Her little shadows

When people ask me why I gave up my business and be a stay home mother?
The reason is very obvious. With two grown up teenagers, Vivian and Villi, I have another sunshine at home that made me willingly gave up the world...

Valerie at two and a half years old now

This lovely poem below reflects all motherly love for their children which I want to share it with you.

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I saw a young mother
With eyes full of laughter
And two little shadows
Came following after.

Wherever she moved,
They were always right there
Holding onto her skirts,
Hanging onto her chair.
Before her, behind her-
An adhesive pair.

"Don't you ever get weary
As, day after day,
Your two little tagalongs
Get in your way?

She smiled as she shook
Her pretty young head,
And I'll always remember
The words that she said

"It's good to have shadows
That run when you run,
That laugh when you're happy
And hum when you hum -
For you only have shadows

When your life's filled with sun."

Author Unknown

SOUP KITCHEN FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE

When Vivian told me that she was involved with her church's charity work, which she helped dishes out food to the beggars, the homeless and the poor on the streets. I thought that it was a good way of spending her free time during the weekends. Later I found out that it was "Soup Kitchen" run by Vital Connection, an organisation under the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Brisbane.

Their day started with preparation of food in the church's hall and later put into the chafing dishes. The volunteers will then transport the food by van to be sent to the city. They identified certain locations along the roadside and started dishing out vegetarian meals to the needy. Another van will come after that to serve coffee. The same group of volunteers with designated tasks will then clear out the site and return to the church. They do this three times a week but Vivian only joins in whenever her time permits.

Back here in Malaysia, we have a couple of Non-Profit Organisations that run the same "Soup Kitchen" to feed the poor. The soup kitchen in Alor Star which is in its 4th year running this charity work has now opened another outlet located in Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur. The Fungates Superflow Foundation is behind this social community work and its founder, Pastor Clarine Chun is overseeing the operation of the soup kitchen.

This coffee shop style eatery that provides free lunches from Sunday to Thursday to about 160 people including drug addicts, jobless youths, disables, homeless and senior citizens. Apart from providing free food, Pastor Chun also provides counseling to the drug addicts and managed to bring some of them to the rehabilitation.

Another society which run the same is Kechara Soup Kitchen, inspired and set up by His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche , a Buddhism based organisation. The centre distributes free packed dry food consist of biscuit, bread, tibbit and fruit together with mineral water every Saturday at the City Centre. The areas they cover are - Pudu Raya bus station, Pudu Market and Chow Kit. Activity starts at 4.30pm at Kechara House and volunteers will help pack and send the food to the respective areas and distribute to the less fortunate, regardless of race, religion or culture.

If you have some free time to spare and wish to spend it in a meaningful way, try to contact these centres who need volunteers:

- The Soup Kitchen, Alor Star and Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur - Pastor Clarine Chun - 04-7319189
or Angeline of Fungates at 03-798 388 27.
- The Kechara Soup Kitchen - Anna Tan - 012-6140861

Or, if you are in the Food industry and your establishment has fresh or an overrun of food and beverages that you wish to contribute, kindly send them to these organisations.

This is an awesome way of extending your compassion and practising Dharma at the same time.

LIFE IS SO SHORT

LIFE IS SO SHORT. SO, THINK WHAT IS GOOD, SPEAK WHAT IS KIND, AND TRY TO LIVE YOUR BEST, THEN THIS WORLD WILL BE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL TO YOU WHEN MONEY IS LOST NOTHING IS LOST. WHEN HEALTH IS LOST SOMETHING IS LOST. WHEN CHARACTER IS LOST EVERYTHING IS LOST LIVE LIKE A CANDLE, WHICH BURNS ITSELF, BUT GIVES LIGHT TO OTHERS. IMPOSE YOUR OWN TERMS UPON LIFE. IF YOU DON'T YOU WILL HAVE TO ACCEPT THE TERMS OF OTHERS. LOOK BACKWARDS WITH GRATITUDE, UPWARDS WITH CONFIDENCE AND FORWARD WITH HOPE. WHEN YOU TRULY CARE FOR SOMEONE, YOU DON'T LOOK FOR FAULTS, YOU DON'T LOOK FOR ANSWERS, YOU DON'T LOOK FOR MISTAKES, INSTEAD YOU FIGHT THE MISTAKES, YOU ACCEPT THE FAULTS, AND YOU OVERLOOK THE EXCUSES. ~ author unknown ~

So, my streamyx was fixed

So, there came two technicians after several calls and queue waiting at TM Points....

They fiddled about the telephone wire and my modem, then, they suspected it is my modem that's giving the problem, so they have to try using "their modem" for "a day or two" to confirm if my modem is faulty. Then, they said they will be back to check again.

Since that was the case, I did not want to take any chance and quickly went to Summit to buy one and the new one now is working just fine.

The irony part is, they never return since...10 days after the repair. Are they giving me "their modem" for free? I wonder...

Anyway, I have no time to worry about these trivial matters cos I have more pressing matters that happened to my family during these period of settling down at my new home.

Both my maid and son was suffering from Dengue attack last week, barely one month from the day we moved into this new home. Both of them were admitted to SJMC for a few days and it was a lucky thing that our decision to send them in early had shortened their agony, pain and suffering from this deadly mosquito virus. My maid had a milder attack with a few days of tremendous high fever, shivering cold and vomit, her condition improved and was discharged with platelet count at 96,000.

But my son was not that lucky, his platelet has dropped to 16,000 at one point and was warded to the HDU, and the Doctor ordered transfusion of 6 packets of platelets to revive him. The Doctor who treated him had warned me of the danger and how life threatening this virus can be if one's immunity is low. The whole family running tirelessly shuttling between home and hospital to ensure that he eats and drinks adequately to replenish the fluids much needed in this critical time despite being on drips. What a roller coaster week!

And now I am still in the middle of finding 4 more people to replace the blood "owed" to SJMC, any volunteers out there?

To those of you who are oblivious of Dengue Fever, here are some information that I can share with you.

To those who are staying around Subang Jaya, it is our responsibility to keep our home and the neighborhood clean to prevent the outbreak which is on high alert now.