Remember…

He gave me these

and told me to remember that he loves me each time I look at them.

Dear Restaurant Chefs,

Dear Singapore Restaurant Chefs,

We love you. We really do. Most of you are really great even though your prices are way too high but that’s not your fault, you just work there and make good food for us to eat. The prices we can get over because it’s our choice, afterall, to choose to eat at your place or not but the service order of the food has become quite annoying and I do think you could do something about that.

This is but one example of 3 years of frustration.

Not naming which restaurant in particular because this is actually from one we really like and will go back to. I just thought that maybe one of you might read this and take it to heart. Maybe, but I doubt it, so this is probably just me venting and logging a part of our adventures here. This isn’t typical service where we’re from and I just thought you might want to know.

When my husband and I go out on a date, it is not proper etiquette and I don’t like it when my husband finishes his meal before me. He always tries to eat very slowly so he doesn’t finish before me. But when his meal comes 10 minutes before mine it’s nearly impossible for him to eat that slow.

When we go out as a family the goal is to eat together. Enough said on that one. Really.

It seems like a no brainer.

So could you please prepare the dishes in such a way that they will all be ready within a few minutes of each other. If you know that one person’s dish is going to take longer, start it first and then start the other ones a little after so they will finish about the same time.

Today, my husband ate SUPER slow and still had a hard time not finishing his pizza before I got my chicken dish. Our daughter had already finished hers and she, too, tried to eat slow.

Then they both waited for me to finish and I felt like I couldn’t enjoy my meal and sort of shoved it down quickly.

It’s an easy fix with just a little bit of thought and panning. Please??? Pretty please???? For such an orderly place it’s crazy how the order of things is often nonsensical.

Cheers,

Me

Update on Jakeb in Kenya 2012

Jakeb and his team have only one week left in Kenya of their 2.5 months there. I can imagine the conflict of the heart that is going on with them right now. Wanting to stay forever but wanting to leave as well to get back to family and friends and their “real” life. They are conflicted now about what “home” is. I’ve said before that our home is in Texas but our life is in Singapore. I know that to be true but I also know that our ultimate home is Heaven and we’ll never be fully at peace in any other home or life on this earth.

This is the latest blog post from the team and their last village visit in Ngaamba. I borrowed their photo. Jakeb looks right at home doesn’t he?

Please pray for the team. Pray that they do not leave before it’s time emotionally or mentally. Pray that they leave their hearts there, finish strong and leave well.

This is a prayer that I found on Andrew Peterson’s blog yesterday. It’s so good I had to put it on the blog so I wouldn’t lose it. I’m praying this over the team this next week. Maybe you can too? Thanks!

“Dear Father, take this day’s life into your own keeping. Guide all my thoughts and feelings. Direct all my energies. Instruct my mind. Sustain my will. Take my hands and make them skillful to serve you. Take my feet and make them swift to do your bidding. Take my eyes and keep them fixed upon your everlasting beauty. Take my mouth and make it eloquent in testimony to your love. Make this day a day of obedience, a day of spiritual joy and peace. Make this day’s work a little part of the work of the Kingdom of my Lord Christ, in whose name these my prayers are said. Amen.” ~The Diary of a Private Prayer, John Baiilie 1936

Andrea, Anna and Annie and Meat!

When I found out that Annie, the musical, was going to be in Singapore I bought tickets right away, only two, though. I didn’t figure Tommy would dig it.

He did go to dinner with us before the show. We went to Carnivore at Marina Bay Sands Mall. It wasn’t the best Brazilian place we’ve eaten at but for the price, we were impressed. I’m sure we’ll go back there again. Anna’s middle name is carnivore. The girl loves meat! I only got the salad bar which was very good and had plenty of options including feijoada and farofa, one of my favorite dishes from when we lived in Brazil. Anna and Tommy got the full buffet and we all left ‘fat and happy’.

When we went into the MBS theater we realized that I had bought front row tickets. Not too shabby! Honestly, though, not great seats. They were actually a bit too close to get a good balanced sound and view. The show was really good. It was not the production quality of Wicked or Lion King by far but who doesn’t love Annie??? Anna and I both agreed that it was definitely worth going to but not worth the most expensive tickets to sit on the front row. And it’s not one we’d go see again. The movie is great and much cheaper.

All in all, it was a great outing.

Not so much…

We got Anna’s school uniforms this week. Does she like them?

Not so much…

Go SAIS Lions!!

She especially loves her mandatory outdoor hat. There was no talking her into getting a picture of her with it on. All students have to wear the hat when they are outside. It’s fairly common in schools in other countries. Not the US, though. Maybe someday.

She is really excited about going to school, though!

Brow Wrinkling T Shirt Fun

I see the shirts. I read the words. I wrinkle my brow as if it will help me understand. It doesn’t help. I smile. I take a photo. I put it on the blog because I think it’s totally worthy.

These next two are the same shirt.

whole image

close up of the text, you can click on the image to make it bigger

Did I make you smile or just wrinkle your brow?  :)

Red White and Blue!

Today, in Singapore anyway, is the 4th of July. Actually, it just recently turned the 4th of July in the US also.  Although I do like the British , this is day back in 1776 that our leaders signed the Declaration of Independence and we gained our independence from British rule was a pretty big deal. It’s our birthday. We are 236 years old.

I pulled out everything red white and blue I could possibly find. I have a box here in Singapore that holds all of my little American flags (and Texas flags) and patriotic ribbons and such. My mom gave me about a million USA flag plastic cups and on occasions such as this I am so happy to have them. I have two pieces of picnic table cloth looking fabric that are red white and blue that actually came from Cambodia and I bought some balloons. Every time we go back home for visits I end up picking up something patriotic. This past trip the timing worked out for me to get the Old Navy 2012 American Flag t shirts. I just can’t help myself. We are having a few friends over tonight to help us celebrate our country’s Independence Day. Even though it’s a holiday for us, our guys still have to work since it’s not a holiday here but I’m really looking forward to a fun couple of hours eating and hanging out with a few our fellow Americans.

Anna printed out some fireworks and flag coloring pages for the kiddos that are coming and we have some confetti poppers. I think I have some sparklers somewhere that I might dig up and we can do them one person at a time on our teeny tiny balcony or maybe one of the parents can take the kids outside to do them. We’ll see how that goes. We went out to Marina Bay this past Saturday and let the Singapore National Day rehearsal give us our 4th of July fireworks. It didn’t disappoint although we really missed the infamous grand finale. I think it must have been too early in the rehearsal season.

On the menu: Hot dogs and brats, chips, baked beans, watermelon, ‘nana puddin’, and I found these really neat red white and blue berries on another blog I read and Anna and I made them. So easy and so yummy, we cheated and ate a few.

I’m ready to eat!

Happy birthday, America!!!

Gifts

Singapore loves their vouchers (coupons), free shopping bags and free gifts. Tommy got gas yesterday in our car and they gave him a box of tissues.

I don’t think we ever got a free gift from our neighborhood gas station in Texas much less a cool (pun intended) Ice Age themed box of tissues.

Thanks, Caltex!

Tommy’s Tattoo Two

Tommy is slightly addicted. Before his first tattoo, 8 hours, even healed he was dreaming up the next one. It’s not really a cheap habit but cheaper than other addictions, I suppose.

He wanted this one to be a Maori design and to have my name on it somewhere where it was visible to him. As usual, Moon did a great job with the design and the tattoo itself.

So here we go again… He said this one hurt worse than the first one. He even made some faces. Notice that he saved the best for last. My name… He actually put my name on the area of his arm that is one of the most painful spots to tattoo. I’m not sure I like the significance behind that.

Btw, it’s only been a couple of days and he’s already dreaming up the next one. Although I’m not calling for an intervention just yet, I’m reminding him that he was created to be a white man. If he starts talking about face tattoos or if he takes money from the grocery budget I will draw the line.

Here’s Tommy’s take – Tattoo two

June 2012

The month of June was busy! Are we in July already?!? I’m so incredibly behind on blog posts and I’ll probably end up staying that way so I thought I’d post a general recap of our June.

Anna spent her June in Texas without us visiting family and friends and going to church camp. She had a great time and we were so proud of how she handled her grown up self.

And then she came back to us where she belongs.

Tommy and I spent two weeks in New Zealand. This is how you get a picture together when no one is around.

We met some new friends and have enjoyed spending a lot of time with them showing them around to some of our favorite spots in Singapore – which usually involves food.

We completed our 3rd year in Singapore and began our 4th. We celebrated (not sure if “celebrated” is the right word to use or not) with our new friends with we thought was ironic to begin our 4th year with them having been here for not even a week. We also made Mexican food which helped us feel a little better about being here for another year. I don’t have any photos because we were too busy eating and having fun.

Jakeb spent his month in Africa changing the world one heart at a time, including his. He’ll be there most of July as well. A friend of ours who lives in Nairobi got to see him briefly and took this photo and sent it to me.

We’ve spent a lot of time on Skype keeping in touch with Tori. She was such a fabulous help with being available for Anna while we were in NZ and weren’t so easy to get in touch with. We’ve enjoyed hearing about her life as an adult with a “real” job and cooking meals and getting her apartment management to fix stuff. We’ve also enjoyed getting to know her boyfriend better. I guess he’s alright and he’s only not completely alright because no one is ever good enough for your baby girl, right parents of daughters? We are so thankful for Austin, though. He takes good care of her and it gives us such peace knowing that he is looking out for her.

Tommy’s mom came for a visit. She actually helped us get Anna back to Singapore and we’re so thankful and happy she gets to stay for almost 2 weeks.

So that about raps up our June 2012 – with the highlights anyway, except for Tommy’s new tattoo but that’s about to get it’s own post. I’m not sure I’ll ever catch up on blog posts but I’m not giving up. No one can ever accuse me of giving up or being a quitter.

So long June…

We’re ready for you, July!