Yep the baby of the family has turned one!

Our family tradition is to throw a Thanksgiving Birthday Party when the baby turns one, to give thanks to God for watching over the little one in his/her 1st year of life. We did this when we had our 1st born more than 10years ago. It is not your normal birthday party. So, no, no balloon sculptors or magicians

It is actually a simple affair with the main focus on giving thanks and glory to God. It is also a time to fellowship with friends and relatives who have supported us in prayer and gifts and love the past year.

The 1st year of a child's life is often fraught with excitement and anxiety. The entire family has to adjust to the baby and depending on the baby's personality (high need? low maintenance?) it can be a long or short period of adjustment. And then if the baby should fall ill in his/her 1st year of life, it is again worrying since the immune system of a baby is underdeveloped and complications can occur due to a simple infection.

This time round, with the children being older, we could involve them more. We started the programme with a worship session led by dh, with ds#1 on guitar, dd#1 on vvocals & ds#2 as the powerpint "operator"! Dh also got ds#1 and dd#1 to present a song that dh had written some tears before. Dh & I had to give our "speeches" as well.

So as I prepared the night before for my "speech" - something dh has insisted that I do the last 2 parties  - this is what I wrote.

Hebrews 13:5 - 6.

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
So we may boldly say : “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

As I look back on the past year, I can only say THANK YOU LORD for your mercy and grace. And Lord, I sure need more of it in the years to come!

The Surreal Birth

In order to start this right, I think we need to start with Deborah’s very unorthodox and very exciting birth story. One that will be very hard to forget! Deborah was birthed not in a hospital delivery suite but in the hallway of the hospital’s 24 hr clinic! If you want more details of the birth, do check out my website at www.BuildingUpMoms.com under Pregnancy & Labour.

Suffice to say that the birth was and is a great testimony of how great and good our God is. When I was told that my gynae was going off for his holiday on 7^th June 2007, God gave me Hebrews 13:5-6 which says, For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say : “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

And truly He was my helper. God was my midwife, my gynae. He was indeed my Helper. If I had to do this again, I wouldn’t change a thing! And for those who are curious, I still had to pay delivery fees to my gynae who was not there.

In Thanksgiving

Besides the awesome, supernatural birth, I have many things to be thankful for as I look back.

1.     For God who was truly my Helper

2.    For my dh who has helped every time he is available even when he has tons of work that needed to be done (This is the 1^st time he actually took the entire month off to help me during my confinement!)

3.    For the children who have been such great help and who have matured nicely the past year.

a)    Ds#1 has been a great help in carrying the baby when I am busy.

b)   Dd#1 has been a help in entertaining the baby especially on long car rides.

c)    Ds#2 is extremely patient with the baby and is willing to look after her for long periods of time without complaining.

d)   Dd#2 is very helpful in making sure the bb doesn’t fall off the bed if I need to take a quick shower.

e)    Dd#3 is quick to bring toys and books to the bb the moment she hears her crying. She’s also very quick to offer me to her!

f)     And they are all very good at following the bb up and down the stairs to make sure she doesn’t topple over.

4.    For grandparents who helped to cook, bring food, entertain and watch the children when we had to go for doctor checkups.

5.    For friends who cooked for us again and again and again.... Brother Andrew and Aunty Helen (who cannot come today) we love your food and are extremely grateful that we get fed when mama is too tired to cook.

6.    For friends who prayed for us

7.    For friends who listened to me vent and complain when the going got tough

The Adjustments

There has been many, many adjustments to make as we grew from 5 to 6 children.  Going from 1 to 2 children is often a shock to the system, right? From 2 to 3, you sorta get a hang of it and then from 3 to 4, you think – hey! This is easy. Then...going from 5 to 6 ... woah! We are truly, truly outnumbered! And this is when we need the older ones, even the 2 year old back then, to be helpers. And praise God, they really rose up to the challenge.

Yet despite all that, everyone has had to adjust. There is one more person to look out for, to think of. But I think dh and I had to adjust the most! Going out with them always presents interesting challenges.

Many things had to slow down or come to a standstill the past year. Ministry commitments, school even housework had to take a back seat at times. But throughout it all, the presence of the Lord was palpable.

Who else can we go to for wisdom and counsel but Him, our Helper. As we struggled and cried and fought in the past year to adjust, God has been an ever present Help.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share and give a testimony to His goodness and faithfulness.

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Of course I didn't follow my script exactly  But the points were covered and we all had a great time. The bb fell asleep during the most crucial moment - the cake cutting! But hey! at least she didn't cry, right? Lol! She did have much fun crawling all over the floor (yucks I know!) and bestowing her smile on her chosen ones.

I'll try to see if I can post some photos up here. But my general rule is to not post any photos on either blog or website since I value our privacy.

God is good!

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Artiicles for the Christian SAHM can be found at :

www.BuildingUpMoms.com

Posted by sam

Hai, with my porridge brains, I forget to go get my kids. Dh also forgets. He has been doing this quite often in the past 2 years or so and when we are out somewhere and I ask him where which-and-which child is....he doesn't know. Aiyoh. Add one more to the equation, die liao.

Recently already lost Tim for at least 45mins before he got someone to call us. And who knows if the someone he'd asked is a "safe" stranger to approach!?!