Recently I've had many compliments on how good my skin looks. Seriously, I'm not really big on commenting on my own looks n stuff but I thought this might make a good post.

I think part of the reason is the glow that comes with pregnancy (YAY! More reason to have babies!) and part of it is just good genes (Dad's skin is great!). I've never had big problems with pimples and acne even though I'm terrible with all the cleansing, toning and moisturising.

However, I've always been plagued with eczema since I was a kid. I spent most of my teenage life with two patches on my face because I started wearing glasses and somehow it reacted with my face. Recently, it attacked the area around my eyes. Those who saw me back home probably saw how bad it got! Red, itchy and patchy!

I started to try all sorts of stuff, asked around a bit and realised there are so many Singapore kids that are plagued with eczema and allergies! Poor things, I can totally identify!

Then I chanced upon a Singaporean website selling organic products for eczema prone babies on Angie's website (Angie's website is my constant reference for homeschooling references and ideas) called Bellygoods. So, I decided to contact them and give it a try! They had products for adults as well. Val from Bellygoods was really sweet and posted me a sample of Sun*Si'Belle Organic Triple Action Moisturizer with SPF 30+. I needed a moisturizer and sunblock that did not react with my skin while allowing the eczema to heal.

The product is not as smooth as the Biotherm moisturiser that I normally use but it is also a sunblock so it kinda coats the skin and makes it look a little pale. Once I dust some face powder over it, it's great. Another plus factor is that it helps to even out my skin tone so my skin actually looks almost flawless without foundation! Woopee!

After using it for a month or so, the eczema died down. Of course in addition, I've used some eczema cream and Avene spray to reduce the itch before I put on the moisturizer.

I've not used the other products from Bellygoods but I'm sure it's just as good. I think I might get the baby products when baby arrives. The best part is that Val also sells samples so you can try it before you buy the actual product which can be rather costly. But totally worth it in my opinion!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was momentous! I drove to town and back on my own! It was all great except at one point, I bumped into an elderly man's car bumper a little trying to reverse out of a parking lot but thank God no damage, phew!

I drove all three of us to town to have brunch at the All Day Breakfast place in town to celebrate Father's Day (erm, NZ doesn't celebrate Father's Day today) and then to New World (supermarket) and Warehouse (like Kmart) for some shopping before we headed back home. I was a bit tensed the whole time coz it's the first time I'm on my own for almost 10 years since I got my license. And it was raining quite heavily at some point. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever driven on my own before without a seasoned driver!

Anyhow, it's great! Looking forward to more! FREEDOM!!!!!

As the first born in the family, Dad and I share a very special relationship. I can't really explain what exactly it is but it's just special. Maybe coz I had a good 5 years alone with Mum and Dad before Kelvin came along.

I grew up knowing that we were not rich and couldn't afford most things that Sophie would now take for granted. I knew that Mum and Dad had to work just to make ends meet. When I was growing up, they had to work long hours and I hardly got to see them. Yet during the weekends, we would spend lots of time together going to the beach or the gardens.

I also remember the times that Dad will attempt to teach me Math in primary school using Algebra (which I only figured out when I was in Sec sch! So that was what all that A+B=C was all about!). He's REALLY good with Maths being an estimator and involved in budgeting for million dollar projects like building huge oil rigs and all. I guess I kinda took after that. Although I'm a bit rusty now and need the calculator to figure 8×7.

He's an organizer – since he became a Christian (the year I turned 11), he's always woken up at 4/5am to spent time with the Lord. He's always on time and loves to put things together. Guess I took after him in that aspect too. Ok, not that 5am quiet time BUT I'm definitely more an early bird and I love to organize.

Dad loves to read the papers and watch TV, just like every other Dad. He doesn't talk very much but when he does, he always makes a lot of sense. Even though he doesn't talk very much, it helps that he smiles a lot and always give us quiet assurances that he loves us by asking us if we got enough pocket money or asking Mum to make sure we have this and that.

As I grow older and older, I'm more and more thankful for my Dad. He's 61 this year and he's still working. He and Mum just made a career move to Brazil to help to work on the shipping projects there. I think he's super brave. His tenacity for hard work always amazes me.

Dad, you are amazing and I'm so thankful to God for you. May the Lord bless you on this special Father's Day and even though you are far, pls know that we love you and miss you VERY much.

In a world where many are growing up without fathers or absent fathers, Sophie is most blessed to have James as her Daddy!!!!!!!!

Happy Father's Day dear one! You are so precious to the both of us and we're SO glad you've come home just in time so we can celebrate you!

This is the class that James is teaching this week! Everything is going great and God is moving in amazing ways. Praise God!

Keep on praying pls, two more days!

I'm finally driving after more than 10 years of getting my license!

I've had a phobia of driving after getting my license coz I was horned at by a police car (!) and almost reversed into a drain with a group of youths in the car. And I'm generally a scaredy cat. Driving was just too stressful a thing for me. There was never a real pressing reason for me to drive since transportation was so easily available in Singapore and it was too expensive to own a car anyways.

But here in Matamata, we can't go anywhere without a car! Plus James doesn't have a driving license although I think he can prob drive better than me.

You ask, how did we survive the past 1 and a half years? The first school we did, we thought we were just staying for 3 months and it wasn't so important that we couldn't get to places. There was a van run to town every week and if we needed to go into town, we could just get a lift from someone.

When we returned in July last year, Gin was here too and we decided to buy a car together. I thought I'll try driving then but still, the inertia was just too strong. She drove most of the time so I didn't feel like I really needed to.

BUT NOW! We have a car (7 seater at that!) and no one to drive us around anymore! So…………….. I decided to just get on with it. Turns out, it's really not that bad. Funny how fear can grip us so tightly that we can't see past anything and everything is an excuse to why I can't do it. But I believe God answered my prayer and gave me a breakthrough. I felt so at ease the first time behind the wheels and today, I actually drove into town and back with Claire as my coach. Sophie even fell asleep on the way home!

I'm SO thrilled!!!!! For those who know me well prob know what a breakthrough it is for me! I am so looking forward to driving into town on my own soon…. yay!

We're back in New Zealand! It's really cold! It ranges from 4 to 16 degrees celsius through the day. This morning was frosty and our car was covered with frost! Apparently it was snowing further south in the North Island!

We are very grateful to have had the past 5 weeks of holidays (1 week in Brisbane and 4 in Singapore).

It was a really good break for us. We got to see our family whom we missed very much. Sophie is much older now and she can better appreciate the family relationships. She really enjoyed going daily to Jurong Point Mall with Mama and Yeye and being blessed with lotsa toys, books and clothes. She also enjoyed spending time with her cousin Janice and was so happy to finally see Grandpa after a year and a half and of course Grandma too. She got to eat almost whatever she wanted and slept as late as she wanted.

With the grandparents around, James and I actually had quite a bit of time to ourselves! We went shopping, met up with friends, ran errands, watched late night movies, went out for supper etc, things that we hardly get to do here.

It was such a good trip although we do regret that we didn't get to meet up with everyone we wanted to and could not really go deep in conversations as we wanted to but we hope you understand and you all mean so much to us.

We feel refreshed and recharged with fresh words from God and just filled with amazing grace.

We are carrying this grace into this week as we resettled on the base. Everything has slowed down here.

- The FMS outreach team is almost done with their local (NZ) outreach.
- Base duties are limited. We're just cleaning up the base in between schools.
- I'm back to homeschooling Sophie. The other big thing is I'm starting to drive again! And this time, I'm actually enjoying it! And I'm really enjoying the space and quiet.
- James is preparing to go to Vanuatu this Saturday for a week to teach in the DTS on the Lordship of Christ and Father Heart of God. His sensitive nose is reacting to the weather change so he's having a cold but praying that with rest, that'll soon past.
- Sophie's doing great. She spent 2 nights asking for me just before midnight and crying for her friends Evan and Eli but she's alright now. She's now back to sleeping 8pm – 8am. She's totally enjoying the outdoors once again but I have to keep reminding her to put on her coat and shoes.

We thank God for the rest we had and are ready for the year ahead here. We're going to be on base staff from July – Dec and after that we're staffing the next FMS from Jan 2011 onwards.

Thanks for supporting us in so many ways. We feel really blessed. This morning I am reminded that we need to abide in Him (John 15). I think that's going to be our focus for the year ahead – to really learn to abide in Christ and allowing Him to prune us to bear fruit for His glory.

Please continue to pray for us.

While the little one is entertained by Toby, her best guy friend on the base, I'm going to just blog about my crazy amazing cake making friend Wanz.

Wanz just started her own baking blog and it's so great!! You should see it for yourself. It always makes me drool. In case you wonder how this amazing woman keeps her shape, she is also a marathon runner. I guess it all works out ya Wanz?

Go to A Spoonful of Sugah and drool away…

I’m not sure if it’s just the heat but I’ve been feeling really tired.

Past few nights I’ve been in bed by 9ish, which is super rare for me. In fact, I’ve been falling asleep faster than Sophie! Swollen feet, eczema flaring up, stretchy tummy and achy back, all part and parcel of this pregnancy. I think Baby No. 2 is a little bigger than Sophie was coz I don’t remember being so heavy until the last month with Sophie.

But all in all, I thank God that it has been a pretty smooth pregnancy so far and real thankful for all the good food that my in laws have been cooking the past few days!

I know I say this after every trip. Nothing really beats traveling on SIA. Seriously. They are actually nice and concerned. Esp if we travel with kids.

Here’s Sophie giving them a thumbs up, esp for the fact that they have a screen for her and lovely food and toys. She was SO excited about the TV screen because we flew Qantas from Auckland to Brisbane and she was really disappointed that there wasn’t one. Actually…. I was even more disappointed haha coz I thought she’ll be entertained throughout. But thank God she was happily eating and playing with her toys for the first part and slept the rest of the 2 hrs. Phew!

We’re home!

We just spent a week in Brisbane with my sis, Rach and some other friends. And now we’re back in Singapore for the next 4 weeks. It’s so good to be back. Will blog more soon!

I’m very pleased to annouce that after being here for almost 1 and a half years, we finally found a church that we enjoy going to! Occasionally we go to the Baptist Church in town but it’s really big (ok not as big as SJSM) and full of old people. The teaching is good but just a very foreign feel to it, not very intimate. With the amount of teaching and ministry we get on the base, there really wasn’t a really desire to go to church on Sundays so we normally just stay in.

James found out about Soul Church through a doctor in town and we decided to go check it out with the Freestones. It’s on Sunday at 6pm.

When we arrived, the kids were eating fish and chips for dinner and Sophie happily joined in with Toby and Eli. Little Soul (the kids’ church) start at 5.45pm and they serve fish and chips for the kids! Woo hoo! That’s a real draw. It’s not a big thing for Sophie because she’s not into fried fish or chips BUT I thought it was such a cool idea! We had a good chat with the pastor’s wife who was also in charge of the children’s ministry. She was really enthusiatic and very nice. Sophie was fine for a while and when dinner ended and they went for dancing and worship time, she came to get me. So I joined in for a bit. It was SO FUN! We danced to some cool bible verse music with cool actions (no hillsongs here, yey!). After that they did some craft and then watched TV. When Soph was more settled, I went back to the main service which was just next door. The following week, she was totally fine on her own which was great.

Soul Church starts at 6pm – extremely seeker friendly timing. It’s great for us because after a long week, we can sleep in on a Sunday and spend some family time. Service is short, ended by 7/7.30pm and very simple preaching. In fact, they are in their Commitment series and the pastor was challenging the congregation to commit. Soul is a part of the Mosaic church in the US. They started as a home church, a church plant and grew. They just started meeting as a service recently. The pastor has a full time job but he and his wife took the challenge and planted the church in Matamata. It really reminded me of early HeartBeat days where everyone knew everyone. Lotsa youths and young adults. Prob only about 60 people each week. So much potential for growth here. Just felt like God gave me a burden to pray for the staff and leaders and a passion to serve in anyway possible in this growing church. We like the family atmosphere.

We’re looking forward to spend more time to get to know the people here and grow with them over the next year. In fact, I know I really like it because I’m going to miss it when we’re away and Sophie keeps asking when we’re going back.