Free eBook Download of My Latest Book

I'm excited to share the good news that we will have the global virtual launch of my latest book titled Homeschool Moms at the Feet of Jesus: 31 Days of Encounter with our Lord on Amazon with a FREE BOOK PROMOTION from June 30 to July 1. Only 4 days to go!

You can download it using your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. You can download it even if you do not have an Amazon account yet. You simply need to create an account. To read it, you need to download the Kindle app on your device. Once you have the app on your device and you have downloaded the ebook, you can find the book in your Kindle app and read from there. 

Anyway, why am I giving it away?

 

First, this is my way of expressing my gratitude to God for His help and faithfulness to me and my family in our homeschool adventure. This book is special to me because I wrote it and I’m launching it in the same year that my eldest child whom I homeschooled since birth is graduating from elementary.
 

We just had the graduation pictorial of our eldest child at home a couple of weeks ago. I can’t believe that we have homeschooled this long! Time flies, indeed! It feels like it was just yesterday when I started homeschooling my firstborn. He was still tiny and chubby then. Now, his feet are bigger than mine. I’m just a few inches taller than him. He knows so many things that I don’t know already.

Homeschooling him was one of the best decisions that my husband and I have made in our life. Because of homeschooling, my sons and I had lots of bonding moments together. We had countless fun activities and family field trips. We learned together. We traveled together. We did so many things together. We made many beautiful memories together!

I also got to influence them more and passed on our Catholic faith to them. We were able to build many family traditions through the years with the help of homeschooling.

I shared more reasons in my latest blog post. Here is the link to it.

I'd also like to share the testimonial/blurb from the Co-Founder of CFA (Catholic Filipino Academy) Homeschool, Marowe Sanchez. Their family inspired my husband and me to homeschool our children. When her husband, Bo Sanchez, shared that they are homeschooling their children, my husband asked me to investigate homeschooling also. We discovered the many advantages and benefits and we decided to follow their lead. I'm so grateful that they have blazed a trail for us. Thus, I am honored to receive these words from her.

Other homeschool moms have already shared their feedback to me on how the devotional that I have written has blessed and helped them.

Let me share a few with you below:

"The book is designed as a choke-free, easily digestible, 31-day encounter for us parents (whether you have been homeschooling for a long time or are currently thinking of taking the leap of faith), so we can pause for a short while each day and bring our worries, fears, dreams at the feet of Jesus."

You can read Mommy Madel's book review in more detail here.

"The book helped me to pause and reflect on God's word every day, rather than overthinking all our assignments and lesson plans.  It was my daily dose of reminder to fully trust in God and to grasp the present, about what is God's plan for us today.  As overwhelming as it may seem, homeschool for me is about letting God lead the way."

You can read Mommy Steph's book review in more detail here.

I hope these reviews are enough to make you even more excited to download my ebook and use the devotional as you prepare to homeschool in the coming school year.

Reserve your free ebook via this link. That way, I can notify you once my latest book is available for FREE DOWNLOAD on Amazon.

You can also click GOING on our event page on Facebook to stay updated. 

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

God Always Makes a Way for His Words to Come True

At the start of the year, God told me that I can again pursue my dream of publishing at least one book this year. I was hesitant at first, knowing how busy my schedule is. But I claimed it and listed it in my Novena to God's Love again. (You may read my blog post about dreams and how the Novena to God's Love has helped me make my dreams come true in the past years here.)

I'm not yet through planning for my dreams and goals this year. But I was starting to feel discouraged yesterday and the other day because there's simply a lot that a mom like me with three small children needs to do daily. Homeschooling two kids with different grade levels, breastfeeding a toddler who recently turned one and is teething, caring for them daily, managing a household and an online business, maintaining blogs and trying to finish some backlogs from last year are what fill up my hours each day. Yesterday and the other day, I began wondering, "How can I write and finish at least one book with this?" I felt that I was just too busy to squeeze in that dream and goal into my already full schedule. I was wondering how God can make a miracle out of my situation again.

Then, God answered me this morning during my prayer time with this:

"Just because you don't see a way 

doesn't mean I don't have a way." 

Wow! Isn't that great? God read my mind once more! And He answered me clearly and powerfully in a way I could not doubt His voice!

That's all that I needed to be encouraged and empowered to act on my dream and goal again. It was a very timely reminder to me to just keep putting one foot forward and make even baby steps of faith to move closer to my dream.

I excitedly shared about this on my Facebook account and said that I'm targeting to launch at least one book on Mother's Day this year.

Then, I followed up a potential artist who can do the illustrations for one of my children's stories. In minutes, I got the answer that I've been praying for! She confirmed that she will do the illustrations for my upcoming book Mommy Loves You Just the Same! I am beyond thrilled and happy! hahaha God just made a way for me again! I can't help but be amazed! Thank you so much, Lord! 

I'm so excited to see my story come alive in her illustrations! This storybook is special to me because I wrote it for my two older children while I was pregnant with my third child. We were preparing for the coming of our third baby and I wanted to make the two older boys especially my second child that I love them just the same even though they will have another brother.

Moreover, I wanted to continue my breastfeeding advocacy through this book. I think this is a perfect accompaniment or follow up to my book BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking because I want to show in the illustrations that breastfeeding/tandem feeding has helped my sons in their transition to becoming big brothers. This is something that most books on becoming an older sibling did not show. Thus, I am so happy and I feel so blessed to have found an artist who is also a breastfeeding mom like me. I believe that she is the perfect artist for this story of mine.

Oh, before I forget, did I tell you that she's also expecting another child? Yes, she's pregnant now with her second child. Isn't God truly amazing? This makes her understand my feelings more when I wrote my story.

I believe that it was really God who ordained our meeting last year at an event where I was invited to speak. It was a gathering of breastfeeding moms and their families and our booths were situated beside each other. We got to talk to each other and I found out that she's interested in illustrating a book. And the rest is history, or should I say His story. ;)

That's all for now. I will update you about our book in the coming days and months and I hope you'll support us in this book project. In the meantime, please pray for both of us so that we'd be able to finish this book project amid our busy schedule as moms.   

Do you also have dreams that you are unsure if you can achieve them this year because of your current situation? Don't give up right away! Look to God for inspiration and strength! 

QUICK UPDATE:
Our book is almost done! It will be launched on May 19, 2016. :) Jia is now finalizing the inside pages of our book... just doing minor edits to it before the virtual book launch. You may see the book cover and pre-order a copy when you click here. Join the virtual book launch here.

#OneWord for 2016: ANOINTED

I spent the last week of 2015 having fun with my family in Baguio. It was a great way to end a year wherein my One Word was ABUNDANCE. I felt God's abundant blessings during our family vacation in Baguio. It was also a well-deserved vacation for me for working hard the entire year. Most of all, it was a fitting celebration for the abundance of blessings our family received throughout the past year.

Come January 1, 2016, as usual, I spent some time to quiet down and to reflect on the blessings of the past year and ask God for direction for the new year. I asked God to lead me to my One Word this year and to the Bible verse that further clarifies His direction for me.

With the "little" quiet time I had at my disposal (I've always felt that my quiet times are too short eversince I became a mom of active toddlers/kids), God led me to the word ANOINTED.

First, I was reminded of an article written by one of my mentors, Bo Sanchez, about sticking to your anointing and being faithful to your purpose.

Second, I saw this photo from his Facebook Page and I even shared it on my own Facebook Page on the first day of the new year.

Photo source here.

Third, I was reminded of a tweet I posted in the past year.

I felt God telling me that ANOINTED is my One Word for the year 2016 but I had hesitations. I felt that the word is too loaded. I was afraid to own it... afraid that I would not be able to live up to the word.

I Googled Bible verses with the word ANOINTED and read through them to find out if there is a verse that would resonate with me. I found these two:

"He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV) 

Here are my insights on these verses:

• I belong to God and everything that I do belongs to Him. Therefore, everything that I do should reflect God's character or nature.
• His Spirit plants dreams in my heart. He is the source of all my dreams.
• I have hope, courage, boldness and faith to dream big dreams and to pursue them because it is God who guarantees my success and assures me that my dreams will come true. 

"But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie -- just as it has taught you, abide in him." John 2:27

Here are my thoughts on this verse:

• God the Holy Spirit is my ultimate guide and teacher. I should not let myself be overwhelmed with the many things "experts" say I should do to become successful in what I do or choose to do.
• I will use His leading as compass and to help me filter what I hear or read from "experts."

This second verse was also confirmed by the worship song Who You Are by Gateway Worship, which God led me to sing during my prayer time yesterday.

These Bible verses clearly reiterates God's message to me through Bo Sanchez' article where he shares that when we stick to our anointing, our success is guaranteed; because that's where God has gifted us and called us to shine His light and to be a powerful instrument of His love.

This message makes me tremble. You see, I did not get to finish the books I wanted to finish in the past year. There were many factors that contributed to this. Our maids leaving one after the other and me doing the house chores myself on top of caring, homeschooling two boys and breastfeeding a baby, for almost half a year were some of them. Thus, planning to finish and launch at least one book this year is daunting for me.

The first time God impressed this word in my heart, I thought that I need another big miracle to publish at least one of the book ideas that I have.

Then, God led me to the feeding of the 5,000 this morning when I read the Bible to my sons. As I shared the Word of God to my sons, I felt God ministering to my soul and telling me that Jesus is willing to accept whatever I can offer Him and He can transform it and use it to bless many people, even thousands!

It's as if God was telling me that He can easily give me the miracle that I need. All I need to do is to stick to my anointing and live out my purpose.

To further confirm God's Word to me, I read a very encouraging Facebook post of a friend and brother in our community.

This is aligned with the feeding of the 5,000 miracle that my sons and I read this morning. There were 12 baskets full left over even though they started with only 5 loaves and 2 fish! 

I'm praying for greater courage to believe that God can and will grant me the miracles I need again to achieve the dreams He has planted in my heart. 

Through my One Word this year, God reminds me that my successes this 2016 are guaranteed because He has already won the victories that He wants me to have. His wisdom and guiding hand will lead me to the right people and He is shifting things into my favor. All I need now is to confidently step out in faith as God's ANOINTED into my courage zone.

I love the additional confirmation God gave me this morning through one of the devotionals that I use in my prayer time:

"You need to check doors that have been closed to you in the past. Things have shifted... it may not have happened the first time, but that's okay. It's prepared you for this time. Don't give up. This is a new day... Pursue your dream again."

"When God breathes in your direction, people change their mind. Closed doors suddenly open. The nos turn into yeses. Not now turns into It's your time."

Have you discovered your One Word for 2016? Feel free to share your One Word this year and how you were led to it in the comments section.

Lessons (re)Learned at the Start of a Brand New Year About Dreams

It's the first day of the new year. I reviewed my list of dreams in my Novena to God's Love booklet through the years after my morning prayers. After that, I wrote down my dreams for 2016 in my new booklet. 

I had been doing this for years. It was a joy to read the dreams I have written in my previous booklets and the dates when these dreams were fulfilled. I felt so blessed to be reminded of the many dreams God has helped me fulfill just in the past three years. (I'm not sure if I started with this practice earlier than 2013 because I could not find other booklets.) Remembering these blessings gave me so much hope to face this brand new year with joufl anticipation for more dreams coming true and becoming my reality.

While pondering on my list of dreams last year (2015), I (re)learned some lessons about dreams and dreaming. Let me share them with you.

1. Dreams do come true, whether big or small. - I wrote a number of dreams in my Novena booklet. We're supposed to write seven dreams on it only. But in some pages, I wrote multiple dreams. Thus, I am amazed that most of the dreams I wrote on its pages were fulfilled. It's simply amazing! Reviewing them encouraged me to dream new dreams and to just keep on dreaming.

2. Don't just dream. Work hard on your dream too! - It's not enough that we dream dreams. We need to do our part in making them happen. I love the quote which says, "Pray as if all depended on God. Work as if all depended on self."

I remember a funny story I once heard. A speaker said that the first step in making our dreams come true is to wake up from our dream and to do the necessary work.

Many of my fulfilled dreams entailed a lot of work on my part. I made a lot of sacrifices. I put in a lot of work hours. I hustled. I did what was necessary. And my efforts paid off because almost all of the dreams I listed last year came true by the grace of God and with a lot of hard work!

3. There's a perfect time for your dreams to come true. Learn to let go and let God be the God of all your dreams. - As I mentioned earlier, not all of the dreams I listed came true. A few are still in progress. I have started workign on those dreams but the results that I wanted to see and experience have not happened yet. 

What I learned through these dreams is that no matter how hard we work on something, if it is not yet time for these dreams to come true, these dreams would not be fulfilled. God still has the final say. 

I remember another beautiful lesson I learned years ago. A speaker shared that it's not enough that we do God's Will in our lives. We also need to make sure that we do things God's way and that we follow God's perfect timing. Let Ecclesiates 3 remind us of this truth: "God appoints when all things will happen." 

So, if like me, you have dreams that are still on stage 1 or stage 2 and there are still a few or a number of steps that you need to take, don't despair and give in to frustration. Let go and let God be God of those dreams that are yet to come true.

4. Some dreams are more important than others. - Like what I said earlier, I sometimes listed more than one dream per page in my Novena to God's Love booklet. I had so many dreams that I wanted to be fulfilled last year. God taught me to prioritize when He allowed our maids to leave us one after the other. We didn't have a helper for almost half a year. Working on my personal goals and business goals on top of Mommy duties and household chores was extremely challenging. I had to decide which dreams had more weight in my heart. So, I chose to prioritize my dreams and goals related to my role as mother over those dreams and goals related to my roles as author and mompreneur. I'm glad I made that choice! I felt so at peace and fulfilled even though I had to delay my pursuit of those dreams. I believe that I can delay finishing another book. But I wouldn't be truly happy if I keep my kids waiting too long all the time because I'm so busy chasing my other dreams. 

How about you? Do you have dreams that you want to see realized this new year? Do you also make a list just like me? Do you make time to reflect at the start of each brand new year? Feel free to share your thoughts and your dreams on the comments. I'd love to hear from you!

Happy New Year and may your dreams come true!

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.