A Time for Family - A New Year's Tradition

Christmas and New Year came in a rush with all the preparation for fellowship, gathering and get together.

Last Christmas we wanted our family to focus on what really matters...Jesus and following his design for our family. We also wanted to spend Quality time with our children as much as we can. We want to enjoy and slow down. Taste the beauty of nature and target the hearts of our children.

We had our yearly family reunion last Christmas day. A yearly tradition that started centuries ago way back when I was still a child.

Then new year came and we were all together as a family in Tagaytay especially that my sister was here to celebrate with us.

We usually attend the Countdown party before but we decided not to do it anymore this year as we want to focus on reckindling the year that was and being thankful for God's faithfulness.

We had some family activities every hour. At 7pm we played farm bingo.

At around 8pm we started having our family discussion and devotion. We reflected on Psalm 23 Bible verses. We also asked each member of the family with the questions below to know our children more and to discuss their answers.

Goodbye 2017
I learned to
My favorite memory
Iam thankful for
My favorite book this year
My favorite time with mom and dad/ family
Something God taught me
My favorite verse in 2017

Hello 2018
I want to learn more how to
I want to be more Christlike in
I want to read a book about
I want to go with mom and dad to
I want to improve on
I believe God can

I got the idea from www.purposefulhomeschooling.com

The questions and the discussion helped us to learn and know our children more. Sharing their thoughts and what is inside their hearts.

We are thankful for this experience with our kids.

Then around 9pm we started playing our family favorite game UNO. This game makes us laugh so hard and at the same time we had an opportunity to teach our children in becoming good sports. We love this game and whenever we play it, it gives us a good quality time with our kids. Plus tons of laugh.

After that we also played chess while waiting for 12am to strike to greet the new year.

We ate together our favorite bread with hot chocolate. We love this tradition during this season and as soon as the clock hits 12am we were all ready to watch the fireworks at the veranda. With a grateful heart for 2017 and hopeful in Christ for 2018.

Words cannot express how we felt God's amazing hands and grace for 2017 and our hearts are really full with his faithfulness allowing us to be joyful and victorious in all circumstances.

We also wanted to start a new tradition. My husband and I decided to spend the first few days together with our children and continue to spend quality time.

And indeed the first few days of the start of the year was well spent together.

My eldest son Ivan even treated us on our first night at the hotel. What a blessing!

I remembered when it was raining in Tagaytay when I woke up and asked God to bless us with a sunny day instead. I told the Lord thay if it is His will for us to have our Family Time He will provide us with a good weather but if not my husband and I knew that God wants us to go home instead.

Alas, after breakfast we saw the sun shining and wind blowing, giving us a cool weather. Perfect to have for a family day!

The kids had a blast playing around and seeing different animals. My husband and I were also intentional in making sure that we also play with them. I am really not an expert in playing around like my childhood days but I followed my husbands lead as he was intentional in teaching and playing sports with our kids.

And of course we also played our favorite game UNO plus we also had movie nights and bonfire. We got hooked in watching Harry Potter. My husband and I also had our quiet moments together during breakfast where we would eat first while the kids are still asleep. Plus we had our date night.

We are not perfect parents and we still have a lot of shortcomings and challenges when it comes to parenthood. Not to mention the things that we need to improve on. But being intentional in nurturing the hearts of our children is our first step.

Just like what Elizabeth George said " The hearts of our children is the most beautiful garden that we can tend."

We want to be the gardeners of their soul.

This 2018 we will be doubling our efforts in tending their hearts. But we can only do this if we will nurture our hearts first. Yes, it should always start with us parents. With all of our flaws and shortcomings we can only tend by God's grace alone, that is why we should nurture our hearts. Hearts that are fully dependent on the Lord and will always choose to be joyful each day. Problems and challengea may still come but I am always being reminded by this verse..." The thief comes to steal and kill, I have come so that you may have life." - John 10:10

Being happy is a choice, you can allow Satan to ruin and give you a bad day but you are always free to choose. We cannot be intentional parents and tend the hearts of our children if we would always allow Satan to steal our joy.

Whenever we spend time with our family there would always something that may arise that will steal your joy but only if you will allow it. Like in our case...my kids arguing, a spilled food, wrong way or bottles that were left at home. But we Praise God that He is in control. We are always being reminded by John 10:10 and if we would allow Satan to steal our joy we will leave bad memories to our children and withdraw precious moments instead of filling their love tank full. This is quite hard to do but that is why we need a lot of GRACE from God.

And he who always ask grace from the Lord, He will provide.

We are grateful to God for the time He granted our family to commune with Him and have a joyful family time at the beginning of the year.

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!

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Blessed with 2017

We are grateful for 2017. It was my first full year of being a full time wife and mom. From managing operations at work to becoming a home manager, the latter is the best and fulfilling job for me.

As I look back, we as a family was able to have a fruitful year by the grace of God.

Sharing with you our highlights for 2017.

1. Marriage - my husband and I became closer by God's grace and spent a lot of Quality time together. We had more time to communicate which is important in a marriage. We pray together and share our plans and dreams. Our date nights were also consistent and I felt more loved because as I witnessed him falling in love with Jesus more.

2. Family - I had time to plan, spend time and have quiet moments with my children. When Sean learned to write his name and started read. I was present. When he lost his teeth I was there to share it with him. When at night he is scared and would say "Mommy, hug me." I can cuddle him in my arms and sleep together. Moments I lost when I was working on a night shift but was restored by God.

The first time Simone said Praise God, he shared it with me. When he felt frustrated with writing, I guided him. When he started reading too, I was his biggest fan. I know his favorite food to eat and I am glad that I am able to cook meals and bake for my family.

When Kyle solved a word problem, we threw our high fives together. When we read about a touching Christian story, we cried together. We shared his ups and downs and we were together talking about lifes challenges. He is a growing boy and would be a teenager soon. I feel blessed that we can talk together about his life experiences.

When Ivan has his 1st paying drawing he was able to share it with me. When he bought me a bag, I felt that it was one of my precious gifts I received in my life. He would also share his plans with me and we feel that it is privilege tk be able to give an advice to a growig adult and guide him in his journey.

3. Ministry

My husband and I believes that we were saved to serve and through service our faith grew and the more we experienced God in our lives.

We are servants of Christ and we want to live His purpose and dreams for us.

Chosen Retreat - the biggest work that God has given us. We felt too small and too little to handle the task but we experienced God's amazing hands working. It has always been a privilege serving the Lord and we are in awe of God's faithfulness.

We were also able to serve through different retreats and other ministries.

4. Testimony

By the Grace of God, Arnel and I were able to share our testimony in our church and my husband shared his own testimony too and was also invited to share it at 700 club asia. These were surprising moments for us, but our hearts were blessed as we heard and see people that were blessed by our testimony. More than that, it is God's story in our lives and we are sharing it to be a witnessed of His amazing Grace.

5. God's faithfulness - God is truly faithful when you abide in Him. It is unexplainable how God was able to stitch together every detail that happened in our lives, how He provided for our family and how He allowed us to experience His greatness. We also learned to be completely dependent on Him.

There were also moments when we experienced challenges and hardships eapecially with relationships but these also helped us to call upon the Lord and turn every struggles into blessing for during these times that we have learned to be more prayerful and to depend and trust God's will and defense.

The most important breakthrough that we had as a family for 2017 is when we grew more closer to the Lord, allowing us to always see His hands and trust His heart in all circumstances. We are still imperfect people but we have one big perfect God!

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!

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