Category: Blogs

The month of May has a lot of important events that have happened and continue to happen. This year, our eldest daughter just turned 13. We asked her what she wanted for her 13^th birthday, and a birthday party was not her priority.

We got her the things she wanted and threw in a surprise birthday/ mother’s / graduation party. What has intrigued me greatly is the perception that ‘having a Teen’ is total trouble. I mean, how many times so far I have heard words like ‘your life is over! O my, you have a Teen?! Oh you are in trouble! The best part of your life is over! The list goes on.

I have a simple answer to all the stigma associated with having a Teen or being a parent to a Teen. I think the best part of my life has just began, for not only is she smart, but she is mature too. This answer has had a few people surprised at my outlook. More so, I hope it will change the perception that Teens are problematic! (Or am I all alone here?)

 

A couple years (2 or 3) back we had the idea to collect bottle caps from Orange Juice bottles. Initially, the intention was to use the caps for an art like project. We collected the bottle caps and put them in a box. However, we never got to run the art project and the bottle caps were left stored in a box

Fast forward, a few weeks ago, our eldest daughter came home from school and requested to donate the caps to her school. Apparently, someone was collecting caps in return for donations towards a good cause.

We delightedly let her take the box of caps to her school. We were surprised to learn that the school officials were very appreciative of her kind gesture. They awarded her a Philanthropy Award!

I do not believe in coincidences…certainly there was and is a Divine Power behind all this…And thanks be to Him.

I witnessed an interesting prey and hunter battle as in the cellphone photo above. Although not so clear since I could not get close enough, the hawk had in its keen sight on a praying mantis.

What struck me was that the mantis did not lay there and be eaten. It put up a fight and the hawk had to hop around it before throwing the last blow. In the end, the praying mantis lost, and the rest is history.

While simple and almost easy to just ignore the whole scene, it got me thinking. Life is an uphill battle. At times, the thought of throwing in the towel crosses my mind. That would be the equivalent of the prey just lying on the ground to be eaten, yet despite the formidable enemy, the praying mantis held its ground until it could no longer do so.

I have a renewed perspective of the many challenges I face in life. Keep fighting, a solution maybe just a stone throw away; won’t you?

 

My spouse decided to give up her one tablespoon of sugar for her morning cup of tea during the Lenten Period. She went a step further by actually putting that sugar in a separate container.

40 days later, I was shocked to see just how much sugar we (her or I) consume. I mean, our tea mugs are about 16-18 oz. So adding a tablespoon of sugar makes the tea just have enough sugar to taste. In 40 days, the sugar is a whooping 1lb 3 oz. (0.54 kg). At this rate, it means she or I consume approximately 10lb (4.9 kg) per person per year in just that morning cup of tea.

On top of that, there is sugar already added in bread, or breakfast cereals, also in the juice for lunch snack etc. To put it in perspective, there is just so much sugar consumed per person in any given day…

Check your sugar consumption…you maybe shocked just like us. Thanks to my spouse, I am certainly taking steps to cut back on the SUGAR I consume per day…Have a sweet day.