Eye Openers In Singapore

I realized that my not even 1 1/2 year old toddler is so deprived!!!! I discovered that... here, in Singapore. Well, cruel mummy doesn't give him the chance to develop his golf playing skills because he's not in "TOTS GOLF" (golf for toddler). Neither will he have the skill of Ronaldo or Ronaldino by the time he is 5, because he isn't in "SOCATOTS" (soccer for toddlers), nor will he win Wimbledon in the year 2015 because he hasn't joint "TENNIS FOR TOTS" yet. Besides those different sport activities you can sign in your toddler at many different day care centers (e.g. "SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS".... what a name is THAT????) or Art Boot Camps (their slogan is: "The disciplines approach to creativity"... hmmm) or you can give your child a classical musical education as soon as your baby turns one. Poor, poor deprived little Ned, he has to PLAY with other children and even worse, his own PARENTS. No golf, football, tennis, art or not even a classical musical education, poor child!! But it seems that this is a reality for many children living in this area, which to be honest is rather on the posh side of life (by the way, did you know that the word POSH origins from those looooong voyages between mother England and India??? It stands for "Port side Out, Starboard side Home", those where the nicer cabins during the voyage,... thought you might wanna know :o) ). We see very young babies being dropped off at the day care center just opposite of our hotel. Okay, we neither know the circumstances of the parents nor how long and how often those babies go to day care, but it makes me sad.... hang on, Ned goes to Kindergarten as well, and he is only almost 17 months.... speaking about which, I should go and pick him up now, the one hour is over :o))) more about eye openers later

not only does he sleep in the shower....

... during the day, we just park him in the cupboard.... just kidding!!!!

Little guy grows up!!!

It's a weird moment the first time your kid goes to kindergarten (or fun deck in our case), and doesn't even look back or misses you in any apparent way... the same time I am very grateful that he isn't shy of people but rather loves them and interacts a lot with random strangers on the street, in the tube or anywhere else... but well, now our little fellow goes to kindergarten one hour a day, he's growing up so fast. But to be honest, I treasure that one hour for myself. I love him dearly, but sometimes I just need some none winching, none playing time for myself... how do those amazing mums do it with 3 or 4 or even more kids, does your ability to be stretched increase with every kid??

Teeth are something great, don't you think??? I think so!!! But getting them is pretty horrible... I mean I can't remember anymore when I got my first ones, but listening to my winching little boy it MUST be quite uncomfortable and painful. I don't know if it was teeth, but he also had a temperature for three days with up to 40 degree, poor fellow, but it strengthens the immune system, doesn't it?? But he's fine again, but still whining.

Well, I'll get him back from fun deck now, won't I and give him all the love I can give him, winching or not :o))

Family accommodations....

... we are so blessed. Sometimes I think I'm almost blessed too much, which feels really weird. Us families are in a really nice hotel somewhere in Singapore. Our room looks really nice, is air conditioned and is bigger than our cabin on either Logos Hope or the Doulos. I can choose every day what and where I would like to eat. And every evening Ben is travelling from the ship yard to the Hotel. Besides that Ned can be quite a handful at times, my life is pretty comfortable and easy.... I don't even have to clean up because the Hotel staff is doing that (but actually I do it, because I feel uncomfortable to let other people clean up my mess.... and I have the tendency to be messy...unfortunately). And it makes me feel guilty. What am i doing here??? How can my being here promote the gospel??? How can I be of any use for his kingdom??? I struggle, not with the living conditions (because they are really nice) but because I can't see a result. So often we people from the western world define success in what we do, we get our sense of worth and achievement from things we've done. And I like DOING things, but I'm not. Then there are temptations like free internet access and TV... time wasters. And although I'm sleeping in the best bed I had in a VERY long time, I can't actually sleep. I LONG to go to bed at... like 9pm and just sleep, sleep, sleep. But I can't, without any apparent reason, which is very draining and frustrating, I just can't sleep properly!!!!! I would like to use that time for prayer, but my mind wanders. I'm also reading the book "Cat and dog theology", and am concerned that I'm a cat who tries to be a dog but can't really manage.... Dogs think: "You pet me, You feed me, You shelter me, You love me, You must be God" and Cats think: "you pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be god!" Dogs bring glory to God, cats try to bring glory to themselves. Ou how I hate being a cat, don't want to be a cat, want to be a dog, but can't do it... I guess only by the grace of God can he still use me... somehow, no idea how...

I'm not depressed or anything, don't worry, but all those thoughts are racing through my mind while studying that book...

But I don't wanna end sounding serious and depressed... lets finish with a funny incident, like when Ned managed to poo on the floor while still wearing nappy and pants, or that so many random people come up to me and wanna take a picture, not of ME of course but of offspring. I got asked several times the last week, if they could touch him or take a picture of him.... he must look quite cute :o))))

The bathroom... or bedroom??

creative parents, that's what I call us :o))))

Hello World!

We are in Singapore!!! Yay!!!

And actually we left the Doulos again (not permanently, no worries). Ned and I have moved on to family accommodations ashore while the the old Lady has an overhaul in dry dock.... for FIVE long weeks. Our accommodation though is really nice. We actually live in a hotel with really nice rooms. Ben will be staying with us for most nights and will travel back and forth to the dry docks together with the other husbands and us wives and the kids will stay here. We have one room with bathroom for us as a family which is bigger than our cabin aboard but as it is only one room we decided to put Ned's bed in the bathroom which gives us the freedom to do something in the room while he is sleeping :o)))) so we're all happy... it's jsut funny to stick your kid in the shower for his nap, haha!! (we take the bed out before they come to clean the room, it would look rather funny :o)

Arrived!!

Well, we are finally on the Doulos!! It is great to be here, but there are many things in need to get used to (and some I think, I will never like!!) For example: there is a DING DONG at 7:15am... how annoying!!,there are many, many cockroaches racing around the dinning room, you can't buy DIET coke (how will I survive), there is no Internet in the cabin only email (which would be enough for me, but unfortunately outlook doesn't really work for us yet, so i have to find a public computer if i wanna write an email), you can't give Ned a car toy to play with on our dinning room table, because the table is so crocked that the car rolls off the table as soon as you let go of the car, the doors are easy to open so I have to teach Ned, that he ISN'T ALLOWED to open them (it's not so nice if a random baby walks into a random cabin), the wall panels are very thin so everyone can hear it when Ned makes a fuss, and the cabin doesn't feel like a home yet..... but besides all of those things I need to get used to and that I'm really missing my old home and friends, besides that, the people are really, really friendly and Ned has already a new fan club and friends his own age. So we will survive and feel at home soon:o).
Today i was just thinking about how I was whining and winching the last couple of days..... I mean WHAT is my problem??? I can be grateful for so many things, like a loving husband, a gorgeous little boy, amazing family spread around the entire world, I have 3 meals a day, a bed to sleep in and our cabin is even bigger than our old cabin. there are so many people living who can't say that... I want to learn to be grateful in all circumstances and don't want to winch and whine about how much nicer living on the Logos Hope was.... I want to make new friends and try to be a blessing to the people here on this ship.
Well, I got to go as my Internet time on the public computer runs out :o)))))
Would love to hear from you guy how you are doing :o))) And hopefully soon i can upload some pictures somehow on out web album