Category: Yesteryears

Week 21: Getting the House Ready for Our Soon-to-be Family of Four

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I thought getting married would be the end of my apartment-hopping. Guess not. Less than a year after my husband and I moved into our first home, we’re packing our bags again. At least we’re not changing our address; we’re just moving to a bigger unit in the same building, one with more space to raise twins.

That also means we’re saying goodbye to the roof top we’ve grown to love. But how can we complain, right? I’d take having more space for the twins over having a pretty roof top view anytime. And it was just the perfect timing. We’ve been praying for a bigger space, and suddenly a tenant was vacating one of the units, which makes it, yay, available for us. God answers prayers just in time.

And so the new apartment is like a clean canvass for me to play with. We’re definitely adding more furniture and shelving, and colors! Times like this, it’s always a good first step to start with an inspiration board. Here’s mine:

I know I’ve always complained about not having Ikea in the Philippines, but just this week, I found that there are a few shops selling Ikea items here in Manila. Say hello to Ikea Source Philippines, Invicta, and (this one’s been around for a while) 5 Corners! We scheduled to visit their showrooms this week. For now, I scouted their websites for some major items I consider getting, added some pegs I found here and there, and put this inspiration board together.

I think yellow is a really pretty, gender-neutral accent color, yes? We don’t know yet what our babies’ gender are, but even if they’re girls, I still don’t think I’d pick barbie-pink colors for our home. Whether the twins are boys, or girls, or a boy and a girl, I think my turquoise and apple green color scheme fits just right.

On the other hand, as I was finishing off my inspiration board, I found these really nice *pegs from Pinterest..

..and thought heeyyyy, orange and pink looks good too! I didn’t want to consider these colours at first, but they could work!

So maybe I’m getting some coral pinks and orange too. Like fake flowers, vases, and pillows maybe?

Ahh, the Martha in me is crazy. excited.

Next up: pegs for the babies’ nursery!

* * *

Some notes on the board: (1) Ikea Rast Drawers, to be painted yellow maybe? (2) Ikea Expedit Shelving/Divider, or some alternative; (3) Ikea Bursjon storage/stool; (4) Ikea Rexbo Shelf, a phased out Ikea item which I happened to already have – mine used to be red but now it’s black; (5) Fab Manila Storage Boxes; (6) Black photo frames, fake plants, new curtains.

*Feel free to view my pinterest board to see the sources of these photos.

Week 19: Write it Down On the Tablet of Your Heart

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So I’ve been creatively scribbling stuff on my journal with my G-tech and Artline pens these days, and I’m kinda loving the beautiful mess my journal has become. I love that I’m excited about something artsy/crafty again.

God has been teaching me a lot these days about being calm, gentle, and graceful under pressure; and being content and selfless in making choices.

You know, stuff that great mothers are made of.

And it’s terrifying because it doesn’t feel like a long time ago when I was the baby of the house, and everyone attended to my needs, and all I had to think about was myself.

I was always restless—my feet always needing to go somewhere, my mind wandering in another country, my hand itching to book plane tickets or to swipe my credit card to buy something I already have a dozen of.

But now that my 5-month bump is growing bigger and bigger each week, and my husband and I are crossing the 1-year mark as a married couple, I find myself learning more and more to put other people’s lives on top of my own.

Most of all, I’m learning to let go of old dreams to make room for these new ones.

I sometimes worry about what kind of mother I’m going to be like. I do know what kind of mother I DON’T want to be, I think that one’s easier to figure out. But when I think about the kind of mother I want to be and how far I am from being that person, I panic like you have no idea.

This morning, this passage popped up from the pages of my Bible, and I think I’ll be mulling over these words for the next couple of days:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

Love and faithfulness, that’s it! As I try to move towards becoming the best Mommy I can be, I know love and faithfulness is exactly where I have to start.

Deep breaths.

Week 18: All I Think About is Food

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It’s Friday, about a couple of minutes before the work day ends and the weekend begins, and all I can think about is.. food.

My food cravings this past few weeks, on Instagram.

It’s like I have two hungry monsters inside of me! These days, I particularly like sweet stuff and korean food. I was a little worried about getting gestational diabetes because of the sweets, but as far as my last medical test is concerned, my sugar levels are perfectly normal. Yay.

I feel like I should have gained over 30 pounds already with all the food I consumed, but for some reason, I’ve only gained 10 pounds. Does that mean the babies are absorbing all the calories out of me (which is good, right)? Or does it mean I should eat more?

Coz I don’t mind eating more. Really. :)

Have a great weekend, you!

Year 29, bring it on!

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These photos have been up for a week now, just waiting for words to come with them. The truth is, I’ve ran out of ways to say what a riot this past year has been, so I’ve put this on hold for a while. Birthdays are the best times to count blessings and to look back at how far you’ve come. I’ve blogged about mine each and every year, and this year has so far been the biggest leap for me.

On the contrary.. after so many years of throwing parties/get-togethers on my birthday (and being surprised with one), my 29th birthday has got to be the simplest celebration I ever had—by choice. I didn’t think I needed a big celebration anyway; after all, this year has been full of BIG celebrations already, starting with our wedding. And then I’ve got myself the biggest gifts: Being married to the sweetest husband ever, these two babies growing inside of me, and having my two best friends both in one continent again.

And of course there’s my family, who’s always there to celebrate with me and support me in all of my joys and triumphs, including loving my husband and whole-heartedly accepting him as part of this new life that I have. I’m not sure how I’ll cope with all these changes without the support group that they are.

So that’s exactly what I did on my 29th birthday—spent the day with my greatest gifts.

Continue reading “Year 29, bring it on!” →

My Husband Turned 28

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It’s not the first time we celebrated his birthday together. Last year we were in New York, but his birthday was also the last day of my trip and I was flying back to Manila the very next day. Our emotions were all over the place, I remember. We busied ourselves doing last minute Christmas shopping, and packing up my suitcases, and trying to ignore the fact that we were going to part ways again. As the night was ending, we did our best to stay up and keep our eyes open even if we were tired and spent, until it was time to drag my feet and my luggage to the airport.

That’s how we spent his 27th birthday.

This year was a perfect contrast. :)

This year, we were not in a rush. We waited for the clock to strike 12 (same timezone, yes!), spent the first minutes on Skype with my father-in-law, and he opened his gifts like he couldn’t wait. We had a long uninterrupted sleep, we woke up next to each other, and I cooked breakfast like I never did before. (Well, we never eat breakfast.) And then we spent the day doing whatever the birthday boy thought of doing.

We’ve had parties here and there the whole month of December, we even hosted some at home; so for his birthday, he specially requested to have the day just to ourselves. We played some sets of bowling, watched a movie, had a full-body massage and spa, and a late night Taco party with the Velardos.

It was a beautiful, serene, quality time together, accentuated by lots of laughter, hugs and kisses, tears of joy, and moments we would stop in our tracks and marvel at God’s grand scheme of things. Oh how things didn’t seem to make sense before! And oh how He unraveled His great master plan and brought us where we are in His own sweet time.

I’ve been blogging relentlessly about our story, mostly because the daily dose of inspiration is too overwhelming to contain and I need a place to share them all; partly because I have a feeling that someone somewhere is going through similar valleys and roads, and I thought, if only I could encourage at least one person to keep the faith and never tire on chasing his/her dreams, then this blog has served beyond its purpose. Although it’s not really a self-help blog with how-tos and 101s to long distance relationships and chasing dreams (well, not yet), I’m happy to be sharing my life here as a case study. Lest you need to pick up a lesson or two.

God has made many of my dreams come true, and replaced the good ones with the best; and while the journey is not a walk in the park and we have to hurdle through difficult situations along the way, God is faithful, and well, we’re living our lives together now aren’t we? :)

So to you who’s going through your own roller-coaster ride of a life and wondering when the chase will end, take it from us: God has your best interest in mind, always. He will see you through. Just as He did with us.

On God’s Grand Scheme of Things

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It’s my husband’s birthday today/yesterday (today in New York, yesterday in Manila). I intend to post a longer blog with lots of photos as soon as I find time, but for now, a quick post before I retreat to bed.

As his birthday was about to end, my husband and I reflected upon the past year and how much has happened in such a short period of time. It wasn’t long ago when we would celebrate birthdays and monthsaries in front of Skype, opening our Fedex-ed gifts and finding creative ways to bridge the distance. Don’t get me wrong, we treasure those good ol’ days, we learned so much from them. But we cannot deny the fact that deep within our hearts we incessantly prayed for the day we would get to spend these special occasions together.

And now we’re here.

We had quite a lengthy prayer to cap the night, thanking God for blessing my husband 28 awesome years, most especially for the past year which was exceptionally beautiful. You bet there were tears of joy all over the place.

Chuck Swindoll wrote something that pretty much describes how it feels like, being in the center of God’s grand scheme of things:

Life is not based on blind fate or random chance. Everything that happens, including the things you cannot explain or justify, is being woven together like an enormous, beautiful piece of tapestry. From this earthly side it seems blurred and knotted, strange and twisted. But from heaven’s perspective it forms an incredible picture. Best of all, it is for His greater glory. Right now, it seems so confusing, but someday the details will come together and make good sense.

There it is—part of God’s perfect plan unfolding.

Those years spent apart were difficult, and there were a gazillion things we couldn’t understand (even until now). But as we witness God’s master plan unfold, it becomes clearer each day why God allows things to happen the way they do.

It’s not my birthday today, but it’s like I’m the one who was given such a beautiful gift.