Sa ilaw ng aking tahanan ...

To the one who stole my heart, you can have it since its yours to begin with.

To the one who brightens up my day with her smile alone, keep smiling coz you have no idea how weak I get whenever I see it.

To the one who has never totally given up on me, thank you for the patience, the understanding and the love.

To the one who has always put up with my short comings, you are so forgiving that sometimes I feel that I don't deserve you.

To the one who packs my lunch every day, please never stop coz you know exactly the way to my heart.

To the one who has to face all these challenges from those close to her, be strong for I am here for you always, praying and steadfast.

To the one gave me the two most precious gifts a husband and father could ever ask, can we have one more blessing, please? LOL
To the one who loves me with her whole heart, her whole mind and her whole life, you need not wonder or ask for I love you until the last dawn rises.

To my best friend, my partner in crime and love, to my love, my life, my wife ... stay with me always for I am lost without you.

I love you so much honey. I love you with all my heart.

Hyper-good weekend

Like I said in my previous blog, its always great to spend some weekends at home with your family. However, its also nice when some members of the family get to visit you, like what happened today. We were primed to close out our weekend with a simple dinner of fish and veggies, when my wife's cousins told her that they were visiting their grandparents, who live about 5 blocks from our house. So naturally, we invited them over for dinner since we haven't seen them since we transferred back to our apartment a month ago.

My wife prepared crispy crablets as appetizers, then made some carbonara and I re-heated the left over bolognese sauce from last night. We then finished-up a hefty serving of Toblerone Dark Chocolates. Mmm... chocolates ... Thanks to my wife for a hearty meal!

I felt so hyped-up even after they left. Its always nice to welcome family in your own home. Even if that home is small with little furniture, its still nice to have family love all around, with nice home cooked meals and sweet, sweet chocolates!

...and then I managed to melt my daughters' milk bottles in the sterilizer... Yebah!

Weekend rest-ling

Weekends are best spent with family, I always say. Its how you spend it that makes the difference. You can spend all day at your house but if you don't take the time off to bond with them, then what's the point?

It's a Saturday evening as I'm writing this. We started our day trying to get up at 4AM to do the laundry and defrost the fridge. We finally made it out of bed between 7:30AM and 8AM, had breakfast and my finally got started with the laundry at 10AM. I got started defrosting the fridge at the same time. Our kids were busy watching TV and making a mess all over the place. After the fridge, I helped my wife hang the laundry outside only to bring it back in a couple of hours later since it started drizzling. My wife prepared lunch while I cleaned the rooms and transferred the bed to the other room so that I can fumigate our room - its being over run by ants!!! After lunch, Samantha and I went to a nearby grocery to buy some supplies and made our way home to hang the clothes back out again while my wife prepared dinner. We put our kids to bed and here we are!

Wow! We had a full day - all while taking care of Sophia who's been battling coughs and colds since last night, Samantha who's being her 2-year old self and with water running out in the middle of the afternoon.

So what's my point? We may have spent our Saturday at home doing chores, but we spent it as a family. Everyone had a part in it and we all had fun doing it. We all cleaned together, ate together and ran around together.

Sure, its nice to go and hang out at the malls, go to parks and zoos and party with other family members, but sometimes its better to just stay at home and focus on each other. No need for anything fancy. A broom, and a mop (even without ample water supply), some good food and a lot of love WILL definitely go a long, long way.

A Thursday night rant turned into one full of hope

I wanted to post my usual rants today ... something a bit more serious; a bit more deep. I came to work today already feeling down, somewhat losing confidence in myself in fulfilling my obligations. I was about to post details on those thoughts when I was able to chat with my wife first.

My wife, Amy, has been a good source of inspiration and strength for me for the past 3 years of our marriage. We've been through a lot, she and I. We've had our ups and down through the short 3 years but I'm happy that we haven't given up on each other. She has always loved and supported me every step of the way. Come to think of it, I've just remembered of how blessed I am in my own family. I have so much blessings within the 4 walls of my home compared to the #$%@!#! people out there who have been trying to get me down.

I remember yesterday when the boss of my boss asked me and a colleague of mine of where I'm more comfortable working in - at UPA or at Eastwood. I told her flat out that I much rather work at home because I have a very strong support group there. Even my colleague agreed.

Its funny that some of the most complex problems that people have tend to be solved by the most simplest of solutions. David brought down a giant with a small stone. Moses parted the sea with but a stick. Jesus Christ saved humanity with his love and understanding alone. Such a big and deep way to compare my problem - but what is my problem compared to what other people are going through nowadays, right? I should be happy to have a job in the first place, and that I get to come home to my wife and kids at the end of each day.

I'm blessed more than I can imagine. I just need to keep reminding myself that fact, and for me to always be humble. Keep my head down for now and my feet planted on the ground at all times. I gotta watch my back and cover my own ass for now!!!

Why do I deserve an Android phone?

So why do I deserve an Android phone? Well, to be honest, I don’t deserve one at all. The one who truly deserves an Android phone is my wife, Amy. My wife has simple taste when it comes to gadgets – as long as her phone can just call and text, she’s as happy as can be. So this brings us back to the opening question: Why do I (or my wife) deserve an Android phone?

She currently owns a MyPhone B22. It’s a pretty much decent device that can call and text and do other things like tune-in to FM radio, take pictures, and what not. Her phone is actually a hand-me-down from my sister, and she got that phone brand new back in 2007. When she passed the phone to my wife, it was already 2 years old. Cell phones are normally good for at least 2 years before you need to replace it. But knowing my wife, as long as it can do its basic function, she will keep it – and she has, for another year!

My wife takes good care of our properties, including her phone until one summer day this year. We were on a road trip with the family up north at Clark Air Base when she accidentally dropped her phone outside as she was carrying our daughter into the car. Her phone eventually got run over by the car. Miraculously, it survived the thrashing and still works well despite having to lose some of its keys and a lot of scratches on the surface.

At this point in our lives, we couldn’t afford to just replace her phone with a new one; not even with a second hand. We’re on a very tight budget with my eldest going to school already and house payments that we had to take over. My wife is such a great mother and a very caring partner. As simple as her taste can be, I think she still deserves something as good as this android phone.

Also, with our wedding anniversary coming up In 3 weeks, this will be the best gift from me to her. She is so easy to please, and with something as cool as an Android phone, she’ll be ecstatic and overjoyed.

Stage parents

The Mossimo Kids, Baby Mossimo Casting Call 2010 held last Sunday, July 4 to 5, at the Festival Mall at Alabang was a jam-packed event full of excited, playful kids as well as hopeful parents such as myself. It was the first time that my wife, Amy, and I went to such an event and we had no idea just how big events like these were. Nonetheless, we were prepared the for the worst.

http://www.myfameandfortune.com/blog/mossimo-kids,-baby-mossimo-casting-call-2010

With a huge baby bag full of milk, baby bottles, change of clothes and some snacks, the four of us - Amy (my wife), Samantha, Sophia and myself - braved the humid Sunday morning to be at the event. We got there around 11:30AM but we were shocked to see the long line around the front of the event hall. We were number 473 out of an eventual 622 contestants. So we registered Samantha, picked our number and stood in line. My wife was kind enough to stand in line with Sophia and have me take Samantha to lunch so as to preserve her playful mood. After 2 hours of waiting, both my kids started getting sleepy, hungry and irritated. Amy and I did our best to pacify Sophia through naps and Samantha through toys.

After 4 hours of waiting, we finally got our turn for the pictorial, but had to wait another 2 hours before Samantha would meet the judges. By that time, Samantha was still hyped-up thanks to a power merienda, some milk and bubbles courtesy of her mommy. She responded well to the camera, throwing away her smile and some simple poses. We even got her to wear an outfit we bought from Mossimo just for this event.

But after all the wardrobe changes, snacks and patience waiting in-line, the judges decided to go for some boys - perhaps because the other set of judges already got their share of girls. We left the room with Samantha still cheerful and smiling, but for the first time, I felt so depressed and so sad for my daughter. As a father, I know that I can be very much biased towards my own child, but I know for a fact that my daughter has so much potential. Lucky for me, Samantha is not yet that old to understand the situation, but for myself ... it took a toll on me.

Walking towards the waiting area where Amy and Sophia are patiently awaiting our return, my wife saw from afar the look on my face that says it all. She knew right then and there that Samantha wasn't chosen. Despite the results, we're still both happy that at least we gave it a chance and that there are other opportunities out there for Samantha.Two days later, I still feel depressed. Writing this down certainly doesn't help. I still feel that the judges were unfair and I feel sad for my daughter. I know that these feelings will pass knowing that we did our best; we exerted all the effort that we could. Samantha certainly did not disappoint us. I'm proud of her for being so patient and cheerful the whole time. I'm proud of my daughter, Samantha. I love her so much.