Photo Projects Online...

Link to Shutterfly!
This is my favourite photo hosting site. Had some fun today drafting up a graduation announcement...

Choosing Decent Plays for High School Shows.

A director can't make much of a production when starting with a bad script. And then you add amateur actors on a low budget, it goes from bad to worse.

Zugzwang was all talking. It might have made a decent radio drama 40 years ago.
The Frogs was completely inaccessible.
My husband leans over 2 hours into the second "ONE ACT" and says, "If you want a ride home, you have to walk out of here with me at the curtain call." That was alright with me. I didn't know what I'd say to anyone when the show was over, and I'm sure that I wouldn't be able to overcome the stricken look on my face.

The best thing about this school play was that Tyler never ONCE said anything negative about it during rehearsals, the run, or after. Nuf said. I've already shown by this that I don't have as much character as my 18 year old son.

Mother's Day 2011

It's been a good year of embracing motherhood. It's about time. The boys are teenagers. A lot of energy used to stay on top of Cameron! He seems to have matured a bit this year and as of last week had all his missing assignments turned in. One thing I love about their school here is the individual attention they've given to him. The new middle school principal has been meeting with him a couple times a week - just to check in - not threatening, but an "I'm on your team and want to see you succeed." Teachers help us stay with him to keep him honest. Everyone promises that unless he's psychotic he will grow out of it. 

BIG NEWS is he broke two bones in his ankle friday night at 10:30PM - playing basketball. He's made me his slave and is LOVING being needy and "helpless" even to the point of "needing" me to put his SHIRT on this morning for school. He made us late driving him to school this morning. Tyler wrote on his tardy slip, REASON: "crippled brother is lazy." Ah, the adventure of boys.

Tyler pulled the trigger for Cal Poly SLO, even though he didn't have super strong feelings about it v. a couple of his other choices. Finances/Aid offers made the decision to nix a couple. He did get some generous offers from a couple of the private schools. It wasn't enough. There were a couple of circumstances come up that we felt were Divine interventions in helping him make his choice. Since then, it's been nothing but affirmation and confirmation that he made the right choice. Not the least of which is that two longtime good friends, and former pastors from our Los Angeles home church have daughters who are 1 week older than Tyler; they also chose Cal Poly. We all laughed and said there will be a little "Mustang corral" next year for kids of former Rolling Hills Covenant Pastor's kids...(I'm sure these teenagers who don't really know each other yet just LOVE that...). 

We continue to manage just about every night eating off the downstairs hawkers without food poisoning. My little "flock" in the neighborhood has grown this year...Yi Hui has been a regular feature in our home and she has made some strides in learning to read and some other skills. I've managed to make it into the good graces of the family and pray that by the end of the year we can convince them to send her to a special school rather than put her to work at the end of the year. She'll certainly fail the primary school leaving exams, so no secondary school which will accept her. There's A LOT of strife, abuse and ignorance in her home, so we navigate how to help her with a lot of prayer.

All mine got for me was one of the freebie flowers from church (which the stem had broken at the top by the time it came to me), but I still felt deeply loved which is most important. Seriously been having some sweet family times with our guys. They love me, don't need flowers to prove it. Though taking out the trash without being reminded is also nice...

Two single guys in their 30's who are roommates and motherless called at 6 and came by with Subway sandwiches from the mall. One even gave me a red envelope cause he said he wanted to bless a mother and had decided it would be me. they were sweet, and a good object lesson for the boys for the future. I asked James to pray and when he'd finished (including thanking God for me), Cameron says, "SO is it mother's day or something? I wondered 'cause dad was making such a big deal about mom..." Later we called grandmas and on the speaker phone, they all asked, "so did your boys treat you well today?" and I went on and on about how "They made me feel like a Queen from morning till night." Grinning at the guys who were rolling their eyes and giggling. 

My mother-in-law says, "Kimberly, you're not a good an actress as you used to be."

This is true.

CRM. Community of Transformation, Pt. Clear, Alabama

The view from my room. Ahhh.

My brother and nephew attended the event.
A sweet time to be with them and let them see more of what CRM is besides what they know of us.

Mitch Albom | The college that rejects you may do you a favor | The Courier-Journal | courier-journal.com

Mitch Albom | The college that rejects you may do you a favor | The Courier-Journal | courier-journal.com

gotta love that mitch. a friend sent this to me yesterday. great article.

LAUNCH

Wrapped up in my ego

That’s wrapped up in him

I watch the 18 year old.

A most perfect rocket

In between the Lab and space

Crafted and invested

With all the explosive creative genius

I had to impart.

A high octane cocktail for fuel =

Nurture + Nature + Free Will + Sovereignty.

Elegantly, and with an air of casual

He stands out of reach on the launching pad.

Close to the final countdown that will launch him into his future.

Yet, despite his vitality

And talent

And intellect

The engine at his core

Won’t yet ignite.

What gravity has kept him so weighted to the ground?

Afraid to dream

Or work for a dream?

The tools I had to tinker with

To fine tune or tweak

Are proving useless now.

So I put them aside and dig out the binoculars.

Breathless, I watch.

4-3-2-1.

THE OLD MAN & THE BEAGLE - PART II

(Continued from PART I - September 9th, 2010)

The “Fit Solution - Amazing Cellular Nutrition from Switzerland” had not been very fit for my body. It had only stayed down for a few minutes. As I mopped the orange mess from the front of my dress and started to get my wits about me again, I suggested we “make a move,” as we say in Singapore. It had been an eventful visit to this neighbor’s apartment.

“Uncle, we’d better get going now,” I call to the Old Man who had left us in his living room with the dogs and my vomit and was eating his dinner with his wife in the kitchen. We were in his home because he’d been trying to convince my Canadian friend LISA and her kids Emmett and Thizbe to adopt his Beagle. And while we were there, he had introduced us to a Pyramid Marketing product that sounded like the fountain of youth.

Awkwardly our menagerie, which also included my dog Jack, and the neglected neighbor girl Yi Hui started to move toward the door. Emmett was the first to open the door and before he’d gone outside where our shoes were left, in typical Asian fashion. The Beagle scooted out the door and past his reach.

Emmett called out and the Old Man started to scramble from the kitchen, as Lisa and Emmett took off after the dog in their bare feet.

The dog bolted straight down the hall past a few other apartments before he came to the top of the stairwell. He didn’t pause a second as he started down the nine storeys. It turned out this was a familiar route for him!

As Lisa and Emmett ran after the dog, I was in no shape to run and stood, still a bit dizzy, in the doorway amidst the pile of shoes. I was trying to will my groggy brain to think fast.

I put Jack’s leash on and slipped into my Barbie pumps. Thizbe, Yi Hui and I headed for the elevator. The Old Man was going to follow.

“Oh! I hope they can catch him!” Thizbe worried, knowing that this apartment block stands next to a busy street. It was rush hour by now. It was dark and and the streets were packed with cars. She couldn’t keep back her tears.

The elevator reached the first floor and we search what’s called the “void deck” for our friends and the dog. We must have been quite a sight to the Singaporeans returning from work. Scrawny Chinese little girl and a preteen with light curly hair, the floppy happy dog Jack, and me in my pumps and orange vomit stained white party dress. We were so intent on finding the dog, on a mission, that we didn’t really notice the others around who were surely noticing us.

The Old Man came down to the first floor soon after and he told us, “She does this all the time.” We continued to search the parking lot and walkways nearby. Upstairs in his apartment, he had just been showing us all of his discipline methods with his dog.

Singapore has many wonderful qualities. It’s an amazing little country. Unfortunately nearly everyone around the world, if they know anything about Singapore, has heard of an American Boy who, years ago, was caned by Police for vandalism. Singapore’s discipline methods are effective and famous, even if outsiders see them as a bit Draconian. Thinking that this Beagle is regularly whacked like this, I wasn’t surprised that the dog might bolt from “caning” at every possible opportunity.

Before too long we heard Emmett and his mom Lisa running down the pathway, the dog with her floppy black ears waving behind her, just out of their reach.

We tried to herd her in near the wall of letter boxes. She was getting cornered.

Emmett came up behind her and managed to get his hands around her hips. The dog turned around quickly and chomped down hard on Emmett’s hand. He cried out in pain and let go as the dog ran out of sight once again.

Now, Thizbe is crying for her brother and the lost dog and Emmett is crying in pain. Everyone is upset for multiple reasons, but eleven year-old Yi Hui is wide eyed and laughing. In her small simple world of this local neighborhood, she has probably never seen such excitement. Emmett’s hand is bleeding and we tell the Old Man that we’ll take Emmett back home to take care of his wound.

Awkwardly we decided who would go up to get Lisa and Emmett’s shoes from the 9th floor, and said goodbye to the Old Man. He assured us that he’d find the dog; he always does. We headed back home to our apartment a half block away, to tell the rest of my family of this crazy adventure.

Emmett’s hand wasn’t too badly injured, and within 30 minutes the Old Man had called to report that he’d found the dog.

As you might guess, LISA and the kids decided they’d not adopt the Beagle. I didn’t buy any Fit-Solution from the man. 

At least not yet.

Japan Relief $ through network of Christian Ministries

Kimberly Creasman Our ministry connections from Japan are all recommending this network: If you are looking for a way to respond to the disaster in Japan, here is one excellent option. We'll have a way to do online donating soon! http://crashjapan.com/

What's up with us in March...

Accepted!

Excitement mounts as Tyler learns he's been accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Waiting on 7 more Universities as the Creasmans do their taxes early for the first time ever. Motivation? Filling out the all-important FAFSA for Federal Aid needed the 2010 tax info! 

LORD, we pray for Tyler to draw near to you as he makes his first important decisions as an adult: where he will do his undergraduate studies, and what he will study! We thank you for his gift of intelligence and wit, and his many interests. How can he have an A in AP Mandarin when there's not even a sign of any Chinese studies at home? Direct his steps and inspire him for how to use what you have made in him for your glory!

The Prayer of Examen. 

Kimberly joins other CRM women for 2 weeks in exploring the spiritual discipline of what St. Ignatius called The Prayer of Examen. We are preparing to have a series of retreats starting in October for CRM women around the world. Examen is a morning and evening practice of quiet reflection with the goal of tuning our heart and souls to hearing God. Here's a guide for the prayer of examen and the 1/2 day retreat put together by our team leader Jenny Walley if you'd like to look into it for yourself and your own spiritual growth.

What We've Enjoyed Reading Recently: 

Kimberly-

Rest, Keri Wyatt Kent                      

James-

Managing Transitions, William Bridges

Charitable Giving thru CRM

Thank you for making our work here an extension of your heart for Asia.

We pray that you'd have great joy in these kind of investments, 

whether is it with us or with other good work around the world!

www.crmleaders.org

Donation questions (in USA) 1 (800) 777-6658

you may add "preferenced for Creasman-acct 5651"

CRM- 1240 N. Lakeview, Suite 120, Anaheim, CA 92807-1831

A HIGHLIGHT of FEBRUARY:

Tyler as a Singaporean taxi driver emcee'ing his school's international night.  He and a classmate John Griffith made this 

gag video to open the show.

This week he had a surprise debut at stand up comedy at Comedy Masala, Singapore's only  weekly stand-up open mic. They tracked him down thru Facebook. We've joked that he could put "Accents" as a special skill on his college aps!

Best Birthday Card EVER!

It was a good birthday. 

simple yet full of surprises (3 gals from my Wednesday YaYa Sisterhood discovered my 'detox home' and Elaine join us from her work. She's interning this semester as a counselor at nearby ICS. 

Missed a few of the girls who were still traveling. But maybe I can manage a make up birthday date!

After having watched THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD last night with James, my Seasoned Sisters of Singapore had a discussion today about the real YaYas from Caroline's hometown! They are really named The Hee Hees. And they are quite notorious in a way that my sophisticated and Godly girlfriends don't really want to be. Let me tell you!

Having been so long without on-the-ground girlfriends, I am deeply thankful for my friends and sisters here in my adopted country. Life is delightful when God is showing his feminine side of love for me through my girlfriends.

My boys were also sweet; in their masculine bumbling sort of way.


James showed the boys CORNY video from our honeymoon. 


TYLER: Oh man. It's a good thing you waited 8 years to have kids. You needed some time to mature!" 


I an have audio recording to remember them telling me Kimberly qualities A-Z. 


The best was H="hot", I="indescribable" (tyler) 
and 
J="James' lover", W="winebibber" (cameron).


The actual day was much much better than the previous day. To protect the innocent (and easily embarassed) that post will stay in draft form until the teenage years have blown over.

The Swan Song: SINGLISH

Tyler the Emcee for Int'l Night @ ICS
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly

He'll be off to Uni in June :-( This video was the intro to him coming on stage and emcee'ing ICS international night last night as a Singaporean taxi cab driver. It was fun to see him shine onstage in his "native tongue!" Hard for this stage mom to stay pretty much "hands off" and let the 18 year old do his thang. Should we submit this as a "special skill" to UCLA admissions office?

link to the intro video on FB

CRM USA February Receipt Letter: Kimberly & Yi Hui

PERSONAL VISION for 2011

In a couple's mentoring group we worked on Personal Vision statements this week. A dynamic/ever editing type of statement helps us focus on the important and weed out the urgent.

What's yours?

Tho I don't have much clarity for future LONG RANGE,

I'm very sure the now is to: 

• mix up creative small batches of love to
• feed those who are in my immediate family and close circle of friends, 
• see the boys "launch" well fed and eager to feed others, 
• making sure we're eating a healthy BALANCED diet, 
• and working from a tidy kitchen with clean tools, and a healthier chef (who's not spread it too thin).

That means: Exercise the "no Muscle" on new inspirations by setting them on the back burner for the time being.

Oasis Home Group from RHC
tosses the Yu Sheng for Chinese New Year 2011

Knowing the Bible May Seem Like a Daunting Task, but it’s Do-able!

(Wrote an article for our church blog. Here's an excerpt from the middle of it,)

After hearing some of our histories with the Word of God,  our host lead us in a very practical exercise of how to make a plan to know God’s word over a lifetime. Here’s the condensed version of what he taught.

CORE Books or Passages

Christian leaders usually have favourite Bible books or passages which God has used mightily to spur their growth or solve their problems or guide their decisions. These books or passages form the basis of much of what they share with others, and they do it with added impact since there is a deep personal meaning. Pastors who have invested years in studying the Bible and preaching the Word have the opportunity to master more of the Bible than others, but all of us have some books or passages which we have or are becoming the core for us. God has provided all of us with different opportunities for learning and shaping us through the Scriptures.

Approaching Our Mastery of the Bible in Four Ways

1. Devotional Input - learning to hear from the Holy Spirit as you regularly read the Bible.

2. Mastery of Core - Really set your heart and mind to study and mastery of these sections as God reveals them to you.

3. Familiarity Reading – the sections of the Bible you don’t know as well.

4. Situational Studies – as topics come up that you need to know about, or have the opportunity to learn, God will lead you to expertise in certain areas.

Read the whole article