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  "Every marriage is made up of two ingredients, togetherness and separateness. In good marriages, the partners carry equal loads of those. Let's say there are 100 points of togetherness and 100 points of separateness. In a good relationship, one partner expresses 50 points of togetherness and 50 points of separateness, and the other does the same. They both do things on their own, and that creates some mutual longing for the other, and the togetherness creates some need for separateness." —Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud Part 2 The Season of Separateness As quoted above, Dr. Henry Cloud described a healthy togetherness and separateness in marriage. But it is interesting to note that this also holds true for a healthy parent-child relationship—especially for home-educating families, presuming that they have a close relationship with each other. This is the kind of perspective that helped you process and prepare for what would inevitably happen in the future as your daughter...

Part 1  The Season of Togetherness How do you wrap your mama-heart around the thought of your daughter leaving home for college in Manila, Philippines? From nursery, kinder 1, and kinder 2, to grades 1 through 12—we are talking about 15 wonderful years of preparing her for this season of going to college. "She's finally on her own now and away from your leash" was a joke that somehow felt like reality. But would those 15 years be enough to train her to overcome the challenges of university life, and eventually, the real world for which she was called for a purpose? Yes. You think so. You will worry and you will be scared naturally, thinking about how she will survive living mostly on her own in the big city. But that is not how you're going to take this season of your life. It's not about worrying or doubting, although you can't deny that this struggle is real. What is this all about, then? This is all about your posture—how you're going to welcome the ine...

"Consider it all JOY, brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4 Consider it all JOY, my brethren, when you encounter various trials... such as the tragedy that struck my family last October 3, when two gun-wielding criminals riding a motorbike fired multiple shots at my eldest brother and his 15-year-old son. It happened so fast—in a split second—that both of them died on the spot in broad daylight, right in the driveway of their own home. It was difficult watching the news on national TV and on the internet in the following days. It was a double-murder tragedy. I've seen hundreds of news stories like this before. But this day was different. This was my brother. This was my nephew. You and I both know that a tragedy is a tragedy; it is unthinkable, it cuts so deep, and the shards of glass feel perma...

There is something about the sound of rain that immediately pulls you toward the kitchen. It makes you crave the comfort of home, with the soft music playing from another room, and the familiar aromas of childhood. Trying to frame a perfect view for a windy, rainy morning here on this side of the planet. It's a perfect day to cook a family-favorite ulam , which is none other than the delectable laing . And because I hail from the province of Oriental Mindoro, I also call it pinangat , or pangat for short. The main ingredient of this well-loved Filipino dish is the lowly dahon ng gabi that propagates in your swampy backyard or in your neighborhood's unkempt vacant lot. If you are friends with your neighbor who grows a gabi patch, you can score it for free. The same situation applies to your malunggay and dahon ng saging cooking needs. Gabi , or taro in English, is primarily a starchy root vegetable that has huge green leaves and tuberous stalks. It is loaded with essentia...