Sunday, March 23, 2008

I'm Glad I live in a ....

HOUSE!
Not in a hole like a....
Jere shouted "MOUSE"!

We all cracked up when we heard Jere shouted that "MOUSE!"
I could not believe my own ears as I was in another room when Jere answered "MOUSE!" to my singing and I went, "Who said that? Was it Jere?" and the daddy and the helper proudly and happily echoed "YES!"

All of us kinda got infected by The Donut Repair Club Christian Music.

We started out with 2 vcds, 1 of which I got for Nathaniel when he was about 2 years old. Then, when I told my sister that Nat loved it, she got him another. Soon we kinda forgot about it till Jeremiah came around.

When we put it on the vcd player since jere's arrival and as the song Higher Higher played, Jeremiah would crawl all over the living room round the dining table which made us really glad as he danced for the Lord!

Then, one day, God blessed us with 6 more of such VCDs from an angel called Peck Lee whom I've never even met before! Peck Lee wanted to sell these vcds and I contacted her but later Peck Lee decided to give it to the boys hoping that they would minister to the boys and indeed they have! Praise the Lord!

Now Jere always asks for the Donut Man or another of the Psalty's vcd saying "CHURCH MOUSE CHURCH MOUSE!"

Go get your kids some donut man CDs today! It's amazing and surely wonderful to hear the kids give praise to God! ALLELUIA!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Easter and New Life

It's gonna be wonderful tonight as we witness the baptism of many in the Easter vigil.

Tim and Nat are new converts baptised some 3 years ago. Oops! I can't even remember the date. Maybe today, later, I'll make an effort to find out the dates of all our baptisms and celebrate as we would celebrate the birthday since this is even better than our birthday!

The only baptism date that I remember is Jeremiah's. We were so afraid then when he was born. Afraid that he would not be able to make it as he stopped breathing on us several times in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit(NICU). Jeremiah stayed in there for more than 2 weeks and when he was discharged finally, we quickly booked him the next infant baptism date.

Jeremiah was baptized 1st October 2006, yup, some one and half year ago and yes, apologies for not showing you this pic earlier.



The bib that Jeremiah is wearing reads "Through baptism, I have become a child of God".

Only after Jere's baptism then did I heave a huge sigh of relief as I entrusted all in the hands of the Lord. Jeremiah had NEW life within him from then and if you had been following my blog, you would not have missed how God had walked with us and blessed us.

Thank you Father God for giving us your son to save us! Thank you Father for your gift of life. Thank you Father for blessing us. I pray thee Father to guide us and help us to follow your plans for we know you have wondrous plans for us. AMEN!

So if you are thinking of CHOCOLATES! EGGS! BUNNIES....when the word Easter is mentioned?

It's time to ask yourself, Where's JESUS? Does colored eggs and bunnies and chocolates have anything to do with Jesus? Where did this concept of easter bunnies and eggs originated?

I guess the real meaning of easter has really been buried with time.

Okie, I won't go into the bunnies and hares, springs and what nots that has commercialised the whole matter of Easter.

Let's dig out the truth and honour Our Lord Jesus's victory over death, His resurrection from the dead, and His glorious promises of eternal life for all who believe in Him as it brings us new life.

By His stripes we are all healed!

The Resurrection of Christ brings new life!

AMEN!
ALLELUIA!
PRAISE THE LORD!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Creeping aka Doggy crawl?

Well, actually he first started creeping when we were at Pattaya, Thailand. We were so excited to see him creeping then.


We were so so fascinated! That was 4th November 2007! Praise the Lord! Alleluia! He is doing very much on this now. Whenever he crawls on his tummy, we would tell him "Jere, up and creep!" and he would do just this! Praise the Lord for the strength that Jere is getting! and his accomplishments everyday!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Our water baby

Somehow, we were always told that water therapy is very good for little Jeremiah and we always took to the pools as often as we could get. How nice if there was one just downstairs! We always went to the one at Yishun or Bishan where they had a wading pool that Jere could do his creeping (in Glenn Doman terms it meant getting on the knees and hands). Here's one of the pictures of Jere at the pool in SAFRA Yishun



This picture is taken 26th Jan 2008. Jeremiah just loves the water! The thermal suit that Jere has on is a blessing from God through Laura :)

5th Neurologist Assessment - 20th March 2008

It's amazing how prayers really work! God is ever so faithful! Just stay close to Him and you can never go wrong in anything you do.

The assessment was good! GREAT! WONDERFUL! In every aspect that we prayed.

I am sure the neurologist was God guided for one. Then the progress report was good!

Okie lemme just recount what happened.

We entered the doctor's room. Dr J was sitting there as usual but this time with 2 young medical students? sitting behind her.

Dr J: Hello Jere!

Me (carrying Jere): Jere, say hello.

Well, usually he does so spontaneously, but this time he was a little wary. He scanned the room and I bet if he was on his feet, he would really take to his heels! After so many medical appointments, Jere seemed to have developed a radar to detect doctors far or near, western or chinese.

Nat who came along, settled himself comfortably opposite the doctor at the table and went "I know you! You are the doctor on the ship!" Nat recognised Dr J for being on the cruise with us when we went on a trip with Club Rainbow last December.

Dr J: Sure I am!

Jere kinda senses it's not that "dangerous" after all since korkor is so comfy.

Me (quickly taking the opportunity): Come on, be nice Jere. Say HELLO.

Jere waved a little wave and manage a little "HAR-LO"

Quickly, I tried to switch his attention.
Pointing to the seat near the doctor, I asked, "Jere, would you like to take a seat?"
Jere nodded and went "SIT"
Me: Jere, can you ask nicely? say MUMMY.... PLEASE..... MAY.... I...... SIT?
Jere followed after me, nodding: MUMMY.... PLEASE..... MAY..... I...... SIT?

Boy! Was the doctor impressed!

Dr J: Wow! Jere, it's only 3 months ago that I last saw you and you are speaking so much now!

By now Kor kor Nat was playing with his box of dinosaurs and car that he brought along. Quickly I asked Korkor to distract Jere before he gets uncomfortable. Nat passed over a dinosaur and Jere went "SAUR.... SAUR".

Dr J: Oh! He can say quite a number of words already huh?

Me (proudly): Yeah!

Dr J (looking at Jere's eczema):His skin looks like it's getting worst yeah...

Me: It's actually getting better! It used to be weepy. At least, now it's dry. I've been using homeopathic medicine on him.

Dr J: You know that you have to look out for latex allergy right?

Me: Yeah

Actually, I think Jere is more allergy to the dirt and dust in the environment coz I noticed his skin got worst when he started crawling and sitting on the floor and eating whatever we were eating. We try to keep our home as clean as possible but how far can we get when we've got a dog at home and we can't possibly just dump her somewhere coz after all, the doggie, Bonnie is our ROM child. Well,we got her when we ROM coz we were not supposed to have kids yet then... haha Registering Of Marriage here in Singapore is not considered officially married till you marry customarily. But I must say the children love her! yes Bonnie. I think the doggie is also a kinda therapy for the kids. I have always believed that kids raised with animals tend to be more compassionate and we could also teach them responsible stewardship. Jere loved Bonnie since he first saw her. He was always trying to reach out for her.



this picture was taken 23rd Dec 2006. Okie let's not drift off the topic.

Now back to the neurology news....

Dr J (whipping out her measuring tape): Jere, can I measure your head?

Jere (sharply): NO! (quickly turning to me) GO! GO! GO! (pointing out of the room)
He always seemed a little sensitive when it came to looking at his lesion or measuring his head.

Dr J, learning from her last appointment with us when I took the measuring tape from her and measured my own head and Nat's before attempting to measure Jere's then tried to measure her own head and then Nat's and tried Jere really quickly and succeeded.

Dr J: Good! It's the same as 3 months ago!

Me: Praise the Lord!

This means the hydrocephalus has been arrested! AMEN!

Me: Jere, Praise the Lord!
Jere lifted his hands in praise.

Dr J: Wow! Jere, say AMEN!

WOW! AIN"T DR J GOD GUIDED???? OF COZ SHE IS! AMEN! PRAISE THE LORD! ALLELUIA!

Dr J finally acknowledges she is dealing with some strong believers here that she had no qualms about saying AMEN in the consulting room.

Jere: AMEN!

Dr J (examining his legs): Can he stand?

I stood Jere up against the chair and told Jere: STAND JERE! STAND!

Then I went on to explain how Jere is standing with his feet turned in and what we've been doing by turning it proper whenever we see him doing that.

Dr J: That's great! The last time I saw him, he was just crawling and now he's standing.

Actually, Jere was standing this way since last August 2007. He first attempted to stand on the 23rd August, 2007 to be exact. But I decided to leave it and not bother to clarify with the doctor as she's got too many patients... how was she to keep track. Thank goodness I did so myself. But I'm glad she had good things to say.

Then I took out Jere's sandals and told the doctor about how the right foot is turned in and how the leg itself seems to look like it was cramping up at the calf to make the foot turn in. She then explained it's due to the nerves. Then, I told her about how the left foot would tense up all the time and thus worsen the feet's eczema. She then explained it was some hyperdorsiflexion. Okie...another medical term for me to read up!

Dr J then looked at Jere and said: Hhmmmm.... looks like the brace and splints are not gonna help this guy if he is not gonna move and walk when he has them on.

I had told Dr J that whenever we put Dennis Brown boots for the little fella, he does not move as much.

Wow! for once the doctor are not gonna force that brace and splints down my throat!

I've been subscribing to Glenn Doman's school of thought of "Function determines structure" but the doctors all have been telling me "BRACE! SPLINTS! AFO! (whatever that means)" In other words, they were strong believers of the contrary of Glenn's belief "Structure determines function".

Think about it... if you brace, splint and what not, not giving the muscle to develop at all, and when you ever remove that brace or splint, the person is just gonna fall flat on his face! No? They would depend on the splint and brace to stand and thus never ever develop any muscle tone. So what's the point of all these brace and splints? To be dependent on them all their life?

Then Dr J said: Maybe you could consider Wellington boots

I was wondering in my mind what is that? Sounds like a high class term of the market boots that the fishmongers wear :P

Anyway, all along I've had this idea of getting Jere a good pair of boots and now's the time to ask!

Me: It seems to me that Jere's foot is turned in due to some muscle tension from the ankle up and not the foot itself? Would it be better if I get him a good comfy pair of boots like from Timberland and so he could walk in them?

Dr J: Well, you could try... yes! maybe not those rubber ones as you need to tighten up from the ankle.

Yeah heh! Goodbye to Dennis Brown boots! Finally kinda have a licence from the doctor to throw out the idea of splints and what nots.

Dr J: Looks like we can try to make him walk

Me: Yeah! of coz we can. He can also dance you know.

Picking Jere up, supporting him and standing him on the floor, Jere started to dance almost like a limp puppet but I thought that was a wonderful effort on his part.

Dr J to her medical students: Jere is born with a lesion at an upper level, about L1 L2. He had his surgery early so hopefully the nerves were preserved and he would slowly regain ...

Dr J continued to talk to her students. She talked about how important it was to have devoted and motivated parents.

Indeed! I feel very much that "The fate of a child is very much in the hands of his parents!" and so if I as a parent on earth will never give up on him, what more our heavenly father GOD!

HE WILL NEVER ABANDON US! HE WILL DELIVER US!HE HAS PLANS FOR US.... PLANS TO PROSPER, NOT TO DESTROY! AMEN!!!!

Okie back to the topic...

Me: So Dr, do I need to look out for anything with regard to his development? What do I need to do?

Dr J: Carry on whatever you are doing.

ALRIGHT!!!! OUR LORD REIGNS VICTORIOUS!

Jere then gave Hi 5 to Dr J and her two medical students, gave them a cheeky smile, said byebye and blew them kisses. Ha! I bet Jere made their day!

We walked out HAPPY! Praise the Lord! Thank You Lord!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Jeremiah and God

Last Saturday, 15th March 2008, we finally did it!
I went forward to the front of the whole congegation with Jeremiah to give our testimony on how God had delivered us and blessed us in St Michael's church healing mass as promised some 3 months ago. We had missed the last two healing masses as the kids were unwell and finally we did it!

This was what happened that Saturday. As usual, testimonies were being called for and I went forward with Jeremiah. Carrying him in my arms, I told of the goodness of the Lord, how faithful our God had been to us and how he had carried us through all our trials. At the end of it, I even told the congregation how Jere would call on Jesus and Mother Mary and when I was done and gave the microphone to Jeremiah, Jeremiah said "JESUS"

It was a wonderful moment. The congregation applauded and shouted "PRAISE THE LORD! ALLELUIA!"

Unfortunately we did not manage to get any pictures but here's a glimpse on how early our dear little baby was praising God! We started to take him since he was 3 months to healing masses at St Michael's church.

Thinking back, he actually started to lift his hands up in praise in March 2007. He was about 8 months then. I realise it but was too busy to tell everyone. Yeah... how terrible, I know. I should have given praise and glory to His name. Then my dear dad, Jere's ah kong discovered that while Jere was staying over when the helper went home for her home leave. Man! Was Ah Kong excited! He told anyone and everyone he saw how his grandson praise the Lord!

At 10 months, we decided we should bring a camera to capture how the little one praise God! Here it is! This picture was taken 19th May 2007.



Isn't it wonderful? Look at how Jeremiah lifts his hands up in praise and worship for the Lord!

This little baby was just born to praise God and glorify His name!

Jesus, name above all names
Beautiful Saviour, Glorious Lord!
Emmanuel! God is with us
Blessed Redeemer, Living word!


As two Sundays back when the priest gave the homily, he said,
"Whose sin was it, the father or the child that a child was born blind?"
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.
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Neither. It was no one's sin. The child was born blind so that God's works could be displayed in him. When I heard that, I thought how true it was as I see God's works being displayed in Jeremiah constantly. Praise the Lord!

5th Neurologist Assessment coming

It's time again for that routine check up.
Thurs 20th March 2008 1150hr KKH
Please pray that the doctor is guided by God and that Jeremiah's progress can only be good :) AMEN!