Beyond Our Children's Christmas Wish-list

"He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?" Romans 8:32 Amplified Bible

This early, I have encouraged my children to start writing down their Christmas wish-lists already! Their beaming faces lit up our gloomy kitchen that rainy afternoon.

I was quick to reiterate though that it is just a wish-list and a wish-list is just a wish-list. But the thought of this stirs us up because we know that as a family it is something far more than just a list of things. The activity itself is an integral part of our exciting homeschool journey and our commitment as their parents to make God known to them and teach them about trusting Him.

Time seems to fly around here, this photo was taken 2 yrs ago. As I've always said, we encourage our kids to be inventive and creative with their toys. We love it when it's low maintenance. This big brown box served as Noah's lil toy boat-bed as his big sister Bethany pulled and pushed him around our house.  The red bracelet snuggled on my boy's right arm was also his own creation from a soap box packaging. You should see how he designed it as "weapon to beat the bad guys and aliens!"

As they prayerfully think and write down each item, they commit to constantly talk to the Lord on a very personal level, "come as you are," we'd say, "talk to Him as a friend, 'cause He's listening." We're very cautious though not to get caught up with the spirit that's in the air; Christmas consumerism and materialism as malls and the media feed our eyes with marvelous display of new gadgets, and the what have you's. We tell our kids to just keep it real and consider our financial capacity as well. We can't under-estimate our kids' ability to comprehend family financial matters when we're always sincere and honest in talking to them about it.

So, a wish-list is actually a prayer list of material things they wanted for themselves. We take this opportunity to show our kids that we have a God that encompasses all our needs and wants. And that He is faithful to provide for His children, He sees to it that we get provided for. My husband and I would constantly remind them that as their parents, we are not "magicians" that can bring them everything they want in an instant. And if they don't receive some items from their wish-list, not to fret, not to frown, not to feel disappointed. Be a sport and keep trusting the Lord for He knows what's best for them.

At church service for Christmas Eve 2011. They can't wait to get home
to open their presents at midnight.

It is also our way of showing them that Dad and Mom are not superheroes but they have a Super God to look up to for anything and everything under the sun! Dad and Mom also have their character flaws but they look up to the Father in heaven for guidance in raising up children of character.

This is the best time to teach them about the power of prayer and how God really answers our prayers according to His sovereign will. It's a "yes," it's a "no," and sometimes, "wait." We take this opportunity to teach them about the value of money, hard work, and how we ought to honor the Lord on how we spend our resources. We tell them that material things, no matter how valuable they may seem are only temporary. Someday, as the scripture has said, "ALL THINGS" will pass away but there's only one thing that will remain, the words of the Lord hidden in our hearts. ("Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."Matthew 24:35)  

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Our children get ecstatic at receiving presents they have not prayed for. This is another ripe time to tell them about how God knows how to make us happy by surprising us. We tell them, YES, it is so possible to receive blessings which haven't even crossed our minds. YES, a lot of times, we receive blessings that we do not deserve. YES, we tell our children, our God is a God of surprises!

"He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?" 

Romans 8:32 Amplified Bible

This is also the best time teaching them about the generosity of our Father in heaven and how He gave without asking for something in return. We talk about the unconditional love of God by sending us His precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ so that by believing in Him we can have eternal life. Talk about the most wonderful gift which mankind has ever received from the Creator!

Maybe sooner in a year or two, we will teach them to write down their wish-list in two columns; left column for tangible things and right column for intangible things.

I think it's also time as early as now to start writing our grown-up Christmas wish-list. Funny-odd as it  may seem, but my husband and I are just as thrilled, only we can't be too showy around kids or must they think it's irreverent. Haha.

MY COCO JAM RANT

I had to tame myself at the sight of this package of pretzels neatly tucked in my pantry. It is salty, it is screaming with tons of calories! The label says, "CRISPS, thin, and crunchy...parmesan" to add to my agony. And it also tasted oh so good for the begging hormones. Well, a few nibbles won't hurt for a late afternoon snack.

"COCO JAM Made in Oriental Mindoro,Philippines," says the label in bold letters. With that on cue, I finally gave in and let inventiveness take its course in my journey to a fusion of afternoon delight. I'm calling it a marriage between the West and the East, my pretzel crisps dipped in silky-caramelized coco jam; something salty and something sweet, something so European and yet so Oriental. And I was all swept away in blissful wonder as the two contrasting flavors blended beautifully in my mouth.

Now, for my coco jam rant. How it's made the old-fashioned way.

Coconut is the main ingredient of this kind of jam. For the sweetness that would act as preservative, we didn't want to use the ordinary refined sugar. We preferred using the brown muscovado blocks as they were made from sugarcane molasses.

In the Philippines, we call it many names depending on what province you're from: sangkaka, matamis na bao, muskobadong bilog. My husband would recall that in the barangay where he grew up in, sangkaka and hot-steaming rice used to be a perfect meal combination to the local folk.

When I was a kid, coconuts were grated the old-fashioned way with a metal grater. Every Filipino home used to have this indispensable kitchen tool because most dishes were made with coconuts and its derivatives especially the coconut milk or what we call the gata. But the Filipino family has constantly evolved particularly on how we're handling our kitchen affairs. With everyone else's busy schedule, buying the ready-to-cook gata in powder or liquid form has been a welcome option as they are made accessible at supermarkets these days. With the attractive, hygienic packaging, and competitive prices, for busy moms, who can resist?

So many a times when I was a kid that I would accidentally scrape my own legs against this tool as it was always unscrupulously stored beside the tungko or kalan

 ( the old-fashioned Filipino wood-fueled oven ) for ease of access.

The old-school grater was a flat metal the size of a spoon having this ugly serrated edge around its head so as to flesh out the coconut meat as you manually scrape the cracked coconut against its teeth.

This serrated metal was attached to a scaled-down wooden chair that looked like a footstool, hence, one had to grate the coconuts while sitting down. 

But I've never tried using a kudkuran or kurkuran or stool grater before. Paggagata / naggagata- the process of manually expressing fresh coconut meat was always left for the bigger and older boys to do.  Wasn't it surprising to find out that my friendly neighbor still has this working at her kitchen? WOW. I thought that this stool would be museum worthy. So, I've asked her if she wouldn't mind bringing it over to my house for posterity's sake. Please note that this stool is sturdy built with coco lumbers. My second WOW.

The grated coconut meat would then undergo manual hand pressing by the batch of about a handful to render precious milk. The sangkaka would then be melted in water to caramelize in low flame. Once a gooey consistency had been achieved, the fresh coconut milk would then be added as it gets constant stirring. 

Now, therefore, coco jam my dears, is a product of patience, manual labor, and love.

I love storing coco jams, not in the fridge, but only in a dry pantry, lest we alter its perfect gooey consistency. I bought these jams from a souvenir-deli shop located inside the pier terminal during our recent trip to Calapan City, the capital of Oriental Mindoro.

Learning the BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK Math Concept ala Noah Isaiah

About.com defines tactile or kinesthetic learners as those who learn through experiencing or doing things. For this reason, tactile learners may become bored more quickly than other students while listening to a class lecture. My 6 year-old boy fits right in this learning style and it may sound a bit tangent but he is also a big fan of Angry Birds. 


More often, he finds it quite a challenge to sit down for longer periods of  time to accomplish a worksheet. Learning a new concept is another story. Take our Math lesson for one about ODD and EVEN numbers. What to do with this poor lil boy whose wired at learning outside the box, that is, outside your conventional tools for learning like textbooks, pencil, paper, chalkboard.


One morning, he came up with this brilliant idea of how to easily remember the odd and even numbers. Now, I'm pretty sure that most teaching Moms like me encounter the same predicament with their kids; making them remember their left and right hands, the letters b and d, and their odd and even numbers seamlessly. 


"Mom, let's just make EVEN numbers BEEE-OKKK and ODD numbers BOOOOLLL." 
"What's a BOOOOLLL and a BEEEOK, my son?" 
"BOOOOLLL-BEEE-OKKK, BOOOOLLL-BEEE-OKKK...that's what the Angry Birds would say every time they make a score in the game against those nasty pigs! . How about I say BOOOOLLL for odd numbers and BEEE-OKKK for even numbers! Odd and even are boring..." 


You know our children's simplistic way of thinking often makes a lot of sense in solving challenges like this one. Only we pay closer attention to what they're saying.

True enough, this lil boy learned his odd and even numbers in no time just by saying BOOOOLLL for odd numbers and BEEE-OKKK for even numbers. BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK, and each time he does it right, he would go bouncing like Tigger and cheer himself and laugh his heart out. We all had fun learning the BOOOOLLL and the BEEE-OKKK that day. It was indeed an engaging activity. BOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK...BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK... One Math concept down, and that's without the tears!

BEEE-OKKK ARE NUMBERS THAT END WITH 0, 2, 4, 6, 8
BOOOLLL ARE NUMBERS THAT END WITH  1, 3, 5, 7, 9

We Are a SHRIMP Family!

This was one of those moments when I had to run at the feet of Jesus for words of comfort, soothing words for the tired soul. Homeschooling two young kids could at times take its toll on you. I mean, school is not what we do 8 hours a day, but it could get tough at times.  So, this was just one among those times when a little creativity, my love for photography and print would just jump off out of me, God's way of telling me that He is in control of everything. And my goal was to encourage and remind myself that, "hey, you're doing well, you're doing just fine, stop being anxious, God is in control."

"THRIVING NOT JUST SURVIVING," my daughter saw this printed on the cover of my personal ring-binder seating nicely on our family table over lunch time. This was a cover design I have just printed the night before, my girl remarked in a nonchalant manner, "Mommy, we are a shrimp family." I chuckled, I asked her to repeat what she said, although I heard her, but was not sure of what she meant. "Yes, that's right, we are a shrimp family. Shrimp are able to swim through the water and could swim against the current, and they can withstand all the pressures, toxins around them. Our family is like that. You always tell us that we don't always have to be like the rest of the world, we don't have to do what everyone else is doing all the time. And yet, we're thriving! " (With a little modification on wordings for blogging purposes.)


So, this young lady, whom I thank God is learning the art of critical-thinking, went back to eating her lunch and then said, "O, Mom! This shrimp "sinigang" is soooo yummy! Can I have more rice please?" Proud Mom obliged her girl's request  without hesitation.

WHAT'S IN THE POT: SHRIMP OF COURSE, FRESH TOMATOES, FRESH-SQUEEZED "KALAMANSI " JUICE, SILING HABA (LONG PEPPER/SPANISH PEPPER)

"Sinigang" is a favorite Filipino broth or soup dish that has a tangy-zesty taste in it. It is believed to be a dish that was brought by the Spanish colonizers to the Philippines from centuries ago. When the Spaniards left, "sinigang" left an indelible mark on Pinoy taste buds and became a regular family dish paired with boiled rice which is a staple at the table. "Sinigang" could be pork, chicken, or fish.

My common practice is to use the tamarind fruit and its young leaves to give out the tangy-zesty taste to the soup/broth. At times, powder soup-mixes come in handy when good quality tamarind fruits are hard to find. But for this day, I have tried using the Philippine lemon, or what we popularly call "kalamansi" to acidify my soupy dish. I was hoping to achieve not just the tangy-zesty "kick" but also I want a hint of "fruitiness" in it. Oh, I drool just by writing about it. 

THE GREEN CIRCLE LEAVES THAT YOU SEE ARE "MALUNGGAY" LEAVES.  THEY GROW IN ABUNDANCE IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY LIKE THE PHILIPPINES. AND MY GENEROUS NEIGHBOR HAS GIVEN MY FAMILY AN UNLIMITED "ACCESS" TO THEIR "MALUNGGAY" TREE ANYTIME WE WANT. GOOGLE SAYS "MALUNGGAY" HAS A SCIENTIFIC NAME: MORINGGA OLEIFERA. ON A SIDE NOTE-  I WAS SURPRISED AT MY DISCOVERY THE OTHER DAY THAT MORINGGA OLEIFERA CAN ALSO BE USED AS AN INGREDIENT FOR A PERFUME AT THE BODY SHOP DURING MY SHORT TRIP AT ONE OF OUR LOCAL MALLS. I'M LEFT WONDERING HOW IT SMELLED THOUGH, HUH...

Was my decision to drop by at "Monterey," the name of a local meat shop, while running errands to pay my bills earlier that morning worth it? I'd say it's a yes. Thank you "Monterey" that even if you are primarily a meat-shop, you have added "shrimp" to your regulars. Hailing from the island province of Oriental Mindoro where sea foods are always fresh and abundant, I have high standards for choosing what sea foods get cooked and served at our family table, and you won my approval: they are clean and fresh and reasonably priced. Forget that they're frozen, but they're frozen fresh.  

THE LABEL SAYS, "WHITE SHRIMP / SUAHE," THE LAST WORD I BELIEVE IS A CHINESE WORD FOR SHRIMP THAT HAS BEEN ADAPTED  AS TAGALOG WORD FOR THE SMALLER KIND OF SHRIMP LIKE THESE ONES. AND AGAIN, I SAY, THESE ARE FRESH SHRIMP WITH ITS SWEETNESS AND JUICINESS.