What's in a Child's Name?

Is there such thing as a belated tag?? Well, there is now. Dancing Queen tagged us a few moons ago (actually not that long la... still within one moon). This tag is to tell the blogger world why we chose the names Joshua and Jessica for our lovely kids.

JOSHUA
Upon conception, we bought and borrowed books on names for children and also surfed the web. We made up a list and I still remember Russel was one name that Daddy really like, besides Joshua. Daddy actually has a nephew called Joshua too and he was just good pals with Daddy (Daddy and nephew age gap was not too wide to be able to play together when young!). We also had names starting with letter "A" in our list but for the lights of Daddy, Daddy cannot remember them now! So how did we arrive at the name Joshua? Before he was borned, we finally decided on Joshua because of its meaning.

Joshua means "Jehovah (God) saves". It was very appropriate as we wanted to leave a legacy with our son that whenever he thinks of his name, he will remember that God is the one who came to us to save us from our sins. Salvation is so important! Another reason why we chose J is because we love Jesus so much that we decided to use the letter "J" for the names of our children.

JESSICA

This brings us to the second name; Jessica. Now this one is very interesting. When Jessica was conceived, we did not mentioned this good news to our congregation in church until much later. HOWEVER, one of our brothers in-Christ at our church had a dream that Mummy was with child and the baby is a girl! I mean at that time we didin't even know the baby was a girl yet. So when we shared with the church the good news, this brother then told us his dream. Jut imagine our delight! So when the time came to scan scan, we saw that the baby is a girl baby.

Back to the name. We had a dilemma on the name as we could not quite agree on the baby's name. We knew the baby would be a girl and we wanted the name to start with the letter 'J'. So after many many debates, we came to an agreement on the name only in the labour room (just after delivery... yup, with all the blood and everything). Then when we shared with the church her name, guess what? This brother again told us that he had another dream and that the name for the baby shall be Jessica!That was simply wonderful as it was a confirmation from God Himself on the child's name! Praise the Lord!!

Jessica means "Jehovah (God) beholds" or 'wealthy' or 'gift'. We liked the first definition that our daughter is our God's beloved! She is loved.... (well, God loves all of us and beholds us!). Somehow, the name Jessica is so befitting for her.

Ok, so I have explanied the meaning of the children's name and also why we chose them. I guess this is the end of the tag.

Who shall I tag? No more la.... tired already. ;D

Of Rabbits and Fijawas in New Zealand

Whilst holidaying in New Zealand, we were staying with my in-laws in Auckland. My in-laws keep their garden very well, with plenty of fruit trees, vegetables, etc. Thay even have a pair of rabbits too, courtesy on my brother in-law. My brother in-law and sister in-law are moving to Japan soon but their rabbits can't go. *sob*sob* BUT on the brighter side, they are very well taken care of. When it is night time, my father in-law will move the rabbits into the shed for warmth. When it is sunny and bright, they are outdoors again! When both Josh and Jess there, they were giving them lots and lots of fresh vegies every morning. Josh and Jess just adore the rabbits. We had to tell them to give the rabbits their own names as the my brother and sister in-law gave them quite err, what shall I say, dumb names? If you are trying to guess it, just remember that the rabbits are named after a film. Anyway, the rabbits were just so well fed that they need to go on a diet when we leave! It's a rabbits life!


















The two rabbits. Josh calls them Thumper.


Animals aside, this time round in Auckland, there were plenty of fijawas ; a type of fruit that has a green outer skin and very fleshy "insides". This fijawa tree in my in-laws garden fruits during autumn. It was the first time I had the fruit. I must say that this fruit is one that requires acquired taste. You don't eat the skin, only the flesh and the tiny crunchy seeds. It has a sour taste if it is not really ripe. Overall, it is a bit tangy and has an "interesting" fragrance.

Here are some pictures of the fruit.































































My father in-law eating the fijawas. It is almost like a ritual when it comes to autumn that everyone in the house will have fijawas after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is packed full of vitamins and fiber, so it is a good food to have.

The Eye on Malaysia

Last Saturday, we went to Lake Titiwangsa again to view the Eye at night. I also wanted to get some good night shots of the place. So I brought along my DSLR camera and my tripod... no flash photography; just playing with the exposure/aperture of the DSLR camera to hopefully get good shots.

We not only saw the Eye but also a laser show on the lake. Colourful lasers made such vivid pictures on a mist spray on the lake. Very spectacular. Of course the theme of the laser show is "Visit Malaysia".

Here are some of the pictures that I took, which I was very pleased with.
Enjoy.



















This is the laser show, right on Lake Titiwangsa. Can you see the picture of dancers in traditional costumes?

















The Eye, stopping to fill its gondolas with excited passengers.


















Wow! Spinning real fast!!! No-la, actually this is a camera trick.. by setting the camera to long exposure time.



And finally, my favourite....

One More Mother's Day Entry

Joshua, mummy's young and budding artist, just did another piece of art work, entitled Mother's Day (2007). The picture below demonstrates how much he loves his Mummy... quite a masterpiece, don't you think?

There are 2 hearts in this picture and some flowers. Well, the reason he drew and coloured the flowers is because he did not have any money to buy Mummy real flowers!

Mummy is happy...

Happy Mummy's Day

Today, the whole, wide world is celebrating their mummies (the mother kind, not the Egypt type!). It is a tribute to these wonderful people in our lives, who have impacted, nurtured and shaped us... yes, cane and all but all that was necessary.

Today we remember our mums and wives who have become mothers. Here's a poem that my wife received via SMS from another mother and it goes like this :

Nothing compares
To a Mum's love,
She looks with her heart
And feels with her eyes,
A Mum is the bank
Where her children deposit
All their worries and hurt
A Mum is a cement
That keeps her family together
And her love lasts a lifetime

Amongst the many hugs and kisses from the kids, our kids made a few things for Mummy in school. Have a look at them.

This one is a card in the shape of a flower. Look carefully and you will see the shape of the flower are the soles (feet minus the toes) of Jessica!


















This second love gift is also from Jessica. It's a letter or card holder made of paper plates. She painted them of course. Creative eh?


















Joshua also did something special for Mummy. It's a heart filled with roses. The roses are made from crumpled red tissue papers. Again, very nicely done and with the help of the teachers.



















And finally, we had one HUGE cake for Mummy from Secret Recipe. It's called Chocolate Indulgence, just in case you are wondering what it is.



















To all our 'Mummy' readers out there (Shuk Vun, Cecilia, Dancing Queen to name a few),

HAVE
A
BLESSED
MOTHER'S DAY!

We are Back... Shoe Blog?

We have disappeared for awhile. "Where to?" you may ask. Well, we took a week's vacation to the southern hemisphere; to an island which is really, really near to the South Pole. If you have not guessed it already, we were down under, no, not Australia but in New Zealand. We spent a week in Auckland and Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand.

Adjusting to the hot and humid climate in KL is just one of those post-holiday blues one gets when the holiday has come to an end.

One of the highlights for my wife during this trip has been the shopping spree there. (I will blog more about the other aspects of our holiday later.) My wife bought some lovely shoes from Hush Puppies in NZ and she has asked me to blog about them. So here it is, a shoe blog, from a man's perspective. (Stop laughing you guys...)

I'll use the following pics to help me along. For your info., these shoes were bought during a sale so she did get a good deal.

Ah, those beautiful feet... who needs shoes? (Ha ha ha.)
Anyway, this is the first of two pairs she bought.


















If you take a closer look at the shoes (in the next picture), you will see the cute little florets on the shoe. I would call these sandals, with fine thin straps to wrap around the ankle and feet.

















It has an almost flat sole, so this must be comfortable to walk in... no heels here!



















The second pair is more formal (less casual than the first) and has a golden brown colour to it. There is this silver flower motive right in the centre of each pair... a rather bold design. This pair has heels about an inch thick.

















The picture above shows the two shoes side by side. Two elegant and pretty shoes from Hush Puppies. They must be comfortable (err, I did not try them on ok... just trusting my wife here).

So, which pair do you like best?
(Not that you have to vote...)