Life Quiz
Well, here is an interesting online quiz… The Life Quiz. No surprise, I scored high on Spirituality. I also scored low on "Body" so I guess the message is, I need to pray that I start exercising more! Click on the link above and do the quiz yourself… then please come back and let me know your high and low!
Meanwhile, Jasper is sick but believe it or not, he actually slept quite well last night. Or maybe I just didn’t hear him. The doctor did an in-office test (kinda like a pregnancy test) for Scarlet Fever because he was so certain this is the bug JJ is battling. The test was negative but has a 15% margin for error. Therefore, the doc also took a throat swab to get more conclusive results. (Isn’t the definition of insanity going down the same tunnel over and over again while expecting a different result?) Last night JJ looked a little better and his rash subsided. This morning he didnt look so good, rash was back on his face in full force and temperature raging away. Hard to say if JJ is vomitting from the illness – we still dont know for sure what he has! – or from coughing because excessive coughing will certainly cause him to throw-up. Jury’s out on that one. But as Tess would say, "Poor little button."
Fortunately, none of the other kids seem to have picked up this bug. But, one wouldnt know this judging by the sounds they were making this morning before leaving the flat. The Terrific Trio were whinging and whining away left, right and centre. Also, Sebastian is constantly complaining about various ailments but I think that is because he’s trying to get out of going to school! Sebastian is now a walker. This means we drive him to school instead of him taking the bus. We chose this approach since De started driving to save on the bus fees while maximising the investment in driving lessons. However, Sebastian is quite conflicted about this latest development. He’s asked us several times if he can start taking the bus again. We tend to get a different opinion from him depending on his mood of the moment. Kinda like him being "sick."
Seb: My throat is hot… I am sick!
Parent: Really!? Then I guess you’ll need to have a nap and go to bed early tonight, too.
Seb: I’m not sick I just need a drink of water.
Hmmm…
The Secret Life of Water
Here is a fun and cute, award winning video about water. I suspect people will like it! (Make sure you have the sound turned up on your computer but probably not too, too loud!) I never knew that water had this secret life. What else do you think water does? Certainly in Hong Kong water likes to sleep in clothes if one is careless… little rascals!
NEW PICTURES!
"Mom and Dad make us go to Church every Sunday!"
Click here to see the latest pictures from April and then please come back to tell me your favourite pic!
The morning after
Kids & I just finished a pancake breakfast. The trips were starving and the funniest thing happened as we all sat down and were about to say grace. Sela jumped the gun, put her hands together, and started frantically muttering a prayer that sounded like this: "Surap shurmn shappa fush nnng mmm hunh surap shurmnnn…"
Last night was Union Church’s Annual General Meeting. The event was a huge success with 81 voting members (last year reportedly about half that) and 116+ in total attending when we did a headcount. (Being in HR, I of course immediately thought, ‘headcount… how many people are here?’) Therefore, add in kids and the people outside the room at the time of my headcounting, there were easily 150+ people attending last night. A huge success for UC.
Tess, a little under the weather, stayed home with the triplets. Sebastian and I went. This involved a pep-talk with Seb late afternoon to insure he knew the ground rules… eat dinner there, listen to the adults, be in the kids’ playroom playing while daddy was in the big room with the adults. Involves staying up late = nap on Sunday. Sebastian agreed… we shook on it and he exclaimed, "It’s a deal." We took a taxi and made plans for De to pick us up later.
On previous church dinner events, Seb has been less than thrilled with the food. Tess & I had a discussion about this as I started to make peanut butter sandwiches. "I am making pbs’s in case Seb gets hungry later in the evening," I explained.
"Or he could just suck it up if he doesnt like the food," Tess replied.
Mental note: trust wife. I stopped making the sandwiches.
As it turns out, Sebastian was a darling… he ate Been Hon noodles (loved them – like those fishy ones in Phuket that Tess & I couldn’t stand but Sebastian inhaled them!), a sausage roll, slice of pizza, a brownie and a big bowl of Belgium chocolate mousse… who could go wrong with that? There was more food than one could imagine. The international theme insured there were dishes from all over the world. (Tess made Nanaimo Bars.) The meeting went right to 10 PM and by then Sebastian was getting pretty punchy… in fact, on the way home he was sooo loopy I wondered if someone slipped him a sip o’ somethin!
To sum it up, here is the big take away from the AGM… huge success from a fellowship perspective. Usual administrative items for the Church handled quickly and appropriately. And the new Committe of Management for 2006/2007 was appointed by the members.
I can just imagine the fax arriving in God’s office after the meeting. The Lord would pick-up the report while an apostle stood in front of him.
"Uh huh… Union Church new COM… who have we got here… good, good… OH… Charles is on the COM! Finally some obedience."
Apostle: "Yes, only 43 years to be obedient, too." [snicker]
Lord: "Yes, sometimes I just wish they’d all be like my Noah."
Happy Sunday, everyone! Surap shurmn shappa to you, too.
My cousins are pretty!
I just returned from another US business trip. I left last Saturday and returned this morning, landing at 6:30 AM. At 7:30 I walked in the door.
A stampede of kids greeted me and we had a five person family group hug. Very sweet. I quickly changed into some casual clothes (I let Tess sleep) then read a book to the kids. We played for an hour, then Sela announced she had to do a wee wee. Plopped her on the toilet and sure enough a little tinkle emerged. Sweetie for Sela.
De played with the trips while I unpacked and had breakfast. Sebastian joined me for breakfast, requesting hot chocolate to drink since I was drinking coffee. I agreed and he rummaged around for the cup he wanted to use. None would suffice – they were all cold drink cups – then finally I suggested an adult mug. “That’s a good idea,” Sebastian said.
I looked through the mug cupboard – heavily dominated by Starbucks mugs from all over the world – and found an old mug given to me by my sister, Penny, years ago… on the side was a picture of my nieces Carly & Emma when they were roughly 8 – 9 years old. Seb looked at the picture carefully and I reminded him who they were. He, of course, stated he knew who they were.
Sebastian sat down at the table to enjoy his drink – hot choc cooled with a little milk – while I poured myself some cereal. He continued to ask me many questions about his cousins. “What do they look like today?” he asked. I pulled a recent pic off the side of the fridge and proudly showed him my nieces.
As I finished in the kitchen I watched Sebastian out of the corner of my eye. The mug sat square in front of him as he examined his cousins very carefully. First from one angle, then from another. Then the sweetest sentence softly flowed from his lips…
“My cousins are very pretty.”
It’s good to be home.
.
Home again, home again
Just returned from India and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be at home… PLUS, it is a FOUR DAY holiday weekend in Hong Kong for Easter… wooohooo… I LOVE EASTER and not just for spiritual reasons.
The flight home was naturally brutal… just before leaving the office we were supposed to have an All Employee meeting (300+) where I would give the team an update on the company and we’d launch a new HR initiative. Suddenly India media announced the passing of Raj Kumar, famous Bollywood actor. Senior managers went into frenzy, telling me that Mr. Kumar’s passing could result in rioting on the streets as Indian citizens mourned for a much loved Bollywood icon. They immediately devised a plan to release employees early from work and sent me off to the airport very early. Of course my flight was late so I had a long wait. I arrived in Mumbai from Bangalore to be greeted by a huge traffic jam. Talked on a global conference call in the back of the hotel car with cars and taxis beeping in the background. Had another call once arriving in the hotel with my awesome new boss. (He is great and will be very good for my company. Plus he uses sailing analogies when describing business situations and actions so really; he’s made to measure for me!)
Here’s the bad part. By that point it was 11:30 PM and I had to leave the hotel at 2:30 AM to catch my flight to Hong Kong. I had enough work to do that I had to weigh whether or not to sleep for a few hours or work right through. I chose the latter and by 1:30 AM was choking. I set my alarm for a one-hour nap. Halfway through that nap I woke-up suddenly, completely and totally disoriented, knowing I was supposed to be somewhere but not remembering any of the details. I’ve been living in a paradigm where this whole India trip needs to end with me arriving in Hong Kong by Thursday night to be with the family for the whole weekend. I didn’t know the details but I was certain I just overslept and messed something up.
SMACK! My rational side gave me a good one across the face. I squinted at my watch and realised I had another 30 minutes to nap. Whooosh. I was about to reach for my Blackberry to check for details when once again my rational side said, “STOP THAT!” Instead I slept for another 30 minutes.
The flight left Mumbai early morning, one hour and fifteen minutes late. That was very, very painful. In the upright position my seat really bothered my back, which has yet to heal 100%. Normally I am one of those rational people who understand there is a reason for a flight being late, and that I am unlikely to change the situation. But by this point I was in so much pain I was ready to say to one of the flight attendants, “LOOK! You have GOT TO get this plane off the ground. My back is killing me!” Finally we left and I slept all the way to Bangkok where we had a one-hour layover – passengers like myself going on to HK stay on the plane. Finally we arrived in HK.
Sebastian and De met me at the Airport Express. We went to the chiropractor, who fixed my back from the messy travel and then came home. (Ah yes, outside the drs office we found a street stall selling cool Spiderman windbreakers dirt-cheap. Had to buy a few of those.)
Upon arriving home three little critters flung themselves at me in the dearest way. Kids had dinner. Afterwards I presented the kids with treats from India… a gorgeous little red car for Jasper, little purses for Sela & Carys, and a red plane for Sebastian.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to be home and that it is the weekend. Four days with Tess and the kids! And, almost better, my work To Do list is only twelve pages long, so I won’t even be swamped with things to do on Tuesday. God be praised!
Attached are two pics I’ve been meaning to post. One of the kids riding on the trike on Bowen Road (with Sebastian and Jasper sporting their Kennedy Space Centre flight suits) and the other of our new Renault that we got about six months ago. I blogged about it at the time but never posted a pic. Happy Easter everyone!
