Truly Rich and Blessed

A Grateful Christmas + Christmas Prayers for You!

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It has been a hectic, stressful past few days for our family.

Instead of slowing down before Christmas, implementing my plans to de-clutter and clean up our little apartment in time for our little family get-together on Christmas Eve (with my parents and my youngest brother), and preparing for our “birthday party” for Jesus on Christmas Day, we found ourselves rushing our little girl to the emergency room due to continuous vomiting, and taking turns caring for her (thank God for my husband and my mom and dad, who helped out in so many ways).

Because my mom and husband were there to care for little Therese, Tim and I were still able to go to the Lighthouse (the office building where all of Bro. Bo Sanchez’s ministries are housed) Christmas party (all four of us were supposed to go), and I was still able to join our department’s presentation. 🙂 My dad also came by and ended up staying overnight, much to the kids’ delight.

Yes, that’s me in the middle with Tim, in between my fellow presenters/singers. (Yes, that’s Martine of Dainty Mom in the long dress, singing with us! 🙂 She’s the managing editor of one of our mags, for tweens.)

The day after though, I found myself with a severe lower backache in the evening — after bringing Therese for her follow-up check up, buying her medicines and cleaning up at home. By that time, she was feeling much better (thank You, Lord!) so her dad had left to attend a reunion with his “guy pals,” and my parents had already gone home.

After putting the kids to bed, I found myself crying in pain. Thank God I fell asleep soon after saying my prayers and asking for healing.

As you can guess, I’m feeling much better now — save for the cold and sore throat that have been bothering me since yesterday, and a slight backache — hence this blog post. Which brings me to the ultimate reason behind it.

As Christmas is only less than 10 hours away, at least in my part of the world, I just want to tell you how grateful I am.

Yes, we live in a world that seems crazy and twisted at times… Where children get gunned down or stabbed by madmen… where natural disasters can wreak havoc on homes and lives…  Even so close to Christmas…

Yet, there is still A LOT to be grateful for… A lot to thank God for…

Of course, it’s a given that I’m thankful for the gift of Christ this Christmas. After all, He is the Reason for the season.

Photo from the 

And I am grateful for my family and friends, my new “big boss” and officemates, and brethren in our Catholic community. For , pro-lifers, , and fellow Catholic bloggers from all over the world! And even the strangers who have become my friends in a way, because they are praying for our baby, especially after I posted the truth about my pregnancy.

I’m thankful that God healed Therese quickly, and that He is healing me, too. I was dreading spending Christmas in the hospital, as Therese almost had to be confined to prevent dehydration. I thank God, too, for all the people who prayed with us for her and followed my updates about her progress on and !

A little thinner now, but much better! Thank you to everyone who prayed for her! 🙂

I thank God for the job that He blessed me with this year, one that allows me to homeschool and spread His love to other people, especially to kids! I thank Him for the additional income streams, both passive and active, that He’s blessed our family with. I thank Him for the chance to touch others’ lives through my writing.

I thank Him for our new home, something which we almost gave up on. I thank Him for the surprise of Anthony’s new job, one that allows him to spend more time with our family and bless others through ministry work and special events.

I thank Him for SO MANY BLESSINGS actually.

I thank Him for YOU, dear readers, whom I would like to call my friends as well. Thank you for reading this little ol’ blog of mine, and for keeping in touch with me through , and email. Thank you for reading my articles on Smart Parenting, Philstar.com, World Moms Blog and elsewhere.

Thank you, too, to all , past and present! For believing in me and trusting me as a blogger, even if I am relatively new! For blessing our family, especially our homeschooling, through our partnerships!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for making my blog what it is today, dear readers and partners! You’re part of my “I am grateful to God for…” list! 🙂

From my family to yours, I want to wish you a BLESSED CHRISTMAS and a BOUNTIFUL NEW YEAR! 🙂 May your Christmas — all 12 days of it — be truly merry and bright, with the light of the Christ child and His peace and hope filling your hearts and homes for all the days to come!

To end, here are my Christmas prayers for you:

Photo source here.
Photo source here.

P.S. I plan to take a blogcation so I can focus on spending time with my loved ones. But you’ll probably see me active on Facebook and Twitter! 🙂 Leaving you now with a few photos of how we’ve prepared for our Christmas celebration this evening (the Happy Birthday Jesus decorations will only come up later, when the kids are asleep, so they’ll be surprised tomorrow morning on Christmas Day! 😉

Merry CHRISTmas from Tim and Rysse! 🙂

Waiting for Jesus to be born. 🙂
Our CHRISTmas “corner.”
This is the first year we actually bought Christmas trees. And have lots of gifts! 🙂
Thank You, Lord! 🙂
The “centerpiece” of our CHRISTmas decorations is our simple Nativity set.
Baby Jesus will only be brought out later at midnight. 🙂
Meanwhile, the Three Kings / Wise Men are still on their way to visit Jesus. 🙂
And the shepherds have yet to receive the angel’s message about the Baby born in the manger.
Our Jesse Tree is almost “full.” 🙂 O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

Truly Rich Tips: Lessons from The Feast (How to Deal with Difficult People)

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I’m writing a quick post just to share with you all what I learned (or relearned) from yesterday. We were so blessed to be able to attend the 10.45 am session with the kids. 🙂

We didn’t stay for the Mass as we were going to attend Mass with my dad and siblings (it was my Papa’s 65th birthday). Usually, Holy Mass is celebrated BEFORE everything else, but yesterday they did the worship and talk by Bro. Bo Sanchez first, as the priest who was to say the Mass got stuck in traffic.

So anyway, the talk yesterday was the last of a series titled, “Vampires: How to Deal with Difficult People,” and focused on “.”

Photo from

It’s a pity we weren’t able to attend the previous sessions, but I still learned a lot! 🙂 (I asked six-year-old Tim if he learned anything from Tito Bo Sanchez {that’s what he and Rysse call him, since they’ve met him in person} and he said, “Umm… I don’t know. But I did enjoy the stories!” Ha, ha!)

Anthony and I were pleasantly surprised at how attentive Tim was! 🙂 And responsive too! 🙂
I realized even more that I have not been the parent I should be when Tim’s answer to Bro. Bo’s question,
“Do you have difficult people in your lives?” was, “Yes! (then he pointed to me!) Mama!” Waaahhh!
Rysse was attentive too — on and off — though I had to (gasp!) “bribe” her with candy at one point
because she kept telling us she wanted to “go outside already.” LOL! 🙂
For more photos of our Sunday morning at The Feast PICC, please click .

Anyway, I’d like to share with you a few quick tips for dealing with difficult people (based on what I can remember from the talk and my own insights):

1. Acknowledge first that you are, or sometimes can be, a difficult person yourself. 🙂 (Oh yes, I am indeed!)

2. Difficult people are not our enemies, but are people who can help us be better versions of ourselves.

3. Respect yourself and set some distance or space between yourself and that difficult person in your life, while maintaining your respect for that person as an equal, i.e. as a fellow child of God.

4. If the difficult person in your life is causing you harm or abusing you, many times it’s best to just “run” and leave the relationship. BUT don’t stop praying for that person.

5. Tell that difficult person the Truth, and not what is true. Tell him/her that he/she is special, unique, a child of God and not that he/she is difficult to be with, overbearing, critical, etc.

6. Usually that person is being difficult because he/she has some sort of brokenness that needs healing.

Photo from 

6. People live up to our expectations of them. This applies ESPECIALLY to our children. So instead of telling them, “You know, you’re so lazy. You’re so disobedient. You never listen. You won’t amount to anything, etc,” say, “You are special. You’re unique. You’re God’s child. You’re a prince/princess of the Kingdom.” More than just saying it, our kids need to see that we MEAN what we say, they need to see it in our eyes. (*gulps* Guilty of doing the former rather than the latter many, many times! Sorry, Lord!)

7. The best way to transform a “vampire” is to love him/her. “At the end of the day, only love changes people.” — Bo Sanchez

Right from the very beginning of the session, during the opening worship songs by Emmanuel Worship, I was already in tears. I was crying because (1) I was grateful to be there with my family and (2) I felt guilty for not being the “best” mom (again! Hay!) to my kids lately. Thank You, Lord, for reminding me about second chances and that I need You to heal my brokenness! 🙂

Photo from 

And to you, dear reader out there, I hope these tips help you somehow — whether you’re dealing with difficult people in your life right now or are struggling with the things that are making you a difficult person for other people — remember this Truth: YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOU ARE LOVED. YOU ARE HERE FOR A PURPOSE — GOD’S PURPOSE. 🙂

Be truly rich and blessed always! 🙂

P.S. Do you want to be blessed by The Feast too? 🙂 Just go to KerygmaFamily.com to see the schedule of Feasts in different locations. You can watch The Feast PICC live every Sunday here. This weekend though, November 24 and 25, is very special — it’s the annual Kergyma Conference!

Be blessed in oh so many ways! 🙂 For more details, please log on to www.kerygmaconference.com. Anthony and I will be there, and I hope to see you too! 🙂

Truly Rich Reflections: The Truth About My Pregnancy (Or The One in Which I Ask for Your Prayers)

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I’ve been contemplating on writing this post for the longest time now. I had to wait for hubby’s go-signal to actually do so. You see, there’s something I/we haven’t been telling you all.

But just now, after putting our little girl back to sleep, while I was holding her in my arms and looking at her brother… I couldn’t help but think (for the nth time), “I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m definitely no supermom. I can’t do this on my own.” I teared up and resolved to write this post. So bear with me if it’s rather lengthy, but I hope you’ll read it to the end.

Photo by FrameAngel on FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

You all probably know by now that I’m pregnant again. And while this third child of ours is one of our  biggest blessings for the year, we (well, more of I actually) have also been worried a lot for our precious little one. Let me explain.

When I had my first ultrasound (which prompted me to write this letter here, though I didn’t disclose anything “negative” there), the sonologist detected something called “nuchal transclucency with septations.” I had no idea what that was until she explained it to me (and hubby, who was with me in the ultrasound room). Apparently, it’s something that shows up in ultrasound scans and, when seen during the first trimester, CAN be an indicator that the baby has a chromosomal abnormality, like Down Syndrome or Trisomy 21.

According to FetalMedicine.com, “nuchal translucency (NT) is the sonographic appearance of a collection of fluid under the skin behind the fetal neck in the first-trimester of pregnancy. The term translucency is used, irrespective of whether it is septated or not and whether it is confined to the neck or envelopes the whole fetus. In fetuses with chromosomal abnormalities, cardiac defects and many genetic syndromes the NT thickness is increased.” 

Here’s what nuchal translucency looks like in an ultrasound scan (images also from FetalMedicine.com):

NORMAL nuchal translucency
Increased nuchal translucency

On another website, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it says:

In the fetus fluid collects behind the neck, much like it does in dependent ankle oedema in later life. This occurs partly because of the fetus’s tendency to lie on its back and partly because of the laxity of the skin of the neck. As with ankle oedema this accumulation of fluid can represent the end point of several pathological processes, including heart failure. Fluid collecting behind the neck can be detected as nuchal translucency by ultrasound scanning, and it can be measured. The more fluid that has accumulated, the greater the risk of an abnormality being present.
Chromosomal abnormalities—for example, Down’s syndrome—can cause fluid accumulation. Chromosome 21 contains the gene that codes for type VI collagen. In trisomy 21 one subunit of this collagen can be overexpressed, resulting in connective tissue that has a more elastic composition.
Needless to say, when the sonologist told us what she saw, I was shocked. And immediately began to worry. I’m no stranger to Down Syndrome, as I used to work with kids with special needs in my past (albeit short) life as a physical therapist. We were advised to go for another scan though, since it was still too early in my pregnancy to tell if the findings were that meaningful. That’s why we decided to keep the results hush-hush, sharing them only with family and close friends, who we’re so thankful for. (Thank you for your prayers and support!)
So I went for another ultrasound after about three weeks. The nuchal translucency was still there but the septations were gone. My OB-gyne, upon seeing the results, said that she was not that worried, but advised another scan after two weeks. She said I could opt to go for first trimester screening to determine the risk or probability of Baby having Down Syndrome, but that was all it would say — the probability. She advised me to discuss it with Anthony — would knowing the probability make a difference in how we accept our baby? Would knowing make me more “at ease” or just cause more worry and stress? Things like that. 
Anthony and I already knew the answer: No matter WHAT, this baby is God’s gift to us. And we would face whatever challenges that may come as a family. 
Photo by David Castillo Domici on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
And, yes, even babies who have chromosomal conditions, like Down Syndrome, are a blessing. There are even  of real-life moms who say so! Every child — no matter what condition or what circumstances he or she may have been conceived in — is a blessing from the Lord!

It was around that time, I think, when I read fellow mom blogger Manila Mommy aka Neva’s posts about their little baby Noah and how she shared how they found out about Noah having Down Syndrome. I cried when I read her post (though I’d been doing a lot of crying even before then!). I felt as if God was telling me/us, “Share your story! Ask for more prayers! Know that I love you and that you’re not alone!”

I told Anthony how I felt, and he said to wait for the results of the third ultrasound. So I did. 
Well, I had my third ultrasound last Tuesday. The sonologist still saw nuchal translucency. Something he said during the session made me even MORE convicted to share our story. First, he said that in more developed countries like the US, doctors were more vigilant about screening for increase nuchal translucency because abortion is legal there. So, if the baby is thought to have conditions like Down Syndrome, the mother could resort to “therapeutic abortion.” 
Everything in me wanted to say, “Therapeutic abortion?! Is there such a thing? Therapeutic for who? The baby? Or the mother? Have you ever TALKED to a post-abortion woman? (There is such a thing as post abortion stress syndrome, you know?) Aren’t doctors supposed to live by the Hippocratic oath or something similar to it?” 
But I kept my mouth shut. And just prayed silently.
So anyway, the doctor said he would advise a congenital anomaly scan when Baby is bigger, around the same time that gender identification is done. So for now, we wait. And pray. 
Photo by africa on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
And this is mainly the reason why I wrote this post. I am/we are asking for your prayers. No matter if we have never met in person. No matter if you randomly read this post from a lead on Twitter (you can find me tweeting by the way) or on Facebook. We still need your prayers.

And if you’re reading this, and you know us personally, please forgive us if we have kept this a secret from you. We did not want to cause any “hullabaloo” or be a “pity case” for others. But I have come to realize that that isn’t what matters now — what matters more now is that we ask for support. And for your prayers. Because I’m a firm believer in the power of such. I believe in miracles. I believe in the power of communities (online and offline) uniting for a common cause.
So, if it’s not too much to ask… Please, would you include our baby in your prayers? Please pray that Baby be in good health and, if God wills it, without any special conditions. Though if he/she does have any, we love him/her just the same. Please pray for us too, me and Anthony. Especially me, as I’m the official worrywart in the family. Please pray that we will make the best decisions when it comes to Baby. Please pray for Tim and Rysse, that no matter how stressed out and “monster mom-ish” I can be, especially with this current prayer concern, they will only remember the times when I show them how much I love and care for them. 
Thank you so much in advance for your prayers. Rest assured, you’ll be in my prayers as well. Please do include all the expecting moms worldwide and their babies and other members of their families in your prayers, too. Pregnancy is no bed of roses, but knowing that there are people out there — even complete strangers — who can relate to you, who support you, who are praying for you, will surely help bigtime! 🙂  
Much love,
Tina

Hello, November! :) Thoughts on Blessings, Blogging and Smart Parenting: Are You Raising a Spoiled Child?

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October has come and gone so quickly and it’s already the FIFTH day of November! 🙂 Oh my gosh! So much has happened and I haven’t even had the time to catch my breath, nor catch up on pending blog posts and articles (both for work AND for my sideline writing projects! LOL!). Oh, the life of a multi-tasking, homeschooling (or at least trying hard to), semi-work-at-home preggy mom! 🙂 *sighs* You know, if I really, really could, I would be over-the-moon-happy with being a fulltime stay-at-home, homeschooling preggy mom who writes on the side (and gets paid for it!) just for fun! 🙂

With kids like these, who wouldn’t want to stay home fulltime ? 🙂 Tim is a little over three years old and Rysse around seven months in this photo — how fast time flies! 

But anyway… I shouldn’t complain, right? Our family has been very blessed, despite the “lean” moments at times… And even if hubby and I “sacrificed” 10+ years of “the best years of our lives” for fulltime ministry work for our Catholic community, God still blessed us all those years! He allowed us to grow as people and learn new skills, brought us to different places locally and internationally for the missions, taught us to trust in Him more, led us to meet people from all walks of life and allowed us to be a blessing (at least, I hope so!) to others through giving talks, leading teams, organizing events, writing manuals and so on…

Me waaaay back in 2005 with some of the youth of Timor Leste 🙂

Later on, He helped us have a beautiful wedding despite a tight budget, blessed us with two-now-three wonderful children, allowed us to reach out to so many other people, inspired us to learn different languages and enabled us to connect with people of different cultures! 🙂

Being “sent off” for mission as newlyweds 🙂
With one of the Timorese sisters. 🙂 We are blessed to have worked together with so many inspiring priests, nuns and other lay missionaries. 🙂
On one of the mountains of Baucau, during a mission trip. 🙂 Baucau is a district of Timor Leste.  (This was taken on a different day — but notice my usual “mission trip attire”? LOL!) 
With one of our Timorese host families. 🙂
At our farewell party organized by CFC Timor Leste in 2010 🙂
I cried buckets of tears!

Now, God has brought us to where we are at this particular stage of our lives where we can spend most of our time with our children, even homeschool them… and we can only look back and be amazed at His goodness! 🙂

Which leads me to realize again why I continue to write and blog. I was reading Frances Sales’s blog, Topaz Horizon, earlier and what she said in this post reminded me of something I had earlier realized during Martine’s WAHMderful Life Workshop: That whatever you do with your life, you need to be INTENTIONAL. 

Frances wrote about being true to one’s self when it comes to blogging, and I hope she doesn’t mind if I quote her verbatim here: “Blog for yourself, not for the money… Blog about what makes you happy… This will give your blog its own voice, its own personality—yours—and make it unique. After all, there is no one quite like you in the entire world.”

As a relatively “newbie” blogger, reading Frances’s words above just affirmed me that I must be doing something right with my blog somehow. I used to compare myself with other mom bloggers and I wrote a bit about how to deal with “comparisonitis” in this post. But then, I thought, “I should just be ‘me’! I should just write with my ‘higher purpose’ in mind and not be afraid to share my thoughts and feelings!” Reading my very first post (imported from WordPress, where I first started blogging on www.missionarymom.wordpress.com) also helped me go back to the “roots” of my blog.

So, starting this November, you all might be a bit surprised with some of my posts — where I will be sharing about my “past,” in the hope that you will be inspired and encouraged. I will be more open with how my pregnancy is really going, in the hope that I will be able to touch at least one other mom’s life. I will be real. Well, more real than I have ever been on this blog, I guess. 🙂 And I hope that you AND I will be more blessed because of it! 🙂

Here’s to a wonderful month ahead for all of us! 🙂

P.S.
As you may already know, I contribute regularly to Smart Parenting’s website and, occasionally, to Smart Parenting in print. 🙂 For the November issue, I wrote an article on raising spoiled kids (it’s on page 50). 🙂 Please do grab a copy and let me know what you think about it! 🙂 Thanks to all the people who helped me with the article! 🙂

Family Time Is the Best! :)

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Hi, everyone! 🙂

Hope you’re all having a blessed, happy Sunday so far! 🙂

I haven’t been blogging as much as I want to… Mostly because most nights, I’m already too tired (I forgot how draining being pregnant can be sometimes!) to do anything else but snuggle up with the kids, read to them and say their prayers with them. Also, our little girl has been waking up in the middle of the night A LOT lately (crying and shouting to boot!) and it’s been VERY stressful for hubby and me. Thank God though, she settles down quickly now, and we think she’s been waking up usually because she needs to go to the bathroom. It’s a good thing too, that hubby is more patient with her than I’d like to be… 🙂

Anyway, I have a confession to make… I haven’t been blogging so much, too, because… Well, I’d rather be spending time with the kids or hubby. (Of course, there’s work, too!) I know that it sounds so cliche… but being preggy and all is making me so sentimental lately. My latest post on Philstar.com’s unBLOGGED section is a bit telling… that I’m getting so senti and emotional lately. And that I’ve realized the need to focus more on my family.

So… If you are wondering where I am, don’t worry… I’m still here! 🙂 I’ll still be posting regularly (I MUST do more scheduled posts, even on !) There are still a couple of giveaways coming up, too (some that are LONG overdue, haha, sorry!), so please do watch out for those! (Indigo Baby’s Amazing Grace giveaway is still ongoing, pls. do join it if you haven’t! Just click here!)

However… please bear with me, too, if I won’t be posting as often as before (at least for now!). I’ll do my best-est to be regular though! 🙂

Well, that’s it for now, friends! 🙂 Time to play outside with the kiddos! 🙂 Family time IS the BEST! (At least for us!) God bless, everyone!

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