What Mothers Day can do to Moms and Children

(@_@)

3 AM…

muffled voices interspersed with laughter

from our bedroom window I sneak a peek

the kitchen lights are on

my sons gathered round the countertop

busy with the surprise they’ve planned for days

I go back to bed with a SMILE on my lips

and a heart filled with THANKS

^_^

7AM

opened the fridge

to get the eggs and whatnots for breakfast

VOILA!

a pleasant sight awaited me

it wasn’t a dream after all

 

^_^

this mom wanted to sing and dance for JOY!

but GRATITUDE stirred the heart to do something in return…

whipped up a storm

VOILA!

 

^_^

their favorite pasta among other eats

awaited my sons  for breakfast

on Mothers’ Day!

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Miguel’s Angel

Yes, that’s what I call him. A total stranger who came to my son’s rescue as he lay like a crumpled heap on the sidewalk a year ago. Although a lot of people hovered around Miguel that fateful night, he stood out from among them. He ministered to my son and never left his side. He waited with him for Miguel’s father to come and fetch him. In his daze and confusion, my son forgot to ask his name. Thus, he remains to us an angel of mercy and compassion.

Thank you so much for looking after my son. May you be blessed all the days of your life.

Read Full Post »

Everything’s Good About You

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Something important happened on that day fifty years ago… a handsome baby boy destined to inspire others with his simplicity and quietude was born. He may not have been “to the manor born” but God had been very generous and kind to him through the years.

Nostalgia… amusement… joy… pride… gratitude. These were the range of emotions seen on the hubby’s face when we celebrated his 50th birthday two weeks ago. Family and close friends came to honor a wonderful hubby,  a great dad, an admirable brother, a good friend and a dutiful son.

Although we celebrated a day in advance a life given to God, family, friends and work, the timing was still right because he had the whole day of his birthday to let all the accolades, wishes and prayers sink in his mind and heart.

Read Full Post »

Divine Intervention

December 5, 2010 at about 9:30PM

Our family had just finished saying our daily Advent prayers when my eldest son called up telling me he had figured in an accident. He was a hundred or so meters away from our home when he fell asleep on the wheel and collided with a truck.

I felt the world came crashing down on me as the hubby, my second son and I dashed out of the house. I couldn’t control the sobs that shook my body as we came to the scene of the accident which was inside our subdivision. It was a head-on collision. My son’s car was going uphill and intruded on the other lane by a foot or two. Upon noticing this, the truck driver stepped on the brake and pounded on the horn to warn my son. He woke up, saw the truck looming in front of him, and instinctively put his foot on the brake before impact.

God is good! He protected my son and the occupants of the truck from physical harm and serious injuries. Even from minor ones since my son did not have scratches or bruises. Damages to our car would be taken care of by the insurance company.

Luke 17:26  … “We have seen incredible things today.”

Indeed! I saw incredible things that night. Incredible things that God alone could perform and I continue to thank Him for sparing my son’s life. For the rest of my life, I will be thankful to Him for my son’s second chance in life.

Read Full Post »

My Heart’s Thanksgiving

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

While Halloween preparations might have been on the top agenda for most families last October 31, ours was abuzz with quiet excitement for Jonah and Joshua’s piano recital. Per Joshua’s request, Christmas filled our home as we put up our tree and other decors.

As I listened and watched my sons during their sets, I couldn’t help but thank the Lord for the talents that He has given them. My heart almost burst at the seams with pride, happiness and gratitude when their two older brothers joined them for the Blues Scale finale. Miguel was on bass guitar, Gabriel on drums while Jonah and Joshua played the piano. They played beautiful music together.

It was truly an afternoon to remember.

Read Full Post »

Thoughts from my Kitchen

Memories from my kitchen - The hubby praying over Joshua on his 8th birthday and blessing the food I had prepared.

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” Harriet Van Horne

When I was younger, I’d rather clean house than cook.  I didn’t know why but I hated onions.  Must be because they made me cry.  I  loathed garlic for its pungent smell and ginger reminded me of antiseptics and hospitals.  I burnt the rice, overcooked the veggies to a pulp, reduced the grilled fish to the consistency of charcoal.  The soup runneth over my pot and shells of hard-boiled eggs cracked open of their own volition. Pan-fried fish was fish cast in stone.  Oh… my list of horrible concoctions in the kitchen was long.  When I tried my hand at baking the list became longer.  In our dialect, the cake I baked was “nagsapatos“.  Literal translation in English would be “wearing shoes or like a shoe”.  My cake felt and tasted leathery.

It was a love-hate relationship.  I dreamt of becoming a good cook but the catastrophes I encountered in the kitchen annihilated the visions in my mind.  I was awed by the likes of Ming Tsai and Rachael Ray. My favorite, however, was Biba Caggiano.  Thanks to her Italian Kitchen on the Discovery Channel,  I overcame my apprehensions and began to learn the basics of cooking.  I was hooked to her show until we switched to another cable TV provider that did not have Discovery Channel in their lineup.  I was heartbroken… for a while.  Then Alton Brown’s Good Eats came into the picture. His show made me realize that cooking is fun!

I’m still lightyears away from my  sweet dreams of whipping up kitchen delights ala Barefoot Contessa. I still have my share of disasters (untouched food on the table, no comments from the hubby and kids) but my attitude towards cooking has changed. Although there are still a lot of times when I feel that it’s a chore but doing it for love of family is still the underlying reason why I labor and toil in my kitchen.

Read Full Post »

Shlumpadinka

Thanks to Oprah Winfrey,  I learned a new word that she made up  to describe  a slumpy woman.  I, too, was a shlumpadinka and it took me years to realize I had become one.   

I got married when I was in my late 20’s.  I didn’t know at that time about biological clocks and I didn’t know either that mine was tick-tocking away like crazy.  I thought I’d be like my Mom who raised a big family and who came from an even bigger family herself.  I thought I had it in my genes but my circumstances were totally different.  I was working and I got into the pregnancy ballgame a bit late.     

I gave birth to my eldest son in my early 30’s.   I had two more babies  every other  year after that.   I became a fulltime housewife and mom after my third child turned 2 years old.  I was so engrossed in keeping house and playing Mom 24/7 that I lost track of myself.  I became a blue jeans-and-loose-tee shirt Mom.   I kept my hair short and my fingernails shorter.  If there were special occassions, I’d end up wearing my reliable black attire (slacks and casual blouse).  Until I was forced to retire them because constant use had taken its toll.

I didn’t want to buy new clothes.  I was still hoping to get my old figure back.  After three kids and a C-section (my 2nd baby was 9 lbs 4 oz!), who was I kidding?  I was like Don Quixote;  stubbornly fighting the windmills in my mind.  Good thing, the hubby still found me desirable.  That’s what I call true love.

My best friend brought me out of that slump.  Thanks to her, I found myself again.  I’m still a jeans-and-shirt person, but I’ve become more careful in my choices.  Last year, I started to gain weight (omigosh!) due to hormonal changes.  There are times when I’m tempted to become slumpy again but I have learned to grudgingly accept my body… bumps, blemishes, fats and all.  Of course, I still dream of gaining my figure back.  This time, it’s the figure I had two years ago.

Read Full Post »

Table for Seven

I can’t remember what we were having that day. I can’t remember either what time of day that was.  The one thing very vivid in my mind, though, was that we (the hubby, kids and I) tarried at the kitchen table longer than usual.  Normally, the kids would go off as soon as they finish their food.  That time, though, they stayed and talked, teased each other and laughed at the corny jokes they made.  Everyone was in a good mood.

We talked about a lot of things; serious and mundane.   There was one topic that gave me much room for thought.  I can’t remember why the hubby talked to our kids what to expect in case we died.  He told the eldest to look after his brothers and make sure everything would be shared equitably among them.  The kitchen became silent, but only for a minute or two.  “Papa, why don’t you write a will then?”  It was our youngest son, all of ten years old, who posed the question.  We all burst into laughter.  He sounded so innocently cute.

On second thoughts, why not indeed?  Many families have been torn apart after the parents’ demise.  Siblings squabble over who gets what and sometimes go all the way to court to settle their disputes.  Why burden them with legalese when things could be made simpler by making a will ahead of time?

We let them go after that.  They had other things to do.  I guess the hubby and I need to seriously think about this and then act on it.  We’re not getting any younger.

Read Full Post »

Musings of a Busy Mom

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Two posts… that’s all I’ve written for November.  I’ve never been so busy in my whole life.  I’m not just a fulltime Mom, I’m also into so many things.  I belong to a community for couples and I go the extra mile by serving in the ministry for women.

I had a tight schedule since October and I’m not free yet as of this writing.  This weekend I still have three activities lined up.

It’s already December and I haven’t put up our Christmas tree.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that next Monday.  Cross my heart…  Hopefully, too, I’ll be able to write again by next week.  Till then.

Read Full Post »

The Happy Housewife

Joshua chided me today for always asking money from his Papa.  In our household, I don’t handle the purse strings.  My husband does.  It’s not because he doesn’t trust me, I just don’t want to.  I’d rather do the housework and care for the family.

I felt offended by my son’s comments.  It made me think of the “what-could-have-beens” had I continued working. Twenty five years ago, I was a computer programmer for a multinational company.  I was doing well considering there weren’t many of my kind at that time.  When our company ceased to operate in 1995, it didn’t occur to me to take on another job.  I had been employed for more than 12 years and I wanted to focus on my growing children.  I felt everything happened for a reason.

If I had to live my life all over again, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Hearing my children’s voices looking for me upon their arrival from school is one reason I’d rather be a housewife.  Seeing them wolf down the food I cooked for them is another.  Smelling the cleanness of their clothes in the washer and knowing they’d look neat in school are my other reasons for staying home.  Being able to comfort them when they’re up against the wall or just looking after them when they’re sick are very good reasons, too, for being a full-time Mom.

Don’t get me wrong, though.  There are times when I still think of my lost opportunities…  like today. Sometimes, I’d ask myself, did I graduate from an honors program in college for naught?  I worked so hard only to end up a housewife?!?  There are times when I look at the veins on my hands and I feel how dry they have become from the constant exposure to laundry detergent.  Sometimes, I even see a burn or two from accidents while cooking.  And I wonder, when will I have beautiful hands?

I’m not a great Mom.  Even after all the sacrifices I made.  Nah!  I get exasperated and high strung a lot of times.  Who wouldn’t if you have five kids on your hands 24/7.  Ask my children and they’d tell you a lot of things about me…  how strict I am, how I wouldn’t let them sleep in their friends’ homes, how I wouldn’t allow them to stay out late, how I push them hard in their studies, etc.  At the end of the day, though, they’d tell you how much I love them.

Yup!  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  This is the life for me, the path that I chose to take and more importantly, God’s plan for me.

Read Full Post »