Category: 30 Days Vol 3

1. Officially working from home. After lots of deliberation, pages and pages of journal entries, prayers, consultations, and waiting on God, I’m now officially a Work At Home Mom (or what they call WAHM—sounds like burger to me!). Working from home is not new to me. I was in this business for two years, that’s why I’m pretty aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this setup. I’m scared, I’m excited, I’m a mix of many emotions. But prayers were answered, opportunities came, and doors were opened in amaziiinnngggg ways. And here I am now, working from the confines of our home, beside the twins’ crib (literally). I prayed for this, and He blessed the desires of my heart. God is sooo good.

2. Mutual appreciation. After sending the last email of the day to one of my clients, I messaged him to say I was done and calling it a night. He quickly replied, “Thank you for helping me out on this.” Which made me stop for a moment and wonder, wait, shouldn’t I be the one thanking him for giving me work to do? I’ve worked with many different clients in the past 8 years of my career—Asians, Americans, British, Filipinos, you name it. And you rarely find someone who thanks you for doing something he’s paying you to do. So I replied and told him just that, “Hey, I should be the one thanking you.“

I love it when gratitude becomes a mutual thing. Makes the world a better place. ;)

3. My little support group. It was past midnight and I was beating deadlines. Husband said he would wait for me finish my work. Rain was already inside the room sleeping, but Dawn was still up playing with Daddy. Every now and then my husband would check up on the progress of my work. After some time, I realized that he stopped asking if I was done. I glanced at my support group who fell asleep on the couch waiting for me. I love that they tried.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 5. *I switched the colors off the photographs. For the drama. :)

1. Real smiles. And the whole day revolved around this little milestone: our two daughters learning their first real smiles. Bear with me but I just have to sing: When you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while. 

I didn’t know it was possible to fall in love over and over and over again like this.

2. Pinstriped slacks. This morning I took out my pinstriped slacks and blazers from the back of my closet after what seemed like forever. I put them away when I was still pregnant, you can just imagine how long that had been. I have to admit, it felt good to fit into my business attire again! (And yes they still fit!)

I had to face an important meeting today, albeit the challenge of saying goodbye to the twins and dragging my feet away from their crib. Later in the afternoon, I hurried back home, and inasmuch as it felt good wearing my pinstripes, it felt so much better dressing back down into my clean cotton pambahay, which is more fit for hugging and cuddling my babies.

3. Breakthrough. Let’s just say, I came home today and the sky was a little brighter, my heart a little lighter. My husband was already home when I arrived, we talked, we embraced, we praised God. Suddenly, His direction for our family has never been more clear than this. Truly there is no better and safer place than right in the center of His will.

The Lord will have His way, whether we believe in His sovereignty or not. His plan is far bigger than we can grasp, and it was designed in a way that will glorify Him while revealing our need for Him. ~Charles Stanley

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 4.

1. Rain’s smiles. I woke up to the sound of my husband’s laughter. It was early in the morning and Rain was on a roll. Daddy was feeding her, and she was smiling non-stop with her froth-covered lips. What a great way to start the day! Albeit sporadically, the twins started showing real smiles this past week. I wish I was able to capture those first smiles, but they came too sudden. I can’t wait for them to interact more and give more of those intentional smiles. You bet I’m going to take truckloads of photos.

We do get lots of reflexive smiles when they’re sleeping, but even though those are just involuntary muscle movements, they melt our hearts just the same. Everytime my babies smile in their sleep, it makes me feel like God is smiling at me.

2. Lola Mommy. It’s her day-off on Mondays so Lola Mommy (my mother) got to spend the day with us. She relieved me off my baby duties for the day, which allowed me to have some uninterrupted quiet time to pray, to work, to write. Praise God for Mommies. And Lolas.

3. Prayer and fasting extension. Since 2010, I would start each year with prayer and fasting and I have experienced many breakthroughs in my life because of it. Last week, we took part in our church’s week-long prayer and fasting once again, and I was so blessed by all the testimonies and answered prayers we heard in our midst. As for me and my husband, one of our major prayer concerns was answered last week too, and just as God answers prayers, He answered ours in a way we never hoped for or imagined. Crazy!!

And now, without divulging details, I’m still waiting for more clarity and confirmation regarding an important matter, hence the decision to extend my fast a few more days. Jentezen Franklin says, “Fasting brings you to a place of being able to clearly hear God’s will.” And that, is exactly what I’m desperate to hear.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 3.

1. Dawn’s answered prayer. A few days ago, Dawn was having a hard time sleeping and breathing because of a runny nose. Everytime I would try to put her down on her bed, her nose would be clogged with mucus in an instant and she would start crying again. We had to suction her nose every now and then, and David and I had to take turns holding her upright so she could sleep. I was worried sick I couldn’t sleep myself. Desperate for prayers, I posted a request on our church’s Facebook prayer hotline, which alerted an army of prayer warriors.

Now, I listen to Dawn’s soft breathing as she sleeps. Thank you for your prayers.

2. Seven hours of sleep. Saturday morning, I fell asleep just as the sun was starting to rise. Next thing I know, I woke up and it was 12 noon, the babies were not crying, and lunch was prepared on the dining table. I was asleep for 7 straight hours, the first time in forever! A-ma-zing! Thank you Daddy, and babies, for giving me the longest sleep in months!

3. So proud of my sister. Yesterday at the closing of our church’s prayer and fasting week, Ate Imy, my sister-in-law, took the stage and testified about how God has been working in her life. It was a rare event, she said so herself, as it was the first time she had the courage to share her testimony in front of a crowd. I’m so glad I didn’t miss it. She is such a blessing.

30 Days of Gratitude, Day 1.

30 Day Blog Challenge, Round 3. I’m typing this with trembling fingers. I know I don’t exactly have a lot of free time, and doing a 30-day challenge in between motherhood, homemaking, and home-based work sounds toxic, if not crazy. A part of me is almost sure that I don’t have time to do this, which is why I’ve been putting it off. But I also know that there’s no better time to do this but now.

I heard someone say that what you do on the first days of the year is an indication of what the rest of your year is going to be. And I don’t want this year to be a whole year of putting things off. So even though we’re half-way through January already, I’m challenging myself to set the course for 2013—a year of seeking God, counting blessings, and keeping a thankful heart.

And I’d like this blog to get into that groove too.

Starting the year with my little family.
(Photograph taken before we took the Christmas tree down.)

So I’m starting another round of 30 Days here at Chasingdreams.net. (Remember the first time I did this? How about the second?)

The challenge: List down 3 blessings a day, ala “3 Beautiful Things“.

The listing down part is not really a “challenge”. I’m pretty sure I’ll never run out of blessings to count each day I probably need more slots than 3. Finding the time in the day to post them here, now that’s a little more tricky.

But perhaps the other reason why my fingers are shaking is because I know that God is going to do crazy amazing things for our family this year. And you know how expecting from God always comes with a certain level of fear and trembling—you don’t know exactly what His plan is and how He’s going to pull it off, you just know that He will. And when He does, it always always blows your mind away.

I’m excited for the next 30 days. More so, I’m excited for this year.
2013 is going to be ahh-maezhing.

30 Day Blog Challenge, Round 3, now begins.

DAY 1: An answered prayer, 7 hours of sleep, and my sister-in-law
DAY 2: 39 years, on the red, and carrying on the family’s legacy
DAY 3: Rain’s smiles, Lola Mommy, and extended prayer & fasting
DAY 4: Real smiles, pinstriped slacks, and a breakthrough
DAY 5: Officially working form home, mutual appreciation, and my little support group
DAY 6: Kuya Nikos, 3 months, and Thursday Group
DAY 7: Saturdate, TV time, and now-what moments
DAY 8: Manny Pacquiao, changed lives, and family picture
DAY 9: Mondays, sisters, and taking photographs
DAY 10: Book reading, multi-tasking, and silent nights
DAY 11: Mondays, coinbox, and taking risks
DAY 12: January, totally smitten, and 52 Weeks Project
DAY 13: Bath times, solitude, and another encounter
DAY 14: Hello sunshine, home-baked cookies, and missing my husband
DAY 15: Lost and found, catching up, and Sunday nights
DAY 16: February, Alias marathon, and missing my Dad
DAY 17: No time to blog, grocery therapy, and 13 days left
DAY 18: Real food, sleeping routine, and a timely reminder
DAY 19: Day off, married friends, and coming home
DAY 22: Leading worship, speaking to the youth, and lovin’ my family
DAY 23: Memory lane, surprise visit, and someone dreamed about me
DAY 26: Canceled movie date, chocolates, and Vday with the loves of my life