5:00 a.m. Blessings and an Answered Prayer

Five o'clock. My alarm blares the hour. Snooze. I snuggle under my warm comforter on this chilly morning. After 9 minutes, it clamors for attention again. Another snooze, another snuggle, another buzz. Repeat cycle.

Then I bolt up for mommy duty. Boil the rice. Swish the eggs. Drop the bacon and tomatoes in the pan. Omelet for breakfast done. I can hear my elder son coming down the stairs. Quick, fry the fish fillet. Wait, it needs oyster sauce. Dice bell pepper in a flash. Lunch for baon done just as he finished breakfast. Kiss and bless Son #1 good-bye.

Repeat fish fillet procedure for Son # 2's lunch. (I could have done this in one batch but Son # 1 will be delayed). While fish is frying, thaw hotdogs. Pop breakfast into my mouth as I grab ingredients for his sandwich. Snacks done. This should keep him till his late dinner.

I'm searching for a word a level higher than hectic to describe my mornings for the past week. I guess frenzied will have to do. But amidst all this, I was praising God for my blessings.

First, we are blessed with food to cook. Other people sleep to forget hunger.

Second, I have a sister-in-law whose daughter died in her teens. I know she would give the world to be in my apron preparing her daughter's baon. I am blessed with hungry sons to feed.

Third, all that food I prepared is for my sons who have both entered the work force. Yes, both of them because last week God completely answered Dream # 2 in my Novena to God's Love.

Dream # 2.a is for the whole family (my parents, the other son and me) to attend both of my sons' graduations. My Papa almost didn't make it last Saturday because he had a board meeting in our province. He chose to be present at my younger son's graduation. At my elder son's graduation last year, my parents had no tickets but got in anyway. We were all present on both occasions. And, of course, the big thing here is that both my sons are now college graduates.

Dream # 2.b is for my sons to find well-paying jobs after college. A few days before he marched to get his diploma, my younger son was hired to do free-lance work on a film bound for Cannes.

"Well-paying" is still on the way that's why the packed lunch and snacks and my frenzied mornings. But I'm claiming that answered prayer for my sons already.

As I send off Son #2 with a kiss and a blessing, I thank God for His graces that fired up my new day.

Team LOJ All-Stars Huddle

There I was poised atop a monobloc chair in front of the gigantic Feast Builders’ tarp. Osy twisted around – down on her knees, face almost on the floor – her brand new DSLR camera angled for a shot. Our mission: make me look like I’m part of the big picture and do it quickly before a group from another Feast comes to pose. At that instant I wished I had a camera to take her picture, too. We must’ve been a funny sight.

But our carefree mood was not out of place in this carnival. The horde of servant-leaders in identical blue and white LOJ All-Stars jersey echoed our jubilation. And all the people milling around us were engaged in the national pastime of “Kodak-an”. I guess we all wanted to keep a piece of this happy memory – the 2011 Light of Jesus (LOJ) Leaders Assembly.

The morning of January 29, 2011 was a collage of different scenes. LOJ members in sportswear. Balloons shaped into kooky headpieces. Praise and worship at the Philippine Air Force Gym. The anointing by our “coaches” – Bro Bo Sanchez and the Feast Builders – as we prepare to score more goals. And what would a team huddle be without team pictures and a pep talk.

The pep talk was given by Ardy Abello, a motivational speaker who said, “Everything in life is about team work.” He gave 4 insights about teams that are winners:

1. Goal-driven teams will not settle for the good. They go for the great.

Having just finished visioning with my FAMMily (aka Feast Alabang Media Ministry), I felt confident that my go-getting, close-knit team is on the right track to doing great things.

2. Overcoming teams value discipline. Discipline of the mind, body and soul leads to creativity.

Here I got an affirmation about two of my philosophies – a) “Me” time is essential to a sound mind and body; and b) a fit body is a foundation of success. This is an area of struggle for me because some people think this is an alien philosophy I concocted just so I can escape my responsibilities and hang out in the gym at least twice a week.

3. Leading your team with positive influence is key.

A great lesson for me to apply to my team and even my children is that the mind is strengthened if it receives something positive or true.

4. Determination produces long-term results.

We all go through “Everest” experiences or difficult challenges but if we don’t quit midway, there will be no mountain high enough that we can’t conquer. Persevere, persevere, persevere! Got to keep that mantra going when I go through I-can’t-take-any-more-of-this times.

Together with these thoughts on teamwork and the countless pictures to remind us that we belong to one team, we left the huddle ready to start winning more points for Team LOJ.

Team Feast Alabang All-Stars with our "coaches" Arun Gogna and Bo Sanchez.

My Little Big Artifact

Like ants in a sugar bowl, Proudly Filipina members swarmed around the registration table at the posh entrance of The Spa at the Fort. They each grabbed a token and tied it around their wrists. The less staid Ka-Pinays tied it around their ankles. Each component of the bracelet/anklet was a symbol of our race – a nacre sampaguita, pearls, coconut shell and carabao horn beads. All the lady guests wanted one including celebrity host Christine Bersola-Babao. I felt a pinch of pride. The trinket was something I spent several cross-eyed-from-lack-of-sleep nights crafting for our launch Spa-rty.

That was two years and many articles ago. I brought the bracelet to the writer’s workshop, “Write Now,” that I attended on Jan. 15, 2011, Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, our writing coach, asked us to bring an artifact. It was a tool we can use to introduce ourselves. Also a mental post-it to make the memory about the participants stick.

My artifact chronicles a short story. It tells how I like to make things with my hands – fashion accessories for one. It is also a memento of the first time I had the audacity to write for public consumption through the online magazine of Proudly Filipina.com. Inserted in its pages are the interesting and accomplished Filipinas I met, interviewed and wrote about.

This trinket also linked each chapter in my new profession. My two gifts that the bracelet represented – crafting and writing – were keys that opened the double-locked door to the world of writing for Insight Magazine and Didache. (I have blogged about how long I’ve wanted to write for Didache and how I met Rissa through my accessories.)

Because I wrote a reflection for Didache about an old blog, I was pushed (forced by embarrassment actually) to resurrect it before the reflection was due to come out. Didache readers might look for the blog and find articles as old and outmoded as last season’s fashion bling. I wanted them to read something new and sparkling.

From this blog, another link was created. An article I submitted to Bo Sanchez’s Facebook page was chosen Blog of the Week. It also caught the eye of Kerygma Magazine’s managing editor, Tess Atienza. At that time, she needed a testimony for their January issue. My story was exactly what she was looking for. A new chapter began when Tess asked me to be a contributing writer for Kerygma – another dream inscribed in my heart for many years.

These are the links so far in my story bracelet. Links that show big opportunities can come from little things. You never know where a blessing will start. It can begin from something as trivial as my trinket.

Creative House's Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, Arun & Lallaine Gogna (third to fifth from the left) with "Write Now" participants from Feast Alabang Osy Erica, Lella Santiago, Desi Tomas & Jo Ann Fauni

Thanks to Osy for this photo.