daddy, on the other hand, insisted it was "hippo!"

I disagree with daddy, and told Sarah she was right! Hmm... Anyway, I was browsing Ikea's website this morning and found out that both Sarah & mummy are right! LOL!

Hey daddy, it IS a CROCODILE! Eventhough it is a stuff toy and can be different in color (depending on the designer...), they can't fool kids! Daddy said it was a "green hippo"... Hehehe.... But i dont think they will change the "main" color of the animal just because it is "a design"...

Take for example... pink = pig, green = crocodile, brown = bear/dog, yellow = duck, etc.... ;o)

[+video] My weekend...

Well, i didn't really achieve as much as I hoped for (from my TO-DO list) last weekend... BUT... i didn't feel that something was missing. Praise God! I guess my heart was quite settled, compared to previous weekend. I was able to rest (physically, mentally & emotionally). Thanks to hubby for taking care of Sarah when I had to sleep during the afternoons. It was a relaxing weekend (kinda...), but i guess the main thing achieved was having to spend time with Sarah & daddy, and also manage to do some shopping at Ikea... :p

Sarah @ Ikea...


Sarah was happily playing on her own until...

Well, I guess from here, we can see that she's pretty adaptable to having new friends!

Sarah... busy as a bee @ home...

The cute pink jumper was a gift from Uncle Kenny & Aunt Rebecca for her 1st birthday!
She loves wearing it because she knows she looks pretty & cute in it! Hahaha... :)

The man who loved unconditionally...

Today is a very special day... it's 17 August and it was my late dad's birthday! Here's wishing him in heaven a very Happy Birthday! If he's still living today, he'll be 70 years old. :)

Last night, my dad-in-law came back from his weekly badminton session with his friend, and upon reaching home, Sarah would "help" him with his racket bag or water bottle... it was a really cute sight. I couldn't help but remember my dad when he was still alive many many years ago. My mum was a baby-sitter and sometimes she babysits more than 1 or 2 kiddos at a time. There was a particular season when she took care of 2 girls (of the same age) since they were babies. As they grew up, one of them somehow got more attention from people around than the other. Reason being (I believe)... she looked a lot like a "gwailo" and being gwailo-look-alike, she looked so cute and everyone who saw her would say how cute she was and would love to carry her, etc... the other little one looked very much like a china-doll. Attention wasn't given as much though... (well, that was how much I could remember - i think i was only about 15-16 years old then...)

I remembered everyday, when daddy came home from work, he would carry the little one that had lesser attention. Somehow we saw that he loved her more. He carried her out "jalan-jalan" almost every evening. The love she showed the little girl was amazing. He came home from work and that little girl would wait for him to be carried. My daddy came back from work everyday by bus, and so little girl had a new bus ticket from daddy everyday. hehe...

I believe till today, that little girl had a special place in my daddy's heart.

When I saw little Sarah with Yeh-Yeh last night, I remembered my daddy and that little girl... wishing that my daddy was here too to carry Sarah in his arms. Eventhough he is now in heaven, I do believe that our little Sarah has a special place in his heart too. When Sarah grows older I will surely tell her about kong-kong in heaven who loves little children like her.

Here, I would like to say "Thank you, daddy"... for leaving behind such legacy in our lives... the love you've shown to those who was a little less fortunate... was truly amazing... truly unconditional. Happy Birthday, daddy! We love you very very much!"

YouTube: Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling

Have a great weekend, friends! :)



Man what in the world is happening down
At the end of the hall?
I don't have a clue?
Let's check this thing out!

What is happening here
Something's going on that's not quite clear
Somebody turn on the lights
We're gonna have a party
It's starting tonight

Chorus:
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling

The room is hot and that's good
Some of my friends came by from the neighborhood
The people startin' a climb the walls
Ooh it looks like everybody is having a ball

(Chorus)

Come on!

Everybody start to lose control
When the music is right
If you see somebody hangin' around
Don't get uptight
The only thing we want to do tonight
Is go 'round and 'round
And turn upside down
Come on! Let's get down!

So come on! Let's get loose
Don't hold back
'Cause ain't no use
Hard to keep your feet on the ground
'Cause when we like to party
We only want to get down

(Chorus)

(Scream, whistles) Say what?
Can't stop now
Just getting started
Everybody clap your hands
Come on
Everybody let's dance

Chorus:
(Oh, oh, oh, oh)
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
Baby, baby
We gonna dance all night
Till the broad daylight
Keep on movin', keep on groovin'
Oh yeah
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
(Begin fade)
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling...

Nice ending for the week...

Yippie! TGIF!

How do i feel now, as compared to earlier this week?

"Oh, what a feeling.... When we're dancing on the ceiling..." hehehehe.... :P

No, i guarantee you that it wasn't due to PMS! (LOL!)

So, as I shared earlier on, it was due to stress that I went through what I went through this week since the weekend. All this that happened to me, both in my conscious and sub-conscious mind, is so vital for me to learn time management as well as character management. It's not something that is totally new to me, but I know the approach that I use has to be different this time...

When I shared about my "unknown reason" for my troubled-mind (& heart & soul), my sifu, Andrew, says... "Well.. you've got just under a month to get that under control..."

I was thinking to myself at that time, "What is it that needs my attention at this time? What is it that needs to be under control?" I know it is something I have to deal with before I "close" this chapter in my life.

Days later as I realized the amount of stress that I have to manage, I know it's a phase I need to go through to step up & move out from where I am.

Again, I shall say to my readers & friends... do pray for me and wish me the best! A new path is awaiting me... and I know there are lots of challenges ahead of me. How much I achieve would depend on how well I take it.

Some of you may wonder... what's this richrach's babbling about? Well, I'll keep you updated with what I'm going through in the coming posts... hahaha... IF my plan succeed, I shall allocate some time to blog about this new journey in the coming weekend... :p

On being stressed up... Part 2 - and just one more thing!

BLOGGING!

There are just some things that I would really love to blog about, but cant find the time to do it yet. That thing! That one thing... is taking a space in my mind. Also, another reason of having peace-less-ness within me. Have you felt that before, my fellow blogger pals?

Oh boy... I wonder whether this is some kind of "mess" that I need to clear too. Perhaps it is... I'm praying that this coming weekend will be a fruitful weekend for me to complete some tasks in my TO-DO list. Besides the work, it's some part of my personal life that needs some attention! Wish me all the best in this too!

On being stressed up...

I think I finally found the reason of my "peace-less-ness"... It is a simple and direct reason, something I go through many times before but the only difference is my sub-conscious went ahead before me... it's called "STRESS"! LOL!

During the weekend and right up till Tuesday, little did I realized that stress has taken a toll of me. There was just much to be done yet so little time. I kinda lost touch with how fast time flies, and suddenly I realized it was only 2+ weeks before the move... WOW! The list of things to do can be quite overwhelming. It's time to accelerate some things... I sure hope I will still find time to blog. Hehehe... Wish me all the best! :)

What NOT to do on a Monday night before you sleep...

Watch a horror movie!

No, not because I ended up with nightmares or anything near that. In fact, I didnt even finish the movie! Hubby forced me to go sleep as 1) horror movie is not my kind of show... 2) it was getting late and it's past Sarah's bedtime...

This morning... I had to deal with the consequences of my actions.... *sigh* I'm just so tired - physically & mentally... Dont know how to continue the day.... it's only 8am+.... HELP!!!

What's missing?

My reply to those who ask me about my weekend... "Something's missing..."

To be honest, I really don't know what's missing... something's just missing and I have yet to find out. There is this troubling thoughts and feeling that something is missing in my (life)? It started since Friday... Hmm... a "mess" that I've yet to clean up, but what mess? I did my laundry, I cleaned the house, but something is still telling me that there's some "mess" that needs to be cleaned up (or perhaps something I need to do) but ain't sure what is that... It's sad not to know what it is at the moment... Sad and frustrating... *sigh*

Could it be something related to my current job? Or my future job? Or my ministry? Or my "to-do" list? Or.. or... hmm... or perhaps just be still?

I pray that the LORD will reveal to me His thoughts and heart... as the peace is yet to find its place in my heart.

Have you ever had those feelings before? :-/

Some useful stuff we bought during this flu season...

Still down with flu... and hopefully recovering fast... i'm still wearing a mask in the office as I am typing this... Just to share a little about what we got for the house and on the go since I got this flu...

1. Dettol brand disinfectant spray

It says on the spray... it kills flu virus!
It kills 99.9% of GERMS in seconds!
Well, how true is that? Anyway, better than none... hehehe...













2. Protex brand hand sanitizer - this is totally useful when you are on the go. Not just for the use when you're unwell but you can use it anytime and anywhere. Another common brand that you can find is Dettol brand...

It says it kills 99.9% BACTERIA...
Sounds cool.... hmm... but same like the disinfectant spray, I wonder what happen to the 0.01% bacteria? Super hard to kill i guess... something like the A H1N1.... sadly....

When animals become food....

What's this?"Pork!"

LOL! She was more advance than us to see that this "pig" has turned into "pork"! :D

We couldn't help ourselves but laughed upon hearing her reply last night. So we went on with the other "meat" in the book...

That's "Beef!"... McDonald Beef Burger!

And that is "KFC"!

And the pix on top here is... "Mutton Curry"!

She just parroted all the way.... hahahaha! :D

Getting the "Package" once again...

Currently, typing this post with a mask on my mouth... yeah, so unfortunate that I'm going through yet another phase of the "package"... it started off with a slight cough on Monday evening. By Tuesday morning, the cough got worsen and by evening, i started having fever. The joints on my whole body was aching quite terribly that I couldn't even stand straight. When I went to see the doctor on Tuesday night, my temperature was at 38 degree. Before that, ie before my shower, I think my temperature could have been at 39 or 40 degree as I was really feeling the heat all over my aching body then.

I took MC for the next day and slept almost half the day. Praise God the fever left. Doctor says if by Thursday (today) there is still fever, I need to check for A H1N1. Today, the cough still persisted and signs of flu came... :(

Praying that I will get well soon. My bro-in-law is also having the cough and some other flu symptom I think. We were both wearing masks at home... praying that the kids don't get infected by this virus. On the other hand, Daniel's daughters, Ashley & Andrea, are also having fever, cough, flu & sore throat. We must really pray for for each and every one of us for God's protection and shield against any virus. Pray for healing upon everyone who is unwell and speedy recovery too.

Converse shoes from Gwamma...

This post is dedicated to gwamma Stephanie! Gwamma & uncle just came back from Hong Kong and look what she got for Sarah!

It's a really pretty Converse shoes... I haven't seen one like tht here... or maybe i just didn't do much shopping for this as children's shoes are really expensive these days... Sarah has got "big" feet, or rather broad feet i'd say... At 14th months, she's already wearing size 5 shoes! She could wear size 4 but now, it seemed just fitting without the socks. This pair of shoes is about size 5-6... we foresee she's only able to wear it for another 3-4 months or at most 5 months... So, we will let Sarah wear it as often as she could to make it worthwhile - such pretty shoes! Sarah rocks! :)

Gwamma, thank you for such lovely gift for our little princess...

A Word for me...

Holy Spirit says to you:
My Presence is ever in you...
Magnified...
Expand - green pasture...
Lily of the valley...
River in beauty land...

Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Last Friday, a sister in my CG gave me these words. It was my first time seeing her and talking to her in cell, yet she had a Word for me. She said, "These are not my words, these are HIS words..." She wrote it in a piece of paper and gave it to me, saying that Jesus loves me, and He has so much more to tell me... personally.

Praise the Lord for assuring me from time to time that I am not alone. I thank God for being with me and for giving me this faith as the key to enter into this new path with greater joy, peace, strength & hope. Lord, I commit my life into Your hands... in Jesus' name, I pray - Amen!

[Nuffnang Malaysia] Speak Up: Public transport

When I receive an email from Nuffnang Malaysia about a contest on "Speak Up Malaysia", the first thing that came to my mind was Malaysia's public transportation! Recently when I started taking the public transport again (every now and then), my experience with this facility has proven to be from bad to worst. The "sardines" encounter is something that has been said time and again but has never really been solved. I do wonder whether I can live to see that Malaysia's public transportation will actually rise to another level - for the sake of all citizens.

If I had the money, I would get my personal car. However, looking at the number of cars on the road, I do think twice about getting another one too. I believe many people are facing this same issue as I have every single day. I hope that Malaysia will improve in their public transportation services. The question is will our voices be heard? Will my voice be heard?

I hope this MMS is clear enough to voice my opinion!

Cheeck out my previous post about my experience with the public transport here:
Post 1
Post 2

What's your Passion?

I've shared about my ONE thing in life... is that really my passion?

For most times even as I am writing this... I believe this one thing is my passion, and I'm gonna make it happen... :)

As I hear the song "What a feeling" by Irene Cara from the movie Flashdance, I was reminded of the things God has placed in my hands - the abilities, the talents, the skills I've learned, the knowledge I've gained, the wisdom I inherited (from my Father... :) hehe... all glory be to HIM!). All that I have, let them be used for His glory! I believe He will guide me and help me to be the person He wants me to be!

With God, ALL THINGS are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

So, guys, what's YOUR passion? Take your passion, and make it happen! ;o)

YouTube: What a Feeling (Flashdance)

Take your passion and make it happen...

YouTube: Forever by Hillsongs

This song has recently been a prayer from me to my Father in Heaven that I will worship Him, love Him and I will be with Him for eternity. Amen!



I'll Worship at Your Throne
Whisper my own love song
With all my heart I'll sing
For You my Dad and King
I'll live for all my days
To Put a smile on Your face
And when we finally meet
It'll be for eternity

And Oh how wide You open up Your arms
When I need Your love
And how far You would come
If ever I was lost
And You said that all You feel for me
Is undying love
That You showed me through the cross

Chorus:
I'll worship You my God
I'll worship You my God
I love You
I love You
Forever I will sing
Forever I will be with You
Be with You

YouTube: Cinderella... & in loving memory of Maria Sue Chapman

Listening to the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman in Daniel's car made me search for the music video of the song in YouTube. It also brought me to some other videos that touched my heart deeply. Here's sharing with you.....

"Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman



She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you

There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

(Chorus)

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

(Chorus)

In loving memory of Maria Sue Chapman



As I watched this video, I really felt the love that was shared in the Chapman's family. Truly, it was a tragedy that happened in the family, but only God knows why they had to go through what they went through. God bless them all with abundant strength and hope, love and joy!

Read previous post In Memory of Maria Sue Chapman.

On the job @ Operafest Children's Choir

I was working late last Friday - doing shooting in the first and foremost performance in Lightbox Theater @ Jaya One. It was a good experience being so-called one of the pioneers in this theater, together with the crew for the day - Boss Andrew, BB Daniel the Lion & Kiddo Olivia... :)

I was there at 3pm to get ready for the rehearsal and later for the performance that night. Here are some pix to share about the day....

Crew @ work...
Picture (Top-Left & Bottom-Right): Boss Andrew... garang-nya muka!
(Top-Right): Kiddo Olivia and BB Daniel
(Bottom-Left): Me... thanks to the photographer that this is my "best" picture taken for the day... :p

The Operafest Children & Mrs Kam during the rehearsal...

Not many photos here... why? I didn't charge my batteries lor... boo hoo hoo...
But no worries, there is always BB Daniel who is always ready with his camera! :)

Check out more pix in his blog about Operafest performance on 24th July & 26th July.