ANOTHER MONTH HAS ENDED

Today's the last day of November.  So much has come and gone and there's just lots of things to do.

My house is still in a mess.  I'm embarrassed to even take a picture of it!  But I guess I should cos I'm going to make a point to clear up all my tshirts, scrapbooking stuff and make the room really neat and hopefully they will stay that way for a looooooooooooonggggggg time!!!!!

Jonathan's been good in health and praise the Lord for that.  His feet and hands are not chilly to the touch nowadays.  Like what Teacher LK said to me, it's a phase that will go away.

This morning, I had a surprise call from Jonathan's school telling me that there is a list of secondary school and book list for me.  Wait a minute!  What secondary school list?  Pris was talking and I had to keep calling her name to get her attention.  Finally, I said "Pris, I'm Serene!" to which she started laughing!  haaaahaha.

It was a fun mistake but something that made my morning.  Of course I would love to hear from her! Especially if it was true that Jonathan is going to a secondary school.  We had a good laugh.  Genuine mistake on her part and no, I'm not angry.  I like Pris too much!

It was sort of like a affirmation of sorts.  That things are ok for Jonathan  ... that one day this will happen.

I've been quite impatient lately with regards to Jonathan's progress.  I get angry, I cry, I complain to the Lord.  But yesterday, when I was reading a Christian novel, something said by one of the characters struck me.

All in the Lord's time.  Then I remembered this:

John 9 (King James Version)

1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, or his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

When I read verse 3 in the New Living Translation, it said:

 ³ “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him."

How long I have to wait for Jonathan to receive a miracle, I don't know.  But I do see the power of God working progressively in Jonathan's body and his life.  I wait for that day when the Glory of God is magnified and praised.

For now, I'm satisfied that whatever is happening, will soon be a testimony.

Thank you Lord for giving me your patience but do hurry .... sometimes I cannot wait to take walks with Jonathan with him walking next to me :)

IF ONLY ... TURNED POSITIVE

Today ... 12 year olds in Singapore receive their PLSE results.  If Jonathan were in the mainstream school .... he would be getting his results too.  I will be the anxious mother, waiting for him while he gets his results slip.  Then we will pray and ask God for wisdom as to which secondary school he will choose depending on his results.  We will go shopping for secondary school textbooks, uniforms and new school shoes.

If only ...

It's hard when I think about this because then it brings me back to the day he was born.

If only ...

But!  There is a consolation that this "if only" had turned into something positive last evening when I was invited to attend a dialogue session with a group of 33 professional educators and principal taking their Masters of Science (Early Childhood Education) from Wheelock College & SEED Institute.

My sister's colleague (long haired pretty lady in front of me and next to the only gentleman on the left side) who's one of the students asked if I could help the class understand early intervention for a child with special needs.  I was one of 3 parents the class invited, but the only one with a child who has cerebral palsy.

I was glad I could go because Harith was not working so Jonathan spent the evening with daddy.  I asked Jonathan if he wanted to join me, he said "NO" very quickly actually  :)

I started off explaining Jonathan's condition and why he had cerebral palsy and went into the intervention program that Jonathan received from Rainbow Centre.  There were questions (only a handful) but I guess what they needed to ask was already covered by me {I HOPE!}.  It was almost like a monologue cos I talked alot! LOL! But I'm glad Professor Karen Whitla from Wheelock College, Boston (extreme right in black blouse) was there to guide the flow of the whole session.

Before I went, I had some picture exchange communication cards (PEC) from Jonathan's file and I gave each teacher one strip to show how Jonathan used them to communicate.

These cards were done using Writing with Symbols software

I thoroughly enjoyed the one-hour time together.  I hope it brought a better understanding and broadened the knowledge of educators who have not been in contact with children with special needs.

And...before I went for the meeting, I had 15 minutes to spare and decided to drop by Paper Market @ Raffles City to buy these :

Valerie is going to flip when she sees what I bought cos she would offer them to me FOC!

and this:

Ok...I did mention that I wasn't going to make any Christmas cards this year because of my busy schedule.  But I just couldn't resist the urge!  Last year's cards in my earlier post HERE were 6X6 inches.  This year, I may make them in DL sizes.  May .... haha and might happen.  We'll see :)

I'm just so happy that I finally finished Nick & Stella's church wedding invitation cards.  My production line was simple.  All I needed to use were the cutter trimmer, Crop-a-Dile Chomper corner punch, Scallop punch, double-sided ribbons, double-sided tapes, 3D sponge dots and of course, my laser printer.

I can only show the actual card when I receive it as an invitation from them. LOL!  I enjoyed making all 200 plus some-for-mistakes-just-in-case cards.

While in between breaks, I will let Jonathan sit up for a while on his buggy cos his new chair (which I will post later) is due only in March.  Sometimes while waiting for me to carry him to the buggy, he just can't wait and will scoot to the buggy on his own.

Impatient?  I don't think so.  He just wants to help ... making it easier for me.  But of course I had to scoop him up before he injured himself with all the furniture surrounding him.

Ok...I'm off to finish up a design for a friend's tshirt.  I'm supposed to come up with boy's names design after I finished the A to Z Girl Name designs (SEE HERE) and so far...I haven't done a thing!  Yikes!  Will have to burn the midnight oil again!

Thanks for dropping by!  And if you want to leave a comment, please give me an email link so that I can reply :)

KAWAII PICTURES

NOTE:  Pictures taken indoors and closeup so not so clear ... :)


This small sticker pictures were taken almost 12 years ago using the instant Japanese photo machines that we find at local arcade centres.  We decided to have some fun and took this for $8 (I think! can't remember) and we were given one shot.  This is made up of different size pictures all squeezed into a 4R size sticker card.

When you are in these types of booths, you have to be quick to get ready.  You sit in front of the computer screen where your faces will appear.  Then you kind of adjust yourselves within the screen size, squeezing yourselves as close as possible.  So you can see, in this, Harith had to stand behind just to fit in.  haha.

This is like a sticker and the pictures are still in very good condition.  The colors haven't faded after all these years.




This morning, we were at White Sands Pasir Ris and when we walked passed the arcade, I told Harith we should do it again!  Me getting all excited like a young girl ... LOL!

Hilarious! Cos firstly, Jonathan was no longer a baby.  Trying to get him to sit more upright and making sure his face is right where the camera is was not eezzy!.

What's worst was that the instructions were all in JAPANESE!  You are given 6 shots.  When the options for different layouts appear on the screen, you have 20 seconds to make your decision, otherwise, they will take the default design and snap away!  haahaha.



First shot was good cos I just kept clicking away and we were ready for the first snap.

Then we had to start choosing different layout options for another snap.  I was just pressing away because of the limited time given.  Still it turned out pretty good.

Finally ... for this, I chose "2 heads in the heart with a solo picture on the left" layout.  Harith and I positioned ourselves and the camera went click.  That done .. we had abt 10 seconds to get Jonathan ready for the solo picture.  As you can see,  it was just impossible to put Jonathan in an upright position and the camera when "click"!

We had a good laugh because everything had to be done quickly!  And with us like this...20 seconds is just way too short!

After having our photos taken, we had to go to another both to add any decorations and embellishments.   And again, every click has to be made within 10 seconds ... instructions in Japanese and the staff not very helpful.

Harith kept saying ... $9 for rushing?  hahaha.  But when the photos came out, ok...$9 is ok for a good fun.  How often do we do this?.

I guess booths like these are meant to be fun for the users.  How I wish they had the instructions in English.  They had a typewritten one pasted on the wall.  But it would be impossible to read them and try to manage the machine all at one go! LOL!
To me ... it was worth the fun and laughter and Jonathan said it was fun too :)

And yes ... they come as stickers too.  Lets see how long this one will last ... perhaps a decade or more?  We'll see!

HELPERS YOUNG & OLD & A GREATER ONE TOO!

Today Harith was at home.  No classes.  He went jogging this morning and bought breakfast cos our prince didn't want to for a walk after going out for his neuro appointment at KK on Thursday.

Laundry was done while I was preparing the transfer material for pressing today.  And while Harith hung the clothes out to dry, I took the already dried ones and asked Jonathan if he could help me fold them.

Propped him up infront of me and I held his hands.  We took his napkins, and one by one, we folded them into quarters.  This is the result:

He had fun.  But after four towels, he called it quits.  Went back to watching the Wheel of Fortune.  Of course I had to redo these LOL!

So after Jonathan's lunch, I started pressing the tshirts for BMC Vacation Junior Bible Camp.  Took me 3 hours to finish them and I didn't realised that I actually completed the major lot today ...all 69 pcs!  I only have about 15 pcs more to go.  Yippee!  I can get started on my nephew's wedding cards (once I get the go ahead this weekend)...woo hoo!  I'm grateful that Jonathan was great that he entertained himself while I did my work.

Out of the heatpress ... all packed and tshirts still warm when this photo was taken.  There might be a few more extras trickling in.  But I'm just happy that these are done:

So because of my two great helpers today (and of course the GREATER ONE too!) ... alot was accomplished.  Thank you Jesus!

NEURO APPOINTMENT @ KK ON 5 NOV 09

It poured this morning ... heavy heavy rain.  I was all set to change Jonathan's neuro appointment today.  But Abba Father answered by stopping the rain at 1.30pm just when we were to leave.

We were the first.  This yearly appointment is just for the neurologist to check Jonathan and see if there's any other needs to be met.

Today was good.  I like Dr Janice Wong.  She's a CP specialist and gives me good advice and very patient whenever we have questions.

I told her my intention to try the NeuorSuit.  Her advice is to use the money I intend to spend on this for extra physical therapy.  She gave me specific reasons which i don't want her to be liable for what she says although it's free speech worldwide :)  But I'm thankful for her input and am glad I brought it up.

She's given Jonathan a referral for PT at KK once a month.  Just so he can get extra therapy besides what he's getting in school.  Not alot of extra therapy but at least we have somewhere to go besides private therapy that cost a lot nowadays.

Jonathan condition is considered having Athetoid in CP ... a new term I've never heard before.  She explained what it is and told me something that I WAS not so prepared to hear but it's ok.  It's just another word describing a type of cerebral palsy.

KK has changed quite a bit.  The new Children's Medical Centre @ 2 (which is 2nd storey) is new and waiting time is lessened.  Then again we were the first appointment so we only waited 5 minutes.

While we were out, it didn't rain.  When we reached home and walked into the void deck, it started pouring.

Thank you Jesus for protection.

HAVING FUN WITH MOM

My sister was trying to make my mum pose with "peace" v sign and look cute.  it amused her so much because she just couldn't bend one of her fingers.  Well...she managed in the end.

I always enjoy my 80 year young mom.  These pictures were taken more than a week back.  Her memory is getting better.  Praise the Lord for that :)

Please excuse my "unglam-ness"  LOL!

In her spare time, my mom's domestic helper watches over the potted plants that my mom planted a long time ago.  See the cactus on the far right corner?  That's quite old already.  My mom has excellent green thumbs.  She used to have quite a few of the bonsai plants.  But now that she's staying in an apartment, there's no more garden for her to tend to.  The egg shell was decorated by the helper.