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. 😎

What I've Seen at the Honey Festival at Kolomenskoye Park So Far by Bethany

Kolomenskoye Park is a breathtaking 390 hectare scenery overlooking the Moskva River that was used to be a royal estate located a few kilometers southeast of the city center in Moscow. I was given the privilege the other day of visiting this beautiful place and even tasted some honey at the Honey Festival which happens once every September at the beginning of autumn. Mrs. Svetlana, my Russian Language teacher brought all of the beginners on a field trip including Noah and myself to practice what we have learned in our class. Basic sentences like:

Russian- "Я хочу купить этот мёд  в эту банку." 

English- "I would like to buy this honey in this jar."

Russian- "Можно попробовать этот мёд?"

English- "May I try this honey?"  

We rehearsed these dialogues in class and I felt more confident as we headed to the Honey Festival. Hopefully I'll be able to share more of what I've learned in my Russian class soon, but for now I'll just show you what I've seen at the Honey Festival.

This is the Church of the Ascension which was built in honor of the birth of Ivan the Terrible in the year 1532, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

We had our lunch by the banks of Moskva River before heading to the Honey Festival.

My impression of honey has changed after today. My whole life I thought that there was only one type of honey—the extremely expensive one that you can buy at the supermarket—but boy, I was wrong. They actually come in different varieties! This is especially because in a cold place like this, having four different seasons, flowers can bloom at their fullest giving plenty of time for the bees to do their jobs. 

I think this structure is dedicated for when they're having tiangges or bazaars showcasing their specialty products. This time the spotlight was on the honey.

I felt like I was a kid again as I saw the different varieties of honey on display at the stalls. Different colors of amber, gold, white, and different consistencies from gooey to runny. I've always dreamt of being in a room full of honey to slurp the sticky sweet hunny like Winnie the Pooh. Today, that dream just came true.

Can you spot Winnie the Pooh?

But I need to warn you that eating a hefty sticky honey like Pooh Bear may cause dizziness because that's what Noah experienced. Oh, bother.

 I ended up buying two jars of honey and Noah bought a pack of honeycomb. 

This honey has a thin consistency and it has a flowery aftertaste like jasmine which Dad liked. It only costs 570 rubles (PhP 420 / USD 9).

I never knew that white honey existed until I saw this one. It said it contains МОЛОЧКОМ (malachkom) and I'm not quite sure what it exactly means. Maybe milky? For МОЛОКО, that one I know. This honey has an extremely thick consistency and it tastes like condensed milk, but not quite. Mom liked this in particular and I also liked it. Maybe I can combine this with butter on sour dough bread. What do you think? It has a nougat aftertaste. It costs 800 rubles (PhP 600 / USD 12) I thought it was expensive? But I think it's worth it.

This honeycomb is light and sweet, but you can't eat the whole thing because it's beautifully lodged in beeswax.

I took a picture of the honeycomb with a macro lens.

It was brave of me taking this picture because I have trypophobia or fear of small holes, nonetheless, I overcame my fear. It gave me chills but it also left me in awe of what bees can do and how the Lord created them in a marvelous way.

The best part of this trip was tasting all the honeys, the white condensed milk-like honey as my favorite. Unfortunately, when you're in a class field trip like this you're like in a moving train—everything is in a rush and you can't keep your iPhone steady and the honey-tasting was overwhelming. Overall, this trip made me appreciate the Lord's Creation of bees because if not for them, I won't have a taste of this sweet golden syrup to please the rumbly in my tumbly.