How to Qualify in Celebrating a Yearly Family Advent

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

It's that time of year when The Cat and The Dog decided to argue right in front of their Advent tray that was seated nicely on their center table at the family room. Strong words went darting  out of their mouths that were sure to pin down their opponent seating right in front of them. Their subject was on history. "You've done this to me" and "you've said this to me a long time ago," and "you are always the 'boss' and I, the 'slave'" and "I will never forget this for the rest of my life" kind of history. Just the two of them, a girl and a boy and the Word War has begun. 

Their first of five candles has just been lit, burning, to observe their yearly family tradition of celebrating the Advent season. And Advent as they all know is from a Latin word which means "coming" or "arrival." Who is coming? Who is arriving? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. The celebration of the Advent is the traditional remembrance of the very first Advent, the birth of Jesus, and the anxious anticipation of His second coming. This is a joyful season of patiently waiting, watching, and reflecting upon the Scripture promises and their fulfillments in our time. In a perfect world, The Cat and The Dog would engage in a fun and lively conversation as Mama Tigress facilitate their Advent devo with the aid of an Advent guide while they sipped from their mugs of hot choco drink with marshmallows... just like what you see on Pinterest. Again, in a perfect world.

"You want us to go on?" asked Mama Tigress.

"Yes." The Cat and The Dog responded.

But this is real life situation here where it gets noisy and stinky. Family. They were taking turns reading aloud beautiful Scripture promises that were tied to this special season. And it was possible to be physically present but mentally and spiritually absent at the family Advent. Mama Tigress thought that they were all on the same page that night just like before, five years ago when they started this family tradition. The Cat was 11 and The Dog was 5.

Mama Tigress went on to read from their Advent Guide on her tablet and it read: 

The King is coming. Jesus Christ has come and will come again. This is the hope of the Church whom He purchased with His blood. It is the eager expectation and desire of His people. His coming is our joy, for He is our treasure, our greatest good. 

Mama Tigress, just like any other mamas in the world has many eyes, as she read from her computer device, she could see from her other eyes that The Cat was smiling, which was a little unusual,  from behind the laptop computer in front of her. She has just finished reading a page that was assigned to her.

"What are you doing?" Mama Tigress turned The Cat's laptop towards her. The Cat was sneaking in and out of her Instagram feed! "And how about you?" Mama Tigress then craned her neck towards The Dog's computer device. "I was just checking the weather, Mom." 

Mama Tigress started clapping her hands. "Let's give ourselves a big round of applause," while she laughed with her signature "hihihihihi" witch kind of laugh. "Thank you! Thank you, my dear children, for making our celebration of the Advent more meaningful and purposeful this year. Which reminds us all that our family best qualifies to receive God's loving forgiveness and grace. We needed The Savior in this time of year more than ever before! We are so qualified to doing this. And that is why I love the Advent because this immediately brings us to a posture of getting right with God. And getting back on track according to His purpose for our lives. Perfectly sinful parents and their amazingly sinful children. Come, let's all do this." 

Mama Tigress went reading from the guide: Advent is good because people are bad. The bright light of Christmas is glorious because hearts are lost in darkness. Israel was an exemplary model. The prophet Isaiah would attest - he being the chosen voice of the Lord to proclaim judgment then mercy, despair then hope, darkness then light.

But when all hope appeared to be sunk, Isaiah lifted his head and shifted his speech:

"But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. The people 

who walked in the darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in 

the land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied 

the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at 

the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of His 

burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have 

broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in the battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government

 shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end..." Isaiah 9:1-7a

Isaiah prophesied of a time when the flood would subside. The Messiah will appear, and waters will dry up; Christ will come, and the darkness will flee. Darkness, in fact, is not the opposite of light; it is the absence of light. A blind man does not see the color black; he simply does not see. The radiant presence of the Savior, therefore, not only shines bright but also brings the dead to life.

(Week 1 of 5 before Christmas Day❄️ 🎄 🎁 )

(Note: All italicized words are lifted from the Advent Guide 2012 including the bible verses used, free resource courtesy of The Village Church.)

We Woke Up to Autumn in Moscow Like This

I didn't know that autumn in Moscow could be this winter. How cool is that, literally speaking! "Is it winter already? I thought autumn had just begun?" I asked my friend last Friday as we prepared to leave her cozy kitchen after a refreshing ladies' group study on the book of John. Too many take-aways this day from our discussion as with the weeks past.  As we said our goodbyes, I already planned on tackling my notes the moment I got back home. It's like finding nuggets of gold and you do not want to let go of your precious finds. Someday, when I grow up😊, I'll be able to share my learnings here, how privileged I am to be invited in this bonding of women "to stimulate one another to love and good deeds..." (Hebrews 10:24) and to pray for one another. The smell of freshly brewed coffee made our meeting even more enjoyable. 

"This isn't winter yet, wait till December and January. You'll see. This is just autumn." 

Confession Time: What We Learned from Our Family Bankruptcy- Henri's Cup of Tea

(Note: If this is your first time on the blog, or have missed my first post about the topic on family bankruptcy, you may want to catch the story here for a little perspective.)

Who said that it's easy to share something about a story of family bankruptcy? Especially that of your own family? On the blogosphere? I mean, it's a lot easier to share only the note-worthy ones, the crisp and the glossy, and the filtered and the praise-worthy ones. But the messy and the stinky ones? The bloody ones? The ones that place you on a state of vulnerability? And haven't we been shoved enough social media drama on a daily basis? Keeping it REAL on our publicized world, admit it, is quite difficult. Because who would want to look stupid on the outside, to be judged, to be virtually mocked?  No one.

But. There's a big BUT (to borrow my daughter's use of the word BUT as a conjunction on her other blog posts), in the light of eternity, it is always worth the risk and worth the try. Because you know that all along, you have the audience of ONE. Writing about it as you mindfully see it in God's eyes ultimately honors HIM and blesses HIM, and therefore, it blesses people, by HIS grace alone. It's His wonderful story wrought in you and now you are privileged to pen ( I mean figuratively speaking) so that through you, God's message of hope, love, and faithfulness will have a face and a flesh through you.  And Dear Lord I hope it doesn't sound like another Christian cliché.

"...that the God who started this great work in (you) us would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." (Philippians 1:6 MSG)

Sometimes, in all His mystery and grandeur, God allows good people to suffer because there is a higher purpose for it; I mean, ordinary people like us, people who don't have criminal records, those who are tax-paying, law-abiding citizens, those who are compassionate, loving, and peaceful people. I couldn't agree more when I heard a pastor said that suffering when we see it in the light of eternity, from God's perspective, is a privilege. It is a privilege because we are given an opportunity to take part in the suffering of our Lord Jesus when He died on the cross for our sins. He is blameless and perfect yet He suffered on our behalf so that on believing in Him and His finished work on the cross, we may have eternal life.  What an honor to be invited to become like Him because in suffering, God's character is hewn in us making us more like Him! Jesus Himself told His disciples "...If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23 NLT)

I've learned from a parenting seminar I've attended not long ago that "we bond in our weakness." We easily connect with people who go through similar difficult situations we may be having. Our tendency is to effortlessly bond together as we empathize with each others' situation and respect each others' weaknesses. When we know that we are not alone, we are understood, and we are not judged, we are stronger. This was exactly what happened to us when we lost our cozy home from a bank loan. As siblings, we shared a certain kind of closeness. We had to move in to a much much smaller apartment just enough to fit in a few of our personal belongings. That wasn't the last move we've had in years following the very first. I do not want to count how many times we've had those moves but each time we felt the house getting smaller and smaller. Much like a fish swimming in the ocean and suddenly finding itself in a swimming pool, then it gets poured in to a bath tub, then in to a batya, then in to a pitcher, to a cup of water, and lastly, in to a test tube. Do you see the fish squirmish in its cramped test tube home?

So, I have a younger brother that came after me, six years my junior. Henri is a gifted singer and musician. He is good in carpentry and gardening. He's an adrenaline junkie, a man of the outdoors, a strong swimmer, a kayaker, and a hiker when he was younger. He has a witty sense of humor making him fun to be with. He became a follower of Jesus on his early teens. When our family business collapsed and tatay fell ill, he became a man in a young boy's body and he was suddenly entrusted with home repairs on behalf of tatay. He's a son of a mechanic, it came naturally for him to be our family handyman. There would be late evenings he'd come home from his work at a music school and I  would catch him faintly strumming his acoustic guitar. Out in the dark singing a beautiful worship song to God. And those weren't without the sobs and tears. To us, he is not just a sibling but a loyal friend who's there for you. You'll never know what true riches are until you find a true friend who will stick with you through thick and thin. We were wealthy after all! When I got married,  he and my husband became close buddies because they share similar and bizaare ideas!  He's a cool uncle to my two kids and poured love on them when they were smaller. 

Little Henri and me circa 1979. Another sibling must have taken the pain of watermarking my face with an "X" for copyright purposes.😉

Henri and Noah frolicking at a beach in Puerto Galera, year 2007.

Henri's thoughts if you please.😀

What I learned from bankruptcy; many of life’s learnings came out of that. Even until now. God humbled me. If not humiliated. I learned to trust God. To not be bitter or point finger on who’s who but to see what I could have done differently or contribute at that present time to help tatay and inay. Kami ni Nini, my youngest sibling, nahirapan kame maka graduate. But I learned to persevere, focus, and hope in God. As in hard-core-focus-on-God. 

I learned to work hard. Before, money just comes in. But I learned to be self sufficient. Especially when we lost our home. I can speak for Nini that during that time, nobody cared from outside of our family circle. During that period which lasted several years (I think more than a decade) we had no home, no job, no father. Only God. In hind sight, i t was really Him that got us all through. It really was a humbling period. It felt that it would go on forever. 

Faith, emotion, and sanity were tested to their limits. Even until now, the scars are visibly visible. But it's just a memorial of God's faithfulness. I learned to dream. Before, it felt like there was no need to dream because as a little boy then, everything was right in front of you. During college, of which I stopped for two full years ( took me 7 years to finish college), God taught me not to look down on people. To appreciate and love them as they are. God taught me to forgive and to carry light in the heart all misgivings given. 

God taught me to fight in faith. I learned the value of actively waiting on Him. That period in life indeed, for me, was golden. Yes, you'd curse those years when you're in the middle of it, but I now have stories of faith and triumph that I can share with my future grandchildren. Looking back, and I always hold my emotions when I say this, those were my golden years. Sure it was more than a decade of agony, humiliation, waiting, hoping, famine, and hunger. But it's all worth it! God's grace is all worth it! It was one heck of a ride!

Inay and Henri's unico hijo, Henri Matthew, Matt for short, by the pristine Taal Lake in Batangas City, Philippines.

Lipa City home front family picture.

Melanie, "Che" for short, Henri's better half, is expecting a baby number 2. She takes good care of our aging eyes and I credit her for my signature (what's the name again?) 2-year old prescription glasses , fits like gloves, big lenses, just the way I want it. Thanks, Che. 😎