After a couple of days, I now get to use my laptop again.  Is it just me or have I really been relatively “silent” the past few weeks??

I have been feeling quite guilty the past few days, since the doctor ordered that I stay away from anything that could cause any stress or tension. She advised against homeschooling (we’re THIS close too, you know? — THIS close to finishing!); Action flicks or series are a no-no;  And personally, I haven’t had the drive to go on the net either— not even to write.

I expressed this sense of “guilt” to Dennis (nothing serious though)— how I haven’t done any housework in a long time, how I haven’t been able to homeschool, to blog….And what he said greatly reassured and encouraged me: “Yes you could be a homeschool teacher now, a housewife, or a blogger….but right now, you have to choose to just be a mother. Nothing else. That’s your priority now.” (He actually said this in English ha! hehe ) As the doctor said, the priority now is to protect this baby that’s in my womb and to try to help it thrive.

I know this sounds so basic, and it really should be something that I should’ve grasped already, but again, there are just times when you need someone to say it to you out loud. I am really not used to not doing anything and not seeing any fruit or evidence of productivity in this household as far as I’m concerned, and so….there are random moments when I am just itching to be able to move about already. But I thank God for the wisdom of my husband, who constantly reminds me that the purpose of bed rest is really to be able to REST.

I guess it’s always a good thing to be reminded of this thing called priority. Making something a priority is a choice we deliberately make. It means out of all the the many things that I can do, out of all the demands that I feel I have to do— THIS is what I choose to devote my time and efforts in.

When we look at our budget and checkbooks, what do they give away? What do we value? When we check our calendars, what do they tell of what we have chosen to take priority? When we assess how we build and keep our relationships, what do they say about what is truly important to us?

Whether we are aware of it or not, we make choices everyday as to what our priorities are. I hope we make choices, not only based on what will satisfy our current interests or fulfill our ambitions, but based on the roles we have been given— as wives, as mothers, as women of purpose.

One thing that I love about homeschooling is that we are not bound by time nor space when it comes to doing our schoolwork. We have the liberty to bring our children with us whenever we choose to.

I attended our Biblical Counseling Seminar, but I was already out the whole day and so we didn’t get to study yet.

Thank God for “portable” schooling! hehe

I could listen and take notes while Alyanna did some drills…

And when it was time for group discussion/workshop, I also went back and did our own version of discussing…about our lesson.

Er….Uhm…In case you noticed and were wondering why Alyanna’s holding an Ipad instead of her book…. ah…well, the pictures were taken when I was already checking her work. But, promise— We were studying! And I gave her legit work…really. Promise!!! hehehe O:)

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

One thing that the kids love is hear me run my lessons or preachings by them (hehe eew I make it sound like it’s a lot! haha! It’s not that many naman).  Aside from checking that I have sufficient time, it is also helpful to download my lessons to them because if I can make my little girls understand them, it means that I have understood my topic well enough, too.

One time, after “preaching” to the girls and checking to see if they understood what I wanted them to get, Mika raised a question. “Mom, what about Beauty and the Beast??” 

Huh??

My topic had absolutely nothing to do with this favorite Disney fairytale! I was talking about the Gospel, the Cross, our identity in God….and then, Beauty and the Beast?!?? Was she even listening?? What a silly question! 

Well, maybe I just didn’t hear her question well. Maybe her question was….. “What was your question again, Mika?”

“What about Beauty and the Beast??”, her tone was now a bit more serious. She sincerely believed that her question warranted a good answer. It was vital to her understanding of my preaching.

But I still thought it was a silly question— a waste of time, even. “Mika, that’s just a movie. Stop thinking about it already.”  I just didn’t even want to try and give an answer to what she considered was a very valid question.

But then….ting! It hit me.

Yes! That’s right! Beauty and the Beast!!!

“Oh! Mika! I get it now. Yes, sorry I forgot to explain about Beauty and the Beast.

What happened there? There was the beast, who was….well, a beast, right? but despite that, Belle chose to love him. What happened when Belle loved the Beast in spite of of how he looked and the state that he was in? He got transformed and he became a prince again, right? 

Well, all of us, we’re actually all like the beast. We’re so unlovable and ugly…but what happened? God chose to love us anyway, right? And it’s that very love of God that has transformed us and made us beautiful! Now, we are not beasts anymore! We are princesses because God chose to love us!”

What followed was a huge smile…and a look that said “lightbulb moment!”  :D

How often do we dismiss some of our kids’ questions because we thought they were silly? Or maybe we do acknowledge their questions but not really give much thought to the answers because they seem to have nothing to do to what we are trying to teach our children at the moment? I’m guilty of this at times. *big grin* ….But if we really think about it, there are no silly questions when it comes to our children. To them, every question is valid. Every question deserves an answer. Every question is an opportunity to learn and grow.

“Silly” is just a word that grown-ups came up with as an excuse to ignore questions when we’re too preoccupied or too….lazy…to come up with good answers.

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.