Several family members are born in the month of October.
On the 2nd Oct we have the birthday of the children's 'Sar Ng', wife of my 3rd brother in Kuantan seen on the far right above.
On the 4th of Oct is the birthday of the children's cousin 'Chong Fong', my oldest sister's son seen also on the far right above.
A song has been ringing in my ear somehow as I think of Su's birthday, also on 4th October.
We must not forget the birthdays of the little ones, Ellee on 5th Oct (2nd from left) and her sister Careese on 25th Oct (far right), who are the nieces of Ray who is a great baby-sitter if anyone needs one! They live in Japan with their parents Beverly and Mark Chang, at the time the photo is taken, and came by to Singapore for a visit. In the middle is their big brother Evan.
A song has been ringing in my ear somehow as I think of Su's birthday, also on 4th October.
It's a song Su used to sing when she was about 5 years old in the bathroom, probably from hearing it on the radio, and would be shy when she knew I was listening lol
4th Oct in USA, 5th Oct in Singapore
"Happy Birthday Su and as you're in a different time zone, we kinda get to share Dad's birthday on the 5th at a similar time too! Well on this special day of ours, I just like to share some of the good times we were able to share together when you came home last summer with Jay. Note that these pics would not repeat any found in the post of your last visit. You could play the video above as you watch the pics hehe
"Happy Birthday Su and as you're in a different time zone, we kinda get to share Dad's birthday on the 5th at a similar time too! Well on this special day of ours, I just like to share some of the good times we were able to share together when you came home last summer with Jay. Note that these pics would not repeat any found in the post of your last visit. You could play the video above as you watch the pics hehe
More to come as I have to drive to Spore in the middle of the night!!
Nice breakfast off the Malaysian highway rest-stop of fresh 'kampung' eggs, toast and hot milo(chocolate)
After reaching home in Singapore for not too long, the girls managed to get online together with Mom to have a fun chat and wish the October babies on their birthday!
Su gets to have her birthday dream met by her husband Jay shared in a facebook album found here.
When the online chat was over, Mom needed to go to the hospital for a blood test as she was not feeling well. After dropping her at the hospital clinic, I went to park the car to come back to be with her. The first car park bay that used public parking coupons was absolutely full as other cars were either waiting for someone to leave or were circling around. I went to the try the second car park bay that had a gate and cash card paying system. The experience follows with some pics :
The 2nd car park bay had a digital sign that said 'Full' but I was desperate and went inside anyway
I drove around the car park bay but couldn't find a single vacant lot. I had come to the last stretch as shown in the pic above and saw some cars double parked and waiting with the driver inside. I said a prayer in my heart and as I drove into this stretch I felt something positive about the right row of cars, that a car might pull out.
I made a 3 point turn to double park on the right side with my car now facing the opposite direction. Lo and behold, two men walked past my car and I saw them go into the van behind me and took this shot.
I wasn't sure if they were coming out as sometimes people go in and just remain there. The van did drive out and I noticed it was an ambulance. It came out behind me and drove to my right side on their way out but stopped and asked me why I had taken a photo of them?
I immediately answered back to say I was happy God answered my prayers to find an empty parking lot. They seemed satisfied with my answer and drove off.
I backed my car into the empty lot vacated by the Ambulance. The above shows my car now occupying the lot where the Ambulance used to be beside the blue car. Another car now had double parked waiting for an empty parking lot!
Mon 8th Oct Good News came when the medical officer from the Cancer dept came up to me when Mom happened to be in the restroom. Mom had been concerned about her abdomen which seemed to be bloated and on an earlier physical check up by the doctor on rounds, she had felt some pain when it was pressed by the doctor doing the examination. The Good News that the medical officer shared was that from the X-Rays and CT Scan conducted in the past couple of days, they found that it was clear and added that the abdominal pains could be due to some minor gastric problems only. On this Monday, I happened to be online typing my regular Monday email to Han in the UK on his free or 'Preparation P-Day' and related the good news to him by including it in the email that was immediately posted to him!
Post-dated comment : On this post that covers the duration of Mom's last 2 months in and out of hospital, it was revealed in my writings of 22 Oct that the good news was actually a mistake.
Wed 10th Oct Finally after 5 nights and 6 days at the hospital, Mom was able to go home. Like to thank the many friends and family members who were able to visit her at the hospital that brought good cheer to her! Further information on her progress will continue in the blog post here.
Coming up soon is the birthday of Han on 19 Oct!
Elder Han will be celebrating his birthday away from home as a missionary in the UK. Here is a sample of the kind of food he can be gorging himself with on his birthday!!!
Lots of other October babies (age given as at 2012) :
Besides family members, several of our family friends are also October babies as named below with their respective birthdays and their ages are in brackets(if it is known).
Our friends of the family in Church include - Katherine Orgill (22) and Anthony Liew (26) on 2nd Oct, Kevin Tham on 4th Oct, Vanessa Wong (26), Bro Selvaragu, Judy Beard who served a mission with her husband Colin in JB from Australia and Ariunbolor(30) whom we met in the HK temple from Mongolia on 6th Oct, Andrea Davis Pyle on 9th Oct, Kent Davis on 10th Oct, Jenny Han(56) on 13th Oct, Gunchi Takeyama on 14th Oct, Merille Yong(Sheppard) on 15th Oct, Dennis E. Dalling(79) on 16th Oct, Deedra Rama(18) on 17th Oct, Penny Low(42) on 20th Oct, Richard Ho(54) on 21st Oct, Jeffrey Lim(55) on 22nd Oct, Sarah Brandt(41), John Lee and Helen Loong(57) on 23rd Oct, Charlene Goo, Julie Lanshe and Terrence Lim(53) on 25th Oct, Rachel Tan on 27th Oct, Mariann Selvaragu and Steve Tettey on 29th Oct.
We have Dad's former personal assistant who knew our family from young such as Malligah on 6th Oct. David Ooi a friend from the neighborhood in Singapore and Brent Yong the chidren's gymnastic coach in KL on 29th Oct.
Then there is a myriad of Dad's network of friends from his business network, Church or School network and other affiliations such as the Toastmasters etc whose birthdays also fall in October such as : Aaron Delaney and Torch Tabiar (25) on 1st Oct, Lauren Christiansen, Laurel Theobald and Wan Zaharizan on 3rd Oct, John Finlay and Murray Ceff on 4th Oct, Joel Wright and Jico Marzello on 7th Oct, Alfredo on 8th Oct, Fong Muntoh, Thomas Lim, Ron Leong and John Leavitt on 10th Oct, Chin Yen Lin on 11th Oct, Lim Sim Seng and Zane Pulver(23) on 12th Oct, Mackenzie Walker, Kelvin Kumar, Joshua Yong and Matt Hickman on 13th Oct, Lionel Cornelius, Benjamin Ford and Rodney Koh on 14th Oct, James Png,Veron Lim, Rachel Yer and Randy Schroeder on 15th Oct, Duncan D. Horne and Tang Tuck Cheong on 16th Oct, Ganesh Sangaran, Scott Watene(27) and Andrew Lee on 18th Oct, Samantha Ng Li San, Shaun Kwong and JK Khoo on 21st Oct, Jackson Ng and Puvan Kandasamy on 22nd Oct, Willy Lim 24th Oct, Jeffrey Seah 25th Oct, Angel Anderson on 26th Oct, Brigham Jenkins and Rachel Teshima on 27th Oct, Ong Sinnie and Mandy Ong on 28th Oct, Joyce Sim, Steven Cheong, Alice Low, Brycen Robinson and Billy Lee on 30th Oct, Azhar Zulaily on 31st Oct
Some memories of the past shared about our other October babies :
An old friend, Lim Sim Seng, from school in KL who had been overseas for his career in Tokyo, New York and the Middle East finally ends up deciding to settle down in Singapore. He is born on 12th Oct and was nice to come to visit us with his wife Tomoko after Mom had started her first batch of chemotherapy that ended in Mar 2008.
Farewell to our Japanese friend Gunchi Takeyama and family. His birthday is on 14th October
Meanwhile he receives Moon cake shared with his fellow missionaries ordered by Mom through an Asian grocer store online in time for the Mooncake festival celebration worldwide, or where there are Chinese people I suppose!
It was timely that the Manchester mission office had recently emailed to all parents of the missionaries giving early advice on how to send packages to the missionaries for Christmas. It was recommended that to avoid the freight charges to cost more than the gift, one could order online to the UK website at www.amazon.co.uk and have packages delivered cost effectively and reach on time too! So it was timely to test it out by ordering a birthday gift for him on the website to be sent to the address of the mission office as follows :
Elder Woon Han CHONG
England Manchester Mission
Springwood, Suite G5
Booths Park
Knutsford WA16 8QZ
England
Fri 19th Oct - Han's Birthday finally arrives. Happy Birthday Han !!!
The following photos were sent by Han with some explanations :
Fri 19th Oct - Han's Birthday finally arrives. Happy Birthday Han !!!
The following photos were sent by Han with some explanations :
Without much free time to cook each day, he prepared the ingredients for his birthday meal 2 days prior to his birthday
It turned out to be a big feast...
... celebrated in a rented 4-man flat with his fellow missionaries
A readymade hot chocolate fudge
cake as his Birthday cake!
Well I am glad besides all the food he has been enjoying, Week 16's letter from him reports that he is enjoying success in his missionary work : "It's been a fantastic
week! Elder Zavala and I are helping two people prepare for baptism here in Preston, and another person I previously taught in Manchester is getting baptised! We've been able to see how much their lives have changed as they've received the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives."
Week 17's letter does explain the focus on food though, "I had loads of fun
preparing the meal! As a missionary I no longer have time to draw comics or write music, so cooking is about the final frontier for me to be creative."
I guess being Elder Han's birthday week, his indulgence in food can be forgiven! Keep up the good work Son!
I guess being Elder Han's birthday week, his indulgence in food can be forgiven! Keep up the good work Son!
Besides family members, several of our family friends are also October babies as named below with their respective birthdays and their ages are in brackets(if it is known).
Our friends of the family in Church include - Katherine Orgill (22) and Anthony Liew (26) on 2nd Oct, Kevin Tham on 4th Oct, Vanessa Wong (26), Bro Selvaragu, Judy Beard who served a mission with her husband Colin in JB from Australia and Ariunbolor(30) whom we met in the HK temple from Mongolia on 6th Oct, Andrea Davis Pyle on 9th Oct, Kent Davis on 10th Oct, Jenny Han(56) on 13th Oct, Gunchi Takeyama on 14th Oct, Merille Yong(Sheppard) on 15th Oct, Dennis E. Dalling(79) on 16th Oct, Deedra Rama(18) on 17th Oct, Penny Low(42) on 20th Oct, Richard Ho(54) on 21st Oct, Jeffrey Lim(55) on 22nd Oct, Sarah Brandt(41), John Lee and Helen Loong(57) on 23rd Oct, Charlene Goo, Julie Lanshe and Terrence Lim(53) on 25th Oct, Rachel Tan on 27th Oct, Mariann Selvaragu and Steve Tettey on 29th Oct.
We have Dad's former personal assistant who knew our family from young such as Malligah on 6th Oct. David Ooi a friend from the neighborhood in Singapore and Brent Yong the chidren's gymnastic coach in KL on 29th Oct.
Then there is a myriad of Dad's network of friends from his business network, Church or School network and other affiliations such as the Toastmasters etc whose birthdays also fall in October such as : Aaron Delaney and Torch Tabiar (25) on 1st Oct, Lauren Christiansen, Laurel Theobald and Wan Zaharizan on 3rd Oct, John Finlay and Murray Ceff on 4th Oct, Joel Wright and Jico Marzello on 7th Oct, Alfredo on 8th Oct, Fong Muntoh, Thomas Lim, Ron Leong and John Leavitt on 10th Oct, Chin Yen Lin on 11th Oct, Lim Sim Seng and Zane Pulver(23) on 12th Oct, Mackenzie Walker, Kelvin Kumar, Joshua Yong and Matt Hickman on 13th Oct, Lionel Cornelius, Benjamin Ford and Rodney Koh on 14th Oct, James Png,Veron Lim, Rachel Yer and Randy Schroeder on 15th Oct, Duncan D. Horne and Tang Tuck Cheong on 16th Oct, Ganesh Sangaran, Scott Watene(27) and Andrew Lee on 18th Oct, Samantha Ng Li San, Shaun Kwong and JK Khoo on 21st Oct, Jackson Ng and Puvan Kandasamy on 22nd Oct, Willy Lim 24th Oct, Jeffrey Seah 25th Oct, Angel Anderson on 26th Oct, Brigham Jenkins and Rachel Teshima on 27th Oct, Ong Sinnie and Mandy Ong on 28th Oct, Joyce Sim, Steven Cheong, Alice Low, Brycen Robinson and Billy Lee on 30th Oct, Azhar Zulaily on 31st Oct
Some memories of the past shared about our other October babies :
An old friend, Lim Sim Seng, from school in KL who had been overseas for his career in Tokyo, New York and the Middle East finally ends up deciding to settle down in Singapore. He is born on 12th Oct and was nice to come to visit us with his wife Tomoko after Mom had started her first batch of chemotherapy that ended in Mar 2008.
Farewell to our Japanese friend Gunchi Takeyama and family. His birthday is on 14th October
Toastmaster Fong Mun Toh's Election Budget Song released recently whose birthday is 10th October
In the summer of 2004, we made our Journey of Journeys which included visiting with Dennis E Dalling who is born on 16th October, married to his wife Romana since 25th July 1951. When they are asked how long they have been married, they say "not long enough! We love this couple and the photo below is taken just outside their beautiful home in Portland Oregon that they had built on their own after returning home from their mission in Malaysia in 1996!
It's Duncan Horne's birthday on 16th October and while I only had to go to the hospital on my birthday, he lands himself as a patient at the hospital! Reasons for it? You can read his own words in his blog. Hope he gets well soon as he is a very important man in Kuantan who is the group leader of our Church there. It was a pleasure to meet him and his lovely family for a Church meeting in his home when I was there one Sunday.
Since the base of the family moved to Singapore, the children miss their gym coach Brent Yong whose birthday is on 29th Oct. It's always a pleasure to meet up with Brent again with his family when we are in KL or when they come visit us in Singapore when they are on holidays! Even meeting his daughter Corey by chance in a Penang trip is a delightful coincidence!
