Seasons of Life

We are studying Ecclesiates in church and it does feel like a season of life is passing for me! Jared's big PSLE exams are finally over. Certainly studying was a big part of it, but more than that, Jared has grown and matured so much in so many other ways :) In my opinion, the Lord allowed a rejection from his dream secondary school, and through it Jared learnt the powerful lessons of humility, teachability, responsibility, working for a goal, and the personal satisfaction of working hard on something and knowing you did well. I know, big words and phrases, huge stuff!

He is also learning to Gpray and trust God about the choices - he hopes to try applying for the dream school again when the results are out while also asking Him for guidance about the other two schools where he has been offered a place. Can you imagine, my little boy, facing such huge decisions so well?

Last week, J and I had a cute candid conversation about this, that went something like this:
Me: You know, if you find that you tend to excel at big national exams, you should go to school A.
J: No, I prefer relaxed.
Me: Then you had better go to school B, which is a six year program that allows you to skip one national exam! No need to try for the 'dream school'!
J: But I prefer interesting.
Haha! He sure has his own priorities clearly sorted out! We continue to pray and await God's choice!

Right after the exams, J's school informed that they are organizing a school trip to Vietnam and Jared is selected. Wow, another step forward, travelling overseas without mommy! He is terribly excited about the without mommy part, only I am cringing inside, lol. I have to let go, it is that season of life :)

Similarly for dh, remember I completed a page myself for a daybook in my life in Aug? I also got dh to do a page and this is the result:

I so loved to read some of his answers, especially "I am creating... a stable home for the family" Love him!

And also some of his deep concerns for Jared showed "I am thankful... for Jared's getting into 2 great schools, what a terrible feeling for him if he had to face rejection at such a tender age", "I am hoping... that Jared will go through these exams with his spirit intact"

And this is funny and so accurate: "Around the house... toys, toys and more toys. a busy house, full of creative activities: stop motion movie making, computer game writing, scrapbooking and tonnes of books."

If you haven't, capture your day and your sentiments in a Daybook page and include it in your scrapbook albums!



It was so nice to be able to do a post after a long month! I played around in blogger and found that a new series of dynamic views are now available and it looks real cool! Here's a preview, click HERE to try the new view. You can even toggle to different views on the black menu bar there!

I'm now making great efforts to catch up on my trip photos! I'm probably only a third way through my Shanghai trip album that was in June last year! Here are some I did so far:
This layout is from a morning we spent in QiBao, touted in the guide book as an original town preserved, but we found it to be terribly turned into a tourist trap! Still, being where the chinese tourists go was interesting, just look at the top two pictures in the second column from the right. Those were pig snorts and baby ducks! I ran from the scene, dh managed to take the pictures, lol!

This Miniature 'museum' was also in Qibao, you won't believe how tiny these furnitures, vases, sculptures were! About an inch tall but oh so delicately carved from semi-precious stones, just amazing.

Next we went to a fun shopping space at Tai Kang Lu built into old alleyway homes, it's now has hip and cool shops existing in these old buildings with families still living in the upper stories.

And this was how we spent an authentic sunday morning the Shanghainese way, in the City park. These above layout templates are in the store.

And I bought my first strand of real cultured pearl necklace in this Shanhai market. At least, I hope they are real! The store owner shaved the pearl with a knife, to show me that underneath it is authentic pearl with real sheen and shine. Looks real to me! I loved that I could customise the length and select the individual pearls that I want for my necklace!

This is now available as part of Template Pack 7 in the store. Thanks for your interest!