Balloting @ St. Margaret's

Ten harrowing days. That’s how long it was from the time we registered to the day of balloting at St. Margaret’s. We trusted that the Lord would place Velouria there but the thought of 78 people vying for 73 places was still enough to place a fragment of doubt in your heart (having two sets of twins in the list of names didn’t help ease matters much either).

So there we were at 7.45 a.m. (Penny was sure that the balloting started at 8 a.m.) thinking we could chill out somewhere and have a coffee. The canteen was out of bounds so we headed straight to the school hall and counted every single minute to 8.30 a.m., when the balloting would begin.

As the seconds ticked on, more parents started streaming in. We were quite pleased with the fact the chaplain of the school opened the session in prayer at 8.30 a.m. on the dot, then off we went as the principal presented the ballot slips to the audience (via those old school projectors – they still have some use after all!) one by one before placing them into the box.

When the balloting began, the atmosphere was so tense that you would imagine someone getting thrown out if he so much as let out a fart. God spared us further torment as Velouria’s name was called out quite soon (didn’t keep count but reckoned it was within the first twenty). We were so relieved, but yet at the same time still felt quite tense for those parents whose daughters’ names had not been called yet.

But in the end, we all knew there had to be five who were not able to get in. Again, the chaplain closed the session in prayer and asked for God to guide those five girls and their respective parents. Praise the Lord! This is exactly the kind of environment we wanted for Velouria.

Fearfully and wonderfully made

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:14-16

The above Psalm describes how well God knows us, perhaps even better than we know ourselves. I've always thought this to be a tad hard to swallow - can it be remotely possible that someone knows me better than I know myself?

God answered that question when He blessed us with Velouria. Seeing how Velouria has idiosyncracies and physical behaviour that is a combination of both Penny and myself has convinced me and very possibly a reminder from God to tell me that He indeed knows me and can even create a 'mini me'.

The year Star Wars Ep. IV was released, I was lying on the floor of an apartment in Outram Park having my favourite drink of the moment.

Some 28 years later, Velouria does likewise on our bed. In the exact same pose.


I would have excused it if it was the left leg over the right, but noooo... it had to the EXACT SAME POSE! Albert Einstein once said 'Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Proud parent moment

There are various landmark occasions that that would denote your journey through parenthood as you observe your child growing up. Crying baby out of the womb in the delivery suite? Check. Baby starts walking? Check. First birthday with lots of fanfare? Check. First day of school with video camera and grandparents in tow? Check. Second birthday with even more fanfare? Check.

Today, 1838 days after God blessed us with Velouria, marked another significant proud parent moment for Penny and I. Today was the day we decided to remove the training wheels from her bicycle. I figured since she could handle her skate scooter with ease, that same sense of balance would augur well for her when handling her bicycle on two wheels. So off to the void deck we went!

She did have some problems starting out and we had to support the bicycle so she could concentrate on getting her balancing act right. Being a proud little girl with her own ego, she did give up (albeit only for a short while) and went back to her skate scooter for a few rounds when we teased her about not being able to handle her bicycle. Within these first few tries, she did manage a short straight which ended when she reached the wall as she hadn’t figured out how to turn yet. Naturally, she got tired after a while so we decided to head for lunch.

Reluctant to give up, she requested that we continue with the cycling at the playground. Her excuse was that the many pillars at the void deck were distracting her and she needed an open space. True enough, she did manage to get it right and she couldn’t stop going on and on around the playground even as the scorching afternoon sun beamed down on us. Her bum was starting to hurt (the seat was in an awkward position) so she stopped on and off to get a few drinks. She only agreed to go up after promising her that we would come down again at night when it wouldn’t be so hot. Which we did, and she went round and round and round again.

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful daughter.

Vel turns five

Five years ago on this very day, God blessed us with a little baby girl that we would later name Velouria. Looking back, it seems like only yesterday when we were frantically driving to the hospital as Penny's water broke, then the seemingly nerve wrecking 12 hour wait as I went walking around Orchard to while my time away.

We woke up a little late - our initial plan to go to the zoo were hampered by the rain that had been coming down all night. I reached for my guitar and sang a 'Happy Birthday' for Velouria as she woke up. She thought it was quite amusing so she decided to reach for her toy guitar and joined me in a (mock) attempt to play something.

It was already quite late by the time we had washed up and packed the house a bit, and since it was a nice, lazy morning we just decided to head to McDonald's for breakfast. Being Velouria's birthday, Penny and I made a pact earlier to accede to all her whims and fancies as long as they were within reasonable means. No better way to perk up her day than to start off with a Hotcakes Happy Meal!

After a roundabout to the Science Centre and back (the crowd there was horrendous!), we ended up at the McDonald's at Jurong Green Community Centre. Tempted as I was, I decided to have my usual SME instead of the Mega SME (after the disappointing BK stacker, I had but lost all hope in these supersized burgers). Velouria, as usual, couldn't decide whether to play with her toy or gobble down her Hotcakes. I guess she enjoyed the latter more as she ended up with margarine and maple syrup all over her cherubic little face.

It was back home after that. I had to take a crap and Velouria wanted to take her ang pao that Uncle Mike had blessed her with a day earlier before we went shopping. We had promised her that since the money was hers, she could buy whatever she wanted. We never made it for our shopping trip - the lull of our comforting home coupled with the cool weather made it difficult to leave again.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch! Already quite tired of outside food which was deepened by the thought of dining at a restaurant that night, Penny and I just raided the fridge and dragged out whatever we could to whip up a simple meal. Which consisted of (among other dishes) a minced pork omellette, stir-fried celery with crab stix (we didn't have chicken to go along) and boiled brocolli.

Tired out by the array of activities (we seem to get tired easily nowaday), we decided to take a little nap since it was still drizzling outside. We planned to hit the Toys R Us before we to Liang Court to meet Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai for dinner, but our little afternoon nap took a little longer than originally planned and we only awoke at about 6PM. A little freaked out, we quickly washed up and changed before zipping out of the house.

Liang Court sort of took me by surprise when we walked in. The last time we were here, it was still the dead town that had become so familiar ever since Daimaru and the flea market at Clarke Quay ceased their operations. Confused by the shiny bright lights it took us a while to finally figure out how to get to Dragon Phoenix where we were suppose to have dinner.

Everyone was already there by the time we found the restaurant, so the dinner got underway a short while later. The food was, no surprises here, of a standard expected from such retro restaurants i.e. yummy! We started off with sharks' fin soup, had a yam ring, Peking duck and a crispy roasted spring chicken along the way.

Velouria, of course, had fun opening all the presents bestowed upon her, among which were tau sa piah from Hong Lim Complex - my mum's idea of a prank (yes, Velouria enjoys such traditional snacks that appeals largely to the senior citizen crowd) and a colour pencil set that strangely had a price tag of £1.50 still attached to it from my bro.

After opening all her presents, Velouria got bored so she dragged me outside to the hotel's kids' corner where there was a PS3 hooked up to a plasma TV (it was very well concealed behind the TV - the only reason I knew it was there was because I saw a kid playing there as we walked into the restaurants) while everybody else was chilling inside. The only game in the PS3 was Sonic, so I turned it on for her to entertain herself.

The game pretty much sucked so she got bored after a while. Fortunately, by then it was time to head for home anyway.

As we hit our beds, I thanked God for the fabulous five years that He has blessed us with Velouria as I looked back at all the ups and downs we went through while raising her. My prayer every day is that we will raise her to be a God fearing child who will bring glory to His kingdom.

Hopefully, I will be able to attest to that a decade later when I look back.