A new way to do laundry

I recently started thinking about all the time I spend folding laundry, and wondering if I could make better use of that time.

One of the things I often do when I check on my kids in the middle of the night is to gently place my hands on their head, heart, hands and feet and pray that God will give them the mind of Christ, a servant's heart, hands that are quick to help those in need, and feet prepared with the gospel of peace. I decided that my laundry-folding time would be another great opportunity to pray for each member of our family.

I thought about each piece of clothing and the corresponding area of the body (e.g., shirt-heart), and looked up verses relating to that part. I rewrote some of my favorites into prayers, and I think I am going to just pick one or two verses for each piece of clothing, for each load. It'll be a good way for me to hide more of God's word in my heart, too. I hope you'll join me!

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In case you need a jump-start, here is my list for shirts--

• Deut 30:6 Circumcise ____’s heart that he may love you with his whole heart and live.
• I Chron 16:10 Let ____’s heart rejoice as he seeks you, Lord.
• Psalm 19:4 Let the meditation and thoughts of ____’s heart be pleasing to you, oh God.
• Psalm 20:4 God, grant the desires of ____’s heart and cause all his plans to succeed.
• Psalm 73:26 God, be the strength of ____’s heart and his portion forever.
• Psalm 90:12 Teach _____ to number his days so that he may have a heart of wisdom.
• Prov 4:23 Guard ____’s heart.
• Jer 17:9, 24:7 Let _____ understand that without you, his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Give him a heart to know you.
• Jer 32:39 Give _____ a singleness of heart and action so that he will always fear you.
• Matt 5:8 Give ______ a pure heart.
• Luke 8:15 Give _____ a good heart so that the seed of your gospel will take root and bear fruit.
• John 14:27 Do not let ____’s heart be troubled and do not let him be afraid.
• Ephesians 1:18-19 I pray that the eyes of ____’s heart may be enlightened in order that he may know the hope to which You have called him, the riches of your glorious inheritance in your holy people, and your incomparably great power for those who believe.
• Ephesians 3:16-18 I pray that out of your glorious riches you may strengthen _____ with power through your Spirit in his inner being, so that Christ may dwell in his heart through faith. And I pray that ______, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
• Eph 4:32 Make _______ kind and tenderhearted to those around him.
• I Thes 3:12-13 Lord, make ____’s love increase and overflow for each person in this family and for everyone else. Please strengthen his heart so that he will be blameless and holy in your presence, God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

In honor of Ewan Eliezer

There is a grieving mommy whose arms are empty tonight. They shouldn't be. A sweet baby boy should be cradled there nursing at her breast and staring up into her loving eyes. I hate that it isn't so.

Instead, her arms are empty and her heart is broken. And, my heart is broken for her.

She is my friend and my sister.

I know I cannot comprehend the depth of her grief. I don't fool myself into thinking that I can. I can't. But, I can comprehend the depth of her love, because I am a fellow mother. I love my children with the same fierce and incomprehensible love that she loved her boy. I understand that love and even though Ewan is no longer here, I know that love lives on in his mama. I get that.

Even though I never met him, I loved Ewan with a real and tangible love. I remember the joy I felt when I read Kirsten's email, 9 months ago now, that she was expecting a child. Tears of joy and prayers of thanksgiving! I remember the gut wrenching pain I felt when I learned that the child she was carrying had a broken heart and the months I spent praying for a miracle. I remember the nights I spent praying through to the early morning hours, after he was born; I can still taste the tears I shed pleading to God to spare his life.

But, we live in a fallen world and even though God is the ultimate victor, sin and death still rule this earth for now. I hate that it is so.

I never got to meet Ewan, but someday I will. Death doesn't have the final say. Praise the Lord! Jesus Christ has conquered death. Ewan is in heaven now, perfect and whole, singing to his Maker in the presence of the angels and saints. And someday I will get to meet that precious baby and stand together with him worshiping God. And someday, his mama's broken heart will be healed and all her tears will be diamonds poured at the feet of Jesus.

Today is a sad day, but I live in hope of that future day.

Sing, baby Ewan,

Sing, little one.

Sing to Jesus.

And, someday,

we'll sing with you.

32 Things

1. Jesus Christ--The Savior who is always loving, always faithful, always patient, and always leading me closer to Him.

2. Joshua Redin--my amazing husband who serves our family and loves God wholeheartedly

3. Caleb Redin--the most loving, kind-hearted three-year-old I've ever met

4. Annabelle Redin--the silliest, joy-filled, most playful girl on this planet

5. Jonah Redin--for his sweet smiles, snuggles and expressive eyes

6. RHC--our church here in Singapore that passionately loves Christ and teaches Truth

7. Extended Family (if I listed everyone that would take up the rest of the 32 items)--so thankful that nearly everyone in our extended family is a brother/sister/father/mother/grandmother not just in this passing world, but a brother/sister in the shining world to come.

8. Friends--For long-time friends and new ones. For best friends that trek across the world to share our experiences in Singapore, and for neighbor friends who trek down the hall to say hello. For friends that I talk to every day, and for friends who send an email out of the blue every few months.

9. Health--For the last year which has been relatively sick-less. A minor cold here and there but no major battles.

10. Daily bread--For the daily food and water we have in abundance. . . in a time when many around the world are suffering for lack of food and drinkable water.

--Okay, done with the serious stuff. . . from here on out, there is no particular order and no particular depth =)

11. Banana Muffins and a cold glass of milk

12. Packages from home

13. My Canon

14. Photoshop

15. Legos (what else could keep Caleb occupied for hours on end!?)

16. Air conditioning

17. Al Azhar's Indian restaurant

18. Baby carriers that free up my hands

19. Naps

20. Skype

21. Kaya Toast

22. Singapore Zoo

23. The pool

24. Grocery delivery

25. Taxis

26. My iPod and it's player

27. Hair bows for Annabelle

28. Pink nail polish

29. The Mini-mart!

30. 20-cent popsicles

31. Free refills (since most places here DON'T have them, I am really thankful for them when I do get them)

32. Tortillas

Mother's Day Picture

I love being the mother of these two!

Motherhood: A Poem, a Story and a Picture

A Poem

My friend, Gina, posted this poem on her blog yesterday. Since If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is one of our favorite read-aloud books (remember this?), this poem had me cracking up.

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

Original Author Unknown

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

A Story

Thursday evening, Josh and I were going to enjoy a night out with some friends from school. The plan was for me to taxi with the kids to school around 4:15 to meet up with the rest of the group and from there, head down to Clark Quay for dinner. Of course, the afternoon did not go exactly as planned. Caleb and Annabelle went down late for their naps. By the time they finally fell asleep, the house was a mess. So instead of showering and dressing, I quickly tidied up the house, folded the laundry that had been sitting on the couch for hours, and did the lunch dishes.

Before I knew it, it was 3:45 and I was still in my pj's. I took a quick cold shower (who has time for the water to heat up?) and managed throw on some clothes and make-up before the kids woke up at 4:00. I changed their diapers, told Caleb to grab his sandals off the shoe rack that is near our front door (in Asia, you don't wear your shoes in the house, so all the shoes pile up near the front door), helped Caleb put on his shoes while I fed Annabelle, called a taxi, put Annabelle in her baby sling, grabbed my purse, slid on my shoes and ran out the door to meet the taxi. Whew! 4:15 on the dot. I was pretty impressed with myself. The house was clean, the kids were clean, I was clean, and we were on time. Was I good or what!?

When we arrived at school, the parking lot was abuzz with after-school activity. I waved to several people and chatted a bit with a few friends. One of our good friends, Les, walked over to say hi to the kids and as he approached, I could tell he was looking at me strangely.

"What did you do to your foot?!?" he asked.
"Nothing." I said, confusedly, and glanced down. Annabelle in her baby sling was blocking my view so I lifted my left foot to inspect it. Nothing wrong there. I lifted my right foot and started cracking up!!! In my hurry to get out of the house, I had slid on two different shoes.

Ahh, Motherhood! Oh well, at least my kids' shoes matched =)


A Picture

Note to self: the brown shoes look way better than the black. Ditch the black pair.

One Month!

One month ago, I slept all night long.
One month ago, I only had to change one kid's diapers.
One month ago, I was able to get showered and dressed before 4pm.
One month ago, I only did 2 loads of laundry a week.
One month ago, I wasn't a walking milk factory.
One month ago, I hadn't yet met the sweetest baby girl in the world.
A lot can change in a month!

The Story

Jen asked me to post Annabelle's birth details. So, if you interested in birth stories, read on. If not, feel free to skip it. There will be no hard feelings =)

Annabelle was due on August 28th. At my regular check-up three weeks prior to her due date, I was already dilated to 3 cm. The doctor felt sure she'd see me within the week. But, the next week rolled around and to her amazement, I showed up for my next scheduled appointment. . . still pregnant. At that time, I was at 4 cm. Again, she said she expected to see me in L&D within a day or two, but we scheduled another appointment for the following week, "just in case." It's a good thing we did, because Wednesday, August 27th dawned and there was still no signs of labor. I had been out walking miles every day, doing squats, eating pineapple (they say that induces contractions) and still hadn't had even one significant contraction. I went to my appointment and found out I was at 5 cm! Since I was having some weird headaches which were affecting my vision (sometimes a sign of impending blood pressure issues late in pregnancy), the doctor felt that it was best to break my water for me. I checked in to L&D (just 4 floors below in the same building) and called Josh. He arrived around 1:00 and the doctor came in to break my water at 2:00. Within minutes, I was in transitional labor . . . no warm-up contractions (I guess that's the downside of starting out at 5 cm). After about 45 minutes of labor, I finally asked for some kind of pain killer, but it was too late for anything significant since I was nearly ready to push. The nurses kindly gave me nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) each time I had a contraction. It didn't really do much for the pain factor, but it made me care about the pain a little less, so it was definitely better than nothing. At 3:20, the doctor showed up and got set up for delivery. At 3:25 she gave me the all clear to push and two pushes later (one for her head and the second for her body), Annabelle was born. The doctor was really cool about letting Josh tell me we had a girl. She put the baby up on my tummy and said, "You have a beautiful and healthy baby, Rebecca. Josh, do you want to tell her what sex the baby is?!"

So, there you have it. Annabelle's labor was exactly 1/2 of Caleb's. I'm so thankful my doctor was proactive in breaking my water. If I had been at home, it would have been a very close call. We don't have a car here, so I would have had to call and wait for a taxi (usually a 10-15 minute process) and then drive 30 minutes to the hospital. I can just imagine trying to pay the taxi driver in the middle of serious contractions!

Let's see, other details. . . I did use Gentle Birth again. I don't know if it is a placebo or if it actually works, but for $30, I figured it was worth it either way. Thankfully, there wasn't any tearing, which made recovery a million-times easier. Anything else I didn't mention that you're curious about? Just leave it in the comments.

I plan to post more about the medical system here in Singapore on our other blog soon. " Soon" being a relative term dependent upon the sleep cycles of my two darlings =)

One Week Old. . . already!

It's been (over) a week since we welcomed Annabelle into our family. Hard to believe. I hate that time flies.

At her one week check up, the pediatrician said she was "the picture of health." I think she is the picture of sweetness. She has certainly captured our hearts since she made her debut. I can't imagine life without her, now.

Love at First Sight

Caleb is in love. It happened the moment he first saw Annabelle. The first thing he says when he wakes up is "hold the baby, please" I've never seen a little boy more smitten. Here is a short clip from the first time he held her and a few of my favorite photos.

36 Weeks 2 Days

A little less than 4 weeks to go!

Getting Ready

Today marks the 5-week countdown to Baby #2's due date. Although I've been showing signs of our expected addition for months now, the house only started showing this week.

Daddy and Big Brother Caleb work hard to build a changing table.

Mommy adds the finishing touches.

Super Dad and His Amazing Super Glue

Recently a few of Caleb's toys broke and Josh was able to fix them with super glue. Caleb was obviously highly impressed because the following conversation occurred this morning.

Caleb: Aboon? Aboon? (balloon)
Me: Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. The balloon popped yesterday, remember?
Caleb: Pop!
Me: Yep. It popped!
Caleb: Broke?
Me: Yep. The balloon is broken.
(thoughtful pause)
Caleb: Glue! Glue! Daddy, glue!

A New Hobby

I've been wanting to learn to knit and a new baby was the perfect excuse. There is nothing cuter than tiny knit hats and sweaters (not that either item is particularly needed here in Singapore!)

I wonder. . . which one our baby will wear: the pink or the blue?



Thanks, Kendra, for the tips on where to find a good teach-yourself-to-knit site.

All Things Boy

Trucks, motorcycles, trains,

Soccer, airplanes, cranes,
Legos, lions, boots
Puppies, tickles, toots.
He loves all things Boy.

Baby Showers

Today, when I went to give Caleb a bath, he ran to the front bathroom instead, stood at the shower door and said, "pease, pease" (his version of please).


I don't know why he is suddenly interested in taking showers other than he has been mimicking EVERYTHING Josh does lately. If Daddy coughs, Caleb coughs. If Daddy has coins jingling in his pocket, Caleb wants to have coins jingling in his pocket. If Daddy eats his vegetables, Caleb eats his vegetables (might as well make it work to our advantage, right!?). . . I guess it finally dawned on Caleb that Daddy doesn't take baths, Daddy takes showers. And, since Daddy takes showers, that means Caleb wants to take showers, too.

As we are discovering, a toddler is a very telling mirror for all our habits, good or bad!

A Mother's Sick Day

I remember when I worked for the City and had oodles of sick days accrued to my account. Back then, a sick day meant crawling under the covers and sleeping for five or six hours. It meant waking in the afternoon to a steaming bowl of chicken soup and a long hot bath. It meant taking Asprin or Nyquill. It meant watching a favorite movie and finishing the book on the nightstand. It meant all housework ceased and the laundry waited.

A Mother's sick day has a much different meaning. It means wiping a snotty nose that's not your own. It means waking up to soothe a coughing, feverish boy five times in one night, even though your body is achy and sluggish. It means toughing it out without any medicine to protect the little baby growing inside. It means making Jello and crushing ice to be sure that your sick toddler gets enough fluid. It means washing a favorite blanket and mopping up spilled apple juice from the kitchen floor. It means learning how to consider others better than yourself, when "yourself" is all you feel like considering (Phil 2:3).


Caleb and I came down with a nasty cold flu several days ago. This morning, after a fitful night's sleep, I found him crashed on the couch after breakfast.

Sleep, my little one. Mommy is nearby.

16 Weeks 4 Days

I was looking through some old photos today and ran across one that was taken when I was 16 weeks, 4 days pregnant with Caleb. Since I happen to be exactly 16 weeks, 4 days today, I thought it would be fun to take picture and put the two side by side.

The new pic is kind of lame (we just got back from a trip to the grocery store, and it is very hot and humid out!) but still it gives you an idea of how the two pregnancies are comparing.

I've always heard you show sooner with the 2nd, but I definitely showed sooner with Caleb. I think the difference can be attributed to two things: 1) Working at the City of Modesto required massive amounts of sitting still and 2) Living in Singapore requires massive amounts of exercise.

Recipe for a Fun Bath

Mix Together:
1 dirty little boy
1/2 tub luke-warm water
1 Tbs bubble bath
3 Crayola Bath Tub Fingerpaints

Add a dash of creativity and a pinch of silliness.
Allow to set for at least 30 minutes!






Thanks, Yvette, for providing the Finger Paints =)

Toddler Training: Chair Time

Every morning, after breakfast, Caleb has "chair time." On some days, I let Caleb pick out a few books or a small toy, on other days, I choose for him. I arrange the books on his special chair and he climbs up for some quiet play time. The idea is for him to be able to sit quietly for an extended period of time. We started with 5-minute sessions, are currently at 10 minutes, and have a goal of 30 minutes by the end of March.

"Chair Time" has been a great addition to our day! Caleb is learning to focus and play quietly, and I am able to use the 10 minutes to do the breakfast dishes, start a load of laundry or get myself ready for the day.


In the afternoon, we alternate between "Blanket Time" and "Tent Time". . . same idea only Caleb either "reads" quietly on a small blanket I put out on the living room floor, or plays quietly in his pop-up tent.

I can't take credit for coming up with this wonderful idea (I've read about it in a few books and seen variations of it on blogs like this one) but it has been working so well for us that I wanted to pass along the idea to you.

Baking is Better than Disneyland

Today, I introduced Caleb into the world of baking. . . well, sort of. Since we didn't actually do any baking because we made these, what I introduced to him was the world of dumping pre-measured ingredients into a pot and stirring.

Step 1: Dump everything Mom gives you into the pot.

Step 2: Take a sip of milk from the measuring cup.


Step 3: Smile real big.


Step 4: Clean-up. Be sure to lick every last bit of chocolately peanut butter goodness off!



To a curious, mess-loving 16-month old, I am pretty darn sure that dumping, stirring and "cleaning" are more exciting than a trip to Disneyland. And since Disneyland is a lot more expensive and time-consuming (especially considering the trans-Pacific flight such a trip to would entail right now), a 30-minute "baking" project ranks higher in this Mom's book, too!