Truly Rich and Blessed

The Heart of Our Homeschooling: On The Learning Basket

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A little over two years ago, I wrote about how my husband and I were introduced to the concept of homeschooling — through an American speaker at a pro-life conference we were able to attend. It was organized by the Catholic community to which we belong, Couples for Christ.

The seeds that were planted during that time have grown considerably, and we don’t regret heeding the call to nurture those seeds — the seeds of faith, hope and love.
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Read more about how God called us to nurture the seeds of faith, hope and love on The Learning Basket, where I am honored to be included in Mariel’s Heart of Homeschooling series this month. 🙂 And do take the time to read the other posts in the series if you can, especially if you are considering or praying about homeschooling your children. Just click here to do so. 🙂

Yipeee! Our Homeschooling Interview Goes LIVE Later! :) PLUS My "Wifely Steps" are finally up! :)

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Happy Monday, everyone! 🙂 

I’m sure all of you are enjoying the long weekend so far. 🙂 (If not, cheer up, friends! There is SO MUCH to be thankful for and rejoice over!)

As for me, although this long weekend isn’t much different from other weekends/weekdays (since I work from home Monday to Wednesday and we homeschool), well, I am still psyched because:

1. Our homeschool interview for ABS-CBN’s News Channel (ANC) is airing later — the first of a series of interviews featuring different homeschool families. 🙂 Praise the LORD! 🙂 Hope you guys can catch it on ANC, 5pm Top Story. (We don’t have cable so we’ll just wait for the reporter to send us the link to the video after the airing, hahaha!) Let me know if I do look like a raccoon during the interview, OK? Hehe!
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By the way, as of now, the other schedules of the homeschooling stories on ANC are as follows:
  • The Benefits of Homeschooling Preschool: Featuring Mariel Uyquiengco and family + Maricel Cua and family — August 22, Wednesday, 12noon Dateline Philippines
  • Homeschooling High School: Featuring Michelle Padrelanan and family + and her son 🙂 — August 24, Friday, 5pm, Top Story

FYI, the features are very short, though in fairness, the shoot/interviews took SUPERRR looong! Haha! Nevertheless, we pray that God will be glorified through each segment, and that more and more parents will be open to the concept of homeschooling! 🙂
So anyway, another reason to be happy today (at least for me! Haha!) is:

2. My guest post over at Wifely Steps is finally up! 🙂 Yipeeee! 🙂 
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Thanks sooo much to Toni for posting it! 🙂 Please do go over and read it if you guys can — I shared a bit about how my husband and I got together after a “whirlwind” romance; the lessons I learned about marriage and motherhood from being on mission; and how H.O.T. my hubby is (and how H.O.T. I’d like to be, too)! 😉 

Click here to read the post. 😉 And check out Toni’s award-winning blog while you’re at it! She’s also on  and if you want to connect with her. 🙂

(By the way, in case you missed it, Toni did an inspiring guest post over here a while ago, on The Gift of Simple Living. Do check it out if you haven’t yet! 🙂

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend, folks! 🙂

Celebrate the Gift of Womanhood: Dominique Goh — From Fulltime Working (Outside the Home) Mom to Work-At-Home-Mom

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Today, I am very privileged to “have” Dominique Goh from Singapore over here at the blog, to share with us the story of how she became a work-at-home-mom (WAHM).

Singapore will always hold a special place in my heart, as it is one of the first countries I went on mission to as a single woman, and it also became a “stopover haven” for our family whenever we would travel to and from our old mission base in Timor Leste. We have a loving, caring group of people over there — a “family,” actually — in Couples for Christ.

I chanced upon Dominique’s blog while doing some research on work-at-home moms. 🙂 I’m sure you moms out there who aspire to be WAHMs will learn a thing or two (or more!) from Dominique. 🙂

Whatever state you are in now though, whether working fulltime out of the home, or stay-at-home, or work-at-home, I invite you to celebrate the Gift of Womanhood! 🙂 You are a precious gift; and you were meant to shine! 🙂

Now, for Dominique’s story:

It has been nine years since I became a mom. Since then I have been done the whole nine yards — FTWM/ SAHM and now a WAHM. It was a conscious decision for me to stay home with the kids when they are young. I had been taking two years no-pay leave each time to care for my kids when they were born. I feel that it is important that I be a hands on mum and take charge of the kids during their formative years. 


For the elder two boys I went back to work and placed them in childcare when they were 18 months old and 2 years old respectively. It was a tough time juggling both work and family commitments. Every day was a big rush for me and it only got more stressful if one or both of the boys fell ill and I needed to take time off from work to attend to them. The boss was not that understanding and I felt that I was short-changing them by having to spend more time on the kids. 


When Tiger girl was born in 2010, I decided that was a need for a change. I would not be going back to work once my no-pay leave was up, as it would be impossible to juggle the different schedules of two school-going children and work. Hubby flies often for work and I did not have alternative childcare arrangements if anything does crop up. The boys too would be needing more attention and I would have to supervise their studies now that they are in elementary school. 


I decided that it would be in the best interest that I find a job which was flexible enough and suited for doing at home. My working hours had to be able to be fitted around the school calender. I did consider looking for a part-time job with regular working hours but it would be difficult for me to factor in the care-giving arrangements once the school holidays come by. 


Being a teacher, I could always give tuition (tutorial classes to us Filipinos) for both academic and musical instruments (piano and violin), however, it would be at the expense of time I could spend with my kids. Most of the tuition-attending kids would be only be able to come after school and on weekends and that is the time which the kids would be at home and needing my attention. That plan was scrapped. I needed something with much more flexibility and that could be done while the kids were in school or when the baby is sleeping.  


After much consideration, I decided to focus one of my greatest passions — blogging and writing. I had been doing freelance writing off and on during my time as a SAHM, when the boys were under 2 years old. This would be the best option for me as I will be able to schedule in work around the existing household/children’s schedule. 


This year I decided to go full steam ahead and switch from a (T) SAHM to a WAHM. I actively source for writing campaigns and got myself an agent to help coordinate the campaigns which I am working on. It has been great being able to take care of the family and earning supplementary income while being at home. It can be tiring juggling both at times when work deadlines loom in the background. However, looking at the content smiles on the kids’ faces and the security that I have seeing that they are being offered the best care possible makes all these sacrifices worth it. 


Dominique's Avatar Dominique Goh is a Singaporean elementary school teacher,  freelance writer and mom of three who is passionate about parenting and educating kids. In her free time you can see her dabbling in photography, cooking and cake decorating, and blogging at Dominique’s Desk.










P.S. Do YOU want to share YOUR story about how you’ve found your joy at home / work or other aspects of your life? Be part of the CELEBRATION and share about how you treasure THE GIFT OF your WOMANHOOD! 🙂 Shoot me an email at if you’re interested! 🙂 Go, go, go! Let your light shine! 😉

Another Peek at Our Homeschooling Journey — Via Mommy Talks on The Mommy Journey

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Today, I’m over at The Mommy Journey, as a guest contributor to Mommy Chris’s special features section, Mommy Talks. This year, Mommy Chris is featuring different homeschooling moms, and I am thrilled, honored and humbled to be one of them! 😉

Image from The Mommy Journey

I answered a few questions about our family’s homeschooling journey, and I wish I had brought my answers along with me to our interview on ABS-CBN/ANC last week, as I feel like I had wanted to say so many things but wasn’t able to think straight most of the time, as I was focused on keeping the kids behaved during the interview! LOL!

Anyway, here’s my answer to Chris’s question on why we chose to homeschool our kids. 🙂

My husband and I first heard about homeschooling when I was still pregnant with our eldest child. We were still based as missionaries for CFC in Timor Leste (East Timor) then, and had come home to Manila to attend CFC’s 25th Anniversary celebration. One of the events we attended was a pro-life conference, where the speakers included people from Human Life International in the US. We were intrigued when it was mentioned that one of the things people could do to support the pro-life movement was to “homeschool your kids, if possible.” We eventually also heard a little bit more about homeschooling from Catholic lay preacher Bo Sanchez, who homeschools his two kids along with his wife, Marowe, and founded the Catholic Filipino Academy.
As our son grew, we felt drawn to homeschooling and did our research on it and prayed about it and researched and prayed some more. I guess the turning point came when we tried having him sit in during a few preschool classes at one of the schools in Timor, just to try it out. After those “failed attempts,” we realized that he was learning more at home than what he could learn in that school. (I wrote a blog post about that here, if you want to read it, hehe!)
Now that our kids are a bit older, I would have to say that our main reasons for homeschooling are:
a. We believe that this is God’s call for us at this particular point in our lives. (I wrote about that here, teehee!)
b. We want to pass on the faith and values that we hope will bring our kids (and ourselves) to our eternal home in heaven. :) 
c. We want to cherish the time with our children while we still can, and make the most of their childhood years.

Now, if only I had actually said these things during the ANC interview!! Hahahaha! Anyway, I answered a few other questions aside from this one on Chris’s blog and I hope you’ll be able to take the time to read my answers — just click here!
Blessings on us all! 😉 And to my readers in the Philippines, stay safe, warm, dry and healthy!
P.S. Let’s say a special prayer for all those affected by the recent rains and flooding here in the Philippines! And do our part to help in whatever way we can! 😉

Amazing Grace for Moms: Thriving by the Grace of God

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I have a confession to make — this post has been loooong overdue! I know I said I’d continue the Amazing Grace for Moms series throughout June, but before I knew it, June had snuck up on me and flashed by at the speed of lightning, and now it’s already July! 🙁 My sincerest apologies to you all, and especially to those who submitted posts for this series. 🙂

Anyway, I’ll try harder to be regular with this starting this month, OK? (The operative word being “try.” LOL!)

To start off, here’s a guest post from Mommy TG, i.e. Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag, who, like me, is a Catholic homeschool mama, writer and blogger — among other things, too! (Check out her complete profile here.) May you be inspired by her story and be amazed by His grace! 😉

Thriving by the Grace of God

Thrive is defined by Merriam-Webster.com as:
1.    to grow vigorously: flourish

2.    to gain in wealth or possessions: prosper

3.    to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances. 


In The Free Dictionary, it is defined as to make steady progress; prosper.

I feel so blessed already just by reading these definitions of the word thrive.  The word kept coming into my mind as I was thinking of what to share when Tina invited me to write a guest post for her blog’s 50 Days of Amazing Grace.  

Let me share how the different definitions of thrive has been applicable to me.

 I won’t be able to share the details of my story in this post but I will do my best to give you a glimpse of my adventure with God as manifested in my professional life and the choices that I made over the years.
I graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration.  I was already offered a job even before I officially graduated.  I started as a Management Trainee in a fast food restaurant, got promoted and given bigger responsibilities, and became Officer-in-Charge of a branch in just two years.  Then, I resigned from my job and turned my back on a promising career in the restaurant business. 

Many people did not understand why I made that decision.  Many people are either unemployed or underemployed, or are dreaming of being able to apply what they studied in their jobs.  There I was living the dream of many and yet I chose to let go of something very good.

Why did I resign?  I resigned because I had an “aha” experience.  I realized what my true passion was.  I realized that though I liked the restaurant business and I was good at it, there was something else that made my heart race faster and my mind ever so active.  It was helping people develop to their full potential by inspiring them and training them.  I discovered this as I was handling the training and development of our staff in the restaurants where I was assigned.  I experienced a different kind of fulfillment and joy.

So armed with that discovery and faith in God whom I believe was the one who planted that desire in my heart to make a career shift, I left my stable and promising job and looked for a job in training.  

Another compelling reason for me to leave my job then was that it hindered me from attending regular prayer meetings in a Catholic Charismatic Community of single professionals.  Moreover, my shifting work schedule in my job made it very challenging for me to enjoy the presence of God daily in the Eucharist.  There were times when I would doze off during Mass while kneeling and praying with my eyes closed.

Shortly after I resigned, I was hired by a training company mainly for my potential.  I had little experience but the owner of the company believed in me so much that he hired me as Training Officer.  I felt God’s assurance through him.  I learned many things in that company including how to use Power Point and how to make training manuals.  

That was just the start of a wonderful adventure with God in my career or professional life.  The things that happened next to me in the years that followed were all miracles from God and a result of His grace.

It all started with a dream to have a job in the training department of the fast food restaurant where I first worked.  But God was not content in simply fulfilling that small dream that I had for myself.  He pushed me out of the first company I joined so I could grow and be fit for the much bigger dreams that He had for me.  

I was eventually hired as Training Officer of bigger companies, including a multinational company where I grew exponentially in many aspects.  It was during my employment in this company that my dream of being able to travel to different places was fulfilled.  I conducted trainings locally and abroad.  I developed training modules which were used in our branches in the Philippines and in the Asian region.  

From Training Officer, I was promoted to Training Manager.  I was very happy already with what I had achieved by the grace of God.  But God had bigger plans for me. 

I was hired by another company to be their HR Manager again, mainly because of my potential and my value system.  After that, I was hired in another big company where my dreams of having my own vehicle and being paid a specific amount as compensation were realized. 

I couldn’t help but feel so blessed as I look back at my growth as a professional.  There are still a lot of times when I just stand in awe of God as I thank Him for making all these things possible in my life.  I know deep in my heart that I would not have all these achievements if not for His grace and His help; especially since my educational background was not related to human resources management, but hotel and restaurant administration.

What amazes me even more now is that I have already realized my dream of becoming a freelance Management and HR Consultant.  The timing is also perfect for me to finally live out my dream.  I stopped working full time shortly after I got married and at the beginning of my first pregnancy.   From someone who simply dreamed of having a job in training, now I get to choose the HR projects I work on.  

I praise and thank God for helping me to keep on moving forward and achieving my goals.  I praise and thank Him for prospering me and my family through the work of my hands over the years.  I praise and thank Him for the grace to believe in Him, in His Word and in my god-given gifts.  I praise and thank Him for the grace to step out with courage and hope every time He pushed me out of my comfort zone and asked me to stretch beyond my perceived limits.  I praise and thank Him for all the doors of opportunities He has opened for me through the years until now that I’m not only a freelance Consultant but also an author and freelance writer.

I did not achieve my dream or my goals without challenges or difficulties.  The truth is I had plenty of them.  I think those were the reasons that made every achievement and victory much sweeter.  I can’t help but point to God every time I’m asked to tell my story because I would not be where I am now if not for His amazing grace.

So let me end my sharing by encouraging you, dear reader, not to be afraid to listen to God’s voice in your heart.  Do not be afraid to follow His lead.  His grace will be enough for you as He calls you to do new and bigger things.  I can say this with conviction and know this to be true because I have experienced this truth in my life repeatedly.  I pray that you, too, would find yourself to be in one amazing adventure with God.  God bless!


Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag is the author of the book, When My Bridegroom Comes. She is also a writer and contributor to several publications. However, she says her primary titles these days are WIFE, MOM and GOD’S SERVANT. You can find her blogging over at Mommy Bares All.

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