Updates

Phew!!! Recently, life has been one whirlwind after another! My last blog was almost 2 months ago!!!! sorry , sorry!!! So what have I been up to?

We moved home!!!
From my big house to a smaller Condo unit. Why?? No maid to help me since August, and having to slave over the house was no fun! Yes, of course the kids do help out, but ....... Well, we decided to move to a smaller place, and I felt way better after that! Kids were quite sad initially coz they're pretty sentimental about the house where they spent more than half their lives, but after staying in this condo for a month, they agreed it's a good idea. Less work, more play, with the free use of swimming pool and the playground which is just next to our ground floor unit :-)

School Holidays
Lots to do!
Swimming, shopping, cleaning, skating, movies etc tc etc.
I'm busier during school holidays!!!

Christmas Shopping!!!
Yay!! I got a new Christmas tree! The old one was ..... going 'naked'.
Took each kid shopping (individually), so that they could get pressies for each other.
They kept asking me what I want, and I replied that I want something to make my life easier. Hmm... I wonder what they'll get for me without me knowing. Last year, Damian pretended to have a stomach-ache while shopping at Ikea, and he rushed off towards the toilet. I followed him from a safe distance and saw him buy me a lantern (which I indicated that I liked earlier on). So sweet.

There's only 11 days left until 2011.
13 days till school reopens!!

*Gulp*

I'm not done with 'going-back-to-school' shopping. Haven't bought their school uniforms, books or shoes!!!

I'm sure I have forgotten to get Christmas pressies for some important people.

And forgotten to invite some important relative to my home for Christmas dinner.

ok, ok, * DEEP BREATH*, I'll get it done tomorrow!!! After all, I'm SuperWoman 

Princess

We have Happy, a medium sized mongrel. But Happy's an 'outside dog' (we don't let her into the  house), full of energy, and not so much fun to cuddle. Good for keeping fit as you really have to run after her when we go out for our evening walks.

Kids has been yearning for a 'indoor-dog', like my sisters' poodles, silky-terriers and shih-tzu. When my sisters have to go abroad for a few days, my kids are more than happy to babysit the dogs. It's a real treat for them. (the kids... and err... maybe the dogs too. i don't think the dogs get much rest when they were with us, as they get cuddled and coddled so much).

Whenever we go to a pet shop, we will be exclaiming over the dogs on sale. Oh how sweet they are! How cute! Oh dear, look at the price-tags! Never mind ... let's hope that your aunties go abroad more often      :-P

Then, last Sunday, a friend from church asked if I would like to have a shih-tzu puppy. Really?? How much? It's Free????? Really??? She connected us to the owner, and the very next day we flew over to her house and brought the puppy home (before the owner could change her mind!)

My first thought was Honey (NO!!! the kids yelled)
What about Patches (but Aunty MP's dog has the same name!)
Josie (after Josephine? What happens if I wanted to scold the dog but they thought I was scolding the child instead?)
Princess (but that's the name of our first dog that has to be put to sleep! But most of us like that name)
Aunty M suggested 'Sparkles', (but Cousin D said NO!!!!, that was her dog that died!, but Steph likes that name.)
In the end .... it's Princess Sparkles !!!

Wedding Ring

Received the following in one of those forwarded (spam) emails. It's good :

Why should the wedding ring be worn on the fourth finger? There is a beautiful and convincing explanation given by the Chinese .....

The thumb represents your Parents.
The second (index) finger represents your Siblings.
The middle finger represents you.
The fourth (ring) finger represents your Life Partner.
The last (little) finger represents your children.

First, open your palms (face to face),bend the middle fingers and hold them together, back to back.
Second, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip. (As shown in the figure below):

Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents). They will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.

Join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings). They will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their separate lives.

Now rejoin the index fingers and separate your little fingers (representing your children). They will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, rejoin your little fingers, and try to separate your ring fingers (representing your spouse). You'll be surprised to see that you just CANNOT, because husband & wife have to remain together all their lives - through thick and thin!!

So clever, those Chinese!!
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It's TOO MANY days to Christmas!

I was observing Jeremy flipping at the wall calender in the kitchen. He was counting the days to Christmas, but he kept starting all over again. He was like " .... 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48 ... aiyah..... 1, 2, 3, 4 ...."

Me : "You're counting the days to Christmas issit?"

Him : "Ya"

Me : "How many more days to Christmas?"

(count, count, count......)

Him : "Too many!!"

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A Shot at Fame

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I have a new Baby!

Took me 7 years... but it's finally done !

want to get a copy for yourself or as a gift for a friend? Call me la.
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My poor new car!

Got a new Alza in April. And since then - 3 people has banged into me.

The first time was when I was at a junction waiting to turn into a main road. And a Toyota that couldn't stop in time knocked into me. I watched it happen in slow-mo, and even see the child who was standing in the front passenger seat fell forward! My back bumper dented. Guy gave me his number and said he'll pay for the damages. But I had no time to get it fixed yet.

2nd time - sometime last week, it suddenly rained. It was sun-shiny, and the next second it was like God poured a huge bucket of water on us! The car in front of me slowed down, and so did I, and suddenly I got a  'tap' from an old battered Honda behind me. Not much harm done, at least, it didn't look any worse from the first accident.

3rd time - yesterday!  Going on my way out of Mid-Valley's P2 parking lot. I was going straight, and suddenly a Myvi wanted to turn into my lane from the right. He didn't stop and rammed into my front-right. The security-officers of Midvalley were really helpful. They took pictures and made sure that our cars were good to go. They testified that the other driver was at fault and did up their own report. We have to go to the police station ourselves and make our own report too.

I guess I should count my blessings. It happened in a car-park, and we were both not going fast, and so, no one was injured.

So, I guess I could go through the trouble of going to the police station, then having to be without a car for a few days..... and stop complaining :-D

Making time to Blog

In my current crazy-busy situation, whenever I think about my unattended Blog, I feel guilty. It's been ages since I blog.

I'm trying to remember why I started blogging in the first place. I think it was because my friend cowie blogged about her kids (http://cowie.wordpress.com/) and reading it made me think that there were so many things that I can hardly remember about my own kids babyhood and toddlerhood. The memories of baby-ing 4 kids seem to blur and jumble into one hazy fog. So, I think I thought to myelf that I should start recording down some events in their childhood now that will help me remember in my old age.

Well, I've written 129 posts since I started in Feb 2009 (18 months ago!), and I'm now trying to plod on. Someone asked me what happened to me? How come so long no updates on Blog? I said "Check my Facebook. I update there ma". She said it's not the same. She enjoyed reading my blog.

Well, since I have at least one Constant Reader, and at least one person who wants me to continue to write..... I guess I will!!! but I'll cut myself some slack. I promise to update at least once a month(?)

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Ginawati & Antonsiti are back!!!

yeah....

Sacked my maid 2 Fridays ago. She had the "3-hands" syndrome (chinese for thieving). Not only that - found her with a handphone with recent calls to a few men, and upon calling the phone company, found out that she has reloaded more than $200 in 2 weeks!! Where did she get the money?!!!!

Anyway, prior to catching her red-handed, I have been thinking about not renewing her when her contract ends in October. She has been an iritation to me, as I feel that she's really inefficient. I need a helper whom I dont have to constantly remind to do her work! In fact, I have been doing some of her work for her! So ... can't have her around anymore... so sent her back to the agent.

So - it's back to Ginawati and Antonsiti again!!

But this time - I do not feel as stressed. Kids were a great help. Not much complaining fromt hem either.

Other than taking turns to wash the dishes, putting their own folded clothes into the cupboard and cleaning their own space (beds and books) they are assigned specific tasks :

Damian - brings in the clothes
Stephanie - sweeps the floor
Josephine - washes the shoes
Jeremy - washes the cups and glasses

it's been 2 weeks. so far so good. and we didn't even get in the part-time cleaners :-)

oh, I invested int this:

It's the Phillips garment steamer. Really cuts down my ironing time.

Lacking Sleep

I've been going to bed at 2 - 3 am recently. Why?

been rushing a project. Updating and revamping the Breastfeeding book I've written a few years ago. Wanted to get it properly published by August 1st. And it's like - the more I look through it, the more I wanted to add to it or change it. So, in the end, hubby and CW 'knocked' some sense into me. Told me to "Just get it out! Can do 2nd edition or 3rd edition later on".

Yar - I guess I got too caught up - "paralysis by analysis".

Well - another reason - kids have this project and that project to submit and they all NEED the computer to do their work. So, when they were using me - I can't use right? I can only do my work either when they're in school (which is the time I usually go out to meet prospects) or late at night after they went to bed.

Well - I've sent off the draft to the printer. Cross my fingers, toes and everything - hope the book will be  out soon! And friends - never mind if you are pregnant or not, a breatfeeding mom or not - thanks for buying one! Keep it as a souvenir, or just give it away. Thanks!

Happy Belated Birthday Jeremy

Time flies!!!! I meant to blog earlier, but I couldn't find the time ..... yar yar, excuses, excuses.... :-P

My baby turned 8 last Sunday.
We had a party for him on Saturday. Initially he didn't want to invite any of his school friends coz he said he doesn't have any. He wanted me to invite MY friends. He said my friends are much funner (and they give better presents, I guess).

Then he told me he invited 5 friends, but only 3 could make it. So I allowed the girls to each invite 3 of their friends. (Damian said the party would be too kiddy for his friends).

Big day came. Guess how many turned up?

Luckily 'resourceful me' managed to scrape together enough party-packs for everyone!

Damian was the game-master (with Stephanie helping):

Musical Chairs

Passing Parcel

'Fix his Face'

Happy Birthday!!! May this year bring more fun (and less tears).

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Poor baby hamsters

Two days ago, Panda gave birth to 4 babies. I saw it happening actually, and immediately separate Stripey (the father) and Porky (another female hamster). Don't ask me how they got their names. Due to some natural instinct that some animals had, Panda ate one of the babies *gross*

Stripey is the one standing, and Porky is inside the food bowl (as usual)

Just now, i heard a commotion, and saw this :

I don't know who did it. But they are now dead

Happy (belated) Father's Day!!!

2 weeks of school holiday.  Busy busy busy.
Bowling
Swimming
Trekking
Movies
Playgrounds
Running at the park
A-Famosa Water Park

Port Dickson

oh ....and yes ... Father's Day......

Did the kids do anything for their daddy? Well... gotta admit, it's not like Mother's day. I got chocolates, a card and a 'flower-thingy'. For Father's Day, he got hugs and kisses.

Life is good

Humpty Dumpty

No, I didn't fall off the wall,

Just tripped over my own feet, and landed on one knee and two hands.
It happened at the morning market.

The guy who helped me up assured me , "mmm sei keang, lei tit tou hou yau ying". (No worries, you fell down with style).

Exams and Results

Kids had their exams, and the results are back. They did good (my standards la).

Me : How was school? Any results today?
Jeremy : Yar, we got our science paper back. And the teacher taught us to 'berlagak' (show-off)
Me: huh? What do you mean?
Jeremy : He asked those who got 90 and above to come up front and show the papers to the class, and he took a picture, and then tell the class they are the smart ones.
Me : oh.... so... how did you do?
Jeremy : Lucky I got less than 90.... no need to 'berlagak'.

Josephine : I am really stupid
Me : hey, no, you are not stupid.
Josephine: My teacher told the whole class I'm stupid, I can't do Maths. I don't understand Maths
Me: You know what? Mommy was like that too. I always get low marks for Maths too because I cant understand it. But suddenly when I was in Form 3... ting! .... Maths made sense to me. So, one day, your mind will go 'ting'! too :-)
Josehine : But I don't want to be like you!!!! I want to be smarter NOW!

Stephanie : hahaha, I got 'C' for BM la
Me: So... how you feel about it?
Stephanie : It's ok. At least I pass. (big grin)


Our education system is messing me up!!
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The ole incident

We saw this car, and the kids were so amazed. Could you spot why?

It led me to remember an incident that happened a loooooong time ago, back in the days when I was still under 3 feet tall.

Pa has a car (maybe not like the one shown above), but i remembered the fan!!!! And even when the fan was on full-blast, it can get sweltering hot, so it's usual for Pa to have the windows down.

The 6 of us kids were always fighting for the window seat, where you could feel the wind blowing in your hair. And although 'take turns' was a mantra amongst us, I never get the window seat (always on one of my sis' laps instead), something that I was eternally grateful for one day. 

We were going somewhere, and my 2nd sis, MT, got the window seat right behind the driver. She was gleefully letting the wind whip at her hair, when suddenly..... my Pa made a huge honking noise, cleared his throat and .... spit out of the window!!! Guess where the 'treasure' landed?

New Hamsters

Long time no write. Why? No time lor. Been playing with our new Syrian hamsters!!!!

Aren't they cute?

No-no, they're not dead.

They're not playing dead.

That's how they like to sleep.

I couldn't stop looking at them :-D

Reminder in a Cup

When things seemed to be pulling me down, when it seemed like I was swimming against the tide,  I get a reminder :-)

Met someone for discussion at Secret Recipe last Wednesday. The waitress said that it was not intentional. Wow.
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Good to be home again

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Learning Mandarin

Went to Tawau last weekend to give a health talk. I gave the talk in Cantonese to a mandarin-speaking audience, and tho my 'presentation-Cantonese' is half-past-six (not so good), my audience could understand me (I hope!). They were laughing. (Ermm... or maybe they were laughing at my chinese?)

I could understand some Mandarin, but I can't seem to get my brain and my tongue to connect! Can't get the words out! But once I know the word, I have been told my pronunciation is as good as any native speaker (ahem!).

I know Mandarin is really so important, and not knowing how to communicate in Mandarin is a draw-back. It's been a struggle for me to learn Mandarin. But even so, I did not send my kids to a chinese-medium school. Many reasons.

Yes, they're real bananas (yellow outside, white inside). But I do believe when they want to, they'll learn the language.

When Damian was around 5, I sent him to this learning center to learn Mandarin. He'll be whining and crying each time, until I gave up!!! But now, he's asking me how come I didn't let him learn Mandarin? I reminded him what happened and he has the audacity to look embarassed. He said "Yar, it's better this way. I prefer to learn now that I'm interested and not forced to do so."  (Why the interest? His friends are all speaking Mandarin around him!)

So now, I have a teacher come to the house to teach Mandarin once a week for 90 mins. Some asked "Can learn meh? Just 90 mins a week only wor?"

I think can lor. When you are interested enough. Kids can understand a bit, but they can't really speak yet. Never mind... they'll be ok. No need to speak Mandarin professionally. Just enough to get by... but hopefully a lot better than me. Hopefully, the advantage of their age would allow their brain and tongue to connect!

Happy Mother's Day!!

It didn't feel like much, but we celebrated Mother's Day anyway because ... it was expected?

Got my maid to cooked some curry chicken and fried bee-hoon and took it over to Mother-in-law's house on Saturday. She has a fall a week ago, and hurt her back. Moving around isn't so easy for her. So we thought a simple celebration of home-cooked food should lift her spirits. I think it did.

My MIL is 84 years old. She's the kind of mom who gave everything, and expects nothing, and even when her kids wants to give back, she makes a big fuss out of it, and ends up making us feel unappreciated. Well, maybe after 15 years of me just brushing off her 'protestations' that she doesn't want anything, she gave up protesting. This time, she quietly accepted our gifts of food and angpows. Good improvement.

My mom - on the other hand - she doesn't demand too much - but we know she loves getting gifts from us - especially the monetary kind :-) I think this is healthier and makes for a happier dissposition. We kids, give what we can, and sometimes what we can't anyway! But then, how much time do we have? If we don't give now, then when?

I've heard it said before "No matter how your relationship with your parents was, you'll miss them when they're gone". I think it's true.

So, we had Mother's Day lunch at my Mom's - KFC, satay, a cake and some Haagen-Dazs ice-cream(!). Yummy! :-P

My kids gave me this :

See the card? It's a hint from the kids asking for another baby in the family!

And they did try their best to be on their best behaviour. Jeremy only cried once :-D

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A smile to brighten up my day

Whenever I go grocery shopping at Carrefour, Endah Parade, I always look forward to meeting him.

He always greet me with a cheerful smile, a happy 'thank you' and a wave of the hand.

He's none other than the guy who collects the parking fare.

I'm sure that despite his humble job, if he keeps his cheerful attitude, he's heading towards a great, happy life. All the best to him :-)

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Moving & Renovation Fund for Harvest Centre, Sentul

I've meant to write about this, but WSL beat me to it. All the better... since she writes better than me :-)

So, no need repeat .... hop over to here .

Just want to add this : I've gone and visited them, and they're really doing amazing work, keeping more than 1000 kids off the streets. There's no discrimination of colour and creed. All are precious....

Thank you for helping.

http://harvestcentre.webs.com/

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Ramblings of a Mom

As Damian becomes a Teenager, the one person I keep having in my mind is ... my Pa.

 

I remember how Pa keep looking into the crib, but refused to carry such a small infant.

I remember when Damian reached his full-moon, and Pa awkwardly carried him and posed for a picture.

I remember how Pa said he gave up smoking because Damian was constantly coughing because of his allergy to ciggy smoke.

I remember Pa taking Damian and Marcus out to the playground so that my sister and I could have a little timeout.

I remember once when I wanted to cane Damian and Pa just whisked him away! Then I threatened Pa that if he doesn't allow me to cane that brat I will cane him [my son, not my Father :-D] harder!! But Pa just drove off to the shops and bought his grandson an ice-cream!

I remember when we first went to USA, how Damian, so tired from jet-lag was crying for his grandfather "I want my kung-kung. I want go back to Malaysia".

I remember how Pa used to save hundred of ringgit in coins and gave it to the grandchildren to be counted and divided amongst themselves. Pa was a good grandfather not only to my Damian, but to all his 13 grandchildren.

 Why the nostalgia? I guess... with kids growing up, I realised that I can't pause time, no matter how much I wanted to. I might have this desire to keep them small, to keep them with me forever.... but that's not possible. They have to grow up. They have to leave the nest one day.

 

Damian turning 13 is just one more step into that direction. I cant stop that, and I do not intend to. What I can do now is to continue to ground him, give him roots, and at the same time, strengthen his wings. He'll fly away one day. And I hope.... that he'll also learn to fly home once in a while.

 

Just like what Pa gave us......

 

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Strenth for a friend

A friend's father passed away yesterday. He was a victim of H1N1. So sudden, so sad. I visited him in ICU on Monday & Tuesday. No, I did not know him, but it's more to give support and comfot to RR.

I feel bad that I can't make it to the funeral. I feel sd that I can't go to her and hug her and hold her hands and comfort her. But I think she understands. I think she understands that certain commitments can't be broken.

I pray for strength for her, and may she and her family be comforted.

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Kindness and Payment.

Just switched on the TV to AXN. "Caught on Camera" was on. A young man just helped a hobo and then all of a sudden, he has an epilesy attack.  Another hobo was passing by, and instead of helping him the hobo robbed him!!! The whole incident was caught on a traffic camera.


Someone saw the incident and sent the young man to the hospital where he later recovered. The young man said that this incident taught him that 'Kindness does not pay"

How sad......

I refused to believe that.

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Bad Hair Day

Damian came home from school yesterday with this :

His friend stuck a blu-tack on him!

And then couldn't get it out.

In a stroke of  'genius-ness',

they decided to use ice to freeze the blu-tack

and then yank it out!!!!!

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Dirt Sense

Fan  A - in maid's room

Fan  B - in kitchen

What's the difference between Fan A and Fan B?
According to the maid, she washed them both at the same time, a week ago!!!!

The only conclusion I could come up with is this:

"All the dust and dirt that enters the house decided to fly immediately to the maid's room and attached themselves to FAN A in her room!"

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The New Writer

by: Jeremy, almost 8 :-)

Note from Author : S = Stranger

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Earth Hour 2010

The kids has been eagerly waiting for 27 March 2010, 8.30pm since Earth Hour 2009! (You can read about Earth Hour 2009 here).

This year we planned to  have an 'Ice-cream party'. Kids begged to invite some friends over. Stephanie who went for a play-date a few doors away came back at 6pm with 3 friends (Dylan, another boy whose name i cant remember and his sister).

"I said they could have dinner here," she announced to me. Before I could say anything, she turned to her friends and said "See I told you my Mother very good one. You can have dinner here."

O...kay.... they are having dinner here, and I dont have enough food, but lots of ice-cream! I hurried out to buy more food - hokien-fried noodles and cantonese-fried noodles. The kids didn't eat much tho. They were waiting for the ice-cream!

Jo's friends turned up too. 3 of them -  Suk Hwen, Divya and her younger sis. Of course, by default, the Leong family, is also expected to be here! The came of course, which made the gathering merrier :-) They came with a puppy they rescued from a drain a week ago.

So, that's 12 kids, 5 adults (including my maid), 2 dogs, 2 hamseters and 2 terrapin-turtles, celebrating Earth Hour at my place! I enjoyed it. I always enjoy having guests. Kids had a blast.

Earth Hour - so switching off electricity for 1 hour per year. Did that make a difference? Last year after Earth Hour 2009, I cleaned up / sorted through a big box of plastic bags.

I counted 144 plastic bags of all shapes and sizes in here!

I became more environmental-conscious after that. I started bringing my own shopping bag during groceries shopping. My favourite :

I'm happy to report that now I have less than 20 plastic bags at home, and they're used to line the trash can. :-)

So, as CW pointed out in her FB status : every moment is Earth Hour...Reduce, Recycle, Reuse (3R)

Blur

Somedays, I can be very blur....

Went to the mornin market like this :

The maid had a good laugh at me :-P

Trekking at Gasing Hills

After 4 kids, I was way overweight. FitLine helped shed off a lot of excess weight, but still looked flabby. So, I decided to join the gym in 2005. I was with the gym for more than 2 years. Went 2 - 4 times a week, for usually 2 hours (including sauna & shower) and I felt great!.


Then my kids got older and I realised that I do want to spend more time with them despite my busy schedule. Exercising together is the perfect solution. So, I quit the gym, and we started exercising together in the evening, usually around 5pm. Sometimes we go to the nearby Bukit Jalil park where they'll play at the playground and I'll brisk walk, while keeping an eye on them. Sometimes we cycle around our housing area, somertimes we walk the dog, sometimes we just walk.

A few friends have been telling me about Gasing Hills, but I was too lazy to check it out. I was happy to be able to brisk walk and work up a good sweat at Bukit Jalil.

So, after almost 3 years of turning down invitations to go to Gasing Hills, last Saturday, I decided to take my kids there. SC who invited me before was pleased to see us. (Jeremy couldn't wake up at 630, and so he didn't come along.). We started trekking with a group of people - friends of friends of friends. I guess we are all buddies when it comes to trekking.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Should have come here long time ago! Within 15 mins, I was ready to call it quits. Sure I could run and brisk walk in Bukit Jalil, but I guess I'm not fit to trek! :-P  But the other 3 kids were 'running' ahead of me! So... (I've to save face ma, especially in front of the kids, hahah), I trudged on. It was about 3 km and 80 mins of "I can do this, I can do this". I kept thinking "Thank God Jeremy didn't come along. Else I might have to carry him!!"

When we completed the trek, the kids were jumping up and down, still full of energy and ready to go another round! So I have to tell them "Mommy got work afterwards! Must go home NOW!" hahahah. (Steph is watching me type this and asked me if I lied? Of course I did not lie. I just had the perfect excuse not to go through the jungle trek immediately)

Kids enjoyed it so much they wanted to go back. We did plan to go back the next day (Sunday) at 5pm. But it rained!!! (Divine intervention? Heehee). On Tuesday morning we got up extra early (for a school holiday), and off we went again. This time Jeremy came along!.

For me it was better than the first time. Jeremy got tired half way through and kept complaining that his legs were 'burning'. All of us kept encouraging him to finish the trek (there's no other choice, it's either finish the trek or stay in the jungle!).

We went back again on Friday morning, but this time Jo and Jeremy begged off. They were not feeling well.

I guess we would only be able to go during the weekends when school starts again. Join us anyone? Trekking is Fun! :-)

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Qing Ming

As a kid growing up in a Taoist family, I remember Qing Ming as a 'Family Picnic Day". We will wake up early, and arrive at my Father's Parents' graves around 7.30am. My father's siblings and their families would usually be there too. And there will be food galore - sweet cakes, meats, fruits etc. I remember there was even a whole roasted pig! (One of the siblings must have had a great awesome year!) After all te praying and burning of offerings, we get to eat!! Yes, having a picnic at the gravesite! That was the best part! :-D

Of course this pix didn't come from my childhood. I googled it and 'borrowed'. It sparked a memory. :-)

Qing Ming is an expression of filial peity -  a way to respect, honor and look after ancestors in their afterlives as well as seek their guidance for their living descendants. In this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, while also asking their deceased ancestors to continue to look after them.

When I beame a Catholic and then married a Catholic, Qing Ming became irrelevant. Hubby's father was buried in Penang, and we never had time (or rather, never made time) to travel to Penang to practice this Filial Duty. We Catholics do have our own version - the All Souls Day, which is on Nov 2nd every year. We do our duty by praying and celebrating Mass for the deceased. Christians have been praying for their departed brothers and sisters since the earliest days of Christianity.
 
This year is the first time since a long long time that I actually took note of Qing Ming. It's already 8 months since Pa passed away. Time flew by, and it felt like just yesterday he was still with us. And as this is the 1st Qing Ming after his death, we were told that we have to observe it 3 weeks earlier from the actual date (April 5th, 2010) 
 
The kids were excited. A week earlier, they were helping Por-Por fold Joss Papers. Altogether, they must have folded a million! :-D

Yesterday was their first experience of Qing Ming. My father was cremated and his urn is placed in the Ching Fatt Zhi Temple in Kwong Tong Cemetary, KL. As Christians, we did not participate in the prayers, but our presence there is our way of showing great respect to a beloved father and grandfather.
 

Everyone helping to prepare the 'table'

Simple Fare for a Simple Man

His Soul will rest in Peace, knowing he has filial descendants

Some people believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, thus the burnt offerings. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, but that the expression of filial piety is what is important. Whether or not the ancestor receives what is offered is not the issue.

After everything, Jeremy asked, "When are we having the picnic?"