A Promise is a Promise

in nomine patri; et filii; et spiritui sancto amen

elise received a barbie laptop from the wife's boss and it required 4 x "C" size batteries. she had opened her present on Christmas day and i had told her i will get her the batteries when i go to work.

she asked me on tuesday night and i said i had forgotted to buy it and i will get it on wed.... and guess what? i promptly forgot about it and she asked me "daddy, did you buy the batteries for me?" to which i replied "sorry, daddy forgot again but i promise that i will buy it for you tomorrow"

so on thursday, once i woke up, even before i showered and changed, i headed straight to the barbie laptop to confirm the battery size and number required to power it up.

i did buy the batteries and while in the car on the way back home...

elise: "daddy, did you buy the batteries?"
me: "what do you think?"
elise: "YES!"
me: "how do you know? how sure are you that i bought the batteries?"
elise: "because last night you promised to buy it for me and because you promised, i know you will buy it for me!"

after elise said this, i was humbled.....and thoughts of the scene from "forrest gump" where forrest gump made loads of money from shrimping and then dividing bubba's share (even lieutenant dan said he was nuts to give bubba's mother so much $$$), gave it to his (bubba's) mother.... and forrest gump had said "a promise is a promise". [if you do not know what i am talking about, go see the show!]

also, my thoughts turned to God ... .. and the Words of the Lord came flooding to me "..would you,sinful as you are, give a scorpion to your children if they ask for bread..... think how much the Father, who is Holy, would give to His children what they ask...."

that is why i firmly believe that children are gifts from God.... and that God uses them to teach us parents His word.

if elise had no doubt that i would buy her the batteries because i promised her, imagine the promises God made to me as my loving Father.....

in nomine patri; et filii; et spiritui sancto amen

Christmas 2005

in nomine patri; et filii; et spiritui sancto amen

spent christmas eve at susie's place, together with mom's side of the family. all the food; wine and family....NOW that's a blessing from the Lord.

food & family part 1

food & family part 2

food & family part 3

eliza & "yeh yeh"

left the place at 12 (cos the old man was sleepy!) and had a good drive home...accompanied by christmas carols from power98!

reached home and elise and eliza had a whale of a time opening their presents.... the look of joy and their laughter made the night perfect! they wanted to play but i told them to hit the sack as its already waaaaay past their bedtime.

the family finally hit the sack at 2am.

we went for the 11am Christmas Mass and spent a quiet sunday together as a family. then it hit me...it isnt about the presents and festivities....ITS ALL ABOUT FAMILY! AMEN!

Happy Birthday Lord!

in nomine patri; et filii; et spiritui sancto amen

Weekend Jaunt!

in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen

met the avp of one of the managing agents as we are partnering with them to be the exclusive sales rep for outdoor advertising at prime locations. he wanted to meet on a saturday and i said sure... so i told the wife and i met him at toa payoh while the wife brought elise and eliza to the library.

discussed the agreement and thought we had resolved all the issues when he sprang a surprise that we should amend one of the clause again. so i said ok and we'll do so and lets conclude the deal this coming week. had some chit chat where he told me about his vision and plans and how his regional experience put him in good stead to think out of the box versus his colleagues etc.... and i just smiled and listened. when time was up, i shook his hand and left.

anyway, lenus was bringing larissa to see the doc and we then met. he had an office party to go to and i ended up with the twins and mrs lenus. iggy and theresa was down from KL as well and all of us walked around toa payoh and then mrs lenus (or was it iggy?) suggested a movie and the girls screamed "chicken little"

the wife was apprehensive about this as eliza will scream while in the theater and well..... before we went it, she started saying she doesnt want to go into the cinema and we cajoled her into agreeing.

the movie started ... all went well.... halfway through... when the "aliens" came (for those who watched the movie will understand what i mean) eliza started screaming "I WANNA GO OUT! I WANNA GO OUT!" and cried and cried....

the wife and i did out best to calm her but she continued her screaming so what to do? i carried her out and father and daughter could bond while the wife and elise with the lenuses continued with the movie....sigh

btw... a freaking ticket is now $9.50 on a weekend! that tells you how long i hv been to the movies (in fact, if i remember correctly, the last movie i went to was "the beach" starring di caprio ..yes yes... i know that was centuries ago!) no wonder there are still pirates hawking their wares.... sheesh!!

met Jude while walking around toa payoh waiting for the movie to finish and we had a chat... he just failed his ippt.... looking at him, dont think he'd ever pass! hehehe

picked lenus up around 5pm and we went to st theresa's for Mass. we were early and we spent the time around the columbarium. somehow looking at the souls of the dearly departed makes him more aware of the fragility of life. i was especially moved by those that have gone to the Lord when they are babies or kids..... sigh.... said a prayer for the parents of these children that the Lord will continue to strengthen and bless them.

i know how they feel cos i do once in a while still think about leia...... another post on this perhaps...

Mass was good and met joe augustin after and we talked. we then went off to mrs lenus's cousin's place for dinner and that was that.

in nomine patri; et filii; et spiritui sancto amen

Cruise!

in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen

just came back from the cruise with the lenuses and arikens.....it was indeed a nice break!

actually, i wasnt sure that the ceo would ok the leave from 15/12 to 16/12 as he is always harping on the fact that we are slow and that we should move faster etc that if i were to ask if i could take leave for a vacation, i was like forrest gump - i didnt know what i was gonna get for a reaction from my dear ceo!

anyway, it was nice to spend time with elise and eliza and the wife together with the lenuses and arikens. here's a pic of the kids immediately upon embarking the ship!
the ship had lots of indians (from india) cos there was a bollywood party on board and man... these people do not queue!

ariken:"i hate these bloody indians.... they never queue, there was this guy that cut in and act blur just now...."
me:"er...you also indian right?"
airken:"but i am SG indian!! NOT India Indian....and i QUEUE!"

hahaha...... the wankers i hang around with!

also, there were this 3 indians who were filming everything and anything wherever they went and they chanced about eliza and guess what they did?..........

man... lenus said eliza sure will end up with an indian boyfriend!

also, the memorable thing about this trip was a chess game i played with a 12-yr old from nanyang pri on a large sized chess board. he's going to hwa chong next year.....and yes, i lost to the boy....only because i was in the sun!

anyway, we disembarked at port klang and endured a 2hr bus ride to KL just to do a bit of shopping at lot10 - good thing was i managed to get my hands on a 1GB memory card plus 2 psp games .... thought i had a good deal buying them in KL but found out the price in SG is sama sama ... WTF?!

and then guess what? CC and DS called about some problems with Gateway to Hell and GL of CharlieDeltaLima. so was on the phone with them so sort out the problems on the way back to the ship.... you can run but you cant hide!

before i knew it... we were back in SG..... home sweet home

in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen