Today's discoveries

HAVE you ever felt glad that something you believe to be true, a gut feel, a hunch, a sense...is verified or supported by

research
others sharing your view
a line in a book
actual stories baring it out

i do

and today, i discovered--

- at breakfast with a working-class couple: Singaporeans' average income as often represented in political speeches is perceived to be inaccurate. They should average white-collar incomes and blue-ones separately.

- while reading on the internet: advertising can rightly be considered pollution and a form of imperialism writes Micah White; we live in a toxic culture that hurts us more than we realize.

- more ideas for the children on the internet such as www.seterra.com - a geography download full of quizzes to help them navigate planet earth! (Keith and I merrily clicked on Asia and filled out the countries)

- all leaders feel lonesome and the business of leading can leave one little time and permission to say....grief?

- that being loved can be hard when you are not loving

Till next time fellow earthling, human and friend!

The Teen Dance

There is this new dance i am learning. 

Darn, it's hard! Quick steps, slow steps...and so easy to step on those turning toes!

What? Step back ..now?!
O, ok...catch up and do the twist here..
Keep in step, side by side...

Fools we are all. We never believe what we are told.
Dreamers we are all. We never full awaken to the force of truth...

What did i expect? it's hard to parent a teen, tween... She's like:
40% darling girl
10% secret, spying agent gathering more and more tricks (what? from youtube?!)
20% angst, mood swings
20% rough, angular
10% total mystery [if the other bits are not mystifying & frustrating enough already...]

This is 60% majority challenge - and yes, it is major exam year! Augh!

I have read, I have loved, I have led...but in my own turf, under my nose each day, the wind blows hither and thither! O to really love and to let her really live... daily i trip all over myself trying this new dance of space-distance-privacy-connection-communication.

We have so much to say to each other and then nothing comes to mind.

We want to laugh but it happens so much less because she is growing slowly into her own skin and we don't always find the same things funny anymore.

We want to stay close - forever - but growing is forcing a needed distance.

I miss the dances we did when she was little enough for me to turn, twirl and lift off the ground.... God, help me see the crazy steps of this new dance as a joy-dare dance and swing along!

OLYMPICS! fun with kids..

The Olympics is fun to watch and even more fun when you can do some activity along with it!
Check out the nicely done worksheets which surely breaks the ho-hum of homework...but does the job too!

http://www.schoolfamily.com/print-and-use-tools/category/188-summer-olympics-printables?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ednote&utm_campaign=8_2_12_connect

ENJOY !

Each week or other, i want to share goodies i have found among the many wonderful folks in the online community that desire Truth, Beauty and Love*

For today, here is Simple Mom's Ten Ways to Use your Creativity for good.

http://simplemom.net/ten-ways-to-use-your-creativity-for-good/

Enjoy and let's bring our families and His Goodness to the world!

* this is also a facebook page you may want to visit and contribute to!

None of my business..?

It was bound to happen. Unhappy experiences where we feel things could be done better. The question is do we give the feedback - especially when it probably won't face us again? Should we improve things for -- others?

my mom with my lil girl...long ago! 

Last week i bought a hot drink from a vending machine. It was HOT! i nearly burnt my fingers. Seeing the pool admin staff walk by, i told her about the piping hot cup i was hoping not to drop on some running kid. She blandly said, 'we told them already' and then 'no' when i asked if she had a spare cup to help me hold that brimming cup-of-danger.

What? Pay for a way-too-hot drink, risk burning my fingers, needing to figure how to feed it to my kid...and this attitude? I admit i got too tired to implement my thought to ask her to put up a notice that says 'beware! drinks are very hot!

The other times it had to do with school. My son was leaving kindergarten so it won't impact him; but the school needed to know that some of what it did was counter-productive. Such as having a library period which lasted like 5 minutes where kids are whizzed in and out, their library cards, books all managed by the teacher...and how are they supposed to develop a love and respect for books?

I told the teacher anyway.

Because, we can each help make the systems work better. It may not seem to benefit me directly but then:
1.  I am contributing to my society's betterment.
2.  I model social consciousness for my child.
3.  It strengthens the community when communicated kindly.
4.  Everyone needs to know their work is noticed and taken seriously.

So at risk of being a kaypo (busybody), it's good to voice concern and give feedback. We live together and can make our world a lil tad better if we don't only look out for our interest alone.

Why we all need a foundation of happiness...impact on long-term overall health.

"What's important about this study is that it identifies a group of people who are prone to have depression and inflammation at the same time. That group of people experienced major stress in childhood, often related to poverty, having a parent with a severe illness, or lasting separation from family. As a result, these individuals may experience depressions that are especially difficult to treat."

Another important aspect to their findings is that the inflammatory response among the high-adversity individuals was still detectable six months later, even if their depression had abated, meaning that the inflammation is chronic rather than acute. "Because chronic inflammation is involved in other health problems, like diabetes and heart disease, it also means they have greater-than-average risk for these problems. They, along with their doctors, should keep an eye out for those problems"...

To read the entire article:

Childhood adversity increases risk for depression and chronic inflammation

Mad about Grace and Women

Well this must be it: I am a woman, and I really feel like I have rediscovered, no, uncovered Grace. I am mad  excited about the two subjects: women (and marriage or not, children or not etc..) and Grace.

this is a fractal image....something from Higher Math !

I am madder still that I cannot take leave from everything to work it through..and let it weave itself into a tome of sound proportions (aka a book)!

What tension! To know, and want to dig and find and share and not being able to - and yet, understanding too that the subject is not for fancy mindwork but for heartwork and soulwork that happens in the everyday!

I am reminded of what A Testament of Devotion has taught : we live at two levels at the same time.
Just as we live in betwxit...

the now and the coming
the seen and the unseen
the believed in and the perceived
the desired for and the running away

Which end anchors and gives us protection as we move around the space called Betwixt?

Another book* I am reading reminds us that we live at the same time between:

our sin issues
our becoming like Christ

Yes, the truth must anchor us and help us interpret and navigate..and in the quiet of the truth's strength, we make our choices and responses and shape that which we see, feel and fear..and the truth will trump if we but rest in its Grace to work upon our inner landscapes.

The great truth as I learn and think and pray and write is that Truth is seeking me out and wanting a listener, a believer, and then, when deemed trustworthy, a spokesperson. So i will stew on these Womanhood and Grace until I burst and it all leaks over everyone I meet....and write until it all comes together.

Mercy on me.


* The Kingdom Life

Shopping with the daughter

SHOPPING is not exactly my thing. I love to buy stuff; but to shop ie. walk in and out of stores, sampling, comparing prices and tempting my heart-purse-strings is not really for me or my feet (and today my head joined in the protest when it quivered after only 2 hours).

But, the nearly twelve needs some clothes and hey, a mommy-daughter bonding time...come on...!

We went to really, the nearest mall, 2 train stations away..and at first could absolutely find nothing for her size (she's a puny teen). One kind salesgirl said, "er..teen shops..don't have..go to children's and buy the bigger sizes?". This little trick worked well, even for me when I was a teen, but this time it was a no-go. Her very definite taste buds said no.

So we traipsed on some more..and finally found the rather ubiquitous Hang Ten and Bossini. O well. Last year when we were all the way in HongKong, shoppers' paradise - we ended up in Bossini (we could not find Hang Ten). So you know where my imagination borders.

A hundred dollars poorer --yes and this is because it's HT and B not Mango or Abercombie [hey i do know some stuff]...we realised we were done in already! Our feet were protesting and our heads seemed to lag behind our bodies..

We stumbled into a bookstore where we both grinned at the sight of a book with a nice Burmese kitty on the cover and a tagline that went: cats and daughters are alike: they dont come when called. Touche! I felt a secret triumph as my girl squeezed my arm tight and we exchange a warm hug...and agreed that shopping - except for books - isn't really our thing.

The icing on the cake came when she said, "i dont understand why some people must have so much clothes!" Bless her heart; may she hold true to this thought forever..and long live affordable stores!

a view of the Mall - and the shop i had vouchers for but she found nothing she favoured!

to or not to - deciding about stuff

OK, in a few things i am truly undecided. Let me guess, you are too.
Well then, gather a little picnic basket and let's exchange our indecision snackeroos...

Let's see, there is kitchen equipment. Really. I mean, who does not want Efficient? Clean? Trendy? I am not a fad freak but i have been thinking months now over a machine. It's called Thermomix. You have probably heard of you if you are remotely interested in kitchen affairs. The quicksand moment ie. you thought you have decided then you sink back into more analysis, wait and see, there is something not quite right... for this is the cost. I wont even mention it. So here i am waiting, hoping for either:
a windfall or
a price fall

No. 2 in my basket (yes quite apt. indecision can make us feel a bit of a basket case coz we are so get-go in Singapore)..is my blog. O the thousands of meaningful, pretty, astounding things i wanna do! Increase reach, win awards, write far better and ...hardest of all, make it really work (i still don't know what html stands for...good grief right?) I've been told there are professionals you can pay to do this for you. The quicksand: the word 'pay'..and the reality of life called maintenance and repairs. Even blogs suffer from wear and tear.

No. 3 is DO I MOVE to Belgium now? No just kidding. But i think living in Europe, Nepal or even Ipoh for a while is good for the soul. One just gets too familiar, comfortable, and downright preserved and preserving in mindset...that sometimes even the wind and the earthquakes serve only to entrench us further; and if so, how then do we hear the still small Voice?

So what do you have in your basket?


O by the way, i wonder how this fella salvaged this old index cabinet...from the National Library? Things filed away for later consideration...aka cannot decide la!

file it!

a lovely poem by Jane Tyson Clement:

"they are not mine"

enjoy the truth and feel freer --