Help is here! part 1 (getting a helper)

Mel and I had being talking about having a helper for a long while. I had alway not being keen about having someone we do not know well in our place. On the other hand, I also know we do need help in our house. 6 years on, the time is right for us to have a helper. As Kayzia will be studying pri 1 next year, her classes will start at around noon time and being working parents,we cant send her to school. Yes, we had went thru many times about Mel not working or working part-time(even worst!), they are not the best solutions. Having a helper earlier will help the kids to get used to her.

We also very kiasi(afraid bad things will happen), what if we get the time bomb one, how? We read so many nasty stories about helpers ill-treating the kids when the adults are not around. Well, also many inhuman stories of horrible sir/mdm torturing the helpers. We prayed for the right helper and determine to be good masters. Our church friends, Siew Hee and Joyce have a wonderful helper. She is a committed disciple in our church. She told us that her cousin wants to work in Singapore to ease the family financial difficulties. We prayed and asked God to show us if there is any reason why we should not take her.

Before i go further, I will list the 3 reasons why we wanted a helper.
1. As stated above, Kayzia is going to pri 1 next year, someone needs to be at home.
2. We need help with our house chores. Someone to help with all our daily cleaning so that we wont be burden and tired by all these unimportant yet necessary responibilities.
3. When the kids are sick, we cannot always take leave to be with them, or get our parents to come down to look after them.

How about getting our parents to stay with us? Without even praying or having any sort of discussion, we knew the answer is no. Not that our parents are not willing to help, they had in many ocassions, even on last minutes notice, came over our place to take care of the kids. They deserved a break, they had it hard raising us(especially me), should we burden them even more with our own kids?

So with that in mind, our help came last Sat. Her name is Modesta, she is 40 years old, married to a pastor back home in Philippines, and they have 4 kids. The youngest is Kieran's age. It must be hard for her to leave them behind. She called back on Sunday, the kids were crying for her. Mel took Monday to Wednesday leave to be with her and teach her the routine of our home. She used to work in Taiwan in 1999, but have forgotten most of the Chinese she had learnt back then. O, her pastor husband dun get paid in church for preaching, voluntary work. They sell veg to get by monthly. How much a month? 1000 peso, which is about SGD30! O mine! I almost fainted when i heard that. Then we told her why we needed a helper (the 3 reasons), her pay, the kids, and so on. We had a good talk. Both of us think she is a good person in nature. We prayed sincerely that she will care for the kids like she will care for hers.

For the past few days, both Mel and I felt physically less tired. After the talk with Modesta, we had time to go for a jog. The last time we did that was just before we found our Mel was pregnant with Kieran. Hm, is this a sign? Help is here. We are grateful for her.

Labour Day outing

My mum called us to go makan(Whampoo market) and walk walk(Lower Peirce) on Labour Day. Her friend(school bus driver) was going to pick us up from my place. Free transport, good breakfast and most of all, the kids are excited about it... what else can i asked for? the only problem is this. I stayed up on wed morning(230am till 5am) watching Man U beat Barcelona(COME ON!) and then caught Ironman on wed night, 11pm show. Reach home at 2am with Bruce in my house watching Liverpool vs Chelsea till 530am(they went into extra time!). What time is the uncle coming to pick us up? 730pm? no, what time? 730am... I am dead.

Mum's frd came with one of those non seat belt school bus(which is a hot topic in Singapore). Pick us and the parents up. The brealfast at whampoo was nice! But i was feeling sleepy and falling sick(sore throat).The weather was good, too good, infact it was hot. Er, this morning the aircon was running cold but by now, it seems a little warm. But free transport, better dun complain. wait uncle tell me go take bus. Found out from mum later on, that the aircon has not being working fine recently.

Mel and I had not come to Lower Peirce before. No transport mah. Once I stepped into the place, I actually felt much better! The air was fresh, it wasnt hot, infact it was cooling. I felt refreshed n recharged! We had a good 45 mins walk and the kids love ths place.

Since i havent update for awhile, i will load more pics this time.


"where is uncle?" as usual, kieran is sleepy.


Yeah!


Even with food, kieran looks sleepy.




Whampoo market.


Lower Perice.


entrance to the serect garden?














This is where they shot 臥虎藏龍, Chow Yun-Fatt and Zhang Ziyi fought here.....


Mafoo n Kafoo.


I think Kieran still not fired up that we woke him up early.....(Kifoo with my mum).


Kafoo and Kifoo.


My dad with 2 little foos.


Group photo minus me.




where is everyone?


Kayzia, queen of the jungle?


Singapore Tarzen.




Going home. Note, this car kena fine but not ours. Cause he/she parked in the grass. NEA fined him/her. Next time make sure you park nicely....