Online Greeting Card on Valentines Day

Dear Honey,

Today is our 11th Valentines together.  I remember giving you a number of greeting cards every single occasion in our relationship.  Time has taken its toll on us we don't do this anymore. I honestly forgot how it happened or when it stopped, it just did. 

Maybe that's what happens when we get so consumed with everything life throws at us.  I am sorry hon for those times when I made you feel that other things and other people seemed to be more important than you.  There are not enough words to express what is in my heart except that I love you and I am sorry.

You are an awesome person hon and anyone who would get to know you will say the same thing. You have been one to look out for me and take care of me ever since.  You have loved me for all that I am and I know that if I will be stripped off of everything, you'd still love me. 

 

We started with nothing, just two people who thought love was enough to get us by. Though it takes so much more to build a family but all these years I realized that LOVE IS INDEED ENOUGH.  I have gone far and wide across the world, I have experienced so much from life but I am at my happiest when I'm with you.  No amount of money, success or achievement can ever replace the simplicity of being with you.

Sometimes we let the external pressures get into our heads, all the expectations we have to live up to. But you know what mylabs, you have taught me that what matters most is we stick to who we are.  You have loved me from the start - I've been fat, I've been depressed, I've been scarred, I've had gazillions of stretch marks, I've made a number of mistakes but you've loved me for all that I am.  

I was humongous and you loved me every single day. Thank you honey for making us happy!

On this Valentine's Day, I just want to let you know that you've been one amazing husband and father to our children.  I pray that God will continue to mold me so that I can become the perfect person for you.  I didn't know what I did to deserve you.  For a long time it's been all about me and what I'll be getting on Valentines hon and you did everything for me.  But today, I'd like to do something a bit different.  This time it's all about you. Happy Heart's Day hon and I love you!

Your beautiful valentine,

Jill

How Tough is Tough Love?

Ever since I became a parent, one of the biggest obstacles on top of parenthood itself is discipline.  How do you teach that to a child?  To someone you'd fuss almost everything about from something as minute as an insect bite to a concern as major as bullying.  When do you say it's time to step in or let go?  How do you determine whether it crushes your child or builds his/her character?  As a parent, when do you draw the line?  How will you ever know?

I've been facing this dilemma time and again.  But somehow almost 10 years into parenthood with three amazingly unique children, until now I still can't come up with the right answers. Everything still seems like day one but I'd like to believe I'm getting a better head start than the last.

Recently, I went through a challenging situation with my eldest son Jim.  See, he is without any bias a very smart young man.  For the past year Lloyed and I have been squeezing our brains out trying to come up with activities, motivation and what not just to sustain his interest in learning.  But every time he'd get his hands on a gadget, everything would go haywire.  

We tried the cold turkey technique and eliminated gadget use altogether, then we decided maybe it would be okay to give time on weekends.  Only to realize again this time that it really has a significant effect on our son.  No matter how much monitoring we do, it just goes back to the fact that video games on the iPad somehow makes him forget that there's a "real world" out there (which is actually the world we're living in).  And my greatest fear as a parent is he develops a trait which is prevalent among the youth of today:  APATHY.

Apathy is a lack of interest or concern on matters of general importance or indifference in its whole essence.    How do we teach a child to care more?  How do we really know what to do? Haha.  Forgive the blabber, I guess it's because of all the conflicting emotions I get while I'm actually disciplining my child.  Do you sometimes get that too? I feel like we are putting up a strong facade while we impose punishments but deep inside our hearts are really crying out for them.  

Lovers in San Francisco

As they say we only get a better appreciation of our own parents when we become parents ourselves. In the end, it's all about unconditional love for our families and putting God above everything else that will assure us that we're not astray.  And since it's Valentine's Day in two days, One Big Hearts Love to my dear parents, Jim and Lleanette.

How tough is tough love?  Clueless.

A Special Surprise

The Lord is amazing and kind.  He knows our heart's deepest desires yet He doesn't give everything to us until the time is right.  He wants us to patiently wait and have faith in His will. I have been pruned, humbled and shaped.  Yet today He grants me this, at the very last minute.  I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude.

When I thought this would be the first time in my whole career that I won't be getting an award (see blog post here), God gave me such a wonderful surprise.  I made it!  For the last seven years, He has been so faithful in all his promises.  I am such a flawed human being to be worthy of such love.

Let me share to you how this weekend went:

We were both so excited for this trip. <3  Isn't our room just glorious?

Mica Branch! L-R Gilbert Chua, Delwyn Go, Gina Marie Saw, Me, Thea Mae Enquilino, Al Lopena

ooohh.. The food was yum. Sorry not sorry I'm eating this.

With our dapper CEO Jumbing de Rosas

With the handsome Maximo Joaquin our beloved CDO!

With the AMAZING Divine Furagganan our CAO and Delwyn Go my good friend

After party with Juan Miguel Salvador (Janella Salvador's dad hehe)  Jologs ako talaga.

Selfie with the night's host, Edu Manzano. Hahahahahaha With Sir Edwin at the back.

I wouldn't be here if not for the following people:

To my clients who have trusted me from the start and have believed in me since 2007. I wouldn't be here without you.  You have all weathered this journey with me in spite of all my ups and downs.  I always challenge myself to be better at what I do so that I won't have to look at another industry and leave this job behind.  I pray and hope in my heart that our future will be filled with much hope knowing that in one way or another we have prepared for it. Thanks to you all.

To my team, I'd be willing to fight tooth and nail for you.  I am here because of our combined efforts. We've been tried and tested over and over again yet here we are: Strong and Ready.  We will make our dreams come true. Through God, we'll make the impossible certainly achievable.  It's been a hard and tough fight but I know God will bring us to the top.

My BM Gilbert Chua and partner-in-crime Delwyn Go.  Oh my, we're still here.  We used to be a Unit, now a Branch.  Delwyn and I used to be both agents, now both Managers.  It's been years and years with you guys. Cheers to more Annual Awards with you and hopefully the rest of our team! 

More of us next year!!!

To my leaders who have helped me become who I am today.   They believed in what I can do and who I can become.  We've been through so much yet I am here today because of their faith in me.  Thank you for doing your best for me.

To my parents who have loved me even with my lapses and shortcomings. To my mom and dad who supported me in all my decisions even if they don't understand the industry I belong to, thank you. To my mother-in-law who was there to lift me up at a time I needed it most, she has loved me like her own for the last 11 years and I constantly thank God for her.

To my whole family who have stuck with me and will stick with me through thick and thin, I will do the same for you.

The gorgeous man of my life who takes the most beautiful photos!

To my husband Lloyed who has been by my side through every ordeal, we've been through so much my labs and I will always be thankful that it's you I'm sharing my life with. Honey, you have been one to tell me the truth not to destroy or break me but to shake me up so I may put things in better perspective.  You have loved me even in my worst times, you have accepted and understood me even when I didn't even understand myself. This is what true love is, what you have for me. and I will love you every single day of my life.

I am making this blog post because I want this moment to be recorded.  This is to help me remember that I should always be faithful to God's will.  Our lives are not in our hands but it should be in His.  He will guide our sails through calm or rough seas and He will steer us to where He wants us to be.  Lord I am no longer afraid of what tomorrow may give me because I have surrendered everything to you.  I have fully surrendered.

To God be all the glory and I claim for the best to come in these coming years!

PS.  Now that I read over it, it sounds a little bit like an acceptance speech, don't you think? Thank you Lord for this wonderful miracle!

The customary photo booth picture to cap the blog post :)