Donations and sacrifices.

I guess that's the theme for this post.


Chinese New Year is the time for giving - and the school thinks so too, hence the boys all had to bring home a donation card to raise funds for their schools. They probably thought the usual rounds of visits would be very fruitful for fund-raising.


I would have thought my usually cheerful fishball would have no problem charming a few dollars from the many relatives and friends we would meet over the new year. But it was not so. He shrank behind his daddy and I, refusing to say even a word for his cause, leaving it to us to do the usual fund-raising speeches. Most people, in the spirit of the time, after failing to coax a word out of him, would just laugh, pull out their wallets and donate but both KH and I did not want to do Owain's job for him.


Finally in exasperation, Caitlin came up with this placard.

I think we have the makings of a street performing troupe. Isaac could clang the cymbals, Gillian call for attention, Owain walk one round with his placard, Cait perform some acrobatic tricks and Trin would make the rounds with a metal bowl for donations! Very useful to have five kids indeed - we won't starve!


Spring and renewal go hand in hand, so it was also timely that Lent started right after the first few days of Chinese New Year.


This is the first year that Owain is attending catechism in church and one of his assignments is to keep a Lenten calendar where he writes everyday (preferably!) the sacrifices he would make for the day in Lenten spirit.


At first, the crafty little guy offered to 'sacrifice' his computer time for Thursday - until I pointed out that he didn't get any computer on weekdays in the first place! So what was there to sacrifice? Sacrifice means giving up something he would value and offering it to God.


He's pretty serious about this. He's the only kid I know who sits and ponders what he could sacrifice. In his own human way, he tries to sacrifice something that does not give him too much pain, but the fact remains, he still tries. The fact that he even bothers to think about this really moves me - humbles me too, because I know I don't do this and I should.


So for today, being Saturday, he has agreed to sacrifice "fighting with Trin over the scooter" and
agreed to "give up computer time". Have to say, the last is very generous of him because his 15 minutes on the computer only comes during the weekends so to give up his computer time on Saturday is really hard!


Of course in the spirit of Chinese New Year there are many other people making donations and sacrifices too - to the new casino, at the mahjong table and over friendly games of blackjack in homes all over the island. I, on the other hand, stayed away. Uncharacteristically, did not even go near a mahjong table this year.


The best night I had during the Chinese New Year was when everyone went to my ILs and left me home alone and in peace to just marathon my night away with my K-drama du jour and a box of pineapple tarts. Bliss! Here's hoping for many other similar days in the rest of the year!