Shiloh - Carrying the Presence of the Almighty

     On the 6th of July 2016 we held Shiloh's full month celebration at the Fullerton Hotel, Straits Room. This venue was painstaking restored to it's colonial glory and preserved as it was. It was a good chance to catch up with family and reconnect with old friends. 

     

     Here's an excerp of my thank you speech, explaining our choice for our daughter's name. 

     "So why did we name her Jing Ying? It’s taken from Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. 敬畏耶和華 to have 聪颖.

Proverbs 31: 10-31 summarizes the meaning of this “Wisdom”. Proverbs 31 speaks of the “virtuous” woman. The Hebrew root word more aptly describes it as “strength” and “valour”; more often to describe armies. In the rest of the chapter, we see this strong, valiant, wise woman, also having business acumen, yet generous and very importantly, she’s diligent. These are the traits we hope to inculcate in our little one. And it all starts with teaching her to fear the Lord. Hence her name 敬颖.

Why Shiloh:

1 Samuel 1. The House of God was in Shiloh. The Ark of the Covenant was in Shiloh. Hannah had her prayer answered when she prayed at Shiloh.

This is to remind us that the Lord heard our prayer and granted this precious girl to us.

1 Samuel 3. The word of the Lord was precious in those days and there was no open vision. Yet the Lord called to Samuel at Shiloh.

It is our hope for Shiloh that the Lord’s presence will always be with her; that she will carry His presence and be a light and testimony for Jesus. Also that the Lord will call to her as He did to the Prophet Samuel when he was a small boy. And Shiloh would be sensitive and obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit all the days of her life.

And Finally, why Shiloh? So that she can join Jordan and Emmaus to play “Find my name on the Map of the Middle East” – Just Kidding!

So today, as we dedicate Shiloh to the Lord; it is as much a dedication of Ziyan and myself to bringing her up to be a woman that loves and fears the Lord".

Baby Blues, Bumps and Beauty

     "Ok it's coming... Ready... Puuusshhh... 1 and 2 and 3 and 4...," arm around shoulders, counting in unison, hoping that this would be the final round. 

     "One more time... Puuushhh...," it wasn't meant to be. Forceps in, pull pull and out she comes. Doctor hands me the scissors, "cut here". The rubbery cord takes some effort to sever. Crying, cleaning and she's handed to us. Emotions welling up, beating back tears...

     It wasn't the first time that tears threatened to escape from my eyes. Almost nine months ago, we were in the same company, yet in a totally different setting. The wifey was on the examining bed, and the doctor was placing the transducer on her belly. Suddenly a rapid "thud-thud-thud" emerged from the ultrasound machine like an ancient steam engine realizing that it was made for speed. The tiny heartbeat, magnified a thousand times, drove in the realization that we had indeed succeeded in conceiving this little miracle. It was the first time I understood the meaning of "tears of joy". Our journey, arduous as it may have been, was entering the final stretch. There was light at the end of the tunnel.

0.70cm at 6 weeks old

     If you'd asked me a year ago, I would've put up a brave front and said everything was alright. It wasn't. Two years ago, the wifey and I decided that we were ready to move to the next stage of life. We didn't consciously practice birth-control; our attitude had always been "come what may". However, we realized that we weren't getting any younger and we needed some help. From the onset, we knew that we wanted to go an natural as possible. The first stop was TCM. The wifey did her research and we decided to consult Physician Zhong Xi Ming at Eu Yang Sang Premier, located at Paragon Medical Centre. That started our over one year of TCM medication. The herbs were ground into powder and were supposed to be mixed with water and taken twice a day. We affectionately called it the "yucky stuff".

seeing her face for the first time at around 5 months

     The next year was one of hopes raised and dashed on a regular basis. Every month we prayed and hoped. When the "time of the month" came, it was back to the drawingboard once again. We simply didn't understand how families that obviously couldn't afford, or who couldn't provide the right environments for child raising, seemed to so easily conceive. If children were a reward from the Lord, what did we do wrong? Were we not worthy? I remember clearly driving in my car after another day of disappointment, thinking to myself, what if we never become parents. The heaviness of heart is something that I will never forget.
     Nevertheless, our Heavenly Father is still gracious. Through the midst of our struggle, he gave us a spirited god-daughter. We even had conversations about leaving our earthly wealth to her should we depart childless.
     Since TCM didn't seem to work, we decided to go the western way. We felt that it was indeed divine appointment when we found out that Dr Douglas Ong was not only a believer, he was also big on going the natural way, with as little medication as necessary. The option of IUI was presented to us and we had a decision to make. The struggle was always between trusting God on one hand and running ahead of God on the other. Where do you draw the line between trusting in His sovereign will and taking responsibility for our lives? We decided that we would live by our philosophy: Do everything that we humanly can, then leave the rest to God. Of course in the meantime, we prayed; I fasted, and sought the will of the Lord. We couldn't be sure, but we thought the answer was to wait and not go ahead with the IUI. Then we received conflicting signals. The interaction I had with Christian friends made me realize that IUI was actually pretty common. many of my friends conceived through this method. Was God telling us something different?
     We discussed about it and decided to go for the procedure. However, it didn't turned out as simple as we expected. We missed the timing time and again. On hindsight, perhaps God was speaking. When we finally got down to doing it, it was an extremely harrowing and painful experience for the wifey; so much so that she felt that it would be the first and last time we tried IUI. Unfortuately her sacrifice didn't yied any fruit. That didn't leave us with much options. Following our philosophy of doing everything we possibly can, we were left with the final straw - for the wifey to quit her job. And that was what we did.
     The wifey left the service in August. We went for vacation to Switzerland and the Netherlands in September. When we came back, the wofey started feeling unwell. At first we thought it was a case of major indigestion. A couple of weeks later, the pregnancy test kit showed positive. How gracious indeed is our Lord. It was a natural conception afterall. His mercies and blessing prevailed through our struggles and self-doubt.
     Standing in the doctor's office and hearing our daughter's rapid heartbeat for the first time, I could barely control the tsunami of emotions that welled-up. This, however, is not the end of the story. A few checkups later, we were informed that the doctor suspected a hole in her heart. I took to fasting for our precious little one. Thanks be to God once again when the following test showed otherwise. A few months later, we were back at Mt Elizabeth Hospital. This time awaiting the birth of our firstborn. It took 15 hours of labour when Shiloh finally arrived. God is indeed good!

7 KM of Torture: Spartan Race 2016

     Most people know the Spartans from the movie 300 or other period Greek shows. Not many know that the Spartans were a cruel people by today's standards. From birth, soldiers came to the house to determine the baby's strength. It was bathed in wine instead of water, and if found wanting, the baby was left on the hillside or taken away to be made a slave. It is no surprise that Reebok chose to name this race after the Spartans. I don't know what possessed me, but I decided I needed to achieve something challenging this year. Hence I signed up for the race.

     I didn't really put much thought into preparing for it. It was the usual weights training once a week and night-time runs. It wasn't much but I'd be the worse for wear without it. The Spartan Race not only tests one's fitness, it also gives you an idea of how mentally resilient you are. One of the first obstacles is to carry a super heavy concrete ball across a certain distance. I believe it was meant to sap us of our strength. I could barely lift it, eventhough I train with weights regularly. I was almost winded. The other obstacle that I found more irritating than difficult, was going under a series of ropes - I believe it was designed to snag up tall people like me. More challenging were the series of walls. I managed to clear all but the highest, having sprained my neck a little on the middle one. Other than that, it was just a matter of grinding your teeth and soldiering on. It reminded me of my "hike" in Cinque Terre (you can check out the pics in my earliest post), just a few notches harder.

     I wonder who told us that the Spartan Sprint (contrary to how it sounds) was a 5km race. In the end we found out that it was 7km. The last 2km were the longest I've ever had. In the end, thank God, I managed to complete it with only a few bruises, scratches and a slightly stiff neck. Don't believe the TV ads where participants tell you that "anyone can do it". Yes, anyone can do it, if you don't mind falling out halfway (which was what happened to one of our team-mates). This event is something that I had to achieve at least once in my life (probably the only time). The feeling of fulfillment on completing the Spartan Race is something that you have to experience for yourself.

Last BIG Date before the BIG DATE - Shakespeare in the Park: SRT's Romeo and Juliet

     It has been quite some time since the wifey and I went on a "proper" date. As her due date was nearing, we decided to take the opportunity to attend this year's Shakespeare in the Park. We had our first experience many years ago and at that time we wondered how the people in the front row got to enjoy their plush seats and VIP treatment. This time, we found out the answer; all thanks to Audi.

     Those who have attended past performances would be familiar with the long snaking queue that winds itself round Fort Canning Park, prior to the opening of the entrance. This time we were fortunate to be able to join the queue for Audi Prestige members, which took us right to the entrance. The wifey was very impressed with the Audi service staff, when they offered her a chair, seeing that she was pregnant. Not wanting to be stomped for being too "atas" she declined. It wasn't long before we were allowed through the entrance. First stop, the Audi pavilion.

Audi Pavilion

canapes

     

     We plonked ourselves in front of the huge air-conditioners and proceeded to help ourselves to the canapes and drinks. Wine, Champagne, soft drinks, free-flow throughout the night. When we had our fill, we were ushered to our seats - those same plush backings on carpeted "mats" that we so envied many years ago. It wasn't long before our picnic basket arrived.

Sandwiches  (smoke salmon and turkey and brie) and brownies from ABC, a bottle of wine,
wine glasses, Garrett popcorn, bottles of water, quill and "parchment" for our feedback etc

     I was just commenting to the wifey that we forgot to bring along mosquito repellent. Lo and behold, we found anti-insect patches in the basket. There was also wet napkins and even mini-electric fans that could be operated by plugging into our handphones. Audi really thought of everything.

Mightily impressed with the glass and bottle
holders that can be inserted into the grass.

Mobilephone operated fan

     Before long, the sky turned dark and the lights came on. It was time for the performance. I must admit that SRT did an excellent job with their interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. The set and movement of the actors were also very well thought out. It was an obvious departure from Leonardo DeCaprio's 1996 movie version as well as the 1968 version which I saw in Junior College (No! I wasn't in JC in 1968. I wasn't even born then!). DeCaprio was a suave, passionate Romeo. SRT's Romeo was a childish brat (in my opinion) that made me want to slap him in the head. Contrary to what most people think, Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is NOT the ultimate love story. How can it be true love when one "falls" in love, gets married, and swears to be together, all in one day; and having just been moping around because of another unrequited relationship the day before (Romeo for Rosalind)? Nevertheless, it was an excellent production. Kudos to SRT. And thanks to Audi for making it all the more enjoyable.

     Having said that, the most important factor in making the event as enjoyable as it was, was of course, the company. I probably won't be attending this play if not for the wifey. She said that this was Shiloh's first experience with Shakespeare. I prefer to think of it as the Big Date before Shiloh's Big Date.