Hubby's 30th Birthday Outing...

~ Posted on Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 4:22 PM ~

We went out for a late lunch at a shopping mall near our place to celebrate hubby's 30th birthday. We stopped by at one of those machine rides for Ben to play for a while. He loves Elmo so this is kinda nice!

Ben: "Mummy, how come my hair is not as curly as Big Bird's?"

Hubby choosing his set meal at Kenny Roger restaurant while Ben looked around...

Ben decided to go for something healthier... Tongue out

Then we went to the supermarket in the shopping mall and let Ben play with those ride on tikes for a while...

He still doesn't know how to cycle the bike yet.

And I finally got hubby's birthday present! Star Craft 2 (aka SC2) was released on 27th July 2010 but hubby wanted to wait a bit to check the reactions from the buyers, in case there are any restrictions to Asean countries when playing this game, etc, etc..

Birthday man posing with his pressie while standing next to the SC2 bunting poster!

Hubby showing the inside look of the game box...

After that we went to the mini playground outside Toys' R Us and Ben checked out one of those game rides... You have to pay a certain amount of money to ride on one of these. We didn't let Ben tried cos he's not comfortable riding on moving machine rides yet (we know cos we tried a day before on one of those machine rides, paid a dollar and Ben jumped out just few seconds after the machine start moving! I think he's not used to it yet...)

Ben seems to like this... Hmm, not bad, good taste actually! Hahahaha...

All in all, it was a relaxing birthday outing for us, with a bit of exception when Ben was playfully testing out his squealing and high pitch sound capability at Kenny Roger's restaurant.

Again, happy birthday to my hubby and I'm positively sure he's totally enjoying his birthday gift now! Cool

Winner for Alternative ABCs Giveaway

~ Posted on Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 1:57 AM ~

Hello folks! Exactly one month ago, I posted my 1st giveaway since I moved over to my self-hosted own domain and today is when I'm announcing the lucky winner for this:

Maybe my blog is not that popular, hence the low entries count, but higher chance for those entering to win since probability of being drawn is better. Now, the total comments I get for the giveaway post is:

Thirty comments altogether! So, I used the Random.org to draw out the lucky winner for this awesome book, and here's the result:

I also showed my PC time and date which is already 1st August, to prove that I'm drawing out the winner after this giveaway ended on 31st July 2010. Now the lucky winner for comment number 19 is "Cloth Diaper Malaysia  says: Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 2:01 AM  *My Blog Follower on Google Friend Connect (1 entry) - recently following ":

Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly to get your further details for your winning entry! You have 48 hours to respond to my email before I pick another winner! As for the rest who participated in the giveaway, thank you for entering, better luck next time, OK? A note of thanks as well to Ammo Books for sponsoring a copy of this awesome board book to my lucky blog reader!

Burdens of Life...

~ Posted on Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 12:06 AM ~

Sharing these quotes I came across the Internet through my blog meme:

Looking at the quote above, I remembered a year ago, when I was toying with the idea to be a SAHM, I was worried of course! Less 1 income to the family (On monthly average, I earned more than my hubby at that time as his business is just picking up). Are we going to be able to continue our standard of living? What about healthcare? All sorts of questions lingered on my mind but when the time came to decide, I went ahead and quit my high paying job and trust God will help us pull through this.

Maybe my case is different, but ever since I'm pregnant with Ben, there are a few situations which made us stop and think, "Who are we to plan all this?" And one phrase from our previous pastor stood out "God's will, God's bill". If He brings you to it, He will brings you THROUGH it!

Read: Matthew 6:25 (NIV), Matthew 6:34 (NIV), Proverbs 27:24 (NIV), Psalm 39:6 (NIV)

From the time we were trying to search for a nanny or babysitter to take care of Ben when I go back to work after maternity leave (2 months for Malaysia) and then meeting a nice Christian sister who asked us why not take care of the baby ourselves and which we then ended up with me quitting my job to become a SAHM and caring for Ben,

From the time my confinement lady (kinda like a doula) who suddenly broke her right leg 2 weeks before I was due which we ended up doing our own DIY confinement and take care of Ben ourselves from day 1,

From the day I was supposed to be admitted to hospital to induce labor (low amniotic fluid) to suddenly starting contractions (without me knowing until I was leaving for the hospital) and ended up having the most awesome supernatural childbirth (going from 0 to 10cm in 4.5 hours)

The above are some of the few awesome works of God in our lives.

You know, 1 year on since I quit my job to be a SAHM, hubby's business is getting better, I don't need to be worried about our one income less because God is good! He provides! I get a small allowance from hubby every month and I can still give my tithes every month. Yes, the amount may be way smaller than what I used to tithe but it's still 10% of my income. I don't need to beg other people for money. My savings are still untouched, in fact, I think it is growing bit by bit, thanks to the allowance gave by my hubby, which of course, thanks to God who provides the continuous projects and jobs to hubby's business!

I have my family members, friends and ex-colleagues to thank for. They passed on their kids' toys and clothings down to us (some of them are still brand new and some clothings and shoes are worn few times only). For us, we do not mind at all! Receiving all this wonderful gifts helped us save a lot! Maybe some would think we have to be money conscious and stinge in every situations and are like beggars to be accepting all this freebies and pass-me-down but we don't think that way, and whatever others choose to perceive, we can't control or have a say to that.

* I'd rather save my money and be glad to receive all the toys and pass-me-down items and used our money for savings and wise investments rather than splurging it on new or branded items for Ben or to maintain our lifestyle.

* I'd rather save my money, faced the challenges in designing my own blog than hiring a web designer to do it for me.

Being a SAHM, I think I'm fullfiling God's promises for our family.

I trust that He will lead us to the right path.

Read: Psalm 138:8 (NIV), Proverbs 19:21 (NIV), 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (NIV)

I hope to save up my treasures in heaven rather than on earth!

Read: Ecclesiastes 2:26 (NIV), Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NIV), Matthew 6:19 (NIV), Matthew 6:20 (NIV)

Have a blessed weekend to all of you!