Search Results for: confessions

Confessions of an Imperfect Parent

March 29, 2011 by Tina 2 Comments

Since it is still the season of Lent, which is known to be a time for going to confession and changing one’s sinful ways and bad habits, I thought it would be apt to make my own confession of sorts here. It would be my way of seeking “absolution” for everything that I have done wrong lately.

At my blogs (Truly Rich Mom and Teachermama Tina), I try to be positive and upbeat in most of my posts, though there are times when I can’t help it but be honest about my feelings of sadness and disappointment. This is one of those blog posts where I am going to be honest.

I have been struggling a lot these first weeks of Lent with questions about our parenting style. Honestly, I have no right to claim being a “perfect” parent to our kids, especially to our eldest, our strong-willed little boy. In fact, I am far, far, far from being the mom (and wife! Haha!) that I want to be. People who read my blogs and Facebook updates may think otherwise, but I am coming clean here. I AM TOTALLY NOT PERFECT.

In fact, I am ashamed to say that there are times when I can be a downright nasty, mean, people-should-report-me-to-child-protection-agencies mom. There are days when I end up losing my patience, snapping at the kids, and being physically harsh. Honestly speaking, I am NOT a fan of corporal punishment and believe that discipline is about teaching more than punishing. However, there have been many occasions when I have failed to “practice what I preach.”

There are times when I end up feeling like I am a Tiger Mom in the worst sense, and can only pray that my kids will not end up broken and bitter like the many young people I have encountered, especially during my time as a missionary to the youth. I don’t want my kids growing up thinking that I don’t love them or am always angry at them.

What I hope and pray and wish for is that our kids will grow up to be God-fearing, secure, confident and emotionally stable individuals, no matter how imperfect I am as a mom (and Hubby is as a dad). I want them to know that our decision to have them in Timor Leste on mission was born out of our desire to witness to God’s love and faithfulness, and that our decision to finally settle in Manila was born out of our desire to share God’s message of hope, forgiveness, peace and love in our own homeland.

To continue reading this post, please go to my article on Philstar.com’s Unblogged section by clicking here. 🙂 God bless all parents everywhere! 🙂

The Learning Library: Making Filipino Lessons for Kids Fun and Enjoyable

April 14, 2016 by Tina Leave a Comment

Here at Truly Rich and Blessed (and even before, when this space was still called “Truly Rich Mom”), I sometimes make what I call “true confessions.” It is not my intention for people to think that I live a “perfect life” nor that I can “do it all.” Because I don’t and I can’t. Thus, my penchant for writing “keeping-it-real” or confession posts.

I fail and falter at many things actually — and when it comes to being a homeschooling mom, I count teaching Filipino to my kids as one of my “failures.”

Like many other parents, I guess I thought that it would be easy for our kids to learn how to speak, read and write (even just basic sentences) in Filipino. After all, I grew up in Brunei, without any formal education in Filipino, but I can still converse in Tagalog — more than enough to survive college life at the University of the Philippines!

I also had similar sentiments to those of my fellow homeschool mom May of Fully Housewifed, specifically about teaching kids Tagalog — my husband and I started our family as Catholic lay missionaries in Timor Leste, and English sort of became our “default” language when speaking to our kids. When we finally returned to Manila, it had already become a habit — one that we have been trying hard to break for some time now, because we realized the importance of teaching our kids to speak and understand Filipino (for starters, at least).

Throwback to 2010 in Timor Leste! (Sorry for the low-res photo!)

Fast forward to the present time… I have finally admitted to myself (and now, to the whole world!) that giving Filipino lessons to kids is not one of my strengths. So imagine my delight (and relief!) when my friends at The Learning Library agreed to help me out!

The Learning Library: Making Reading and Filipino Fun for Kids

Here’s a bit of info about The Learning Library, quoted from their website:

THE LEARNING LIBRARY offers English and Filipino programs that help improve comprehension and make learning enjoyable. By developing fundamental skills through enjoyable and accessible literature, we advance independent learning critical to long-term academic success.

– Literature-based, highly interactive programs anchored on a collection of over 4,000 of the best children’s books

– Close alignment with your child’s school curriculum to enhance academic performance

– Detailed pre- and post-assessment of your child’s comprehension and communication skills

– Excellent, experienced and passionate teachers helping your children be the best learners they can be

Our two older kids had their assessment at The Learning Library branch nearest to us and have already started attending classes. Truth to tell, I was a bit ashamed of myself after hearing the teacher’s feedback about their Filipino skills (or lack thereof)! To be fair to my kids, I won’t share what their assessment results are here. Still, as my wise friends from The Learning Basket told me, at least we’re starting somewhere!

Our not-so-baby girl “reading” while waiting for her siblings’ assessment to be done

As previously mentioned, The Learning Library doesn’t just offer Filipino lessons for kids — they also have different programs related to reading, writing and even speaking. Check out their Summer Workshops below (or here, on their website):

How The Learning Library makes Filipino lessons for kids fun

What’s great about The Learning Library is that they offer programs even beyond summer — so if your kids need further lessons and enrichment, they are a great option! I’m hoping and praying that the kids can still have Filipino lessons after this summer, specifically under the Wika’y Galing program. Watch the video below and see how this program helps make Filipino lessons for kids fun and enjoyable:

Of course, my husband and I are also committed to helping our kids be more fluent in Filipino (specifically Tagalog, since that’s the dialect we speak) — by reading more books in Filipino, watching videos like the ones here, and singing Filipino songs, among other things. (I’m also hoping and praying we can get DVDs of the Tagalog version of Superbook, plus other values-based Filipino/Tagalog shows somehow!) Pray for us, please?

******

Special thanks again to The Learning Library for coming to my rescue! If you want to learn more about The Learning Library and its programs, check out their website: www.learninglibraries.com, get their updates on or .

Back to Blogging: What Can Happen in a Month and More {Plus the REAL Reason Why I Haven’t Been Blogging}

July 13, 2014 by Tina 8 Comments

So finally, I’m back! 🙂 (Did you miss me? :P)

After over a month (1 month and 5 days, to be exact), I’m here again… though I don’t know for how long I will ‘stay.’ As you can probably tell, I’ve been ‘neglecting’ this online ‘home’ of mine, but have been trying very hard not to neglect my real home (though, if you were to surprise me with a visit today, you’d probably think otherwise, with the baskets of unfolded laundry downstairs, and the messy, cluttered play/storage room upstairs!).

A month and more… how time flies!

Yes, it’s been a month and more since I’ve been here, but I have been elsewhere: here, here (a re-hashed post!), here (in case you haven’t read this post about how to homeschool even if you don’t feel like it).

I’ve also been writing my contributions for Make It Blissful (have you congratulated Martine yet? 🙂 She’s preggy and I can SO relate to her latest post about it! I felt that way A LOT when I was pregnant with Anne!)… and Upside Down Homeschooling (coming soon!).

Credits to nonicknamephoto | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A lot of my time for work has been spent on editing here, writing/editing for this magazine and this homeschool provider‘s monthly newsletter, doing PR/social media work, and helping promote — among other things. I too, and attended a few blogger events, somewhere in between.

Of course, the majority of my time has been spent with my family… and I wouldn’t have it any other way! 🙂

Family time and time with others: The best reason for slow blogging 😉

Since my last post here, we’ve been ‘busy-but-not-so-busy’… learning from life, trying to keep up with chores, (not really a schoolroom!), doing ‘formal’ learning, celebrating Father’s Day, attending community events, relishing time with extended family… just trying to ‘be’… which is not a very easy thing to do for ‘busyholic’ me!

Credits to Stuart Miles | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We were also blessed to spend some time in Cebu last week — me, the kids and my parents, while Anthony was at the Hillsong Conference in Sydney (one of the blessings of being part of the team!). It was a great #familyfieldtrip, and we had lots of fun bonding with my parents!

Bonding with Lolo and Lola during our #familyfieldtrip to Cebu! :)

We were there to attend a dear friend and sister-in-Christ’s wedding; she is also our former mission teammate (oh how I miss our Timor Leste days!) and Rysse’s ninang (godmother). It was fun catching up with her and other dear friends, and celebrating Rysse’s birthday too, in a way (we didn’t celebrate on her actual birthday because it was our friend’s wedding day, we ended up celebrating for almost the entire week afterwards!).

The 4 of us all ready to go to Karen’s wedding! Tim and Rysse were part of the entourage. When I posted this photo on FB, a few people thought I was pregnant! Ha, ha! 🙂 Can you spot sleeping Anne?

While in Cebu, I also got to meet up with Mylene, a friend and the hardworking mompreneur behind , and two fellow homeschoolers (*waves to Mommy Martha and Jenny!) — it was so nice to finally meet these moms, my online ‘friends’ for what seems to be so long, in person! 🙂

With homeschool moms from Cebu — thanks to Mommy Martha for arranging this meet-up (photo credits go to her, too!)

With from Cebu — thanks to Mommy Martha for arranging this meet-up (photo credits go to her, too!)

I’ve also experienced being majorly disappointed lately… which was a very humbling experience for me. In the end though, . I must confess, too, that — time to reboot with more fruits and veggies! 😉

The REAL reason for not blogging

Having said all that (sorry to ‘dump’ everything on you all at once, LOL!), I MUST confess the REAL reason why I haven’t been blogging lately… You see, I’ve been getting a lot of comments from people about how I am a ‘supermom,’ how I can ‘do it all,’ and how ‘inspiring’ I am because I work at home, homeschool, care for three kids sans a yaya/helper, etc. etc.

Well, let me come clean with y’all in the spirit of keeping it real (because, after all, that’s what being ‘truly rich’ entails too, right?) — I am NOT a supermom. I am not a perfect mom either. I’ve confessed before (and have recently confessed again, ) that I don’t love on my kids as much as I should and instead chew them out a lot more often than I should!

There is only one ‘supermom’ in my book — and that’s Mama Mary! :)

I yell, I’m a mean ‘monster’ mom A LOT of times (which is why my kids almost always include, “Please Lord, help Mama not to be angry today” in our morning prayers), I’ve even used my hands to ‘harm and not to help’ before (yup, I’m confessing this here, on the blogosphere!). Our homeschool days can be such a mess (on the days we do homeschool formally, of course!).

Our apartment is a mess (a somewhat organized mess, but a mess just the same!). I nag my husband (*blows Anthony a kiss) more often than I should and sometimes neglect his needs in favor of the kids’. I feel like I don’t spend enough time with my parents and siblings, and that we don’t spend enough time with my in-laws too, especially my mother-in-law (and she’s just across the street from us!).

One of those rare days when our apartment isn’t in a HUGE mess and the kids are busy playing with their blocks and manipulatives! :)

I haven’t been spending time with my friends either, especially my still single or still childless friends. (I don’t think socializing on Facebook counts, do you?) Thank God for friendships that last because of His grace!

So what am I really saying here then? Why all the ‘confessions’?

All of this imperfection.. this ‘messiness’… That is mostly why I haven’t been blogging.

I’ve been feeling too ‘unworthy’ to blog. I didn’t think that my life — the ‘real’ me, my ‘real’ life with all its sin — was inspiring. Actually, I didn’t want to deceive anyone. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite and make you think that, “Wow, she’s got it all together, man!” when the reality is, I don’t.

Why I’m back

To be honest with you (and thank you, by the way, for reading this post up to this point — don’t worry, I’m almost done!)… I didn’t really feel like coming back here to blog. I didn’t know where nor how to start.

But then I read this post.

Image credits to Blossoming Joy

It’s as if Melody was speaking/writing directly to me! These are my favorite lines from her post:

“I have my blogging blinders on. I have a firm purpose which I worked out with much thought and prayer while on sabbatical. I am committed to that purpose and to fighting the tendency to blog someone else’s vision. I am also no longer in high school… and I refuse to allow likes, dislikes, accolades, links, awards, pettiness, or any one person to define my major actions or my purpose.

So… do you blog? Because if you do, I want you to read those posts when you have a moment. You may find that you know what these lovely gals are talking about.

And then I want you to repeat after me…

I am a uniquely gifted woman of God. My beauty lies not in how much my blog looks like anyone else’s, but by how perfectly I am responding to His holy will for my life. “

And these lines — so, so, so true!

“God wants great and good things from you and perhaps you are having trouble listening over the noise of blogging.

In addition to the blessing of being available for God’s plans, I promise that you will learn two things:

1) That you have (in some measure) an unhealthy attachment to the blogging world.

2) That almost no one truly cares if you blog again or not.”

Especially #2! I realized this during the month and more of my unintended blogging break. Almost no one truly cares if I blog again (except for those of you who sent me messages, thanks again for your love!) — and that’s OK!

So why blog again then?

Because of this:

I want to be one of “those who bring [the] good news”… In my imperfection, despite my sins, in spite of my weaknesses, faults and failures.

It doesn’t matter to me if I have 1 or 1,000 followers.

It doesn’t matter to me if no one leaves comments on my posts (but please do if you want to, I promise I’ll reply! 😉 ).

It doesn’t matter to me if my posts get “Likes” or are Tweeted or +1’ed.

What matters most is that I am doing God’s will. (Or trying my darndest to!)

And, for now at least, that includes blogging.

To Him be all the glory, now and forever! 🙂

So, how have you been during this month and more that I’ve been ‘gone’? Don’t worry, you need not leave a comment, but please do know that you have been in my thoughts and prayers! 🙂

Just Sharing: A Prayer for Stressed-Out Parents and An Awesome Catholic Giveaway!

January 21, 2014 by Tina Leave a Comment

It’s been a very full month so far but I am ~~trying so very hard to~~ not complaining. I am blessed to be able to what I do and even if sometimes I stress myself out over the number of items left to check off my to-do list, I really am humbled and honored that God can use an imperfect sinner like me to reach out to others through my writing.

Speaking of stress, I’m over at CatholicMom.com this week, sharing a prayer I came up with especially for stressed-out parents. Well, actually, Jesus came up with most of the prayer and taught it to us, and I just tweaked it. 😉 Hop on over and feel free to leave a comment if you like. Just click on the image below:

Screen shot 2014-01-21 at 8.24.51 AM

Also, our community over at Catholic Bloggers Network is celebrating our “birthday” with an AWESOME giveaway with over $300 in prizes! More details below, and you’ll find the link to the giveaway on Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post (IMPORTANT: For the items that will require shipping, please note that you have to be a U.S. resident to be eligible for them. ). God bless you! 🙂 [Read more…]

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Day 11 — All Things Work Together

April 10, 2013 by Tina Leave a Comment

This is going to be a really quick post. It’s been one of those days when I’m trying to finish up some still pending work-related tasks in bed and been too cranky again (gosh! Will this EVER let up?!). And the little girl seems to have a UTI, saying her “tummy hurts” and going to the bathroom oh so many times today because she says she needs to pee but ends up not peeing at all or very little. Added to that, the little boy started complaining of dizziness and a headache and cough before he finally fell asleep.

All throughout I felt not a bit guilty because I was in bed most of the time, and my mom was the one attending to the kids. I feel doubly guilty for being such a grouchy mama because of disobedience issues with the kids, who tell me honestly, “You know, Lola (their grandma) says ‘sorry’ in a nicer way than you do, and she’s much more nice to us.” Oh gosh. I know, I know, you’re probably tired of hearing all these “mean momma” confessions from me. So I’ll stop right now.

Because, right now, at this exact moment, I need His grace again. I need to claim the truth of this verse:

Anthony will be bringing both kids to their pedia tomorrow, just to be sure. And I’ll be sleeping with a mask on, just to be sure. It’s probably nothing serious, and we just lift both kids up to the Lord now. I need to lift myself up to Him tonight too. It’s a good thing His grace is enough — and I pray that it will fill up the gaps and heal the brokenness that my own sin and failures have caused in our kids. For His greater glory!