Remember Cecilia?

Some days back, or I would say weeks back I posted about this little naughty one who outrightly challenged in class. Ring a bell?!! *rrrringggg* Alright shall stop being so literal haa. Anyway, I have been working on this girl cos I mean since she is in my "love a little more" bucket, she would need my special attention isn't it? Hiak hiak hiak. Have tried a few ways with her la, sat her down, got her to tell me about her family, got her to reflect blah blah blah.. all these helped I guess but was not impactful enough. Why so? Cos just last Monday she took a book and wack a girl's head. Hmm... yes did I share also that she has this thing with violence? Yuppity! She looks small small, cute cute but really lah, ONE chiili padi. URGH.

Anyway back to the wacking a girl's head with a book. So I told the class that we will all ignore her for a week because she does not know how to treasure her friends and so, she will have no friends. For 4 days, she worked alone in my class and yup, my whole class was on my side except for a few 'kind' souls. By day 2, i could already feel the pinch in my heart as i disciplined her cos she really looked regretful and i was wondering if I was too harsh. But I had to do it cos I love her. That moment, it just reminded me of the verse which says, 'God disciplines those whom He loves.' Then I started thinking that its hard being a parent man. It takes so much wisdom to break a child's will and not the spirit. *Phwoooooo*.

Anyway, the 4 long days passed and I had waited for the 5th day to come so that I can bring about a closure to this issue. It was racial harmony day and I was supposed to share a story on 'respecting' others with my class. At that moment, the discussion went like this:

Soowei: So children, what do you think is the greatest weapon which you can use towards an enemy?

Child 1:Bomb!

Child 2:Sword!

Child 3:Punch him...!

Soowei: To tell you the truth, all that you mentioned are good weapons but they are not great!! The greatest weapon is love.

Children looked puzzled and I wondered if I was being too chim but I always felt that its never too soon or early to teach children about values and characters even though at times it could be difficult to grasp. I used Cecilia as an example and mentioned that, she could have reacted in love when she was aggitated by the girl whom she hit. She could have responded with a smile, or simply walk away and then approach the authorities. It seemed like GREEK to the children cos to them, 'fight on" and "retaliate" are words that would come to their mind since thats how the world propagates.

The closing to Cecilia:
'Miss Sim hates the way you used violence each time you are angry but Miss Sim loves Cecilia. I don't like and neither do I approve of your actions but i love you and the class loves you too. Once again Cecilia is our friend and we are going to love her, treasure her and respect her ok?"
That girl was so near to tears. Actually, me too. Haaa cos i could finally talk to her again and be nice and warm with her.

Its been a week, Cecilia has been behaving well. So proud of her *yeah* Today I went up to her and affirmed her. She just grinned and said, "good bye Miss Sim." :)

Every Tribes, Nations and Tongues.

My girls.

My boys.

My thoughts during the day:

"'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.'
And every created thing which is in heaven
and on the sea and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them I heard saying,'to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.'"

Rev 5:12 & 13.

Going to miss you...

Had PE with my beloved 1.3 and they are how cute LAH! I simply love to have them around every Mon and Fri. On tues i received a piece of news that a new teacher is coming in to take them for PE. *dang! dang! dang! dang!*:(

Though I should be really happy cos then I would have 1.5 hours more to rest, mark and blah blah blah...but nah! I would rather hang around these angels and be blessed by their 'toothless' smiles (most of them have lost their front teeth by this age) and their warm companion. They never fail to make me smile. Come to think of it, its really difficult to chide them cos they looked so innocently adorable.

Just Mon, during PE lesson while I was giving instructions for the relay game, K.T walked to my right and held my hand for attention (and yes, i wonder whats wrong with this class but they like to hold me hand. So cute right? haa). I turned around and I laughed cos he was having a nose bleed. It was not the condition that I was laughing at rather it was his looks. Cos he just stood there and gave me a grin when i asked him what had happened.

When he smiled, you can even see traces of blood in between his teeth lor. Aiyo! He licked them or maybe drank them? haa. LOL. GOSH. Anyway, I brought him to aside and pressed his bridge for him to stop the flow. Seeing that he was much better, I went back to the rest of the class before my Ethanel wheel-carts to the principal's office and of course before Kaizer bash more people up.

While the kids were playing i went back to K.T. I was SHOCKED when I saw him. He had patches of blood all over his face. *faints* Frankly, he looked seriously injured. Haa Took some time cleaning him up. Kids are just kids... so going to miss them. *pouts*

Irritated but...

woke up feeling irritated this morning but received these in an email and they really broke a smile on my face...I would count them as a 'God-sent joke'. These are the very evidences to why teacher so often say, "wah really puke blood man!" Haa


more...

and more...

and more...

I'm so wonderfully made.

I kicked start today with a whine, "I dun wanna get out of bed". Of course only dad gets to hear that. Haaa i think he must have got a shock. But was really tired and feeling superbly 'energy-less'. Dragged myself out of my comfy bed and got ready for school. :(

What really woke me up was after I went to relief a primary 1 class during one of my free periods. I was walking along the corridor and thinking what I should teach and *Ding* - talk about a 1 minute lesson plan. Ha. I decided to perform. LOL. Nah! Bad idea so I decided to teach them songs. I linked up the songs with their Big Book Story, "Grumpy Elephant".

Out of the 3 songs I taught, I was battling in my heart if I should teach them the song, "I'm so wonderfully made." Which I did eventually. Taught them the actions and the children simply loved it. The lyrics goes like this:

I'm so wonderfully made

I'm so wonderfully made
You're so wonderfully made
God has made us in a special way
we're so wonderfully made.

I ended off telling the children that each of them is special and I love them. One boy stood up, "Miss Sim I love you because you are special too." Wah! Heart melts. Now u know why I love little tots? They are just so cute right?

On a more serious note, indeed we are all special and unique cos God has made us that way. Its just blessed to be reminded once again that God loves us so much that though He sheds His love abroad to everyone but He takes note of each and everyone of us.Out of the millions in the world, He knows me; the bible says even the number of hairs on my head. Boy! I know myself pretty well but not to that extent. I pay attention to myself definitely but not in such details. WOW! Indeed, the very passage that hits my mind is Psalms 139, it tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We may not be perfect but we are perfectly loved by GOD. :)

The Unstoppable Alarm Clock

This was what happened, the alarm clock rang. I woke up to press it down. Weirdly, it continued to ring and brilliant soowei of course took out the batteries to make sure she 'ends' its life cos ringing alarm clocks can be really irritating. And this should stop the Alarm clock Right? WRONG!! IT went on ringing and soowei was so mad that she decided to take a screwdriver and dismantle the entire clock. *Raise brows* Thinking to herself that she has made an ingenious move but how wrong!?! It still went on ringing.

And I finally woke up, walked towards my alarm clock which had been ringing for the past dunno how many minutes and pressed it down. What a dream!

A hill in Singapore.

On Monday, I taught on the vocabulary 'mountain' and so was just telling my children today that there are no mountains in Singapore. However, we do have a hill.

Soowei: "So does anyone knows if Singapore has a hill?"

All children smiled and agreed with glee.

Soowei: "So can someone tell me whats the name of that hill?"

A bunch of them shouted: "Redhill!!!!"

YES! At that current moment Soowei nearly fainted at the level of general knowledge my kids have. But its really hilarious LAH! Haa... Redhill? A Hill? To an extent yes but...So when I burst out laughing and disagreed with the kids a few of them went, "不对meh? 红山mah! 不是山meh?" I continued laughing and the kids laughed too. What a teaching moment! :)

By the way, if you do not have any idea how Redhill has its name? Click on the link.

Here are some nice comic graphics for the teaching of this story without the storyline. It would be lovely for the kids to come up with their own story. *wink.

Just queer...

Context: I just stepped into class, greeted them and everyone was sitting in their seats waiting for me to give out their worksheets. While doing so, a boy who was holding a toy in his hands came to me...

J.C: "Miss Sim, I have thought about it for some time and I think I should... er.."

I looked really concern at this moment cos this boy sounded really serious.

J.C: "I am sorry, but I have seriously thought about it and I think I was wrong and could you confiscate this (referring to the toy in his hands)."

Soowei: "Why were you wrong?"

J.C: "Cos I played during science class just now and the teacher did not catch me. Can you please confiscate my toy?"

Soowei at this solemn moment, looked intensely into the eyes of this innocent boy and can't help but to BURST OUT laughing!! He was rather queer and as I thought more about the incident I felt that he wanted more than just having me confiscating his toys, he wanted attention - my attention. What did I do? I just smiled and asked him to go back to his seats. Went to find out a little more about this boy and yup! He is added to my "Love You a Little more" bucket with Cecilia.

Surprise and Shock.

Did anyone tell you that in the teaching profession, its full of surprises and shocks? :)

Yesterday, I had a 'surprise' and today I had a 'shock'. Out of which, both left me realising that teaching is so much more than books and knowledge. Its about people. Wow... talk about being fishers of men. Teaching is such a ministry!!!

Let me introduce to you my little 'surprise' yesterday. Was taking my primary one class for PE and while giving instructions for the game, this girl ran towards me and hugged me really tightly. She said, "Miss Sim I want to bring you home." I grinned, returned a hug and was left speechless for a moment. Have I told you that children's hugs are really therepeutic? I lurveeeeeee it!! It reminded me of my tumble tots times when at the end of each session all the little tots would run towards me and give me hugs and kisses. *aw...* They are such darlings. So is this primary one class that I am teaching. I mean despite the naughty and mischievous Ethanael who loves to do wheel-carts while I am giving instructions, this class is 100% angelic. I just have a soft spots for little ones. *wink*

And yes! How can I forget my 'shock' for today? A p4 girl, bespectacled, fair-skinned and looked totally non-threatening CHALLENGED me today. She rebelled and refused to listen to instructions and I would termed her as 'potent and destructive'. After talking to her for the first round, it left me drained. Have yet to find out the root of the problem and am still praying for a solution. May the Lord grant me that patience and wisdom to handle her with care. Honestly, I want to do all that I can to build her up and not tear her down. Its a challenge! Pray along with me.

野地的花.

Sang this for mummy just now before she went to bed. And we prayed...then when i asked her how I could pray for her, she then asked me to pray for her cough and so I taught her how to pray in mandarin (haaa EA training helps *grins*) and then I recalled her arthritis and I told her to pray about it.

Mum replied, '不用了，那个好了。' I was totally shocked. I mean I prayed for her some time back but seriously I din have the faith to believe that God really did heal mummy of the pain. !!! Anyone wanna hear me YELL? HALEHLUJAH! JESUS HEALS!

This was the song i sang for her
Wanna hear it? Soowei can sing it live haaa but at a cost of course ;) A pint of Haagen would do just fine... ha.

野地的花

野地的花, 穿这美丽的衣裳
天空地鸟儿,从来不为生活忙
慈爱地天父,天天都看顾
他更爱世上人,为他们准备永生的路

一切需要,天父都已经知道
若心中烦恼,让他为你除掉
慈爱地天父,天天都看顾
他是全能得主, 兴靠他得人真是有福.

"Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not worth much more than they?
...Observe how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,..."

Matthew 6:26,28

Am sure many can identify ...

Today's Menu:

7:15am - 7:50am Duty
7:70am - 1pm Curriculum (teaching)
1:15pm - 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm - 1:50pm Waiting for a meeting to start (which in the end din happen)
1:50pm - 2:30pm Lias with a teacher regard Excel Fest next wk.
2:30pm - 4:15pm EL Dept Meeting
4:15pm - 5:30pm Do up the minutes for the EL mtg
5:30pm - 6:00pm Mark one pile of Maths books, reply emails. School closes
6:00pm Pray and talk to God while strolling home...

Doesn't this sounds delicious?

All these doesn't even count the nitty gritty of running up and down to office just to collect notes, put register and of course getting things printed etc...

IF there is one thing that you wanna pray for me, it would be more strength and efficiency so that I can do more. :) Hmm.. that makes 2.
Thank God for the Joy that He has been placing in my heart.

老师妈妈说。。。

"老师,妈妈说我们没有钱交学费 ... ”

My sweeties, cuties and lovelies of 2006

People always ask me, "eh what you do on Sunday? I mean... how can church take such a long time?" Here is a glimpse of the angels I hang out with on Sundays... aren't they such cutie-little-things? *Aw...

This was taken during our february gathering when they were really angelic...Haa... still fresh from children's church.



Now they look slightly different.... just 6 months and they have grown *poof* wonder what they ate? Haaa could just be the nourishment of the word of GOD. *Wink.

Here's Gabrielle.


From Left: Suhui, Meiyi, Cassandra and Stella
Talk about Stella, 13 years old, standing in front of a big R-age crowd and shared a her testimony about how the Holy Spirit used her to pray for people during the last mission trip. Wow! And How apt. as this girl challenge us from 1 Tim 4:12. Truly 'let no man despise thy youth...'



And here we have, From left: Janice, Grace, Suhui and Hannah.

Grace: A great Maple friend but whats so encouraging about her life? She brought Jesus to Maple and brought Maple to CHURCH. Since January this girl has been bringing so many of her Maple friends for service and Praise the Lord that one of them accepted Christ today!!!

Wonder where are the boys? Haa here are my two handsomes - Shaoming and Joel Tang... its so enjoyable just talking to them. Try it if you have yet known them. As you can see that they are struggling to take picture with me? Ha. YUP! I FORCE them... but i like.. hiak hiak

Well.. after much persuasion and 'begging' haa a second picture come into existence.Ha.

Love ya guys!

Adventure Camp.

This is Shaoying. We were so bored!!?! Thank God for her companion.
Hey girl, sorry for being hyper at times. Can't help it!! yeee HAH.

Can u see soowei hanging from a tree? Yes! I was really bored. Ha.

But actually, this thingy is kind of fun. Ha. Thank God for cheap thrills....;)

Soar on Wings Like Eagles.

Besides dogs, *grins* adapting to changes would be the next big thing that stresses me out. As I embark on this new phase in life, I am just so filled with both fear and excitement but I do know that the Lord is with me. :) That assures me lots. Imagine going to school alone? New colleagues? New environment? New students? New authorities? New rules? New protocals? Its just alot of uncertainties and uneasiness. As I was pondering about all those, as usual, the Lord once again comforted me with the eagles. :)

I believe Pat and some of my other NIE friends would be able to vouch that each time I was stressed out, burdened or simply tired, God would show me eagles soaring the sky. Its beautiful, tell you. Seen it at Sentosa , a couple of times from NIE library (Hey Pat, remember?) The most recent was just a few days back at Labrador Park.

I was supposed to be at the Adventure Campsite but Shaoying and I lost our way as we thought it was at labrador park itself... *Pouts* But its alright, if i din lose my way, I won't be able to see the eagles. Not 1, not 2 but 4!!!! As I saw the eagles spreading out their wings and soaring effortlessly in the sky with such freedom and ease, my heart was lifted up. You might ask whats so special about seeing eagles soaring? To me, its of great significance cos it would usually remind me of Isaiah (a book in the bible) Chapter 40. This portion of the scripture tells us of the incomparable greatness of our Lord. It mentioned that those who waits upon HIM; who understands His greatness and awesomeness will soar on wings like eagles.

How can we run and not feel faint? How can we walk and not grow tired? There are many points in my life when I felt tired and burdened. Its often then i realised that i need to once again relook at God creation, recall His greatness, realise His power and finally be reassured by His faithfulness and who He claims to be - God.

S.I.S.O

My Carebear Friend. ONLY edition. Dun envy me for having one.

This is my carebear friend, for all who have yet seen her or know her... *TaDAH* Carebear stares! Took this picture at our friend's wedding and just realised that we have so FEW pictures. Really pathetic... eh maybe someday we should just go out and take pictures. Haaa... Anyway here she is! This cute little darling of mine is not just sweet looking but also sweet natured, sweet minded and sweet everything. Hmm.. should i call you "sugar friend" from now on? Haaa...BTW, Vincent, count yourself very blessed to have found a gem. :)

Besides God and Jie, She is one who stood by me regardless of how irritating I can get. *Wink* Actually, how irritating can i be right?hmmmm...One who understands my every frown and fear and supported and encouraged me when I failed. Thanks Carebear friend. :) I really thank God for a friend like you cos you are so dear to me, I will never forget how God brought u into my life. Yes with all those blunders and I was totally embarrassed but I guess trading all that for your friendship is so worth it. Love ya.

Father's Love Letter.

Celebrated Father's day? Nothing beats reading about the heartbeat of the Father. His passion for you...

*click on the title to read about the Fathers' Love.

Dorcas Back!

So glad to see this girl back in Singapore but yes soon... *poof* and she is going away again. But it was great hearing her talking about "kim CHI". Hmm... dor, so delicious right? *wink* Anyway, the trip can be quite dangerous so let's remember her in prayers as she journeys to Russia. :) See you in 2 months time.

Move from Independence of to dependent on GOD.

This morning I felt was so laden cos I felt so helpless. Not knowing what to do next, how to strategize, it was a 'bottle-neck' feeling. But the Lord spoke to me so much as Enzheng and I prayed. Hey it was great praying with you for the ministry. :) When all else fails? Look to the Lord in prayer. Though we should, instead, look to the Lord in prayer first before all else fails.

Well... just remembered this quote from one of my favorite poems, "At Wits End's Corner". One of the lines went, "...At wits end's corner, my burden bearer stand..." This brings so much comfort knowing that we can do so little but God can "do immeasurably great things". We can feel so burdened but GOd says that "His yoke is light", we can be lost but He said He is "the way", we are so incompetent but we know that "we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength". Thank God for His faithfulness and His greatness!!

Justin's preaching further emphasised on what God has already spoken to me prior to the service, i.e "depend on Him." Justin mentioned it so well, move back from being independence of GOd to dependent on GOd. Reminded once again that "Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labour in vain..."