It has been 8 months since we stopped having a stay-in helper. Life has been crazy, well, at least for me, as I have to take over the tasks that used to be done by my helper, on top of what I usually have to do. I cannot understand why there are so many clothes to wash, hang up, bring down and keep and why the decluttering has not been completed after 8 months.

It has not been easy and smooth-sailing and I have had a few meltdowns at home. People tell me that I need to take it in stride. They sing "Let it go" (well, actually they typed it) and remind that things will improve slowly. I am learning to let go of what I cannot change and channel the time to care for myself more. This is why I have not been as active on this platform as I wish to be.

I post more frequently over on Instagram and I thought it'll be a great way to share some of my pictures with you since I know that not all of you who read my blog follow me on Instagram, and vice versa. I've decided to start a monthly Instagram round-up series here, showing you the Top 5 pictures (based on the number of likes) and giving you a little more details and context at the time the picture was taken. 

'Till the next Instagram Round-up,

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John chapter 16 verse 33; NKJV)

My beloved maternal grandmother, Mdm Chew Siew Hong, fondly known as Ah Ma by all her grandchildren, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018. I delivered my first eulogy on behalf of her grandchildren. The eulogies of Cousins Grace and Kenneth are also included here as a keepsake for my extended family.


As read yesterday at her funeral service yesterday (Friday, 30 Mar 2018) ...

I have been blessed to know Ah Ma for 41 years of my life. As my first caregiver when my parents were working in Singapore, she took care of all my daily needs (for about 3 years). I always admire her for the inner strength she possessed, evidently seen in how she dealt with her life challenges.

I fondly remember that whenever we went back to her house at Taman Sentosa in Melaka, I would ask to sleep in her bedroom. She loved singing and we often sang Chinese Christian songs till late. She would always share stories of her life too. Little does she know that many of her stories inspire me and give me strength 'til today.

My Chinese name was given by my grandparents. Ah Ma shared the significance of the name once, and I didn’t think much about it back then. Ah Ma, I hope I have lived up to the name you gave me.

For this eulogy, I reached out to my cousins and asked them how Ah Ma has impacted their lives. Their responses paint a beautiful portrait of the grandmother we all knew and loved. I will highlight some and share with all of you.

[1] Strong faith in God

Ah Ma was a faithful believer of God. The deep trust she had in God has touched the hearts of many of her grandchildren. Some of us have heard this story from her - there was once, Ah Ma was at a loss because she was short of money to pay for the university fees of an uncle. (Two other uncles needed financial help at the same time.) She turned to God and prayed fervently. After the prayer, a gust of wind blew the pages of the Bible in front of her and she saw a verse that comforted her. With that, she placed her faith in the providence of God and managed to get around the problem she faced.

[2] Love for the family and church

As the matriarch of the family, she availed herself to take care of the needs of her children and grandchildren. One of my fondest memories of celebrating Chinese New Year in Melaka was seeing the big feast that she would painstakingly prepare, with the help of her daughters and daughters-in-law.

One of my cousins recounted his experience of being disciplined by Ah Ma. He was told to sleep alone in the adjacent room for being rebellious. It was a horrible experience for a 5-year-old kid but he learnt his lesson. That was our Ah Ma - she played multiple roles to us - a caring grandmother, a cook, a discipline mistress and many more.

Ah Ma actively served in many congregations, giving her time and energy, bringing joy to many. When I was young and used to follow her to the Christ Church at Melaka, I often saw her talking and smiling to many people. It was as if she knew everyone there.

Through her life, Ah Ma planted the seed of God’s words in us and showed us how to be a humble servant of God’s family.

After her stroke, although she was not the Ah Ma who was once full of energy, singing whenever and wherever, she still showed her love for us through her smiles when we visited.

Tomorrow we will bid our last farewells to Ah Ma. We know this is just a temporary goodbye and we will meet again someday. The legacy she lives behind will continue to live through each of us - her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I am proud to be a part of this closely-knitted extended family. This wouldn’t have been possible if not for Ah Ma and Ah Gong’s way of bringing up their children.

Ah Ma, thank you for all the small and big things you have shown through your life on earth.



Eulogy from cousin Grace:
Ah Ma, as I fondly recall, is a woman who loves God and puts her family ahead of herself.

For as long as I can remember, Ah Ma was a woman who spent on and pampered her loved ones and scrimped and saved on herself. Though they weren't from a well-to-do family, Ah Ma and Ah Gong raised 9 children while living very frugal lifestyles. When I was much younger, my cousins and I would call each other on Saturday nights to find out if they were free to visit our grandparents and we would congregate to play at Ah Ma's house. The highlight of the visit to Ah Ma's house (besides playing with my cousins) was getting gifts from Ah Ma. She would always have a collection of toys and knick-knacks for us to choose from whenever we visited her, which was her way of showing her love for us. By God's grace, our grandparents' home was always filled with laughter and us grandchildren running around.

Ah Ma was also a devoted Christian who spent at least 5-6 days a week in church, except on Mondays when she used to do housework and run errands. She delighted in worshipping God and had many close friends in church. After her stroke in 2010, she could no longer recognise her family members but continued to have much delight and joy in her eyes when she went to church to worship God.

Thank you, Ah Ma, for the many life lessons that I have learnt, and for your love all these years. You have led a long and fruitful life, finished the race, and have kept the faith and are now with our Heavenly Father. How apt it is this Good Friday, that we no longer mourn the death of Jesus Christ and our grandmother, but rejoice in His resurrection. May you rest in peace and see you again!


Eulogy from cousin Kenneth:

Our Grandma led a simple life, one that was hard and often times unsweetened. But what we as her grandchildren will remember her for is throughout her life of raising her children, she made our lives much more fruitful than her own. We now live our lives that are filled with complexities, but are surrounded by family and friends that love us, are relatively well-to-do, educated, and even made names for ourselves.

We believe our grandma lived the simple life, but one that is honourable, difficult, yet the most fulfilling way to live as seen by the fruits of her labour.

In the 92 years of her life she has lived, she has gathered knowledge and wisdom, lived through hardship and joy, and got to live a life that is what we believe God wants to do in this life, loving our God and the people around us.

We can only imagine how much we can glean from her life story, however, due to her fading memory and personality in the final years of her life. Although her life before that may have been more meaningful to her, we got to see her as she truly is, and through her final acts, she is a shining example of how we can live ours even when we are living in a complex world and are afflicted with the toils of life.

Firstly: She was very cheerful. We loved how she would try her very best to sing hymns of praise to the Lord, and the big smiles on her face that she had. As the Bible said, “A cheerful heart has a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15). She lived the best moments of her life by being real as children of God.

She showed us the gift of the love of Christ: Even though her personality may have faded, her love for God remained. Her worship was vibrant and cheerful, and her faith was unwavering.

With these gifts she had given us in the late years of her life, and by how she had opened so many paths for us to choose how we can lead our lives, we always have her memory as a beacon, never to be overwhelmed by the hardships of life as she had done. 

If your outllook in life is greyed by the struggles of life, remember this: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.—Psalm 23:1–4

We will always remember the love she had for us, and we must continue to show love to each other and those around us:  “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”—John 15:12–13


Last but not least, she has shown us that throughout our lives, God is with us: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.—Romans 8:28

1926 - 2018

Ah Ma's body was cremated on Saturday, 31 March 2018. She is richly blessed by God with 6 sons, 3 daughters, 5 daughters-in-law, 2 sons-in-law, 18 grandchildren, 9 grandchildren-in-law and 14 great-grandchildren. 

(Missing her dearly as I write this.)

According to the statistics in 2017, Singapore has a 97.2 percent literacy rate among residents aged 15 years and older. That doesn't mean, though, that our reading culture looks as promising. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, highlighted that more can be done to encourage locals to pick up reading.

In my family, we strongly believe that good reading habits will bring our kids far, so we encouraged reading when each kid was between 1 to 3 months old. You can certainly start earlier, but for us, the mad routine of breastfeeding and changing diapers took more of our attention. As things got calmer at home, the reading journey also began.


When we were rookies in the parenting world, we picked up books based on instincts - colourful pictures, big words, interesting and simple storyline etc. We didn't know if the books were "good" books and if they were at a suitable reading level. We also only relied on the choices available at bookstores like Borders and Kinokuniya. Sometimes, we would ask our friends for recommendations of good titles to get.

OWL READERS CLUB

OTHER GOOD STUFF FROM OWL READERS CLUB

There are many more great features of Owl Readers Club which I'll leave you to uncover. Here's highlighting a few which I'm keen to explore further!

4. Be an Owl Star member (paid membership) for as low as $8.17 a month to get double the points and be included in the exclusive club events and benefits!

5. Join the Owl Readers Club events and meet with other families. In this way, we can encourage one another in this journey to cultivate the love for reading in our families.

Our present for K's birthday

As Hal Elrod said, "The quality of our life is impacted by the quality of our habits." so why not raise an avid reader in your child from young? For a peace of mind that the books you get for your child are of high quality, carefully curated by a team of parents who love books and wants to inculcate the same love to every child, it is worth visiting the Owl Readers Club and see the good stuff for yourself.

 SPECIAL GIVEAWAY! (15 Mar - 20 Mar) 

In conjunction with World Down Syndrome Day 2018 on March 21st, Owl Readers Club is spreading the love for books by giving a $50 store credit to ONE lucky reader!

In the earlier days, children with Down syndrome were assumed to be incapable of learning to read at all by most professionals and there was very little research to find out reasons for their spoken language difficulties. Now, we know that this can be achieved with appropriate strategies, patience and with the family's support.

Melissa, a founding member of Owl Readers Club, shared her take on inculcating reading habits for children with me, "We wholeheartedly believe that all children will benefit from being read to starting from a young age, and it is important to help them nurture a love for reading from young!

Some may sit still earlier than others, some may learn to communicate earlier than others, but one thing for sure, all children love sitting on their parents’ laps and love being read to.

It shouldn’t, therefore, come across as a surprise that children with Down Syndrome will enjoy this wonderful family bonding activity that can be carried out at any of their waking moments and anywhere!. As they say, reading (or being read to) calms the mind!"

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

My Man with our vibrantly-coloured vegetable bouquet

I chose the 5 to 10 pm standard delivery time slot, hoping that the vegetable bouquet would reach our place later than Hubby (tried my luck and indicate a preferred timing). It arrived around 7pm but thankfully, I was prepared for that and cleared part of my fridge to maintain its freshness. The bouquet was heavy with every item firmly attached, so there is no need to worry about a loosened vegetable. The kids pinched off a grape and exclaimed that it was very sweet and fresh. 

"Congratulations! You are a lucky winner of the AirAsia's T4 Changi Open House Contest! You have won for yourself 2 x flight vouchers to Kuching!", I read aloud.

Woohoo! We won air tickets! ... Wait ... to Kuching? Sounds like a boring place for kids. What can we do there? Honestly, that was my first reaction after knowing that our Instagram photo (below) won us two return flight tickets. A little disappointed, I left the vouchers aside as I was hoping to win a more exciting getaway.


IMO, it is not easy to plan for family holidays with 3 kids ranging from 6 to 12 years old, whose idea of a good holiday is staying in a hotel all day and eating the same food for every meal if they find one that they like. Also, K's walking ability is currently that of a 2yo so we still need a pram if we want to venture out for a few hours. Thus, the places we visit must be interesting enough to draw them away from their "ideal holiday" and easy to get around.

It was two months later that a chat with a friend piqued my interest in Kuching again. He remarked that Kuching is a place worth visiting for its cultural attractions and local food. I recall my unclaimed prize and was inspired to find out more about this place, other than it is the capital of Sarawak (East Malaysia), the hometown of one of my aunts and that the name means "cat" in Malay. Based on recommendations from my aunt and her brother (Thanks for your help, Uncle Alfred!), as well as a few top-rated family travel websites, here is our list of the best things we want to do in Kuching with our children. Be ready to get charmed by Kuching's unique beauty!

Kuching welcomes visitors warmly, but it does not put on an act for them. Instead it goes about its own business in a relaxed manner that hasn't changed in 160 years of vibrant culture, crafts and cuisines. - Sarawak Tourism Board

Best Food to Eat in Kuching

Haha, American food writer, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, nailed the Singaporean's love for food when she said this -


hence, let's talk about Kuching food first! Being a multi-racial city, you would expect Kuching to have the typical Malaysian cuisine from various ethnic groups. Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee, Kek Lapis (a layered cake), rojak, prawn fritters, jungle fern (midin) and seafood are some of the "must try" local delicacies.

Sarawak Laksa at Choon Hui Cafe

Midin, a jungle fern. Best stir-fried with belacan or garlic

Local Aboriginal Food

Although Western fast-food joints are commonly found in this city, looking at the long list of recommendations from well-known food blogger Thanis Lim and travel blogger Christine Ka'aloa, I am sure there is no need for these backup meals for my kids.

Best Places to Visit in Kuching

Kuching Waterfront 

Golden Anniversary Bridge (inaugurated on 11 Nov 2017)

Spacious walkway on the Golden Anniversary Bridge

Described by writer Derek Kho as the "DNA of this city", the Waterfront is a testament to Kuching's history. Take a leisure walk on the newly opened Golden Anniversary Bridge (also known as Danu Hana Bridge) across the Sarawak River to enjoy in recreational activities at the north part and soak in the beautiful riverfront view of old and new Kuching. Or walk along the riverside and enjoy the bustling of food stalls and restaurants in the evening. 

You can also get across the Sarawak River on a sampan (RM1 per person per trip) to the opposite side or cruise along the river in style for a relaxing introduction to Kuching.

Sampan ride along Sarawak River

Sarawak River Cruise

Main Bazaar

A shop at Main Bazaar

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

Damai Beach

Things to take note

:: There are many interesting events and festivals held in Kuching. Uncle Alfred recommends visiting in August as the annual Kuching Festival is usually held to boost local tourism and food industry. The food fair is one of the main attractions of this festival where you can savour the local delicacies.

:: Public transport is almost non-existent but it is easy to get around with a pair of walking shoes. Else, just Grab as the fares are very affordable.

:: Kuching also has a few shopping malls and kids entertainment near the Waterfront. Modern civilisation is not that remote in Kuching.

Conclusion

Writing this post has changed my initial impression of Kuching and I really hope to visit with the family one day. It is very cheap and easy to fly to Kuching, thanks to Air Asia Malaysia, and the journey takes about 1h 30m from the new Changi Airport Terminal 4. Get your flight tickets here.

Do you know of any other fun things that families with young kids can do in Kuching? Let me know in the comments.

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Disclosure: All the photos used have been given permission by the photographers for the purpose of this article.