It's March and you'll often see your Facebook feeds flooded with graduation pictures or moving up day videos.​  So here's my share this graduation season.

What's the big deal about moving up or graduation? More than the awards and the cute presentations, I see it  as a reflection of how much we value education... that having a degree gives you a fighting chance for a better living. 

The Food for Hungry Minds
Two weeks ago, me and my officemates went to visit the Food for Hungry Minds school.  It's amazing on how we were able to transform people's lives through the power of better education.  I've met some kids in their homes when this school started, and you wouldn't believe on the amount of pressure they're facing living in such conditions in their neighborhood.  In school they are taught academics and character formation, but when they go home, I could say that they're already doing doctorate studies in life as they're under tremendous pressure on just being able to survive life on a daily basis.

With Food for Hungry Minds' more than 10 years of dedication, I was glad to hear stories of graduates who were able to graduate from the Philippines' top universities and pursue their dreams.  As the foundation continues to help more kids, may they be a catalyst for social change for our country and the world.

ANCOP (Answering the Cry of the Poor)
​Since I'm part of the Couples for Christ advocacy on alleviating poverty, we started the Be a Hero Program this school year.  We raise funds to help the most needy in our Sector so their kids can have additional funds for their education.  The mission is investing in the education hoping for a our country's better future by raising educated and Christ-centered kids.

Amanda's Moving Up
​It's Amanda's second year in preschool and noticed that she learned a lot.  Here's a brief highlight of her moving up day.

It was cute seeing her perform. This may well wrap up what she learned in school.  Yes, she now starts to read simple words and sentences, writes better, creates more defined drawings, paints well.  But more importantly, she's able to connect more with her classmates and be more inclusive.

​One thing I noticed this year was her interest with singing, dancing and speaking in front of people.  Although prior to the moving up day she had asthma, she was absent for two days of the practice.  But what's interesting was her ability to stay focused and practiced on her own during those days she was out so she was still able to catch up when she went back to school for the practice. 

​I believe real education is not about the final grades you receive at the end of the school year, nor the medals and certificates that you get.  In life, what's important is the character formation that educational institutions bring and the challenges we encounter.

​The kids in HMS, the scholars of ANCOP, and Amanda made big steps in recognizing that education is more than just numbers and words but rather seeing through the obstacles they encounter everyday. 

HOPE
Amanda's moving up day theme is "Be a leader, be the desired change".  This gave me a sense of hope for our future.  As early as their preschool years, they are taught that change starts with oneself and doesn't depend on other things that you don't have control.  With HMS and ANCOP's scholars, I'm more ecstatic that our kids who don't have capability to get better education to have hope.  Hope to see that their dreams are a step closer to reality.

Happy birthday Mommy Cali!

Just would like to thank and honor you for always taking care of us.  I know it's super difficult to stay sane with all the demands of motherhood and our growing Peek 'n Click business, but you stayed stronger and more beautiful than ever.

​To my #OTL, I love you and happy birthday!

Meet Amanda and Cassie's pet.

Last month, after our weekly routine of visiting Lola Ludy -> Mc Donald's breakfast with Lolo Ador, Ate Amanda wanted to visit Mr. Bear in BGC High Street.  Since it's still early morning, we figured we just dropped by and say hi.

Fortunately, there was a pet exhibit during that weekend where we saw furry chickens, colorful fish and empty dog cages.  Then there was a pet shop owner who's preparing for his talk later that afternoon and he's putting all these fish in individual plastic bags to be given away after his speaking engagement.  So my wife, with her usual charm just asked what they were doing.  Then they were super nice to give this fish to our babies making him our family's first pet.  Later on I realized that Peppa's first pet was a fish as well.

So I asked Ate Amanda, "What name would you like to give our pet?"  She said, "Hmmmmm, I know... FISHY!"

One of the positive things I observed when we had fishy is that ate became more caring. She sees to it that we feed him 3 pellets per meal twice a day as advised by the pet owner.  A great way to teach her about responsibility which we could already see when she protects Cassandra to prevent her from falling the bed when we need to go out for a while.

Welcome FISHY!

My wife's already in her 37th week of pregnancy.  In a race, this is what we call the homestretch.  The last leg.  The defining moment.  

Ever noticed this in life?  That all great things cannot be done overnight?  And have you ever noticed that the most difficult part in a long process is always the last leg?  

Here are five things our family checked if we're really ready for Cassandra.  

1. Is Ate Champee ready? I have a friend who once told me that no matter how they prepared their first child, they still got surprised on her reaction when they got home with the new baby as their eldest got protective of her old toys that are now used by the new baby.  One of the advice that we got from my sister in law was to always make sure that our ate is involved in preparing the family for our new member.  Also, we kept on reminding our Ate Champee to always share her toys and include her in our daily prayer where our little ate is leading.  As parents, we're conscious on making her feel loved such that she can also pass it on to our new little angel and to wipe out the feeling of jealousy.  Also aside from her heart, we prepared Ate's new look with a new haircut from the salon.
2. Is our budget ready? This might be the number one reason why couples today don't have any plans on making a big family.  It's always about money.  When we're single we think on how can we get married with the money we have.  When we're married, all we think is how we can support our children.  This is reality.  For our family, what's worse is that my company had a change in the middle of the year and our yearly bonus got pushed back a few months.  But as a Christian, we believed that all things are possible when God moves... even through our finances or should I say, most specially in our finances.  Despite the scenario, our little business picked up and got more clients than what we expected.  Will we have enough to cover the CS operation and expenses afterwards?  Maybe just enough to get by... but with all the wisdom that God has shown our family, we know we're ready as long as we do what He wanted us to do.  In John 21:6 Jesus said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.  I've seen this miracle when I proposed to Cali with uncertainty that my little savings could allow us to get married.  But then I was confident since I was able to "throw my net", meaning I took the leap of faith with God's assurance that everything will be accounted for.  I learned photography, read business books, attended internet marketing, made some quality output for my main job, serve God even more... then the "fish" came.  Did I earn more financially during Out time?  A few maybe... but I met friends who eventually became suppliers for our wedding and was even able to book our honeymoon flight for less than 2k for a trip to Macau and HK.  So, with that, our family's just waiting for the surprises that God has in store for us.
3. Is our HEART ready?  When we had our first baby, we said that during our honeymoon stage, we were overwhelmed by the love we have for us as a couple and that it was time for us to share this love.  The same is true with our Cassandra that we can't wait to love another member of the family.  Come to think of it, as we increase our numbers in the family, the number of person giving love grows as well... for the first baby we have two, for the second one, we have three and so on and so forth.
4. Is our HEALTH ready?  Definitely my wife is ultra healthy... she commented before that she's even healthier when she's pregnant as she becomes conscious on what she eats. For me, it's a different story.  I gained a lot of weight despite the same exercise I've been having.  I just believe that the extra pounds of fat will be helpful on burning calories during the wee hours of the evening when Cassandra comes :)  Well, that's just an excuse, I really regained my love for carbs which added to my love handles.
5. Is our SPIRIT ready?  As a family, we're still active in serving God and been going through different talks or even giving one to keep us connected to God.  As Christians, any new life event and the anxiety it may bring, should always make us closer to Him.  Our family's prayer time is now lead by Ate Champee while we drive her going to school.  As simple as her words of thanksgiving, they were also reflect the exact sentiments of our family... full of gratitude to God's amazing greatness.

Checking out these five areas, I think we're ready and if we missed something, I'm sure these will be areas where God will surprise our family.

Amanda's favorite past time which started few weeks ago was the "What's that sign?" game.  I think this is the stage where she learned how to use the "What".  So here's the mechanics of the game... everytime she sees a traffic sign, she's going to ask Mommy and Daddy, what's that sign?  Cute isn't it? (like Amanda's Daddy :) ) 


So what are the things me and my wife observed:

1. Waste. Do you know what traffic sign is posted the most in Metro Manila?  It's the No Parking sign.  Imagine that for every 5 to 10 meters starting from our house going to her school, we saw more than 15 posts of this sign.  And all were made of steel with reflective stickers or paints.  Maybe a ballpark estimate of about 2k Php per sign which amounts to 30k worth of taxpayer's money for no parking signs.  Hmmmm... I wonder why we need that much given that we only have a two-lane two-way street (one lane per way).  Isn't it obvious that we shouldn't park our cars in such an avenue?  Is it a budget allocation issue for the government OR our fault on our foresight that we need a parking slot if ever we buy a car?
2. Patience. So given we saw about more than 15 signs in such a short trip... Amanda will ask the same question over and over.  Well, it's cute but after sometime when we're having adult conversations and we were interrupted because of a sign that was the same about a minute ago, sometimes it would take its toll.  This reminded us that kids will be kids.  And that we should allow them to be that way since they would only be that cute and small once.  What does this mean?  We should be patient and loving in dealing with it, after all it's not just a game but a way for kids to learn and exercise their memory.
   
3. Repetition. During the first week, Amanda was asking because she didn't know the signs.  After a week, she's asking to tell us that she knows them.  Like if we missed looking a sign, and she asked what's that sign?  we told her we're sorry I didn't see it... but she'll immediately reply it's No Parking Daddy!  Repetition, helps retain information to a person's brain.  I realized that this is both a blessing and a curse.  As a blessing, this can help our kids do good in their academics or even their careers in the future... the curse part is when they repeatedly see our bad habits though.  Hopefully, I can practice being a good role model than being a clumsy rookie dad.

Today's my last day in my on shore assignment.  Work-wise, I was able to talk to a lot of people.  Generated new ideas of improving almost all areas in my work.  Personally, my long wait was over and that I'm excited to see my girls.

While waiting for my laundry to finish, I opened the tv and just happened to catch Bruce Almighty again.  And this idea struck me... "How can you make someone love you by respecting his/her freewill?"

In the movie, it was all about Bruce getting all God's powers.  But it has a limitation... you can never use it to make people love you... because of freewill.

Same is true with parenting.  Now that Amanda is still a toddler, I know it's easy for her to love us as her parents.  It is a given that all of us, when we're young, we all go to our parents since we're highly dependent on them.  Maybe 10 years down the road, things will change. She maybe fully independent and as all parents may fear, we don't have control if she'll love us back..

So then came my thought, how can we make our kids go back and love us?

It was and always will be a work in progress.  I think that if I could just plant tiny seeds of love everyday in what ever way that she may or may not feel may be the answer.  Like, when we're apart, we always say I love you. Or simply take time to appreciate her crooked that are supposedly straight line drawings. Or drop a conversation with an adult to just listen to her telling "look at my minion castle"  

Little things, when compounded might just be the way to raise loving kids.  Just pure theory for now, after all I'm just a rookie dad.

Why send your kid to summer school?

I think most new parents are very anxious on leaving their child to a person whom they don't know personally for some hours to interact with other kids.  Some doubts that kept on wondering in a parent's mind could be, "what if there's a bully who would hurt my child?"  or "what if she starts looking for me and frantically screams the whole session?" or "what if she becomes bored as she doesn't have interest with their activities?"

Before the summer began, we were still having some doubts if Amanda is too young to go to school.  Imagine, from three years old up to well 22, she'll be undergoing a rigid routine of waking up early, commuting to school and then being preoccupied with all the schoolwork with greater pressure as she becomes older.

Maybe I was thinking way advanced and looking at the disadvantage more than what the benefits we could get from having her attend school.  

Two Fridays ago, it was Amanda's end of summer school.  And guess what?  I realized six surprising things that happened to Amanda as a result of her schooling:

1. Create stories - Amanda was able to talk straight and communicate prior to going to school.  However, one great thing that happened to her was her ability to make cohesive plot out of her sentences now.  As what I've written in my previous blog, she's able to tell stories now.
2. Social Skills - I think it's very obvious that parents send their kids to school to see how well they will interact with other children.  I realized that by nature, kids will really talk to each other.  It may not be during the first week but essentially, they will find a way to talk to one another then make friends.  With Amanda, we saw that she's very gentle and behaved.  When Teacher Euke tells the class to keep quiet she's one of the kids who immediately follows. 
3. Change in routine - Before Amanda went to school, she sleeps very late about 12 midnight and wakes up about ten in the morning.  She also had to fight with constipation as she doesn't eat the right amount of fiber and doesn't get enough exercise.  When her class started, surprisingly, just about a week, her sleep routine normalized.  She wakes up at six and then takes afternoon siesta when she gets home from school.  She also feels sleepy and doses off between 8 to 9.  For her daily battle with constipation, all of a sudden it was gone.  Maybe there's a scientific explanation for it but whatever it is, I'm thankful she got better.
4. Uncover her personality - Through her school, I noticed that even though she's quiet and behaved, she speaks out her mind.  One of the traits that I don't have when I was in my early years in school :)  I guess that's a good thing as it'll be easy to communicate with her as she grows up. 
5. Parents and Time Management - As a parent, the most challenging thing to do is to adjust your own routine to accommodate this new activity.  Aside from waking up early you have to consider on how to fit your time with her school activities, work, business, marriage, community and of course playtime.  This leads me to having less time for sleep though.
6. Sacrifice and Payoff - I ran into this article yesterday about an interview with Ravi Zacharias, an evangelist.  One of the lines that struck me was "...With true pleasure, you pay the price before. With false pleasure, you pay the price after.”  Given that we have to adjust our schedules, wake up early in the morning to prepare for school, invoke delayed gratification in order to save money for her schooling and endure the constant battle in having Amanda take a bath... it was all worth it.  She's now more confident in speaking, had lots of new dance moves, knows how to make the sign of the cross perfectly, can count one to 30, can sing more than just twinkle twinkle and boom panes, and of course love and care more for others.
   

It was amazing to see how Champee has grown in her communication skills after just three weeks of her summer class.

Last Tuesday, Champee was able to narrate her dream to Cali after waking up from her afternoon siesta.  She told her that she had a very bad dream.  "So what was your dream?", Cali said.  "There was a giant hotdog that was running after me!", was Champee's reply with her eyes seemingly starting to cry.  But then mommy was quick to respond that she's there and offered her something to eat to distract the fear from her dream.

It was a good plan, however, Cali forgot that the food they bought was "sopas".  Yes, it was Champee's favorite, but everytime she eats it, she takes away the hotdogs as she really doesn't like the taste.  Supposedly when we cook sopas, we dice the hotdogs so it doesn't look like one but unfortunately from where they bought this soup, you can easily recognize the hotdogs.  So the distraction suddenly became a reminder again of her dream :)

I got curious how could a hotdog be so scary aside from being big so I googled up "giant hotdogs" and found the image above.  And yes, it's scary indeed!  Why would he put ketchup on his head?  Is he planning to eat himself?!  I don't have any idea who created this mascot but I'm sure I won't invite it on Champee's next birthday as it might trigger nightmares for her.  (no offense to the creator it's just that my daughter doesn't appreciate giant scary hotdogs for now)

Daddy tips:

1. At an early age, just let kids tell stories to freely express themselves. At three years old, don't expect too much that they might be able to create a highly cohesive story.  Just understanding the main idea of the story is enough for them to gain more confidence to speak up and express more about their insights.  What is important is that she knows someone is willing to always listen to her and be heard.  Like us adults, there are times wherein all we want is to have a friend who is willing to be still and just let us talk for hours just to voice out our frustrations..  
2. Most children can get scared of simple or weird things. As dads, I believe that we are the first knights of our daughters and the official MVP of our sons... Having them believed that there is a daddy who they can count on and can always protect them assures them of a life of security.  I remembered an article saying why girls are much closer than their dads.  It's because they know that at least there's that one man who truly loves and cares for them and won't ever hurt them.  I'm just hoping that as Amanda grows up, she always remember that her rookie dad is the first man who truly loved her and that there would be no reason to fear anything as she's secured that I'll always support her.

I don't think that I have inspired my wife enough on all her efforts for her motherhood. So I'm writing this week's blog to affirm all the sacrifices she made for me, Amanda and our little baby.

Prior to going full time mompreneur she has a great career in finance.  She even got featured in a news feature for her retail stocks experience. She's also in a lead position  where she's beginning to handle people and critical processes in the company she's working.

Since both of us are working we had no choice but to hire a nanny to take care of her while we're gone.

But then we had to decide... One night when we went home from work, we found Champee's face with bruises on her forehead and cheeks. Of course the nanny didn't admit what happened and that she made up stories of how that happened such that our daughter got crazy and hit her head with a remote multiple times. Take note she was just a year and a half years old then.

Trauma. Dishonesty. The real meaning of life.

Faced with such situation, I don't think any parent would still have the guts to hire another nanny and leave her child in the custody of someone we rarely know.

We also assessed why are we spending more than 12 hours of our time at the office, well in fact we're doing these to earn more money for Amanda and our future kids. Is the additional income of having both parents work  really worth the time we're missing knowing that childhood can never be brought back when they are already grown ups?

Maybe for some couples it's a yes.

For us... No.

So now the question is who will take the sacrifice? Is it me or Cali?

In this patriarchal society the default should be the wife. But we were both open, of course at the back of my mind if I took the dive, I'm happy thinking about unlimited hours of playing, sleeping and doing something stupid so maybe that's what my wife thought ahead of me before I say yes.  So to save our family from doom :) she took a hard decision and gave up her corporate life.

That sparked a change in our family life. Family is now on the top spot of the priority as we believed this is the primary calling of all moms and dads.

Luckily we have PnC photography that served as Cali's sideline. From corporate to  mom - entrepreneur (mompreneur). From full time employee of taking care of the company's cash flow to witnessing the amazing  daily transformation of Amanda with some financial benefits of the  business on her own phase.  From being in the comfort zone into taking risks and letting God do that math for the family's needs.  Take note that being a full time is never easy. And top that with client meetings, sleepless nights on photo editing and being a CEO is harder than it looks.  So with this I salute my wife for her hardwork.

Aside from her career, she pretty much deprioritize her shopping. Not that we don't gave budget on it but it's Mother's instinct to instead buy something for herself on her new clothes or shoes she ends up buying for Champee.

Unconditional love, commitment and hardwork. These are the values that made Mommy Cali the best mom in the whole universe for our little family.  I may not have expressed my gratitude enough to tell all these but I just wanted to take this time to tell how much I thank Cali for all her sacrifices as a mom.  We love you so much!