They say that in school, you'll learn how to write, read, draw and other technical stuff.  Last weekend was full of new things to learn for me.

Man's Time vs. God's Time
Week after week, we're so good at filling up our schedule to the brim. There were cases were we put event coverage, photobooth service, attending birthday parties, family gathering and serving through CFC all in one day.  We're so addicted on being busy to the point that at the end of the day, when we look back at the things we've done, everything seemed to be mediocre. That things were done out of compliance and not aligned to what we were designed to do.

God took charge and made us stick to what is important.  Amanda got sick so we went to the Asian Hospital super early morning which is much earlier than the activity we're suppose to go to. Instead of going through a lot of activities for that day, we spent it with the kids.  That afternoon, we visited lola at the heritage to check out if our solar lamp really works, and then went to my cousin for Cassandra's shot.

God's Engineering
During our visit to Dr. Robles, my cousin and both of my kids' pedia, she told us on how a woman's body adapts to the needs of her baby.  Did you know that the breastmilk that moms produce contains the exact amount of vitamins and nutrients that her baby needs?  Like whey and casein proteins.  The right balance of these two substances make it easier for a baby to digest thus increasing her ability to resist infections. Formula milk tries to mimic these combination that's why you can see different types based on an infant's age.

Same Sex Marriage
This was also the same weekend were Same Sex Marriage was legalized in the US.  I would have to agree with Pope Francis' view that this is cohabitation rather than marriage and family life.  A family needs balance and by God's engineering, men and women although different, complement each other's existence.  And that these different roles are important to raise kids who will be the future of the society.

We're celebrating Cassandra's eight months already!

It was good to finally spend more time with her during the independence day weekend and bond with the whole family. Truly, family time is the best time :)

For Cassandra's eight month, these are the things she could do now:

Learning how to stand on her own.
This is good as her big legs are being exercised everyday to be stronger.  Thinking ahead, 23 years from now (wow advanced), I do hope that even if she's an adult, she would still depend on daddy or mommy to do some things, not because she can't do it, but because she loves us to still serve her (this is respect)

Using the "andador"
Remember the bamboo andador (walker)?  Well, Cassie is not using that, but rather, she's using Ate Champee's,  I want to buy one though so we could compare its effectiveness vs. the modern ones.  I'm just thinking that if the results were the same, we may have been over complicating our lives with modern tools only to find out that the end result is similar.  In life, we may have to slow down and weigh things first before going into the next big thing.

Eating more.
Cassandra is eating solids more. She can eat twice the amount she's taking from when she started. At first, BLW (baby led weaning) may seem to teach kids gluttony since they tend to eat a lot, but studies show that when they grow up, they would eat the right amount and proper nutritious food.

With all these developments, we can't wait for her ninth month already.

#latepost
Love more. 

They said that God surprises you when He wants to teach you something.  As this year's theme for CFC is to love more, there were numerous times already that I needed to go back to this teaching and really love more.

One of these is knowing if we're going to push through with Amanda's Giving Back project which we do every year on her birth month.  And true enough, God tested our character if we would be willing to love more.

Time, budget... and a lot of worries.

These were the things that brought our family to have doubts in doing Amanda's Giving Back birthday activity.  Cali and I were touched by God that there's no other greater assurance in this world except to hold on to His words.  And so we decided to cast all those worries and sponsor one of the kids' weekend.

So finally we're able to do it again this year on Champee's 4th birthday.  We were able to have a simple fun-filled activity with the Caliwag kids on May 3 with the help of our loving kuyas and ates from Singles for Christ.

Some things we learned during the activity:

1. Playtime.  Since she's a big baby now, she joined the activities already and learn how to play with the bigger boys and girls.
2. Gratitude. Before we left, the kids and the ates and kuyas said thank you.  But we replied, thank you instead of You're welcome.  Why? Not because we're Filipinos :) (do you notice how many of us respond thank you with a thank you also?) but because I believed they gave me more than what we've given them. They gave us the opportunity to serve and to learn life's simple pleasures.
3. Osmosis. That despite of all the challenges for the family, we chose to push through with it so that our babies could absorb the rationale behind helping others and loving more. We do hope that when they grow up, they'll always remember to share and love.