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Dear Meimei,

I know this is too early for me to write about this issue but this is something that I want to pass on to you and let you understand as early as now… Hoping that someday, when you’re grown up and finally decide to have a family, this is one principle you will apply from the day you exchange vows ’til the day heaven calls you or your partner home.

We are an OFW family (Overseas Filipino Workers) and with that, we live a different life compared to families who live together. Your Pa and I spend a lot of times apart from each other so it takes extra effort to keep our love for each other alive and keep communication lines open. Most nights, like right now, when you and your ahia are asleep, I make time to chat with your papa. It’s not really like we chat the whole time, sometimes I just send our pictures while he’s working, update him with certain things about our family and friends or if one of us is really tired, we just say goodnight and I love you to each other. Or sometimes during the day, I just go online and have a short chitchat with your papa. That’s DATING ONLINE :D Thank God for technology because when properly used, it bridges the thousands of miles apart families like us.

Your Pa comes home every once in a while but each time he’s home, I make sure we go on an ACTUAL DATE. It’s very important for both of us to remember that before we became a family, we were a couple first. As one husband said to his wife, “WE MET EACH OTHER FIRST BEFORE YOU MET THE KIDS” – That’s a husband longing for his wife to be with him like they used to be before the kids arrived. A lot of couples fall into the trap of being so busy that they forget being partners and focus all their time and energy on being parents. That’s when marriages start to shake… We are grateful that family members honor our DATE DAYS and they willingly help your nanny take care of you while we’re out. What do we do? We usually go after lunch -  sometimes do groceries or buy clothes or shoes for your Pa to bring to China. I am your dad’s fashion designer :D He buys clothes that I say are nice and rejects those I don’t like and that makes me really feel important knowing that he respects my choices. The highlight is a dinner date – that’s usually where we talk about anything without pressures. It’s a wonderful time for us to listen to each other and remind ourselves that we have a relationship to nurture and not just responsibilities of paying bills and taking care of kids. That’s a time I dedicate for my King :) As you know, I am the Queen, your ahia is the Prince and you’re our Princess. I pray that someday my dear, you’ll do the same… Just like my date with your ahia EJ assures him that he is loves, it does the same to your papa. Through that I assure him that he matters to me and that he is still a priority.

Hopefully when we go back to China mid this year we can bring someone to help us mainly because I want to spend quality time with my King and not not worry about you kids while we have our DATE :)

Here are some photos of our date days :o )

ANNIVERSARY DATE at KRISTINE’S STEAK HOUSEIMG_0097

PIZZA DATE AT MAMA MARIA’S IMG_8258

WATCHING THE SUNSET AT THE L’FISHER CHALET followed by  IMG_0849

DINNER AT LOUISE RESTAURANTIMG_0868

Dear Elisha,

I’ve been meaning to write you about your prayer times because there had been a lot of instances that you amazed me with your prayers, the ones that you say on your own… Here’s one that’s very fresh that you uttered before you slept this evening (Dec. 2, 2009):

Dear God our Father,

Thank you for blessing our friends and family.

Thank you for our ROCKING CHAIR.

Thank you that tomorrow I can go to school and make my… (you paused and asked me – Mama, what will we make tomorrow in my science class, I forgot – so I had to remind you that you’ll make a clay dough) … my clay dough.

Thank you for blessing others.

In Jesus name, Amen.

I won’t and can’t enumerate everything but just to give you an idea of what you prayed for as a 4 year old boy, read on  :)

… for Jose Rizal and Ninoy Aquino – that God will bring them back to life so you can see them fly… Well, you thought they’re super heroes so I had a hard time explaining that they’re not!

… for Your papa’s gout to go away and your tita Celyn’s cancer to go away as your prayer before MEALTIME! :)

… for the poor family that once slept outside Wilmar’s gate – that God will give them bed so they can sleep on a nice bed,  that God will give them soap so they can take a bath and food so they will not be hungry.

 As part of our bedtime prayer, we pray for our family, friends and our country. But sometimes you’d say something like - Mama, let’s not pray for Philippines tonight, I want only China. Or it’s like this – Mama, I don’t want to pray for places, only people. Other times it’s – Mama, I will only pray a very short prayer because I’m sleepy.

Many times we start our prayer time with these lines:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for our wonderful day, Thank you for guiding us today

Be with us Lord as we sleep tonight, Grant us sweetdreams so we can sleep tight.

God Bless Papa, Mama, EJ and Meimei. God Bless the Lo and the Boyero families. God Bless those we love and those who love us.

God Bless China and the Philippines…

Then go on with our other prayer items like praying for a sick family member to be healed, for God to take care of papa, etc.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

But there was one night I cried after we prayed… It was when you had your accident then you asked me while we were praying - Mama, where will God get His healing power? I asked you why are you asking and you told me – Because I want Him to heal me now, my wound is very painful. I just hugged you and told you to sleep and when you wake up, the pain will go away already because God will take it away. Then you said, OK. The next day when you woke up you told me that it was only baby painful because God already healed you!

I pray that as you grow, your knowledge of our God will also grow because as long as you “know” God and have that relationship with Him, no matter what comes your way, you’ll remain standing. His love will see you through.

God Bless you son and I am looking forward to more “CUTE” but effective prayer times with you.

Lastly, I’m sure you made God smile when you thanked Him for the rocking chair! :D

I love you.

Mama 

 

***For those of you who don’t know Je-An, please read my post about him HERE before you read this post :) Thanks.***

Baby Je-An had his check up last week and according to his mom, he weighs 3.3Kls (6.6lbs). They came over our house after his check up to submit the requirements that a family friend asked from them so that he can help Je-An have his open heart surgery sponsored by their organization / foundation as they are actively involved in helping the less fortunate. God Bless them! It is still for approval so I am asking you to help pray that all will be well and that the decision will be in favor of the baby. I am also currently emailing our yahoogroup members ( http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/colorectal_parents_philippines/) for some help if ever Je-An and his mom goes to PGH for the surgery.  

As mentioned in my SHARE YOUR BLESSING post, there are 3 ways you can help. Allow me to add another way you can help baby Je-An and that is:

#4. Offer your home for them to stay (if you live near Philippine General Hospital) as they need a place to stay there since they are from Bacolod City and no relatives in Manila

Here’s a my daughter Meimei (7 months) and Je-an (5 months) with his mom:

IMG_9450

Elisha didn’t want them to leave our place without the “colorectal” kids seeing each other so he asked me to wake Meimei up so she and JeAn can meet and have this picture :) Nice work son… Thanks for insisting that they MUST meet!

This afternoon my friend Cindy and I went to visit a baby boy named Jeff Andrei Las Pinas. My heart was moved when I saw him… Like Meimei, he too has imperforate anus (read my post if you don’t know what it is). The sad thing about it is little Je-An has congenital heart disease – a hole in his heart and biventricular enlargement. Like Meimei too, Je-An has colostomy, however, he can’t proceed with the 2nd operation (PSARP Surgery) unless his heart goes through an open heart surgery. He has difficulty in breathing – as in gasping for air. At the age of 5 months, he can only consume a maximum of 2 oz every 2-3hrs or else he may experience more difficulty in breathing. Unless his heart is repaired, baby Je-An won’t grow… At 5 months, he is still wearing his new born clothes because he only weighs about 5 – 6lbs. Considered as blue baby, his new born weight was only 4lbs. 

IMG_9425 

Baby Je-an’s family’s livelihood is barely enough to support the daily needs of their family much more to have the resources for the heart surgery which is estimated to cost about PHP 500,000 (approximately $10,500). So I am asking you to join me in helping him live a better life… His mom and grandmother shared to us that Je-an had experienced many times a 50-50 chance of survival, but he has a very strong WILL TO LIVE, let’s give him that chance…

I am blogging about this because I believe there are a lot of people who care. Here are several ways you can help:

1. Pray for Jeff Andrei Las Pinas and his family – they need this everyday

2. Spread the word and ask more people to help. Inform me if you will repost this in your blog or write a note and please ask them to email blogforacause@yahoo.com.

3. Extend financial assistance – any amount will do. Please leave a comment and email me at blogforacause@yahoo.com then I’ll give you the details on how you can send the money.

SHARE YOUR BLESSINGs. Always remember that we are blessed to be a channel of blessing to many. 

“He who gives to the poor, lends to the Lord and HE will reward him for what he has done”. – Proverbs 19:17

“He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.” - Proverbs 28:27

May the Lord bless you…

Dear Elisha,

I was browsing through some of our pictures in China when I saw our Christmas 2008 photos. OUR Christmas means including Meimei because she was already in my tummy. I bet she felt the joy and heard the laughter those evenings we had our Christmas parties with friends and with our OFW families in Jiaxing :) Not to mention dancing to the beat of the happy songs! To let you see the different events that took place in the different parties we went to, here are some of the pictures and a little description of what transpired.

FOREIGNERS CHRISTMAS PARTY

jx foreigner copy

Every year, Speedy Tech (IMI-Jiaxing) sends representatives to this event and last year, your papa was chosen to represent the company in this gathering. The picture contains those who were seated with us that night as well as some of the special numbers presented to entertain the guests.

jx foreigner2 copy

After dinner, we went to Starbucks to meet with your uncles and aunts then at around 10pm went to a certain hotel to visit a Filipino Band that was playing there. We were the only guests that night so we had a nice time jammin’ with our Kababayans (fellow Filipinos) who were very glad we visited them.

IMI – JIAXING SPEEDY  TECH CHRISTMAS PARTY

jx foreigner3 copy

This would’ve been an ordinary Christmas party if not for your “guts” :) You wanted so much to sing on stage but you weren’t part of the program. So I asked you if you would like to follow the Chinese who went up the stage and gave flowers or balloons to the ladies. You immediately said YES… You went up not only once but twice! That girl you gave the balloon to won 1st runner up in the singing contest :) The other photos are with your papa’s bosses and our housemates auntie Cathy and uncle Jon.

JIAXING FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

christmas 08 copy

This is the most memorable Christmas party of all… We all did our best to make this Christmas especially memorable for you. We had several games and we all had a good laugh, however, when we finished playing the balloon bursting, we were all surprised to see you sweeping the floor! And you complained that the floor was verydirty! Hihi… that’s what you get for spending too much time with your mom ;o) After the games we surprised you with gifts and papa becoming Santa Papa standing beside our Christmas “tree” (it’s not really a tree). And look at you opening your gifts! I’m sure the picture shows how much fun we had this evening.

There you have it son… Amidst all the fun and the laughter, we have always made you aware that Christmas is a special time for showing the ones we love how much we love them because that LOVE is the very reason Jesus came. He loves us that’s why there is Christmas :) Wherever you may be – China, Philippines or anywhere God will lead you someday, you can celebrate Christmas knowing that the reason for this season is CHRIST.

I love you my spider boy (well at least for today that’s who you pretend to be :)

Mama

Dear Meimei,

Today is a special day (holiday for the Philippines) because it’s Singko De Noviembre. But to me, this day is special because it’s been a month since your PSARP surgery. I can’t thank God enough for a successful operation. So let me give you a picture of YOU today.

You woke up at around 8am and as always, was excited for your bottomless mama’s milk :) Then your ahia EJ and I went out for our breakfast. After my breakfast I gave you a bath. After bath time was time for our dilation. You are currently transitioning from a size 9 to a size 10 Hegar Dilator. 3 of us did it – Manang Salvie (holding your legs), Yaya Angel (holding your upper body) and Moi (dilating). You were so strong and we really had a hard time. You cried angrily (who wouldn’t?!!) but we still had to do it. When we finished I kept telling you that each time it’s done, it brings us 1 day closer to your final moment so it’s actually a good thing even if it was painful. But because you already know how to “complain”, you kept on bubbling words that I hope I understood. But a few minutes after bubbling you were back to your smiling self. I gave you back to yaya Angel as I prepared your lunch. OH, you had a lot! 3 tsp of chicken and vegetable cereal, 2 tsp  brown rice, 5 tsp pear – all pureed. 30 minutes after you cried for milk but I had to let you wait at least an hour because I knew your tummy was still full. But your all time high was your dinner – 3 tsp oats and prune cereal, 2 tsp cabbage, 2 tsp apple and 5 tsp pear. I guess you require a lot because you’re growing really fast. You weigh 10Kilos and you’re 70cms long.

IMG_9054

Look at you girl! See those arms and legs??? You’re actually doing your leg exercise here so that shows that your operation healed really well. You don’t really move as much as your achi Dindin so I make sure you do your “exercise” at least 3x a day to keep you fit! :D But don’t worry, your papa always remind me that when you reach 2 years old you’ll begin with your DIET! And eventually will engage into sports to keep your figure like your mom (wink) :) Your papa and I met when we were elementary at one of the table tennis tournaments, from then on he had a crush on me! Hahaha… But he won’t admit it (giggling). I’ll tell you our love story when you’re old enough to understand :)

That’s about it… Oh, you have a little colds due to the terrible climate – super hot and humid and rainy. Crazy weather! But it’s ok, it’s almost over.

I love you my little sweetheart… God Bless you always and forever.

Love,

Mama

X.S.

When your papa and I were chatting, he skyped me this:

[11/5/2009 ] *LANGGA KO*: i miss her very much. i miss being there…

and here’s what I skyped him:

[11/5/2009 ] Maricar: i’m sure everytime it’s papa’s time she feels your love for her :)

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