Wednesday 30 April 2008

Happy Birthday Mama

Mama,
God has given you the blessing of being a mom.
You are our everyday loving mama and our hero,
You´re the greatest Mama ever,
Thank you mama for giving us life and love,
May his grace, peace and love surround you on your birthday.
Making you feel as special as you truly are.

Into a precious vessel God pours tenderness and love, an understanding heart, and all the joy a child dreams of. He gives her His compassion and a kindness like no other, then wraps her in a quiet strenght and gently calls her MOTHER.

"I will bless her, and she shall be a Mother" - Genesis 17:16

Happy 63 Birthday Mama

1st May...

May God bless you, may your joys be many on your special day.

We love you Mama!!

Monday 28 April 2008

Award!.

Thanks Nessa for forwarding me this friendly blogger award. I am feel so honoured. In fact I have a few more awards from Hilda, Ann, Comey-Lote and another one from you Nessa. I haven´t got the time to do them yet..I´ll do that once time permit okay.. So while I have a little bit spare time I like to tayang my award from Nessa which I got today...

and I'd like to present this award to the following wonderful fellow blogger friends.

Hilda, Ann, Comey-Lote, Judy, Syari, Nell, Shexr and Rose

Happy Blogging Guys!

Thursday 24 April 2008

Still No Buyer!

We have been trying to sell our house in Schwandorf for what seems like forever now. We are having real difficulty selling it. The house has been on the market for more than a year now..lama sudah. This has been bugging us. We bought a lot in another town (Bad Abbach) a year ago and want to move there within this year (There are a few good reasons why we would like to move if possible soonest). We really look forward for a new start baini. Since we bought the lot, we started putting this house in the market. We have two different house agents but till now nothing has happened. It is rather disappointing. Has the market died here? We are not asking too much money for this house by any means, we dropped the price so much already now... We have been posting our advertisements in the local news paper once in every two weeks, we have lots of lookers but so far no takers.. We´re kinda getting scared that we will never be able to sell out this house. We have been trying to make this house appeal to others, everytime when people call for appointment...I try my best to make it look neat, sometimes I do feel like a slave in my own house oh... I have to clean, clean, clean all the time..Recently we painted the wall new with neutral colour, tidy up the basement, attic, garage and recently we just freshen the landscape. Since Spring just came, we also put some pots of spring flowers in front for attraction konon!. We have done a lot in this place and hoping it will be a whole lot more attractive to buyers. The house contractor started bugging us like increasing the price if we don´t build with them soonest! Damn! Its really bugging and giving us stress. They suggested to to build our new house now and rent this place out. But this will cause a HUGE inconvenience to us (in terms of $$$). They keep working on their theory that if we move out, this house will be sold. But what if it doesn´t? What if we don’t find a buyer? Well, I believe we should always hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If they´re gonna push too much we have to pull out the deal with them. Its not a fun option but I guess it is the only option. Other thing is we have paid our architect with a big amount of money, if we draw back the money will be gone just like that...will be gone with the wind..will be burned..adui hopefully tidalah..I am still praying and keeping my finger crossed. Recently we decided to asked the house agents to take out our house from their list. We cannot give more extension anymore..it seems to be no luck!. (mungkin orang tida mau bayar commission, its quite a lot of money). I just hope we will be able to find buyers with our own effort now. The house contractor promised they would help to advertise our house in the internet soon. We hope we don´t have to wait too much longer (infact we have been waiting forever). I am hoping things will work out for us. Let´s see.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Mommies´s Gathering

On Thursday was a day of relaxation for me, a fine day for us (mommies). We planned to meet and have makan session that day at my house. It was nobody´s birthday or any celebration..saja saja to get together since we haven´t meet for a while. But it was snowing suddenly on Thursday morning, it was bitterly cold and wet. I got the shock when I saw thick snow on the bathroom window that early morning, snow again? Fed up!. A newly mom, Annastasia couldn´t make it pushing her little baby in the pram cause it was raining and cold so we decided to change the venue in the last minute...we went makan at her apartment instead. Normally we do pot-luck style, everyone bring food from home but this time I volunteered to bring most of the dishes, they were lucky because I was in the mood to cook hehe...the other moms just brought their homemade sambal and chillies and some titbits. After dropping Kenneth in the kindergarden I rushed home to prepare a few dishes, just some fast one, I had to catch time, we only had a few hours to spend, I didn´t have so much time thinking and prepare proper dishes...so simple ja lah...we met at 10.00 morning while our bigger children are in school or kindergarden. We had our BRUNCH more to say..For 2 to 3 hours we had mommies happy hours without our bigger children bugging...bah we shared some good asian food while chatting (or gossiping? haha..) and laughing. Most of my crime partners in town are Indonesian mommies...I am always the only Malaysian, so the conversation mostly in Indonesian language..sometimes I do feeling quite tired trying to follow their conversation and only contribute occasionally myself, I was busy with the food, after knowing them for a few years kadang saya pun ter-ikut ikut sudah ber-slang Indon ni. I think I am the only lost Malaysian in town since Lilian moved back to Miri (sob..sob), for good last year (What a shame ah Lilian). I am thankful to you for the friendship that we have made in this town, life was enjoyable especially when we made our own makan session kan? Ingat lagi kau? We used to make gathering with loaddds of food, we prepared food for the whole village padahal yg datang only a few people hehe..and we ate like pigs of course hehe...Those were the days..I miss those days lah. Well, we had a good time on Thursday, but I hate it when I momentarily lost all the control and pig out like a death row inmate on his last meal, I ate so much again, but one just couldn´t resist when seeing good food with good company. Guilty? I had to pay 45 minutes work out in the evening for what I have been eaten that day. Felt so good after that, Yep!. Now looking for the next makan session hehe. Konon mau kurus ceh!.

Monday 14 April 2008

Our Little Man Sick Again.

I miss writing but just couldn´t squeeze my time to update this blog for a while, I did come sometimes (peeking) for a short while, just enough time to answer some messages in the shout box (don´t want to be ignorance) but my brain department was not was functioning, the reason was my youngest (Kyle) was sick again last week (he had bronchitis), this is the second time he fell sick this year, once was in February (winter) and now again (Early Spring). I guess it´s because of the change of weather, we had lots of rain and quite windy too. When the weather gets milder, he can easily get infected. This nasty bronchitis never seem to leave my son alone. If only I have a magic hand to take away the bronchitis from him forever!. Thank God this time it didn´t take so long until he recovered. His cough only last for for 4-5 days after treatment. When he was still a baby it took him like 14 days to totally cured. I feel so blessed that he is OK again now and hope the worst (which wasn't all that bad) is behind him. It´s stressful and frustrating when Little Man gets sick. It breaks our hearts when he cough until he puked!, night time is the worst!, he woke up often coughing and discomfort and crying. I got up every 4 hours to do the inhalation!. Day time I walked like a zombie! I didn´t really care, I am not complaining, I am willing to do anything for him, my son´s health is what matter most!. That´s what moms are for right. Most of the time we have to hear him wheezing so clearly..kesian betul and I hate the sound!. Macam saja sia mau rub and clear his lung....but there is nothing much we could do, he was born with a suppressed immune system and weak lung. BTW, he developed a slight fever, I brought him to our our doctor, have him checked up..and thank God his lung was CLEAR!!. That´s all I need to hear. So we he didn´t need to have antibiotic treatment this time. I, at the same time don´t want to expose him to antibiotics if not necessary.. These few days he is back to be lively, playful, and wild again. His spirits are high and he is always in a good mood. He is doing much better but he still continue using the inhaler with some medicines prescribed by our doctor. Eventhough he gets better but I think we have to keep using the inhaler the whole Spring using saline drops (Salt and water) just to be in the safe side. The Salt and water helps to clear and break down mucus from his lung to help him to breathe easily. Its hard for some mommies when kids are sick right. I must admit, its tough and I do feel helpless and worry sometimes, its really heart breaking to see our kids struggle when they´re so little but I do hope and we pray Kyle´s body will build strong immune system as he grows up. Grow to be a healthy boy!.

Saturday 5 April 2008

Water Splashing In Spa!

Ones we woke up in the morning last Friday our dad suggested to go to Kurfürstenbad (Indoor and Outdoor Water Park with Spa) in Amberg (a little beautiful town nearby) just 15 minutes driving from our place. We haven´t been there for a while especially during cold season when kids were sick a lot. Kurfürstenbad is a great place for all ages. Wether you want to relax, want to stay healthy or you´re looking for entertainment, you will be stunned when you come to this place because of the special roof you will feel like you are in a tropical island. It has a very pleasant environment, tropical-feeling place, sunlight pour through the great window above onto the great pool. Yep, Kurfürstenbad is the big complex. The pools is 25sqm...for me this place is phenominal. It has a great open area, Sauna rooms, stone-made Jacuzzis, and cushy beach chairs surrounding middle pool...Not to mention CLEAN. Kids can enjoy the 82 meter long big slides, Water canal, Niagara Water fall, slides for babies and swimming hot pool for babies and baby shift canal. Our boys are water loving boys so they definitely had a blast that day. They really enjoyed some wonderful water play (Water playing is simply pleasurable for young children). Kyle enjoyed exploring water by splashing, pouring and spilling in the baby swimming pool with other toddlers while Kenneth tried the slides, water fall and even learned floating a tried a few attempts to swim with his dad (I guess it´s time to send him for swimming lesson). As for myself, everytime I come to this place, I wanted to try sauna but until now I never really dare stepping inside any sauna room in Germany. This is because the Germans are very serious about Sauna!. If I want to go to Sauna in Kurfürstenbad, I MUST be totally unclothed in the sauna, the only reason refrain me from going to sauna, I decided to maintain my modesty!. Nobody is allowed to enter Sauna with swimsuit or swimming trunk because of sanitary reason. In the Sauna areas one has to walk around naked with complete strangers. Additionally, there is no male sauna or female sauna, these are all coed..(tend to be unisex). I cannot take it haha..I am a very old fashion asian woman. Sauna sounds enjoyable, it is supposed to be the pinnacle of all relaxing things, its a place of stress relieving, immune system strengthening, therapeutic qualities, but I am not quite ready to strip off and join the other Germans in the sauna, maybe no one would bat an eyelid at me since they´re used to it but maybe I cannot help not to stare..observe hahaha....so I decided just to soak myself in Jacuzzi whenever I go there. Probably I will try Sauna one day when I have a brave heart hehe..

Wednesday 2 April 2008

The Power Of Love

In this post, I would like to share the story of an extraordinary love that a father has for his son. It is the story of Dick Hoyt and his son Rick. 66-year old Dick climbs mountains, runs to the ends of the earths and swims across oceans to give his son Rick, a better life. When Rick was born, he suffered from Cerebral Palsy (as a result of the umbilical cord being caught around his neck at birth). Doctors told Dick that his son would never be able to walk or talk and that it would be best to forget about him and leave him in an institution. He would be nothing more than a vegetable for life. Yet, Dick was determined to bring his son up like any other child and wanted to ensure that he was not deprived of anything in life as a result of his condition. One time, when Rick told his dad that his dream was to compete in a marathon, his Dad pulled, pushed and carried him all the way in their first race. When Rick told his Dad that he felt that his disability disappeared whenever he was competing, it was all that his Dad needed to hear. Today, at age 66, Dick and his son Rock (aged 44) have competed together in 950 races, 60 marathons and 6 Iron Man Triathlons. But the most inspiring part of his story is that Rick has successfully graduated from Boston University and his an inspiration to millions around the world. Watch the video of his story here and be awed like I have. Please check out the full video ya... What would you do to give the best to your loved ones?? Watch The Video This is the most insperational video I've ever seen. I'll watch it everyday, just to get the thrill over and over again of how much a person can love another.