Monday, August 16, 2010

New Phase of Motherhood




When I was pregnant the first time with our first child, Josel, I was filled not only with anticipation, but also with fear. I heard so many unsettling horror stories and had a lot of questions about how to parent a child. What could we do to insure that my baby would survive? What would our baby look like? Would he be healthy? I often had nightmares that my baby doesn't have fingers or his face is deform. How would this baby change my life? 
Would we be able to provide what our baby needed? 
Sixteen years ago, in many ways, I'm experiencing the same feelings right now that our Josel is entering adulthood, he'll be turning 16 in few days this month. I am experiencing a second birth, his birth to his adulthood. I had the same questions and worries I had before. What could we do to make sure he survived? What would he look like? Would he be healthy? How would this experience change our lives? Now,that he has grown to be a fine and kind young man, has a new way of thinking, began to see things in a new way and acquire new potential of reasonings. He is more inquisitive I should say. Which I think our opportunity to help him reach his potential of healthy thinking. I will no longer treat my Josel as a small child anymore, but instead affirm and build my relationship with him by treating him like adult, allowing him into our world. Where did my "baby" go? Now that he's entering adulthood, this is not terminal but it is a new birth, the beginning of an exciting transition into adulthood that I and my kid can enjoy together. This is an exciting challenge and my turning point to another new phase of motherhood. 

 Happy Birthday Josel. We love you and very proud of you. Let God always be the center of your life. He'll direct your path and guide you to whatever choices you made. You are our miracle. You bring so much joy when you came into our lives. I'm glad God gave you to us.



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Kitchen

We didn't get to do a lot lately in our kitchen renovation due to we've been away for about 2 weeks. Maybe next week we will start to work on the tiles in the counter. I haven't decided what color I want but it might be the same color of the floor.

Here are some of the updates :)  it's getting slow but we will get there.

the floor is finished... yay!


We teared down the closet in the corner which I used as a pantry before and opening the wall makes a lot difference. It gives a lot of space. We will install two tier breakfast counter there too, same color as our kitchen counter.


Wide view. We change all lightnings. We put another chandelier here.



...and ray lights on top of the breakfast counter. 

We'll see what will be the outcome of the whole reno.
Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Ikea

If you want a cheap but stylish things for your home, you will love Ikea. It fulfills it's purpose very well, their items are not that durable, compared to other cheap furniture stores, but it is often more stylish and presentable. I love to buy some stuff in Ikea for home accessories and accents only. Their laundry items are useful  too. I bought couple of laundry baskets and laundry hanging baskets for kids.
I've heard that we will going to have Ikea here in Winnipeg in 2011 and Forever 21 :) looking forward to that.


Here are some of the things that I bought in Ikea when we were in Edmonton. You cannot believe how cheap it is there!


For Jason's room

For Jessica's room


This one is for Josel's.  It's a ceiling lamp.

We bought 2 pieces of these for their computer and study area.
Jason's beddings. We've been looking for this color and glad we've found it there with a very reasonable price.

I'm thinking of changing the theme color in our bedroom to purple and cream :)


Laundry baskets, for colored and whites clothes.

two cute sippy cups for my twins :)

picture frames for Jessica's room.

Well, that's all and we only pay less than $300 dollars for everything.


Road trip 2010



Summer is almost over. Time is fast and free but it is very precious so we have to spend it wisely :)

Another road trip this year for our family to British Columbia all the way to Bellevue, Washington. It's a long trip, but we enjoyed every bit of it. We enjoyed  beautiful scenic views on the way and visited few of every places point of interests and attractions. We all love long driving, as long as my children have their ipods, music to listen to, psp's and few of their favourite dvd's to watch, then travelling is peaceful. One thing our family have in common is that we all love to travel, by air or land,  so it's never a problem to everyone.
Most of all, the treasured moments of bonding with our children, talking and laughing with them are priceless. They are such funny kids, they're always make us laugh. That was also another opportunity for us to impart and share to them some important words of advises and reminders they can keep in their hearts and mind. That was a wonderful time for our family. 
We were able to visit my brother and his family in Richmond although my brother Danny was rushed to ICU because of abscess liver that affected other vital part of his body including brain, lungs, heart and his respiratory system. He was chemically coma and stayed in ICU for a week. Doctors cannot figure out where the infections come from and surgery is not an option because it will take his life. They even think that he will not live soon. But our God is real, He is our Healer and He's done a miraculous thing to my brother. Our prayers reached God's throne and healed my brother. He is now out of the hospital and recovering. God is good! They could not believed how fast his recovery is. Another miracle right before our eyes! God is truly awesome!


The Filipino Conference was great. It was attended by many delegates from different states. Services and worship are awesome! We've heard great messages from great men of God and our spirit are filled and refreshed once again. There were 9 souls received the Holy Ghost. Our dear friends Gina and Mike Lacsamana and their church brethren hosted this conference and they did an excellent job. This is one of the best filipino conference. We had great fellowship with other brethren, enjoyed the sport fest, specially watching Pastor Jesse played basketball once again. It's been a long time I haven't seen him played a real basketball game lol, he's pretty awesome although he got tired so easily, must be a sign of getting old :) 
All in all, we enjoyed this years trip. We did not able to go to Victoria island as planned due to we stayed with my sister in law and their children for the whole week while my brother is in the hospital but we're thankful to spend time with my nephews and nieces and loved ones from California. Good to be with my mom too. We had a side trip to Vancouver Aquarium, roamed around a little to this beautiful city. Vancouver incorporates a plethora of parks, green spaces, and a vast of water all around, with renowned shopping areas like their town centre mall, we enjoyed it there specially Jessica :)


On our way home, we went to Jasper National Park, one of the most beautiful place I've visited. This park enthralled us with stunning landscape, springs and lakes the shade of brilliant emeralds and alpine meadows. It is really beautiful. We plan to go back there in the future.  We had a chance sighting different wildlife animals like moose, black bears, deer, mountain goats, elks and foxes. It is a must to see. We took the opportunity to visit Hoodoos and Royal Tyrell Museum too. To complete the trip, we stopped by Edmonton Mall and Ikea the next day then drove 16 hours straight home. 
I have many photos taken in my digicam but I left my charger in Richmond and I run out of battery, so I cannot upload pictures for now.  I have some in our Nikon but not much. I will upload as soon as I have replacement for my charger.


We thank God for this great year and years ahead of us!



This is somewhere in Valemont, B.C. We stopped by for fresh cherries and peaches. The view is really beautiful :) I can live in place with mountains.



This one is a view in Lake Louise, Jasper National Park.