Category: Family/From the Heart

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Changing A Life

I don’t really see it as changing a life but more like paying forward but yes, I received a thank you card from the kid I had been sponsoring for years.  It all began way before I even met PB and after migrating to Canada, I felt more for these kids because God have been so good to me, not only do I have a wonderful spouse, a roof over my head, I gave birth to a miracle baby at 39.  It was definitely a blessing, so I continued paying forward and this year marks my 25 years sponsoring a child and I’m very excited each time I get a letter from kids that I’ve sponsored.  And yes, I share this passion with Chloe as well and she said she is very proud of me and gave me $1 for being a great mom – hahhaha!

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Visiting Japan

My cousin is a sushi chef, he was trained in Japan for 15 years before he went home to Singapore to open his own Japanese restaurant.  But now that all their kids are grown up, they’ve decided to move back to Japan and bought a small restaurant in the prefecture of Osaka.  They are all settled in already and the restaurant is also doing well  and since both of my nephews are pilots, they can fly anytime to Japan to visit them.  My cousin had invited us to visit them in Japan and he offered to  pay for all lodging as well as air-tickets for the entire family.    We are of course, very excited and planning for a visit soon – I do miss my cousin and his wife and if we are lucky, I might get to meet my nephews as well when we are in Japan.  And of course, I can’t wait to eat some real sushi !

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I’ll Never Forget

Sometime in June this year, my girlfriend from Singapore whom I’ve worked with some 25 years ago sent me and Chloe a huge box of food and goodies for Chloe.  She refused to take any money from me and the postage alone cost about $350 and if you take a look at the food below, you can mentally calculate how much she spent on food for me and Chloe.

All the above food were food i cannot get here in Canada and my girlfriend Regina patiently collected all the food and sent them over to me as a gift.

This was her gift for Chloe and instant camera with 10 boxes of films.  The camera takes instant pictures and it’s great for kids or anyone who loves to have fun.  Chloe was so thrilled with the camera – that she showed everyone her camera, especially her friends from home.  She didn’t bring it to school because she didn’t want to lose it.

Anyhow, I wasn’t able to thank Regina properly because that box of stuff must have cost over $1000.  So finally, I found out what she likes to eat and I asked Chloe’s godma in Singapore to help me get some gift certificates for her.  I never forget anyone’s kindness towards me and my family and even though I may not be able to thank them personally, I try hard to repay them for their kindness.  As for those who are unkind to us, I just ignore them completely because I won’t waste any time on those folks, I’ve got so many friends and family who loves us unconditionally – and Regina is a living testament of this kindness.

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A Round Up Of The Summer 2013

Yes, a little round up of what we did this summer.  We had planned to go to PEI but because of the closing of the cottage that we had bought only 2 minutes away from the beach, we had to change our plans but it was all worth it.

We loved the cottage and since its a 2 mins walk from the beach only, I forsee many, many more wonderful summers here with lots of BBQ and gatherings with friends and family.

PB bought me a new phone, because I told him my iPhone wasn’t big enough – so I’m using a Samsung Galaxy instead now.  No i’m not on contract, we bought the phone outright.

1ST bbq at Grampie’s this summer

Followed by a charity auction for this painting by local artist Andre Haines in support for the Hebron Art Center, I won the auction for $200 – really a steal.

We of course visited the farmer’s market.

Went to Cape Fochu for lunch one Sunday

And had a second BBQ at Port Maitland beach because Godma Lynn from Toronto came to visit.

We also hired someone to build Chloe a playhouse in our backyard

And headed up to Halifax for the Basker’s Festival.  Stayed for several nights and had more authentic Asian and Japanese food.

We also drove an hour to Digby to try out the new Japanese restaurant because the one in town wasn’t open yet at that time.

We headed out to the clay shop in Quinn pool for Chloe to do some clay art.

This year we went to Upper Clements Park with friends and family.

Bought a garden art piece for almost $200 from a local artist in town.

And went bowling.  All in all it was a pretty good summer.  Now to welcome the fall.

Oopsie !  and I forgot the wonderful airshow that we went to as a family but met plenty of friends there.

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I’m So Proud

I’m so proud to call you friends  because it seems that only my friends back home can understand the humor like the poster above.  My g/f has a kid who has Asperger and instead of wallowing, she had taken time to educate the teachers/principal in her kid’s school and help mothers with kids like hers. She humbles me – she is very successful in her own field and yet spend countless of hours taking care of her kid.    She is also able to laugh at things and enjoy the humor of some very sinister people who insist on knowing what is best for an Asperger kid and make judgement about him without knowing what Asperger is.

Sometimes, it’s easy to point fingers and lash out and think that you or your kids are hurt or disturbed but have you thought about the other party when you started complaining about them?  or making snide remarks or conclusion about the other kids/person before knowing how he or she felt? or what the real reason behind the behavior?

I’m so proud to call you friends  because I see the difference in my friends from home and how intelligent they are at dealing with the not so informed.  Some of you have been friends with me for more than 20 years and you know who you are and even though we are so far apart, you are all so very good to me in so many ways.  I’m so blessed to call you friends.

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Fruit Season For Chloe’s Class

Yes, it is that time of the year again – fruit season at the Wallace Brother’s Apple Farm in Port Maitland.  And since we know Andy and his wife so well, they are such special people to Grammie when she was alive, we try to keep the tradition going even though Grammie is not with us anymore.  This year we started late as we had so many things going on in the store and at home.  Apples are for Chloe’s little friends.

And pears for the teachers as well as PSA.   It is common for us Asian mothers to bring fruits and other things for the Chloe’s classmates and teachers because they are so good to Chloe in every way.  I hope I can still get some plums for the teachers and kids this year.  Next week, the Macintosh apples are going to be ready for picking, so we will be heading out to the Apple Farm on Sunday to pick apples for the class and teachers again.  We usually bring in a few rounds of fruits till the end of the season.

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Random Shopping

Many years ago, before coming to Canada, I would buy a piece of jewelry every time I go away for work, and knowing that I travel so much, my local jewelers would call me up if they had new stock in house.  Unfortunately, after coming to Canada, I cannot find the kind of gold I like here, i like the 22K gold and no Tiffany here as well, so I don’t get to buy as much jewelry as I liked.

But once in a while at Crescent, I do get to see some really good pieces and I would snatch them up immediately.  I prefer buying jewelry when I can put them on and try them out to see how it fits me, so a month ago, I saw this ring and immediately liked it after I tried it and bought it of course.  Guess what Chloe said to me?  Oh no Mom!  not another piece of jewelry ! hhahahah!!!  You see I buy them but sometimes don’t wear them and leave them in our safe deposit box and forget about it and Chloe being Chloe, she knows me too well.  But PB never complained, he always say – go ahead and buy whatever you want – muahahah!!  i’m totally blessed right?

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Chloe Is In Grade 4 !

Yes, time does fly !  I never fully understood when my mom used to write on autograph books for my primary school friends ” Time and Tide waits for no man”, now I do.  Chloe is almost 10 years old now and it almost seems like not too long ago, she was a baby in my arms and I was so emotional and so overwhelmed and questioned myself as to how I can bring this tiny little girl up to be a useful person, a good person.  And here we are 10 years later, all grown up and kind, mostly a good and obedient girl but of course she is a kid and thinks she knows everything and is quite sassy at times till we warned  her that there is consequences for being sassy. But yes, overall, I’m grateful , very grateful for a healthy and good kid.

Chloe was very excited to go back to school, a few days before school re-opened, she told us that she can’t wait to meet her new teachers, her new classmates and everyone in school.  She can’t wait to learn new things.  This morning, she woke me up with such a big smile and hug, am I not the luckiest mom you tell me?  So we sent her off to school and we quickly informed her new home room teacher about her asthma meds as well as her milk bottles, I’m hoping she will speak up for herself like her what her old home room teacher had taught her. But I’m pretty sure she is going to have a good year and she will be working hard and all, but this year, we are going to have to spend more time helping her out with her homework and PB had volunteer to do the homework part with her during his lunch time.  Woohoo!

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Birthday With Friends

Jessica is 7 years at the end of the month and to celebrate her birthday, this year she had it at the bowling alley and the party at her own restaurant of course.  Makes no sense to have food somewhere else when you have your own restaurant right?  Both Chloe and Jessica grew up pretty much together and even though they don’t play a lot together at times because she had to look after her brothers, we still try to bring her out as often as possible.

This year we’ve done a lot with her compared to previous years because she had a cousin over from China and her grandparents were here for part of the summer, so she didn’t have to look after her younger siblings as much.  We even got to go to Upper Clements park with her and the cottage that we just bought.

I hope to be able to celebrate Jessica’s birthday with her every year and so does Chloe.