My CHC, My Life

There are always 2 sides to every story.

I was inspired by San to share our side of the story. And with all the negativity happening on the internet, some positivity would do everyone good.

People think we're brainwashed or that we're naive because of our seemingly 'blind' support of our senior pastor and his team. I'll have you know that we are neither. It has nothing to do with logic or intellectual arguments (although we can go into that if we wanted to since most of us have undergraduate or post-graduate degrees).

It has to do with faith. And steadfast loyalty!

We choose to believe in our God, believe in the leaders that He has placed over our church and believe in all the blessings we've received as a result of their ministry.

I've been a Christian ever since I can remember but I don't think I've ever grown so much in my spirtual walk as I have in the last 9 years, being a member of City Harvest Church.

It was there that I first got my dream of becoming a psychology professor. There were people who doubted me (even I doubted myself!) but my family and church never did. And now, I've got a masters degree, taught as an associate lecturer in a private school and got a job as a research psychologist at a well-known organisation. As you can see, I'm definitely on my way to achieving my dream =)

It was there that I met my soulmate and we started our little family. Our senior pastor's strong beliefs and preaching on building strong marriages really inspired and helped us to resolve issues and fight fair.

It was there that my family generously sacrificed to the Crossover Project and the many building funds, which miraculously resulted to our debts being cleared.

Do we regret giving so much of our time and money to the church? Not at all, because what we have received is so much more. Are we going to continue to give and keep on giving? Absolutely. And not because we have to but because we want to!

If you can't agree with us, that's fine.. honestly. But please, before you cast your judgment, understand that there are real people that were helped and real lives that were changed by the ministry of this church and its leadership.

"CHC changed my life and nothing is going to erase that for me. At the end of the day, this is my home and my life has never been better. Since I came to this church, under the leadership of Pastor Kong, my life has been radically transformed. So I'm here to stay, for better or for worse." ~Mabel

"City Harvest Church is the place where I came to accept Christ, to grow deeper in relationship with God and where I finally fully comprehended what "family" means. CHC is my family. The church has loved me, nurtured me and given me a place I can call home. Most of all, it has" shown me where I belong - in God's Kindgom. As the spiritual leader, Pastor Kong has always emphasized the importance of using the Bible as our guide in life, to ensure that we never stray from what God has in store for us. I believe that despite the present difficulties, this is the time for the church to stand up. Not just the church within the 4 walls; we are a body of Christ! I believe that if we stay united through this, God will bring us through it into a greater level than ever before." ~Amanda

"I'm really blessed to be in City Harvest! In this church, I learnt to love and appreciate the things and people around me. Pastor Kong taught me about the Father's love and today, I've reconciled with my dad and know that he's the best dad in the world. Sun taught me how to let go of hurts, forgive others and grow in my faith. Her sharing really impacted me! These are great people, world shakers! I'm very grateful to have CHC in my life!" ~Raquel

"My life has truly been changed because of this amazing couple who have sown unconditonally into this church, CHC. I'm really blessed that God has made a way for me to be brought into this beautiful church, which eventually became my home. Pastor Kong and Sun have really lived out what they have preached, which never fails to inspire and impact me these 6 years. My relationship with my family has improved greatly since then. From a person with low self-esteem to someone who is stronger and able to love others, because of the genuine concern, love and acceptance of the people in CHC. Here, I also learnt that one can make a big difference with the talents God has given to us. The love that Pastor Kong, Sun and the other leaders have shown to us and the people in the society always touched me deeply, which inspired me to do the same to others. This is indeed my church, my home, my life!" ~Dorothy

(For other similar testimonies, check out this facebook group)

It's easy to dismiss our experiences as ignorance but we know what we've experienced and have decided to rally as one spiritual family behind our leaders no matter the outcome.

To my dearest pastors and leaders, you have our fullest support and prayers. Our hearts are with you in this trying time of your lives and may God be with you through it all.

Amen.

For The Love of Matchy-Matchy

We hung out at our usual hangout mall last Sunday.

Tasty dinner @ Earle Swenson, Vivocity

Supermom & her kid!

Which was also when I decided it was time to showcase our matching T-shirts kindly given to us by Elizabeth, who started her own business called Matchmade (thanks girl!). You know how much I love anything matchy-matchy =)

Linking Up With:

The Health of Your Child Lies in Your Hands

With the widespread of illnesses such as flu and diarrhea from one child to another, it is our job as parents to protect our children from getting infected.. especially by the dreaded Disease Which Shall Not Be Named.

We all know that washing our children's hands is important to prevent the spread of diseases but did you know that it's not how many times you wash but how you wash that counts?

Credits: ttsh.com.sg

No matter how many times you wash your hands, if you don't wash it in the proper way, you'll still end up with some parts that are not washed properly.

So it's vital that we learn how to do the 8 steps of hand washing and teach our children to do the same.

Credits: hpb.gov.sg

I try to remind myself to make it a habit to wash my hands in this manner and also tried to teach my girl to do the same thing.

Washing her hands with help from daddy

But alas, her limited ability coupled with the usual short attention span of an almost 2-year-old prevented me from teaching her pass Step 1.

Washing her hands with hand wash

Thankfully, my girl actually likes to wash her hands (she will command us to "wash hands, wash hands!") so at least that's a start.

And if you don't have access to water as a wash basin is nowhere in sight, consider using anti-bacterial hand sanitisers which can kill germs instantly without the use of water. It's just as good as washing with water, if not better =)

I'm currently using Lifebuoy's hand wash and sanitisers, which leave a squeaky clean feeling that I like. You can read more about them on Lifebuoy's Facebook page.

Nevertheless, having said all that, well, balance is key. An overly sterile environment may actually be harmful for the building of your child's immunity so do sanitise thoughtfully.

Have a happy & healthy week everyone! =)

Disclosure: This is Part 1 of a series of sponsored stories on behalf of Lifebuoy Singapore.
All opinions & text are my own.

Bonding Over Noodles

My cell group mate's parents own a noodle stall in Bedok and I've been wanting to try it ever since he started promoting it to us a long time ago.

So one of the evenings after church, our cg decided to have dinner there to show our support =)

Minced Pork Noodle
(featured on TV shows)

We ordered 2 bowls for our family to share.

Baby girl ate most of my meat balls as usual -_-

The style of cooking is very different from the minced pork noodles that we eat in our neighbourhood. The noodles are springy, the meatballs are tasty but my favourite is the soup! It's full of flavour but not too salty. Add chilli to it for the extra spice =)

After dinner, we had durian to complete our meal *yum*! There goes my diet plans as usual.. ah well =)

Minced Pork Noodle stall is located at Kakit Bukit Food Centre, Blk 511 Bedok North Ave 3, #01-10, Singapore 460511.

Top 5 Diaper Bag Essentials (Toddler Edition)

Although I had blogged about diaper bag essentials before but that was 2 years ago when Girlee was just a tiny 6 month old baby. Now that she's out and running about, the things that I bring along in my diaper bag have changed somewhat.

Here are my Top 5 Must-Haves in your diaper bag for a day out with an active toddler:

1) Mosquito Repellent
She wears an anti-mozzie patch all the time now but I still bring a bottle of repellent out with me wherever we go just in case anyone needs it (it's suitable for both children and adults).

I totally forgot to remove her anti-mosquito patch for our photoshoot!

In our tropical climate and with dengue fever cases on the rise, prevention is definitely better than cure. You'll just never know!

2) Pacifier & Favourite Pillow

Napping Essentials

She calls them 'Nai Jhui' (Chinese for pacifier) and 'Chou Chou' (Chinese for Smelly, which refers to the pillow with her smell). She almost never sleeps without them so it's a must.

3) Wet Wipes
And lots of it! It is used for cleaning any type of surface such as mouth, nose, hands, bottoms and even dirty table tops and chairs.

I have never even bought any wet wipes before I was a parent and now I can't live without it! Our entire house is so stocked with wet wipes, it's insane.

4) Portable Recyclable Bag
Some places in Singapore and other countries such as Shenzhen & Taiwan do charge for plastic bags so it's always good to have a scrunched-up recyclable bag that can be pulled out of your bag and used for groceries and other stuff that can't fit into your diaper bag. Plus it's environmentally friendly so the earth will thank you!

It's also my way of cancelling out whatever negatives I've contributed to the earth from using so many wet wipes *laughs*

5) Stuff for Those 'Just so Happened' Moments
As a parent, you will really never know when you just so happened to stumble upon a water playground or a nice play gym on one of your trips out with your little one. You'll also never know when your little one might have a not so little 'accident' in their pants or on their shirt.

This is why like every kiasu (Singaporean slang for 'scared to lose out') parent, I make sure I'm prepared with the following in my bag:

The Ultimate Emergency Kit

1. Extra clothes & underwear
2. Socks for both adult & child (a requirement of certain gyms/playgrounds)
3. Sunblock (always ready for the outdoors)
4. Three types of diapers = Ordinary, Pull-ups (in case no changing table in sight), Swim (in case of water play)

If you're wondering "why so many diapers?", well, there was once where baby girl actually used up all of my diapers due to sudden diarrhea, I kid you not! So it's really not a lot at all =)


And there you have it!

I didn't use to be this prepared. But I've learnt things the hard way over time, if ya know what I mean. Nowadays, I feel very vulnerable when I step out of the house without my bag as it has everything I need for every situation! *laughs*

What's in your diaper bag?

Baby See, Baby Do Too

Remember how I said she was very into mimicking us? Well, I caught her mimicking another person the other day...

ME!

Here's where I always do my blogging, net surfing and TV-watching all at the same time =)

Linking up to:

My 1st Baking Experience!

Chef Judy Koh is the owner of Creative Culinaire & Cafe Pralet. Her cafe, which is located just next door to her school, is regularly patronised by me, my friends and even my in-laws.

You might not know this but Chef Judy is my neighbour and I've always wanted to take baking lessons at her baking school ever since I got married and moved in to live with the hubby and in-laws. Unfortunately, I also did not have the time or the money to do so (the school fees are not cheap!).

So you can imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to attend a special baking class last Sunday organised by Rolleyes and taught by Chef Judy herself!

Our master chef & teacher!

I have always said that I'm not a good cook and most likely will never be one because it's just not in my blood. But a baker? I might still have some hope because baking is more of a science than we think. As Chef Judy started explaining the baking process to us, she even went as far as to write out chemical symbols on the whiteboard behind her.

Ah Science. Now that, I understand.

Chef Judy explaining the process of baking a batter type cake,
with the mirror above strategically angled so that we can see all the action from the top view.

She wants to inspire us to fall in love with baking by teaching us the fundamentals on how to make her signature chocolate zucchini cake, which is exactly what you are thinking. A vegetable cake. But it tastes amazing ('cos the other ingredients hide the veggie-ness of it) and most importantly, it has half the calories of a regular cake! What's not to love right? *laughs*

Demonstrating to us how the end product is supposed to look like

After learning the basics, we were off to make our own batch in our special aprons and with the pre-prepared ingredients by the staff of Creative Culinaire (we're so spoilt right? *laughs*).

All prepared to start!

Ingredients (for a batch of 16 cupcakes)

230g butter

172g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
308g self raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
224g grated zucchini
90g chocolate chip
50g toasted walnuts

The Method
Step 1:  Cream the butter, light brown sugar & salt till light.

Susan & Sandra in charge of doing a great job with the creaming

Step 2: Add in the eggs, one at a time (we each took a turn to do this).

Me trying hard to crack the egg without causing the shell to fall in!

Step 3: Toss the chocolate chips, walnuts and zucchini with about 1/2 cup of the flour.

Delphine was in charge of mixing the zucchini while I was in charge of seiving the flour =)

Step 4: Mix in the remaining flour into the butter mixture (a little at a time).

We spent most of our time watching this thing spin and commenting on how weird our batter looks while trying to look like we're so busy and professional

Step 5: Fold in the zucchini mixture.

We each took turns to scoup the mixture into the piping bag..

..and pipe it into cupcake containers (for easy transportation home).

We called ourselves 'Bakerlicious Mummies'.
It was supposed to identify our tray but who can resist a chance to boost their egos?! *laughs*

Step 6: Bake in oven till cooked at 175 degree celcius.

Our creations baking in the ovens

And since this step would take a while, we spent the waiting time taking pictures with Chef Judy..

Singapore Mom Bloggers (left to right): Me, Chef Judy, San, Delphine, Susan, Rachel & Kyle (our youngest chef)

..and having tea and pastries at Cafe Pralet next door, with complements of the chef =)

We had to quickly finish our tea break because it wasn't long before our cakes were ready for the final step!

Yay they didn't turn out so bad!

Step 7: When the cakes are cool, glaze them with chocolate and decorate! This is my favourite part! *grin*

Mad-Made especially for my hubby & family =)
(LOVE the heart-shaped design!)

I had an awesome time baking, thanks to the amazing team work of my group and the kindness of Creative Culinaire and Rolleyes.

If you would like to get more recipes and tips from professional chefs or find out more about F&B restaurants in Singapore, visit Rolleyes which is a new online platform that is dedicated to showcasing video clips of food for the food lover or chef in you.

In addition, become a subscriber and you will also receive special vouchers or discounts to the F&B establishments featured on Rolleyes.

Now go. Eat and be merry! =)


Disclosure: An invitation to this event was received from Rolleyes and Creative Culinaire. No monetary compensation was received; all opinions & text are my own.

Spicy Grilled Chicken by Mel's Kitchen

You know how I always say I'm so blessed to have people who are so willing to cook for me and my family? Well, my good friend Mel (aka Mrs P) is definitely one of those people and her greatest ambition is to become the perfect wife and mother on top of juggling a full time job.

After much pursuasion (and persistent nagging) from me, she's finally debuting one of her recipes on my blog! *excited*

Spicy Grilled Chicken

You will need:
4 chicken thighs
Spaghetti or rice
2 stalks each of fresh Basil, Thyme & Marjoram (washed & chopped)
2 tablespoons of Cajun Spice Blend
4 tablespoons of Chilli Powder
3 tablespoons of Lime Juice
3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of Sugar
A pinch of Salt

(All are for marination, except for the 1st two ingredients)

Preparation for marination

Marinate chicken thighs with the marination blend as listed in the ingredients list above.

After marination

Leave the marinated mixture in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

When you're ready to cook, warm up the Happy Call Pan and drizzle it with olive oil. Next, pan fry the chicken thighs for approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. Then, remove and place the chicken in the oven and continue to grill it for 6 minutes.

Lastly, serve the grilled chicken with spaghetti, mash potatoes or butter rice, depending on your family's preference.

Grilled Chicken with Spaghetti

And viola! It's so simple and tasty, it's perfect for the busy working mother to cook for her family. I hope you will have a fun time cooking and eating this dish! Enjoy!

P.S: Many thanks to Mel's Kitchen for the recipe and photos =)

Baby-Daddy Moments

First time daddy took his daughter out alone to Toys'r'us

 ~~~~~~~~

Hubby (to Girlee): Who did it? Was it you? Raise your hands and say 'Me!'
Girlee (raises her hand): Me!
Me (rolls eyes): That has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen a father teach his child.
Hubby (as a matter of factly): I'm training her so that next time she does something wrong and her teacher asks "who did it?", ah girl will immediately raise her hand.

It was a great lesson really but there was one problem.

Mummy's rationale = It's always good practice to own up when you've made a mistake.
Daddy's rationale = Confuse the teacher who will most likely not believe her because she owned up too quickly so she can get away with it!

Like.. Seriously?! -_-"

Snuggling up to daddy in the cold

One evening while mummy was lecturing at a night class..
Girlee: Daddy, pain pain...

Hubby: What? You fall down again? Where pain pain?
Girlee: Leg pain pain.
Hubby (examining her legs but finding nothing): No pain what. Show me where pain pain.
Girlee (pointing to a cut on his knee): Here leg pain pain...
Hubby (surprised): Quick 'sayang' (pat gently) the pain.
Girlee (hugs hubby's leg and strokes her little finger on the cut): No more pain.

A daddy's girl through and through.

Our Playdate With New Friends

Some of us from SMB decided to meet for a playdate at Atlantic @ Delta Sports Complex. I can't believe that it's going to close down soon and this is the 1st time we've been there (thanks for the heads up Adora!).

Girlee exploring the place

Girlee found another Tiger Girl to fight  play with. I love other Tiger Girls because they're just as fierce as Girlee so I don't have to worry that she will bully them (and I don't mind her getting bullied once in a while so she can get a taste of her own medicine too if you know what I mean *laughs*).

Playing with the girls

The mothers also caught up with each other while our kids almost tore the place apart *laughs*

Left to right: Jocelyn, me, Edlyn, Adora & Evelyn
(Taken with the self-timer function)

We should totally do this again! =)

Fashion Pronunciation Faux Pas

I'm not a fashionista (although I try my best to learn how to pretend to be one), so I often get the fashion labels and terms pronounced wrongly, until I learnt of their true pronounciation.

So if you are like me, this is for you =)

Top 10 Most Mispronounced Fashion Labels:

1) Agnes B: Pronounced = Arg-nias Bay

2) Chanel: Pronounced = Shah-nell

3) Christian Louboutin: Pronounced = Christian Low-bow-tawn

4) Givenchy: Pronounced = Jhee-vawn-chee

5) Hermes: Pronounced = Air-meh

6) Herve Leger: Pronounced = Er-vay Lay-jher

7) Lanvin: Pronounced = Lawn-vawn

8) Loewe: Pronounced = Loo-wei

9) Louis Vuitton: Pronounced = Lu-ey Vu-tawn

10) Yves Saint Laurent: Pronounced = Eve-seung-lor-rong

Surprised? But who can blame us for mispronouncing as they're generally French & German, I mean c'mon, non-Chinese people can't pronounce our Chinese names and surnames either.

Like seriously, Vera Wang's "wang" does not rhyme with "rang" but with "rung" okaay *laughs*

Credits: foxtrot.com

P.S: FYI, faux pas is pronounced as "Fou Pah" =)

We Might Have Found the QQ of Strollers

It's cheap, functional and.. cheap!

Latido stroller we bought from OG at a sale price of S$49

But just like a QQ (brand of car from China), it was not very comfortable for both baby girl and the person pushing her. My back and arms ached so badly after pushing Girlee at the shopping mall for only 3 hours =(

And this is why we need a BMW. Figuratively that is (and maybe literally *laughs*).

Linking up to:

Our 1st Family Photoshoot

After much intensive persuasion, I finally managed to convince the hubby to bring baby girl for her 1st photoshoot at The Studio Loft.

She is so adorable and full of antics that it would be a shame not to have it all captured by a professional.

Each one was so unique and captured a different expression that we just couldn't decide which ones we wanted (choosing our bridal shots was so much easier! *laughs*). Hence, we ended up buying all the soft copies as we loved all of them so much! =)

From top-left: Elated, shocked, mischievous, whiny!

I love how all the raw shots were so perfect, they didn't need much editing at all (in fact, every single one shown here were not professionally edited)!

Ah babies. They have perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect bodies... what's there to touch up? Perfect! =)

Our little family =)

Thankfully baby girl had a great afternoon nap so she was in an awesome mood during the photoshoot. Although both the daddy and daughter were tired out after only 1 hour of photoshoot and daddy doesn't think we will do it again but I totally think we would be back again! *laughs*