Early Lunch Today

...consider it brunch.



















This is my Fetuccini With Shrimp in Creamy White sauce. Yum yum! As usual, Gabe ate the noodles without the sauce.


Served yesterday was Creamy Tomato Sauce Over Fetuccini to some friends from church who came for a visit. Glad they liked it.

Zach Will Be In K2

We were about to enroll Zach last Monday for Kinder 1, following the result of his exams. When the teacher took out his test paper there's a note indicating "K2." The teacher was a little confused so we were ushered to another person whom I believe is the head officer of IJMC. She interviewed Zach, let him read and asked her questions about the passage. Then the teacher called me and told me that through her assessment, Zach is qualified for Kinder 2. It's still it's our decision she said. But of course, we're in favor of that. She said Zach might get bored already if we enroll him to K1. And when I turned to ask hubby, I knew with his smiling face that he's happy with Zach's last assessment. We then enrolled Zach in K2 and bought his books too.

Before we left, we scanned the school and showed Zach where the classrooms are, the canteen, library, and the playground. The little boy Gabe's eyes enlightened when he saw the playground.

When we came home, he's excited to look at his books. One of them is "Computer Challenge." I scanned a little and luckily, they're not tackling pdf search engine yet.

On The Road To Independence

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you know that there's a non-profit organization that reaches out to our disabled loved ones? This is the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association or NMEDA. It's an organization that educates consumers on buying handicap vehicles for disabled people. Their association includes mobility dealers, manufacturers and rehabilitation professionals that advocates providing safe, reliable vehicles and modifications to enhance accessibility for all people. Not only do their members sell handicap vehicles but they are required to comply to the safety standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Consulting to NMEDA professionals would give you a personalized evaluation of the right product customized to your specific lifestyle. You can find lots of wheelchair vehicles being sold over the internet but it's different with NMEDA dealers who will help you, making sure that you're getting the right driving solution for your needs.

Besides the NMEDA dealers, there's also the Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers. This program is the only accreditation who is nationally recognized for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry. They follow the principle of satisfying customers consistently by having a systematic and documented approach to quality. QAP dealers are required to meet extremely high standards. You can find an interesting list on NMEDA website as well search for the  qualified dealer closest to you.

I can't imagine how hard mobility is for a disabled person. It's a big physical and emotional struggle to be always dependent to someone. It's a relief for caregivers and for the handicapped or the elderly person to have a sense of independence. NMEDA could bring them back on the road of confidence, safety and independence.

Surprised

I was surprised when I opened my facebook and I got a lot of greetings yesterday. The most greetings I received so far.

We were in Tagaytay to celebrate my birthday (nahks! Tagaytay). Actually, we were there coz our Sunday service was held there hand in hand with the "All Women Get Together" in the afternoon. We are so blessed to have a sister who lives in an idyllic place and we got a taste of a colder breeze. It was just so sad I've got no shots to share with you of our fun times, the FOOD and my candle blowing on top of my Quezo-Ube cake. Oh I should've taken shots of the lovely house with a nice, organized kitchen that I like so much.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who remembered me on my birthday!

Christian Life Outreach Website

Lots of in-depth studies and researches can now be found today on the internet. This doesn't exclude the Bible. I feel blessed that in this generation, we can be enriched through credible readings explaining the Bible. If you're interested about the End Times Prophecy , you can find it now in Bob Fraley Christian Life Outreach website. This website is a rich resource of articles explaining the Bible, equipping Christians for the "last days."

If there's something that we should waste our time on, it better be something where we get learnings that could change our life and equip us for life. It should be something where we learn not only about life on earth but the life eternal. I want to actually know what this website says about revelation chapter 13. You may also get a glimpse of Bob's blog through this website.

And when you're getting enough of reading about the Beast of Revelation, you may check out this website how you can get a free copy of Bob's interesting book, "Salt and Light."

Heartpour

Beneath the victory are underlying major problems.

I don't say I'm affected yet I am. I suddenly lost the fire and have actually neglected WLW meme. So sorry friends.

With the problems in my mind, I try to go about everyday. Every attempt to write reminds me and my heart gets crushed. And there's a day when you just suddenly break.

I woke up this morning and luckily, the two boys are still in dreamland.

Seeing the sunshine on my face, I talked to God.

Pouring out my heart to God gave me strength, security and calmness in me.

Exodus 14:14
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Psalm 37:7 
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;..."

Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

John 14:1
 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."

The problems are yet to be solved and all I can do is to trust the Almighty God. 

Urge

We urge Zach to practice writing his full name. Urge is the word coz he'd rather draw than write. We should've been practicing since he learned how to write the alphabet. I only taught him his nickname then. But I guess it's not yet too late. I think I'd want to make it every morning to practice his writing from now on. It's less than a month already before the start of the school year.

Zach would also rather play online computer games. It's even harder to make him go out of the house to play. He doesn't have idea about search engine optimization yet. But lately he faves to visit the hotwheels site. I bet his fondness to online games could be a problem when school starts. I hope he learns to adjust to his schedule easily.

  

The School

Last question: Do you require pupils to speak in English during the class?

After all the considerations and comparisons, this made our decision final. We'll enroll Zach in International Jubilation Montessori Center (IJMC). We needed to wait for the money 20th though, hehe :D

We've trained Zach to speak English since he learned to talk. Sayang naman kung di magcontinue sa school, diba?

Not that we don't want him to learn Filipino. He'll naturally learn how to speak Tagalog (but not the English language) coz we're Filipino - his environment and his peers. He actually knows how to speak Filipino even if we don't talk to him in Filipino. Reason why we decided to speak to him in English so he won't have a hard time in school and in the future.

Anyway, I'm excited to enroll him for the first time and to buy his school supplies :D

See you!

Beauty and Brains

Congratulations my dear sister!

I'm happy to see the joy in you. Stay focused on your chosen career.

Lovelife? Never rush. (Believe me.)


I love you!

Is Gabe Ready For Preschool?

If you only saw how eager the little boy was when his Kuya Zach took entrance exams for preschool. I think he thought it's like in child care at church where we leave them to the teacher and they sing, write or do coloring activities.

He asked for a pencil and paper from me and sat at the empty armchair seat beside his Kuya. He looked so eager doodling and wasn't shy to go to the teacher asking for a crayon when he saw her holding them.

Amused, I texted my Mama about it and she replied, "Do enroll him too." Not yet. Our budget isn't ready. I don't think Gabe's ready too. For one, he's not completely potty-trained yet. Some schools accept preschool as early as 2 1/2 years old but it still depends on the child's developments. Here are some of the pointers you might want to look into from babycenter.com:

How Do You Know If Your Child's Ready for Preschool?

Independence
Every toddler wants to practice their independence as much as they could. But going to pre-school, the child needs to be able to do the basic skills on their own like being potty-trained (see, Gabe's not ready yet), can wash hands, eat without being assisted, or sleep alone.

Separation
Has he spent time away from you? Kids who are left with caregivers has lesser problems of being separated from the mommies during preschool. Maybe now is the time to get him used to be separated from you. Let him be away from you sometime and spend the day with grandma, or your sister with kids. During the class, you may also drop your child off in school and gradually decrease the time of your stay until he gets used to the environment.

Concentration
Your child needs to have concentration in doing individual task like arts and crafts, where they will be involved in during preschool. If your child can focus in building things through blocks, clay or can draw at home then your child is a good candidate for preschool.

Group Activities
Aside from individual tasks your child also needs to be able to participate in a group. Not only does he need to interact but be able to sit still, sing songs or listen to stories.

Regular Schedule
Doing the same things at the same time each day helps the children to feel comfortable, confident and secured. School life would be hard without following a schedule.

Election 2010

YES! As of writing, Noynoy Aquino is in the #1 among the presidentiables according to the national partial official count from COMELEC. There's almost 2 million votes difference to Estrada who is surprisingly in the second place. Villar who looked like the one who spent the most on campaign advertisements is only in #3.

My hope is that those who think of cheating this election to win won't succeed. Filipino voters really showed their concern and love of the country by participating in voting today. The father of Christian Monsod, former COMELEC Chairman, who is 100 years old, fell in line in the precinct for one hour just to be able to vote. There's also a polio victim who needed to row the boat to go to the baranggay to vote.

The turn-out of votes today is very much faster than when we have manual counting of votes in the ages. Hopefully, by tomorrow evening there will be an official proclamation already. Payerfully, a new and rightful leader for our country.

School Scouting

Finally! Read how excited I was here and for our attempt here.

Yesterday we've been to two schools and Zach passed the exams for Kinder level in both schools.

It's so funny coz I knew I looked nervous whenever the teacher throws questions on Zach during the oral exam. Was I glad when he answered each question correctly. The teacher also  asked Zach to count from 1-10 and he did. And she asked him if he could go on and he did and went on and on until 110 :D The written test included shapes, beginning and ending letter of words and coloring by number. The only thing is that Zach didn't write his full name quite correctly. He wrote Zachy instead of Zachary :D hehe.

The second school that we went to was outside the villages where we live and going there I thought this was the stress that Zach, at his young age, will go to everyday on the way to school - the traffic and lots of different kinds of people. The moment we stepped in the premises, I didn't feel that this is it. Looks like they're just renting a room in a building and I don't know where their other classrooms are. There's not even a gate for the children's security to think that the building is located on a busy street. Plus the teacher who facilitated the exam was like ok what does your child know? How far can he read, 3 letter word? 5-letter word? Get taught everything by an ostensible. I just told her to let Zach take the entrance exam. After the test, she commended Zach for his reading skills. But Zach wasn't able to answer subtraction equations. So the teacher's assessment for Zach is Kinder Junior level.

Same assessment and almost the same tuition fee in both schools. But the latter school failed on the last question I want answered, and that is if they require students to speak in English during the class.

You know now where do we enroll Zach. I'll tell you more in my next post.

MM: For Moms From A Mom

I can't call myself an expert mom. Actually I have lots of things to learn and lots
of things to change. Kumbaga, marami pa kong bigas na sasaingin at kanin na kakainin sa pagiging isang mommy.

As someone at lost sometimes in mothering, I find the Bible as the best adviser. It's God's word so there's nothing best than it is. This is what I always remind myself:

^{Deuteronomy6:5} Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I grew up having fear in the Lord. The kind of fear that made me feel that God is so big and  so far. He's there somewhere looking upon me and punish me when I did something wrong.  That's not the kind of fear that I want my children to have for God. I want them to know who God is and to learn to love Him. That God is a merciful and loving God and He wants us to love him back. 

When we wake up in the morning we can tell our kids that God made it possible for us to wake up and see another sunshine to give us light all throughout the day. And when we eat or before we sleep we can teach them to thank God in prayer. 

Those scriptures we have on our walls, those are not just decorations. Those are reminders and we need to talk about them with our kids.

^Proverbs3:3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
       bind them around your neck,
       write them on the tablet of your heart.

This scripture never fails to work. I know how tired we can be with lots of housework and taking care of our family's needs. Or go home tired and stressed form work. And then we snap when our kids disobey us. We snap when they can't understand their lessons after explaining for how many times. I can't blame you. We're human. I did it so many times.  

What I do is I try to calm down, breath and pray in my mind. And you know when we LOVE our kids, UNDERSTAND them, give them time, listen to them, hold them, hug them, speak gently to them, they will listen back.

Easily said than done. I'm speaking to myself as well. But you know what, love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FELLOW MOMS!

Zach Update

Until now, we haven't started scouting for Zach's pre-school. We attempted yesterday as hubby went home from work early. He worked overnight that's why.

Anyway, we decided to go to one of the school's nearby although I noticed that it's quite late already. We got caught up by a movie on HBO about a boy who has Tourette Syndrome. I'll post more about it later. Anyway, on the way to the school, we noticed it's 5:00. The school might be closed already so we just headed to the grocery.

I'm just glad Zach still knows his addition after I reviewed with him. And reading is part of his life. Online game instructions help in his reading skills. He's so into arranging tracks in hotwheels.com lately. Strategy game quite advanced for his age.


He seldom writes that's why I was quite surprised to see that his writing looks better now.

Hope the photo looks better too noh!

Cha Graduates Cumlaude!

Congratulations my dear sister Charisse! She's one of my biggest fans. No wonder she's following my footsteps. Teehee! :D

She's been a dean's lister ever since but you won't see her studying her lessons like all day and night. That's why we were all happy to know that she got one of the highest rankings in class. She said the recitations helped her grades. I didn't ask though if she always perfects her quizzes. With 4.0 as the highest, she got 3.5 average grade.

She said she wants to focus on Web Development. Now she wants to be like my hubby. Making exam software can be her forte if she'll be a teacher or a computer programmer.

As my father jokes on hearing the news, now he has a problem. He needs to give her a gift.   Although the blowout is not a problem anymore. Coz my eldest sis is here for a vacation. teehee!

I want to give her a gift too. She really deserves one from me. Maybe it's time to scan on my office depot coupons for some good items.

Today Is My Party

Good day everyone!

I'm your host today at the Blog Party! You're all invited so please come.

To hubby: Don't worry honey. Hosting a party today doesn't need for me to leave the kids to the neighbors. I'm even hosting in my favorite worn out shirt.

Enjoy! :D