Levi is now sleep trained! Woo hoo!

We've been patting him to sleep but he's getting heavier and I can feel the effect on my neck and lower back. No good. It was also taking longer and longer to pat him to sleep for his naps. So James suggested to try sleep training him. I was planning to wait till after my parents leave to do it because things will change again when they come.

But a few nights ago, I accidentally sleep trained him. I was real tired, even after I fed him, he still didn't fall asleep. Normally at bedtime, he'll fall asleep after feeding and he'll continue sleeping when I put him down. But he didn't this time so I just left him awake and left the room. And he fell asleep on his own, no crying! So I thought I'll try again the next day.

Consecutively for a few naps, he cried for 30 mins (I almost gave up at this point, I'm terrible at this, James kept me to it), next nap 20 mins and next nap 10 mins and then since then, he hardly cries when I put him down and falls asleep on his own! Brilliant!

So the little one now goes down for his naps and bedtime with his sleeping bag, 2 rounds of Jesus Loves Me and I'll say "Nap nap time", big kiss and down he goes.

Yay! No need to pat him to sleep anymore! Now just need to figure why he keeps waking in the night. He's really strange. One night he sleeps for 6 hrs straight and next night he wakes every 2 hrs! Very strange. We'll see how it goes tonight.

UPDATE: Woo hoo! Last night, after putting him to bed at 7pm, he only woke up to fed at 11pm, 2am and then 7.30am! YAY!!!!! Hopefully this continues and soon he'll drop the 2am one and just wake up a bit earlier. That I can deal with. For the first time in 3 months I woke up in the morning feeling like I actually slept in the night. I figured out the problem – when he stirs and cries, I almost immediately go pick him up to feed. He woke up at 4am again crying and this time I left him and he went back to sleep after a few mins and the crying was not too loud. Then he stirred at 6.30am but I just left him and finally I cannot tahan, needed to feed him so at 7.30 when he stirred again, I fed him. Praying that it'll continue like this. It's a bit harder to sleep train when he sleeps in the same room.

Ok this is a real lousy pic but I just wanted to document that Sophie figured out how to swim on her own with arm floats! Yay! It happened when we were in Vanuatu.

It's quite sad that when we got here we had to stop her swim lessons with Aqua Ducks in S'p. Think she would have done well and should be well swimming on her own right now without floats but oh wells, a step at a time.

She loves swimming and we've gotta figure a way to get her swimming more here!

Sorry for the slow down in updates while we've been here. 

James has been teaching since Monday and it's been going well! It's a small class of 5 students and 3 staff. It's been cool to see how God works differently each time. James' been learning how to not teach the same things but to really press in and hear God for the specifics each time. He decided not to email everyone daily like the last time but I'll leave him to do that when he is ready.
 

We accompanied him on the first day to the base but after that, I decided to stay home with the kids instead. I would love to be at the base to hang out and catch up with people but it was just too stressful managing both kids and trying to keep the flies off Levi. It was much easier being at G & A's place. Much cooler with the fan too. But Sophie really enjoys being at the base. I think it's because it's familiar to her. Each time we've been to Vanuatu, we've stayed at the base. This is the first time we are staying off base. She enjoys running around and having the company of the che ches and kor kors.
 

Tomorrow is the last day of the teaching and we'll go to the base again with James.
 

Pls continue to pray with us for open heavens. For the students to experience a breakthrough in their struggles and in their relationship with God. To come to know God as their loving Father and to feel safe enough to completely surrender to Jesus as the Lord of their lives.

We are in Vanuatu. 

We are staying with Geoff and Amanda, the YWAM base directors here. James only starts teaching next Monday so we're adapting into island culture, relaxing and enjoying the company of our dear friends.
 

The kids normally takes a day or two to settle in. Since Tues, Levi's been quite erratic in his feeding and sleeping. He's only starting to feed better and seem more relaxed today. Sophie's happy to have a play mate Leiana (Geoff and Amanda's 4 yr old daughter) and they even slept in the same room the first night. Our days starts real early coz the cocks start crowing real early and the room is not completely blacked out.
 

The beach is opposite the house and mangos keep dropping on the roof from tree next to the house. I'm in heaven. Except my heaven will have no stray dogs.

I'm quite a scardy cat and tend to avoid the hard stuff. But God seems to delight in pushing me to the edge, like what a good Father does. The bible says in James 1: 2-4: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Yesterday I had to do one of the most challenging thing in my life thus far. I had to pack up, drive with two kids up to Auckland n meet James there. It is prob easy for most but it was harder for me for a couple of reasons. One, one of my two kids is a newborn. Two, I only started driving in June. Three, I have never driven long distance to an unknown location without James helping to direct me.
 

But but but with the grace of God, a praying husband, relatively obedient n independent 4 yr old, a newborn who slept n woke up at the right times, google maps, a kind Shell attendent who directed us when google maps failed to pick up info of a road closure that threw me completely off n finally the familiar M sign that assured us of a familiar menu, toilets, a playground n even changing table. What an adventure! We left at 330 n finally got to the motor lodge at 7. Took a bit longer than usual coz we took a break when we missed a turning and got lost but very glad when we got there.

Thank you Lord and thank you all for praying. I'm writing on the way to V2.
 

James has been invited back to speak at the DTS and this time we're going as a family! I'm really excited.

It's been a year since I've been there (James was there in June on his own) and I really miss the people and the place. I so love the vibe and the people. We'll be staying only two weeks. The first week James will be teaching and the second week we'll be on holiday.

Please keep us in prayer. It's been a up hill battle till this point – trying to get Levi's passport, stress on our relationship etc. The evil one knows our weakest points so please pray that we'll press in and be strong. The topic that James will be speaking on is "Lordship of Christ" and "Fatherheart of God". This is a crucial topic on a DTS because it is a turning point when the students make a deliberate choice in their lives to make Jesus Lord. The last time James spoke, many miracles happened and we expect no less this time! So pls pray with us coz we're really excited. Also pray for good health for the family esp the kids and that Levi will travel and settle well. Oh yes and that we'll have a good break and holiday after.

When we return, a few exciting things will be happening. Sophie will be in her first stage performance with her dance class. My parents and sis are coming for a week. And in Jan, we'll be getting ready to lead the next family ministry school. It's a great challenge but we're excited.

Lord come and have your way!

P/s The last time James was in Vanuatu, he sent out a daily prayer email updating family and friends to pray. If you were not on that list and would like to be, pls email us. It was really exciting to read his emails recounting the daily challenges and miracles. Thanks for praying and loving us!

… and I do what I want to!

I'm really bad at just doing what I want. I'm always doing something for someone else and feel almost guilty spending money to pamper myself. It's a bad habit and not a good thing at all because deep down, I really just want to do what I want to do and if it goes on for too long it festers into frustration and self pity! Yeeks!

But thank God, James knows me best and this birthday, he insisted that I go wild and I did!

We went to the Mount for sushi on Sat, bought a couple of Spring pieces from good ole Valleygirl, I had a whole lamb rack for dinner on the actual day, lovely pineapple and malibu cheesecake, and finally an absolutely well deserving massage at the local Matamata spa called Indulgence. Woo hoo! That's a real birthday treat! Ooooo and I almost forgot, Sophie gave me three dance performances on a stage at the place where we had dinner. So cutee….. I am truly blessed…

Last week was the graduation. Although we were not on the school staff this time round, we made pretty good friends with some of the students. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to them. Some of the staff that have become our good friends are also leaving for good. So, we spent most of our weekend having them over at our place and cooking for them.

We'll miss you dear friends. Till we meet again.

My days are divided into 3 hr section these days and sometimes it can get a little mundane so I'm really excited just thinking about our next trip!

We're going to Vanuatu in a couple of weeks! Woo hoo!

James has been invited back to speak at the DTS and we're tagging along, the whole family. Yes! The littlest one is going on his first plane ride ever. James will be teaching for a week and we'll be on holiday for another week.

Pls pray for us as we prepare for this trip. Pray that we'll be a blessing to the base and our kids will be well and healthy to make the trip. Pray for James as he prepares to teach on The Lordship of Christ and Fatherheart of God. Pray that the Lord will move to touch the hearts of the students in powerful ways!

My in laws left last weekend. We went up to Auckland to send them off and spent a night there.

It's been such a blessing having them around. They cooked for us every day, every meal for 6 whole weeks. It was such a luxury. My father in law was also the one who drove us to the hospital when Levi was about to be born. My mum in law helped to soothe Levi in the evenings so that I could have dinner in peace. Most of all, they were Sophie's main companions when James had to return to work and I was spending most of my time with Levi.

Sophie was inconsolable when they left. She cried and cried. Poor thing. She's grown so attached to them over the past 6 weeks. But it was good that she could grief like that. As grown ups, we always overlook the grieving process when people leave because we get so hardened. Looking at her grieve made James and I wished we had that kind of heart again. Once she stopped crying she was absolutely fine.

Sidenote:
1. Auckland is so fun! I love being in the city once in a while. James and I went on a date (Levi was our chaperon) on Sat night to watch the latest movie The Last AirBender. The show was so so but it was my first date with James since we returned to NZ in July and my first 3D movie. I know, very suaku but so shiok. Levi slept thru the movie and woke up in the last 30 mins to feed. Nice.

2. I drove back from Auckland. Woah! 2 hrs straight. I'm really starting to enjoy driving long distances.

My in laws left on Sunday and I've been so busy the past week trying to catch up and to get a hang on being on our own. Finally I have some time to blog. So much have happened since!

First of all, Sophie turned 4 last Saturday. We had a huge celebration party for her on Friday afternoon. My in laws have been planning this for her even before they arrived. They brought all the party decorations, invites and goody bag things from Singapore! On the day itself, they cooked fried noodles, chicken wings and sausages.

The kids had a blast with all the goodies! We played pass the parcel, Sophie's special request. Even the adults broke fast to enjoy the food (check out the food spread in the photo above) and played with the toy cars in the goody bag. Sophie had lotsa fun hanging out with her friends and just enjoying the attention.

The Birthday Cake
Last year I made a jelly cake for Sophie – a no-bake idiot proof thing to do.

This year, I attempted to bake a cake coz I didn't even know how to go about ordering a cake here! No one really order birthday cakes around here. I guess I could have bought one at the supermarket but it was just strange to do that. Everyone makes their own so I attempted to do so. What a disaster! It took me three attempts before I got it close to a birthday cake taste and feel! Anyways here's how it turned out. I ran out of time to do the icing coz Levi had to feed so James took over and I'm glad he did coz he's the artistic one. It turned out beautiful in a homemade kinda way.

One guy had three pieces of it so I guess it must have tasted alright. But the funny thing was that he told my mother in law that the bread tasted really nice. Erm… he was referring to the cake but maybe he's danish so his englands not vely goods. Anyway, I discovered the hard way that baking is NOT one of my giftings. Ha! But I had fun trying tho.

It's our princess' birthday tomorrow! She turns four.

She's going to have a Princess Party with motorcars and motorbikes as door gifts later today. It's kinda a mish mash party theme with lotsa lotsa pink! Photos to come later. Pray for good weather!