Hubby's speech

Last Friday, Jan. 27th, my husband Miggy was invited to speak in his Alma Mater, Christian Academy of Bacolod as a guest speaker of their 26th Foundation Day and 2nd Alumni Homecoming. It went well, we just didn't expect that majority of his audience would be elementary and high school students. This is his first time to speak but I admire him because he never felt or at least didn't make the jitters obvious.

Here's his speech in case I start erasing my emails and will not have a copy of this in the future. :)

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Dear guests, former teachers, friends and fellow alumni of Christian Academy of Bacolod, good morning!

When Principal Elias invited me to speak as a guest speaker of this event, I was a little hesitant. Yes, it is no doubt an honor to be chosen; but I also know that it is going to be a nerve-wracking experience. Nineteen years ago, I was just a cute little boy excited to experience high school, now I’m married to my one and only wife with one smart little boy who obviously got his looks, from the one whom I got my looks from, my father. J

In the years since we left the corridors of CAB, a lot of changes have taken place. Some have decided to join the business world to keep our economy rolling, while others are happy doing ministry for the Lord, one of the highest calling. Others are into the medical world helping save lives, while others enjoy being in the customer service industry making every consumer happy. Different paths for different folks but one thing remain the same - the values our dear alma mater had taught us.

This year’s theme is faithfulness. One of my favorite lines in Steve Green’s song Find us faithful, goes “Let us run the race not only for the prize. But as those who’ve gone before us, Let us leave to those behind us, the heritage of faithfulness passed on through Godly lives. What a beautiful message. I could sit down now and leave you all with those lines to ponder. But let me continue.

I believe all of us here have goals. In whatever state we are now, I know we have something in mind that we want to achieve. It could be a business of our own, a dream job, a dream house, a grand vacation, or an ideal husband/wife. I know that we are doing something about it, and although some of us here may have already achieved some of them, we continue to aim higher. Has it always been smooth sailing? I doubt it is. In this imperfect world there will always be discouragements, criticisms, trials and persecutions even. And sometimes we feel that there’s no sense in pursuing our dreams because things don’t work out the way we want them or that they don’t happen on our appointed time. Sometimes we want things instantly. We want them to go smoothly, which is in reality not always a possibility.

Now the good news is that despite the rough sailing, the bumpy rides and turbulent flights, our dear teachers from this school had taught us the value of faithfulness. It is in this school that wonderful stories in the Bible were given emphasis. The story of Joshua who entered the Promised Land because of his faith, and Gideon who won the battle with the Midianites with just 300 men and his big faith and trust in God. Our teachers had taught us to believe in things we cannot see. To not settle in mediocrity. To aim higher and have faith in what we do and most specially in what God can do for us. They remain faithful in their students, the same way God shows his faithfulness to this school for 26 years.

At 31 I’m finishing my master’s degree in business. I am going to pursue my plan of becoming a university professor and a faithful husband and father. And although I enjoy what I’m doing now, my heart still goes for teaching. I will remain faithful to my dreams. I won’t stop because as Dr. Charles Stanley states, “the only way to know how much faith you have is when it is tested and tried. So kids, go ahead and try your faith. Aim high and reach for your dream.

Good morning and May God bless us all. Thank you.

How my 2012 will look like...

My family started the year in the hospital. My father was hospitalized on Jan. 1st, was released on Jan. 3rd and died on the 6th. We buried him on Jan. 14th and I came back to work the week after. Now that almost everything is back to normal, except for some episodes of sadness and loneliness, I want to put in writing the things I expect to happen this year. And then at the end of the year, I want to be able to look back and see if they did happen or something else better happened. :)

This year I expect great things to happen. Yes, some things are beyond my control but most of them are controllable. God has given us instructions in writing, I'm sure that if I just read and understand it, I'll get the heavenly wisdom I need to make the right decisions.

First on my list is to have baby #2. My husband and I have agreed that as soon as he graduates from his Master's degree this

March, we'll have another baby. Our eldest son Matt is already 3 years old and by June, he will start pre-school. By the time I give birth, Matt would be 4, enough to take care of his younger brother/sister. :) I'm praying for a baby sister while my husband prays for another baby boy. May the best prayer win!hehe. Just kidding.

Second on my list is to start a small business or any income generating activity. I'm currently a dealer of human nature organic products (http://humanheartnature.com/) but it's not really income generating because I am not selling aggressively. The discount I'm enjoying though, as a dealer, is something that I'm thankful about because I'm an avid user of HN products. But aside from being an HN dealer, I want to put up a small business. Maybe a business I could start from home or if I could find a stall where I could sell stuff preferably food, that would be better. Or I'm thinking of working online during my free time. Some Odesk type of online job. I'm also trying to consider buying raw products then process them at home then sell them online. I don't know, as of now, there's just a lot of ideas coming that I have to pray harder and think deeper to make up my mind and pursue what I really desire to do.

Then I'd like to accomplish some not so major things like wall painting of my son's room in preparation for baby #2, having the car tinted again since the heat and light are now getting in which makes it more hot inside, if the budget allows, we'll have to repaint the car as scratches are now more visible, de-clutter our closet and get rid of the things we don't need and donate them and make more space for more people in the house, visit my mother and siblings often, have more couple dates at new restaurants (started with 2 new restaurants and my husband and I enjoyed it), lose 15 lbs by eating healthy and exercising more often, read more books and PRAY more!

Wow, I'm really positive about my plans for 2012 but I know that God has plans laid out for me too. Prayer is the key really.

A sweet homecoming

After three months of struggle with lung cancer, my father finally joined his creator last Jan. 6th, 2012 at around 9:50pm at age 66. I call it a sweet homecoming. It is a sweet homecoming because he will be finally seeing his creator and savior. He will forever be in a place where there is no pain and sorrows only joys and laughters. He will be in Paradise.

Prior to papang's death, my cousin Pastor Noel paid him a visit and asked him about death and his relationship with Jesus. Then they prayed a prayer of repentance. He was receptive. He prayed along and asked for forgiveness and accepted Jesus as his personal savior. It was the best gift ever given to me and for him most specially.

His condition worsen; he was hospitalized on Jan. 1st. We stayed in the hospital for two days. We went home on Jan. 3rd, set up his oxygen and prepared his NGT meal. That is going to be our routine from then on... but not too long. He expired 3 days after. In the afternoon of Jan. 6th, my sister, Lalai sent me a text message informing me that papang had removed his NGT. I was so worried because without his NGT, we will be having a hard time feeding him and most specially, administering his morphine, his pain medication. I tried giving instructions through text but I wasn't content so I got out of our bed and went to my parents' house. There we tried to give him his morphine in liquid form. It was a slow process but papang was patiently cooperating, swallowing every drop of morphine mixed in water. Instead of heading home and going back to sleep to prepare for my shift in the evening, I decided to wait for my sister who's arriving from Dubai. She arrived around 6:30pm. She talked to my father and although papang can no longer talk, I can see that he's excited. After their short talk, we decided to eat. Around 8pm, I decided to go home to prepare for my 9pm shift. My siblings stayed in the other room while my mother was talking to our father. I was able to hear part of their conversations when I entered the room and gave my mother the paracetamol she was asking. I heard my mother saying "paeng, kapoy ka na, pahuway na, ok lang kami". I saw my father nodding.

Around 10:10pm, while I was in the office, I got a call from my sister. She said papang is gone, just 2 hours after mamang talked to him. I hurriedly called my husband up and went home. Then I saw him... lifeless. My family is weeping. It was the saddest time of our lives. I was expecting it to happen because of his condition and the signs we're seeing, but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. Then I remember my prayer. I prayed to God that He will not allow papang to suffer for a long time and that if he's ready to go, then He can take him away from us. God answered my prayers. He gave papang enough time to think, reflect and repent and accept Jesus as his savior. He did not suffer for long.

It's sad to lose someone we dearly love but the dead must not be pitied as what others tend to say. It's a reality and it's a blessing. We will surely miss them and that's what makes it sad, but death has no victory. It's not the end, it's a beginning. A beginning of a beautiful and perfect life.

Winter season

Seasons of Life. There are 4 seasons of life and some say winter is the best. Winter is the season when you want to go home and find the comfort of family, love and peace. Although winter is when the grim reaper often comes to visit, it is to be welcomed with open arms as it is a way to find eternal peace in heaven, the eternal destination. My father is in this season of his life. As of this writing, he is in the hospital. We bought him there on the first day of the year. He was having a hard time breathing and normally he would just reach for his nebulizer but this time, it's different. Every breath is a struggle. The doctor explained to us what has happened to his lungs since the diagnosis of his lung cancer in October, just 2 months ago. On the x-ray result, his right lung is no longer visible. It's covered with white substance and the doctor explained that that is the tumor which grew and covered the lungs with fluid. That's what's causing him to breathe hard.

The doctor gave us different paths to choose from. Option number 1 is to treat the infection by getting the fluid out of the lungs and give him an antibiotic worth three thousand pesos a day for 10 days. This option will temporarily give him relief maybe lengthen his days but will not cure the tumor, it will continue to grow and produce fluid.

Option number 2 is maintain status quo with NGT and oxygen. NGT will help put food and medications in his body and oxygen will aid him with his breathing. When the doctor gave us those options, we got confused. We're used to doctors telling us what procedures they'll perform but here's one who lets us decide which is a good thing in some ways. So I asked him what's the best thing to do. After all, he's facing patients like my father everyday. He suggested that we agree to NGT and oxygen, bring our father home and give him palliative care. He said we can perform Option #1 but the patient may no longer be able to bear the process as he is already too weak. He will eventually succumb to his illness. What he said makes sense to us so we agreed to do what he suggested. Finally, the NGT was succesfully performed yesterday. Later on, we will be buying the oxygen that he need so he can go home.

Winter season of life. The best season for many. I'm praying that my father will think the same way. I'm wishing that he will enjoy this season with us. I'm praying that he will have more hope and excitement as he goes home.