8/14/2008

Holding THINGS Loosely*


Tyler posted this photo as his Facebook profile picture this week. It's one of my favorite photos of him as a toddler, overlayed with The Dark Knight Joker's face, and his now famous quote, 

"Why so serious?"

This is my theme for the day.

A few years ago, my parents worked on putting together a "missionary house" in USA. They wrote to me about it as they worked on it, and really enjoyed the process, then they had the joy of seeing missionaries from their church get to stay there. I was a bit envious of my parents to be able to do that! Even though I'm the recipient of staying in such an apartment these first few weeks back in Singapore, I like thinking about who will come along next, and imagining the ways the owner who's offered it will be a blessing to them too.

The places we stayed this past year in USA were also missionary apartments. Of course there was some rent involved, but it was quite reduced, and they had a number of rules which helped in keeping up the place and making it nice for the next person who came along. There were some community service things we all signed up for, and a few rules in place which helped in keeping costs down. It still was rather trashy. I joked all year about living in a trailer park, and gave up early on the idea I was going to make the garden planters look nice when I saw the children using the leaves to make "salads" in their play. Nevertheless, there were some guidelines. For instance, when we were getting ready to leave, there was a 6 page document for all the items to clean before leaving. We were told by the manager that if it took a cleaning lady more than 2 hours to finish the list then she would be paid from our cleaning deposit, and we wouldn't be approved to come stay there again! Some thought it was harsh. I thought it was smart.

Especially after being in the Singapore apartment. Yes. part of it is me. Individuals from different cultures or upbringings have different values and standards of how to take care of things and keep them clean. No matter what culture we're from, there are some people who don't value keeping nice things nice. Growing up in a Baptist Church, I remember hearing some ladies talk about not wanting to host a certain missionary family, because they break or ruin things! That's probably what has contributed to my over zealous feelings about this (my husband might call it "obsessive compulsive")!

In the previous post I mentioned the kitchen being filthy and that it drew the critters. This "drama" makes for interesting stories for now, and will be forgotten. I am saddened to see that the previous tenants have not kept the place nicer for this generous owner who lets us stay here FOC. It's not really a hardship for us to hunker down amidst cockroaches. We've lived in challenging places before this, but thinking of this owner's generous heart, and this being Singapore and not China, or Romania, or Peru, I'm sorry to see he's been taken advantage of.

In this case, it's not just his home, but our bedroom set and living room furniture have been here for a year. I had noticed on the first day an inordinate number of scrapes and scratches on the wood furnishings, but didn't get disheartened too much by it. But last night, when the flatmate brought out our bedroom dresser from his room to prepare for the movers coming today, we discovered that a large section of the top has been discolored. I thought I'd prepared myself for some damage or wear or loss, but this is more than I'd mentally bargained for.

Of course we'll roll with it. It's just stuff, and I'm reminded again to let heaven fill my thoughts. In the big picture of life, and the smaller one of living here amongst so many we've come to know and love, there are so many other things to be grateful for. I'll just do a bit of whining here in the blog; like King David did in his Psalms. And also like him, I'll come around in the end to proclaiming God's goodness and my trust in him.

8/13/2008

The Nomadic Life of Transitions*


When I started packing our luggage the first week of July, I told myself:

Gear up for 3 months of nomadic life. You're not going to feel this settled again until at least the end of September.

I'll be so glad when we've settled. So many details in moving and starting school at the same time! Finding a place to live being the big one which takes 3 face to face meetings before you actually start to move in. View it. Intent to lease deposit. Sign the papers get the key.

For various reasons there are documents to copy (where do you go to get a copy made in this neighborhood?), money to change (the best rates were a 45 minute taxi ride away), obtaining bus/train passes, setting up phones (which cell phone service actually has the best rates?), electricity, gas, shopping for car, arranging movers, getting a medical check up for Cameron, finding where to buy groceries, signing up for sports, a contract for who'll service the airconditioners, finding a handyman to make minor repairs.

Yesterday afternoon Jim and I met in town for lunch and did 3 errands (only 1 was profitable). Since we don't have a car, it took us FIVE HOURS. UGH. It took and hour to get to where we were meeting. With a car it would have been a 15 minute journey!

I also sent a note to Cameron's teachers today asking for grace on the deadline to get his textbooks covered by Friday. This laborious task is definitely not a priority in the next 2 days!

I rode the public bus with Cameron and Tyler the first day of school and then for the second day, I walked to the bus stop and put them on one I thought looked like was faster. An hour later, Tyler called and said they weren't anywhere near school yet. They got off the bus, found a cab and still were 15 minutes late to school. A TARDY on their second day.

Today, Tyler took off ahead of us, was nowhere to be seen, and Cameron was too nervous to ride alone. I didn't have my phone, and was in my lounge pants I'd slept in, and empty coffee cups in hand (I'd told Jim I was going downstairs to sent the kids off and I'd get us both a 70 cent cup of coffee at the outdoor coffee shop on my way back from the bus stop), but feeling guilty about the day before, Cameron prevailed upon me to ride the bus with him. I got back 1 hour and 10 minutes later at 8:45 and told Jim:

"I'm officially starting my day over from right now."

Got in bed, pulled the covers up over my head and prayed for peace. (actually what I said was, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." but it's evidently not my time to go just yet!)

I'm up again now and ready to start fresh!

8/08/2008

Found a New Home





Jim's off today meeting with his first Pastors Network. A welcome back lunch.
I celebrated being back by participating in the 24 hour playwright competition last weekend and cranked out a masterpiece.
The boys found out that there is an American football league and practices start Wednesday.

Just a quick note to say,
Thanks to everyone who prayed, or helped us with leads!
We've found our next "home sweet home" in Singapore!


After only 8 days back in Singapore, we got the keys yesterday and will move in Friday, August 15th. 
Boys starts school Monday, so will only have to commute this first week. 
Most important to us was that it be within out budget and walking distance from school.
Tyler clocked it:
The apartment is a 14 minute walk from the back gate of school.

Our new address is:
Block 356 Clementi Avenue 2 #05-277
Singapore 120356

(We're staying in Bukit Batok West for now, where, of the many small things we are thankful for, there is a TV! 
Which means we can watch some Olympics!)

We're so grateful!

Kimberly, Jim, Tyler & Cameron
Also, our phones are all up and running. 
Jim +65 9839 8559 (same as before)
Kimberly +65 9839 6965 (same as before)
Tyler +65 9650 9696
ALSO: a we have a new USA number which rings on a phone connected to our computer: (714) 982-0578

We're 15 hours AHEAD of West Coast USA. It's easy to figure out! If your in the west coast, whatever time it is there, and add 3 hours. 
If it's day for you, it's night for us. Or simply: Evenings there, are mornings for us. 

Believe God loves to spoil you! 
What are you needing to trust him for today? 
If he wills it, he is able. 
And he is good.

Mini Miracle, Big Blessings while looking for a place to live *

Besides the big one of finding the apartment (story below) there are little things which have been treats from the Lord in our first 9 days:

A new USA phone number through the computer to call home for free, and the line is clear and easy to use.

There is American Football up at the Singapore American School! It's the only league like it for kids in all of Asia! We went up there and met the commissioner and they said they'll put any kids from ICS who sign up on the same team so that we can share the commuting up there 5 days a week. (Conditioning starts this Wednesday and the seasons runs through November 3)

Cameron had only been able to contact one friend since coming back. One of the boys, Ruslan, we'd lost the number for, and the school couldn't find him in their directory either. Then, on an island of more than 4 million, I BUMP INTO HIM and his mom at the mall. He was free to come with me to surprise Cameron back at the apartment. He ended up staying with him all afternoon and evening!

Tyler's best friend from primary school, who is now living in Bangkok, was here the week we came back. The boys had a great chance to catch up and Reuel spent the night with Tyler to have a good long time catching up.

8/05/2008

Finding the Next Home

Wednesday, July 30
From day one, we've been in an apartment in Bukit Batok West (near West Mall Up a stop from the Jurong interchange on MRT). Generously offered by the man who is warehousing our stuff, and the apartment where our bedroom furniture and couches are. It was so sweet, in preparing for us he'd partially renovated the bathroom. In it's incomplete state it's been a gift we're grateful for, but not a place we've been able to feel entirely "at home." Not for big reasons, but a number of little things (like eating out at Hawker centers 7 days in a row because we didn't want to buy groceries and cook in the kitchen with all the roaches and the cupboards full of open bags of potato chips and odds and ends of broken appliance parts. Or maybe the piles of junk from the renovation in the hall, or a mould filled cupboard in the boys room that's made Cameron be congested and sneezing)

The other big surprise was that we have two Filipino guys we've never met sharing the flat with us. Nice guys, but it has meant we lock our bedroom doors when not home, and can't be sure whether we can use more than the one shelf in the fridge for all the other stuff in there...

Each morning we've gotten up and walked downstairs to a kopitiam and purchased a coffee and a newspaper to see what's new in the housing market and if there are any deals on cell phones.

Friday, August 1st
In our first 3 days back to Singapore, there wasn't much advertised in the Clementi area, which is walking distance or a short bus from the kids' school. We've said this is our greatest priority since it's our last home before Tyler goes off to university. We want to be convenient for their school friends to come to our house, rather than going somewhere else that's more convenient. It also makes it nice not to have to send them and pick them up everyday after school or spend a lot of time commuting by public transportation!

The hardest part of this housing search is coming to terms with the fact that prices, which were about equal to the high cost of LA rentals, have doubled in the year we've been away. And we know we should get realistic about what we can afford. However, we know that nothing is impossible with God. So, while waiting to see if the Lord would drop an affordable condominium, duplex/terraced house, or landed property in our laps (oh! wouldn't it be nice to have a pool on the grounds again, or -sigh- a patch of garden where we could have a little of our own outdoor space?).
We started looking at the few places in our budget and tried to keep from getting too depressed. If you don't know, or remember, the last place we stayed was a spacious penthouse on the 23 and 24th floor with a breathtaking view of downtown and the ocean! We knew at the time it was an amazing gift from God and might very well be the nicest place we ever live this side of heaven. We had a year in missionary housing this past year to bring us back to reality, but there's still a part of me that knows if He did it once, he can do it again....

On this Friday, nothing was advertised, so we just did some walking around the Clementi neighborhood to check out what the more-in-our-budget, but still too expensive government housing apartments (HDBs) looked like. We figured there are about 75 HDB buildings within walking distance of the school.

In the whole of Clementi, we found ONE that we thought would be perfect.
It was the only block within a few miles around the school which we found having a combination of a number things on our wish list:
  • older (so designed with bigger rooms)
  • 3 bedrooms
  • not surrounded and blocked in by other tall concrete apartments
  • away from the loud noises and dirt of traffic or the trains
  • pretty grounds and not all concrete
  • a quick walk to shopping and a hawker center
Sitting in the common area of the ground floor of this ONE IDEAL BLOCK, I sent a text message to our realtor and said, "Let's start praying for a rental to come available in Block 356." It would be like finding a needle in a haystack since these HDBs are rarely available for rent. And even if she did find something in this one block, the chances that inside would be something we'd like are also kind of slim.

In Ephesians 3:20 Paul prayed, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine!" We've prayed this prayer more than once and know that he is able if he wills.

Saturday, August 2nd
I wasn't going to let the housing market dampen my intention to trust that God is going to provide for our needs. He always has, he already knows where we're going to live, and he is not going to let us be homeless! Though I'm dreaming for a garden and convenient pool, Jim says he'd actually prefer an HDB over the condos or anything larger or nicer. It's what we lived in our first 6 years here. He says even if we got a condo on our budget, which is very unlikely, he'd be more comfortable in and HDB because then we're living like 95% of the rest of Singaporeans. He feels it makes him have more common ground with those he serves. I know I can be content in just about anything after our two years in a Chinese dorm and 6 years in HDBs. I'm open to anything that the Lord shows us to be his will for us.

With Jim's encouragement, I went off to join a 24 hour playwright competition hosted by one of the Theatre companies in town. This is something I did 8 years ago - a highlight of our first difficult year here. It was my first time writing a play and I won "Special Mention." Since then I've been studying more, and even teaching playwriting a few times. So, I thought spending 24 hours in some uniquely Singaporean venue, with other Singaporeans who are also writing a play in 24 hours might be a good way to celebrate coming back to Singapore!

Sunday, August 3rd
Sunday afternoon, as the competition was winding down, I was spell checking and formatting my masterpiece, and I got a text from the real estate agent. She had found a rental in block 356, the very block we'd wished for, and we were set to go see it in 2 hours! AMAZING.

I met Jim, the kids, and the realtor at the same common area from 2 days before. She called the owners agent to let him know we were there and he told her he'd just signed an agreement with anther renter the hour before and hadn't called her to cancel our appointment.

Sigh.

Well, she told him, we were already there. She asked him if he'd let us see the place anyway since we'd come all the way down to see it.













The 5th floor apartment had everything on our wish list above and more:
  • Space enough for an office/desk for me in the hall area
  • air conditioned bedrooms (we hadn't even dared to wish for air con in the hall/living room but this one had it)
  • Fridge and washer dryer, but mostly unfurnished (okay, we needed a twin bed and closets - called "wardrobes" which were here)
  • a short walk to the public pool, train station, bus interchange and grocery shopping.
  • Built in cabinets and flooring in a style we actually like!

We went downstairs after seeing the place. All of us amazed at the timing, how perfect the place seemed, and yet none of us discouraged. God knows and we can trust him.

"Lord," I said my wish and prayer aloud. "If you want us to live here, then you make a way. If this place is meant for us, then let the other deal fall through." We all chuckled at the improbability and suggested a prayer walk around the grounds.


Tuesday, August 5
Tuesday at noon the realtor called again to tell me of a small miracle:

The deal did in fact fall through, and the place is available for us if we'd like it.

How about that?

By 5:00PM yesterday we'd signed the intent to lease, we'd called our movers to get a date, and the wheels are in motion for us to move in August 15th once the owner does some repairs and puts a fresh coat of paint on the place.

The owner even agreed to the last item on our wish list
(one that is rarely agreed to for rentals):

He will allow us to keep a pet!

We had told the boys that when we returned to Singapore we'd get them a dog to replace "Rascal" who died under anesthesia for a tooth extraction the week before we left last year; but only if the landlord allows it. I've been offered TWO Golden Retrievers, but that's not really workable in a small apartment! So, the next installment in this blog will be either how God provides for the dog, or how we find a car...