1. Leading worship. My husband was assigned to lead the praise and worship in church last Sunday, and I stood up there with him again (at his request). It’s what I would do too when I’m the one leading worship—I’d ask him to stand up there with me. Not that we couldn’t do it apart from each other; it’s more of, we simply love doing this together. It doesn’t feel like a long time ago when I was just praying to have someone I can grow in faith with and worship the Lord with. God answered those prayers beyond my imagination. Not only do I get to worship with D now and all the days of our lives, I also get to do this ministry I love with him.

2. Speaking to the youth. Later in the afternoon, I delivered a message at Lifextreme, our church’s youth worship. The last time I had the privilege of speaking to the young people in church was February last year, where I talked about, well, marriage. And then I got pregnant and took a little hiatus from speaking in front. One year later, last Sunday, I spoke about loving your family. Funny, these topics they assign to me. Someone’s getting old.

So I told them the obvious, that we get to choose our friends, who we hang out with, and in a way, who we work with. But the family we’re born into.. now that is something that God chose for us. It’s a gift, something that we should nurture and take care of even though, and especially because, these are the people who know us for who we are. And these are the people we’ll go through life with, whether we like it or not! Be kind to the ones you do life with, says Bobbie Houston. I stood up in the pulpit for 30 minutes speaking about this topic that means so much to me, especially now that we’re starting a family of our own.

3. I love my family. I could never get tired saying it. I love my family. I love the family I was born into, and I love this new family God has blessed me with. The thing with speaking about topics like this is, as you study your passage and review your notes, you also get to look into your own life and have a deeper appreciation of what you have. I feel so blessed beyond words.

*The rest of the 30 Days of Gratitude shall be posted with dates backtracked. Like I anticipated, it’s easy to list down blessings, but to find time to post them here.. it’s more challenging than ever. I just need one uninterrupted afternoon to get those drafts out, so watch out for a flood of posts soon. ;)

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 22.

1. Real food. Today we had chopseuy for lunch, a huge improvement from the cans of tuna, spam, and corned beef we’ve been eating the past days. With our pantry and ref replenished with goods from our recent grocery shopping, we have two weeks worth of real and healthy menu in place. I wish I could say I’m the one cooking, but I don’t have 8 hands. Thank God I can leave the cooking to Ate Sally (our yaya) while I look after the twins.

2. Sleeping routine. One of the many challenges in raising twins is getting the two babies to follow ONE sleeping routine. In the afternoon, they almost always take naps alternately. Meaning, one sleeps while the other is awake, and just as the other one starts to fall asleep, the other one starts to wake up. Which makes it impossible to take a break and do other things because you always have at least one baby to feed, or entertain, or carry.

But in the evenings when the lights are out, ahhhh, these two sleep like a baby! (I know, they are babies.) Looking back to those first few days when each of them (EACH!!) would cry within 2-3 hour intervals, and now, they sleep through 5-6 hours straight (sometimes even longer), we sure have come a long way in the sleeping department. #happydance

3. God is in control. What a timely reminder, when suddenly some things in our life are not certain, and fears start to creep back in. It’s reassuring to know that, just as there’s food in the ref, and we have a warm bed to sleep in at night, God is in control.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 18.

1. No time to blog. I’m not sure what made this week different from the week before it, and why I couldn’t find time to do other things besides alternately and/or simultaneously watching over our twins. Days have been fast, and no matter how I try to set aside time to write, I always find myself wondering at the end of the day where the past 24 hours have gone. Frustrating as it may be to not have time to blog (or do anything else!), it also means I’m spending time with my girls, and nothing could be worth more than that.

2. Grocery therapy. After several days living on canned food, my husband and I finally got to do grocery-shopping Tuesday afternoon. What I love about buying groceries is, not only do we get an important errand out of the way, we also get to spend some quality time while practicing our budgeting and decision-making skills.

3. 13 days left. It’s been 17 great days counting blessings and being thankful for the big and small things this life has to offer. One thing for sure, when this 30 Days of Gratitude project is over, the gratitude continues.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 17.

1. February. I just looooove Februarys. I love that it’s 2-3 days shorter than the usual month, and I love that it’s the month of love. This blog has been a witness to some of my happy February days. Click away: February 2010. February 2011. February 2012.

2. Alias marathon. My brother gifted me a complete set, and my husband and I have been watching it every chance we get. It’s the TV series of my time, back when there wasn’t Grey’s Anatomy, or Suits, or How I Met Your Mother. It’s fun watching younger versions of Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper, and seeing Gina Torres pre-Jessica Pearson days. It’s been a while since I was addicted to this TV series, and now I watch it like it’s a new story.

3. Missing my Dad. It’s weird how an old forgotten TV series can make you miss a person you used to watch it with. Alias reminds me so much of my Dad. I remember sitting through each episode with him, years ago. We would watch it on cable and then talk about it with a passion; and when the series was over, he even bought DVDs so we could watch the episodes again.

Incidentally, the story revolved around the relationship between father and daughter Jack and Sydney Bristow—how, in spite of the complexity of their jobs as double agents, they loved and protected each other to the point of death. My Dad didn’t tell me then, but maybe that’s why I’m the one person he would watch it with.

I miss him.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 16.