Updates Archives - Truly Rich and Blessed

I can’t believe it’s been exactly 1 month since my last post here — Lent had just begun then, and now Holy Week and Easter are less than 2 weeks away!

Lest you think that I had taken to going offline as a form of Lenten sacrifice, please allow me to be completely honest with y’all: I have actually been super active online; just not here. 😉 (Sorry, folks! And yes, sorry to myself, too, coz’, you know, blog stats and all that!) Please indulge me as I update you on what’s been going on lately.

Ever since Lent began, I’ve been busy helping promote the Catholic Conference 4 Moms (use my exclusive discount code “Rich” to get $10 off the conference package!), blogging for Philstar.com, researching for and writing articles for Smart Parenting, and working on Mustard and Catholic Filipino Academy or CFA’s blog and e-newsletter.

So blessed and honored to be one of the presenters for this online conference! :)

On top of all that, I’ve been working on PR and social media-related projects for another business/brand, plus catching up on my contributor posts for Make It Blissful and Catholic Mom! And trying to keep the conversations flowing on our ! (Hurray for building communities!)

By God’s grace, I also managed to squeeze in attending a private Positive Discipline workshop by my friends from The Learning Basket, meetings, family gatherings, and gown fittings for a dear friend’s upcoming wedding, at which I’ll be one of the secondary sponsors. Not to mention homeschooling, chores, mommy and wifey duties, of course! Plus corresponding online with potential blog partners and meeting up with good friends whom we hadn’t seen in a long time! Whew!

Some of our read-alouds on the anniversary of the EDSA Revolution

My dear husband and I were also proud “stage parents” to our son, who participated in CFA’s first Talents Day (yes, even if he’s not enrolled in CFA — he’s part of their Friday Clubs, and is a member of the Beginner Orchestra Club).

Meanwhile, our daughter’s and classes have also been keeping me/us busy! (And recently, she’s announced that she wants to take up gymnastics along with ballet — heeeellppp!)

They both have another art exhibit coming up soon, too, as part of Likhang Bata Online Gallery’s Art Festival on March 28 (please do come and join us!). Plus, they recently started a “s’mores business,” so they could earn money to buy a book that I would not buy with my own money (it cost 529 pesos!). That sort of kept us occupied too. (Oh, plus me and the kids getting sick! Thankfully, nothing serious!)

So yes, while I haven’t been that “visible” here, I have been occupied with oh so many wonderful blessings! Of course, in the spirit of keeping it real, I must admit that there have been times when I would complain or feel so tired or be snappish with the kids (and Anthony!). Please forgive me, Lord!

I must say, though, that trying to attend The Feast regularly again, though adding to the “busy-ness” of our weekends, has been so refreshing and inspiring! We were able to finish the Cool Catholics series, and started the Rock Bottom series as well.

I was again reminded of what really matters most in life, despite how busy we can get.

Yes, the ultimate purpose of life is to love God and love His people. Which brings me to the whole point of this (long-winded) post:

God has a purpose for everything.

He has a purpose for my life and yours, too. Sometimes, it may not be so clear to us, but He finds ways to show it to us. Which brings me to announce some very exciting news:

Because of God’s leading, and, I believe, Our Blessed Mother’s intercession too, THIS happened:

Click to view a clearer image and to read the caption.

I’m going to have my own online show! 🙂

“The Truly Rich Mom Show” will be airing soon via Bukal.TV, which is a project of ! Each episode will be only 4 to 7 minutes long, and is aimed at providing short, simple and sweet bursts of inspiration and encouragement especially for (but not limited to) Catholic moms/parents. You can read more about the concept behind the show (and why I made a NEW Facebook page for it and this blog) .

So, there, what God can do in a month! Amazing, right?

He can do the same for you, friend.

All you need to do is open your life to Him. Let Him into your heart.

As we approach Holy Week and Easter, let’s not be discouraged if we haven’t been living our Lent. Instead, let’s focus on His amazing grace, His unconditional love, His beautiful plan.

I’m so excited to see the miracles that He has in store for you and for me. Thank you for allowing me to journey with you! Remember, ultimately, it’s all about seeking Him first.

What’s been keeping you busy this past month? Let’s chat in the 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! 🙂