Posts Tagged ‘FAMILY & FAITH’

What to do when you are in a jam?

Friday, August 29th, 2008

coffee break ver. 1.33

Sorry folks if my previous posts have seem hurried, but reality bites while one is dreaming. Anyway, I’ll try to catch up on IOU tags and whatnots and I’ll start with Jan’s coffee break question for this week.

What to do????

Drum your fingers.

Roll your eyes.

Kill the drivers next to you with your stares.

Count how many celebrities are splattered on billboards all over the expressway either in sexy swimwear or underwear or make a note to self to confirm if so and so politician promoting skin care products really has flawless skin.

If commuting, catch up on much needed sleep lost due to the previous night’s gimick.

And so much more…

This might come as a surprise but sometimes (actually, a lot of times) I enjoy being in traffic jams especially when I commute. It becomes a pocket of time where I can find sanctuary from the cares of everyday life. No one tugging at me, calling me for this and that, asking me to do so many things all at the same time.

Basically, I am a creature of solitude and in order for me to function well I need to have those specific times where no one disturbs me at all and I can have the opportunity to process things thoroughly. I turn it into a moment to imagine, dream, reflect and take stock of life and be thankful. Deep noh? Well, having two homeschooled kids, no househelp, work at home deadlines etc., I crave for those moments of silence.

I actually have fond memories of the time when I got caught in a traffic jam years ago while I was riding a bus and no one offered me a seat. I distinctly remember that scene where I was holding on to the rail above and enumerating in my head all the things God had given me like peace in my heart, His unconditional acceptance of who I am, the blessings I had even if times were hard so much so that I was already smiling I think to the bewilderment of the other passengers who must have thought I was nuts. I remember that to this day and it still shields me from the frustration of being stuck in a place where I am not in control. 

Sometimes I get frustrated when I know I prepare early and do everything not to be late for an appointment and something out of the blue happens to prevent that, I find out later that the other party wasn’t available at all or was also late etc for reasons beyond our control. I have also learned that most of the time, when I fret and rant about not being able to get to a place I’m supposed to be at and I have diligently tried my best to be on time but the circumstances prevented me from doing so, most of the time it was because God was ordering my steps and orchestrating things to work out something special not just for me but for other people as well.  

So I have learned to choose to be calm and spare myself the wrinkles from the unnecessary freaking out and just use that pocket of time to watch how the shadows fall on the ground, look up at the sky and check out if it has any fancy formations, read the ridiculous and often funny business sign boards typically Pinoy, observe the expressions on the faces of the people passing by and wonder what their story is all about and how to capture their moments in picture or in words. When all these things fill my heart and my mind it leads me to sing a silent song of worship in my heart as I thoughtfully consider all these things He has made.

I do a lot when I’m in a traffic jam and sooner than I think, I’m already where I need to be. 

Those are my thoughts for now. Dinnertime beckons me and I must heed the call of the mundane. Later y’all!.

Ciao!

 

Vain Boy meets world

Monday, August 25th, 2008

My nephew who passed the ECE board exam (you can read about it in an earlier post : grin and bare it) early this year is finally in the workforce. He landed a job somewhere in Ortigas and is living in the ‘real world’. Bye-bye school books, hello paycheck! I still owe him a salon treatment but life in the ‘real world’ is quite hectic and chaotic so I never got the chance to give him the treat. Maybe I’ll just buy him an acne treatment cream straight from the drugstore… cheap eh? LOL Anyway, he also owes me a foodie treat as well from his first earnings so we’ll just wait each other out since we live on opposite sides of the archipelago. Look out world, here comes VAIN BOY!

Under House Arrest…

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Just checking in to update my blog. Our house has been a war zone these past few days because the kids are sick. The young ‘un started out with tummy trouble and has been to the ER twice. Now she’s caught her brother’s cough and colds and hopefully we can stop it from progressing into a full asthma situation. So we are all under house arrest, well sorta… cause we are stuck at home and it feels like a hospital ward with hubby and I taking turns doing the midnight rounds for the kids’ medications. Too bad they’ll miss their cousin’s birthday party tomorrow. Hopefully, they recover fast for my son’s birthday in a couple of weeks. I wouldn’t want him to spend it in bed. Catch y’all later folks,!

Have a safe and healthy weekend!

Ciao!

Ballet at the Big Apple

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Ballet is one of my all-time loves. I’m no longer in it as a dancer but it still is very much a part of what I do and who I am and I think I might have imparted this ‘addiction’ to my little girl. Of course like most little girls who love pink and purple, she loves anything and everything ballet. Hopefully, when the time is right we can be able to send her to a ballet school one of these days. Earlier this year, a friend of mine who owns her own ballet school and teaches in several schools as well had a despedida for one of her dancers – Sarah J. Lee. We sent her off to New York to audition for the top ballet schools in the Big Apple. She auditioned for NYCB, ABT and Joffrey Ballet and she passed them all but she settled for Joffrey Ballet School in the end because she was granted a full scholarship with them. We are so proud of her achievements.  

Hopefully, when my little girl reaches Sarah’s age and she is still determined to pursue this path, dh and I would be able to uproot ourselves from wherever we are, transplant our whole family and get those New York movers to help us settle us somewhere in the City that doesn’t sleep for the sake of a little girl’s dream. 

Sarah’s (kneeling, bottom row, right) piece for the NAMCYA competition last year was as Odette from Swan Lake.

 

Going home

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

It’s quite late now and I still have to pack our stuff cause we are finally going home tomorrow. I had been staying up late prior to this trip, sometimes even up to 4 o’clock in the morning. My skin was already breaking out with mild acne because of all the late nights I spent preparing the house while we were in the city and now is the only time that I have been awake this long since then. So as soon as I’m done with this I’ll be packing up our suitcases and be getting some sleep soon. Yey! We’re going home! There’s no place like home, talaga! 

Pilates, Plates, Plato…aguy!

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

I woke up this morning with a sort of “stiff” arm. I think I had ignored my not so ergonomic computer workspace for so long and now my joints are giving me away (take note: i didn’t say age LOL). So I asked hubby if he could give me his own version of Thai massage mixed in with a little bit of Pilates to relieve my aching “pakpak”. Who would have thought that exercising with your spouse could be fun, eh? I was trying to do a little bit of rowing exercises on my own but when hubby helped me do it (well, he was kinda pulling my arms out of the sockets for a while… aguy!) and we did it together using the other one’s weight as resistance, it was surprisingly effective. I had my very own “human” exercise equipment for free – with free massage to boot right in my own home! Isn’t that a bargain? Cheap ko noh? lol

What I love most about being married

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

coffee break ver. 1.25      What do you love most about being married?

First of all, happy anniversary Jan! Now on to your coffee break question…. hmm. Hubby and I have been married for almost ten years already. Yeah, that long and I guess like any other couple we’ve had our bad hair days and our salad days. We didn’t get married saying to each other “Ga, I don’t fix my bed when I wake up” or “Ga, I don’t do toilets, ha”. I realized that what you know about each other from the moment you are presented as husband and wife is so minute compared to the endless unveiling of your spouse each day you live together. Everything gets magnified tenfold – the good and unfortunately, the bad as well.

What do I love most about being married for almost ten years? I wouldn’t exactly say love but maybe what am I most thankful for — if that were the question then I would answer I am thankful for EVERYTHING. Although I cannot say I am happy about everything because there will always be ups and downs in any relationship, nor will I say I like everything about married life. I do know that at the end of the day I can say I am THANKFUL for everything – both good and bad. Simply because I believe everything has a purpose and that there is always a higher reason that doesn’t reveal itself until the appropriate moment set for it. It quietly demands that you simply trust the One who put you together to LIVE each day beside each other even if the road ahead is not so clear.

I am thankful that my life is richer – that although the pains sometimes have been unbearable, yet the unexpected joys are unspeakable and incomparable. I am thankful that I am loved and accepted no matter how I look or how I feel any given time of the day. I am thankful that I can speak my mind freely – to argue and disagree, to banter and to rant at (whether dh deserves it or not lol) and still be treated with respect. I am thankful that I am cherished and deemed precious by two little souls who think I am the best in the whole wide world even when I doubt myself and think otherwise. I am thankful to hubby for all his efforts in trying to be the best husband he could ever be to me. Salamat ‘ga sa Thai massage :) Most of all, I am thankful to God for helping me realize that marriage is a good thing even for someone like me.

Home is school and School is home

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

coffee break ver. 1.20 -  What characteristics of a school are you looking for?

Goodbye, pool floats! Hello, school bags! Hopefully the bags don’t float when the floods come. :)  

I actually do not know how to answer this question right now because, at present, our kids are not enrolled in a traditional school but as of today (while my sanity is still intact) they are being homeschooled. I actually don’t have the statistics of how many families in the Philippines homeschool their kids but I do know that the number is growing steadily.

What is homeschool? It REALLY IS school conducted at home. The next question would probably be WHY? Which brings me to Jan’s coffee break question. Let me put it this way. The decision to homeschool was a joint decision between hubby and myself. It is not something that will work for everybody but this was what we thought was best for our children. This is also not a decision that can be taken lightly because it requires a really strong commitment to see it through. This is what we agreed on and we will continue to do it as long as we are capable. We agreed on what we wanted our children to learn. We did our research on the different curricula and methods of teaching in different schools and what we were looking for is not part of or even if it was, the school itself is not accessible to us, logistically.

Hence, our house is not your typical house. It is filled with books, books and more books all over. It is where our children are educated. It is not a perfect school but I know that our intents for their best interests is the driving force that pushes us to persevere. Our aim is to educate and raise them to fulfill all their potential. This is what burns in our hearts. Our home is our school and school is in the heart of our home. 

Here’s a wonderful definition I got from the 1828 Webster dictionary to inspire you all:

EDUCA’TION, n. [L. educatio.]

The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations.

To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

Here are some famous people who were homeschooled:

Educators

    Fred Terman (President – Stanford) 
    William Samuel Johnson (President Columbia) 
    John Witherspoon (President of Princeton) 

Generals

    Stonewall Jackson 
    Robert E. Lee 
    Douglas MacArthur 
    George Patton 

Inventors

    Alexander Graham Bell 
    Thomas Edison 
    Cyrus McCormick 
    Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright 

Artists

    Claude Monet 
    Leonardo da Vinci 

Presidents

    George Washington 
    Thomas Jefferson 
    John Quincy Adams 
    James Madison 
    William Henry Harrison 
    John Tyler 
    Abraham Lincoln 
    Theordore Roosevelt 
    Woodrow Wilson 
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

Scientists

    George Washington Carver 
    Pierre Curie 
    Albert Einstein 
    Booker T. Washington 
    Blaise Pascal 

Statesmen

    Konrad Adenauer 
    Winston Churchill 
    Benjamin Franklin 
    Patrick Henry 
    William Penn 
    Henry Clay 

Composers

    Irving Berlin 
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
    Anton Bruckner 
    Felix Mendelssohn 
    Francis Poulenc 

Writers

    Hans Christian Anderson 
    Charles Dickens 
    Brett Harte 
    Mark Twain 
    Sean O’Casey 
    Pearl S. Buck 
    Agatha Christie 
    C.S. Lewis 
    George Bernard Shaw 

Religious leaders

    Joan of Arc 
    Brigham Young 
    John & Charles Wesley 
    Jonathan Edwards 
    John Owen 
    William Cary 
    Dwight L. Moody 
    John Newton 

Others

    Charles Chaplin – Actor 
    George Rogers Clark – Explorer 
    Andrew Carnegie – Industrialist 
    Noel Coward – Playwright 
    John Burroughs – Naturalist 
    Albert Schweitzer – Physician 
    Tamara McKinney – World Cup Skier 
    Jim Ryan – World Runner 
    Ansel Adams – Photographer 
    Charles Louis Montesquieu – philosopher 
    John Stuart Mill – Economist 
    John Paul Jones – father of the American Navy 
    Florence Nightingale – nurse 
    Clara Barton – started the Red Cross 
    Abigail Adams – wife of John Adams 
    Martha Washington – wife of George W. 
    George Washington – 1st President of the U.S.
    James Madison – 4th President of the U.S. 
    John Witherspoon – President of Princeton U. 
    Benjamin Franklin – inventor and statesman 
    William S. Johnson – President of Columbia C. 
    George Mason

Off to CCP

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

I’ll be gone the whole day today because its Ballet Night at the CCP for us. See ya later y’all!

One week from today…

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

… it’ll be ballet night, woohoo! We’ll be at the CCP Main Theatre watching my ballet teacher friend who is staging this year’s recital. I’m so excited about this year’s theme because it has been one of our dreams to stage “Esther” and it’s finally happening. Yes, it is based on the biblical character “Esther” and this one has been two years in incubation. I’ll have a chance to be at the dress tech (to practice my shots LOL) and bring the family along on GALA Night. Speaking of Gala Night, I still have no idea what to wear and my clothes have become a little bit snug (hmmm, must be the chocolate raisins I secretly munch on) waahh! Next to those dancers, I’m humongous. I don’t think even the best diet pills that work can save me in time :) LOL. I need another dose of those Ambush Makeover shows really quick. Mmmm, maybe I’ll just dress like I’m part of the backstage crew (they’re all in black) and blend with the shadows…. 

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