The CHORE-deal Log

Day TWO.
Abi is still complaining about how many chores she has compared to her five+year younger than her brother. But she moves it swiftly when told and true to her early childhood training does a decent job (trainer mom takes a bow).

Dad who self assigned dishes hit them with enthusiasm, washing up when breakfast wasn't over! Guess he had to leave already...

Mom has taken a deep breath and postponed the sweeping, opting for laundry (to catch the sun) and fixing lunch...after clearing the other half of breakfast of course.

Lil Keith left after breakfast to an unwelcome Chinese enrichment camp..and we have to wait and see where that leads him emotionally!


What is the value of manual work to you?

"The LORD GOd took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

So, it isn't exactly Paradise Lost when we need to wash, wipe, scrub, fix and ... *wink

Grace tracks

GRACE, God tracks us who once sought Him.
This past week, what i have believed, written and taught came over me again - - and Grace works like strong relentless waves, crashing up upon the shore until it is clean. Lapping at the edges of faith until fresh sand, sea glass, seaweed contours...

I stood powerless, I who once fought and worked hard for my vision of the glorious...too tired to want to try anymore. If God only showed up when I was depleted, it would seem cruel. But no, i know He has constantly been around. i have a record of the wind blowing...but i really did prefer my way, my time, my outcomes...and so i had to fight till i tire.

And then, Grace still came around.

i want to take some credit: all the hours of trying, praying, buckets of tears...
does it matter? In the mystery of love and time, Grace gathered everything and mixed them into a healing potion. Will i drink this cup?
i sip tentatively... strength, hope, even warmth returns...

now i must note Grace's tracks and keep walking in the path set out..

Really Live !

2012 half day quiet

After getting some affirmation, i am going to facilitate Half-Day Quiets from 2012.
Yes, each month, i will welcome up to 4 persons to join me as i take us deeper and closer to Jesus.
To join me, you need to sign up and send along a small fee (i need to prep).

Each half-day Quiet will have these components:
- gathering and focus
- personal quiet
- re-gathering and sharing
- sharing around light lunch

Some months we will hold it in the newly re-landscaped Bishan Park (which is where I live)...coz the weather is real nice and cool.

Check back again for more details...and drop me an email at jenni.yt.hohuhan@gmail.com
if you are interested to come to one.

Thanks

Lesson from a little bird

A welcomed distraction interrupted my ignoble thoughts (the poor me types.). from the window, a clear tweeting sounded. A little brown bird was sitting near the highest tree branch, looking around and letting out her beautiful, soul-lifting intones.

Bird sounds have always lifted me. As I took in her music and sense of equananimity, i recalled how as a young girl i would have said that God sent the bird to cheer me up. Did i believe that now? I hesitated – and then I asked why.

I did not hesitate because i doubted God’s love for me. Indeed, over the years and through many vales, my view and experience of God has widened and deepened. He is greater today than He was when I was twelve. Yet at the same time, I would not describe God and everything as if it revolved around me. I am content for the bird to be where it was simply because it was. I do not feel the need to explain it and lead the conclusion to my paltry self.

God no doubt made the bird and gave it its song. I am grateful for what the bird – one of God’s creatures – did for me, another of God’s creature. But there was no need for me to hack a fine trail insisting God sent the bird or something. In a sense then, i have matured. Children are the ones who see everything from the standpoint of self. It all begins and ends with self. But maturity means we accept that other people, and other dynamics count in a real and amazing way. 

The bird, me, and whatever else is bound up in God’s love and it is far greater and more beautiful that I can perceive. For me to narrow it down to myself – no matter how sweet and faith-filled it sounds – is a lesser vision of biblical glory.

St Francis of Assissi, once a rich young man, disavowed all his earthly inheritance and took vows of poverty and traveled sharing God’s love is famous for his song that praises the created world. He found such a huge and wondrous gift in God’s creation that he called the sun and moon his brother and sister!

Our modern take on life is really to use and discard things. Often what is not useful to us doesn’t receive our attention (and that includes humans alas). We have the ‘delete’ or ‘trash’ icon on our computers and ipads to help reinforce that.

With this mindset, we insist that things are good or useful or God-sent because it served us in some way. We have lost the sense of wonder that comes when we remember we are created beings and that God is going to restore the world.

The birds are still singing out there as I write. If they are grateful and excited about the world, i think i should take a leaf from them and be content and expect good things this day from my Father.

travel notes: Ubud, Bali

We wanted a getaway ie. to get away from what we have come to associate as 'life". So it must be somewhere different and will demand something different from us.
I settled on Ubud, Bali - a largely rural, highly traditional network of villages slightly north of all the more usual beach-tourist-city spots. The omnipresent expressions of folk Hinduism: carvings, flower offerings, small temples in homes and along the streets, were pretty overwhelming. It's like stepping into a whole reality.

The Balinese were gentle and nice...like many of their Asian coutnerparts who have not been pressed into the modern city mould.
We stayed in Tegal Sari which meant the vale of rice fields. We have a one room tiered ground floor apartment that opened to padi fields. It's a totally unSingaporean view!

Our four short days filled up with enough adventures...
watching piranhas tear away at a chicken
a moment with the wood carver
a driver who pretty much explained everything Bali to us
Dad & daughter climbing up a volcano hill to catch the sunrise
Keith making his own kite Balinese style..and boy does it fly!
Being harrassed by monkey at the monkey forest
Mucking around a black sand beach
& fending off 'can we have the ipad?' moments & those sibling spats ---

-- well...some things you cannot get away from...!

dreamers

i keep returning to this.

we are dreamers

of an impossible dream

today

i read about missions

youths, adults, children - 

scattered like salt grains in large plates of rice, wheat, millet..

flvouring 

and preserving?

do you see the young man with his guitar

that young gal walking with the darker skinned sister

the streets mill

with people who don't see them or hear their message

but they stand, sing, speak

and do what they must and what they want

for they are dreaming

that impossible dream

made not

imagined not

attained not

by their sacrifice

tears, fears and weariness...

Yet Someone takes all of it

and mingles it to form miracles

and so, we dream

and 

dream

and dream

on..

to really live means...

Morris West

It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment or the courage to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risk of living with both arms open. One has to embrace the world like a lover. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.

Source: quoted at herondance.org

A ! moments with God

today as i head out to have some personal quiet..which s really hard since i was going to Macdonald's..but well, I have found a way to tune out the noises....and...i..i received the "A! moments with God". i tried it and found it very refreshing and easy to remember. 
It is basically 3 parts:


Appreciate
- taking time to just appreciate where  you are at, and not at(!), people in your life, and pray blessing over them. i also took time to appreciate God Himself.


Anticipate
- is being quiet and still so the noises of your soul emerges..and u listen to the tunes: is it playing fear, worry, restlessnes...? Ask the Spirit to point the way. our current state predisposes us to choices and consequences. so anticipating is both looking within and looking ahead. at times the Spirit wants to highlight what lies ahead in our path and grant us wisdom to navigate with sensitivity and courage...


Anchor
- in Scripture and prayer..continue with what u are reading or ask for a word...and lay down your defenses and choose trust.


There- A! moments with GOD. Enjoy yours and tell me how it has changed your personal quiet time.

today's discoveries

Do you ever feel glad that something you beleive 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 represented at a recent political speech 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 seterra - a geography download full of quizzes to help them navigate planet earth! (Keith and I merrily clicked on Asia and filled out the countries)

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

till next time fellow earthling, human and friend!

O kids!

Anger's seedbed
i don't really know where all the anger came from - i who author a book about happy kids, no less! But since he was able to toddle, it became clear i had an angry child in my home. He stomps on the bug without compunction.  He swipes at the carer, he throws stuff..then come the fists, the words and those moments when he literally runs away!
Yes it does get tired and it's not easy not to dish out anger in reaction.
But hey, i'm the adult. Being angry is not a bad thing coz there are lots of things to be angry about in our world - and it may well take some really angry persons to set them right. i see justice-advocate imprinted on his little developing soul.
The seeds that carry a harvest of anger include: feeling powerless (if you have a smarty-pants older sister!), sensing ongoing frustration (how come i dont get to make the rules?), and sadness.
So i had to learn how to help him
1. recognise the different seeds
2. find the right way to plant them (express) or discard them
3. develop a problem-solving mindset rather than a victim mentality.

we have used
-colour coding at age 3 to describe levels of anger
- verbal expressions at age 3
-empathy at age 4
- self-control at age 4
- focus on the good at age 4
- scenario assessment & problem solving at age 5

The other day, after an outburst, he said "mom, i felt like half my heart fell to the ground..."
So i say, "how do we pick it up and put it back? wo can help?"
..."if we ...would someone else's heart fall to the ground..."

He got expression, empathy and problem solving..until the next day!

So far? Lots of friction and some traction. We made good distance but it's gonna be a marathon for sure.

my latest book!

This is how the new book looks like. available at all bookstores and from Amazon. Spread the message of hope!

fullyalive?! will metamorph..stay in view..

dear friends, after recently being duly impressed with some blogs and also realizing that blogging is a recognized work..i am pumped to give this home a makeover.
and Providence sent someone to help me - who tend to make machines go 'ping'!
so pls pray for the changes, for the writing, for the impact.
and visit in a few weeks' time, bring some friends and a cuppa and catch up!

thanks.
jenni

Since young we watched nature documentaries. Before i could pronounce 'theology' i felt it... enjoy friends!