Family – Page 9 – Chasing Dreams

My Dad’s Smile, I Get It Now

March 27, 2014December 30, 2019 Rhiza1 Comment

Remembering the life of a great man, pastor, husband, friend, Dad.

It’s been 7 years since Dad passed away but every year I still learn something new about him. This year, I learned how much he loved me.

Oh sure I know he loved me and my brothers so much, no doubt about it. But this year I gained a better understanding of how great that love is. I wish I knew sooner, but I needed to be a parent first to understand.

Look at THAT SMILE! That smile on his face when he held me for the first time. Or when he carried me (and my balloon!) on my birthday. Or when I sat on his lap looking like a cranky bumble bee. He had that smile on like he couldn’t contain his joy.

That smile speaks volumes, and I get it now. It was the smile of a father who loved her daughter so much, who was crazy about her and would do everything for her.

I know now because I have that same smile on my face when I hold Dawn or Rain in my arms. And I see my husband smile that way too.

I love our daughters so much it makes me tear up. I watch them sleep at night and it’s like my heart is going to burst with so much joy. I’ll do anything for them, sacrifice my life for them, protect them, and be the best Mom I can be for them.

And I realize now that sometime 30 years ago, Dad felt exactly the same way about the baby girl who was growing before his eyes.

Thank you, Daddy, for loving me that much. I didn’t understand it then, but I get it now.

Thank you, Lola

February 14, 2014December 23, 2021 Rhiza1 Comment

Lola Joving, February 15, 1924 – February 9, 2014

May 2005. I just graduated from the University—no job, no money, no bank account even. All I had were big dreams, loads of optimism and a burning desire to make my dreams happen.

One afternoon, Lola handed me Php1,000 as an advanced birthday gift. I was elated! Php1,000 was not a small amount in 2005, and it was just so random that Lola would think of giving me money. A great cook, Lola’s usual birthday gifts to us were something edible, not monetary.

I knew exactly where to spend Lola’s gift. Long story short, it was the money I used to apply for my first ever passport. Mom and Dad didn’t even know that I was applying for one. (You can read the long story here.)

Lola never found out how big of an answered prayer she was to me at that time, or how important her role was in making some of my greatest dreams come true. Her gift took me places, and I’ll forever be grateful for being a recipient of her love and generosity.

March 2012. My husband and I got the surprise of our life when we found out we were having twins. I never expected it, never prayed for it, never crossed my mind. We didn’t know we had twins in the family, and while it was undoubtedly God’s hand that made it happen, we Google-d and analyzed for days how it was biologically possible that we conceived twins.

Two months later we found out that there were indeed twins in my family. Specifically, in my Lola’s side of the family. It was genetic, after all.

Lola and my Dad are now home in heaven, but they left me probably the greatest inheritance they could ever give me: This twin-bearing genes I carry, which gave me Dawn & Rain. In essence, a part of them lives on in my daughters, and someday Dawn & Rain will know that they came from a line of generous, kind, twin-bearing, Jesus-loving people.

A life well lived

This past week was a time of mourning and rejoicing at the same time. My Lola passed away Sunday morning, in her sleep, just like she wanted.

You know, some of the greatest surprises in life are the stories you hear about a person after she has passed away. Good or bad, it’s like getting to know the person in a whole new different light, and you wish there’s more time for you to get to know her even more. We heard a lot of stories about Lola this week from people whose lives she touched, and I couldn’t help but feel sooo proud and blessed that she is my Lola.

She would have been 90 years old today. I will always miss her, but Lola’s life ended the way it should—people praising the Lord for a life well lived, celebrating the happy memories she left behind, and rejoicing for the lives that were changed because of her.

Including mine.

Thank you, Lola, for my passport money. And for Dawn & Rain. And for being instrumental to making some of my greatest dreams come true, even the ones I didn’t know I had.

Weekends like this

January 26, 2014May 13, 2019 RhizaLeave a comment

It’s that moment when you start to wonder, where has the weekend gone? I know where mine went. It went to a place where time is irrelevant, me-time plans are given up to expend yourself for others, and hours fly by because you just never run out of things to do!

When I was single, weekends were for shopping, watching movies, meeting up with friends, going out of town, sleeping over a girl friend’s house, and staying up late. When I got married, D & I would watch last full shows or dine out on Friday nights, oversleep on Saturday mornings, and do whatever we feel like doing the rest of the day.

Oh how much has changed since then.

This particular weekend, the days seemed to have blended into each other, leaving me with a blurry recollection of things that made up my weekend—grocery shopping, cooking for and hosting a birthday lunch party for my brother, cleaning up the after-party mess, cleaning up the house, cleaning up the bedroom, endless Despicable Me marathons, nap times, playing forts, bed time stories, and sneaking in a “grown up” movie while the babies were asleep (we finally got to watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire!) in lieu of a date night.

Seriously, I can’t even remember having opened my laptop the whole weekend. Except last night when everyone had gone to sleep, and I had to whip up a quick article for work. Even the last hour of my day was not for myself.

Today, the girls and I missed our Sunday worship. There’s some measles virus going around and my husband and I thought it best to put the twins on a temporary isolation. Just the same, in the quietness of our little home this morning, God’s message to me was to keep a spirit of gentleness, especially in times when I feel worn out and on the verge of losing it. I’ll never stop being amazed at how God knows exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it.

I don’t know what my point is for this post, really. I just know that this weekend has left me feeling tired and wishing for an extended day of rest, and yet, I wouldn’t say that my weekend was wasted either.

How do you explain this feeling, anyway? I feel like there isn’t a word to describe this. I never felt this before I became a Mom. It’s like, you know you’ve set aside things that make you happy, in exchange for things that are more important and more meaningful, and while a part of you is frustrated over not being able do what you want to do, you know that your choice made you, surprisingly, happier. Anyone know what I’m saying?

How about you? How’s your weekend like?

30th Year With You

December 31, 2013December 31, 2013 RhizaLeave a comment

Allow me to post this before the month (and the year!) ends.

Once upon a time, I was not very fond of Decembers. For me, Christmas season was the saddest of all holidays; like, there’s something melancholy about it that I couldn’t quite point my finger on. But just like the many things that changed in my life, the month of December has become merrier and brighter through the recent years.

Evidently, much of this can be attributed to the addition of this guy in my life, whose birthday happens to fall right smack in the middle of the Christmas season.

And then these two girls were born, and suddenly everyone’s birthday feels like it’s their birthday. My, Decembers have never been better than this.

Highlights of D’s 30th birthday

We were at our bible study group’s blue-and-orange Christmas party the night before his birthday. Totally unintentional, this year’s color motif lends itself well to the birthday boy’s favorite NBA team, and he was happy to have the excuse to wear his New York Knicks shirt..

..which is, obviously, his favorite shirt. (He was wearing the same shirt on his birthday 2 years ago.) Haha. Funny coincidence.

We surprised him with a birthday cake as the clock struck 12mn, and once again we feel blessed to have friends who would, well, wait around ’til past midnight to celebrate special days like this. Thank you, Thursday Group. And special thanks to our friend Jasper, for decorating his birthday cake with robot candles. Very 30-years-old. :)

The rest of his birthday looked like this:

Christmas sunrise worship, tapsilog for breakfast, home-cooked meals, a coffee date to cap the night, the gift of time.

Except for the birthday cake we had in Thursday Group’s Christmas party the night before, I managed to stick to his birthday non-cake tradition. Three years running, LOL. First it was stacked pancakes, then it was donuts, and now, this:

In my defense, I’d looove to buy him a real birthday cake, or maybe even bake him one.. but he hardly eats cake! Either it gets spoiled in the ref, or I end up eating the whole thing, which is bad for my new year’s resolutions, lol. Maybe someday, when Dawn & Rain are big enough to finish Daddy’s birthday cake with me. :)

Thank you, 2013

2013 is the year both of us turned 30 years old, and surely it was the year where we learned the most meaningful of lessons. God blessed us with opportunities to trust Him even more, to live simply, to be content, and to place other people’s welfare above our own.

30th year is a beautiful year in and of itself. As an added bonus, I get to go through this journey with D, to see him grow, and to witness up close what God is doing in his life. What a blessed year indeed. I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)

Merry Christmas from Our Little Family to Yours

December 25, 2013December 25, 2013 RhizaLeave a comment

How crazy is it to have little ones running/crawling and making a ruckus around the house on Christmas day? I can’t even begin to describe the joy! It’s the kind of joy that makes you soar above the holiday stress, the busy-ness, and the chaos that often come with this most wonderful time of the year.

I realize time and time again that there’s no amount of stress or traffic or dirty dishes that can take away the effect of those smiles, the tiny kisses, the little arms around your neck, and the mumbo jumbo of syllables that come out of a baby’s lips. They’re just.. priceless.

Coming home from our annual Christmas eve party in my Mom’s side of the family, we let the girls open their gifts and play with their new toys a little before tucking them in. The obvious truth is, we’re still constantly in awe that this is our life now. I hugged Dawn & Rain a little tighter and longer last night, knowing that my life was utterly changed the past year by these two tiny lives.

Even the way I look at Christmas has spun into this whole new level of wonder and awe. Being a parent now, it blows my mind whenever I think about how much it took for our Father in heaven to give up His own Son as a ransom for many.

I pray that you too will not stop marveling at the wonder of God’s love this Christmas day, remembering the real reason for the season, and having the kind of amazement that can be seen in the eyes of little children. Christmas is here, and it will fly by in the same manner it came—like a breeze. I pray that we won’t miss out on God’s message to us this Christmas, the big and small moments to be treasured, the lessons to be learned, and the love that’s meant to be shared and given away.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

With love from the four of us,
David & Rhiza, Dawn & Rain

#countdownto2014

Only one life

December 6, 2013May 13, 2019 RhizaLeave a comment

The other night we heard of the passing of a dear family friend. “Mommy” is what we called her. Even though her nickname was “Bing”, and she’s technically my (non-blood-related) “Lola”, I can’t remember ever calling her any other name but “Mommy”.

That house in Opera street

It’s been a long time since I last saw Mommy, but some of my best childhood memories happened in her house in Opera street, where we spent countless of lazy Sunday afternoons, December nights, and warm summer days growing up. We would run around her garden, play with her dogs, feast on her delicious home-cooked meals, fight over her blueberry cheesecake (the best!), and rummage through her refrigerator for left-over cookies to take home.

That house in Opera street always felt like an extension of our home. It’s the kind of place that remains etched in the mind of a child forever, that, even until now, 20 years later, I still have vivid recollections of time spent in that house.

I don’t have a picture with Mommy, but these are her daughters. I must have grown up thinking they’re my biological sisters! I’m so blessed for the life of Mommy who raised these beautiful ladies I love and look up to.

Lessons on motherhood and servanthood

I’ve been making mental notes on my takeaways from Mommy’s life. I know there’s more but here are some:

As a mother, choosing your children over whatever career you want to pursue is a decision you will never regret taking.
The kind of mother you are will reflect on the kind of children (and grand children) you raise.
Raising your children to serve the Lord, and to love the Lord with all their heart, is the greatest legacy you could ever leave in this world.
Letting your children go is possible when you trust that you raised them well enough to build their own lives, and when you believe that the Lord is always with them wherever they go.
Opening your home and sharing your life to others is an investment that will come a long way, even long after you’re gone.
You don’t have to be in the spotlight in order to make a huge impact. A life of quiet and humble service can make a universe of difference from one generation to another.
Oh, and that blueberry cheesecake recipe! I should get a copy of that.

It makes me sad, the thought that Mommy’s house in Las Pinas will never be the same, and that we will never get to taste her special blueberry cheesecake again. But my heart rejoices, knowing that hers was a life well lived, and that I’m one of the many recipients of the legacy that she left behind.

Only one life, it will soon be past

The truth is, I’ve been contemplating a lot about life these past days. I’ve been restless, mostly tired, and maybe a little anxious about what the future holds. In hindsight that’s probably why I had to intentionally look back the other day—I do a lot of reminiscing when I’m feeling a little wary about certain uncertain things in my life.

And then death happens.

Death has a way of keeping us (those of us who are still alive) grounded, making us appreciate the days that we take for granted, inspiring us to better and to live a life that will make the most impact on others.

Just recently the whole world was shocked by the sudden death of Paul Walker. But now, everywhere we look, everyone is just paying tribute to Paul’s life, inspired by the massive work he was doing to help people in need, and the little anecdotes of his grand gestures and secret acts of kindness.

Life is short. We never know when ours is going to end, but one thing for sure.. it will end. We’re all on borrowed time.

Just like Paul Walker, and Mommy Bing, and my Dad.

Many people will not remember their course in college, the jobs they took, the possessions they accumulated through the years. But people will always remember how they made our lives, and the world, a better place.

I’m reminded to make the most out of this one life. Live each day as if it’s our last, love people, show kindness, wear our passions, chase our dreams. And more importantly, fulfill God’s purpose for our lives and live in a way that will give glory to His name.

An age old poem goes, “Only one life, ‘t will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

At the end of the day, and at the end of this life, that’s all that will count.