Yesterday, I shared with you some of my notes from a seminar I attended (Raising Money Smart Kids). Today I would like to share one more thing that encouraged me as I sat through the seminar. More than the practical tips and financial advice I got, what I actually appreciated more was the fact that the whole family was involved in the event. As you sit there and listen, you would know what their family stood for. Of course, saving and making money grow were obvious interests that ran from the parents to the children, but more than financial values, you could tell that the Faustos stood for family— that family was a priority. I appreciated the fact that they not only brought their children with them to listen, and perhaps offer moral support, but all three children were actually present to also contribute their ideas on the topic.

Their eldest son, Martin.

Their second son, Enrique.

The youngest Fausto– Anton.

(I just edited and added this. Thank you Rose, for sending me a photo!:)) 

Eep! I can’t believe I wasn’t able to take a picture of their youngest son! ….But this is a cute picture of the couple, don’t you think?

I seldom see this nowadays, and so it quite refreshing and encouraging. I wish to see more parents and children involved in each other’s lives (in a positive way)— even beyond their teenage years. I hope to see more of the next generation rise up as a response to the mentoring and discipleship that occur in their homes. I am believing for more children who will grow up to embrace the values that their parents would teach them.

Of course, I also pray for the parents, that we will be the first ones who will lovingly guide and shepherd our children’s hearts. I pray that we will not need to shove our values down their throats, but that as we live our lives with integrity, they would want to embrace our faith and values as well. I pray that the things we love and believe in, would be a family affair— in agreement with our spouse, and owned by our children.

We attended a seminar last weekend on Raising Money Smart Kids by Rose Fres Fausto, author of Raising Pinoy Boys. Coming from a family who didn’t talk much about money matters, this was very helpful.

Here are some of my notes:

1. KNOW YOUR OWN MONEY VALUES.  Your values serve as the foundation for all your decisions. If what you do with your money do not agree with    your core values, there will still be no joy there.

2. HAVE CONSISTENT MONEY VALUES WITH YOUR SPOUSE. You cannot teach anything if you are not united.

3. START YOUR CHILDREN’S FINANCIAL LITERACY JOURNEY. The best time to start is as soon as they are born. The second best time to start is now.

4.  TEACH THEM THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEEDS AND WANTS. Live within your means.

5. TRAIN YOURSELF TO BE SAVERS. Pay yourself first.

6. GO BEYOND SAVING. INVEST FOR GROWTH. Teach children that you don’t just save so you have something to spend. We don’t want them to think that as soon as they have the money they can just spend any way they want. Try at the very start to expose them to things where they could earn money.

7. MAKE SAVING AND INVESTING REGULAR AND AUTOMATIC. Our objective is to accumulate real wealth, and real walth doesn’t happen overnight. It is a fruit of regular, consistent, small steps. We want saving to become second-nature for our kids in terms of handling money. The idea is to make it automatic so much so that it becomes harder not to save.

8. USE EVERYDAY THINGS AS TEACHABLE MOMENTS.

9. TEACH THEM THE VALUE OF HARDWORK AND PATIENCE.

10. TEACH THEM HOW TO MAKE THEIR BALANCE SHEET (Statement of Asset, Liabilities, Net Worth).

Some extra notes:

• Work on a healthy self esteem in our children. Then the peer pressure to have the latest or nicest things will not matter that much.
• Show them that money is a tool for helping others.
• Do not overgive to your children.

What I love about attending seminars that have anything to do with teaching our kids is that it forces me to assess my character and habits first. I cannot give what I do not have; I cannot teach what I do not know; I cannot impart what I am not. I thank God for giving me tools that sharpen me and my character, helping me to be more effective in training my children.

Thank you and congratulations to Rose and her boys on a successful seminar!

Dennis and I with the speaker, Rose Fausto

For the past month, God has been stretching my faith. He has been placing me in situations that would leave me with no choice but to trust in Him. This past month, He has magnified for me how helpless I am without Him, and at the same time how much I can accomplish through Him and in Him.

Allow me to share something that has encouraged me today. I hope that you and some people you know can get encouraged by this, too!

Oh, let me first give you a brief summary of this whole thing, just to give you a context of what I’m talking about….

The text of this story is found in Matthew 14. This was the time when Jesus already went about preaching and ministering to many people.  In one particular instance after Jesus ministered to the crowds, the disciples were put in a dilemma on what to do with them. It was approaching night time and the crowds (thousands of them!) were getting hungry. Some disciples suggested that they just dismiss them and send all the people home, so they can get food for themselves in the villages. Buying food for all of them was clearly out of the question since that would mean that the disciples will have to shell out so much money. Then…they spotted a boy with five SMALL barley loaves and two SMALL fish. But how can that help them, right? Obviously, the small bread and small fish were just enough to feed the small boy. It didn’t make any sense, but one of them still took the chance. They were in the presence of no less than Jesus, after all.

I’ll just copy-paste the next few verses to let it tell you the rest of the story…

Matthew 14:17-21

 ¹⁷ “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they (the disciples) answered. ¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he (Jesus) said. ¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹ The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

To summarize this further:

The boy and the disciples said, “This is all the food we have. We only have this small bread and small fish to offer.”

Jesus took what they had to offer Him anyway.

Jesus blessed the bread and fish and distributed them.

The small bread and small fish multiplied.

Everyone ate and were all fully satisfied.

The disciples had so much left over to pick up after.

The same is true with us.

We say, “This is all that I have. This is the only thing that I know. I only have this small thing to offer you.”

Jesus responds by taking what we offer Him anyway— no matter how small and seemingly insignificant.

Jesus chooses to bless whatever it is we offer Him and uses it to bless others.

Our efforts and gifts multiply.

Everyone gets a taste of our gift, gets blessed, and gets fully satisfied.

We find ourselves having to pick up so much that are left over.

The blessings overflow.

We can keep on giving and giving and blessing and blessing because there is so much that God leaves for us.

Amazing, isn’t it???

You can be a stay-at-home mom like me, or a working mom…you can be a wife, a single woman, or a student. Everyday we are faced with a dilemma on what to do with the people God surrounds us with or the circumstances we find ourselves in. Everyday we have a choice to just step back and relax and let the opportunity to be a blessing pass.

“Just send them home. I have nothing to offer them.”

“It’s too costly to involve myself in this.”

“I only have enough for myself.”

Everyday too, we have a privilege to offer whatever it is that we have in our hands and allow God to multiply it and bless hundreds– or even thousands. What we think is enough only to feed a small boy will in fact be more than enough to feed thousands. It all depends on whose hands it is in.

A rod in my hands might be able to keep stray dogs away. A rod in Moses’ hands parted the mighty sea.

A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy. A sling shot in David’s hand became a mighty weapon. 

Two fish and five loaves of bread in my hands are a couple of tuna sandwiches. Two fish and five loaves of bread in God’s hands fed thousands.

Nails in my hands might produce a place on the wall where I can hang my kids’ framed paintings. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands produced salvation for the entire world.

It all depends on whose hands it is in. 

I choose today— and everyday— to offer whatever small and insignificant thing I have in my hands to God. And every day I shall wait and see how He will bless it and multiply it to bless the lives of thousands. And every day I shall see how much left over I would have to pick up after.

Just came from another “session” with Mika. Typical— she disobeyed, and the so the story goes….

Mika: *crying* “I’m sorry mom!”

ME: “I forgive you, Mika, and  I love you.”

MIKA: “Why??”

ME: “Because I love you! I choose to love you no matter what, and you are my daughter, nothing can change that, so I’ll love you no matter what.”

MIKA: “Why?”

ME: “Why what?”

MIKA: “Why I’m you’re daughter always?”

ME: (Thought bubble: Bakit, may reklamo?? Ayaw mo??) *Erase the thought bubble*… “Uh…Mika, you also have to say sorry to God, right?”

MIKA: *crying more* “Yes! ….Jesus, I’m sorry!! Please for-dive me and please help me!!”

ME: “Mika, you know what the Bible says, right? Each time we ask for forgiveness and say sorry, God promises to forgive us and to help us do what’s right next time?”

MIKA: “Why?”

ME: “Well, because God loves you!”

MIKA: “Why?”

ME: “Because God is really loving and you are His daughter. He loves you.”

MIKA: “Because I’m nicer than Atsi (referring to older sister) ?”

ME: “No. No one is nicer. We are all the same. All of us sin against God and all of us need God to forgive us and to help us.”

MIKA: “What about the other people? Because I’m nicer than them?”

ME: “No, Mika. All of us….we’re the same. We all sin, right? That’s why Jesus had to die for us.Good thing he died for us, right?”

MIKA: “Yes. Dood thing even if Judas tempted Jesus to not die on the tross nalang, he still obeyed the soldiers and went up the tross, right?”

ME: “Uhm…Yes, good thing Jesus obeyed God the Father and died for us even if it was painful, because he loves us.”

MIKA: “Yes. I heard Judas mom. He tempted Jesus to not listen to Dod (God). Dood thing Jesus didn’t listen to Judas….”

ME: “Ah…okay…. (ano bang pinanood mo bata??) …okay, Mika, take a bath na….”

*Whew!*

Disciplining our children takes T-I-M-E…. Agree??

Our goal is not just for them to see what they did wrong, but to see their need for a Savior. We want them to say, “God, thank you for loving me, forgiving me, and helping me each time I do wrong and sin against you. Jesus, Dood thing you died on the tross for me. Thank you so much!”

Mika is already three years old, but for some odd reason, people still presume that she is only about a year old (That is, until they see her eat and hear her talk). Each time we go to a restaurant, as in…each time, we always have to ask for another set of plates and utensils for her. Each time! I just want to tell the people waiting on our tables that yes, she is already a little human being. She is a person. Tao na rin ‘to, ate. Kumakain din.

Sometimes I find this cute, sometimes annoying. Sometimes I just hope that they recognize this little human as a person already, while sometimes I wish this will carry on until she is about six or seven or eight, so she gets to eat at buffets for free, longer. (heeheehee…. *evil plan cooking* ;D)

This puzzles me, but it doesn’t bother me as much as when it is I (or Dennis) who forgets to recognize her as a person capable of understanding and processing what she sees us say and do. A little person, yes— but person nonetheless. It scares me to think that too often I also forget that she is in fact, not an infant anymore. She is a little human— one who is fully capable of hearing and seeing and ….(gulp!)….copying, even the habits and expressions that I would rather not have her imitate. She is one who is very, verrryyy quick to observe how I respond (or react) to situations, how I treat people around me, how I am when I think that no one is watching me. A very scary thought. I have to keep telling myself: She is already a little human being. She is a person. Tao na rin ‘ to. Kumakain, nakikinig, nanonood….at mahilig pang manggaya.

A scary thought, so help me God. ?

You know how they say that every moment is a teachable moment? Whether we are at home playing or eating, or out caught in traffic, there is always an opportunity to teach our little ones.

I’ve embraced that “truth”. I admit I have a tendency to over-explain things (meaning, explain even trivial matters), but I do try to be as concise as I can possibly be as I do this.

With Alyanna, it seems that my efforts in explaining are never in vain. I can always see that she understands what I try to tell her, and she is even able to explain or challenge other people’s opinions and actions based on what she has come to understand as truth or what’s right.

Mika, on the other hand, well…. she’s Mika…..

CORRECTION/TEACHABLE MOMENT NUMBER ONE:

(While teaching her to honor and respect others with her words)

ME: “Mika, you have to be very careful with your words. You know your tongue is like a sword, it is so powerful….”

MIKA: *interrupts and beams as she has a light bulb moment* “Lite a swort but with teeth and a mouth??”

————————–

TEACHABLE MOMENT NUMBER TWO:

(Out of the blue, while eating)

MIKA: “You know, diba mom Jesus died for us on the tross (cross)?   Hala. That’s why we need another Jesus na. Let’s  find another Jesus.”

(Uhm, anak, idolatry ata tawag dun!)

————————–

CORRECTION/TEACHABLE MOMENT NUMBER THREE:

(While trying to settle a dispute between the two girls)

MIKA: (trying to defend herself and explain what had happened) “No I didn’t do any-tin to huh but she keets sayin that I did any-tin to huh! (I didn’t do anything to her but she keeps saying that I did….I think she meant ‘something’… to her)

ME: “So who’s lying and who’s telling the truth?”

MIKA: “I’m not lyin’! Achie’s lyin!’”

ME: “Mika, you know the Bible tells us to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking lies. Lying is a sin. Do you know that?”

MIKA: “Yes.”

ME: “Do you know what lying means?”

MIKA: “Yes.”

ME: “What does it mean?”

MIKA: “Not obeyin’ you?”

ME: “Mika, lying is when we are not telling the truth; when we are not telling what really happened only and when we make up our own story. SO are you making up your own story or are you telling me the truth?”

MIKA: “ Telling you the truth.”

ME: “Are you telling me the truth or making up your own story?”

MIKA: “Making up my own story.”

Hmm…Oh no. I know where this is going……nowhere.

Like I said, she’s Mika.

Each time I begin to think that Mika is finally getting something I am teaching her, she makes sure to let me know otherwise.  A lot of times, I have to ask for discernment to know whether it’s innocence, ignorance, or rebellion disguised in cute’s clothing. Still, I do not stop planting seeds of God’s Word because I just never know when it will finally click and she would finally get it.

After all, the clicking part is not really our job anymore. We can plant the seeds, but we can’t force the growth out of them. All we can do is be faithful in planting and cultivating, guiding and praying…..and wait for God’s Word to grow in their hearts and  bear much fruit.