Joshua's composition

Joshua and I loved the books on 'Mr Putter and Tabby' by Cynthia Rylant and Arthur Howard. We would borrow all the series on 'Mr Putter and Tabby' in the library whenever we could find them. Mr Putter is an old man who lives with his fine cat Tabby. Mrs Teaberry, an elderly lady who lives next door with her good dog Zeke is a good friend of Mr Putter. They liked doing things together and many cute adventures in the series came out of them doing things together.

After reading so many books about Mr Putter and Tabby, I encouraged Joshua to write a simple story about them, which he did. And here goes his story on 'Mr Putter and Tabby Fly the Rocket' (some grammar mistakes corrected by me)...

1. Good Things
Mr Putter and his fine cat Tabby were happy because they were going to the moon in a rocket. Mr Putter was going for a trip to the moon. He phoned Mrs Teaberry and told her that he was going to the moon. Mrs Teaberry was happy to go to the moon too.

2. Money
The rocket trip to the moon cost one dollar and forty-one cents. Two hours later, Mr Putter and Tabby, Mrs Teaberry and her good dog Zeke were in the rocket. And then the countdown began. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and zero...blast off!

3. Rocket Trip
Mr Putter and Mrs Teaberry were enjoying the ride. One hour later, they reached the moon. They had some moon rock shooters to shoot the rocks. They had shot ninety-nine moon rocks.

4. Back Home
By the time they finished shooting moon rocks, they had two hundred and ninety-six moon rocks. They got back to the rocket and flew back home. On the way home they ate some ice-cream soda. When they got home, they had a little nap.

The End.

Joshua's First Piano Recital

Today is Joshua's first recital. By God's grace, his teacher really favored him. She felt that Joshua was a bit shy so she wanted to give him the exposure through this recital. I am sure not every student of hers was chosen. Prior to the recital, he only had one lesson with her. Even though it was a simple piece 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', which he had practiced a few times at home, I was more concerned about him having stage fright. I even asked CG members to pray for him to be bold. Hs teacher was so nice, she said if he is scared, she will sit beside him.

Thank God that Joshua performed well...even though there was a wrong note, I felt that he has already been very bold. He told me that actually he didn't need his teacher to be standing beside him...think he saw that all the other children also played by themselves. I was surprised that he went out alone to receive the certificate. He initially wanted me to accompany him. Actually there were other kids more shy than him...one boy even turned his face away from the audience when he played! 

When Joshua was playing at the piano, I really felt so touched. Here is my boy playing the piano...how much he has grown...how he made me feel so proud of him even though it was a simple song. I had a glimpse of how my Heavenly Father felt about me too. He already loved me the way I am, without my works or performance...yet when He saw me developing to my God-given potential, He must be so proud of me. He must be also telling the angels 'Come look at my daughter...see how much she has grown...I am so proud of my girl!' 

Beloved, if only we could see what He sees in us and hear what He has to say to us, we would often not be so hard on ourselves. I know we have all felt the need to perform at times in our life. Others have placed expectations and demands on us. When we perform at the request of others without having a heart of sacrificial love and kindhearted intentions, resentment can easily form. This robs our rest in the Lord, making us feel the need to perform for Him also. It is not to be so. All service to others comes out of time with Him or it doesn’t bear the fruit of patience, mercy and love. Today The Lord gives us the grace as we come into the quiet place and abide within the very presence of a Holy God. 

Aussie Trip

Thank God we were able to go on a trip to Australia Gold Coast over the March holidays. I had wanted to bring Joshua to Gold Coast since last year but I felt it was too expensive to head to Australia. Recently we saw a promotional land package to Gold Coast and coupled with a lower-priced airfare from Scoot Airlines, we made the decision to go just the week before the holIdays started. 

We went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Movie World, Dreamworld and Skypoint. We stayed in Surfers' Paradise which is home to a beautiful beach. We loved the beach...Joshua had so much fun at the beach. The weather was very good, about 26 degrees in the day and about 21 degrees at night. It could get a bit chilly at night because of the breeze. But the cool weather in the theme parks made our experience very pleasant. The Australians are generally friendly and the best part is they are more leisurely rather than rushed. The pace of life there is slower and the people there are more pro-family. 

Joshua liked the rides in the theme parks. He was quite brave to try all the roller coasters. He said it was fun and not scary at all. I was surprised because when he was younger, he was even scared of the merry-go-round...can you imagine! Of all the holidays we had gone, Joshua found this one the best. He is also of this age that he can understand, appreciate and remembers the things he has seen and played. Maybe next time we would explore a farm stay...either in Perth or Taiwan or even Bangkok! 

Gold Coast Beach