I woke up thinking I will post something to the blog! It's been a year...a great reason for a blog post!
But then I remembered the sadness at home. Those innocent children in their classroom.....my heart filled with sadness. I have been consumed with sadness for those people, those mothers and fathers, for my nation. I cannot get it out of my head.
How do those mothers breathe?
Sunday at mass our priest wept as he spoke about what he called "the slaughter". He compared it to what Herod did to the baby boys before Christ was born. I could not stop weeping. Our kids had so many questions. Deric and I did the best we could to comfort them. All they really wanted to know was..WHY? How do you even begin to explain that to a child without terrifying them and stealing their joy at Christmastime?
I won't let evil steal their joy. Or mine.
Today I will remember that a year ago today we moved to Singapore. I will remember what a crazy, exciting time that was for our family! And years from now when we look back on this post..we will also remember Sandy Hook Elementary.
The week before a year ago today...we lived here, in a little serviced apartment on the beach.
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| THE KIDS ALL SLEPT IN ONE ROOM... |
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| IT WAS COZY |
IT WAS RIGHT ON THE BEACH!
CAN YOU SPOT THE CAMEL IN THIS PICTURE?
IT WAS IN THIS LITTLE APARTMENT THAT LIV
FINALLY LOST THAT OTHER FRONT TOOTH!
The week before we left we celebrated Christmas at The American School of Dubai..
A place I miss every single day!
I CREATED MY FINAL POSTER FOR THE PTA...
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| THE KIDS VISTED WITH SANTA |
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| I WATCHED LOTS OF CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCES.. |
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 BLAKE EARNED HER YELLOW BELT IN TAE KWON DO AND LUKE EARNED HIS PURPLE BELT!  AMAZING TAE KWON DO MASTER...WE MISS HER!
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WE SAID GOOD-BYE TO THE BEST TEACHERS!
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| TIME TO HEAD OUT THAT GATE FOR THE LAST TIME... |
LOTS OF GOOD-BYES
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| WE LOVE YOU ASD! |
The night before we moved to Singapore we met all our wonderful
friends met at The Madinat Hotel for some last good-byes.
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| ANOTHER VISIT WITH...SANTA? |
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| FAREWELL TODD'S! |
BON VOYAGE DANIELS!
SEE YOU IN TEXAS CHEWS!
WE'LL BE SEEIN' Y'ALL SNEEDONS!
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| KISS THEM GOOD-BYE..THEY'RE IRISH! |
HEADEM' UP MOVEM' OUT
NEW HOME SINGAPORE HERE WE COME..
And here we are a year later..once again enjoying Singapore at Christmastime..
This city does it up for Christmas!
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| DID YOU KNOW IT SNOWS IN SINGAPORE? OR SHOULD I SAY IT SUDS... |
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| THE STREETS ARE SO BEAUTIFULLY DECORATED! |
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| I LOVE THIS BEAUTIFUL SIGN ON ORCHARD ROAD.. IT IS ON THE SIDE OF ONE OF THE LOCAL DEPARTMENT STORES  LAST YEAR IT SAID THIS... PROUDLY QUOTING SCRIPTURE IN SINGAPORE  ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHRISTMAS TREES I HAVE EVER SEEN IS MINUTES FROM OUR HOME!  |
YOU CAN WALK INSIDE IT!
A MUCH SMALLER TREE WENT UP FOR THE SECOND TIME
IN SINGAPORE! THIS TIME THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!
NOT THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE LIKE LAST YEAR!
I COLLECT STARS FOR OUR TREE..
THIS ONE IS MADE FROM BATIK FABRICS THAT ARE
HANDMADE IN THIS REGION...IT'S OUR SINGAPORE STAR!
SPEAKING OF STARS! Miss Lilly was our little star in her first ever dance performance!
We headed to the beautiful, historic Raffles Hotel to watch Lilly's school put on an
adorable show! Santa even came!
THE RAFFLES HOTEL..HOME OF THE FAMOUS SINGAPORE SLING
VERY BRITISH INDIA...
TINY DANCER
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| LILLY DEAD CENTER! |
BEST LITTLE FRIENDS
AFTER HER DANCE SHE HAD A CHAT WITH SANTA
LILLY AND HER SWEET SWEET TEACHERS...
PROUD MAMA
THE UNITED STATES MARINES HOSTED A TOYS FOR TOT
EVENT AT THE AMERICAN CLUB AND SANTA CAME!
HIGH FIVE FOR SANTA!
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| SANTA WAS GREAT....(WE WONT DISCUSS THOUGH HOW THE NEXT DAY WE SAW HIM LEAVING THE UNION BAR..LUKE WAS PERPLEXED) |
GOODIE BAGS FROM SANTA ARE THE BEST!
SANTA COMA
THANKS TO A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS ANGEL
OUR OLD ELF FOUND US!
(OUR ELF IS BORING....HE PLAYS NO TRICKS,
IS NOT MISCHIEVOUS, AND SOMETIMES HE FORGETS TO MOVE)
HANGING WITH THE ARAB IS AS CRAZY AS HE GETS.
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| OH..HE DID RIDE A CAMEL. A year later and Deric and his Nalco peeps have moved into a new office. There was quite the celebration for the new space! Dragon dancers, food, drinks and a band! It was awesome!     THE DRAGONS WARD OFF EVIL AND BRING LUCK TO THE BUSINESS   |
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| BACK TO SOME CHRISTMAS! WE MADE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE LAST WEEK AT THE AMERICAN CLUB.. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL KIT..I AM PROUD TO SAY I STEPPED BACK AND LET THE KIDS DO ALL THE WORK! (OKAY, I HELPED A LITTLE) |
TEAMWORK!
AND JUST LAST NIGHT I POURED MYSELF A GIANT GLASS
OF WINE AND LET THE KIDS HAVE AT SOME
CHRISTMAS COOKIES....JOY..I NEEDED SOME JOY!
I GUESS THE COOKIES WERE A GOOD THING BECAUSE
I SCORED THIS LOVE NOTE THE NEXT DAY...
Cheers from Singapore, God Bless America and
