Hang In There

People see me as always positive in life. Even my kids believe that I could defeat (if that is the right word) all the hurdles in my path. Nissa always says that I’ve been through so much and here I am, still standing tall. Josef is confident that I won’t need another operation for me to get well.

I am blessed I have such supportive kids. I believe that we could always adjust to situations we find ourselves into. Hope and prayers will always be my guides. Sometimes though, I cry when I feel so much alone. Sometimes I need the physical presence of friends. Sometimes I find myself pretty weak too. Sure, I have lots of friends online including some of you here who make me feel blessed, more so with your inspiring comments, sharing lovely thoughts and praying for me. But there is a BUT there somewhere – hugs from friends I haven’t seen for so long, laughter shared and lots of stories too, affirmation that despite the years, I am still a lovable person. Would that be too much to ask? I hope not.

Life is beautiful, I agree but it is a great challenge too. When I could not sleep at night, I grasp my rosary and start praying. Sometimes, I can’t even finish the five decades and I fall asleep, finding bead marks on my face and arms too when I wake up. I always get to finish the glorious, joyful, sorrowful and mysteries of light while waiting for the doctor to see me. In every decade, I ask for petitions – health for me and the whole family, protection from harm for friends and family members, protection of our house and its suroundings, financial stability and world peace.

I know! I will always believe in a loving God who never get tired of accompanying me in my life’s journey. And I accept the saying that into each life, some rain must fall. Hang in there.

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Busy, Busy

Aside of course from being hit by the lazy bug to make a blog post, I was busy.

Finally, we got to meet again after several years. What a lovely time with the family. We had a mini reunion last November 1 when Noel and Lanette were here. A late celebration for my birthday. I just ordered food online so we had enough time to exchange news. We invited my oldest brother Kuya Roy and my sis-in-law, Nissa’s family too. They brought with them lots of goodies for the family. Nissa and Noel took a lot of photos. I am compiling them in an album at Facebook.

At first mom could not recognize Noel but when he embraced and kissed her, she smiled and shouted “Oweng”, Noel’s nickname.

A family pic but the others were busy with lunch. (Josef, Noel, Nissa, Nate and me).

Ang maglolo.

With Noel and Lanette

Look at how old my mom is now. She’ll be turning 94 by April next year.

Nate’s legs are so heavy😘

They spent four days in Mindoro with Lanette’s family, then yesterday, they were off to Pangasinan to visit Alden at the cemetery and a quick visit to my niece and sis-in-law and some cousins. Good thing one of Lanette’s brothers was free to drive them around. They’re coming back today and on Saturday, Nissa and Obet will bring them to Tagaytay to enjoy another tourist attraction.

Mae is Alden’s only child. She said she looks more like his tito than her Papa.

Just a hectic two-week visit.

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Precious Moments With Nate

Saturday.

It was another lovely day spent with my daughter’s family. They came over to visit us after almost a month of not seeing each other. We survived on Viber calls and Skype messages. Nate has grown. He has grown taller and his words now are in a complete sentence. I haven’t taken any picture the last few months because my camera broke and always when they come over, we tend to be  busy catching up on news, playing with Nate  and just happy being together.

Last Saturday, I had  a chance  to take a few shots, pics of Nate and Mom, Mom and Nissa, the three of them, Josef and Nate. As always , I was behind the camera. He was thrilled to see his new book which a friend gave two weeks ago for his birthday.  I call him our little bookworm. He easily identified all the animals included in the nursery rhymes. I was amazed.  Maybe their various trips to the zoo helped a lot. We learn from a child right? Unafraid, ready to explore and always curious about things.  So trusting, so confident,  secured that he is loved.

Yesterday, I received a message from WordPress saying that I have made one hundred posts on Our Little Bundle Of Joy. I started it a few days before he was born last November 2012 with the thought of documenting every precious moment with him. I showed his pictures once and he said “Nathan, Nathan”.  Nissa is making an album of their trip last year to Dumaguete City and Siquijor.  I love those pics showing Nate enjoying the beach and the kiddie pool. Nissa has a way with words, the photo descriptions are just lovely. She’ll have it printed later. I wish I could make a similar one but I am not familiar with the program she is using.

Here’s a lovely book quote for kids  (using Nate and Josef’s pic which is included in my latest blog post). The happiness of teaching a child to love books and reading. Someday, we would explore bookstores together.

Do you remember your favorite books when you were kids?

And did I tell you that Nate wants to be an astronaut? I asked Nissa how that came about. she said that he remembers the movie/pictures he saw of astronauts. Such a big dreamer for one so young, he is only 2 years and 4 months old.

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Tacos, Anyone?

For more than a month now, we have created a new tradition of family bonding by doing simple cooking lessons during Saturdays.   I simply call it,  Saturday Experiments in the Kitchen.   My daughter  and her boyfriend love to experiment with food.  The kitchen is alive come Saturday afternoons.  We have a line-up of recipes to cook, some are old ones which the two of them want to learn on their own.   They do the cooking and sourcing of  ingredients while the three of us, hubby, my son and I do the taste-test.  It’s an activity that is rapidly becoming  a ritual in our lives.  I always love cooking and once I know the rudiments of a certain recipe, I  don’t measure how much is put into what menu is cooked.   I welcome new and untried dishes, an opportunity to learn new things.

Come to think of it, this is the first time that we actually prepared tacos for snacks.  Taco is a traditional Mexican dish consisting of a corn or wheat tortilla with  different fillings of beef, chicken, sea foods, vegetables and cheese.   Two Saturdays ago,  Nissa  cooked penne pasta with Obet as her assistant.  Last Saturday though, both of them were inspired to do a Mexican taco.  More than the  thrill of preparing the food, it’s those moments of laughter that count.  Doing a few shots while preparing the food is of course, part of the ritual.

We have to make do with ready-made Mexican Taco shells since none of us know how to make one.

 

The joys of preparing …trust Nissa to make a go of this!

 

Fresh tomatoes, diced white onions, grated cheese, sautéed ground beef – hmm, truly smells delicious!

 

Shredded fresh lettuce leaves..

 

Ten tacos for the five of us , haha!

 

Come on guys, I am getting hungry with all this rich smell of food.

 

Wow, at last!

 

Haha!  Be careful with the Tabasco sauce Nissa!

 

It surely looks delish!   Dig in guys!

 

Thank you for this great snack!

And here’s the fun part, the eating of course.  That Tabasco sauce is “out of this world”, Nissa’s face practically turned red because of it.  And we were all laughing while washing the strong taste of chili with soft drinks!   I told Obet I’ll teach him how to make siomai one of these days!

Tacos, anyone?

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