It's Elections season in Singapore! We only get to do this once in about 5 years, so it is pretty big deal. This time there is much stronger opposition parties contesting all but one of the constituencies, which is a first for us. Everyone is discussing politics, the parties, the issues, our choices, etc. I'm not discussing politics here, this is a scrapbooking blog!:) But we decided it's time the boys get their education and first taste in our country's politics, government policies, and all that. Here's a page (click to enlarge)I made to record this momentous few weeks of election fever, in our country and in our home!
Journaling reads:
"When this year’s Elections came around, we knew it was the right time to get the family involved. R is 14 and very into political systems, how countries are governed, and reads a lot of related books. J is not interested at all yet, but we decided it is a chance to give them an introduction into politics and create awareness. Our Constituency is being contested, and together with our good friends we decided to attend both the PAP and the opposition parties rallies, held one night after the other. It was actually our first time at a rally too (gasp!) so it is education for us as well!
Of course all of us have lots of opinions at a time such as this, especially with much stronger opposition this round, but we were not trying to influence the boys in any particular direction!
At the WP rally we experienced the strength of mob mentality, they were much better at rallying the feelings of people. it was quite emotionaly charged, and fascinating to be in the presence of that strong crowd! R analysed in his opinion that the speeches start first, to insult,(lol) then to present arguments.
J stated (not unwisely) that he did not want to attend any rally, since they are all just propaganda! The PAP rally paled greatly in numbers that turned out,
only two speakers sounded as passionate as the opposition speakers, and they presented a lot of points, but as the boys noted, got boring and lost us. We did
point out that it is a lot easier to make complaints than to justify policies. But
when asked, both of them think that WP will surely win the votes, judging by the
size and sentiments of the crowds. We shall vote this coming Sat and watch the results together!(see if they are right :) )
Back home, interest has mounted, and we poured over the papers, news reports,you tube videos of more speeches, even J is engaged now. Hopefully this has stoked their interest and pave the way for them to be aware and informed adults who will choose and support their leaders wisely. Most importantly we are impressing on them that God is in charge and moves history and leaders and men’s plans to accomplish His purposes. So we must above all, pray for our nation."
Amen! Been studying Isaiah in BSF and it is so appropriate to read about how through the rise and fall of all the nations, God oversees and intervenes for His own good purposes. We try to teach the boys how important it is to pray for our nation, our leaders, and whom should become our leaders. I am really loving this period of great discussions, analysing speeches, party manifestoes, government policies, etc with the boys. Ryan posted on facebook a suggestion dh had which impressed him, and we are observing the comments and likes and all. Unlike myself when I was young, it is so good to see them starting young, becoming aware and involved!
On the scrapbooking front I've completed our 2010 album, this is the last page I added, about the little things, I think I like my 'annual' albums even more than my travel albums, for they capture our lives, both the election type pages and the little things!
The book arrived from Shutterfly - lovely condition and quality as usual! Here are the front and back covers. If you would like to have the templates of these covers according to Shutterfly 12x12 album dimensions, let me know!
And I've finally started scrapping our Shanghai trip from last June! Here is the first page, arriving at our hotel (previously an old mansion) after a super high speed ride on the MagLev train!
That first night we went to the famous BUND, the promenade full of colonial buildings and towers on the skyline (click to enlarge)
Oh, recently I've been hooked on
Pinterest. It's a new website that allows us to 'pin' images we like from online to various persobal 'boards' for sharing and keeping! There are tonnes of amazing staff the folks there are pinning, and it's such fun browsing, Kate (whom I follow on Pinterest) had a post on it here at
The Daily Digi. If you want to see the my pins, you can check them out here:
http://pinterest.com/yin100/pins/. To join, you can request an invite on their page. Have fun!
Want to share more amazing scrapbook pages by my friends:
Stylish pages by Tawn (find her blog
here) with her amazing photography and adorable children!
Darling and colorful pages by Jenny (find her blog
here) !
Thank you ladies for letting me share your pages! Love your work, everytime!
And as usual, like to share this template with you :)
This template is now available as
Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
You can download them here - have fun with your albums! There was a question in comments as to how many pages are my albums, well mine are usually 70 to 100 pages. I did one that was more than 100 pages, which shutterfly does not support (not sure if they do now?) so I had that album printed by Blurb. You know, I'm so addicted to my albums now, can't wait to add to my collection! I even took advantage of shutterfly's recent 50% promotion to convert one of my previous 8x8s (2008 Album) to 12x12 - yay! As you can see from the picture, it is a good idea to 'label' your albums on the spines, so that when you get to having a lot of them, they can be easily identified. :)
