"KAB-KAB" (Dried Cassava)

When I was a little girl, eating "Kab-Kab"  (dried cassava) was one of my favorite treats. I like it because it is crispy and the syrup on top is so tasty. Unfortunately I rarely find this in my place nowadays, maybe because though it is made mainly of cassava, it requires hard work to make one. The process I think is quite long. I was glad that I found a couple of it during our Camiguin trip.

Anyways, it was the first time also for Zboy to have tasted it. He likes it so much but after a few bites of his kab-kab (dried cassava) it accidentally slip and fell to the ground. Ahh! it really made him so sad seeing the chickens took advantage of it and I think the chickens like it too because they were feasting on it. My hubby was able to capture that moment. So here it is.... 

Look at my son's dissapointment... but I guess he also enjoyed watching those chickens eating his "Kab-Kab".

Boy or Girl?

Zboy with a curly hair

Z boy is my eldest son, his real name is Zif Azriel. Zif means splendor (heb.) Azriel means God is my aide.(heb.)

When Z boy was born he already has plenty of wavy hair that's why he does not look like a new born baby. As he grew older his wavy hair now becomes curly hair.

Most people mistakenly identify him as a girl. Others would tend to play safe and often ask if he is a boy or a girl. We thought maybe its because of his long curly hair that's why recently we decided to cut his hair shorter. Though we cut his hair shorter, we heard that there was a friend of ours who really thought that he was a girl. He was telling the other friend of ours the one who related the story that "I noticed that Laureen's daughter is boyish, what a waste for she looks "mistiza" and" beautiful". The other friend was laughing so hard and explained to him that he is not a girl but his really a boy that is why his name is Z boy. lol!

Because of that incident, now I am not really sure that it is because of his hair, maybe because of his long, curly eye lashes and small shape face. What do you think?

As I can observe in his ways and likes, I have no doubt about his masculinity. He even have a new crush. I will tell you about his latest crush in my next post.

I am happy and grateful for who he is. He is a constant reminder of God's splendor (Zif) and greatness in my life and God never fails to provide everything he needs (Azriel).

Daddy's Boy

My 4 years old son "Z Boy" is really head over heels in love with his dad. From birth up to now I was the only one taking care of him since his dad has to work. There was one time when he was I think 9 months old we asked somebody to babysit for just that day. When we came back, and he saw us he was crying and he raised his hands as a gesture that he wanted to be carried. I immediately approached him thinking that "oh! he really missed me since he was used to my presence but then I noticed that his attention is not to me but to his dad. That means he wanted me to carry him but to bring him to his dad. At that moment I concluded that he is really daddy's boy since he clings to his dad.

Now he confesses to us that he wants to be like his dad. Whatever daddy's favorite will be his favorites. He even wanted to look exactly like his dad. I told him that he look like his dad except for the hair; shape of the face and thank God his nose since he got it from me. Few days ago he prayed like this "Lord, please make my nose like daddy and every part of me like daddy." I just don't know if when he grows up he will still pray to have a "whistle like" nose of his dad. Ha.ha.

They also have a game that I find it gross but for them is fun. What they do is they smell each others fart and giggles. Not just simply smell huh! but really placed their faces in front of their butts. Yakky, right? But as Z boy have said "daddy! I don't find your fart smell unpleasant because I love you so much." When his daddy heard it, wow! you can not imagine the look in his face. He was on cloud 9.

When Z boy wakes up in the morning and his daddy is gone for work he constantly ask me, "mom may, where's daddy?" I just replied "gone for work". His answer will be "okay!" but if daddy's gone for business trips, after 3 days he will really cry hard and miss her daddy so much. His daddy will immediately call him on his cellphone, after a long talk he will then be okay. This is how I can truly say that he is a "daddy's boy."

Know what? as I was composing this post it made me wish that all christian will have this kind of relationship with our Heavenly Father,like Z boy we should utter this words:

Z boy -"whatever daddy's favorite is my favorite."
Our prayer should be "Lord turn all my desire to be your desire."
Z boy - " Lord make my nose like daddy and every part of me like daddy."
Our prayer should be "Father help me to be like you a loving, righteous and
compassionate God."
Z boy - " I miss daddy so much - I want to be with daddy"
Our response should be : we should long to be in his loving arms always through our
quite time, reading His words and fellowship.
Z boy - "Daddy, I don't find your fart smells unpleasant cause I love you so much."
Our response" we should please God through our service simply through our day to day
walk with Him.

In return, though we are sinners God loves us unconditionally.

"INDIANIZE"

JESU is my brother in law, an Indian by blood but a Malaysian citizen. He stayed in the Philippines for just 4 months yet he was able to influence my family, relatives, church mates and friends. This is how he was able to "indianize" us.

Music - He keeps on singing this song. "vedaye". We do not know exactly the lyrics but the tune really gets into your mind. Everyone tends to sing or hum the song. Even my kids is already crazy about the song especially my one year old daughter Zane. She snaps her finger to follow the beat the moment he hears the song. This song according to him means thanksgiving to God.

Spicy Curry - Chicken curry, curry sardines, goat curry (my favorite). Everyone loves curry already. Every time we had a party Jesu"s curry is the specialty of the house and surprisingly though its spicy its the one that is consumed first. Jesu even asked his friend in Malaysia to send more curry powder to the Philippines cause the one he brought was spoiled by the flood.

Tsa Yen (tea) - I love tsa yen. Everyone in the family chant 'tsa yen! tsa yen! tsa yen! so that Jesu will make.

Punjavi Blouses - Love her wife (my sister) gave each one of us "pasalubong". We love to wear it cause its unique, intriquete design and its totally beautiful. Zane my daughter has one and its so cute.
Wood Charcoal - Jesu has a strong, white and perfect teeth. Even my cousin Gisan a dentist was amazed how he maintain such teeth. He told us that the reason why he has such a perfect teeth is because his family used wood charcoal in brushing their teeth when they were still young. now, everyone in the family uses wood charcoal in brushing the teeth. The result really is so evident. It makes your teeth white right away.

Since they are now back in Malaysia, we're really going to miss Jesu's song, curry, tsa yen and of course he and his family.

Now I realized that even we have different culture, each culture is unique and we can learn from each other. I am sure Jesu also learn a lot from our culture especially the virtue of patience from the filipino time. ha.ha.ha.

I thank God for letting them stay here in the Philippines even for a short time, they were able to share not only their culture but also their lives. Indeed, they are surely a great blessings to us.

Zane's Special Day

Last April 11, 2009 we celebrated Zane's dedication and 1st year birthday party. It was a great celebration and a blessing indeed.

Days before the celebration, I was a bit worried about the food, the preparation and etc. because we have limited resources. But God is so good He provided everything. It was even more than enough as the guest was able to bring home extra food.

I thank the Lord for Nanay, my sisters, my in-laws, my cousins and to all my relatives and who in one way or another help the occasion to be a successful one.

To top it all, the most wonderful thing that happened that day was God's presence. I really felt his presence especially during the part Zane's was being dedicated to the Lord, wherein Ptra. Nenette held her up. It made me cry. It reminded me that God owned my daughter and we are just steward of her. And its good to know that she is in good hands. God knows the best for her.

Thank you Lord for the precious gift ZANE.

Lord, HELP!!!

It was the first time I experienced over fatigue in my entire life. My whole body was aching, the lymph node of my right armpit was swollen and I had a terrible headache... Oh my!!!

Saturday, (March 28) I felt pain in my whole body but it was still tolerable. That was during our school's graduation day, that's why I wasn't in myself that day. The following day, it was still okay becuase I was able to rest becuase my husband was the one who took care of the kids. The next day came and the pain was terrible. It made me groan and my 4 year old son was wondering what happened to me. I tried to look for medicines but I can find it anymore as I cannot have focus on the things I need to do because of the disturbing pain. I tried to call or text my mother but I can't because I run out of load at that time. Oh no! I felt so helpless...

I just cried my heart for help to the Lord. I felt like a baby crying out to His Father at that time. My son was also worried and tried to comfort me asking me "Are you okay,Mamay?" After an hour of agony, my neice and nephew came with the medicine. What a relief!

Thank you Lord for the help!

Psalm 124:8 "Our help is from the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth."

Happy Birthday Zafina!

Today is the birthday of my precious little girl Zafina. She's already one year old. We don't have a celebration anymore becuase we had it advanced last April 11, 2009. Now that my girl is one year old, my heart overflows with thanksgiving to God. I'm thankful for God's faithfulness for this child and I know that He will always be faithful to us.

It is my prayer, that my girl will grow to be a blessing to us and to many people and that she will grow up with the fear of the Lord in her heart. God bless you Zane!

What Was I Thinking?

Our church has a pre-school. The name of the school is Little Evangel Christian School. We have about 38 pupils from nursery to kinder 2, and I am the principal of the school. Last March 28, 2009, the school held the Graduation and Recognition day. Since I don’t have a housemaid in the house, it is difficult to go out and to bring along 2 kids, and so I missed all the graduation practices. During our graduation day my role as a principal is to give each child their certificates on stage. When it was time give the awards for honor pupils, my co-teacher who is suppose to help me with the awarding went down to fix the LCD projector. I was the only one left on stage. When the Emcee called the name of the pupil who got the first honors, what I did was I immediately took the medal and placed it on the pupil’s neck which was supposed to be the parent’s role. The staff was shocked and the parent who was one step toward the stage was also astonished. When I was able to come to my senses, I look at Teacher Bogie and I could see the question on her face. I asked “parents ba?” (is it the parents?) but it was too late I already placed it on the pupil’s neck. Teacher Bogie told me to remove the medal and call the parents instead. Then the parent comes in happily. Gosh! What was I thinking at that time? As I recalled what happened, I realized that it wasn’t because I was absent during the entire graduation practices but actually I wasn’t feeling well that day. I was on a travel from Camiguin two weeks before the activity and after the travel I didn’t have time to rest because I still have to attend to my household chores, my laundry and babysitting. Anyways, whatever is my excuse what is done is done, for now I’ll just take it as an humbling experience.

Something Old

My youngest daughter, Zane is celebrating her 1st birthday this month. Her actual birthday is on the 17th of this but we are going to celebrate it earlier( April 11) because her mommy Luv (my sister) and family are going back to Malaysia on the 13th of this month. My daughter will also be dedicated to God on this occasion.

The dress that she is going to wear for this special day was given by my cousin Nang Didit. What's amazing about the dress is that it was also handed to her by her sister's daughters. They wore this dress during their baptismal several years back. And do you know that the eldest daughter who wore this dress is now 23 years old? So it's quite antique already, but the dress still looks very nice. I just added and sewn the flowers in the center and wow, you won't believe its antique already. I wonder how Ate Lou (sis of Nang Didit) preserved it. The dress still looks new and very nice.

I am sure my precious Zane will look very lovely in that dress.
God truly provides in a new and exciting way!

Accident or God's Perfect Plan

Last year, I had so many plans in my mind. Since my son was already 4 years old, I planned to have a career move in my life. I wanted to enroll in an IELTS Review class and CGNFS. I even renewed my RN License. I then planned to pay off our remaining debts since we had a lot of expenses for the past years like my cesarean delivery for my 1st child, medication for my son's accident, and etc.... I planned also to save up money to complete our house and etc....but then I got pregnant, the first time I knew that I'm pregnant, I got disappointed. How about my plans? Because of my disappointment I even scolded Manny (my husband) for just a simple mistake but then God reminded me of His words during my quite times for the past months like one of the verse is from Proverbs 19:21 "many are the plans in my heart but it is God's purpose that prevails". I cannot remember the other verses cause its in my journal and already lost from the flood.

Anyway, at that moment I immediately ask God's forgiveness and to my child for not being happy about it. I then declared that the child in my tummy is a blessing and gift from God. His plans is always the best. I also claimed that the child is a girl because since I always wanted to have a girl. After that, my mode change. I immediately felt that overwhelming joy from the LORD in my heart.

From the start of my pregnancy I never looked for a boy's name. I prayed for an appropriate name for a girl then I finally named her Zafina Anika. Zafina means victory and Anika means favor /grace (Hebrew). Her nickname is Zane means gift of God. (Heb.)

Indeed when I had my ultrasound it came out to be a girl. I was so emotional when the doctor announced that it is a girl. It really made me cry. I cried because I was reminded of God's perfect plan in my life and HIS FAITHFULNESS.

Zane is now turning 1 year old this April 17, 2009. I'm so excited for her birthday. She turned out to be a beautiful precious little girl. I have not experience difficulty from pregnancy, giving birth up to now, God provided everything. I thank God for giving me Zane. She is truly a gift from God. She always brings joy to us her family and to everyone.

welcome

Hi!Im mayette. Welcome to my new blog. A journal of my life experiences,family,kids,my walk with God and everything under the sun....Hope you will enjoy reading my blog and learn something about my life experiences. God bless to all!