Philip's Dream Team

We worship You
We worship You
In the splendor of Your holiness
We seek Your face
In Your embrace
We can feel your goodness

For You are holy
There’s none like You
Oh...You are the great I AM
Jehovah Yahweh

Hallelujah
O taste and see
The Lord is good
Hallelujah
We worship You today

The Bible says: “ Sing to the Lord a new song… “ and I have taken that literally to mean that there will always be a new song in my heart to praise God in every season of my life. We need to stay close to God every day in order to experience God’s goodness and listen to His voice each day. Our expression of praise to Him is actually a response to His love for us. All of us are very quick in responding to a fine performance of music or sports by our applause or our instant laughter in response to jokes. Our response is usually quite instinctive. I am still learning how to be more instinctive in responding to God’s greatness through my worship. If worship is a deliberate effort to sing a few songs, then we miss the point. Of course there are times we have to make an effort to worship especially those times when life is tough. However, in ordinary times we also need to have a lifestyle of worship. Let’s take time today to think of His love for us, count our blessings and be amazed once again by His greatness and respond to Him in praise.

As I sat mulling over how the days had crept by so fast.... and how routine life is .....until I have nothing to post in my blog... suddenly God reminded me that there is beauty in routine too.

Lately , I have been really busy at work and going thru the motions of life to the point that I have taken the routine of life for granted. Actually routine is good . We all need routine to keep sane but extreme routine with no excitement and nothing to look forward to can kill life. One can end up merely existing from day to day and forget to live life or even worse ; don't know how to live life.

As I pondered about my routine, I find that I enjoy the usual rounds of spending time with my family in different settings. For instance, I enjoy the morning ride to work. I have the privilege of being driven to and from work by my very own personalised chauffeur. I have a hubby who loves driving so the morning chats are good and the afternoon rides are entertaining as well when the kids take turns to tell us about what transpired at school.

Honestly... routine is not that bad as some make it out to be. Our family routinely make many trips to the supermarkets buying stuff without a care in the world. But of late these trips have been rudely shaken with the melamine scare. The melamine issue has invaded our family routine. Now we have to be careful when we shop. Philip and I are very doubtful of any products with the “Made in China” label. We steer clear of them. When we first married , Philip was keen to visit China, but in recent years his interest has faded. Now he tells me he rather go to other nations . That's very fine with me.


Our routine has also been shaken with the HFMD alert. Now our kids go out less. Its really a shame coz we like to go out as a family.

So be grateful for routines when nothing seems to be happening. It can be a good thing!!!!

Infact if we are totally honest with ourselves, we can add colours to our routines by putting into our routines the things we like to do. So as we maintain, add and minus events in our lives, we are routinely enhancing our lives .

So make the most of your routine. Go find the beauty in your own routine and be blessed.

Praise the Lord for His glory and strength.
Praise the Lord and bring an offering to Him
Worship the Lord for His beauty and holiness
Come let us sing to the King of kings.

Let the heavens be filled with joy.
Let the earth be glad.
Let us shout aloud “The Lord Reigns !”
The Lord reigns in all the earth.

Give Him all praise for His goodness to us.
Great are His faithfulness and mercy to all.
He is our strength and strong tower in times of trouble.
He is an awesome and mighty God.

Worship is an act to honour God. It’s like when you attend someone’s birthday party, you know to whom all the honour should go to on that day. Not only that, we will always do something extra nice to make our loved ones happy on their birthday, and most of us are very good at that. Well, the word worship should not be just a religious term, not just about liturgy in churches, but rather, think of it as a way to make God happy, to honour Him, to acknowledge Him as our Lord every single day of our lives. God is the King of kings; great and awesome beyond our comprehension , yet, He delights in seeing His children come to Him and enjoys being with them The more we draw near to God, the more we will enjoy worshipping Him. Choose to be a worshipper today. It will totally transform your life.

The instructions were simple enough. These are the keys to the house, the switches are here & there & everywhere, and the alarm system is really not that intimidating. You arm it, then you just have to bypass the areas which you do not wish to arm and these initials stand for all the different zones in the house. Ok,... get it? And don't forget the kids' art and swimming lessons, feed the fish, pay the kids' fees, make sure the wine chiller is at 16 degrees etc, etc Ciao!!! See you in 9 days.

Now begins our life... in a big designer house with high tech alarm system, 5 kids to look after ( 2 are our own ), 2 maids etc etc. This is almost like Brangelina.

The first 2 days were days I call adapting to new habitat. Philip & I kept getting the switches mixed up. I have to keep telling myself. When the switches' blue lights are on... it actually means off. This is day 3 and I am still grappling with the switches!!! How can a house have soo many switches?!?


The 1st nite before bed time was “ Get that dog outta here before I grill it” nite. A neighbour's dog had somehow strayed into the compound & Philip and I had to chase the creature out of the gate and there we were with brooms and mops running round the compound trying to scare the creature out of its wit and fur!!! Alex's relatives must think that we are really nutty. Only the 1st nite and there we were flying round the garden like witches on a broom. Jac had warned that once the alarm is on... any creature roaming around will be picked up by the sensor & this would trigger the alarm. I don't mind dogs but I was adamant that no 4 legged creature was going to ruin my sleep!! I am sure Brangelina don't do this bit... they have their bodyguards to do the running for them but we have not reached their status as yet...so for now we'll have to do the chasing ourselves.

We have our own version of papparazzi as well. Very often Alex's relatives (young & old alike ) would drop in and this includes the relatives' maids bringing their young charges as well as they all live nearby. So there goes my privacy. I have to make sure I look presentable at all times. At home I normally wear my crummy clothes and my hair would be quite scarecrowish but I can't afford to do that for 9 days. I have to dress properly and make sure my hair is not sticking out here and there!!!

To look after 5 kids is really draining on the body and mind. Philip & I are out of steam by late evening and the 5 are still bright eyed and bounding with energy. Even during the Raya break, they are all up by 6.30am. So I have no choice but to drag myself out of bed and brace myself for another marathon day of kids. They are lovely kids but my energy level is definitely not on par as theirs. I need to chew on ginseng to keep up with them!!!

This “Almost Brangelina” lifestyle will certainly stick well in our memory.