Celebrating a Mateo Moment

Our family was celebrating Mass at The Feast (the Light of Jesus community's weekly prayer meeting) a few Sundays ago. Our active 3-year-old was walking (sometimes running) and bouncing (a lot of times) along the aisles. Seated near us is another family with a little boy probably a little bit younger than my son. He was even wearing a polo shirt similar to one of my little boy's checkered polo shirts.

The little boy walked towards my son with a toy in hand. It was a Buzz Lightyear toy. The sweet little boy extended his hand while holding his toy as if telling my son that he can borrow it. My son however ignored him... He was so focused on praying and at that moment he was even kneeling down on the aisle with his hands folded in praying position. His gaze was fixed on the altar. It seemed like he did not notice the little boy who was standing beside him and was trying to be friends with him.

Wow! That was one precious moment for me! My sons are usually very active and mobile even during Masses. It's a challenge for me daily to keep them well-behaved (as in quiet and sitting down or doing what the church-goers are expected to do during the Mass) when we go to church daily to attend Mass. They like to look and move around. The sights, sounds and smells around them all trigger their curiosity. But that Sunday was different for my second son! At least for that moment! For quite some time, he was not distracted by the other things and people around him. He was simply focused on Jesus and on worshipping Him in a way that he knows how. I was so proud of him!

Mateo: the little boy that made me happy and proud that Sunday!

That moment was enough for me as a reward and consolation from God. I have been very intentional in parenting my kids and I do all the things that I do because I want them to grow up loving God and living their lives for Him. That moment gave me a glimpse to the kind of child that he is becoming. He is not always focused during Masses. That's true. But that moment gave me hope and encouragement that as he grows older, he will be. I just need to be consistent, more patient and encouraging so that he would continue in that path.

I'm glad that it has not been our practice to bring toys for our kids during Masses. We encourage them to imitate us and to look or pay attention to what is happening in the altar. We remind them repeatedly that we go to Mass to pray and to worship God. We did not come there to play with anything or anyone.

I thank God for giving me that moment... for allowing me to witness it. I will treasure that moment for many years. That sight of my little boy kneeling on the carpeted floor of PICC and not allowing himself to be distracted by a toy or a (potential) playmate is enough to enable me to keep on pushing forward in being a hands-on parent to my kids. My vision may not yet be completely fulfilled but I know in my heart that it is slowly happening. This knowledge is enough to make me persevere through the hard times.

Do you also have moments like this in your life as a parent? Feel free to share them with me in the comments.

Our Lenten Journey (2015)

Lent has started! It's almost the second Sunday of Lent and I praise and thank God for the wisdom and grace He has given me and my family to continue our Lenten family traditions and to start new ones.

I consider this is a miracle because I have a newborn baby whom I breastfeed on demand. I thank God for sustaining me and giving me energy to lead our devotions and activities. I thank God also that it seems that my two older boys are enjoying our activities.

Let me share what we have started so far. 

Ash Wednesday was a full day in our home.

We changed the curtains and throw pillow cases changed into lavender. We also changed the cover of our altar into the same color.

  

My eldest son made Lenten banners.

My two older kids made the Alleluia banner and hid it.

I asked my eldest son to write "From: Jesus" in the gift tag
and on the opposite side of it, "salvation" and "eternal life."

We started using the Lenten calendar I printed the day before. For alternative Lenten Calendar ideas, click here.

Lenten Calendar from Catholic Icing blog.

The kids dropped coins on our alms box (a cereal box turned into a coin box covered with purple paper and with the word ALMS written on it).

I declared that for the entire season of Lent, our family will fast on our favorite dessert: ice cream and chocolates. So on the night before Ash Wednesday, my husband and I had a brief Valentine date at a nearby ice cream store. ;)

We've started observing the abstinence of meat on prescribed days like Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent. I put to use the 4-week Cycle Menu Plan for Lent that I made . Click here to go to my post about meatless Fridays of Lent.

And since we love music, we started reviewing and singing songs usually sang during Lent. Last week, my eldest son who can play the piano oido and who is starting to learn how to read notes learned how to play the song Hosea.

We went to Mass on Ash Wednesday and had ashes on our foreheads.



It's our baby's first Ash Wednesday!

As part of our new Lenten tradition, I have started reading the Bible or Bible stories from the kids' Children's Bible over breakfast. Then, I reinforce with a bit of storytelling as well when I read from my Bible.

After our storytelling and Bible reading, I sometimes ask the kids to make a drawing based on the story that they just heard. Sometimes, I ask them to color coloring pages about the stories that I told them. I also ask my eldest son to answer some worksheets related to our topics. Sometimes, he answers word searches, mazes, questions or fill in the blanks worksheets. I search the internet for ideas. I also get some help from the Holy Heroes site for inspiration and activities. I choose only what I think my kids are ready to do at this time/age.

Just like in the past, I reinforce these lessons and stories by letting them watch some videos on our topics/Bible heroes/characters. One of the recent videos I let them watch is about the 10 Commandments.

The kids so far are enjoying these activities. I hear them a lot talking about the Bible characters and stories we have discussed so far. Sometimes, these stories become the theme of their pretend plays. 

We have also resumed our night prayers as a family. For a while we just listen to the kids say their night prayers in the past months after I gave birth then we send them to bed to sleep. This Lent, we started praying again with them after they say their night prayers.

Lent is indeed a season of grace and I thank God for His grace that is new every morning. His grace is what enables us to keep on keeping on in our faith walk. It's what enables us to be faithful even after we fall and make mistakes along the way. It's His grace that reminds us of His unconditional and steadfast love. It's His grace that gives me encouragement to continuously strive to be more like Him in all things, especially in parenting my kids.

This year, I do not have a new verse to guide me throughout my Lenten journey. I have decided to stick to the verse that I adapted years ago. I believe that I need to be reminded of this verse a lot so I can grow closer to living it out. My verse for Lent again this year is: "Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

I pray that God would continue to bless the rest of our Lenten journey.

Georg Daniel's Christening at Max's Restaurant (#NinongkosiMax)

Our third baby is now a Christian!

 

We named him Georg Daniel. Georg was inspired by his Daddy's name but with a slightly different spelling and Daniel was inspired by Daniel of the Old Testament. My prayer is that just like Daniel, he would have strong faith and commitment to God even in the face of threat or danger. I also pray that God would bless him and bestow His favors upon him just like what He did with Daniel.

 

 

I initially planned to have our baby baptized towards the end of January but the people in the Philippines got busy during the Papal Visit so we decided to delay it a bit. Moreover, I still felt tired and sleepy a lot of times due to irregular sleep patterns of our baby and me. Organizing and coordinating an event was not very attractive to me at this time. So, the timing is just right. Our baby has just turned 2 months old. It's such a joy to look at him now -- very healthy and filled up. My reward for breastfeeding him exclusively and taking care of him these past 2 months.

 

Since we had our second son's baptismal reception at Max's Restaurant three years ago and we had been reaping the benefits of their Ninong ko si Max promo, I've decided early on to have our newborn baby's baptismal reception at Max's Restaurant also. We just held it in another branch that is closer to our new home.

 

 

Here are the perks of having Max as your child's Ninong. ;) 

1. Christmas Gift - This is given every year until the 7th birthday of the child. So far, based on our experience, it was usually a whole fried chicken.
2. Birthday Gift - This is also given every year until the 7th birthday of the child. Our second child received a whole fried chicken also in the past years.
3. Free Max's Corner Bakery product for every store visit with a minimum purchase of P200.
4. 15% discount on the child's 1st and 7th birthday celebration at any Max's Restaurant nationwide.  

To claim all these, you need to present your child's Ninong ko si Max card.

There are two available themes for the baptismal package: Noah's Ark and Blessed Baby. I chose Blessed Baby this time because we already chose Noah's Ark three years ago for our second child.

I also believe that our baby is very blessed to have as one of his godparents our priest-friend, Fr. Jonathan "Jojo" Letada, SVD. He was also the one who baptized Geordan.

 

Georg Daniel wore the same Barong Tagalog baptismal attire
used by his two older brothers.

Georg Daniel wears a white crochet bonnet made by my mom. 

Two of his Ninongs didn't make it last Sunday. But we are still very happy to have them as our baby's godparents. One of them is a fellow author and speaker and the Director for our community's (Light of Jesus) Campus Ministry/Missions, JC Libiran. The other one is one of my former co-servants in my previous community for single professionals, Rommel Escoto. He also owns a Kumon Center so in case Geordan needs help in Math (that his Dad and I could not solve), he can ask the help of his Ninong Rommel. ;) Thankfully, his Ninong Ryan was present last Sunday. He's one of our good friends from LOJ since my husband and I were still single. Geordan can learn a lot from his Ninong Ryan about finances since he is a RFP and entrepreneur also.

With Georg Daniel's Ninongs and Ninangs

Geordan's Ninangs include Christine Bellen and Sha Nacino who are both authors. Christine is an award-winning children's book author and playwright. Sha is a prolific author whom my mentor Bo Sanchez calls as an Ebook Queen. ;) She's also a speaker who advocates that people make their passions their professions. This is something that I also advocate. I hope that Geordan would be inspired follow in my footsteps and his Ninang Sha's footsteps of making his passion his profession. His other Ninang is a friend of mine who is also a leader in the Focolare Movement. I admire and love her passion in sharing the Word of God to families. I hope that our son would be inspired by her life and devotion as well. Geordan's fourth Ninang is one of our friends in our parish. She is actually one of the catechists and lectors/commentators in our church. I'm confident that my husband and I can count on her help in passing on our Catholic faith to our son. I also pray that her life of service in the church would inspire our son. 
 

I find Max's Christening Package budget-friendly and very convenient. Aside from the use of their venue (for 2 hours), the restaurant will take care of the food and drinks, decors (balloons, centerpieces and tarpaulin banner), invitations, cake, sound system, souvenirs and guest book. They also give a gift to the baby which is a chicken stuffed toy and a blanket. Basically, the family will just go to the venue and everything will be taken care of by the restaurant staff.

Here are some pictures at the reception.

I would suggest, however, that you assign a family member, close friend or relative to check for you if the restaurant staff has provided all that was included in the package. I forgot to do this plus I was too busy during the reception that I didn't notice or didn't get to check if everything is in order. Based on our experience last Sunday, one main thing you need to check is if all the food in the menu that you chose has been served to your guests and that they were served on time. I learned from my mom that in their table, they were not served the appetizer. The viands didn't get served promptly also. Although, I gave verbal instructions to the staff assigned to us, I didn't have time to check per table. I just assumed that since I gave instructions already, the staff will carry them out. I suggest you ask someone else to do this for you since the mom and dad are usually busy with the baby or talking to guests. I also noticed that the gifts table was not covered with cloth just like in the brochure.

The shade of blue used for the balloons was also different from what I expected and from what was showed in the brochure. They used bright blue balloons instead of light blue balloons last Sunday. They also did not provide a pen for the guest book. My husband and I had to look for a pen at the last minute. These are minor glitches anyway aside from the food issue. They could be prevented if there's a specific person who will coordinate with the restaurant staff on the day of the event. Maybe, you can also call the restaurant and ask how many staff or waiters would be assigned in your event to make sure that your guests would be served promptly.

I just looked for a photographer who will cover the event. I looked for one who included the photo album (32-paged 8x6 inches) in the package. Fortunately, I found one who fits my allocated budget. For P6,000, two photographers took photos of our baby from preparation at home to the church and then the reception.

It's your big day, baby!

These were the same attire and shoes that his Kuya Mateo
wore three years ago.

The church provided plain white candles only.
So I bought these pale blue cup cake liners
that were both decorative and useful.

Then, we also bought a nice notebook (from National Bookstore) where we asked our guests to write blessings or prayers for our baby boy because guests can only write their names in the guest book.

We didn't have a program anymore. My husband simply welcomed our guests and led the prayer before meals. We passed around the guest book and notebook for the blessings and prayers. Then, before we went around from one table to the next for picture-taking, we shared some things about our baby to our guests like how we came to choose his name and some details about his birth. It was a relaxed, intimate party wherein we had time to share updates with our closest relatives and family friends. 

 

 

 

 

WAHM Lessons From Pope Francis' Visit to the Philippines (#PopeFrancisPH)

I thought that I would be able to accomplish a lot of work-related tasks during Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines because of the long holiday/weekend. I planned to make significant progress in moving forward in reaching my work goals. But my plan did not materialize... at all.

 

Two days after the Pope arrived in the Philippines, I was tempted to wallow in disappointment. Still, I thought that maybe I could squeeze in some work in between what I had been doing in the past two days. After the Pope's third day in the country, I've decided to abandon all plans of working over the long weekend. Not because I was giving in to frustration or because I'm giving up on my work goals this early in the year, but because I was happy that things did not turn out as I planned.

 

Let me share three lessons from Pope Francis that I think are applicable to WAHMs (work-at-home moms) like me.

 

1. TAKE TIME TO REST. - I know many moms who have workaholic tendencies. Ha! I'm one of them! Seriously, work-at-home moms have the tendency to overlook time for rest and recreation because we manage our households and care for our children on top of our work-at-home jobs or home-based businesses. Many WAHMs work after everyone in their household is in bed and is in dreamland. I honestly like working late into the night or early in the morning because that's when the house is quiet and I could think well. Unlike during daytime when I could hardly hear myself above the noise of my active little boys.

 

So when I heard Pope Francis exhort families to take time to rest in his message during his meeting with families at the MOA Arena, I felt that God was speaking to me through him. I felt that God was giving me permission to rest, especially now that I'm still on maternity leave (technically). I felt God telling me to go slow in going back to work mode and to prioritize my health and recovery.

 

Aside from reminding families of the importance of rest to our bodies, he also told families that rest is important for our souls. The Pope  said that God can speak to us even while we sleep. He even shared that he sometimes writes his concerns on a piece of paper and puts them under the statue of a sleeping St. Joseph. He said that since God spoke to St. Joseph through St. Joseph's dreams, he was asking for the saint's intercession so that God would speak to him as well  about his concerns while he's sleeping.

 

Photo source here.

 

When I heard Pope Francis say these words last Friday, I let go of the guilt I initially felt for sleeping in the afternoons and at night instead of working on items on my to-do list in the past days.

 

What could take me "40 years" to finish, God could help me finish in a split second if He wills it. So I will take my sweet time during my maternity leave to get as much rest and sleep as I possibly can hoping that like St. Joseph, God would speak to me in my sleep/dreams. And like Mary and Jesus, I hope and pray that I would rise to carry out the mission God has entrusted to me both at home and outside my home.

 

I will rest in the Lord following God's prompting. This will be my way of expressing my trust in Him that He will take care of all my needs.

 

2. PROTECT THE FAMILY. - This second lesson was not as  obvious to me as the first. But as I spent more time meditating on the Pope's messages in the past days, I realized that by sticking to my priorities, I am actually protecting my family.

 

What did I do in the past days? I watched the coverage of the Pope's visit with my family. I shared stories with my husband and kids about my experience during World Youth Day 1995. I meditated on the messages of the Pope. I prepared and did homeschool activities with my kids to teach them more about our Catholic faith, the papacy and Pope Francis. I read inspiring materials and slept in between nursing sessions with my newborn baby, homeschool activities with my two older children and managing our household.

 

I initially felt disappointed when I found it hard to stay awake and do some work-related tasks. Thankfully, God granted me wisdom through Pope Francis' message that what I was doing in the past days was reason for rejoicing. I was living out my priorities! And by doing this, I am protecting my family!

 

My family in front of the Nativity scene of our church last Christmas.
One of our recent family pictures.

 

God, family and self are among my top three priorities in life. I was simply sticking to my priorities by spending my time on the activities I mentioned above.  

 

I remember one interview with Pope Francis wherein he asked parents: "Do you play with your children? Do you waste time with your children?" He further said, "The free gift of a parent's time is so important."

 

It is so easy for a work-at-home mom to forget that she works from home because she wants to spend more time with her family. Since we work at home, the boundaries are sometimes blurred and unless we become deliberate in moving forward in WAHMing or doing our home-based businesses, we can make the mistake of letting our work load take over our family activities, which actually defeats the purpose of us working at home.

 

Nourishing one's self is also important. I cannot give what I do not have. I cannot take care of my family if I am not well. I need time for solitude so that I can commune with my God and be filled with the necessary graces that only He can give. If I do not make time for my relationship with God, I would be tempted to demand from my family members what only God can give me. Expecting from my family what can only come from God would put unnecessary strain on my relationships with them.

 

Read the full text of Pope Francis' message to families here.

 

3. LET GOD SURPRISE YOU. - God reminded me through Pope Francis yesterday through his encounter with the youth at UST that He is a God of surprises and that He surprises us because He loves us.

 

I was reminded of the many times God surprised me in my WAHM adventure. It was a delight to receive and enjoy God's unexpected favors!

 

I admit that I like to make sure that I have all things covered, including in my projects as a work-at-home mom, consultant and business-mom. My natural tendency is to be uneasy (to say the least) when faced with uncertainties. I like to be in control. I like making plans and making sure I execute my plans as perfectly as I can. But God likes to surprise me. Pope Francis said, "They shake the ground beneath our feet and make us insecure, but they move us forward in the right direction." It's true! Not knowing exactly what would happen next makes us insecure and afraid. But a lot of times, based on my personal experiences, those times when God surprised me are also times of great favors and miracles. It was during those times when I felt most loved by Him.

Who would have imagined a Pope celebrating Mass in a yellow raincoat?
Who would expect this kind of smile from a Pope
who has just celebrated Mass in the rain?
But God is a God of surprises indeed as shown by this photo of our #DearPopeFrancis. Photo source here.

 

I believe that this is a very timely reminder at the start of the year when I (many of us) usually make plans for our personal lives and our careers/businesses. It's good to make plans but we should also make space for God's surprises and miracles in our lives. In truth, I do hope that God would surprise me again big time this year! I hope and pray that He would surprise me by blessing me beyond what I deserve and beyond what I expect my efforts and hard work would yield.

 

Read the full text of Pope Francis' message to the youth in UST here.

 

These are just some of the lessons I learned/relearned while watching Pope Francis' activities during his papal visit here in the Philippines and meditating on his message to us Filipinos.

 

Did you also follow the Pope either physically or through the tv, internet and other forms of media? What lessons did you learn from his visit? Feel free to share in the comments.

How Our Family Followed the Example of the Magi

Our family had another meaningful and fun celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord yesterday. It's our second time to celebrate it in our new home but it's our first time to celebrate it with our new baby, our third son. This made it more fun because we now have three boys who remind us of the three kings or three wise men from the East.

We had similar activities as in the previous years but with a couple of modifications. You may read about our previous celebrations here. This was our way of continuing our family tradition every year on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord and at the same time engage the kids to be involved and to learn about our faith in a fun and memorable way.

 

Our first activity was reading a book about the shepherds and kings who followed the Star of Bethlehem to see the Newborn King.

 

I made crowns for our three boys while my husband read them the story. I cut out the colored papers for their crowns then I asked our two older boys to decorate their crowns by tracing circles using a coin and coloring these with crayons. These colored circles will be the precious stones on their crowns.

 

 

Our next activity was the making of the Star of Bethlehem. I cut out a bond paper in the shape of a four-point star then I asked my second child to color it with a yellow crayon. At first he was eager to color the cut out but he got tired eventually so I had to help him finishing coloring our star by holding his hand.

 

 

This activity was followed by a song teaching activity wherein the boys learned a song about the three kings. I asked my husband to show the boys some videos in You Tube of this song.

 

While the boys were learning the song and practicing it, I wrapped the gifts that they will give to our new neighbor who became their playmates. 

 

After lunch and after their bath, I dressed them up and helped them wear their crowns so they can go to our neighbor's house and bring their gift. My husband carried our baby who also wore a crown while the two boys walked carrying their gifts. Once in our neighbor's garage, our eldest sang the song We Three Kings. Then, they gave their gifts to their playmates who are also two brothers. Incidentally, the younger brother was celebrating his 4th birthday also yesterday. We were all very happy to find that out. I felt that we were truly led to bring gifts to them yesterday.

 

 

When our eldest son woke up from his nap, I asked him to answer some worksheets about the Feast of the Epiphany which I found in the internet.

 

 

On our way to the church to hear Mass, my eldest son also had an interesting observation that he shared with all of us last night. He said that we went to our next door neighbor's house to deliver gifts to them because there's a star hanging on their balcony just like the star on top of the stable in Bethlehem.

 

I enjoyed listening to the priest's homily last night. It was informative and insightful at the same time. First, he discussed the meaning of the gifts. Then, he encouraged us to follow the example of the Magi who sought the Lord (by following the Star of Bethlehem), brought him gifts (which according to him were actually declarations of faith), adored him and who allowed God to change the course of their lives (symbolized by their decision to take a new way/route going home). He said that like the Magi, we should also seek the Lord. God may use many instruments in leading us to an encounter with Him. These could be people, events or things. He encouraged us to bring gifts to Jesus on Christmas and not just pray that we receive gifts. Of course, our best gift to Jesus is our faith in Him and our lives. Like the Magi who chose to have faith in Jesus as symbolized by the gifts they brought Him, we were exhorted by the priest to look beyond the physical and see God's presence even in the sadness, gloom, lack or pain just like the Magi who saw beyond the darkness, filth and lack of class of the stable. The stable was not even fit for humans, how much more for a king and the King of Kings but the Magi saw beyond all these. And they bowed in adoration before Him who is in the form of a newborn baby. The priest also said that we are called to shine our lights so that after our encounter with Jesus, we'd be able to lead others to Him as well like the Start of Bethlehem. He ended his homily by reminding us that if we have truly encountered God, our lives would be changed and we would walk in a new path, the path of righteousness.

 

After Mass, we had our photos taken at the church's Nativity Scene, ate dinner and did our annual Epiphany blessing of our house.

My husband blessed our chalk, our house and used the chalk to write on the doors of our house. We also gave our eldest son a chance to help in this activity by writing the blessing on top of two of the doors in our new home. My husband carried him so he can reach the top of the doors. Our second child helped by holding the bottle of Holy Water. We told our younger son that next year when he already knows how to write all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers, he will have a chance to write on top of our doors as well. He wanted to write also. He kept saying that he already knows how to write his name. Cute! We told him that he will not write his name on top of the doors but the blessing. My husband led the prayer and blessing while I prayed aloud the responses to the prayers.

The prayers we recited were from this website.

 

It was another simple celebration but definitely meaningful because I believe that we did not only encounter Jesus in our celebration but we also brought Jesus to our neighbors.