Sensibility

We had a Birthday party last Sunday. L and G had dressed up and were in full excitement. G was wearing her favorite dress, which consists of anything in the world that has a Duppatta attached to it. And when the time came to take the gift before we left for the party, for which usually a fight occurs as to who should hand over the gift to the Birthday Girl, G tells us seriously
"Mama, you can hand over the gift to L because my Duppatta may fall off, if I happen to hand "M" (the Birthday girl), the gift.

Rainbows and Birds

Today I saw my second rainbow after a slight shower of rain in the sun.The new house where I have shifted is very calm and serene with lots of greenery and trees.Its a place where they have really preserved the nature. The birds are of many varieties here. Parrots and Kingfishers are plenty. The Weaver Birds nests are beautiful. There are around 12 nests on one particular tree. Few days back I saw a wood pecker happily pecking at a tree while I was bringing back G from school.
Rainbows are so beautiful and it reminds of Words from the Bible which I like to share.

Genesis 9:12-16
12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

The Fall of Teeth

Happy to let all know that L's milk teeth have starting falling. She got her first tooth when she was one and so the delay in the fall of her teeth now.
Have to mention that she has inherited her Mama' s blood. The tooth hardly shakes and the new tooth appears. Due to this I was blessed with an Irregular set of Dentition which started projecting out by the time I was 14. And so I had teeth appearing from all places, behind, in front of, sideways etc except from the correct gap of a tooth. I had no other go but wear Braces by the time I finished 10th. It was awful, as I had to wear it for 2 yrs thanx to the technology then. But then My fear of every visit to the dentist still remains. The injections, the extractions,the stitches, the wires, the rubberbands, the brushes etc were the baggage of goodies that came along with this decision. The tightening of the wires where the most painful as I always had a feeling that all my teeth would break in no time. I used to have nightmares of my teeth breaking too. But becoz of that decision I have a better smile now which was often praised by my dentist even then.
The dread is not over yet as I have to take care of 2 more dentition sets other than mine. I had to convince L that she shudn't have to wear braces like me and so I took her to the dentist, as soon as I saw that her milk tooth wasn't shaking well and the new one has already come out. As this was her first visit she wasn't certain what to feel. The doc put a gel, took an injection and extracted her first tooth. It was so long , as it had come along with the root and the doc herself was surprised to see so. L was in silent tears that day. the doc put a cotton in that gap to prevent the excess blood from spurting out but L wanted it out in no time. We took her shopping after that. It didn't pain mush for her later.
I asked the Doc about the probability about the next new tooth, with the old one hardly shaking, and she said it can happen the same way. Not less than a week , accordingly, to our fear and unwillful prediction, the second new tooth erupted. This time L was really reluctant, but I had to tell her about my experiences, that this could prevent Braces in future and she agreed. She was already in tears this time and was refusing to sit in peace while the injection was being taken but then it was done. This time the tooth wasn't that long and it came out fast.
We came home relieved for the time being, but the dread of the next tooth appearing is still remains. In the mean time, G has hallucinations of her tooth shaking.

MilkyBar

G loves chocolates and I bet she dreams of licking big chocolates in her dreams. She gets fixed on to the TV, when the Ads on chocolates come up. One fine she day she asks me,
G :" Mama can u ask a cow to give me Milky bar?"
I tell her I will, and I buy one and give her the next day and she's very happy.

Book Review

Lately I have been reading a lot of Books and so my absence. I came across this wonderful Book by Khaled Hosseini " A Thousand Splendid Suns". Its one of the best books I have come across. I read it around 2 weeks back, yet the characters of that book "Mariam" and "Laila" still remain alive in my thoughts. The book talks of the Extraordinary exploits of 2 Ordinary women. I absolutely loved his language of writing. Don't miss reading this book.
Another book I liked was "Uncle Tom's Cabin" By Harriet Stowe ,but not as much as the first one. Her language is too indepth for a novice like me. :)

Sunset Trip

This time during our holidays at Kerala we went for a Cruise on a Small Ship named Saagararani in Cochin(Queen of the Arabian Sea)....It was refreshing change from the car/train/flight trips. Kids too found it exciting. I found it so ignorant of us for not taking this Sunset trip earlier, being Keralites from the moment we were born.

The trip is for 2 and half hours. Its on the sea, where u'll get to see the skyline of Cochin from different angles. There is a guide on board too who gives u a neat explanation of the various ports and ships in sight. Gaffoorka also gives a short review on the history and significance of Cochin Sea. Meanwhile we also get glimpses of few Islands + famous places in 1 shot. We were really impressed to see Wellingdon Island, Vypeen, Vallarpaadam, Fort Cochin and even Cherai Beach from a distance. You also get to see all types ships on port . The trip starts at 5:30 in the evening. It was beautiful to see the Sunset too. The difference being that it took place not on the sea but we saw it setting into the sky, a little above the endless line, where the sky meets the Sea. A little further into the sea and we felt being rocked in its huge cradle. There were moments I would feel breathless looking at the vastness of the Sea, the feeling of nothingness, just to be compared to it, the beauty of the Lords' creation and so on. I do get carried away in thoughts.

Although we had grabbed something to eat before boarding the Cruise ship, they provided us Tea and refreshments. There is also entertainment aboard. A dance troupe kept performing a few Hit numbers. A guy with a good voice also sang a few good songs with orchestra too. The guests too were given a chance to perform anything. Few kids on board were very enthusiastic and dancing along with the songs and dance. G went off to sleep,just as we were returning as we had a hectic day in the morning. It was dark when we reached on shore. The night lights in Cochin were a pretty sight too.
So next time u r in Cochin do go in for The Sunset Cruise.

Happy New Year 2009

May I begin this year
With a Simple Prayer.
May Our good Lord,
Bless all of u,
Who toil and labour,
Who work hard ,
To make ends meet.
May your prayers,
Be answered and,
Life be made fruitful.
May our Good Lord,
Be a Pillar of Cloud,
To lead u by day,
And Pillar of Fire,
To light ur nights.(Exodus 13:21,22)
May Our Lord,
Preserve you from evil,
And Preserve your soul,
Even while ur going out,
And your coming in,
From this time forth,
And even forever more.(Psalm 121:7,8)
Even when u sit
In Darkness,
The Lord will be
A light to u.(Micah 7:8)
Let not your heart be troubled.



Wishing u all a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009.

Star of Wonder

Let it Snow

The Message of Christmas

The message of Christmas is nothing but the message of God's Love for His people

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The Birth and Resurrection of Jesus is just not another made up or written story but a real-life event of a Living God. Centuries ago during the time of the Old Testament in the Bible, a Prophecy was made of the birth of A Holy Child .

For to us a child is born,to us a son is given,and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,Or Wonderful, Counselor Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)



For years and years, the people of God longed to see the fulfillment of these prophecies.
Virgin Mary who was engaged to Joseph was approached by An Angel of the Lord to be an instrument in fulfilling the prophecy. The Graceful Mary accepted the Lords Will and thus she was conceived by the Holy Spirit.Joseph and Mary went door to door as Mary's time approached. Thus The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was born in a humble and Lowly Manger.
The 3 Wise kings were a few among those people who believed and longed to see the Holy Child. They followed the Star which appeared on Christmas Day to mark the Birth of Jesus. With small gifts for the Holy child, they visited him with great excitement and Joy. They worshiped the Lord and returned to their land full of happiness.










































The Babe of Bethlehem was not merely a remarkable child, but the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born into the world in the form of a man. There were signs everywhere of this Holy Birth. Even Shepherds and Angels worshiped the Holy child !

These are the most beautiful lines from the Bible that explaining the birth of Jesus. Many times I would imagine if I were there as a Shepherd to see the greatest event on Earth.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christa the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Satan tried every trick in his bag to prevent this prophecy to come to pass, as the birth of this Child meant an inevitable end to His reign. King Herod was sending out people to seek the Child and destroy it. But the Lord appeared in a vision to Joseph to flee to Egypt and so they escaped without being hurt. More than the festivity and the decorations this message is what we should have in mind. If this Child wouldn't have been born we would have been a lost! Christmas begins with Christ. Jesus Christ's life did not begin when He was born in a stable and laid in a manger. For He had lived from eternity past at the right hand of God the Father. He left the glories of Heaven to be the Savior of mankind.Some 2,000 years ago God's gift of love to the world was despised and rejected. Only by receiving God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ can we know forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.

These are the chorus lines of a famous song by Rayboltz that I get reminded when I think of a Christmas Tree.
The perfect tree
Grew very long ago
And it was not decked with silver
Or with ornaments of gold
But hanging from its branches
Was a gift for you and me
Jesus laid His life down
On the perfect tree

Wishing u All Joy Filled Christmas and A Happy New Year!!

Childhood Michiefs

My Grand mom (mom's mom) was such an innocent creature. As kids(me, my bro and my sis) when we used to visit our native from Kuwait , we used to be pampered by her. The moment we enter our Tharavadu ( old family house), she would ask my mom "Eee kdangallkku enthangillum kazhkaan kodakku"(give these kids something to eat). Whenever we entered even after a short trip ,she use to ask us the same thing. Back then we used to feel irritated hearing to it, it was as if we were landing from Somalia. Our cousins were staying there too. So we used to have fun times during vacations. There was a storeroom where Grandma used to keep mangoes and nice homemade goodies for us to eat whenever we wanted.
Grandma had genuine care for us. As she was suffering from Rheumatism and Diabetes , she had an odd way of walking with a slight tilt to one side. Whenever the phone used to ring in the house , she had to walk a long distance, since the rooms were like connected like the boogies of a train, from the kitchen to the drawing room. Now when I think of it, I feel I should have helped her in picking the phone and letting her avoid all the walking to and fro. But we were mischief makers then. We (me, my cousin and my Bro) would walk behind her imitating her same style of walk and she wouldn't even know that we were mocking her.
Grandma was so innocent that she would believe every lie that we as children told her. Once I applied red nail polish on my skin and told her that I was bleeding. She became frantic seeing the red color, and started calling out for her servants to attend to me. But I couldn't control my laughter and ran off. My Mom did give me good for fooling her. Then there were numerous times that Grandma would tell us something and we would disobey or pretend by not hearing, turning the music on loud etc. Grandma died when I was in my 12th. Now when I think of her, I feel that I could have shown her more love, even when we were small.