{Heart} Broken

The day of my eighth wedding anniversary, a woman stood in my kitchen and told me she had recently found out her husband was having an affair. With a woman she has to see every day.

She was heartbroken, and my heart began to break for her as she recounted the details to me. She was angry and hurt and betrayed.

I prayed for her so much that day and in the days to come. I kept seeing the pain in her eyes.

A week later when we were standing in my kitchen again, she told me I was the only one she could talk to because her "countrywomen" (as she put it) would not understand since this was a shameful thing that had happened to her.

I keep thinking about how hard life is. It just is. And I keep wondering how people who don't have the love and forgiveness and peace and grace of Jesus Christ make it through this life at all.

I'm so glad I don't have to find out. And neither do you.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." -Romans 3:21-24

"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." -1 John 5:3-5

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." - John 3:36

New Design

My friend, Jenn, at Munchkin Land Designs just created this new blog design for me. I love it! Jenn was easy to work with and created exactly what I was looking for in a new design. If you're in the market for a change of clothes for your blog, Twitter or Etsy page, Jenn does a fabulous job. (She did my mom's Etsy banner, which is so cute! Thanks so much, Jenn



If you're reading this in a reader, pop on over and check out the new look. See those precious pictures of my kids in the header? Leonny, here in Singapore, took those. Check her out, too!

August in Singapore

August has been a busy month for the tiny red dot. First, we celebrated National Day, and the boys sported their "Let's Celebrate Together" shirts.

And now the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are going on (until Thursday). We headed down to Marina Bay the other night to get some pictures of the Olympic Flame cauldron. It's in a cool glass tube, and looks like a little fire tornado.

This is as close as we could get:

8 Years of Marriage

I never could have imagined 8 years ago that Justin and I would be living in Singapore with our 2 kids on our 8th anniversary. But God knew, and He has been preparing our family for this season for a long time. I can see that now, and our lives here are full of His blessings. Justin and I were both in Singapore 10 years ago on a mission trip to SE Asia, and it still amazes me that God used that shared experience to prepare for this time in our lives.

I love you, Justin! You are an incredible husband and father, and we are so blessed to have you as the leader of this little family. Marriage is hard work, but it's totally worth it; you are worth it.


If you're interested in "Our Story" of how we met, fell in love, and how I almost totally ruined Justin's proposal...you can find those posts below. I wrote them a couple of years ago, so they're in the archives.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Scripture Memory Verse Fourteen and Fifteen

Here are my verses for August:

"...train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present and the life to come." -1 Timothy 4:7b-8

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom." -Colossians 3:16

Our pastor has given us a Scripture for our whole church to memorize, so I'm working on that one, too (he said he'll be calling on people in church to stand up and recite it, so I don't want to be caught not knowing it!).

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." -Joshua 1:8

My Scriptures this month, including the one for our whole church, definitely have a theme--knowing and meditating on the Word of God. Next Thursday I will be leading a group of women in a weekly study of God's Word, and I am so excited! I've been preparing for that class and praying for the women God will lead there.

I hope some of you are still with me on this Scripture memory journey...I haven't heard from you guys in a while! If you've fallen behind, just start anew. We must have the Word of God in our hearts if we are to stand against the enemy's schemes (see 1 Peter 5: 8-9).

The Olympic Torch

A couple of days ago I checked on the "Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame" and realized that it would be very close to us today. Close enough to drag two kids out by myself and try to get some pictures. I had to do quite a bit of "prep" with the kids yesterday explaining that the torch would not hurt us, we would not be going into it (Levi's question), and we were just going to watch from the sidelines.

The journey was starting at 9:00 several miles away at Hwa Chong Institution on Bukit Timah Road, so we headed to Holland Village at 9 and went to Starbucks, expecting the torch to pass our way around 9:30. We got some fruit and apple juice for the boys (who refused my offer to buy them muffins...who are these kids?) and a chai tea latte for me. I decided we could go sit at the bus stop and enjoy our snacks while we waited for the torch.

When we got close to the bus stop, I saw the buses full of "crowd warmers" already headed our way! I told the boys we needed to hurry because we were on the wrong side of the street. We climbed the 40ish stairs to the pedestrian walkover crossing and were able to get pictures of the crowd warmer buses.

They were getting everyone excited about the torch carrier who was behind them. There was a fair amount of cheering and screaming. They were waving at the kids since we were one of the few people out there (most of the others were just waiting for the bus). The excitement was a little much for the kids (Levi looked just like this, too):

We quickly headed down the other side of the crossing in time to witness the torch bearer. So cool!

"Lyo" the Lion and "Merly" the Mermaid are Singapore's official mascots for the Youth Olympic Games. The kids are always excited to see Lyo and Merly around town.


It was a fun experience, even if my kids cried through the whole thing. This is the Inaugural year for the Youth Olympic Games, and we're excited it's in Singapore!

He Gets It

The four of us spent an evening on Orchard Road tonight. We rode the bus down to eat dinner, spent a little time shopping for tissue paper (homeschool crafts) and some Youth Olympic Games gear (did you know it's the inaugural Youth Olympic Games this year and they're in Singapore?), and even found a special gem in the form of decaf Dunkin Donuts coffee for mommy.

It was a fun and relaxed evening, despite the chaos of navigating a mall on a Sunday night with the boys (Sundays at the mall here are CRAZY).

In the taxi on the way home, I told Caleb I was so proud of how they behaved through the night. He asked me what I meant, and I told him that they had not whined or complained and had obeyed us the whole evening.

His eyes got big, he sucked in his breath, and said excitedly, "That's the FIRST time!"

Yes, I believe it might be. :-)

Happy

Things are going well here. :-)

My favorite people in the world...