Tag Archives: family

A Love for dogs….passed on.

We love dogs. In fact, before Joshua came into our lives, our pets were like children to us. We have 3 wonderful big (slightly overweight) dogs and they bring us so much joy.

Blue and Scotch, our American Staffordshire Terrier (from pitbull line) grew up sleeping with us in our bed..They are lovable, playful, and for years took the place of a missing child in our marriage. Well, it was until the day, God granted our desire.

When I was pregnant, I was advised to start weaning my dogs off me, so they won’t get jealous when our baby arrives. I admit it was hard to do. So our dogs slept with us in the room (not on our bed) even till my 8th month. I felt the dogs knew I was pregnant because Blue was always surrounding me like a protector especially on my last trimester. I wondered,
“how will they react when I leave for the hospital and I come home with a new baby and not pay much attention to them?”

I was told that when I give birth, the father has to come home with baby wraps and make the dogs smell it, so they can be familiar of the new one that will be coming home soon. I’m not sure if my hubby did that. But when I arrived home from the hospital, our 3 dogs were excited to see me, and they wanted to see and smell the baby. Unfortunately, we were advised for the safety of the baby from allergies and asthma, it would be best to keep them apart first.

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However, when I would get early sun for Joshua, they would follow wherever he was like guard dogs! As the months passed, Joshua would take morning strolls and they would fetch him from the door. We are family, it is impossible not to care for each other.
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Joshua at 8 months has become interested with the dogs. He likes to touch them, follow them, and pull their tails! He is not afraid and he enjoys them.
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Our love for dogs is something that Joshua sees and he too now is a little dog lover like us!

Dedicating to God

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Christmas 2012 will forever be a special yuletide for the family of my husband. My father-in-law was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer before Christmas that year. After that news, the entire family made a conscious decision to make most of the TIME.

Steve wanted his dad to be present at every important event he could witness. So we decided to rush the Child Dedication of Joshua.

The preparation was short…We only had a week and half to prepare. We also wanted it to be attended only by an intimate few. Because besides Joshua, the other most important person in this event, is Dad. He was so excited to see his grandson’s christening.

As a new mom of a 1 month old baby at that time, I did not get enough sleep. I have to say that the event was arranged by the grace of God. I have to thank all that pitched in. My sister-in-law, Pria, helped me connect with the caterer, and she took charge of the cup cake give-away. My twin sister, Monique, lent us their sound system, projector screen. My brother-in-law, John Mateos Ong, took care of taking photos to document the Dedication. My brother Gino and his praise & worship band took care of the music. We were so privileged that Pastor Peter Tanchi was available to minister the Child Dedication. We were also happy that the chosen godparents made themselves available to attend. God was making all things fall into place.

The Child Dedication is an important milestone in our family. The physical preparation is one thing, but this event was a God-moment for us. I was reading Exodus and here God was very clear. Exodus 22:29 “Do not wait before giving Me a gift from your gathered grain and the fruit of your fields.

You will give to Me the first-born of your sons.

As I continued reading, God was speaking louder about who Joshua is to us… Exodus 34:19 “Every first-born belongs to Me.

In my heart, I understood this clearly. Joshua, our first-born son is a blessing and a gift from God, but he really isn’t ours. He is ultimately the Lord’s. We are just stewards of his life and we are to raise Him to fear and love God.

Again, I am reminded of Hannah. She waited on The Lord for years to conceive a child. When God fulfilled His promise to her, she vowed her son, Samuel, to be God’s. Here is the account of Hannah speaking to Eli the high priest, “She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:26-28 NASB).

Dedicating Joshua

Dedicating Joshua

Pastor Peter exhorted that when we dedicate the child to the Lord, we are giving back the child to God, and trusting that God will take care of him. We, his parents must walk with the Lord Jesus. So that one day, Joshua will make the decision to follow Jesus and publicly declare it in baptism. The godparents also will be our witness and Joshua’s support when he needs it. I was so delighted that everyone prayed a blessing over Joshua and it was declared that God will raise him up and will use him mightily.

To cap the Child Dedication, we also dedicated Dad Ruben’s life to God too! Everyone prayed over him, and it blessed him so much… As I look back, Daddy Ben was so happy that day. He did not mind people seeing him in a wheel chair. He savored that moment to be part of this family affair.

Dedicating Daddy Ben

Dedicating Daddy Ben

Daddy Ben, joined the Lord in March 2013. We all miss him a lot. But we know that he surrendered his life to Jesus and he dedicated his life to the Lord. Thus, we know that this is just a momentary separation until we all join him in heaven.

A Family in the Lord, will reunite again in heaven

A Family in the Lord, will reunite again in heaven

Youngest Passenger

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Steve and I were getting excited as we were nearing the birth of Joshua. I was finishing up work, getting the baby bag ready for the hospital, getting ready for my family to arrive from Iloilo and Manila… Lots of exciting stuff were happening.

Suddenly, about a week before Joshua’s delivery, we got news that my father-in-law got confined in the hospital. This time around it was serious. My father-in-law who we all fondly call “dad” is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Our joy about Joshua’s arrival felt sort of bitter sweet. We were expecting our first baby, and at the same time we knew that dad would have very little time with all of us.

Steve would be tearing in the room and really felt sad about this. I found myself crying too because dad prayed for this little one. He looked forward to meet Joshua. He was so excited for us to have our own family. I remember I would get calls from dad checking on my pregnancy and asking I give birth in Manila. But we stuck our guns on giving birth in Gensan because I was not ready to be apart from Steve on my last trimester. My husband works in Sarangani and to give birth in Manila it meant on my 30th week I have to be based in Manila. So we decided Gensan would be the best option.

With that decision, the natural consequence was for us to stay in the province for Christmas and rejoin my husband’s family after Christmas. Although in my heart, I prayed to God to allow us to spend Christmas in Manila. This was the Christmas that my husband’s siblings who lived abroad would come home as well. All the more I desired for Steve and the newest member of the family to be together with the rest during the holidays.

After the delivery and bringing home the baby, I began checking the airlines and found that the youngest traveler should be at least 16 days old. Any younger than that the airlines refrained a child from traveling. I began counting, 16 days old meant after Christmas. I began to pray and claimed God will permit us to go before that.

I tried my luck booking tickets for us and the airlines were really strict about the age. So I called a friend who worked in the airline and ask if we can be given an exception. After explaining to her in tears that we needed to show our little one to dad. She still told me that rules are rules and there would repercussions flying a baby that early. Nonetheless she would try to ask. I was asked to draft a letter stating our concern to the head of their medical services unit. I continued to pray and believe God would do something as I drafted a letter pleading the allowance of our newborn to take the flight. However, I also trusted that if God will not allow us to go, we would stay in the province and it would still be good for us.

After sending the letter, I spoke to my friend and thanked her for helping. I also told her I was willing to submit to the result of the request whether it was negative or positive.

In about a couple hours I received a call giving us a go signal to book our flight and to fly with us a doctor or nurse as an insurance in case we may have complications with the baby on flight. The very next day, Joshua’s 10th day from birth, he became the youngest passenger on that flight. My heart was overjoyed and moments on that flight my eyes were flooded with tears for God has once again answered our prayers. Joshua was such a good boy and a very quiet baby on that flight.

When we got to manila we sneaked the baby in the hospital. It would be the first time for Joshua and his grandfather to meet. When they finally did, there was not a dry eye in that hospital room. It was a blessed day for the family.

Looking back that December we celebrated my son’s very first Christmas and it was his grandfather’s last. Trully, God’s timing for everything is perfect and we feel blessed and favored to have this quality time as a family.

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