Isn't God awesome!

It's Summer here in Australia now but we've got quite a bit of storm and rain in the past few weeks. We went to church this morning and went to Westpoint shopping center after that because I heard Dalta was coming and I wanted to see her sing. I've always liked her. We saw Natalie, the latest Australian Idol yesterday and she's got beautiful voice as well! Anyway, we invited Alan and Saranya to join us and our plan was to go to Cabramatta after that. Thank God it didn't happen!! Saranya and I decided to just do some grocery shopping there at Westpoint instead and after that Alan invited us to go to their place. I didn't wanna go cuz I was tired and so was everybody else. It would be nice to just go home and have a nap. Anyway, we thought it would be nice to catch up with Alan since he was away for 2 weeks and would be great to talk about his trip! Later in the afternoon the sky was all dark, and I said ,"we should probably go home before it rains."-I really wanted to. Saranya kept asking me to stay and go home after it stop raining. Okay then! So we stayed and there came the rain. It was louder than usual and we figured out it was actually hailing!! I was excited and ran outside with the camera and took some pictures. I picked up a piece of hail that I thought was big and put it in my palm and took a picture of it.

About 10 minutes later we received a phonecall from Mom and Dad saying Fiona's house was damaged by hailstorm and they were the size of a fist(a tennis ball)! They asked whether our house was okay and we said oh yeah, it should be fine. It was quite sunny after the rain was gone and we decided to come home an hour later. We saw leaves and glasses everywhere on the road as we drove into Moody Street and the neighbors were out looking at the cars and that was when we thought, 'oh no, our house!' When I got off the car I saw some white stuff on the grass and had a close look and I was shocked to find out that they were the hail still the size of a golf ball. Dave and I went and checked around the house and we are so thankful that only one window is smashed and there are some dents on the roof and that was it. Neighbors have holes on their roof and their cars are damaged and straight away we know it was God. He is so good to us. If only we came home straight after the concert or if we went to Cabramatta, we would have been hit by the hailstorm and our car would have been damaged and perhaps we could have been injured as well. See more pictures here!

Jesus, you're my super Hero!

Wow! Another year's about to end! God has been so good to us and we're looking forward to the 2 week-holiday during Christmas and the new year. We plan to go up to the Central Coast to celebrate Christmas with family up there, then they'll come down to spend a couple of days down here with us.
I am seeing a christian counselor for my postnatal depression. The depression I'm going through has a lot to do with my childhood and I am thankful that now it's being dealt with professionally. The ladies at church have been a great support and I can't thank them enough for their encouragement and prayers!
Gabriel's still being a handful to me. Just three days ago, he started to climb up on the couch and I'm not excited at all. I know that many other kids his age have learned to do that a lot sooner than him. Gabe on the other hand is well in progress with his language and communication skills. I don't want to encourage him to climb cuz I know one day it's gonna come, but well it's just another part of life I suppose and all I can do is to make sure he's safe.
The weather in Australia is so changeable and often during the day it's too hot so I just take him out and play on the front porch a lot instead of going out for a walk. He's shown a lot of interest on basically everything around him. Being able to communicate a whole lot more makes him a happier child. I'm so thankful that there's gonna be a christian playgroup around the area we live early next year and Gabe and I are lookin' forward to being part of it!

Some pictures before the haircut :)

These are the pictures of Gabriel before he had his hair cut :) My little angel :)

Gabi's 2nd haircut

Gabe's 14 months and 8 days old today. Yesterday I decided to give him another haircut. I had to give him something to eat for him to sit still for me and there were only 3 pieces of cookies left and I had to be 'super' quick. Didn't do a bad job after all, I think.

Gabe's a very touchy person. He loves cuddling and kissing. He's learning to feed himself and is learning to draw. It's been a lot easier to communicate with him as he's learned to say more words and able to express more emotions. One thing I find very interesting is that I thought he was always left handed, but recently we've seen him using both hands- often he'd draw with his left hand and eat with the right. He loves his music and sometimes I'm surprised to hear him humming a tune. It is amazing to watch a 14 month old child to be able to do so many things. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy his pictures and would appreciate it if you could pray for him. :)

One thing I learned from women's church 2 weeks ago was that you never stop praying for the children. I've spent more time praying with Gabriel. I pray that God provides for him good friends, good teachers, good leaders. I pray that he'll grow up knowing Jesus and understanding his love and forgiveness. I pray that he'll be a loving person and that he'll put others first. I also pray that God will give him wisdom and strength when he goes through trials and hardship. It is amazing just to see how God's answering my prayers. Gabe loves it when I pray, he'll just put his face on my shoulder and stays quiet until I finish praying, and often it's about 10 minutes plus. I want to encourage everyone to pray for their children and other kids as well, not just once a day but as often as they can. Gabi loves the bible, even the adults' one that has no pictures or anything. He would flip through it as if he's reading it, it's just too cute to watch him doing that.

Updates of Gabriel!

I sat down in front of my computer last night and looked through all the pictures from last year since I first fell pregnant up until Gabriel's 13 months and 10 days now. Time flies!! Gabe's got his 7th teeth came out six days ago. (20th Oct.) We finally moved him into his own room on Sunday 14th Oct., which was extremely emotional for me but thankfully he's been takin' it quite well. On Monday 15th Gabe did somethin' that completely surprised me, yeah, it was a 'surprising' face with his mouth wide open and eyebrows raised so high!! I have NO idea where he learned it from. I still have no answer where he learned squeezing his eyes(blinking) at girls from either. Guess it will continue to be a mystery. Anyway, it happened when we were playing with a pop up toy and when he pressed one of the buttons, a little puppy popped up and there he went, 'surprised!!!' He still does it every time he plays with that toy and it's just too cute! Gabe's also learned to throw away his dirty nappy in the bin after I change him, he'd get upset if I don't let him.
The whether in Australia is so changeable. We had an extremely hot day on Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday were quite cold. I put a scarf on yesterday and when Gabe woke up from a nap he kept asking me what it was. So, I told him that it's called a scarf and put it around his neck and he loved it. Gabe's into everything now. When I say 'everything,' I really MEAN it. He's become quite handful and I find it quite difficult sometimes, but I really don't mind it. Dave and I are embracing these special moments of watching him grow...

Life is so precious...

So often I look at David and Gabriel and I think to myself, 'is this real? I am married and I have a child!!' God says in the bible that children are blessings and I truly believe they are. I stay at home with Gabriel and watch him grow everyday, but still sometimes I think he grows so fast and I wish there's a "pause" button I can press and put every single detail of the changes in his life into my memory, but it's impossible. I love watching him learning new words, trying new things and acting silly. He is such a happy boy and he loves making us laugh. A couple of days ago he came to me pointing at my food and said, "Ahh..." with his mouth wide open, so I fed him a little bit of my rice with spicy Panang that I made thinking 'you'll regret this, little boy.' Dave and I watched him chew and swallowed it, he looked perfectly fine and he asked for more! I was surprised. Lots of friends are amazed at how quick he picks up words and stuff. I can't help but being proud and thankful. I think he knows that he's clever, but I pray that he'll learn to be humble and use this blessing to glorify God and not to manipulate other people. When we were at church last Sunday I noticed that Gabriel shares his toys with his friends. When other kids came to him and snatched they toys off him, he just let them and turned to play with other toys. I was very happy to see that. He's also learning to be a bit naughty though. Sometimes I ask him, "how many times does Mommy need to say NO til you understand?" Then I think, God must have said the same thing to us. We are just as bad and as rebellious. That's probably why God asks us to learn from these little ones!

Gabriel's turned 1

Gabe turned one on 15th September and we held a small party for him with some close friends and family. We'd like to thank everyone for making his birthday very special and memorable. He loves all the gifts and this is one of them.


Gabe's learning new words everyday. He's still asking "what's this?" a lot and he picks up new words a lot quicker as well. He loves his little bible and he calls it "Jesus." We enjoy being his parents and watching him learning new things. We only hope he grows up knowing and loving Christ. Please continue to pray for his future and salvation! :)

Gabe's walking :)

What a wonderful Fathers' day present for Daddy! We went up to the Central Coast on 2nd September to celebrate Fathers' Day.(which actually was on the 3rd) When everyone got together, Grandpa reached out his hand and asked Gabriel to walk to him. Gabe, who'd learned to cruise around since he was about 6 months walked towards Grandpa's hand as Grandpa slowly pulled his hand back and Gabriel finally realized that he was walking by himself and since then he's gained the confidence to walk without hanging on to things!! Daddy was so thrilled of course :) Another week to go, and he will turn 1. Gabe's quite talkative now, he keeps pointing to things and asks 'what's this?' or 'what's that?' He enjoys watching the Cockatoos and Galas everyday when they fly to our neighbor's backyard for dinner, and he's crazy about them. Gabe loves playing Pick-a-boo, reading books and his favorite TV. shows are High-5 and New McDonald's Farm. He also loves kissing Mommy and Daddy, especially when he knows he's in trouble :) Anyway, Nui and her family are coming down this weekend and we're lookin' forward to spending time with them. We're also planing to have a small birthday party for our little boy, and I'm planing to make Italian and Mexican food for lunch since Pii Nuch and Pii Yutt made awesome Thai lunch at her twins' birthday party. I will definitely visit their Thai restaurant when it's open...until then...no more sticky rice :D By the way, Happy Birthday to little Emma Mosby, she looked gorgeous on her birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

I got a recipe of this cake called "The best chocolate cake ever" and made it for David on his birthday, he was thrilled. It was extremely YUMMY! Dave just turns 31, and he's enjoying being a dad. I also made him a pumpkin pie that he's been asking for for ages and that was a big surprise for him. Big thanks to Fiona with her help, everything turned out well!

More pictures taken last week...

At Flemmington Market with uncle Alan & aunty Saranya :)
After church, ready to go home!
Yup, this is me!
Mommy and Daddy!
Don't ask me who bought this bib...hehe

Cheeeeeese.........

It's winter in Australia now and we've got lots of rain this year. We had Yvette's family down here with us for about 6 days and the kids enjoy seeing and playing with Gabi so much. Gabi can say a lot of words now: Daddy, yes, juice, nene(milk), night night (sometimes), poos, pach (spatula), boots or booty, shoes... I also teach him some sign language but he often gets it wrong, but he's still trying. Gabe's been cruising around lots and kitchen's his new playground at the moment (sick of the living room). I have to keep my eyes on him, want him to learn about new stuff but try to avoid him hurting himself as much as I could. Gabe loves reading books. Think his favorite ones are his Chinese book and his baby bible. He can stand up without hanging on to things now. Once he starts walking or running around, I'll probably have to see my physio more often :) Please see more pictures at the photo gallery. (new album)

Daddy and I in front of our house

My first bath in a big bathtub

Learning to drive...

I love pointing at stuff now

Thanks for buying me these shoes, Dad!