My eldest son got a new toy from my godmother (ninang) who happened to be one of the principal sponsors during our wedding as well. The toy was one of the toys in my son's wish list. It's now one of his new favorites.
As he played with it, I discovered new ways to teach him Math and entrepreneurship.
One of his favorite pretend plays and pretend businesses is having a grocery store. Since he now has a parking building and new toy cars, he decided that his new business will be to rent out his parking space in his new parking building.
In the past weeks, we discussed about not making his parking building crowded because his customers will not like crowded parking areas where vehicles are parked too close to each other. he was also imagining that he has an open parking for rent aside from the parking buidling that he now plays with. When his parking building becomes full of vehicles, he parks the other vehicles in his open parking area.
I asked him one time how much is the rent. He answered, "One peso!"
I asked him again to clarify. "Is that one peso per minute or one peso per hour?"
He replied, "One peso per minute."
I then told him that there are sixty minutes in one hour so that means that he is charging 60 pesos per hour as parking fee in his parking building.
Yanthy's new business - parking space for rent.
I also shared with him that there are 24 hours in one day. He already knows that there are 7 days in one week. We have not yet discussed the number of days in a month or in a year. Next time, I will ask him how much he will charge per month. I will teach him about using contracts, too, for his monthly renters.
Yesterday, I suggested that he make a parking fee for his renters just like what we get when we park our car in the mall parking areas. He said that he will make parking tickets next time.
I'm looking forward to our next conversations. I'm excited about the new and other things we can talk about as we play pretend parking.
My husband and I planned early in Lent to have an outreach for our family during the Lenten season. Then, we became so busy with deadlines and many other things and the release/delivery of our new vehicle happened much later than expected.
Our busy days became busy weeks and Lent was almost over. Deep inside I was still hoping and wishing we could go to a charitable institution or to the same orphanage that we visited last year to celebrate my birthday.
Then, God surprised me when one of the servants managing the orphanage for girls where we went last year told me that they are still free on Holy Wednesday afternoon. Yes! God answered my heart's desire! Perfect timing because our van was already delivered.
The last few days leading to the outreach were again very busy days. I hardly had time to plan and prepare. But by God's grace, I was able to think of simple activities. Since my advance birthday celebration fell within Holy Week, I decided to tone it down. No cake, ice cream or balloons like last year. No more fancy decors or fancy loot bags. It was much simpler compared to my Disney Princess-themed birthday party last year.
Our simple activities were graced by God's presence and our simple outreach turned out to be so much fun, not just for the kids of Tahanan ng Pagmamahal but also for me and my husband, my friends and my two kids.
We started our simple program with the teaching of songs led by my ever-dependable husband who played his guitar. My eldest son could not resist to join his Dad. He played his guitar as well while singing with us.
My husband and his little assistant playing the guitar. My little Mateo walking and dancing around while Kuya Yanthy and Daddy teaches some songs.
Here is one of the songs that we taught them. My son loves this song and he enjoyed helping his Dad teach this to the kids in the orphanage. The kids in turn loved how my eldest son sang his heart out and played his guitar with passion.
The other songs we taught were Jesus Loves the Little Children and John 3:16 Song which are some of the first songs my kids learned from me. Click on the song titles to watch a video of the songs.
My husband and I explained the meaning of the songs a bit to the kids as we taught them then we used the songs to lead them in prayer. After that, we distributed John 3:16 book marks that I got from Christian Preschool Printables. I instructed them to decorate, color or jazz up their bookmarks. We provided them with coloring materials, yarns and ribbons. Each child, including my eldest son and the daughter of one of my college friends who joined us, got busy right away with their masterpieces.
The girls in the orphanage busy with their book marks with my college friend and her daughter.
My eldest son proudly shows his book mark.
Yanthy, my eldest, finished his book mark fast. He went to the dining area eagerly and took the initiative to help out in setting up the table and preparing the food for the kids while the other kids continued to decorate their book marks. He patiently prepared with the other volunteers and he didn't even rush to eat his share. He waited until all the food are prepared and most kids were finished with their book marks before asking if he can already eat. So we said grace before meals with the rest of the kids and those who were finished were asked to line up and their food and drinks were given to them.
I ordered food (spaghetti) from Amber once more just like last year. Earlier that morning, we made some sandwiches. We also bought cartons of juices and marshmallows for the kids. A couple friend who came to join our activity brought some Yakult and chocolate drinks in tetra packs and pizza.
The kids jammed some more with my husband after eating merienda/afternoon snack. Then, I had a word hunt game inspired by 1 Corinthians 13. We gave chocolates to the first three girls who found all the words that were listed.
Then, I asked Yanthy and Cate to distribute our brown bag loot bags to the girls in the orphanage. Each loot bag has a rosary aside from the sweet treats.
We had a closing prayer and the kids surprised us with a very moving song.
I felt so blessed that day! I was blessed to be given the chance to serve God's favorites again and to bring Christ's love to them on Holy Week. I felt blessed to witness my son happy to serve the Lord's favorites in his own little ways. I pray that he would continue to do so when he grows up. Moreover, my family had another meaningful bonding activity to celebrate my birthday and to bring God's message to others during the Holy Week. God is so good!
It's Good Friday and it's a day of fasting and abstinence. But instead of sharing a meatless recipe today, I'm going to share my random thoughts and reflections as I read the readings today.
My husband and I attended a two-half day (Holy Thursday and Good Friday morning) live out retreat led by Bo Sanchez in PICC. It was a spirit-filled and powerful retreat! I'm still letting the words of God sink into my heart. I will certainly blog about my reflections soon.
But today before I sleep, let me share these verses that caught my attention and my thoughts about them.
"I find no guilt in him.” John 19:6 That was what Pilate said about Jesus. But he still didn't have enough courage to stand by his belief. He was afraid of the crowd. He didn't want to go against what they believed in even when he thought that they were wrong.
How many times have we been witnesses to injustice or unfair treatment or judgement yet we chose to be silent? Like Pilate, have we been cowards, too? How many times have we betrayed Jesus by not standing up to Him and our belief in Him. There are still modern day Pilates and we can be one of them when we choose not to defend the innocent because of our fear of the crowd.
The service of the Gospel will bring you into conflict with the world, and that conflict will initiate suffering. - Didache
Jesus lived His life fully in the service of the Gospel. He lived to love us. He lived to carry out the Father's Will and perfect plan of salvation for humankind. He got into conflict with the powerful people of His time because of this. He suffered because of this.
How about us? How willing are we to be in conflict with the world to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Or even to our neighbors or officemates? Are we really willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel? Or do we tell God about our conditions or limits on what kind of sufferings for the Gospel we are willing to endure?
"Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth..." Isaiah 53:7
He is the Son of God and yet when people treated Him harshly He chose not to defend Himself. He chose to be humble and silent. How many of us today can do what Jesus did? Can we also be humble enough to remain silent and not defend ourselves while being treated unjustly and harshly by our enemies?
What Jesus did is no easy thing. It was humbling. It was humiliating. Yet He endured it all. Why? He loved us.
Let's ask ourselves: When was the last time we endured a humbling experience or humiliation because of love for someone or because of our love for God?
Today, Jesus gave us a perfect example of up to what point we should be ready to suffer for the Gospel. He showed us what courage looked like. May we be inspired and strengthened by His example, by His life, by His love.
