Faith Milestones, Homecoming & Birthdays

It’s a wonderful feeling, something I could not write in words to describe the joy I feel about my husband’s homecoming! 

See, I for one spent 10 years of my life working overseas and each time my husband and I visits home in the Philippines to meet our folks and siblings, the feeling is comparable to celebrating Christmas mornings. We couldn’t sleep, we count the days, we imagine the food that we are going to eat and the list of happy thoughts goes on. 

But now that I get to stay back with my daughter here in the Philippines while my husband works overseas (not for long) there is a greater longing and anticipation as to whenever my husband comes home for a short vacation to be with us. Well gratefully for us, Jake can come home whenever there are important occassions or whenever there are long weekends or holidays – he comes home once every 2 months or if he catches an airfare deal which is really good! 

August is my birthday month and Jake is also coming home – what a wonderful birthday gift surprise. I am super delighted to have us all complete celebrating my birthday. Truthfully, I am not a fancy girl, it does not really bother me whether we celebrate my birthday or not but I am very clingy. And for the sake of establishing family traditions we wanted Jael to understand the importance of family occassions too. That’s why the thought of having Jake with us is really encouraging. That’s one gift I really wanted. 

My Birthday

This is one birthday year I would never forget! 

As the midnight of my birthday came, there were no birthday cakes or candles for me to blow, there were no songs or happy thoughts – what we had is a complete turn around of events because our baby daughter shoots a very high fever “39.5” made us really worried. It’s an emotional roller coaster ride as we bring our baby to the hospital. My one birthday wish that day is for her to be healed. I was worried. Really worried. 

There is always a first time for everything. There is always a season for everything. In our case, it’s our first time to celebrate a birthday in the hospital (if celebrate is a proper word to describe it). 

Faith Milestones

Surely our hope is in the Lord. But I must admit that I got every fiber of my body literally worried about my daughter during the whole ordeal. 
The whispers of fear cripped in my heart like daggers, slowly and it’s painful. Plus I get to hear report of kids admitted in the hospital due to an epedimic named “Japanese Enciphilitis” that’s currently in the season and the cases of affected families are like broken record to our ears. The symptoms of having high fever and vomiting is same as what my daughter is experiencing. I can’t think properly. We are at lost for words. 

I shut off. I chose not to listen to the reports. I chose to kept myself quiet and even with fear in my heart, I know that God is still in control. 

I was brought to my knees because that’s the only powerful way I know. My husband and I didn’t speak, we don’t know what to talk about. I have vivid thoughts that my husband is equally worried as I am. My prayer that day goes on and on but one particular prayer I kept on uttering in my heart is ” I declare Lord that it’s nothing serious and her fever has nothing to do with the epedimia”, over and over again. As I press on the cold compress to my baby’s forehead to lessen the fever, I cried. 

Series of test were done to my baby during that night and her pedia finally came to discuss the results. It’s urine infection and pneumonia. My baby is safe! Praise God! 

It may sound odd to some but this kind of situation made us praise God more. You know it’s music to our ears to know that it’s nothing. It’s not that deadly Japanese Enciphilitis that has no cure yet that made our daughter sick. It’s curable and she is on her way to recovery. Our greatest comfort that night was this verse; 

But he said to me ” my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9 

HE KNEW BETTER

We spent a week in the hospital. My one birthday celebration turned into a life changing celebration. It’s one birthday I would never forget! 

In the hospital room for days, with bills coming in and the worries that we had, slowly turned into gratefulness. Why? Because God is good. We realized that without God we could not survive a day of stress. Maybe for me, I will vanish. (Haha) 

God knew I needed my husbandJake to be with me, another set of hands to help me with our daughter. The doctors were all very accomodating, our baby responded well to the medicines, our hospital bills were subsidized – in fact the insurance took a big portion of the bill and my husband’s employer were very understanding of his situation. My husband also got a promotion when he came back to work, a surprise from his boss – something we were praying for. 

Favors overflowed. Prayers for our daughter overflowed. Support and encouragement overflowed. 

As a result, we were overwhelmed with how much mercy and grace God have for us that even in the most unfamiliar, dreaded and dark place of fear we were in – He never hid His face. And even if we can’t see the light, we knew that God was there. At the end of it all, He is our greatest Healer and Comforter. 

If there is one greatest gift I ever received this birthday year, that is God’s healing. He healed our daughter and He taught us the beauty of togetherness in faith in and out of seasons. 

Confessions Of a Newbie Momma, Encouragement and Reflections

Confessions

I have always looked forward to this season of my life, where I can give my 100% best to take care of my child. To lead her closer to God so she can walk to the destiny God has designed for her. I have too many thoughts and plans on how am I going to do this and that. And as I finally dive into my full-bloom motherhood, the more I understand that it is not easy. 

My ideals and ideas of how am I going to execute things in my mind are not as easy as I have ever imagined. Being a full-time stay-at-home-momma to a toddler is harder than sitting in my office desk working from 8-5, it’s tougher than memorizing songs and lyrics for worship leading on a Sunday service and it’s way more challenging than dealing with people you speak with, on a weekend bible study group or presentations to a prospective clients. All those that I do before has no match to my super-amazing-hyperactive-little-fireball. 

This mommahood is a serious deal! 

Do I feel the pressure? Do I feel inadequate? 

Not all the time, but there are times I would say that, Yes, I do. Sometimes I sit down in a corner thinking to myself, “what happened to my momma goals?”. I thought that it’s going to be easy-peasy, I can easily manage my daughter and whatever I say, she would follow. Like when she was still a tiny-little baby, the world is just too lovely. I can sit down near her crib while I sip on my coffee watching her angelic face sleeping quietly. I can do that all day. What happened to my super quiet and behave baby girl? Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying every second of time with my daughter and all her milestones, but, there are just times (specially now that she’s a toddler) that I wanted (figuratively) to walk out when she starts diving on the floor and showing the best tantrum and throwing the best fit she can in the middle of a shopping spree. (toddler-life) My-oh-my! 

Encouragement

But I am encouraged that despite of that reality in my hand – my God is Supreme and He guides me one step at a time. He continually gives wisdom and pours out enough grace so I can stand confidently with this wonderful calling He gave me. Reason why these verses are all written in the bible; 

… I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10: 10

And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 1 John 1: 4 NKJV

“He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!”‭‭Psalms‬ ‭113:9‬ ‭

Clearly our Father wanted us to enjoy life at it’s fullest, the very main reason Jesus died to give us all these. What a great treasure it is to be called a “mother” and even if it comes with lots of home chores, worry or frustration – it is still a wonderful calling, a pleasure to every woman. 

And the good news is, I don’t have to feel perfect or be perfect because the truth is, in my weakness Jesus is there. He fills all that I lack and He just comes to pour out grace to just keep me going. No matter how overwhelming mommahood can be. 

Here’s the best part, yaaas, I maybe missing some of my old routines like being complimented for how good my singing voice sounds (** modesty aside), or how well do I keep up with my sales, how fast can I close a deal or how creative I was as a person, etc. None of that matters anymore, none of that compares to the joy I now have, when my little fireball smiles at me and calls me “nanay” as if I am the only important person in her world just to play with her. Or when she invites me to dance with her over and over again and the unlimited hugs I received all throughout the day, the uncounted cuddles, the thousand kisses – are far more greater than anything else. 

Reflections 

This mommahood journey teaches me one greatest lesson I think most mommas would agree, learning to be “selfless”. It’s no longer about you or what you want or your ideals, It is now about this one little person who looks up to you, wanting to receive from you as you pour out your genuine love, care and understanding. What a relief to know that our children are genuine lovers, they would not reject the love we give no matter how insecure we may feel. Generally speaking, to our children, we are the “only” best person that they’ve got and they would love us no matter how imperfect we are.

So I say to myself, cheer up momma… you may not be as slimmer as you were, you may have missed some compliments and outdoor funs with friends and you may have overflowing junk drawers that needs to be tackled, gardening failures that needs to be redeemed and occasional outburst of impatience and disappointments – as long as You have God and you trust Him, He will help you do it. God will help you succeed as a momma and fulfill all His plans through you, not because you are perfect but because God is. 

Stay humble and lean unto God – He is able to finish the work He has began in You. Enjoy each day of growth, each day of learning, each day of maturity. Live a thankful life filled with songs of praise and gratefulness, because with God on our side, our journey is all but progressive. 

God loves you unconditionally, even if you are not ideal! 🙂 

Discipline: Learning from my 3 Year Old Toddler

Who says that raising a child is easy? As for myself and my husband we would say that it isn’t. It demands a lot of “walk the talk” kind of moment, adjustments and leading by example. 

Since we finally have been reunited with our fireball baby girl, we were able to see and observe things that Jake and I needs to address about her, including us and the strategies we need to be equipped of so we can raise her according to the ways of the Lord. Discipline is on top of our priority and as clueless as we are, what best way to understand parenting than to hear it from the Best Parent we know, God. 

It’s not as easy as 123 because we realized that children as little as they are, have characters that needs some understanding, love and corrections. And what makes our situation a bit of a challenge is the fact that we are also re-introducing ourselves to her, as her parents (we have been apart for almost a year). So the question for us is, how can we discipline her in the most loving way that she would embrace obedience even at her young age. 

A good and old friend of mine advised me about “choosing our battles” when it comes to disciplining our child. That means we must be able to discern the actions of our daughter, we must check if it’s a heart or innocence issue then from there we can address it. Sounds easy right, but for my husband and I who are clueless we really don’t have a full understanding on how to start, until one time we witnessed with our own eyes how our baby deliberately ignored us when we called her attention and say “stop”. 

I was hesitant about “spanking” but I know it’s a biblical way of discipling your child. So one time, when we were outside in the playground, Jael showed her us her best tantrum catching the attention of some old moms there. Jael doesn’t want to stop even if we have told her that it’s time to go, so we carried her out and in her defense & with the sole intent of making us see how she can make things her way, she shouted “help, help”. Not only did we make a scene but it was kinda embarassing because I thought I could not control my child. Oh, I couldn’t wait to finish this scene, I walked as fast as I can, carrying my daugther who shouts help in the corridor of our flat until we reached the lift. Surprisingly, I didn’t break down neither did I feel angry towards her. Honestly, what I felt was an urgent matter to address and correct this uncontrollable attitude of my 3 year old. 

Soon as we reached home, I collected myself and spoke to her in a serious manner and I said, “go your room”. I brought her to the corner of our room and talked to her, I warned her that because she was disobedient and she ignores our warning, I have to spank her. She looked at me carefully and shouted and cried. So I took my “pamalo” (wooden stick) and decided to give her a swat across her bum, enough to sting but not to wound her skin. That’s the very first official spank she received from me. She cried loudly and I hugged her tightly, until she calmed down. Then I look at her in the eyes and I told her ” I love you”. She repeated the same phrase and she said “sowee” (sorry). I told her to OBEY and remember to OBEY. She said “okay, obey”. (I was surprised that she understand***) 

After that scene, she now listens to my voice when I call her name and when I say “stop” she obeys. There are still some moments when she tries her way out to do things that she still wants to do. But slowly she is reminded about that “pamalo” which I intentionally placed somewhere she can notice and she would say “obey”. 

Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don’t forget anything of what you’ve seen. Don’t let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you’ve seen and heard to your children and grandchildren. (DEUTERONOMY 4:9)

The role of a parent is one that requires constant vigilance. Not only must parents teach God’s Word and ways to their children and grandchildren, but they must also follow them. (** from the book; Everything the bible says about parenting) 

Being a parent is one great opportunity to learn, get equipped and touch the next generation through our children. And that gift is something that we could always be grateful of by being good stewards of this gift. It is my prayer that my child would grow in the ways of the Lord so that when they grow old, they know how to live life having the fear of the Lord. 

Our discoveries with our little-hyperactive fireball is still far from the finish line. Our disciplining is hardly over. We still have to train our little-active fireball to practice self-control, to be attentive, to honor authority, to listen and accept our instructions without too much drama or throwing tantrums. Our present hurdle is her self-control. Her understanding of “no” is a bit of a challenge, she still throws a huge tantrum if she doesn’t get in her way. For example, if we wanted her to stop running around the grocery lines and we hold her hand to stop, she would cry loudly and make a scene. If we carry her, she would even shout for “help”. Another example is her usage of gadgets. Since we would like her to limit her screentime, once we say stop and take her Ipad, she would cry aggresively until she turns red. 

We have tried addressing this attitude through several techniques for now, before we resort to spanking. First, we ask permission from her and give her a heads up, to up to what time she can use her Ipad. For example, we say ” Jaja you only have 10 minutes left to use your Ipad, okay?” If she ignores that, I’ll come to her and ask her the same question until she replies “okay” then I let her use the Ipad. (Most of the time it works, but when it doesn’t;) Second, we try to distract her with other activities like listening to music or showing her a book, so we can divert her attention. Third, if she is really upset because she has been denied of what she wants, I would stop whatever Im doing and come to her, put her aside and talk to her and explain. (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t) But for what it’s worth, we will always instill discipline to her until she grasp and embrace OBEDIENCE. 

Proverbs 19:18 – 

“Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Children must be disciplined while there is opportunity, for there will come a day that its too late for parents to discipline their children. For a parent not to discipline their child is to allow them to continue in ways of folly, which puts them on a path to their eventual death. (Everything the Bible Says about Parenting and Children Book)

I look forward to the day when Jael would embrace obedience not by force but because she knows that it is for her good which leads to blessing. We still have a long way to go, until then, it is still a journey that we have to take to discover more things about our child. To develop and train her according to the ways of the Lord. And the more we think it, the more we realized how much grace and wisdom we needed from the Lord! 

Book Review: The Christian Mama Guide to Parenting a Toddler

It’s been one solid month of staying at home and embracing this whole momma calling. Can’t say I’m not loving it but this is tougher than I ever could imagine. Kudos, to all the stay-at-home-moms out there! 

It is definitely not easy to manage your own home, making sure that your entire day is not wasted and you’ve got something meaningful added to your life and your family’s life. Well, it is easy to sit back and pretend that you just don’t care, but nope, if you wanted to be intentional, then you gotta do something intentional. Besides, that is exactly the reason why I quitted my job and came to agreement with my husband to focus on home matters and discipling our child. 

Going back to the book, that is also another reason why I’m back to this whole reading routine. I am craving, desperate for learning and inputs on how I can manage our home, in God’s way. So if I can devour all the learnings, definitely I would. But of course, it takes proper execution and practice but by God’s grace – surely I will learn and I will grow. 

First on my kindle library is this book “the Christian Mama Guide to parenting a toddler” – this book takes off the seriousness and the “tiger look” of parenting. The writer who is a mama herself raised her kids in good ways, she is also very honest in admitting some of the mistakes she made – reason why Im learning a lot. I would find my self giggling in the corner while my daughter is taking her nap because of the way she wrote her stories, it is just way too honest and incredible. 

This book provides prayer both for moms and their child. Encourages you to grow as a mother without pre-judgment. It’s like hearing your best friend share her stories, without stopping, all the truth and whole picture of this and that, which is cool! 

There are also some parts of the book where you get to be surprised on how much a toddler can do, like situations a “newbie” toddler mom like me, would never imagine it could actually happen but it did happen, at least to her (based on her own stories). Situations that can help us prepare for the “what-nots”. 
I personally like the idea of “toddler proofing” my home and how to become sensitive to toodler sounds – especially in “silence”…

There are so much more to this book and I could truly say that it’s worth all the time reading it. I may have to re-read it again if I needed some sound advise on some toddler stuffs. I may try some recipes too, now that my daughter is becoming more and more choosy with the food we are feeding her. The countless chicken nuggets and spam is already getting into me, she says “yuck” to everything else except those. 

So yeah, it’s 5 stars for this book! I really love it! 

Family Milestones: Reflections and 5th Wedding Anniversary

This blog is written to honor my husband, Jake as we celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. As I reflect on the many wonderful blessings I received one of these, was my marriage to my husband. 

Yes, our marriage is not perfect, obviously we are two different people with lots of differences. But, God being the center of our relationship makes those differences work together, perfectly well. 

Truthfully, I can say that I am not near anywhere I am now in terms of maturity or understanding my calling if its not with my supportive husband. 

Wonderful lessons I am learning so far in marriage; 

1. Differences makes marriage exciting. My husband and I works in the same industry doing the same thing. People would often ask how is it working for us and honestly I can say that we normally shy away discussing our corporate life experience when we are at home. It’s boring and it does not excite us at all, besides we are competitors. 

Other than that, I wish that my husband would share my love for reading or journalling instead of him watching “Jason Bourne” sequels repeatedly but he won’t. And that makes it all exciting. Obviously for the fact that at least we have something different to talk about. 

Like those movies he watches sparks interest in me to sit down and listen to him as he narrates his amazement on the characters. It does excite me to know that there our differences make us more interesting to each other, there are still so many things to share and learn from each other. 

2. Differences don’t really matter. I know many would not agree with me, but at least in our marriage we experienced that when Jake and I disagrees with some things we still find ways to agree on our disagreements. 

We often see and figure things differently but we are always in agreement that if it would benefit our relationship, the people around us, our family and our child – doesn’t matter whose idea won, we will still support and help each other. We learned to accept and respect each other.
3. Our differences makes us value each other more. In some terms they say learn to “compromise”. Our marriage has lots of those and we respect each other’s individual goals and dreams. And though we are one in the sight of God and of men, we understand that we are still our own unique person. 

We have different ways of expressing ourselves towards each other, we have different ways of tackling things, different ways of solving problems and many more. Believe it or not, we are always learning from each other. 

One example is my husbands passion for fitness, this is not something I would write in my journal of priorities. But as I learn from my husband, I learned than more than the asthetics the end results would benefit our family too, making us live stronger and better, far from sickness and learning how to be good stewards of God’s temple (our body). Later on, I joined him in his fitness journey and it’s giving me more benefits than I could ever imagined. 
I am really grateful that today God has given us a day to ponder and reflect on the many benefits of being together. Relationships make life more meaningful. 

God gave me the best partner I could ever have. We maybe different in many things, what we bring in to our table are all different expectations and insecurities but Jesus is our perfector and He makes us one. We are not different in our faith. One thing that we have in common, Jake and I love Jesus and that changes us, making us a perfect fit for each other.

Which is why I am so thankful that for 5 years of marriage knowing that we are two different people, by God’s grace we walked through life circumstances as One. 

We’ve been through lack, blessings, death, sickness, healing, unemployment, debts, giving birth, celebrations, loss and many more – our faith in Jesus keeps us together despite of our differences. This is our hope and confidence for 5 years and we look forward to more years here on earth or until we meet Jesus in heaven. 
We will grow (old) together! Yay! For more years and beyond! 🥂

Stay at Home Mom Adventures: Week 2

Days are passing swiftly and now we approached week 2 of our family transitions. Having a toodler around is a sweet responsibility and it’s something that my husband and I take seriously. 

I therefore conclude that being “parents” is not only a responsibility but a “higher calling” that we must learn. If we wanted to be intentional in guiding our child to walk in the ways of the Lord, we have to make sure that we instruct only according to God’s ways. Forget all those child development fads and really dig deeper into the biblical ways, God’s methods. 

Wiping a runny nose, answering countless questions, exchanging your favorite series to peppa pig, singing animals and vegetables are just the tip of the iceberg. I learned that there is so much more that my husband and I must learn in order for us to nurture God’s precious daughter into becoming a woman God designed her to be. And we have to be faithful stewards of this precious gift, because God called us to it. 

REALITY SPEAKS

This season of our lives is something that we always have look forward to. Being away for a year from our child, to seek better future has given a little toll on us and it’s something that we have to catch up. That is why I was seeking for tips, advises and guidance from those moms who were ahead of us. Those I think can guide me. But I realized that there is no “one” formula to it. Children are created differently and so we dare not compare who does parenting well. It’s okay to listen to the advises but we have to also filter because I realized the one who knows our child more than we do, is the One who created her.

So in our pursuit of ways to discipline our child – we found that God in His wisdom has a lot to say on how to take care of our sweetpea. God made us realized that being a parent is more than just being a maid, cook, playmate etc.. it is about molding character, training, guiding and nurturing. And what better way to do this, but to go through God’s ways. Understanding the biblical disciplines of parenting and to faithfully instruct our child in the ways of the Lord. 

The bible says; 

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians ‭6:4‬ ‭ESV‬

All the while I have passed through this verse I thought that it was a reminder to fathers of not provoking their children but the chunk of meat is found on the second part, which I think is a challenge. I know that it’s not going to be an easy task, but realizing the treasures and the gifts of being called a parent is already a blessing. 

SITUATION 

No one told my daughter how to ignore us, but she does. I thought at first it’s because she was doing some interesting things, but later I found that my 3 year old daughter deliberately pretends not to hear us when we call her. Why? She just wants to or maybe no one told her that it is not good to ignore people. 

My initial reaction was to get into her way and ask her why she pretends of not hearing me? (Well, I got too emotional when I discovered it so I wanted to address it right away) 

But, God dealt with my heart, first. He made me think of those times when we His children does the same even on our grown up age to pretend of not hearing Him when He calls out our name. And we do it over and over again. What a shame! 

So I felt humbled, I realized that in order for us, forme specially, to become a good mother, I myself should tackle my heart intent and let God sort this for me. Frankly, it is always easy for us to tell our kids what they have done wrong, but it would take a lot of prayers, discipline, understanding on our part to INSTRUCT our children according to God’s word. The problem is, if we dont spend time with God, we get overwhelmed and our instructions may come from different sources causing different results. 

So I got on my knees and pray. Seek wisdom on how am I going to become that mother who reaches the heart of her child. Besides, I dont want my baby to grow up pretending or to be someone she dont want to be. I wanted her to walk in the ways God called her to be, I wanted her to respect authorities, to recognize the beauty of obedience and rise up as a woman after God’s own heart. So when she grows up, when she is on her own, capable to think on her own, she won’t let go of these principles. 

Of course, I won’t expect my 3 year old to be like that tomorrow, it would definitely take time. It will take time. My calling is to respond in passion and ownership because I am sure that the rewards are far greater than I could ever imagine. It is my calling, my priority and my struggle and my goal. So I will rise to this occasion and accept motherhood with humbleness. I will love, train, guide and nurture my child in the way God has called me to do. 
I would gladly exchange my favorite tv shows just to check if the things she’s watching is helping her or not. I would gladly listen to her stories over and over again until she learn to speak in wisdom. To watch her ways over and over again, to guide her to the path until she reaches her destination, to where God has called her to be. 

CONCLUSION 

This week gave us valuable lessons. Yes, it is not easy to become a parent – but be encouraged because this means that we will witness God’s wisdom unfolding as we train and guide our kids, manage our homes and nurture our families.
And God’s grace our children in the future will arise and call us, blessed! 

Stay At Home Mom Adventures: Week 1

I was really looking forward to this new season of my life where I can finally do what I want to do at my own phase, without targets and without a boss to please – because now, I am officially a homemaker. Yes, I quit from my job, left the corporate world, because I have embraced my calling. 

I can be the best mom and wife, I ever wanted to be! 

Fast forward to week 1 and it started to kick in that mom life is not as easy as I expected it to be. 

Like today, I was up at 530 to make sure that I can catch up to the needs of this day. Then there’s cooking of breakfast, pack lunches, lunch menu and dinner and so on. Then theres, the wake up time for Jael (my daughter) and clean up time and playtime. 

Let me stop from here, because the list really can go on and on. Clearly there is no stopping to what my day would be like from now on. And as I write this, it’s only 2pm (my daugther is taking her nap, I just took a quick break to write something on my blog, just to update) 

By the way, I am a newbie to this FTHM (full time home maker) title and I still have a very long journey to walk on. Frankly,  its only a week that passed and I already cut on my normal “me-time routine” my bible study, journalling and exercise. 
For sure, it is quite overwhelming and to be honest there is just so many things to do. I am literally busy as of yet and those things that I mentioned I wanted to keep up maybe can wait a little while,cos I have people that I have to take care of! 

Hopefully, I would have the luxury of time to do those, when I get a hang of this mom life routines. 

DEEP INSIDE MY HEART 

I know, there may be a way to do this “mom-life” intentionally and systematically. Because I believe that if I let go of those important things that I love to so for myself, the mommy life role would definitely overwhelm me. For sure, I would not be able to play the role for very long. I must find a way to make this work. 

GOD ANSWERS

This morning, while my totty is still sleeping and my husband is in the shower, prepping, I grabbed my bible and just read a short passage in Ephesians. Viola! God’s word is really powerful, that it reminded me so much of how important it is for us women/moms/wives to be rooted and grounded in love and to be intentional. Because God, our heavenly Father, He as our parent would want us to enjoy life, His blessings in abundance and be inspired by His grace and not be dragged down with daily chores and tasks of each day. 

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” 

Ephesians‬ ‭3:14-19‬ ‭ESV‬‬
***
It gave me chills, to know that God cares. Those words were so comforting and reassuring, exactly what I needed to hear to be all pumped up so I can start my day right. 

Thankful, that He is a good Father and He sees my heart right through and He would not let me drop those things that are important for me. He wanted me to learn from him, reminded to be rooted and grounded in love that I may have strength to comprehend what God wants me to achieve. It’s not just about living life, serving husbands and children but doing it excellently, with a purpose. 

REALIZATION

Honestly, what is 15minutes of reading God’s word and receiving from Him? Very short pep talk to hear instructuon directly from God. Specially now that I am in need to hear from Him more and more because I badly need someone that can guide me in raising up my daughter and serving my husband with the best of my ability to bring glory to His name. Giving me the proper steps how to do it according to His ways. What better way to receive it than from God’s word directly. 

And just today, the reason why I can write a blog this long, is because God gave me snippets of instructions through friends, through reading some moms online giving tips on how to manage time wisely for me and the entire family. Goody, it worked! And now I just need to practice and practice and be consistent. 

I am confident that I would learn more along this journey and I am thrilled to understand more about parenting and home making. To do things the excellent way not out of compulsion or obligation, but deeply rooted and grounded in love. 

Life is exciting the way I see it. And I have dreams of what my daughter would become and how my family would be. I just need to abide and be teachable each time, for God’s abundant love is covering me. This is our story, our victory and with God by my side who can be against me? 

Next time, I would like to share some of the new things I learn. Hopefully can inspire some new moms, striving to be the best that they can. There is hope! There is more to life because with Jesus there is always a better future, there is a beautiful purpose! 

Love lots, 

Marra 

The Mishaps Of The First Time Mother : Story Of My Life

They say that there are no perfect parents, but, we can be excellent in this divine role that we are called to do. If you are called to be a parent, a mom or a dad – you can be excellent at it! There’s hope! 

In intro, our family does not have a perfect family set-up, our work overseas gave us a momentary distance with our little one for almost a year. We have our financial priorities to settle and the only way to earn more in a shorter period of time is to go abroad. Not only the pay is high, but opportunities are a lot. So my husband and I decided to work overseas and leave our childcare to my mom in law. (Some may not understand this situation but it’s something that most of our countrymen do, due to lack of opportunities)

Now, here is the fun part… after a year of tears, patience, hardwork, prayer, sheer determination, blood, sweat & by God’s grace we reached our goal. It’s time to go back home, for good. Fast forward to the present situation, my work as a financial consultant in the corporate world has FINALLY ended and I am now venturing to a full-time housewife role. (Some of my friends cringe when they hear this, but I am excited – because I know God called me to this) 

After months of prayers and interceeding and seeking God’s answers, we finally made it through this wonderful decision. My husband and I thought that this is what God wants us to do and for myself, I am sure of my calling this time – to become a mom/homemaker/housewife. After all, God is entrusting me with huge opportunities of not only taking care of his son (my husband), our home affairs but most important, the future of the next generation (through my daughter). 

CATCH THE STORY

Oh joy, glad that finally we are reunited together after a year. My baby, my husband and myself, just us, no helper, no parents – just us. 
And migrating process demands lots of errands, which is obviously part of our transitions – it does requires us to travel for a moment and since we worked overseas for a decade we still have some paperworks to accomplish. That’s why we still need to stay for 2 more months overseas (in the country we are residing in) but good news, this time we got to do all these with our baby – as a family. 

So we got on to our plane, all set. Checklist are all okay, checked in our luggages and finally settled on to our seats. And to cut the long story short, we reached our destination easy-peasy. We landed safely  and when it’s time to head on to the immigration, suddenly, my 3 year old toodler decided to poop. Oh yes, it was that awful smelling boombastic poop that I need to attend to, ASAP! (There is no explaining here, my baby needs to go, quickly)

So right after immigration, we went straight to the toilet and baam! When I checked our bags – its incomplete…Ive got no wet wipes, no extra baby clothes, all I have is one diaper, yes… just one spare diaper. So I have to relax and think breathe in and breathe out, there must be a way to this… 

So, I have to be creative this time, I must find ways to clean up my little princess. So I went inside the cubicle and reality kicks in,  I think I need more than tissues, so I tried to clean as much as I can but that stinking smell is still there. Grabbed my  water bottle inside that carry-on bag so I used it to wash my baby. And by the way there was no baby room available for us, so I have to do it inside that cubicle – good thing it’s clean and tidy. As for the clothes, Ive got my smallest pair of shirt on my other bag that looked like a dress to my baby, so it’s okay. It was a memorable experience. 

LESSONS

Aside from the very obvious lesson which is to keep everything in check and always bring extras of everything… Ive got tons of lessons that I took away from that experience.

• When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade

I realized, that there are no abc’s to motherhood, well maybe not for all. We all learn from our mistakes and there are no perfect mothers. Learn from experience and be ready when situation calls us to think on our feet, make a solution. When it comes to our little ones, we got to be creative, finding ways and resourceful, its not the time to whine and cry – this is about them. Situations can vary, but we have to be on our toes thinking and resolving. 

• Accept your mistakes, forgive yourself and improve, be better

Mistakes and failures are tools for learnings. Sometimes even as we read books or listen to other’s experiences we still forget but the moment we experience it ourselves, how is it like to forget a simple “wet-wipe” to put inside your bag – what will happen and etc… you’ll learn. So next time, before leaving home, check and recheck, do some checklist separated for the needs of your child. Do a system that works best for you. Doesn’t have to perfect just a practical system that is workable for you, for your husband most importantly for your child. 

• Be humble and continue learning

First time mothers like me, tend to be excited to do all things, all the time specially concerning the affairs of our baby. We all want to be hands-on.  
And because we are moms, we always hear that “mothers knows best” we sometimes pretend that we know best – but admit it or not we don’t know everything. There are so many things to learn. Thus, require us to continue learning from people we know best, our very own mothers, the other moms who has more experience than us and of course looking up to the only perfect parent, God. 
We can’t absorb motherhood in one sitting, it may take a while to learn all, but if we are willing, we can be excellent in this calling. Open your heart and learn, don’t stop and practice it all the time. 

CONCLUSIONS

Be encouraged moms and dads. Although, we sometimes fail with our planning and etc, it’s okay. Here is our comfort: 

Lamentations 3:22–23

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.

We always have our hope and our greatest comfort is knowing that although we are inadequate, we may sometimes miss the mark – God, our heavenly Father will always fill our cups and He will teach us, He will guide us on our way in fulfilling our highest calling, to disciple our children, to become excellent in our purpose and to nurturing the next generation. 
So Moms, don’t stop, you’ll get there! 

WOMENS DAY: CONFIDENCE & RELIANCE

Greetings to all the wonderful women God created! Happy womens day to all! 

Read; Luke 22:32, Psalms 125:1-2

“but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭22:32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭125:1-2‬ ‭

REFLECT

 
Oftentimes we forget how vulnerable people we are. When we face trials or testing, often we see ourselves figuring out the solutions to solve our problems, one which we sometimes have a hard time with. We stress ourselves, become worry-freaks thinking that we all can solve our problems and that solutions always relies in our heads. Truth of the matter is, most of the time we cannot do things on our own. Not all problems that we have, we can solve ourselves. 

Women in general, has list of uncounted things to tackle daily. We get stressed with sometimes the minor stuffs and often we realise that we may the bigger ones. It all sratrts with the grocery items, the household chores, the meetings with friends, the expenses and budgets, the menu for the day and etc. The list goes on, sometimes we can get caught up with the minor things then eventually becomes bigger and uneasy to handle. Then we stress and we stress some more. 

I also realised that women tend to have ideals and perceptions about certain things that can sometimes be unrealistic in nature. We have set plans and goals we want to achieve and when hiccups comes up, we rattle. Often I meet women who planned too well, that even the un-imaginable sort of lapses that may happen, has been sorted already. Women have this sense of futuristic thinking and we often live in our little “perfect world” ideals – but I believe that life in general isn’t all about that.

The result of this phenomenon, I guess,  is we become too self-reliant, we portray an image that we are more stronger than ever, we become people that can always sort things out, but the caveat is that we are limited people. We cannot solve all problems, we cannot be there at all times, we cannot find ways all the time, we can be tired sometimes and we all need help. 
***

We must all learn from Jesus, during His journey on earth as a human, he was not afraid to show his susceptibility to human sympathy & support, which sends a direct message that it is really okay to want and accept help. This is what He calls, “humility”. 

That attitude of reliance to the one you know who could better help you and admitting to yourself that you need it. Not being too proud or too simple to do things on your own even when you can’t, in settling matters on your own even if you know you cant do it. 

King Solomon writes that a wise man must desire more learning in order to be wiser. 

Children of God, must follow Jesus ways. There are so many life stresses and problems that we cannot solve on our own. We needed sympathy, encouragement and support from the only One who knows better. Before anyone else, we need to be confident and reliant to the wisdom of God’s instructions in our lives. 
As David writes in the book of Psalms, 

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forever  ‭‭

Psalms‬ ‭125:1-2‬ ‭

Our Father, the Lord of heavens and the earth, surrounds his people like a mountain. It abides and does not move, it sees all things, know all things – and He is just there always ready for support. He does not leave, if we are aware, we have a full grasp of His huge presence in our lives. 

***

So to all the sisters, mothers, wives and daugthers, happy womens day! Remember that God is in control and He loves you. Remember that it’s okay to ask help if you can’t, you will still be a superwoman – no matter what! 

What are you sowing?

READ: Hosea 8:7

“For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.” ‭‭ Hosea‬ ‭8:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

REFLECT

This verse gives diligent reminder about our daily time expenditures – where do we spend most of our time with? Does it give us favorable results in the future? Does it give eternal value or does it even add any value to what we consider is important to us? 

Then a personal question hit me: Have I been slacking lately? My answer is, yes. I think there had been some areas of my life, which I have not really been consistent with. I realized that when I slack, I am not tackful and I tend to go around and it slows down my growth areas. I slack when I lose focus. And then, it goes on…

The moment I lose focus or I lose track on my goals, I would blindly invest my precious time on superficial and non-important things. I can easily say yes to things that are not so important, or I welcome too much agendas or activities that does not give too much of a value to my goals. Then I will begin to squander around. 

I realized that when this starts to  happen, I would always see myself overwhelmed with the truth that I have not really even move forward towards any of my goals. And that’s when I would re-track and start getting serious with my personal planning and execution. There will be times that I can ransom it but most of the time, I would miss the mark. Then I would settle for “it’s okay, Ill just try to make it better, next time”.

That’s clearly a problem. For some, we think that a little bit of this and a little bit of that can help us, truthfully, when we become too naive with our poor choices, we will never meet any of our life goals. 

Fact is, It’s not all about being a “do-gooder” but it’s about knowing the value of what we are doing. If it yields no eternal or future value, then we can admit that it’s in vain. We could definitely stop toiling for it, because not only our greatest efforts would mean to nothing, but worse is that we may be striving for a “whirlwind” that may even damage our best intentions. 

Some of the best people I know has given much value only to the things that creates good results. They spend time and effort only on the things that they see themselves growing. They master the craft, they study the goals, they invest and save, they toil and wait, they carefully watch their seasons. 

Knowing and realizing this, lately,  I developed for myself  a tracking habit, where I would intentionally review myself monthly and pen down the results month in and out. I would have an honest assessment with myself with whatever progress and slacking I am doing towards my growth goals and it’s helping me a lot in terms of knowing how achievable my targets are; personally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially and relationally. 

“If we sow wind, will reap a whirlwind”

RESPOND

1. How do you value your time and your goals? 

2. Do you give importance to the minor things that adds value in achieving your major dreams? 

3. What are you sowing? 

PRAYER

Dear God, help us remember to examine whatever we are doing, and that everything that we do is in line with your will. Help us become fully aware to where we spend our time with, help us recognize our choices and that our activities produces results and not empty and vain progress. Make us good stewards of time, relationships, finances, emotions and choices. Help us not neglect to give value to our spiritual growth too. In Jesus name, Amen!