What's On My Iphone Photo Album 2013

Alright. Here we go. "Take a deep breath." That's me pushing myself to breathe and get back to life. Fifteen long months of silence and here I am again, resurrecting from my extended furlough, fit for the battle(?)

As a starter, allow me to walk you through my family photos stored on my Iphone for the last year or so. "What a journey it has been," so the lyrics of a song goes. Where have all those days and weeks and months gone? But God. God has been faithful through the seasons. Isn't it wonderful to have your Iphone handy all the time and snap snap snap capturing those fleeting precious moments.  

Welcome to my world...

My kind of girls De Chavez side. Three of five adorable nieces l to r Keila-Ava-Lala and the Daughter. Missing Drew and Baby Avi here.

The Daughter Selfie a lot.

The Hunny and Me...my friend Tita (Aunt) Carol Jacob and Dr. Jo Arago, my sister-in-law.

My Little Bear just created Spiderman his parachute.

Lord of Harvest AG Church ladies...we love cell-grouping hang-out style at this 
OLD SPAGHETTI HOUSE.

The Daughter with her fishtail.

How about a bunch of bread for your starter at Sofitel's Le Bar? 

Our hotel room with a view of  the evening fireworks at SM Mall of Asia. I know, I know, 
it's a bad picture.

Sofitel's famous Cheese Room at the Spiral Restaurant located at the ground floor.

Matthew Henri or we simply call him Matt, my youngest nephew, son of my youngest bro Henri.

Matt's killer photo....love love love...oh with that quill in his hand oh with that innocent joy 
painted on his face!

Matt on Boquete Island, Puerto Galera.

So this was how our Solar System Project was assembled.

My kids had fun learning about astronomy last school year on Apologia Science. And this was their culminating project done with their Tita (Aunt) Nini whom I've asked  to co-teach on the 3rd and 4th quarters. What can I do? This poor teacher-mom was a graduate of  Mass Communication and she was a bit intimidated by the subject matter. Thank God for lil sisters like Tita Nini, a Registered Nurse, ha!

Solar System show-off...and I couldn't tell how many times he has done this during playtime or pastime!

Church boys foolin' around. The future Dr. Clarence, (bottom center) my nephew. And by the way, he's our Youth Pastor.

Ming and the Daughter

The Daughter and Lara

Breakfast at Auntie Lola's, Calapan City.  My Inay (Mom) and Kuya ( a term of respect for older brother), we also call him Pastor Chris.

Another epic selfie by my Unica Hija.

My Darling Sunshine, selfie a lot.

Who needs a DSLR camera if Iphone's giving you a lot of this?

And this?

And more of this?

And that?

This sold at the public market in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro.

Breakfast at my older brother's place in Calapan City. Extreme left, Dr. Joey, and the rest of us.

The Son's first pet chicks named "TWEETER" and "PEEPER".

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Cousin BFF Julienne Bianca (right) and Mom Bibian (left) at the cinema.

Julienne Bianca adorable as her cotton candy. She's also a cupcake!

My sister-in-law, Bibian, has a green thumb! Homegrown chillies galore!

Never would have thought of getting my hands and nails dirty with plumbing repairs?

But when the Hunny was far and away, and leaking faucets and corroded pipes scream of disaster, this Girl puts on her plumber's hat. Must she forget, she's a daughter of a carpenter?

That stinking China-made GI pipe crushed like flakes or wafer inside the threaded PVC pipe and this Girl panicked like crazy she might damage the entire water tubing that's buried deep into the concrete CR wall.

So, this Girl had to run to the nearest handyman store to buy a new set of water faucet kit.
Teflon tape around the thread. Check. The right connectors to the right connections. Check. Pipe wrench and a hammer. Check. Safety glasses on. Check. The Daughter with the Iphone camera ready. Check.
My fingers and my shoulders sore for the pounding and hammering and wrenching! Check!

But we have a Daughter who graduated from sixth grade. And this photo taken by her stage Mom with her Iphone inside the studio was forbidden!

Again, this photo taken by the Daughter's stage Mom with her Iphone was forbidden inside the portrait studio!

So, the Tita-Aunt...the lil sister of this Girl sifts and kneads and ferments and bakes away...sour dough...

THOR DE CHAVEZ!!!

Just see what happens...

What significantly happens...

What amazingly happens...

When the TV is shut and the PSP is off...creativity spills and all possibilities are limitless. I often wonder, had I not decided to stay home with The Son and The Daughter, and chosen to stick with them as we journey the less traveled road  to homeschooling, would I ever have the privilege of seeing this Boy-Wonder emerge as an inventor and an engineer, clad in his own outfit creation? thriving in his own creative realm? defying expensive store-bought toys and gizmos and gadgets in all their sophistication and he creates his own toys made of recycled boxes and cartons and plenty of markers and duct tapes? 

Me and my Hunny at a neighbor's birthday party.

Our home-made Advent wreath this year and that wooden rotating candle holder stands proud which I haggled from my favorite surplus store. Then I didn't realize that I bought 6 candles when I only needed 5!!! I got too excited, maybe? The four Sundays of the entire month of December and one for during Christmas Eve. We light a candle each Sunday, we talk, we make sense of this family tradition, meaningful conversations purposefully making a room for the true Reason for the season, reading the Word, we all get excited as we countdown to Christmas, a Christ-centered Christmas.
Ann Voskamp says it for us:
"I don't want a Christmas you can buy.
I don't want a Christmas you can make.
What I want is Christmas you can hold.
A Christmas that holds me,
remakes me, revives me,
I want a Christmas that whisper, JESUS."

My Unico Hijo, also my walking buddy...and here we're literally on top of a hill, enjoying the cool December breeze, Calapan City.

We Bake Our Bread, What's Wrong With That?

"We love our bread
 We love our butter
 But most of all
 We love each other..." Madeline

If you've tried baking your own bread at home with all the freshest ingredients to boot, you'll have a different perspective of how your breads should taste like. Thanks to my lil sister who has finally mastered the art and science of baking our home-made breads. She is so focused that she bakes even in her sleep. Being a nurse by profession, she loves baking because it is also a science with all the chemical reactions the dough mixture had to go through to become artisan bread. Her hard work paid off as it has raised the bar for our standard on home-baked breads. And would you believe that we've stopped buying our breads from our local bakeries like Pan de Manila? ( sorry, haha )

Nini's Words
"The rustic looking bread acquire its honest flavor while tucked away in the fridge, sitting quietly in its container, fermenting itself to arrive in its complex state of "breadness."

I used pre-fermented dough. The dough MUST sit for long hours/time even days undisturbed to create that complex flavor. Nutty, warm, and sour. The dough is then shaped into a boule (pronounced as bool). Few    shallow slashes made on top of the dough to let gas escape so it wont collapse during baking. It's called artisan because it is purely  and specially made by hand, shaped by hand keeping that rustic look...thus the name artisan...it's an art.

Anyone who's not really into sweet fancy cake house bread I think would like it... Relentless PATIENCE is the gem among the lowly ingredients such as flour, yeast, salt, and H2O.  Bare hands make this unpretentious bread all the more special. It's warm, nutty flavor leaves you severely anxious for another bite another slice."

And it would be so selfish of us if we don't provide you with the link where Nini has been gleaning lately. Here it is:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

But wait! There's more! Here are some more photos of Nini's home-made artisan breads.

Sprinkled with a good amount of fresh rosemary snipped from my container garden. 

This artisan bread is bejeweled with slivers of black olives. 

One Amazing Filtration System And The Red Ribbon Experience

Over brunch, it was always fun to hang out for a little longer at our family dining table and just let the dishes soak in soapy water in the kitchen sink. We were having family time and it was so precious that I didn't want to disrupt this magic moment. I had just prepared 2 cups of hot coffee for me and my hubby and the kids were goofing around with their Dad. But the idea was to always find out who among them was the best at anything. And our dessert fun-time activity was to find out who can exhale the longest. At the count of three, my three monkeyteers gasped for big breath and exhaled "aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" in unison.

My lil boy was the first one to run out of breath followed immediately by my disappointed girl. As was expected, Daddy was the last man left standing while my kids cheered and booed him at the same time. Daddy with his antics, the kids smothered him with kisses and hugs and sighs of disappointment. "That's so unfair!" Someone said. But Daddy bragged even more and gave out his devil laugh!

So, to appease my kids, I told them that Daddy won because obviously he has the biggest chest among the three of them. And since he has the biggest chest, he can store more oxygen in his lungs. I told them that our chest protects our lungs which store and filter the oxygen that we breathe. "And that was how God designed our body," Daddy added, "because we are fearfully and wonderfully made." My hubby sensed that he needed to elaborate more on the subject as we both noticed that our children's eyes were glued on him.

Dad.
"Do you know that God has the most hi-tech filtration system designed to filter the oxygen that we take in our body? And do you know that the air passes through a sort of coiled filtration system in our lungs the size of a tennis court or 40x the human skin area? Isn't it amazing to learn how our God cares for us? God wanted to make sure that each time we breathe in fresh air to our system, we take in the cleanest and purest air in the form of oxygen that will keep us healthy and alive. He is the best engineer in the whole universe for He created everything. And he designed everything for a purpose."

Kids.
"Cool." "Wow!"

Our kitchen was charged with fun and excitement. We were all stirred up at how our topic was developing.
My hubby and I exchanged meaningful glances as we took turns talking to our children. It's as if saying "are you thinking what I'm thinking? Our God is an awesome God, come on!"

Mom.
"Our God has one amazing filtration system built to make sure that we are kept pure from toxins! You know what? Since we're talking about filters, this reminds me of the verse from Psalm 12:6 that says, "The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times." Therefore, before our Lord uttered a word, He thought about it several times before saying them. That is why, His words written in the Bible are guaranteed pure and true, refined as gold. And we can count on His words because He thought well of them before uttering them."

Dad.
"What an example the Lord has set before us! Let it be a reminder to all of us, including me and Mom, to be careful with the words that come out of our lips and think first before we speak. Our Lord showed us how to honor Him by choosing our words carefully when we talk to others."

Spontaneity Is Priceless.
We are on our yearly school break but the learning we've had this late lunch was spontaneous. The words that we speak are so powerful that they can make or break someone if we don't choose our words wisely. And that makes all of us guilty one way or the other especially when we're the type who don't think before we speak. That is why it is very important to pay close attention to our thoughts because "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45) Another verse from Proverbs 18:21 says, "the tongue has the power of life and death..."

Once again, we were reminded of why we're homeschooling our children and why we've stayed in the program now running on our eighth year. It is the invaluable learning that we experience together as a family, not just for our children, but for us as parents as well. And we won't have it any other way. It is the opportunity as their parents to be able to directly influence our children to develop Godly character within the bounds of our own home.

The Red Ribbon Experience
I remember an incident a few years ago when we were at a favorite family restaurant called Red Ribbon. We just finished our merienda allowing for a few minutes to pass by, when an elderly lady approached us and greeted us with a big smile on her face. She looked very friendly and told us that she had been watching us from the corner of the restaurant and was so impressed at how our children behaved while we ate. My hubby and I felt a bit embarrassed  because we didn't know we were being watched. I chuckled as I smiled back at the lady and jokingly told her that she should see us how we all behaved at home. So we all gave a light laugh and felt the ice breaking.

The old lady said that she came up to us to tell us that watching  how our two kids behaved at the restaurant from the moment we got in pleased her. "Other kids these days are so boisterous and unruly in public places while their parents just sat around watching them. So, really, you parents have a big role in disciplining your children. I am so glad that your children are well-mannered. Where do they go to school?" We homeschool our children, so she was told, the rest was history.

That moment, I wanted to give the old lady a big big hug, just to thank her for the kind words she had for us. Then I thought, this precious lady, well advanced in years knew how to process her words carefully and knew her timing well. I mean, you don't bump in to a stranger everyday to praise you about your children's behavior or character. Our children are not angels, I know, but her words meant the whole world to us. We know that there's a long journey ahead of us as our kids are still young and WE all screw up on a daily basis. But we felt that day that God sent an angel to speak to us and encourage us to pursue teaching our kids about the ways of the Lord.

As we chatted, we learned that she was a retired chief nurse at one of our private hospitals in town. She sits on her favorite corner of the restaurant almost everyday and paints on her canvass for hours. It's what's keeping her busy as she is a retired senior citizen already. So, that explains why she took notice of us and perhaps the many families that walked in and out of Red Ribbon everyday.  We said our sincerest "thank you" to her as we parted ways but the big smile on our faces stayed longer as we drove back home.