IT's a BOY!

This is a post that I've written last year when we found out that I was carrying a baby boy..Lyle :)

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Yes, it's going to be a boy and indeed our ATe Tricia will be having a baby brother!

We just came from the Hospital today and officially, I'm 18 months pregnant. The Doctor asked us if we want to have our baby scanned and immediately, Jesu and I exclaimed, "YES!". Never mind if it's already going to be lunch time. Lunch can wait till later.

Then we went to the ultrasound room. One frustrating thing about being in a foreign land is that all the Doctors ad Nurses refuse to talk to us because they're afraid to speak English. We also don’t want to start talking to them in Thai because then they’ll be telling us all the Thai medical terms and jargon in which we have zero knowledge. So, the Dr. (not my OBGyne) did the scan and HE DID NOT SAY A WORD at all! Jesu and I just kept on guessing while he was doing the ultrasound, ' That must be the head', ‘Oh, that looks like the arms and it's waving at us!', ‘ Is that the body or what?’... then finally I saw something thin and long sticking out...I didn't say anything because I was afraid I might be wrong but I was already suspecting something. ;)

Then all of the sudden the Dr. stopped and said, “ It is finished.” ( hahaha! sounds familiar huh?). Jesu couldn’t help but asked, “ Dr. what’s the gender of our baby?” The Dr. didn’t say anything at all but just pointed at the long, thin thing at the screen in front of us. Jesu had to ask and confirm excitedly, “ Is it a boy, Dr.?” Then finally, the Dr. said, “Yes, it’s a boy.” whew!

Hahahaha! All of us including Tricia (who was there with us and quietly observing everything) shouted, “ Yehey!!” God has indeed answered our prayer and now we don’t have to think of a baby girl’s name anymore because it’s going to be a baby boy, Jedaiah Lyle after all. Thank you Lord!

* Jedaiah derived from the Hebrew name, Jedidiah meaning God's Friend.

* Lyle derived from the Hebrew name, Lael meaning of God.

Lesson from my 3-year old daughter

I was reminded of this incident that happened a year ago when four daughter was still 3 years old.....read on..

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" Thank you so much for bringing me to the Beach, Appa!" That was what my three- year old daughter told Jesu when they were swimming in the beach just this afternoon.

Tricia is one expressive and appreciative girl. Every time she expresses her appreciation for us, she just melts our hearts and encourages us to do more for her. I couldn't count how many times she has appreciated things today. I remember she also thanked me this lunch time for cooking "carry"...yes, that's how she pronounces 'curry' which has become her favorite too. Then, on the way to the beach, we asked her to pray and she was thanking God for the trees, the cars, the birds, the sky and practically everything she saw with her eyes. She said " thank you God for making the....." and oh it was a looong prayer indeed for she named everything one by one.

Well, her gesture of being appreciative has left me reflecting and being more aware to be more expressive in appreciating people too. I for one am not a very expressive person.. I may appreciate something that someone did but it takes extra consciousness and effort for me to express it by words. That's why I’m sure Tricia got that expressive trait from Jesu for he's like that too.. Sometimes even when Jesu expresses his appreciation for me, I'll find it a bit corny and give him that "yeah lah" look but deep in my heart, I like it too.

Tricia's gesture reminded me that if our hearts (as parents) melt every time she expresses her gratitude to us then surely all the people I'll be expressing my gratitude or appreciation too will feel the same way. It also reminded me to be especially more expressive in appreciation to our HEavenly Father for everything HE is and He has done, through worship. OK…that’s all for now…I hope I’ll always be reminded with this lesson that I’ve learned today and put it into practice. J

Remembering Z boy and Tricia's Time

I miss those times when my family was here OCtober last year..These were the pictures we took ..Tricia and Z boy..we sure had fun and headache when they were together!..hahaha!!

Bestfriends???.....

(Tricia and Z's first meeting at the airport..Love at first sight!)

or

ENEMIES??

(At the hospital, there were fighting over the hidden 'microphone' they're both holding.)







SWEET???

(Tricia feeding Z taken after Z's birthday celebration)

OR

BITTER??

( yes, they are arguing!!)

Ano ba talaga kids??..You both gave Amma, Appa, Mamay and Daddy alot of headaches..hahahaha!! But it was fun!! I'm sure you're both missing each other na!..But I know you''ll both be great buddies when you're older.

THe Love of a Father

Two weeks ago was my daughter's birthday. Then on one of those nights, my Hubby was simply telling our Li'l girl her birth story, how everyone was excited when she was born, how everything was like in the hospital and etc. Then, came the part when her Grandpa just looks at her from the mirror and admires her when she sleeps on their bed. (My Father that time was already sick from cancer in the throat and he couldn't turn his head..so, he just looked at Tricia from the mirror.) When my Hubby was relating the story, I didn't realize that tears were already flowing from my eyes. I just remembered my father and couldn't help but miss him so much.

He was such a perfect Tatay for me and I miss every moment that he had been with us. Here is the poem that I wrote about him a last year.

The Love of a Father

It has been three years since he has been gone.
But all his memories are still fresh in my heart.
From the time I was still a child
Till I have grown up to have a daughter of mine
He had been there to guide and see me through.

He was not compulsive nor too strong
But he disciplined us gently even when we were wrong.
He did not speak with many words
But once he speaks, it was a precious treasure that’s filled with worth.
For he had like the Wisdom of Solomon but the humility of a lamb.

Sweet and romantic, he surprised my mom with roses and hugs.
And he gave us his children simple assurances of his great love.
We couldn’t ask for more for all the things he had done.
It was much more than enough for us the children we have become.

He had this sweet love for God and the people around him.
Everywhere he went, he told people of God’s great love.
Even during the last days of his life with his faith and love unwavering
He worshipped and sang without his voice, everyday without faltering,
Thanking God for his life, family and the life beyond.

Then the time came, when he had to meet the God of all creation
I’m sure the heavens welcomed him with great songs and standing ovation.
For he had fought the good fight of faith and finished the race with victory.

Nothing was left undone for his task on earth was already done.
For he had blessed countless of people; his family, friends and strangers.
Now, three years had passed since we held his hand.
Though we will miss him much more than we could imagine

But our hearts will forever be grateful to God
For giving him to us who has the great love of the FATHER.

Thank you Lord for you gave me such a loving and perfect Tatay. You know that we love him and miss him so much. He is indeed and inspiration to me to live my life as he did. A life indeed worth living.

The Wedding

I realized that indeed when it's GOd's perfect will for two people to become ONE, all things will truly be possible!

This is very true for me and my Hubby. After that long talk talk we had on the 1st of November , 8 years ago, we knew that we're not just going to be girl friend/boyfriend but soon to be wife and husband.

The 'problem' was, both of us were not financially capable to have a wedding at that time. It was only a year earlier I resigned my job and with the little savings that I had, I spent it for our exposure trip and at the same time J was also in full-time ministry.

But God gave us peace, and when people asked us about wedding plans, we would bravely answer in faith that the wedding will take place in J's country and in September 2002. But in reality, we didn't have any money to spend anything at all and we didn't know how to do all the preparations.

It was quite a unique arrangement. A few months before the wedding I was still in my country, J was in the Land of T while the wedding was to take place in J's homecountry. I only went to J's homecountry a month before the wedding and so did J.

But we were indeed blessed and saw how God has moved! When I arrived in J's home country, a lot of their church members and family were asking what they could do to help us. What amazed me, was that everything was so organized. THere was practically committees from the church for our wedding. Some people were in charge for transport, food, accomodations and etc. whew! We were just blessed by such great love. Then little by little, day by day people will call us, send email or sms and tell us that they want to sponsor for J's suit, shoes, wedding cake, dessert, and etc. The biggest surprise for us all was, when a couple took us to a jewelry shop and asked us to choose our wedding rings!

Even on my family's side, since the wedding is to take place in a different country, everyone has to have money to buy the plane tickets and travel expenses. But God provided! Even my sister who had a problem with her passport application (due to misspelled name), got her passport a day before they were going to leave. So, on August 27th of 2000, 21 members of my family and friends left from our country to attend our wedding. Everyone came, my parents, siblings with their spouses, nephew, nieces, aunt, Ninang, Ninongs and church members.

Even though we were in a lot of 'need' for our wedding but our most special prayer to God was that HE will just be there, His presence will just overflow on that precious day and HE DID! People were touched by His presence, there was peace and joy in everyone's heart and in His presence is ORder. Everything just fell according to place. Even the rain didn't push through. It just drizzled a bit, enough to wet the dry ground and cool the air. The crowd of 500 guests was not overwhelming. And the worship was just great!

Everyone was blessed. Some people who came told us that they were blessed and it was such a beautiful wedding. I'm sure that was because of HIs presence.

Then came one exciting part. After the wedding, we received so much of cash gifts. Almost all of the people gave cash gifts. We counted it and we were dumbstruck. Our gifts totaled to 11,500 RM! We took our payable lists for the food, hotel, decorations, and etc and it had a total of 10,000. Wow! God indeed met all our needs! There was even 1 ,500 RM extra. We thought that we could go for nice honeymoon somewhere.

But what was more amazing was that when we applied for my visa, I needed 1,500 as a security bond. God already provided it even before we knew of the need. So, that was what the extra was about. God was just so specific. ANd we thought that God must have forgotten about our honeymoon...but He didn't. Three months after, He allowed us to have an unforgettable honeymoon in Phuket ( i'll make another post for this ).

So, we witnessed a miracle for our wedding. It's indeed a testimony of God's faithfulness and I give all the glory to HIM!

Thank You Lord for Mothers

" Is it okay that you're Mother and Mother in Law are together in your house?", my American friend asked. I was wondering about this question because my Husband also had the same question from 2 of his friends. I think mother and mother in laws together in one roof used to be a recipe for disaster..hehehe!! As what my friend said, they couldnt put her Mom and Mom in Law in the same house!..hahaha!But, I'm thankful that my Mom and mother in law are such peaceful and loving people that they or we didn't have any problem at all. They were both in our house for 2 weeks and even shared rooms.

Even if they are both from different backgrounds (yes, entirely different backgrounds) and different cultures ( my mom's a 100% true blooded Pinoy and my mom in law is a Malaysian Indian) but they are like buddies and choose to adjust and understand each other. I overhear them talk about their husbands, their family and etc. It was a good time of fellowship together as they only seldom see each other. They even gave each other gifts..the same gift..hahaha!they had one mind..My mom gave my Mom in law shoes as pasalubong and my mom in law also gave my Nanay shoes as pasalubong!hahaha!joker! and the shoes are either one size smaller or bigger for them..hehee!

I'm just truly grateful to God for our loving Nanay and Amma, they are such a blessing in our lives and learning so much from them. We love you both soooooo much and we'll miss you!but see you soon!

My Princess Birthday!!

Wow! Time indeed flies so fast!! My Li'l Princess has already turned 4 years old. I could still remember when she was a still a baby...a cry baby for that matter. :) Little did we know, that baby grew up so fast!! Like a twinkling of an eye!! Tricia wasn't a baby for so long..I mean, she didn't go through the stage of baby talk at all. Once she learn how to talk, she just talked straight - thought at first we were the only one who could understand her because of her weird accent and diction.

I could still remember when she was only 1 year and 9 months that I almost fell off from my seat when she used the word "dangerous" !! Hahah! At 2 years old, she could already fill in the words I read from her story book. I don't know if other kids were also capable of this but based on what I've been reading from babycenter.com she's quite ahead with her language skills. I praise God for giving us a smart kid.

Now at 4 years old, you could imagine her language capabilities..hahahah! sometimes as a MOm who's the introvert, silent type..it's quite challenging to be with an extrovert, super talkative child all day long!hahah! But good, now she's capable of playing by her self with her dolls and toys and therefore she has 'people' to talk to.hehhe!

Anyways, sorry for the seemingly chatting uncessantly about my daughter..sorry for being such a stage mom..but if you're interested to know more about her..you can read her blogs here and here .

15 Things that Change when you have a Baby

Found this from Baby Center and would like to share with you too.. this is just so true for me. Italics added are my own comments.

15 Things that Change when you have a Baby.

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms. - Actually the baby smells better than the sweetest roses..:)

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. - hahaha! so true!! that's why my hubby keeps on wondering why I could drive the Lapasan Hi way before with our 'kagang, kagang (worn out) jeepy and now i'm so afraid to drive and even just to park the car in the garage. Is there hope for me? hehehe!

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices. Everything is just so worth it.

4. You respect your body ... finally. - Imagine, God has given our body the ability to nurture and grow beautiful babies.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way. - yes, they've gone through a LOT taking care of us too. I wonder if we were babies easy to take care.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own. - Countless of times I've been teary-eyed or felt like crying too when my baby felt pain..like Tricia's first immunization.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily. :)

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day. - Yes, now, I have 3 ( hubby and 2 kids) people to think of 234,836,178,976 times a day. hmm...I have a very occupied mind.

11. Every day is a surprise

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!) -heheheh! I remembered , several years back when I was still in my teens, I swore that I'll never have to wipe poop for anyone even my kids as I really disliked it. My siblings asked, what if i'll have my own kids, who will wipe their poop. And I retorted, my husband will!. hahahha!


13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself. - This one, I can't relate much. I'm not so fond of looking at myself in the mirror. I can even survive without one. But what I know, I couldn't stop staring at my baby and won't get fed up staring at him.

14. You become a morning person. - no choice..

15. Your love becomes limitless. - abounding