A Boy and Two Girls

While this photo says a lot, I must tell about how our girls cherish their baby brother.

One Sunday at church, while Aio was barely learning to crawl, we let him down to explore the family room saved for church-goers with little ones. There was a little girl around his age who was actively exploring as well. She banged on the pews as she loudly screeched in delight at the combination of sounds her plastic toy and the wood produced.

We smiled politely at her eagerness but was silently on guard as she came closer and closer to Aio.

As she hurriedly crawled towards him, arm poised to seemingly discover what sound her plastic toy would produce on my son's head, I tensed and got ready to pick Aio up before anything unpleasant happened.

But before I could even sweep him off, Jamie and Aadanne stood up swiftly, each on their brother's side. Their prompt reaction made the little girl halt on her knees. Dagger looks shot off my girls faces and jolted the poor little girl, sending her back crawling to her parents who smiled apologetically.

My girls did not even have to say anything. I guess everyone who saw knew, including the little girl, that Aio was not to be messed with. At least not with his sisters around.

SCMH Features & News: The Basics Humans Need to Live are the Basics Fork...

SCMH Features & News: The Basics Humans Need to Live are the Basics Fork...: Food, shelter, clothing, proper hygiene, medical and dental check-ups are what enables a person to live by a certain standard. Proper nouri...

The Lessons A Lemonade Stand Taught Our Eight Year Old Daughter

1. Be resourceful. Know where and how to get your lemons.

2. Overcoming shyness.

3. "No customers mom." Patience. You think businesses shut down after an hour of no walk-ins?

4. "I'm hungry." Well is it your breaktime yet? You think papa gets up in the middle of work to eat whenever he wants? There are schedules to follow.

5. "I give up mom. It's hard." No work nor business is easy. If papa and I gave up everytime it got hard at work, then what would you and your sister have to eat?

6. Be grateful to those who helped you along the way. The neighbor who gave you lemons. Papa who set up your tent. Your sister who kept you company. Team work is very important at work and in business.

7. If it did not work today, re-assess your strategy. Then try again. Do not give up.

8. Whatever  path you choose to take in life, love it. Don't get a job "just because". Find one that will motivate you everyday to rise and shine. Only then will success follow hard work and passion.

Two Things You Need During the Homebuying Process: A Solid Spouse and a Reliable Real Estate Agent

As I sit on my desk pondering on what to blog about this Friday morning of October 11, I find myself suffering from a writer’s block. No ideas, no concepts, no subject matter, hence, no words.

I am amidst a home-buying and home-selling situation and with two young children, an eight-to-five job, and house chores, I am drained.

I am learning though that there are two things good to have when you’re amidst a homebuying process—a supportive and positive spouse and reliable real estate and loan agents.

First you need the solid support of your partner to bounce off thoughts and weigh pros and cons when considering a property that may end up being your lifelong home. I usually decide with my heart and thankfully, my husband is practical and mathematical. Plus when I get so engrossed on checking my MLS link (Multiple Listing Service is a resource sent to you by your real estate agent to communicate prospective properties), there is a partner who remembers to prepare milk for the baby.

Second, you need to have a reliable real estate agent who looks out for your needs, not his. Ours is Rodman Amiri of Merit Real Estate who knows our budgets, knows our needs, and knows our tastes by heart (including our eldest daughter’s, Jamie, who longs for yard space for a jumper on her birthdays.) He makes sure that the areas we vie for are conducive to raising a family. He anticipates our future plans (I told you how he knows these by heart) and makes sure the homes we look at have room to grow into. Finally, he looks out for the price. He studies the comparables—list of surrounding homes with the same specifications in a particular neighborhood—and all other real estate factors that allow us to make the right offers and not overbid. He disregards a property if it is not suited for us even if it may mean earning him a bigger commission. He wants our mortgage payments to be comfortable for us to keep the house for the long-term. Lastly, I cannot thank him enough for his patience and perseverance. For all of my family’s collective desires in finding a house, and selling our current one, he always meets those needs. And I say always.

Finally, you have to have a stable financing company behind you. Redondo Mortgage Center (RMC) has been around South Bay for nearly 25 years. It is good to have a solid pre-qualification on hand before you even start shopping for a home. RMC will guide you through the process and ensure that you are qualified to make an offer.

I will not say that homebuying is completely stress-free. Particularly if you are hormonal like me. But with partners alongside you who make the process adventures as opposed to arduous, there is a lot to look forward to than stress about. It is certainly comforting to have a partner who can put you in a realistic perspective and a real estate agent who remembers that a yard needs to be big enough for a bouncer.

I guess I no longer have a writer’s block J

-MMG

Then God Told Me It's Better Than Winning the Jackpot

Lately I have been buying lottery tickets. If you know me, you know that I am not into these lottery things. First off, I've never won any raffle in my life--not in any annual Christmas party, not a cake raffle at school, not in any mall-sponsored drawings. So I am kinda skeptical about coughing out a buck to join a pool for a chance to win millions.

Anyhow, influenced by advertising taglined "Imagine what a buck can do!" I join the office pool on California Lottery Megamillions and even bet on a few numbers myself. Ticket on hand, all the things that I would do should I win, flash in my head (backgrounded of course by the TVC theme "California Dreaming"). I told myself "Mars, you don't need all the jackpot money. Just enough to buy a van, donate to church and your kids' school, a small home upgrade, and a little for the girls' trust fund." Then I smile. I even have this sporadic conversations with God while driving alone in my car: "What do you say, God? Do you think I can have a share of that lottery?"

Then he answered. "...It's better than winning the jackpot."

He answered last night when I came upon this news: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/15/justice/pennsylvania-teen-heroes 

Jocelyn Rojas, a five-year old girl was rescued by two teens from a suspected kidnapper. Tracy Clay, grandmother of Jocelyn, was ecstatic upon the safe return of their little girl. She was profusely grateful to the young teens who pursued the suspect who eventually let the little girl out seeing that he was being chased. In her interview she blurted out "...It's better than winning the jackpot!..." 

I was literally shaken. Her words struck like thunder. How uncanny that God answers me when  I least expect it.

I guess, this will be the last lottery I will be obsessed with. Now I am humming "California Dreaming" and in my head, I see a picture of my family. It's cuddle time with the girls and as their laughter resound, my husband and I feel we've hit the jackpot.

Re-Gifting: Aim to Please Not Insult

There's nothing bad about re-gifting. If you you think an item you own would be appreciated by the recipient and will be put in better use, then go ahead, re-gift away!

There are just some simple rules I think we must follow in order to please instead of insult.

1.  Please make sure the item has never been used.

This should be obvious. If you have already used the gift and find that for some reason, it is not to your liking, just donate it or give it to someone "just because". Do not try to pass it up as a present. I got a blouse that I wore once but it just didn't look good on me. But the color would be perfect for my sister, so I told her that I had worn it once but it may flatter her more. I told her she could keep it if she likes it. She was happy that it looked great on her!

2.  Please remove all traces of notes that were meant for you.

Unless you mean to insult your recipient, please take out cards, notes, or tags indicating the item was meant for you. I once got the book "Eat, Love, Pray" form a co-worker for my birthday. I thought it was very sweet since she never gave anyone a present at work. When I opened the first page there was a post-it that read "Dear XXXXX, I hope you like this book. From XXXXXX". I would have appreciated it more if my giver told me "I'm done reading this book from my friend and thought you might enjoy it too. Happy Birthday!"

3.  Be honest. If you're comfortable enough to let the recipient know, a family or a close friend, then let her or him know that this was something someone gave you but you think he/she may enjoy it more.

4. Please do not brag that you bought it especially for him/her.

My mom got a present last Christmas. The giver said "I made this especially for you." It was a bottle of preserved vegetables. When my mom got home she opened the present and on the bottle it read "Dear XXXX, Merry Christmas, God Bless! From XXXXXXX Family." My mom got sad especially because she went out of her way to save and plan a present she could afford for that giver. It wasn't a matter of "how much" it cost. But the effort and the time to think things through instead of just grabbing a bottle from the cupboard, speaks much of a person.

I may not be a generous gift-giver. I may wait for the right items, I know my recipient would love, to go on sale. I do not have much, but if my recipient is special, I may even find time to make him or her something. A photo collage of her or his family on a frame. Baked brownies. A tribute video. But rest assured, if the gift comes from me, the frame may have been bought from the 99C store, the brownies may have come from a mix, and the video may cost me zero dollar amount, they would have all been meant for the recipient. Most of all, it would have come from the heart.

PSDon't you think those who re-gift carelessly should receive the same?

Forgiving Heart

It was no secretthat my grandfather, former Chief of Police Telesforo Tenorio, was a "ladies' man." That's subtly put.

When I was 10 years old I met a girl my age while at a party. She bragged that her grandfather was the chief of police of Manila. I told her that that wasn't possible 'cause it's my grandfather who's the chief of police, Telesforo Tenorio, married to my grandmother, Rosario. She exclaimed "That's my grandfather!" I was puzzled. I knew all of my cousins on my mother side but I have never seen her in my life. I ran to my mom and told her about the girl claiming to have the same grandfather. After my mom and her dad engaged in a subtle conversation and a few laughs, my mom told me, "She is your step cousin."  If there was ever a term, I did not understand it then. But later in my life, I would encounter people with the same last name as my middle name who would turn out to be a "distant relative." It never bothered me. In fact there is that affinity to people who I meet that somehow share my name and bloodline.

Later on, I wondered, how my grandmother, sweet and loving as she was, could have dealt with it all. It brought me to a time when I was about five years old. I happened to pick up a phone call while at my grandmother's home. The lady on the other line was furious and was speaking foul language as she asked for my grandma. I called my grandmother and she patiently listened to the other woman. Even from a distance, I could hear the other woman screaming through the end of the phone. When her ranting stopped, I will never forget the three words my grandmother said to her before quietly putting down the phone. "God Bless You."

This woman wronged my grandmother in so many ways. Crossed the line when she disturbed her home. Yet all she got was "God Bless You"? If I had half the loving, forgiving heart of my grandmother, I might end up in heaven where she is certainly now.

I miss her terribly. I always dreamt of her doing the things we used to do together like eat our favorite ube (yam) ice cream, go to Makati Supermarket and have the spaghetti, our walks in the park in our matching dusters (long comfortable dresses), the birthday parties she threw me, dental appointments together, and best of all, being cradled on her lap!

When I was twelve I sat beside her and waited for her 6:00 O'clock novena to finish. Finally, after she made the sign of the cross she told me "Hopefully I live to see you celebrate your 16th birthday." I told her "No! You'll live 'til I'm a hundred!" She passed away when I was 21. I remember taking her to the hospital one of the days I came to visit her bearing groceries. Her favorite milk, cookies, crackers, and nuts in tow. She just had stomach pains that she thought was ulcer. Unfortunately, after having been confined, she was never released. It was cancer.

So many cousins alternately kept watch over her. All of them perhaps, felt the magnitude of love my grandmother had for all of us.

The funny thing is, after all she had gone through for my grandfather, he would still be her last breath. One of my cousins told us the last few days, she would be caught talking into open space, addressing my grandfather as if he was there (he passed way ahead of her), by name "Porong, Sprite ang gusto ko." (Porong, what I want is Sprite.)

Now, that's love. No anger. No hate. Forgiven and forgotten.