Count Our Blessings

While everyone is tucked in for the night and chubs latched on me (I'll let him at it a while more) ... lol ... I'm lying down in the quiet darkness of the night. Silence is a luxury in my house. So tonight, I reflect.

I had thee most busy week of school holidays. Yes, all 4 kiddies at home... could easily spell anything between chaos to disaster. However, as I reflected, I realized the last one week holidays was different. I actually had a wonderful week. Amidst some chaos of course. That, my friends, cannot be helped.

So now let me count my blessings..

(1) DD2 went for a three-day camp. Way too short, all of us thought, much to the wrath of the princess. Honestly though, we all relished from the peaceful serenity in our home the first three days. DD2 is one heckuva chatterbox. Plus, she likes to make the babies cry. So a quiet three days, blessing #1.

(2) I got to spend one on one time with DD1 when the boys went to bed. We chatted, we baked, we reminisced about old times and reflected how grateful we were for what we have now. DD1 even said on Sunday, that she was really gonna miss me when she goes off to school on Monday. Blessing #2, a wonderful time with DD1, which brought us even closer.

(3) Daddie gramps babysat the children so hubs could take me out on our wedding anniversary. God bless the most wonderful and most thoughtful man in my life - my Daddie. He took the children to the beach for an awesome time. The children couldn't wait to tell me all about their day with gramps when I fetched them. Everyone wanted to speak at the same time. Even the little baby dragon. Suffice to say, everyone had a great day.

(4) 14 years of marriage saw us through a passionate (and lusty!) first few years, a challenging next couple of years, some turbulent years after and the more settled years of late. It was memorable that the man took the initiative to walk down memory lane with me, to somewhat rekindle the flame. Of course not forgetting, the shoes he got me. C'mon! A girl never forgets a man who buys her shoes hokay!  Sweet..

(5) Hung out with my folks and also extended families, cousins, aunts, nieces and nephews. Thankful my parents are still around for my children to have a share of their love. Thank you, God, for keeping them relatively healthy and safe. For the extended families, despite everyone's differences, we still come together as one in good times or bad.

(6) Had an uber-awesome day trip nearby, with just a couple of girlfriends. No kids. No housework - well, I cooked their favourite chicken rice with chicken in soy sauce and chap chye (mixed veggies), before I left. Didn't wanna trouble the man to bring them out to eat or worse... to have him cook!?! He won't survive! Lol! Well, I had a peaceful one WHOLE day out with no calls and very few messages. Had this exhausted body straightened out, a fresh haircut and thee best cream bath (head & shoulder massage) thereafter. Settled some normal noisy cravings in this greedy tummy and voila, a very very fruitful day. What a wonderful break! This mommy came back rejuvenated, refreshed and recharged to face a new school term. Thanks to our husbands for taking lead role for a whole day. *muacks*

(7) In a cab, on the way back from some errands... the sweet grandfatherly cab driver noted how my calls and messages were coming in. As I either just texted my replies or answered the calls softly, he didn't know the nature of my calls. I apologized for the noise my mobile phone was making and set it to silent mode, to which he said, "Sweet young lady like you will surely receive a lotta calls.." I must've been beaming. *blush* But I clarified with the sweet uncle, "Actually uncle, the calls/texts were from my children. I have 4 children." The uncle did a double take on his rear-view mirror. When the cab came to a stop, he took a better look (under better lighting conditions) this time and replied, "You look way too young to be a mom, what more a mom to 4." Blessing #7 ended my week-long holiday perfectly. I'm blessed to be healthy (most of me at least) to be able to run around with my two boys and young enough (at heart at least!) to hang out with my two girls and be in their frequency.

So while everyone sleeps, I hope my reflections help pave the way for peaceful sleep in the next few hours. Ya, need to chase some dramas. Hehee..

I'll take my blessings in any small way I can get, but I must say, God has been kind, for in my reflections, I find all the 7 blessings I counted came in big and memorable ways than I could have ever asked for or imagined…

I started the final school term with a bang. Yes, I started my Monday with a blast. Hope everyone had a wonderful week. Here's moving forward to a new term and looking forward to longer holidays in a couple of months!