Back in Jan 2009, I bought a jigsaw puzzle from Singapore, and started working on it some time later back home in Melbourne. It was slow going, as the kids were no longer interested in jigsaws, and Mary was too busy to help. So it was just me and the 2000 piece jigsaw. In the midst of building the jigsaw, I started thinking about the frame, and wanted to try and build my own frame, as frames are expensive to purchase over here. I started reading up about frame building, and enlarged my interest to woodworking in general. I found the subject so interesting that I took up woodworking and built several projects including my own workbench, a shoe cabinet and other items.

On Easter Sunday this year, I finally completed my jigsaw, after more than a year. And soon after that, I built a router table so that I could route the moulding of the frame. I started work on the frame after that, and today, I finally hung the jigsaw up, one and a half years after I started the project. It’s been a long but rewarding experience!

25 Feb 2009

8 March 2009

21 Jan 2010

24 March 2010

Back of the Frame

Finished and Hanging!

So we’ve been doing about 60 to 80 km each ride about once a week. Each member of the group (4 of us at present) had fallen at least once, and some more often, with the exception of myself (up till last Tuesday). In fact, Tony had even broken his collar bone in a rather nasty spill.

So last Tuesday, there I was, pretty smug in being the only one who had not fallen. I even recall some rides back when Frank told me it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, I would fall, and I had told him that “I’m pretty skilled, so I’m not so sure about that prediction”. Well Tuesday morning, Joo Ann was commenting about how he had damaged his cycle computer in a fall and how he did not want to get another one. I smugly quipped “Well, don’t fall so often”.  I was joking of course, but the man upstairs has his own brand of humour; because 2 mins later, I found myself sprawled on the ground, with some painful cuts and abrasions!

The whole thing was quite funny, but when something like that happens to you; it actually strengthens your faith in an almighty yet very personal God. Yes, I was joking about being the only one who hadn’t fallen, but deep down, there was some pride and arrogance about that fact too. So when He took me down a notch, it was actually quite a faith experience. And I realised that there was a lot of care taken in his ’strike’. I was hurt just enough to suffer some pain and to realise my arrogance, but not enough to cause serious injury or permanent damage, which could have easily happened as well!

The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

http www.theage.com

The idea for this activity came from Henry, and was of course strongly supported by the rest of us, especially since we had organised similar activities when we were in Singapore.

For two Saturdays, we gathered, first at the Chongs’, and then at our home, to practise for this activity.  Henry and Alexius were the guitarists, and Henry was the choir master.  We chose common carols that didn’t require too much practice and we also bought and packaged lolly bags for the residents of the home.  The whole activity was most uplifting for all of us, and it was nice to be able to get all the grown up kids together in one room for a common activity with their ‘old folks’!

We were by no means great singers, but I think the residents enjoyed our singing, or at least tolerated it well, until they could get their hands on the lolly bags.  :)  I believe all of us enjoyed practicing and performing for the home, and we will most likely do it again next year. Apart from the Chias and the Chongs, we also had James joining us. He’s kinda like our adopted, older child, since he spends a lot of time with our kids as their  ’big brother’ and mentor in spiritual affairs as well as less lofty activities such as ‘Texas Hold’em’.

After the performance, we had an ‘after party’ at the Chongs, and that evening, we all went for a reconciliation service at St. Christoper’s church followed by dinner.  All in it was a most fulfilling weekend.

More photos can be found here.

The songbook can be found here.

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Anyway, the Pallottine Youth Encounter at Milgrove was a stay-in encounter for youth, and we had participants from Canada, USA, Belize, India, South Africa, Brazil, and a few other countries.  The Milgrove encounter was from 4th July to 9th July and most of the participants found the encounter to be very beneficial, in terms of spiritual renewal and community building.  We had a very large number of priests, and it was refreshing to see a mass con-celebrated by 7 or 9 priests.  My 4 older kids attended the Milgrove encounter, and I was there most of the time as well.

After Milgrove, the participants were then provided with home-stay with hosts from our parish church.  And for the next few days, we attended some organised church activities as well as activities of the Melbourne days in the diocese, in preparation for WYD in Sydney. 

The group then travelled up to Sydney by bus and was there from 14th July to 21st July.  Tony and I drove up in a car, as we needed the car to run various errands whilst in Sydney.  We had some last minute accommodation and transport hiccups, but thankfully all problems were solved smoothly and on time.  Tony and I had a chance to spend a few nights at my cousin, Daniel’s home.  The rest of the time, we spent it in classrooms with the rest of the youth, at St. Patrick’s primary school at Sutherland.

I have very mixed feelings about this whole project.  I had attended the WYD as a support person, rather than as a pilgrim, so I was not exactly in the pilgrim frame of mind.  Nevertheless, the events of Milgrove and WYD touched me in a special way.  It was quite amazing to see half a million people gathered together to attend mass celebrated by our spiritual leader, the Pope.  With that many youths gathered in one place, you would have expected chaos, rowdiness and nonsense; yet everyone was relatively well-behaved and a proper sense of reverence pervaded all the events.  Can you imagine half a million silent worshippers gathered at one place?  Quite incredible and moving.

The other experience I had was how things seemed to just fall in place, despite my concerns and worries over problems etc.  Don’t get me wrong; I did have to scramble and take action to solve the problems, but the results were always good.  It was as if the Spirit was guiding and taking control of all the things that had to be done.  Yes, you might say it’s coincidence, but so what?  For those who have faith, coincidences are planned by the Spirit, and when you have many coincidences in a row, you can’t help but feel the Spirit moving. 

Having said all the above, I don’t think I want the same role for any future World Youth Days.  My kids are looking forward to the next one in Madrid, but I hope that if I do attend in future, it will be as a pilgrim/tourist, without any responsibilities for any youths except my own kids!

Some photos can be found here:

http://blog.tuenproductions.com/photogallery/index.php?/category/318

Before                          After

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: ‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that w hen a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ Shay’s father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay’s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father’s joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first! Run to first!’ Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’ Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball … the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’ Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third! Shay, run to third!’ As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’ Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!