2016 Decision(s) of the year

Since the beginning of the year (or even a couple of months prior), I have been struggling at work. It's not that I can't do my job or that there is too much work. It's more that my job scope had become less and less interesting/challenging/motivating. The original intention of my role (from 2 years ago) was to do research and development (r&d), building novel sensors and making them work in a gym environment, analysing data, and developing software or algorithms to track gym users or even athletes. Inevitably, it involved doing work that relates closely to my main focus; and that included designing (and prototyping) simple electronics to acquire sensor data, designing (and 3D printing) enclosures for the sensors and electronics, sewing and fabricating a number of smart exercise mats, and sourcing components and materials for product development. Those are all great. But over time, the focus had shifted to more of supporting production, maintenance, and sometimes testing and creating user friendly features. There's definitely a huge reduction in r&d related work. I understand that those jobs are necessary for the business and I would dutifully do whatever I have been assigned. But after a while, it does dampen my motivation. 

Earlier this year in church, our senior pastor shared about the vision he received from God for our church this year. The vision is to push forward, to stretch, to persist, to Breakout of containment and limitations, into everything that God has for us. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 (MSG). Just the week before that, a guest speaker (Ps Steve Wyndham) shared about the door of opportunity, how sometimes when a door of opportunity is opened for us, we need to step through it and trust the Lord. As I heard those two sermons from 2 different pastors in 2 consecutive weeks, I can't help but feel that God is telling me something about my life, about my situation, and that I need to move forward in faith. Which then leads to a couple of questions: 

1. Should I leave my job? 
2. If yes, what do I do next? 

I decided to commit myself to a period of prayer and fasting together with our church. I wanted to seek God about what I should do in terms of my work (and even ministry). Less than a week into that, I received an email from an individual asking me about a previous project I did and if I could make that into a product for him. This was like a second hint from God and answers question 2 above - He will give me work to do.

After the period of prayer and fasting, I was more certain that I should move on from my work at the gym. But being unconfident about the "what to do next?", I was still weighing between resigning altogether or requesting to work a day less. Since I was going away for a 3 week break to visit family in S'pore, I decided to pray and ponder about that more while I was away. On the first day that I reached S'pore, I received another message via Linkedin from another individual about an article I wrote in the sports technology blog. It was basically a potential opportunity to work in another sports technology project. Bam. This was like a third hint from God. 

So with that, I made up my mind. I was going to resign. Even though there is nothing concrete on the other side (what I was going to do next), I decided to take a step of faith and believe God for my next season.

When I spoke to my boss, I explained my motivation (or lack of it) for resigning and told him I just needed to take some more time off to think about "what to do next". He was very understanding and he fully agreed that there wasn't much r&d in the last 6 months and likely going forward. He wished me all the best and he also revealed a shocking bit of information - which was his other business closing down. I was a bit shocked and also thought my resignation was very timely because it meant he has one less headcount and less expenses. Then four weeks after I left the company, I found out from an ex-colleague that my boss has shut down the gym business as well! I was very surprised with that outcome but subsequently when I had a chat with my ex-colleagues, I understood where my boss was coming from. There's probably many many factors and I wouldn't go into the details. In a way, I think he was losing the motivation to push forward with his enterprise while making little headway, so he probably needed a break too.

What to do next? 

I officially stopped work end of April. My mum was with us till end of May, so I got to hang out with her for a bit. She really enjoyed her stay in Melbourne this time, especially her fellowship with this Chinese church not far from our house. We spent a lot of time talking (her talking and me listening), sometimes reminiscing about dad and stories of different family members, sometimes about faith and church, and sometimes about raising kids and life in general. It was good.

During that time, I also followed up with that sports technology project opportunity. We had a few meetings/discussions online and we managed to work something out. It was a part-time/freelance arrangement where I would work on the project and deliver a prototype by end of the year. What this meant was that I could work from home 2-3 days a week (or depending on the requirement of the project), at hours that suit the family; so basically I could have more time for the kids (and some chores) and I could potentially serve in a church ministry that runs on a weekday! 

Now on hindsight, God has been really patient and gentle with me even though I was being hesitant/doubtful. He dropped me hint after hint after hint and He led me to this new role/opportunity. Although it is still very uncertain how the future will pan out, I now know that I just need to push forward, stretch, persist and breakout of containment and limitations into everything that God has for me and my family! (Encompass Vision Sunday fb post)  

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6:11-13The Message (MSG)

The super compressed version on a story card

       

Our Short Sydney Getaway

This was the first time we took a family trip together (all four of us). We flew to Sydney for a short weekend getaway and we picked flying instead of driving because I didn't think I could handle 9 hours of driving with our 2 monsters kids. It was actually a last minute decision (which I will explain later) but it turned out to be a good decision because the weather in Sydney was great, we did some fun stuff and we hanged out with good friends. There were some not so nice things that happened but it kinda worked out in the end and I took away some important lessons which I will also get to later.

So what or who led us to do this trip was Mabel's really good mate Li. Li moved to the States after high school and it has been a while since they both caught up. As she was kinda due to take her work sabbatical leave, she decided to take the opportunity to travel around Asia, visit family in Singapore and also visit a couple of good friends in Melbourne - namely Mabel and another friend Em. Since it was her first time visiting Australia, she thought she should check out Sydney as well; and that's when Li suggested Mabel and Em join her for that trip. Initially it was supposed to be an old gal friends get together trip. Then Mabel threw the idea of making it a family trip which would then involve me and the kiddos. I actually really liked the idea mainly because it has been quite long since we had any sort of a holiday. My only concern was that it's still winter, and the chances of our 2 kids falling sick just before that supposed weekend is quite high.

With that in mind, Mabel told Li that we may or may not join them in Sydney and we will only confirm a few days before hand. At that point, it was about one and a half months before the travel date. Fast forward to a week before the date, we felt more confident and decided to book our flights. Unfortunately, I suddenly felt the onset of a flu just a day after we booked the flights! It got worse the next day where my body was aching and I felt like crap. I even took 2 days sick leave. So we held back on booking anything else and the plan was, if I haven't recovered by Friday morning, we will reschedule our flights and visit Sydney at a later date on our own. Thankfully I actually felt better by Thursday, and so on Friday morning (a day before the trip), we took the plunge. Accommodation was booked and we even managed to still book a spot on the same Day Tour that Li and Em booked in advanced.

So Sydney here we come!

The first Boo Boo

Our flight to Sydney was a 9am flight. We did an online check-in the night before and thought that would save us some time at the airport. We planned to leave home by 7:30am but as always, things happen and by the time we drove off to the airport, it was 7:50am. Arriving there at ~8:20am, we quickly got to where Qantas was to drop our luggage. It was 8:25am. By the time we figured out those self check-in and luggage tag kiosks, it was 8:31am and we were informed that we were too late. We quickly went to the service counter (where we had to wait 10 minutes in line while watching 3 service counter staff closing their counters and walking off) and was told luggage drop off had to be done 30 minutes before flight departure. So we basically missed the flight and had to take the next one. Great... The good news was, we didn't have to pay any extra plus the next flight was just in 30 minutes. The extra time turned out to be really useful because we brought our double pram, that had to be dropped at the oversize luggage counter and that was at the other end of the domestic terminal. Also, that gave us time to grab a bite at Hungry Jacks.

Before the plane took off

Arriving in Sydney, the weather was great. We actually took off our outer jackets when we went out to meet Li and Em for lunch because it was nice and sunny and the temperature was something like 15 degrees. Such a nice change from rainy (and gloomy) Melbourne that had a low of 3 degrees that weekend. We strolled around Paddington Markets for a while before settling for lunch at a Thai place called Chat Thai. I was pleasantly surprised to find Guay Jupd in the menu. Yes that's how its spelled in the menu. It's usually spelled Kway Chap in Singapore. It wasn't exactly the same as how its made in Singapore but it was close enough. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it. After lunch, we proceeded to walk through China Town and towards Darling Harbour. 

Boo boo #2

Darling Harbour was bustling with activity because there was this event called the Cool Yule where there was a fake frozen forest which had fake snow blowing out periodically, and there was an open-air ice rink and a snow pit which apparently had real snow. So we were out there walking about, taking photos and just enjoying the nice weather and harbour scenery. Half the time, because the place was quite crowded (and our 2 monsters kids just cannot stay still), we had to hold on to them to make sure they don't run too far. But there was a point when we strolling along that we decided to turn around and go back to get Gelato from this shop that we walked past. On hearing that we were going to get Gelato, Gideon got excited and ran ahead of us even though I kept calling him (or shouting at him) reminding him to stay close to us, if not he might lose us. 30 secs after I said that, he lost sight of us. Although he was just 3 metres away from me (I know because I could hear him clearly), he could not see me because there were many (taller) people walking around. I called for him but he somehow got disoriented and started running away from us. I felt a bit annoyed at that point and walked in his direction while calling out for him. After walking for 5-10 metres and still not seeing him, I panicked and started to jog ahead. It was possibly another 30 metres ahead where I found him, in tears and surrounded by a group of parents with little kids. I was half annoyed (that he didn't listen to us) and half relieved that we didn't lose him. I carried him back as he was still crying and a bit traumatised. Then while calming him down, I told him in a firm voice - you must always stay close to dad & mum! At the same time, I told myself - I had better keep sight of him and make sure he's not more than a metre away, because I just can't trust a 4 year old to remember instructions. Anyway, no matter how upset Gideon got, after some cuddles and Gelato, it was all good. 

Gideon and his Strawberry Gelato

Boo boo #3

After dinner and washing up the kids, I actually went out on my own to meet up with an ex-colleague who moved to Sydney over a year ago. I wasn't expecting to meet him initially because the decision to go to Sydney was so last minute. But we managed to organise a quick catch up. I recall that when he first moved from Melbourne to Sydney, he wasn't very keen but he had to since that was where there was a job for him. Fast forward to today, he has actually taken a liking to Sydney, and to the extent that he thinks Sydney is more exciting than Melbourne. Unbelievable. Oh well. Personally, I find Sydney a tiny bit too chaotic for my liking. Anyway just as I was going to head back, I got a call from Mabel saying that the hotel's fire alarm went off and everyone was evacuated! She had to lug both the kids out of the hotel room while they were half-asleep and take the stairs down the lobby (good thing we were on the second floor) and wait outside the hotel. Fortunately a kind lady who saw that Mabel had her hands full, offered to help her carry Gracie while walking down the stairs. By the time I got back to the hotel, everything had subsided. Apparently the fire brigade came and reset the alarm within 10 minutes. But all the commotion got the kids awake and we then had a hard time trying to get them back to sleep. By the time I settled Gracie, it was almost 2am and we had to get up before 6am for our day trip the next day!    

The touristy day tour

The good thing about touristy day tours is that all the activities are organised for us, and all we have to be concerned about are the timings for getting on and off the tour bus, and taking great photos/selfies at the various touristy sites. This particular one that we signed up for was the Blue Mountains tours. Even though it was pretty pricey, it was quite worth the money and we enjoyed every part of it - from the breakfast scones, to the actual blue mountains tour at Scenic world, and the Featherdale Wildlife Park and finally the ferry ride back to Sydney harbour. 

I have actually done the blue mountains tour quite some years ago with Mabel and for some reason the first trip wasn't half as fun as it was this time round. Maybe its just more fun travelling as a bigger group or maybe travelling with kids made it more interesting. For one, we took the inclined railway twice simply because Gideon wanted to ride on it again. Also, because Gideon was wearing his Minions beanie, it became the trigger of many funny exchanges. For example, when we were taking the cableway, one of the staff quipped that if anything goes wrong, he will have one of the Minions assist him in fixing the problem. Gideon didn't get the joke though. We also discovered Gideon is quite afraid of heights  

The Inclined railway ride

Echo point & 3 sisters

  

The next highlight was Featherdale Wildlife Park. I have to say that this wildlife park is fantastic. Having been to a number of wildlife parks and zoos in Victoria, I would rank this in the top 3 among all that we have been to. There is just so much to do in there - get up close with a koala, feed the roos, interact with farm animals, see almost all of the local bird life and bush animals. I also like this "passport" thingy where you can collect stamps at various stations in the park. Its probably catered more for kids but I see lots of adults happily getting their wildlife park passport stamped (including Mabel). I think the only downside to this visit was that we had limited time there and because it was the weekend, the park was filled with people.  That probably also meant the roos were fed by visitors since morning, so by the time we were there, they weren't that interested in the food anymore.

  

The trip ended with a ferry ride along the Parramatta river from Cabarita Wharf back to Sydney harbour (or Circular Quay) where we decided that we should also go check out the Sydney Opera House. While we were inside the Opera House, we came across this interesting interactive game where the game controls are huge arrows on the floor, and by stepping on the arrows you control the movements of your game character. The interesting part is that you are playing against another person with the exact same setup on the other end of the room. Gideon had a ball jumping on the arrows and seeing his character move. 

Inside the Sydney Opera house: an interesting game with a huge floor controller

I thought that this marked the end of the day's travelling/walking but I was wrong because we still had to go get dinner and there was nothing around the opera house/circular quay area that we were interested in (most of the food places there were too fancy and not child friendly and we were too cheap). So our adventure continued as we walked towards places where the Zomato app recommended while digging out snacks to appease our hungry and grouchy kids. After 2 failed recommendations (1 was closed and the other was not where the app said it is), we ended up at Westfield Sydney which has a huge food court inside. We got in only to find all the stores have closed except one which had a long queue. Not wanting to go anywhere else, we joined the queue which was fortunately just a 15 or 20 minute wait (I can't remember). It was the last meal we had together with Li and Em in Sydney because the next day we would head back to Melbourne while they had other plans. At some point Li suggested that we should visit her in Seattle next time with the kids and we could stay with her and she will play host. How can anyone not take up such an offer?? So we pretty much decided that 5 years later (2020), we will make a trip to the US (maybe for a month or two?) and visit Li.    

Leaving Sydney

On our last day in Sydney, we initially hoped to go to the Sydney Fish Market, but we were pretty knackered from the previous day, plus the weather forecast said it would be cloudy/rainy, so we canned the idea. Instead we just went to chinatown (after checking out from the hotel) to grab brekkie at this taiwanese cafe. Then after brekkie, since there was a bit more time before we need to head to the airport, we took a walk to darling harbour again. There, the kiddos had a play at this nice sandy playground while their daddy went to get Starbucks coffee for himself and the mummy. Its a pity I didn't take more pictures of the playground because the designs of the various equipment are really quite innovative. But here's the website of that place: Darling Quarter.

At Darling Quarter

Although it was only a 2 and a half day getaway, LOTS of things happened. It was quite an adventure and the company definitely made a difference. Mabel caught up with her high school mates and they even had a moment of singing old high school songs on the bus during the day trip. Gideon actually got annoyed by their singing and started shushing them! I also got to know Mabel's good friend, Li a bit more when she shared a bit about her experience studying, living and working in US, and how she found support in the church during a difficult time. I am not sure if she still has faith in God now but we will definitely be praying for her and hopefully we will meet again (in 5 years time) and continue that conversation about faith. Until then, I need to start planning for our next getaway!

    

At Central Station catching the train to the airport

  

  

The 'broken' wrist

Sometime last December, I suddenly noticed a nagging ache on my right wrist. It was during a weekend drive to the Geelong adventure park when I felt it. I thought it might have been caused by me driving (holding the steering) with one hand, while keeping the wrist at an awkward angle for over 2 hours. After that,  I didn't think much of it and just drove with both hands instead, so there's less strain on my right wrist. 

That same week, I also decided not to join in the morning workouts at work and let my wrist have a bit more rest. But the following week, I felt that it (the right wrist) was much better and did a couple of workout sessions. Unfortunately, it got worse, to the extent that I get sharp pains when I rotate my wrist in a certain way; and I noticed that having to carry Gracie everyday didn't help.  

I decided to go see the doctor and get some professional advice. [Actually I did do a google search on wrist injuries and even considered doing some of the recommended wrist stretching and strengthening exercises; but decided not to risk it] Our family GP had a look at my wrist, asked me some questions, and did some poking and twisting while getting my feedback on pain. Finally, her prognosis was that its mostly likely soft tissue injuries. But to be sure, she sent me to get an x-ray. I went to get that done and went back to her for a follow up a few days later. The good news was, there's no fracture. So its most likely soft tissue injuries. She recommended I go to a hand rehab specialist where they can give me a better diagnosis and suitable treatment. I managed to get an appointment just before the Christmas break which is good because in my mind, the sooner I start treatment, the sooner my wrist will get better. 

On my first consultation, my right wrist was subjected to a lot more prodding, nudging, turning and twisting together with measurements of range of movements and strength tests. The final diagnosis by the physiotherapist was de Quervain Tenosynovitis. I won't go into the details but its basically a tendon injury that affects thumb movements and it's usually caused by a combination of overuse and poor hand on wrist posture. Apparently it can be caused by too much baby lifting. 

So the treatment was: I had to wear this splint almost full-time for at least 2-3 weeks. I could take off the splint when I shower or when I need to ice the wrist. The point is to restrict movement of my thumb and let the affected tendon rest so that the inflammation will reduce or even go away.

Splint 

I wore that for about a day and thought it was really uncomfortable. When I tried to take it out (so that I can ice the affected area), my thumb got stuck and it took a lot of twisting, squeezing and negotiating the splint to get it out. The process was too painful and cumbersome and I decided not to wear it anymore. Fast forward 2 weeks, I saw the therapist again for my first follow up appointment. There wasn't any improvements because I didn't wear the splint very much. She advised me that if I wanted to get any better, the splint was my best bet and I have to keep it on 90% of the time. She did make some adjustments to the splint by remoulding it so that the thumb area was less tight.

So for the second fortnight, I kept the splint on. It was still uncomfortable. But I persevered this time and after a few days, I got used to it. By the second follow up consultation, there was a lot more improvements and I could feel that there was less pain in the wrist. I was given some simple stretching exercises but I still had to keep the splint on most of the time. Then the fortnightly consultations continued for another month where I moved on to stretching and simple strengthening exercises with a Thera Band. By then, I only had to wear the splint when I sleep or when I need to do any heavy lifting (aka carrying Gracie). This was around early March. 

The consultations then became monthly and after one in April and another one just last week, I was finally told I don't have to go back anymore. That doesn't mean I am fully recovered; I still have to continue with strengthening exercises using light weights and a bit of stretching. But I guess there is no other help/advise the therapist could give me. 

My personal evaluation: it has recovered heaps but it's definitely not 100% and I still feel a bit of stretch or slight aching occasionally. I have a feeling it will never go away - this wrist injury. I  will always be a bit more careful especially when I detect any hint of discomfort. Either that or I might temporary forget I have that injury, do something gung-ho with my right hand and cop a little strain. Anyway I reckon for the rest of my existence on earth, I will probably have to continue doing those strengthening exercises for my wrist (on top of the strengthening exercises I do for my left shoulder which suffered a collar bone dislocation more than 10 years ago).

It kinda reminded me of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9. About how he will boast all the more gladly of his weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on him. When I feel weak and helpless, I know I will turn to Christ and rely on Him. But when things seem to be going well, I will think I am fully capable to take on challenges by myself until something bad happens.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10

How easy is it to fake a push-up?

Push-ups is one of the most common exercise ever. I reckon anyone who has done any physical exercise would have tried doing the push-up. It's simple and straightforward, and the only 'equipment' you need other than yourself is the floor.

One of the new sensor technology I am working on is designed to be able to assess floor exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups. It is a floor mat sensor and it acts a little bit like a force plate, as in it measures force changes. So when a person is on the mat, in the push-up position, it can detect the force or pressure the person's hands place on the mat. As that person does a push-up, it measures the force changes during the push-up and that creates a signal. By recognising the signals of push-ups (through some algorithm), the sensor can then act as a push-up assessment device.

Now it all works well when I perform a standard push-up. A certain waveform is created that represents the standard push-up. Doing the push-up faster or slower basically changes that particular waveform in terms of its width or height.

But I soon realise that there are certain non push-up movements that can create a somewhat similar waveform. I could be shifting my weight forward and backwards while in the push-up position, or I could be adjusting my hand positions in a certain way, or I could be doing an improper push-up (e.g. arched back, knees down, elbows not bent till ninety degrees, etc). So once I figure out what movements (other than a standard push-up) can generate the same waveform, I can cheat the system into thinking I am doing push-ups when I am not. It's a bit like those activity trackers built with inertia sensors (accelerometers and gyros) that tries to identify sports activities but often fall short (there's an interesting article with video illustrations here: link).

This reminds me of being 'christian'. There are certain behaviours that I can have that reflects that I am a christian - I can attend church service regularly, participate in different church activities, be helpful and kind in my community etc etc. But what makes me truly a christian is when I have given my life to Jesus, fully surrendered and putting him first in my life. Then those outward behaviours that flow out of my surrendered life would be directed by God and be fruitful. God is interested in what's inside of me not what is outward.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 

Matthew 23:25-26

Having a real understanding (code and faith)

For the last 7 months or so, I started on a new job. It's somewhat related to what I have done (for my PhD) in the last 4-5 years. The new company that I work for can be considered a start-up. It's a new concept gym that aims to measure a group circuit training in an automated way. There's the usual cardio stuff (stationary bike, rowers etc), there's strength training (dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells), there's plyometric stuff (pushups, ball slams etc) and then there's a bunch of sensors in the gym that measures a person's performance doing all that stuff. So my role in this gym is to use those sensors, get a bunch of measured data and make sense of it - track what kind of movements a gym-user is doing, analyse them to see if they are done properly, score them and give them feedback for every repetition. If you have heard or seen the Nike+ Kinect personal training 'game', this new gym is a little bit similar to that concept but the main differences are:

1. It uses the Kinect sensor PLUS additional sensors and equipment

2. It tracks a whole group of people doing a circuit training and there's a bit of competition going on.

That's the gist of what I do. But what I actually do involves a lot of coding. Coding or programming or software development has never been my forte. In fact I don't really know what is my forte (but let's not start on that). So having the sensors alone, tracking and measuring stuff (position, acceleration, forces etc) only does half the job, the real value is in deciphering them, and that's where algorithms come in. Algorithms work when they are written and  executed in software. I could probably say that the sensors are the eyes and the ears while the algorithms/code is the brain. Since coding is not my strength, why am I doing it? Well, it's inevitable because I am fairly competent in analysing stuff, and to bring that analysis into real-life, I need to code. I do know the basics (really basic) and unfortunately that's not enough. So I have to learn on the job. Thank God my boss is kind enough to take me on and is even willing to coach me (when he has the time). 

But it has still been a struggle. On a good day, I will code some stuff, it crashes half the time or doesn't work the way I wanted it, then after hours of debugging, it works. On a bad day, in fact, on a bad week, I will code some stuff and nothing works even after days of debugging. I will then get my boss to look at it and he will solve it in 2 minutes! Usually it's because I misunderstood certain 'functions' or 'methods' or how a 'class' works. Each function has a specific task and it uses certain parameters and it returns something. The function can be part of a class and if I want to use it in another class, I need to reference it back to the originating class (I am confusing myself as I am writing this). But my point is some things work in a set way or has a set definition; when I use it in a different way thinking it could work, it simply wouldn't work because I am using it wrongly. 

As I thought about it,  I realised this happens in many many areas of life. How often have we bought a new equipment, and without reading the manual and understanding how it actually works, we start using it. Somehow there's always a particular feature or extra button that we think is useless and makes no sense. Then when the equipment stops working and no amounts of tinkering or restarting helps, we look to the manual, and everything starts to make sense! We go " uh-huh!" as we turn every page of the manual, then wonder why we didn't read the manual in the first place. We would have been able to use every feature and function and button the way it was designed/intended.

Our relationship with God is somewhat like that too. God has given us His Word to tell us everything we need to know about Him. But we often don't try to fully understand it, let alone follow it. We read certain bits that we like and assume that's how God works - for example we may know that God is love and God loves the world, but we may ignore the bits about God being holy and righteous and demands a high standard, and therefore it's only through Jesus that we can be saved. Some may take it further and assume that because God is for us (Christians) and God will 'prosper' us, that means a follower's life should be a bed of roses, and when it is not, God is not 'blessing' us (that is obviously a lie). Even though I have been a Christian for some years, sadly, I have made the mistake of making wrong assumptions too. But I am thankful that I have the opportunity to learn and correct my understanding, and I know that as I continue to read the Bible and seek Him, I will have more "uh-huh" moments.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,”but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.  But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 

1 John 2:3-6

...   

Baby Grace

How time flies... Grace was born on Christmas day of 2013 and ever since then it has been madness in the household. Did I mention that Grace was born on Christmas day? I think that is probably one of the coolest things that has ever happened in my life. I doubt there is anything else that will top that for now. Unless Mabel decides that she will go to Macchu Picchu with me. :) But I digress...

Here are some pictures of our little princess from new born to four months of age, cos I figured some cute baby photos will paint more than a thousand words:

Day 2 in this world!

I am wonder woman! I will take over the world! yawn...

Sticker attack from the big brother!

"I like to dance!"

and Gideon keeps 'awarding' his little sister with more stickers...

Favourite sleeping pose at 3 months

And I'm 4 months old!!

I decided not to put any photos of the parents because the lack of sleep has made us not very photogenic. Plus everyone just loves baby photos. Oh and in case I forgot to mention, we were blessed with Grace on Christmas day. :)

Early warning systems

We are expecting our second baby in a couple of weeks time, and in the last month or two, we have been physically preparing for her arrival. That includes packing away things we don't need, selling away some stuff on gumtree, so that we can have space for the new baby's stuff. We have also been receiving bags of used baby clothes and equipment (like baby bottles and breast feeding stuff) and furniture and toys. We were even given a toddler bed which we could transit Gideon into, from the cot; and then subsequently our new baby could use the cot.

I realised that even with all that physical preparation, I was still not mentally ready for baby 2. See, it was two weeks ago when Mabel had some sort of regular contractions. It started with a terrible back-ache throughout the day and she had to stay in bed to rest. She stayed in bed for almost 6 hours, and after dinner she felt some pain in her pelvis. In a short while, she started feeling contractions! Then after monitoring it for an hour, we called the hospital to speak to a midwife, confirmed all the symptoms and within the next ten to fifteen minutes, we packed some necessities and we were off. As we got to the hospital and were lead into the birthing suite, it then dawned on me that we were having our second baby! It was only at that moment that I started to imagine what it will be like when the baby is here and what we will be doing (sterilising bottles and night feedings) and the changes that will be happening in the house. Somehow I have been avoiding all those thoughts until then (when the penny dropped) and it seemed a bit too late to prepare myself mentally for it.

Thank God those sudden contractions turned out to be a false alarm. The contractions were likely caused by Mabel being too dehydrated and it went away after she was put on a drip with half a litre of fluids. This little shock was a good mental nudge for me, reminding me that we are going to have baby 2 and I had to spend more time praying for the family and preparing myself mentally and spiritually to be upgraded to "Dad 2.0".

Just a week ago, our church had Pastor Kameel Majdali share with us about the end times. He reminded us that we have to be prudent and wise as we are living in the end times. God has given us an early warning system through His Word and the Holy Spirit.  1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 reminds us to "not be like others, who are asleep, but lets us be awake and sober".  Being asleep doesn't mean physically sleeping, but spiritually 'asleep'. People who are spiritually asleep live only for themselves and for the world. They think that everything in life is nice and wonderful, that there is peace and nothing disastrous is going to happen, and they do not need God. Sadly that is so far from the truth. The last days may not happen in our current generation (for we do not know the exact times and dates), but we know it is going to happen and Christ is coming again. So we have to be watchful, be sensitive to the warning system that God has in place for us, walk close to Him and wake as many who are asleep as we can.

Going back to our pregnancy, we are 'safe' for now, but baby 2 is still going to arrive between now and the next two weeks (whether we are ready or not).

At Healesville Sanctuary - Gideon on the stroller and Baby 2 in Mummy's tummy