I feel like a kid who just got a loot bag!

This morning, I got a wonderful surprise from someone so dear to me:

I’ve always wished to try reliable beauty products, but have never been willing to actually spend for them. I  always end up buying products that are less than 100 pesos (for make-up) or less than 300 pesos (for skin care products)….and because in my heart of hearts I am not really convinced that they work, I end up not using them anyway. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Since our recent trip to Hong Kong, my skin has been having allergies— on and off, but they haven’t completely left me alone since. This made me realize that I should start thinking about what I put on my face. This realization hasn’t come with the willingness to spend yet, though. We’ll get there. One step at a time.

This gift is a good start.

PS: I would just like to say, God is sooo sweet! I asked Him to please completely heal the allergies in time for Tin’s wedding so I can finally wear make-up again and He did!! So sweet! The day that I woke up, the rashes were completely gone! Yay!

Last week, I noticed that Alyanna’s lower front teeth had moved forward. I initially thought this was because of her occasional tongue-thrusting, but she assured me that she has been able to stop herself from doing that habit already. This week, I observed that the teeth had moved forward a little bit more. When I checked her teeth, this is what I saw:

A PERMANENT TOOTH ERUPTING!!!!!!!!

What?!?!  How did this happen??? Last week there was nothing behind those  teeth and now…. a permanent tooth?!?!

This transition only means one thing: My little  girl is growing up at a faster rate than I thought! (Waahh!!!)

*sigh*

So yeah, I’ve been a bit sentimental lately. Mika’s growing taller…Alyanna’s getting taller…. Mika’s hair is growing longer…..Alyanna’s hair is getting thicker…their pajamas are getting shorter…. lahat nalang!

OA is what you can call me, pala. Hehe It’s a good thing the girls are riding along and have been extra sweet to me too!

Let’s enjoy our kids being kids while we still can!

This series of pictures made me smile. It is only now that I am convinced Mika does look like me!

Taught in Victory Weekend earlier today. If you have been following my blog for quite some time now, you might have noticed that I get to mention this from time to time. I really wish I could stop talking about it already, but honestly it’s just something that has been so life-changing for me that each time I sit and listen I still learn something new and I still get excited. I am even more ecstatic for the participants!

Latest batch of VW participants

Today was no different. I was once again stirred up in my faith and grateful for who I now am in Christ. I prayed this for myself, and then for the other women, and now for you too– that we will always remember who we are in Christ. We are loved. We are accepted. We are secure. We are significant. We are forgiven. We are redeemed. All that— only in CHRIST.

Oh, how rude of me! If you have no idea what I am talking about, Victory Weekend is just a tool we have in church that helps us deepen our relationship with God. This two-day retreat focuses on establishing strong spiritual foundations that enable us to live a life of freedom and fruitfulness.

I was scrolling through Twitter while we were stuck in traffic last night and I read this: “Famed children’s book co-author Jan Berenstain dies.”  Since my kids and I are fans of The Berenstain Bears, I immediately decided to read up some more about the author/illustrator.

You can read and find more here (CNN), here (Yahoo!), and here (Time)…

….But here are some bits from CNN and Yahoo! News that amazed me:

“Berenstain and her husband, Stan, were already successful cartoonists when they decided to transition to writing children’s books.

According to publisher Harper Collins, “The Big Honey Hunt,” published in 1962, was the first book starring the bear family.

Since that time, more than 330 “Berenstain Bears” books have been published over the past 50 years, the publisher said.

More than 260 million copies have been sold, making it one of the best-selling children’s book series in history, Harper Collins said.”

(from cnn.com)

After Stan passed away in 2005, Jan continued writing new books, often with the help of her son, Mike. The series has grown with the times, covering topics like the dangers of bringing guns to school, online safety, and childhood obesity.

According to Mike, Jan had been working on two more books in her Pennsylvania home at the time of her death. “Every day she was very productive,” he said. “[She] had been doing illustrations until the day before she passed away.” In a 2011 interview, Jan told theAssociated Press, “It’s wonderful to do something you love for so many years. Not everyone has that.”

(from Yahoo! News)

After reading all these links, I have to say that I greatly admire not just her work, but how this Mama Bear lived her life partnering with her husband to do and create something that would outlive both of them, how she successfully passed on her love for writing and illustrating to her son, and how she lived her life to the very end– doing the very thing she was gifted and called to do. The success of all their books is just  a bonus.

This is how I want to live my life– to partner with my husband in doing something that would outlive both of us, to pass on to my children the things that I am passionate about, and to live my life doing what I love and know I am gifted and called to do to the very end. Everything else that would come with this kind of success will all be just a bonus.

————————-

photo credits: http://www.mysanantonio.com

http://www.cbc.ca

http://www.seattlepi.com

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.