Give Love on Christmas Day Year 5

My family and I watched the movie Christmas on Division Street yesterday morning after having a pancake breakfast that I prepared at home. It is one of the movies I recommended in one of my previous posts here that families can watch to bond this Christmas season. Yes, we're still in the Christmas season. Today is just the 10th day of Christmas. So, don't take down your Christmas tree and decors yet. Savor the season at least until the Feast of the Epiphany of the visit of the 3 wise men or more popularly known as the 3 Kings.

I read some short reviews about this movie before I included it in my previous blog post. I'm really glad I did that. Moreover, I am glad we watched this movie yesterday. It's a beautiful and touching movie. I could not keep my tears from falling minutes after the movie is over. I felt affirmed that my family and I did the right thing on Christmas day this year. (If you want to watch the movie on YouTube, you'll see the link here.)

We have a Christmas tradition that is already five years old. We first did it in 2012. You can read about the first time we did it and what moved me to suggest it to my husband here.

So, what is this Christmas tradition I am talking about? We give out brown bags to street kids.

This was my eldest when we first started this tradition.

I recently shared in my blog post Birthday Cake for the Birthday Boy that we make sure that we have a cake for Jesus as part of our Christmas feast. Aside from having a birthday cake, we go all out by making loot bags for Him, too. We give these loot bags (brown bags) to Jesus' favorites, the poor around us. We've decided to give it to street kids.

Our 3 wise boys or 3 kings ready to bless street kids! 

This photo was taken last year on the Feast of the Lord's Epiphany.

We've been doing this every year, usually on Christmas day. But there was also a year when we gave out these brown bags on the Feast of Holy Innocents (December 28) when we celebrated the first month of our youngest child. Last year, we got very busy and tired on Christmas day so we gave away brown bags and toys on the Feast of the Lord's Epiphany or 3 Kings with our 3 boys wearing crowns pretending to be the 3 Kings.

Our two Kings, Yanthy ands Mateo, giving away brown bags to street kids last year.

Every year, we usually think that we might not find street kids or a lot on the streets on Christmas day because the DSWD also exert effort to clean up the streets by finding shelter for these kids. But we are often surprised that we still find many homeless people, not just kids, roaming or sleeping on the streets on Christmas day. This makes me sad. I always wish each time that we had packed more brown bags.

Yesterday, after watching the movie which was about homeless people, God moved my heart again to ache for these poor people. I wished to have more resources so my family and I could help more homeless people. But God was quick to affirm me by telling me that my family and I already made a difference to the people we gave brown bags to. We may not reach all the homeless in the Philippines or in the world. But we definitely touched the hearts of those who received what we gave away. And as I write this post, God whispers into my heart that writing about our family tradition and experience can inspire and move others to do the same on Christmas day or any day of the year.

I'm so thankful to God for this beautiful family tradition and meaningful family bonding activity. It's a reminder to our family of the true meaning of Christmas... following the example of Jesus Christ and giving Jesus a gift through the poor around us. One of the priests who celebrated the anticipated Simbang Gabi in our parish asked us this question during his homily. "It's Jesus birthday, right? What is your gift to Jesus this Christmas?" Those were some of our family's gifts to Jesus on His birthday this year. But as we gave these gifts, Jesus gave us more. He gave us joy and inspiration.

Let me end this by sharing these words of Jesus in the Bible:

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

Mommy TG's Top 12: 2014's Biggest Blessings

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to take this time to write this post because I believe that it's very timely to share about the times in my life last year when I saw and felt God's loving and powerful presence in my life.

 

My husband and I did our yearly exercise/tradition of listing our blessings for the year on January 1 before we had a time of worship with our kids. They were so many! We had a long list and that list only included usually the big or highly noticeable things that happened last year as well as those that happened recently. Don't worry, I will not list all of them here. I've been pondering on what I consider my biggest blessings in the past year since the last few days of 2014 and I have decided to choose the Top 12 Biggest Blessings that I will share here in my blog.  

 

Here they are:

 

1. The gift of Faith to keep on keeping on even when there were big trials and obstacles in my path - I consider this my biggest blessing in the past year. I noticed that 2014 was a year of big impact blessings for me. But behind those big blessings were also big challenges. I cannot thank God enough for sustaining me in faith to keep on putting one more foot in front of the other so I can continue in this walk of faith. I praise and thank God that He granted me the gift of Faith to not give up and to keep on hoping in Him. I'm so glad I did; for God did not disappoint me. I consider 2014 a year of breakthroughs for me because of the things I experienced  for the first time this year. I know that putting my faith in God activated all the other graces that I needed to make my God-sized dreams come true last year and that it paved the way for the many blessings that came my way. I pray that this 2015, God would help me grow even more in faith so I would be able to witness and experience more of His miracles in my life.

 2. The gift of life and being an instrument of God in giving life to another child of God - There are many women who die giving birth. I thank God that He did not let this happen to me when I gave birth recently. I thank God that I lived to see my third child, that I was able to spend Christmas with my family last year, I was able to witness my eldest son sing in the midnight Mass with a choir, and I was able to welcome the New Year with my family. Also, I thank God for planting new life in my womb, allowing me to carry my child to full term, letting my child live (some babies are born as stillbirths or some live only for a few minutes, hours or days), and allowing me to continuously give him life through my breastmilk. We sometimes take our lives or the life of others for granted. We forget that every moment of our lives is a gift from God and that we don't know when that gift would be taken back by the Giver.

 3. Being able to spend a lot of time with my children, spending quality time with them and witnessing their milestones and achievements - These to me are God's precious gifts. Not every parent is given these gifts. I am truly blessed to have spent plenty of time with my two older kids last year. I praise and thank God that God provided for our family through my husband's job; thus, I was still not required to work outside the home. I praise and thank God for the grace also to be an intentional parent to my kids, for inspiring me through the blogs and other parents I have met online and offline and for the example of my own mom to be involved in her children's lives. I feel privileged to have witnessed their many firsts and milestones throughout the year that I was able to take photos or videos of or wrote about in this blog. I also thank God for the many bonding moments I was not able to capture in photos or videos but I was able to ponder and keep in my heart. I will forever treasure these wonderful times together with my kids. Calling them to mind gives me a warm and good feeling knowing that I have filled or at the very least contributed happy memories to my kids' childhood. 

 4. Being able to homeschool my children even while having a difficult pregnancy - I had a difficult time during the first two trimesters of my pregnancy for all our three children. I am the type who would vomit all day and all night (sometimes, even just before going to bed). This made me feel so drained of energy. There were also times when I felt depressed already while experiencing this. I lost my appetite and I was just in bed most of the time. I was weak physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. But praise and thanks be to God who is truly amazing because His power was made manifest in my weakness and eventually I got over my depression and I felt better in the months that followed. God helped me to stand on my feet again (figuratively and literally) and enabled me to homeschool my kids even before I felt really much better. I was amazed as well with the amount of material that my sons and I were able to cover and finish, especially with my eldest son. I thought I could no longer continue homeschooling them given my condition but God proved once more that if we ask Him to be our strength, He will surely answer our prayer. That's what He did to me! He inspired, encouraged and enabled me to do what I thought was impossible! I even think that last year was one of our most productive years in our homeschool if not the most productive so far. This is a miracle indeed!

 5. Being able to achieve my God-sized dreams of holding a book launch with book signing for the print book version of BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking, another book signing event for it, converting it into an e-book and becoming an Amazon Bestselling Author through this book - I have written various blog posts about these blessings and fulfilled God-sized dreams already. You may read these in detail here, here, and here. I am in awe of God for making these dreams come true all in one year! What makes this even more amazing is that the conversion of my print book into e-book and the virtual launch of the e-book happened while I was still pregnant. I'm thankful that God made these possible with the help of event partners and sponsors, my virtual assistants, bloggers and many new people in my network.

6. Finding an institution that administered a comprehensive testing on giftedness for our eldest son - I'm so thankful that we were able to discover that Headway School for Giftedness does this and that God provided for us the means to pay for that test. The test result was a big help for us in understanding our son more, knowing his grade levels (levels because we discovered that he was in 3 levels as of the test date), and in customizing a curriculum for his pace and interests. Moreover, we're grateful to find a school that has a homeschool program for the gifted that we can consider in case we decide not to make our own curriculums anymore.

7. Having a birth experience that I prayed for - I had an unmedicated birth (as planned) in a Lamaze room, my birth plan wishes were fulfilled, and my husband was available to bring me to the hospital when I started to have bloody show on my undies and he was my birth coach again during my delivery. Also, my husband was able to cut our son's umbilical cord just like in my past deliveries. We also had photos and videos of our sons birth. On top of that, we were able to pay for my hospital bills.

8. Finding two maids who are still with us until now that more than a month has passed since my delivery - It seems that God arranged for our maids to find us just in time for my third pregnancy. We hired them just before the first month of my pregnancy. Since most of the maids we hired come and go after a short time, I'm very grateful to God that we were able to convince them to stay with us at least until the end of my maternity leave.

9. Organizing my 2nd son's 3rd birthday before giving birth - This was really important to me because he will be an older brother shortly after his birthday. I praise and thank God that He gave me enough inspiration and strength to do all the necessary preparations and arrangements to make this party happen and to make it a happy and memorable one for my son. You can read in detail how I prepared for my son's construction-themed birthday party while I was heavily-pregnant in one of my previous posts here .

10. Idea for online program and being able to work on it while pregnant - I initially wanted to finish and launch this program last year but I got pregnant and it was a difficult one during the first two trimesters so my plan didn't push through. But I'm grateful still because I was able to finish half of what is needed for my materials before I gave birth. Through this online program, God gives me hope to achieve one of my life goals this year. 

11. New e-book ideas - One of the first new book ideas I had was planted in my mind and heart by God in the first quarter of 2014. Then, I had another book idea around the third quarter of 2014. I wanted to finish writing these e-books last year but God had other plans for me. I'm still grateful because I have already written the outlines for these book ideas and I started writing some of the chapters of the books. More importantly, God taught me humility and surrender once more to His Will through this God-sized dreams of mine that needed to be postponed for later.

12. Learning many new things on blogging, managing a website and an online business, internet marketing, branding, entrepreneurship and publishing an e-book through Amazon - I'm very grateful that I had a lot of opportunities to learn. I was not able to attend a lot of seminars, workshops and conferences during the year but I was able to attend a few. From these, I gained a ton of new knowledge which spurred me to research and find other means to learn new skills. As usual, the universe conspired to send me the materials that I needed to learn. I thank God both for my successes and my failed attempts in executing what I learned. I'm grateful to find online mentors and articles that were very relevant and useful to my business. 

As you might have noticed, the blessings I enumerated above are more than 12. I bundled some of my blessings because I wanted so much to include them in this list. hahaha I received so many big blessings, it's so hard to choose only 12!

Anyway, let me end this post by sharing with you my insights after my husband and I listed our blessings and after much thought on what my biggest blessings are 2014.

"I had big challenges last year but I had a Bigger God who helped me overcome those challenges, which paved the way for me to receive Big Blessings."

"God has been faithful to me even when I had not been faithful to Him."

"Faith and Courage open many doors." 

How about you? Have you paused, pondered and savored your blessings in the past year? What were your biggest blessings? What are your insights? I would love to read other people's blessings in the comments section!

Celebrations on the 4th Day of Christmas

The fourth day of Christmas gave me and my family more than one gift to be thankful for.

 

First, our baby Georg Daniel (Geordan for short) celebrated his first month of life. I was amazed to realize that he's already one month old. I still feel like it was just yesterday when I gave birth to him. Time flies so fast indeed!

 

 

 

Second, our baby has been gaining weight steadily. We had been weighing him every week and so far he has gained weight every week. His biggest weight gain so far was last weekend! He gained 1.6 pounds! Hurray! This was surely an encouraging development for me as I strive to give him the best milk to nourish him.

 

Third, I was able to breastfeed our baby exclusively in the past month! Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of milk! I thank God for helping me endure the early challenges I experienced. Just like in my previous breastfeeding journeys, I had sore nipples again during the early days. I thank God for the grace and strength to persevere and endure the pain. I survived the crucial first month! Things are better now and I'm happy to see my baby growing bigger as I nourish him with my milk.

 

 

I have mentioned previously in one of my blog entries here that Georg Daniel's birth (he was born on November 28) inspired me to move our traditional family outreach to street children from Christmas Day to December 28, which is also the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The brown bags that we make will be like his and Jesus' loot bags and the street kids who will receive them will represent the poor children who were massacred on that same day more than 2,000 years ago.

 

 

 

I involved our two older kids in preparing our loot bags. I asked my husband to look for a photo of the Nativity scene in the internet and to print it in pink paper. I cut the photos and asked our older kids to glue them in front of the brown bags.

I also asked our 3-year-old to help sort/group the food that we will put inside the brown bags. When my eldest child finished sticking the photos in our brown bags, he helped his younger brother in adding the juice to the food that he has grouped/sorted.

I asked our maids to prepare the sandwiches and wrap them in napkins. I punched holes on our brown bags and cut the yarn which will be used to close our brown bags. My husband and older kids placed the food and juice inside the brown bags while one of our maids placed the sandwiches inside after they have finished preparing them. We also added some chocolates and candies inside them. Then, I tied our brown bags with pink and blue yarn.

 

Then, we all rode our vehicle and drove around the city to look for street kids. On our way out of our village, I prayed in my heart that God would lead us to the street kids who need these brown bags the most. It took us around an hour to distribute our brown bags.

 

I thank God for this fourth gift: the gift of family bonding over doing an outreach or work of mercy/act of charity towards our homeless, hungry and thirsty brothers and sisters. 

 

After that, we had some snack before going to Mass in our parish. Incidentally, it was also the Feast of the Holy Family. I thank God that we were able to go to Mass as a family. What perfect way to celebrate this wonderful day!

 

Our parish priest blessed our family after the Mass then we went to the Nativity Scene in our church and had our family picture taken there.

 

 

 

How is your Christmas celebration coming along? Hope you'd find time to savor the gift of Christmas.  

Angel Craft on The Feast of the Guardian Angels and More

It's the Feast of the Guardian Angels today! I've been looking forward to this day because I found an angel craft activity that's perfect for my plans this Christmas. I got the idea of making angels using paper plates from this site.

 

The boys wanted to read books as soon as they woke up so I read to them the creation story and Noah's ark board books that we have. These books were still aligned with our letter for the week -- the letter A. I introduced Adam to them. We also reviewed the story of Noah and the ark that he built. I used the story of creation's ending where there was an angel sent to guard the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden as jumping point to the feast that we are celebrating today.

 

 

The boys and I had breakfast first. Then, they said their morning prayers and the prayer to their guardian angels. It's one of the prayers that they have memorized at an early age.

 

They had some free/pretend play for around an hour. After that, I explained to them the craft activity that we will do.

 

It was a good thing that we still had left over paper plates from last year's birthday parties. I was also delighted to discover that we had silver-colored paper plates. They're perfect for the theme and color I have in mind for our Christmas decors this year!

 

Let me share how we made our angels step by step.

 

1. We folded our paper plates into half and cut them.

 

2. We formed half of the plate into cones. We stapled it first near the helm. Then, reinforced towards the upper portion of the cone with a scotch tape.

 

 

 

3. We traced patterns on the other half of the plate. The second half of the plate was used for the wings, head and sleeves of the angel.

 

 

 

 

 

4. We cut the patterns. I helped my eldest finish cutting all the pieces. We wanted to make 20 angels because we will hang them in our Christmas tree eventually.

 

 

 

 

5. After cutting the patterns, it time to assemble them. I first formed the wings and positioned the sleeves. Then, I asked my eldest son to help me staple them. We then used a tape to stick them to the cone or body of the angel.  

 

 

 

6. Once the wings and sleeves were in place, we taped the head on top of the cone.  

 

7. Then, we cut a piece of aluminum foil and rolled it thinly to form the halo. We used a tape to stick it to the back of the head of the angel.

  

I plan to add cut outs of hands and musical instruments eventually to these angels since we know that angels sing and worship God in heaven and because our family loves music. I plan to use gold-colored paper for the musical instruments.
 

I love this craft because it gave my sons an opportunity to practice a number of skills. There was folding, tracing, cutting, sticking, sorting and counting. It also taught them to be patient because there were a number of steps to be done before we can finish an angel.

 

On top of that, I got to teach through this craft to recycle and reuse old materials at home and turn them into something useful and beautiful. Instead of buying expensive angel decors, we can now decorate our Christmas tree with our very own work.

Our choir of angels.

 

Aside from making this angel craft, we also read the book Amelia's angel again. We used one of the angels that we made to tell the story.

 

 

Then, we went to Mass in the evening. My 5-year-old son sang in the choir. There were no other choir servants so he sang solo.

After the Mass, my boys' pretend play was still the Mass. My eldest son was alternating from being the priest and pianist while my younger son and our helper were the choir.
 

How did you celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels today? Feel free to share them in the comments.

Preparing for our Christmas Countdown this 2013

Advent is almost here! I'm glad that I'm finally done wrapping all the books that we'd be using in our Christmas countdown this year. We'd be using most of the books we used last year but with a number of new books included.

Our Christmas books wrapped and numbered under our Christmas tree.

 

Some of these books are books that we bought from the Book Sale.

 

 

 

 

 

Others are giveaways from the All Saints' Day party that the kids attended recently.  

 

 

 

 

Then, last Saturday, while I was having a book table at an event at Insular Life Building in Makati, I shopped for a couple more books at The Learning Basket's booth, which was just a few steps away from my book table. Isn't that great?

 

  

 

 

I went through the pile of books that I separated from the rest of my kids' books and decided which books would be opened first and which ones would be opened closer to Christmas Day. 

  

After deciding on their sequence, I asked the help of my eldest son and one of our helpers to assist me in wrapping all the books. We used some of the remaining gift wrappers that were also used for Yanthy's loot bags in his 5th birthday celebration last month. The rest were wrapped in Manila paper. We numbered all the books so that we'd know which gift/book we'd open each day beginning on December 1 all the way to December 25.

 

We finished wrapping them just before dinner. After dinner, the kids and I went to Mass.

 

Our next activities in the coming days would be making our own wreath and Nativity Scene. I'll blog about them once we're done with these Christmas projects.

 

How about you? Are you also doing a Christmas countdown? Feel free to share how you're doing it this year.

Savoring Christ on the Feast of His Epiphany

It's the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Today, our family choose to savor Christ's precious gift of His coming into the world to save us by celebrating The Feast of His Epiphany or which was popularly known as Feast of the Three Kings through simple family traditions.

We started a family tradition last year that we chose to continue today.  After the kids said their morning prayers, I read them the story of Christmas story again from Yanthy's First Bible which recounted how the three wise men journeyed and followed the star of Bethlehem to find the Newborn King.  We also read again The Christmas Star book which was part of our Christmas countdown.  Then, we made crowns for my boys -- Mateo, Yanthy and George. Yes, my husband included! :)  I asked them what color they would like for their crown and we got some colored papers and made a paper crown for each of them.  Mateo had a yellow crown.  Yanthy had a white crown.  My husband, George, had a blue crown.  Once their crowns were ready, I took pictures of them wearing their crowns and holding some gifts. They said that Mateo is Melchor, Yanthy is Caspar and George is Balthasar.

The 3 kings in my life.

Yanthy last year with his gift to his playmate.

Last year, Yanthy went to our neighbor's house and delivered a gift to his playmate/friend wearing his crown.  This year, I've decided that we will prepare three brown bags for three street kids that we will encounter on our way to church to hear Mass.  This is similar to what we did on Christmas Day this year.  (You may read about this more on my blog post Give Love on Christmas Day: Our New Family Tradition.)  It's our own way of continuing the tradition of the three wise men or three kings who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus.  Since Jesus said that whenever we give food to the hungry or needy around us, it's as if we are also giving food to Him, we believe that we are offering these gifts to Jesus as well.

 This was Yanthy last year coloring our Star of Bethlehem and showing it after he colored it.

Wise Yanthy with his gift
on the Feast of the Epiphany this year.

We will also bless our chalk and write on the lintel of our main door using it.  This tradition is done as a way of entrusting our home and its inhabitants to Christ, praying for His protection and favor, asking for His blessings this new year, through the intercession of the three wise men.  Then, we will make our own Christmas star.

My high energy child suddenly becoming calm come painting time.

Our Christmas star painted by Yanthy this year.

Let me share the following prayers in case you'd like to adapt this same tradition in your family every Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord or Three Kings.

O Lord God, bless this chalk that it may be used for the salvation of the human race.

Through the invocation of Thy most Holy Name, grant that whoever shall take of this chalk and write with it upon the doors of his house the names of Thy saints, Caspar, Melchor and Balthasar, may through their merits and intercession receive health of body and protection of soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is what we will write later after our chalk is blessed.

20 + C + M + B + 13

        The number designates the new year, while the ‘CMB’ stands for the traditional

        names of the wise men – Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar – and also the

        prayer Christus mansionem benedicat which means ‘May Christ bless this

        dwelling’.  (Cf. Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 118)

After we hear Mass, we will give the gift of time and play to two of God's precious gifts to me and my husband, our kids.  We will let them play for an hour in a play center. We will play with them and savor their company recognizing that they are manifestations of God's presence and love to us.

Happy Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord to you and your families!  May you recognize Christ just like the three Magi/Wise Men today and every day of the new year!

Bring Joy to Others, Bring Joy to Your Heart

We often here it said, "When you strive to make others happy, you make yourself happy in the process as welll."  That's what I experienced recently or last December 28 to be exact.  I thought of what could make my parents happy this Christmas Season.  Yes, it's still Christmas today.  It's actually the 12th day of Christmas. I decided to bring my parents to their original date place again -- at Magnolia Flavor House.  I thank God for the idea and inspiration for it proved to be have brought joy to their hearts.

I could still remember the many times that my parents recounted how they would meet each other and date each other at that memorable place when they were still single.  They looked very happy reminiscing those times.  They also liked bringing me and my younger brother there when we were kids as their way of sharing their experience, their special place and happy memories with us. 

My parents, back in their original date place, after many years.

Last December 28, after attending the house blessing of our former neighbors, we went to Robinson's Magnolia to have merienda/snack at Magnolia Flavor House.  The old Magnolia Ice Cream Plant was no longer there.  The place was smaller because it was replaced by a mall.  The lawn where my brother and I used to run around and play when we were kids was smaller.  But there was still a fountain and some space for kids to run around.  My kids, ages 4 and 1, had a grand time running around in the grass.  They were so happy!  It was hard to take pictures of them or to make them stand still.  And my parents... there were peaceful and joyful smiles on their faces as they recounted once more how they dated each other many years ago and how they shared their date place to us when we were kids and how happy they are to be back there with their grandchildren.

My mom could even remember what she and my father used to order every time they date -- lover's delight.  Hahaha But it was no longer included in the menu.  So, I chose one that they could share just like old times.

Looking back, it was really just a simple visit to an old and familiar place... a simple meal shared with people significant to us.  But it was such a memorable day for my parents, for me and my kids as well because not only did we relieve the beautiful memories of the past, we also somehow renewed a family tradition... that of going to Magnolia Flavor House to enjoy some ice cream and each other's company.

Aside from this bonding activity with my parents, I thank God for the inspiration to give them a simple plaque as a Christmas gift.  I was on my way to our condo which was being renovated then when I happened to pass by one of my favorite gift shops -- Papemelroti.  I stopped for a while to see if there is anything I could get from their store.  I saw this plaque which says "World's Greatest Grandparents."  There's a caricature of a man and woman in Barong Tagalog and a woman in baro't saya.  You need to put a picture on each caricature because there are no heads.  I bought it right away and thought that I'd give it to my parents as gift from my sons.  Days passed and Christmas Eve was fast approaching.  We had been very busy.  But thankfully on the afternoon of the day before Christmas, on my way to buy Jesus' birthday cake, I saw an open computer shop and I was able to ask the staff to resize a photo of my parents.  I was able to put the right size of photos on the plaque just in time for Christmas Eve.  My parents liked it very much, especially my mom.  She was so proud of the simple gift she got from us.  She displayed it right away and even showed it to her friends.

Photo source here.

Watching her with much joy because of my simple gesture and even my "cheap" Christmas gift reminded me of the fact that a lot of times, the best gifts are not the most expensive ones but those things or actions which fill the love tanks of  the receiver/s.  It also brought joy to my heart to find out how happy they are with my gift, just like during our simple bonding activity at Magnolia Flavor House.  Even my eldest son was so happy with our Robinson's Magnolia visit that he kept asking when we'd come back.  I'm sure I'll be bringing my kids back to that wonderful place, made wonderful by the presence of the significant people in my life.

On this 12th day of Christmas, I'd like to invite you to think of people or a person you can bring joy to.  I encourage you to do something or give something that you think will make that person or those people happy.  I guarantee that you will eventually notice that you are feeling happy as well as you watch their happy faces or hear their laughter.  Let's continue to give love on this 12th day of Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

Rejoicing with Mary

I've been meaning and trying very hard to find time to write my reflections during the Advent and Christmas Season but our schedule has been truly hectic.  I thank God that finally I am able to sit down now in the peace and quiet of our bedroom while my boys and my husband are asleep.   

 

Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, I choose to look back on the year that was and be grateful for all that God has blessed me with and allowed me to experience in 2012.  The verse below from today's Gospel is my main inspiration on this first day of the New Year.

 

"And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Luke 2:19

 

It's now the eight (8th) day of Christmas but let me begin my sharing with our experience on the First Sunday of Advent.  It has been a memorable one for me and my husband for we were privileged again (for the second time) to be guests in DZME’s Ang Kristiyanong Pamilya (The ChristianFamily) Radio Program that Sunday.  We praise and thank God for opening up this opportunity to us as a couple.  We brought our sons with us the first time that we were guests in their program.  It was a weeknight so the kids and I met up with my husband, George, near his office before going to the radio station.  Last December 2, our call time was at 6:30 AM.  Our kids were still asleep so we left them to the care of my parents and our helper.  We found out later when we got back home that the kids woke up just in time to listen to us in the radio. 

 

 

I mentioned earlier that we had been busy during the Advent and Christmas Seasons.  Actually, we had been very busy since the month of November.  That month, we moved out of one of our condo units after it was sold; then, we moved out of our remaining condo while renovations were being done.   

 

It was extra challenging to meditate and reflect on God’s Word and messages to us while we were busy with so many things.  But by God’s grace, my husband and I received wonderful insights and inspiration on the Gospel reading for that Sunday. 

 

Below are the readings for that Sunday, including the Gospel, taken from Kerygma Family’s Daily Readings.

1^ST READING

Jeremiah 33:14-16

14 The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. 15 In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. 16 In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.”

 

P S A L M

Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

R: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

4 Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and for you I wait all the day. (R) 8 Good and upright is the Lord; thus he shows sinners the way. 9 He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. (R) 10 All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 14 The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. (R)

 

2^ND READING

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

12 Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, 13 so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. 4: 1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God — and as you are conducting yourselves — you do so even more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

 

GOSPEL

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Show us, Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.

 

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

25 Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” 34 “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise 35 like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. 36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

I did not know right away what to share when I first read the readings for our radio guesting.  I just knew and claimed in my heart that whatever were the readings that day are perfect for our situation and experiences.  True enough, a couple of days before our scheduled radio guesting, God provided me with (much) inspiration.  Let me share some of them here in this post.  I'm still asking my husband to find a way to post the audio of our radio guesting so those of you who are interested to listen to our discussions in the program can listen to it.  I promise to update this post as soon as we find out how. :)

 

So, what were my first thoughts days before our radio guesting?

 

Our new L-shaped kitchen.

Verse 14 of Jeremiah 33 caught my attention then.  "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah."  I felt that God was speaking to me about the promise that He made to our household.  If you had been following my blog and reading my previous posts, you would know that we had been in an adventure with God this year and part of that adventure is our family home.  By the time that we were a few days away from our radio guesting for the First Sunday of Advent, we have already sold one of our condo units and the other one was already under renovation.  We were still waiting for the remaining unit to be renovated and sold; so we can use the proceeds to pay for our new house and eventually move in to it.  I felt God was giving me much hope, encouragement and assurance as I read and reflected on the verse.  It's like He was telling me that we would be able to sell the remaining condo unit soon and He will help us pay for the remaining balance in our townhouse so we can already move to our new home.

 

 



The dining area in our newly renovated condo unit.

The Gospel that Sunday affirmed the inspiration I got from the First Reading.  These lines struck me the most: "But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from... the anxieties of daily life... Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."  I felt that God was comforting me and warning me not to be absorbed in the inconveniences and current problems we are facing.  One of these inconveniences and concerns is our smaller condo unit.  Since we were used to living in a 60 square meter condo, now we need to make do with a 30 square meter condo unit after selling the adjoining unit.  He was also teaching me and my family on what posture to take at this time as these challenging things happen to us.  He tells us to stand erect and wait for our redemtion.  I felt God telling me to just keep on watching and waiting for His help and deliverance from our current concerns/troubles and inconveniences because soon He will give us what He has promised.  We will receive our reward.  The temporal reward we are currently looking forward to receive from God is our new home.  The eternal reward we look forward to receive from Him of course is eternal life with Him in heaven.

 

We shared in the radio program that we think that our current challenges and problems are God's ways of preparing us for His return, which we cannot predict exactly when. Thus, we shared that one way of preparing for the Lord's second coming is that we use His Words to guide our steps and life decisions.  We prepare our hearts to receive Jesus every day so that whatever day he would choose to come again, we would be ready and we would not panic; for we have been used to obeying Him and following Him and living out His Word.  We have much more in our radio guesting but I will leave you in suspense until we are able to add the link to that episode. :)

 

George and I with anchors Brother Bobot and Sister Leah.

I would like to share also that our next radio guesting in Ang Kristiyanong Pamilya or Christian Family Program will be on February 3, Sunday at 7 am.  You may tune in to DZME 1530KHz Ang Radyo Uno or click www.dzme1530.com for live radio streaming.  If you are interested to support this ministry of proclaiming the Word of God as lived out and shared by Christian families, feel free to send a message to the Ang Kristiyanong Pamilya Facebook Page and coordinate with Brother Bobot and Sister Leah Ocampo.  I'm looking forward to our next radio guesting because I know that God will use me and my husband again to share about God's faithfulness to us aside from our love story.  I believe that God ordained that we be guests in February because it could be that we would be sharing our upcoming move to our new home. :) 

(Author's note: Our February 3 radio guesting has been moved. Still waiting for new schedule. Please click here to read the miracle behind this change of schedule.)

Let me now proceed with my next reflections in the days that followed.

 

The next strong inspiration I got was inspired by the December 20  Didache reflection entitled Mary and Me.  We have finished cleaning and furnishing our remaining condo unit by this time to make it ready for viewing of interested buyers.  This moved me to reflect on the experiences of Mary as well as my own personal experiences in the past months.

I could very much relate with Mary because just like her, I didn't know how God's Word would be fulfilled in my life.  I didn't know how to purchase that house that God promised to give to my family because we didn't have the money to purchase it at the time that God led me and my husband to it.  But by God's amazing grace and powerful hand, He has made a way even "in the wilderness" as one popular song goes.  God has provided for me and my family the financial means to put up the required reservation fee and equity in the past months.  He even mysteriously moved the hearts of our developer, agent, broker and other people in our developer's office to allow us to experience His graciousness.  I knew deep in my heart that only God can make all those seemingly impossible things possible.  Like Mary, I chose to hold on to God's Word and and I waited for God to fulfill it.  Last November, God has fulfilled it in part.  We are now standing erect and waiting for our "redemption."  We are waiting for God to grant us in full the answer to our prayers so that we could occupy the land that He promised to give to our family.

The built-in closets in the bedroom with the queen-sized bed
and computer table reflected in it.

 

 

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary as Mother of God today, I look back to all these miracles which I have pondered again and again in my heart.  I step out into the new year with much hope, courage and peace because I know that anytime soon, God would provide for us what we need so that His promise will be fulfilled.  I continue to tap into His graces, too; for on my own I know that sheer positive thinking would not sustain me in the wait.  I tap into the power of His Holy Spirit to enable me to endure the wait and recognize God's answer when it comes.

 

May God be glorified even more when this dream/vision that God has given me and my family unfold before our eyes!

 

Let me end this New year's Day post by thanking you, my dear readers, for being God's instruments in encouraging me to develop and use more frequently my gift of writing.  Thank you for journeying with me and reading my blog.  My prayer for all of us this year 2013 is that God would keep us and bless us abundantly with His graces every single day of this new year and that we would always experience Jesus' loving presence in our lives throughout the year, not only at Christmas time.