What are your treasures?

The cheerful girl with bouncy curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

“Oh, please, mommy, can I have them? Can I have them? Please, Please, mommy?”

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.

“A dollar and ninety-five cents. That’s almost two dollars. If you really want them, in no time, you can save enough to buy them for yourself. Your birthday is only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, the little girl emptied her penny box and counted out seventeen pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and went to the neighbors and asked Mrs McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she was swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother had said that if they got wet, they might turn the back of her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she went to bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he had finished the story, he asked Jenny.

Do you love me?

“Do you love me?”

“Oh, yes, Daddy, you know I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls, but you can have Princess, the white horse, from my collection. The one with the pink tail, remember daddy? The one you gave me. She is my favorite.”

“That’s ok, honey.”

He brushed her cheek with a kiss. About a week later, after the story, Jenny’s daddy asked again.

“Do you love me?”

“Daddy, you know I love you.:

“Then give me the pearls.”

“Oh, daddy, not my pearls, but you can have my baby doll and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”

“That’s ok, sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.”

And as always he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when Daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed in Indian style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear ran down her cheek.

“What is it?”

Jenny did not say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy and when she opened it, there was her pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said,
“Here, Daddy, it’s for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace and with the other hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was waiting for her to give up the dime store stuff so he could give her a genuine treasure.

What are you holding on to that is preventing you from getting the genuine treasure? What limiting beliefs are holding you back? What misconceptions about money are you clinging to? It is time to let go.

Have the courage to seek out change. Change is painful.Most people won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change. When it comes to money, we can be like the toddler in a soiled diaper. “I know it smells bad, but it’s warm and it’s mine.” Only when the rash comes will we cry out. If you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same results. You are where you are right now financially as a sum total of the decisions you’ve made to this point.

If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.

(Note: The above story and key points are from the book “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey.)

By now, all of you would have watched the MJ Memorial or caught glimpses of it from the tv. I stayed up to watch it live early this morning. My time zone is GMT +8 so it was early Wednesday morning here when the memorial started.

What a memorial it was! There were great performances from Mariah Carey, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Shaheen Jafargholi (“Britain’s Got Talent” star). I find Usher’s performance particularly touching when he sang “Gone Too Soon”.

MJ’s brother Marion also tugged at my heartstrings with his speech. He alluded to the controversies that surround MJ in death. “How much pain can one man take?” Marion asked. “Maybe now, they will leave you alone.”  How poignant!

To me, the most memorable part of the memorial was at the very end when MJ’s daughter Paris Katherine Jackson took to the microphone and said, “Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just want to say that I love him so much.”  She broke down in tears after that and buried herself in the arms of her aunt Janet Jackson. I don’t mind admitting that tears just welled up in my eyes after that.  She touched the hearts of millions worldwide with that short tearful tribute. RIP, MJ!

This heartbreaking plight of 4-year old Charmaine Lim was brought to my attention by my wife who suggested that I do a blog post on this little girl. After reading her story on Karen Cheng’ s blog (http://karencheng.com.au/) , I feel so sad and I really hope I can do something for her. I know a lot of people have the attitude that they cannot do much but at least we should try!

This is the story of Charmaine Lim, a four year old in Singapore, who has just had her birthday. She has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer and is slowly dying UNLESS we can help raise enough money for her to go the USA for treatment as soon as possible. Right now she is doing her 5th chemo. This has bought her some time, but the cancer has already spread beyond her abdomen. She is currently in the 4th stage and fighting hard. We are greatly saddened that such a sweet and cheerful little girl has to undergo so much pain and suffering at such a young age.

Feisty Princess Charmaine

Charmaine�s chance at survival will be improved to 50/50 with a treatment only available in� USA. However the cost for the treatment is over USD350,000.

This is a terrible ordeal for Charmaine�s family. Her mother Cynthia is a single parent who has already given up her job to care for Charmaine. They do not have any medical insurance to cover this.

You can read the heartbreaking appeal by Charmaine’s mum Cynthia Lim here.

Charmaine�s family are fighting for the life of Charmaine.� Lots of people have already given their time and money to help. But there is still a long way to go.

It will be so tragic if Charmaine dies, but it will be much, much more tragic if she dies without having had this 50/50 chance of survival if she were to go to USA for treatment. I urge you all to help, on matter how small your donation may be. Just reach out and touch Charmaine’s life!

I have put up an exquisite beaded basket for auction on eBay. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to Charmaine Lim. You can view the auction here.

You can donate here .

And you can read all about Feisty Charmaine�s fight here.

It’s Saturday night. I got back back from Kuching about 3 hours ago. My wife and I flew to Kuching on June 25 to attend the wedding of my niece, Dr Angel Lim. The last two days had been a flurry of activities and had been quite tiring but it was really great to be able to attend Angel’s wedding.� Angel is the second daughter of my brother Kiong and she is a doctor. Her husband is Dr Bernard Cheu, an orthopaedics specialist doctor.

My brother and my sister-in-law hosted the wedding dinner reception at Asajaya Hall of the Grand Margherita Hotel (the former Holiday Inn) on June 25. There was almost a full turnout of invited guests and the hall was packed. It was really a joyous occasion for us all!

Wedding day was June 26. We had to get up at about 5 am to go to my brother’s house. My wife and I were staying with my sister.� We had a lot of fun in my brother’s house when Bernard came to fetch Angel.� Please see the photos below.

The church wedding was held at St Joseph’s Cathedral on June 26. This was the first time I have ever attended a wedding ceremony in a Catholic church so it was an eye-opener for me.

Bernard and Angel came back to my brother’s house in the afternoon and were served “mee sua” by Angel’s mum. This was followed by a tea ceremony.

The wedding dinner reception hosted by Bernard’s parents was held at Hilton Hotel. It was another joyful evening and the food was sumptuous.

I dedicate this poem by poet Christopher Robin to Angel and Bernard:

As you start out today, joined as one together

We wish your hearts soar, fly on Angel’s wings

Pleasure fulfilment, endless joy, contentment

As perfect a Marriage, that anyone yet so brings

May you find everyday, sweetly lying awaiting

All you’re dearest, sweetest; dreams yet come true

While sharing a lifetime jointly, forever on today

May endless happiness ever pursue the two of you

To the sweetest ever, very happy, perfect couple

Perfect wishes we relay, on your wedding day

May love happiness joy prosperity and harmony

Ever sweetly surround you both, forever we relay

I pray that God will shower the two of you with an abundance of blessings in all areas of your life. Yes, may you be blessed!

Angel & Bernard Arriving At The Asajaya Hall

Angel & Bernard Seated At Their Table

First Dish of The Night

Bernard popping champagne flanked by his parents and Angel's parents

Yamseng!

The Happy Couple Cutting Cake

Photo Session With Parents After The Dinner

The Happy Couple With My Mum (Angel's grandma)

Photo of Angel With Her Parents On Wedding Day

Angel Serving Tea To Her Grandma

Angel Hugging Her Grandma After Serving Tea

Angel Serving Tea To Her Dad

Angel Kissing Her Dad After Serving Him Tea

Angel Serving Tea To Her Mum

Angel Hugging Her Mum After Serving Her Tea

Angel's Parents Putting On Veil For Angel

Arrival of Bernard and his entourage

Angel's brother Leroy opening the door for Bernard

Bernard Awaiting Permission To Enter The House...He Had To Shout His Proclamation of Love So That Angel Can Hear From Her Room Upstairs

Bernard Awaiting Permission To Enter Angel's Room

Bernard Given The Task of Identifying Angel's Lipstick Marks From A piece of Paper With7 Sets of Lipstick Marks. Bernard got it right on his ..............7th attempt....lol!!

Angel's Parents Handing Over Angel to Bernard

This is fun....that young girl with the hen in her hands is my niece and the young man with the cockerel in his hands is Bernard's cousin....they had to make hen and cockerel sounds as they led the newly-weds out of my brother's house

The Happy Couple Leaving My Brother's House

Angel Arriving At The St Joseph's Cathedral

My brother leading Angel down the church's aisle

My brother handing Angel to Bernard

Ring Exchange Ceremony

You may kiss the bride

Signing the marriage certificate

The newly-weds leaving the church after the church service

Angel.....how aptly named!

What an angelic-looking bride!

Beautiful Angel & Suave Bernard preparing to leave the church

Bernard serving Angel a piece of cake his way at the Hilton reception hosted by Bernard's parents

The happy couple on stage

Angel, Bernard and their families "yamseng" to the invited guests

The MC for the night played a joked on the couple...the couple were supposed to kiss for a countdown to 10 but the countdown took quite a long time and the couple had to comply!

Aren't they cute? This photo was taken by the wedding photography studio's professional photographer

Another beautiful photo taken by the studio

Isn't she lovely? Another of the photos taken by the studio

The happy couple in Chinese wedding attire

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot about it.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its color and drank all the medicine in the bottle. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed the mother rushed him to the hospital. He died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how she was going to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.

Question: What were the five words ?

Scroll down to read….

The husband just said ‘I am with you darling’. The husband’s totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation, compassion and support from the husband. That was what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

We can learn a lot from kids if we can just slow down and spend time to really listen to them. Very often we are so caught up in our busyness that we fail miserably as parents. The following two stories can teach us a lot.

An Empty Gift

A father punished his 3-year old daughter for wasting a piece of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became angry when her little daughter tried to decorate a box for no apparent reasons. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you daddy.”

He was embarrassed by his over-reaction the previous day but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside of it?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh daddy, it is not empty. I blew lots of kisses into the box just for you.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl and asked for her forgiveness. The man kept that� gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there. Each of us parents has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children.� We should treasure it as our most priceless possession.

Are We Rich Or Poor?

A wealthy man took his son to the country intending to show his son how poor people can be. They spent a few days on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “Son, how was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah, ” said the son.

“So what did you learn from the trip?” saked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our gardens and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

Hearing this, the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.”

This is an inspiring story from The Times of India. In Indian society that is often so biased against women, this woman’s story is both heartwarming and uplifting. It really touches your heart strings and makes you admire the indomitable spirit of Neera Chopra, the mother of Miss India 2009.

Pooja Chopra...Miss India 2009

Neera Chopra lived through abuse, poverty and some tough choices to make her once-unwanted girl child, Pooja Chopra, the Pantaloons Femina Miss Pooja Chopra.

I don�t know where to begin… they were terrible times. My husband was well-placed, but the marriage had begun to sink almost as soon as it began. Like most women do, I tried to work against all the odds.

My in-laws insisted everything would be all right if I had a son. My first child was a daughter, and that didn�t do me any good… But I couldn�t walk out. I had lost my father, my brother was in a not-so-senior position in Bata. I didn�t want to be a burden on my family and so I continued to live in my marital home in Kolkata.

I looked after my mother-in-law, who was suffering from cancer, and while bathing her, I would tell myself she would bless me and put things right.

I don�t know how I tolerated it all. The least a man can do, if he must philander, is to not flaunt his women in front of his wife. Then began the manhandling. I still wanted my marriage to survive. I was a pure vegetarian and learned to cook non-vegetarian delicacies thinking it would please him.

Then, I was pregnant again. When Pooja was eight months in my womb, my husband brought a girl to the house and announced he would marry her. I thought of killing myself. I hung on the slight hope that if the baby was a boy, my marriage could be saved.

When Pooja was born a girl, for three days, nobody came to the hospital. There was a squadron leader�s wife on the opposite bed, who was kind enough to give me baby clothes for Pooja to wear. When she was 20 days old, I had to make a choice. I left the house with my girls Pooja and Shubra, who was seven then. I haven�t seen my husband since. I promised myself, even if we had just one roti, we would share it.

I began life in Mumbai with the support of my mother and my brother who was by then married. It wasn�t the ideal situation, especially when my brother had children. Space, money and everything was always short. I began work at the Taj Colaba and got my own place. How did I manage. Truth be told, I would put a chatai on the floor, leave two glasses of milk and some food, and bolt the door from outside before going to work. I would leave the key with the neighbours and tell the kids to shout out to them when it was time to leave for school.

Their tiny hands would do homework on their own and they feed themselves on days that I worked late. My elder daughter Shubhra would make Pooja do her corrections… this is how they grew up. At a birthday party, Pooja would not eat her piece of cake, but pack it and bring it home to share with her sister. When Shubhra started working, she would skip lunch and pack a chicken sandwich that she would slip in her sister�s lunchbox the next day.

I used to pray, �God, punish me for my karma, but not my innocent little kids. Please let me provide them the basics.� I used to struggle for shoes, socks, uniforms. I was living in Bangur Nagar, Goregaon. Pooja would walk four bus stops down to the St Thomas Academy. Then, too little to cross the road, she would ask a passerby to help her. I had to save the bus money to be able to put some milk in their bodies.

Life began to change when I got a job for Rs 6,000 at the then Goa Penta. Mr Chhabra, the owner, and his wife, were kind enough to provide a loan for me. I sent my daughters to my sister�s house in Pune with my mother as support. I spent four years working in Goa while I saved to buy a small one-bedroom house in Pune (where the family still live). I would work 16-18 hours a day, not even taking weekly offs to accumulate leave and visit my daughters three or four times a year.

Once I bought my house and found a job in Pune, life began to settle. I worked in Hotel Blue Diamond for a year and then finally joined Mainland China which changed my life. The consideration of the team and management brought me the stability to bring my daughters up, despite late hours and the travelling a hotelier must do.

Shubhra got a job in Hotel Blue Diamond, being the youngest employee there while still in college, and managed to finish her Masters in Commerce and her BBM. Today, she is married to a sweet Catholic boy who is in the Merchant Navy and has a sweet daughter.

I continue to finish my day job and come home and take tuition as I have done for all these years. I also do all my household chores myself.

Through the years, Shubhra has been my anchor and Pooja, the rock. Pooja�s tiny hands have wiped away my tears when I broke down. She has stood up for me, when I couldn�t speak for myself. Academically brilliant, she participated in all extra-curricular activities. When she needed high heels to model in, she did odd shows and bought them for herself.

When I saw Pooja give her speech on TV, I knew it came from her heart. I could see the twinkle in her eye. And I thought to myself as she won �My God, this is my little girl.� God was trying to tell me something.

Today, I�ve no regrets. I believe every cloud has a silver lining. As a mother, I�ve done nothing great.

�I won due to my mother�s karma�

Pantaloons Femina Miss India Pooja Chopra�s mother promised �One day, this girl will make me proud�.

Pooja speaks on fulfilling that promise… When I was 20 days old, my mother was asked to make a choice. It was either me, a girl child, or her husband. She chose me. As she walked out she turned around and told her husband, �One day, this girl will make me proud�. That day has come. Her husband went on to marry a woman who gave him two sons. Today, as I stand here a Miss India, I don�t even know if my father knows that it is me, his daughter, who has set out to conquer the world, a crown on my head. Our lives have not been easy, least so for my mother. Financially, emotionally, she struggled to stay afloat, to keep her job and yet allow us to be the best that we could be. I was given only one condition when I started modelling; my grades wouldn�t drop.

All the girls in the pageant worked hard, but my edge was my mother�s sacrifice, her karma. Today, when people call to congratulate me, it�s not me they pay tribute to, but to my mother’s life and her struggle. She�s the true Woman of Substance. She is my light, my mentor, my driving force. My win was merely God�s way of compensating her.

A sad day indeed!

I received a call this morning from a friend who informed me that my good friend Haji Sahari had pased away on May 10 and was buried on the same day in accordance with Muslim customs. Sahari�s death was so sudden. I remember when I heard the news I simply could not believe it. Why has no one informed me when he passed away? The news hit me badly as I had been meaning to pay Sahari a visit.

Due to complications from diabetes, Sahari had one of his legs amputated about a week prior to his death. When I received news about his leg being amputated, I was already shocked beyond words. I wanted to visit him in hospital but he was still in ICU and at that time, I was suffering from a bad bout of fever, coughing, flu and headache which lasted almost two weeks. My running nose and my cough only stopped two days ago after I took a dose of mangosteen essence.

Sahari’s passing makes me realise one thing. We should not put off doing things that we should do today. By putting off my intended visit to Sahari, I will never have the chance to ever see him again. And that is tragic!

I got to know Sahari over twenty years ago. When he was younger ( before I got to know him ), he was a high-flying insurance agency manager with MNI earning a six figure income annually. However due to a serious bout of gout, he was bed-ridden for about two years and lost all his agents a a result. But being a resilient person, he refused to stay down. He ventured into multi-leve marketing and had successes with a few MLM companies.

It was through MLM that I got to know Sahari. At that time, I was introduced to a NewZealand MLM company known as New Image International by my close friend John Wong. To fast-track my New Image business, I placed an advertisement in a local English daily. Sahari was one of those who responded to my advertisement and we became good friends from then on.

I can still recall my trp to Auckland, New Zealand with Sahari for the New Image Internatiional Convention. We were the only two from Miri to qualify for the convention. It was an experience that I will never forget. Sahari became known to the Kiwis as Mr One Day, a translation from his name Sahari. I can still remember our visit to One Tree Hill together with over 20 Malaysian participants. I had experienced temperatures of -30 degrees Celcius when I studied in Canada so I though the New Zealand weather of about 8 degrees Celcius was no big deal and I did not bother to bring any sweater or windbreaker. Oh my, I was shivering like a dog when we were on the hill! Luckily one of the West Malaysian ladies in the group had brought an extra windbreaker and she kindly lent it to me. What a relief that was!

To the family of Sahari, I am sorry for your loss. Please accept my heartfelt sympathies. Coping with grief is a great challenge and I pray that the days ahead will turn out well for you all. Sahari’s suffering has come to an end and I know he is resting in peace now.Do not grieve too much over his death but celebrate his life. Cherish your memory of him and may he live forever in your hearts!

The memory of Sahari will live on with many of us who have crossed path with him. He is someone who always� reached out to help others in ways he could. He never succumbed to adversities that life threw at him. He was a survivor.

I am thankful that I was given the chance to have known a man named Sahari.

To my dear friend, farewell!

Mangosteen Fruits

Over the past couple of years, I have been hearing a lot about the miraculous nutritional value of mangosteen as some of my friends are marketing Xango, MonaVie , Vemma and the like. All of these are mangosteen juice and I have never tried any of them.

Yesterday a friend of mine introduced me to Myhelth ( that is not a spelling error..it is purposely given that name) Mangosteen Essence. As she is a very long time friend and someone that I trust, I signed up as a distributor and purchased a box of the mangosteen essence. She also gave me quite a lot of literature on the mangosteen essence for me to read.

Myhelth Mangosteen Essence.....what an amazing product!

After reading the materials and the many testimonials on the product, I must admit that I am impressed. Unlike the other mangosteen juice on the market, Myhelth Mangosteen Essence is manufactured with the most active Xanthone known as GM-1. Nature has more than 200 Xanthones ( a class of phytonutrients) and 43 of these Xanthones can be found in mangosteen.

The nutritional benefits that MyHelth Mangosteen Essence can provide are truly amazing. Take a look at some of the major benefits:

1. Anti-inflammatory, 3times as effective as aspirin
2. Analgesic (pain-relieving) and anti-allergy
3. Anti-oxidant preventing heat diesases from LDL cholestorol oxidation
4. Anti-fatigue (energy booster)
5. Anti-ulcer
6. Anti-tumor and cancer prevention
7. Anti-biotic
8. Anti-viral
9. Anti-fungal
10. Ani-seborrheaic ( prevents skin disorders)
11. Anti-atherosclerotic( prevents hardening of arteries)
12. Immunomodulator (helps the immune system)
13. Anti-calculitic (prevents kidney stones)
14. Anti-arthritic
15. Cadioprotective (protects� the heart)
16. Hypoglycemic (anti-diabetic effect, helps lower blood sugar)
17. Anti-cataract and glaucoma
18. Anti-osteoporosis
19. Anti-Alzheimerain (prevents dementia)
20. Anti-depressant
21. Lowers blood pressure
22. Anti-Parkinson
23. Inhibits cartilage deterioration
24. Pansystemic (has a synergistic effect on the whole body)

Scientists have done a lot of research on mangosteen. Mangosteen is medically listed to provide 138 benefits. Indeed it is perhaps the most important fruit on earth. Dr J. Frederic Templeman, a practicing primary care physician who is board-certified in both the US and Canada, said that he is convinced the mangosteen is, without a doubt, the most successful food supplement ever. Prior to endorsing mangosteen, he has never before endorsed a food supplement.� He is so enthralled with mangosteen that he went on to publish the book “Mangosteen The X Faxtor”.

When I got home yesterday morning, I was still having a running nose and a cough.� I opened a bottle of the 300ml Mangosteen essence and took about 50ml of it. Then I went to work on my eBay listings.� I was so immersed in my work that I forgot about the time. It was late in the afternoon that I suddenly realised that my running nose had stopped and I had hardly coughed the whole afternoon. I am really amazed at the efficacy of the mangosteen essence.� It is really a godsend as I had been having the running nose and cough for about 10 days.

I� asked my wife and my son Les to take the mangosten essence and they started taking it today.I really believe that everyone should try the mangosteen essence if they care about their health. You will be amazed!

Mother’s Day. The time to pay a tribute to that one person who has made it possible for you to see the light of the world – your mother. To all the mothers in the world, Happy Mother’s Day! And to my mum in Kuching, a very happy Mother’s Day and may you be blessed with great health and joy. Thank you for everything you have done for me…..with love from your youngest son.

The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis and it’s now celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It is celebrated in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, Canada, and United States each year on the second Sunday of May.

Mother’s Day is a holiday that recognizes motherhood in general and the positive contributions of mothers to society.

The following poem by Jill Lemming is dedicated to all the mums in the world:

No Love like a Mother’s Love

There is no love, like a mother’s love,
no stronger bond on earth…
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother, when she gives birth.

A mother’s love is forever strong,
never changing for all time…
and when her children need her most,
a mother’s love will shine.

God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one…
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they’ve done.

When her days on earth are over,
a mother’s love lives on…
through many generations,
with God’s blessings on each one.

Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love…
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.