High School Homecoming

Homecomings are generally a joyful event. High school reunions are the most fun since we get in touch with the people who were with us during our "transitional" stage. Most often than not, these set of friends are the ones who stick with us through thick and thin.

I just had one last Saturday, though it was batch 1990 of Stella Maris College, Quezon City who was the host, our batch, 1989, though a few, came to support. In as much as I want to concentrate on the program they prepared, being with my high school friends means more than the program. The small chit chats and the catching up seems endless plus the fooling around of some goofy friends are priceless = endless fun and laughter.

Seems like a day with them isn't enough...oh how I love my batch mates. Hail Stella Maris, Hail Batch 1989!

And hey, can you spot Leon and Maia, they tagged along too since Daddy M was at work ~ a wholesome moment with friends and family =)

My entry to Mommy and Me Monday...yey! I'm back!

PS. Grabbed these photos from my friend's fb pages to which I was tagged as well :) Thanks!

Halloween Costumes

This the time of the year when my kids and I are excited about dressing up for their school's Halloween Party. It's quite a big deal on my part because I didn't experience dressing up when I was young. During my younger years, Halloween wasn't an occasion to celebrate. Halloween parties and dressing up is fairly new in the Philippines, it started maybe 10 years ago or less, when a few rich people in their posh villages initiated the trick or treat thing for children, thus allowing them to dress up. Until some malls and some middle class villages followed suit.

Besides, in the Philippines, the folkloric characters for hallow's eve are a bit morbid, not too child friendly. Unlike the vampires, bats and pumpkins which can be designed to be less fearsome.

As early as the malls in the metro decorated for their windows with Halloween designs, my children were as much as excited.

Leon wants the Iron Man 2 costume while little Maia wants either a fairy costume a.k.a. Tinker Bell or any Disney princess costume.

Though I find these costumes cute, I'm a bit hesitant because technically they do not fit the Halloween theme. So what I'm doing right now is convincing them to wear a costume which may be cute and carries the Halloween motif...

My suggestions are the following:

For Leon: Groot

And for Maia: Mavis of Hotel Transylvania

So far though my suggestions are taken in positively. The next step is for me to produce the costumes and for them to try them out before the actual party.

Wish me and my creativity luck!

Will try to post the outcome anytime soon :)

Mass Offerors

October 4, 2015, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary time as reflected in the Catholic Calendar wasn't totally ordinary for the Ponce Family :-)

Lem on any Sundays, would always ask my opinion on where to hear mass. But yesterday was quite different, he told us that we're hearing mass at the Gateway Mall chapel. I, we didn't oppose whatsoever. In my thoughts, it was a practical idea since we're bound for Cubao anyway, might as well hear mass there.

Normally, we're a bit late or arrives exactly on time, but this time we were 30 minutes ahead. For us, it was a normal Sunday mass. Little do we know that the Lord had a plan for us, He's making it extra special for our family.

While waiting for the mass to begin, the kids were busy chatting with us, asking random questions such as how old Jesus is? Which McDonald's restaurant to eat to make sure we get the Mavis free toy in the Happy Meal? and more...you know how kids are...Then two ladies approach us on our seat, one sat in front of us, while the other one remained standing at the end of the pew. I acknowledged them to be the ladies attending to the mass, maybe part of the Mother Butler Guild of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish of Cubao.

The lady who sat in front of us, in her gentle tone, asked if it is okay for us to be the family offeror for the mass.Lem and I looked at each other, and with our eye contact, as if understanding each other, we, with a bit of hesitation (but feeling awesome) on my part, agreed to her invitation. Hesitant, because, I think we were dressed inappropriately! All of us were ruggedly dressed ~ all were in jeans and tees, Maia, though a little girl, was in demin shorts! Huh! a mother's nightmare it was for me...but on a instant, I ditched being a disgust. It was the Lord's plan for us. At that time, the Lord wasn't particular on how we looked like, He was more in tuned with the state of our spirituality at that exact moment.

Getting myself composed, we listened very carefully to the lady as she gave us the instructions. Leon and Maia will hold the candles, I will bring the Host and Lem the Wine.

And while listening at the Gospel readings and the Homily, which was centered on Marriage and Family (1st Reading: Gen 2:18-24, 2nd Reading: Heb 2:9-11 & Gospel: Mk 10:2-16), it wasn't a coincidence, it was God's plan for us, and in His way blessing and strengthening our family in faith.

From that moment, until we were to do the offering, though I tried hard to concentrate on the mass, I was feeling grateful and awesome that the Lord chose us to be the offerors, we were indeed honored to be!

When it was time to do the offering, the four of us, Lem with the Wine, me with the Hosts, Leon and Maia with the candles, walked proud towards Father Jun, who blessed us upon receiving the offerings. I was nearly on tears while listening to Father bestowing on us the Lord's blessings.

October 4, 2015, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary time wasn't ordinary at all. Yesterday was a Sunday to remember, it was the moment when the Lord came within us and made us stronger as a family.

A blessed Sunday indeed!

***Photo grabbed from Google images

The Story of Our Christmas Tree

My husband and I came from a middle class family here in the Philippines. In our younger years, being middle class was equivalent to being well off nowadays. But as we were growing up, we began experiencing the changes in the economy thus the comfortable life back then started to lead us to live a life that thought us to be thankful with what we have and to refrain for asking for more.

It wasn't so sad though. Although there were some issues in life that took it's mark on me. I am not complaining as well, as we were raised and taught to be contented with what we have.

How did the Christmas tree came up as a challenge to me? As far as I can remember, when we transferred to Manila from Zamboanga City, it was me and my younger sister who decorated for Christmas. My mom would buy ornaments and stuff but it was always us who would put it where it should be. We had our own Christmas tree, I can't remember how we got it but we had a shy 4 or 5 feet high tree. In the beginning, I found it to be big but as we grew, it became smaller, and as the years passed, it began to wear off. And since there were more important things to attend to and spend for, we contented ourselves with what we have.

Time came when me and my sister had our own jobs, we decided to buy a new tree for our family. Yahoo! But it didn't took long when the majority of our family decided to relocate and go back to our hometown. The transfer brought along the tree that we bought. Since majority are transferring and it would only be me and the youngest brother who will be left in Manila, it's just rational that they have the tree.

For me Christmas is important, for the many reasons of it, it is important, from the aesthetic to the true meaning...this was I believe the reason why it left a mark on me.

Since then, I promised myself, once I have a family of my own, I will invest on a tree. Good enough, the man who is now my husband has his own share of Christmas tree "need" that when we were still dating, we already pledged to buy "our" own Christmas tree. Though we weren't able to buy the tree on our first Christmas together, we bought it on our second year, a few months after our son was born.

I clearly remember going to Divisoria, late in the afternoon bringing along our 9 month old son with us just to purchase our tree. And because this was a fulfillment of our dreams, we bought an enormous 8 feet tall Christmas tree at around $82 back in 2007. To this day, whenever we bring it out to prepare it for decoration, we always have this smile on our face. A smile that shows how proud we are of one of our few "treasured properties"

Decorating the tree will always be a work in progress and calls for another story though :) Merry Christmas!

Januaria Ubalde - Recovered from High Cholesterol and Hypertension

John Jude Michael Andres - Recovered from Congenital Heart Defect

My Christmas Wishlist

August is about to end and the "Ber" months are gonna come in fast. Once September is in, yuletide is in the air. As Christmas is fast approaching, I am revisiting my wishlist and limiting it to four items...and here's hoping that my husband reads this post ;)

1. Sewing Machine
I like the classic one though. I've been wanting to own one since the time my grandma's sewing machine broke. It would be fun repairing our clothes, thus less expense and hassle going to and from a modiste. Likewise, I'm set to use this for a business that would hopefully start early next year...come to think of it, if this will be for a business, the electronic one will be better, I guess.

2. Sofa set
It's actually a sofa bed. The first time my husband and I saw it, we fell in love with it. We saw it in one of the malls in the metro, it's a product of Mandaue Foam, which incidentally was raffled off by the manufacturer just recently, I didn't win, thus still on my wishlist. The price is relatively expensive for a piece, but then again, it doubles as a bed...hubby and I are looking to have 2 pieces for our living room ;)3. A new mobile phone
hmmm...probably a Samsung Galaxy Note or an iPhone ...
this one's been a dream since I-don't-know-when, especially for the iPhone
Updating my current phone may be nice...
Just keeping this wish handy

and, finally

4. A front lawn garden
We just transferred into a rented house, generally speaking it's still a bit bare, thus, wishlist #2. Aside from the inside part of the house, I would love to have our front lawn adorned by flowers to give a more homey feeling. On our right is a firewall, which I intend to hang or put a flower stand full of orchids. On the front will be roses, different colors. On the left will be santan flowers, different colors, too, which I already have one - orange variant. The orchid will be a reminder of my parents, especially my dad who's good at caring for the flower. Roses will remind me of my dear maternal grandma and the colors of all of the flowers when in bloom will remind me of my mom who's such a jolly person.


And on the small garden patch beside the gate will be poinsettia plants hoping to have them in bloom for next year's yuletide season.

...I hope I've been good enough to deserve at least one from the list ;)