We are Three!

We started the day of our 3^rd year anniversary by attending the 9AM mass at a mall. I thank God for giving us the chance to know Him more and to love Him more after the 40 days love dare. Compared to our previous wedding anniversaries, this one is the happiest since I and hubby had finally put God in the center of our marriage.

After the mass, we let our daughter enjoy the rides in the mall. Then, we had our 2012 family picture. Our family picture speaks a thousand words. The picture speaks so much of our family’s love, happiness, dreams, hopes and commitment. Our second year of marriage has been full of trials and problems that have tested our marriage, our commitment to each other. But now that we let God guide us in our journey of marriage and parenting, we are full of hope that we can surpass everything.

After the pictorial, we had our lunch at the Rack’s. We were not able to take pictures since our little one is fussy because she had not yet taken her daytime nap.

Another Mommy Moments, Color Connection

3rd Wedding Anniversry: Sweetest Love

They say “Love is sweeter the second time around”,
But for me, love is sweetest when we have God in the center of our marriage..
I want to thank God for guiding us through the 40 days of love dare..
A journey that made us realized what true love is all about..
God has made us realized how much He loves us that He gave us the gift of loving each other unconditionally..
And I am glad that we learned to love Him more after the 40 days love dare..
May God continually guide us as we take the journey of love, respect, happiness, faith and commitment to love each other till the end..

I know as human we are imperfect individuals
But with the love of God, I believe we can surpass any trials, storms or problems that may shake us..
Because the house that we are building together in the rock of God, will never be shattered. No more giving up. Just holding on...
It is like I am holding to God’s hand as He holds you in His other hand..
To grow old with you is one of my greatest dreams..
I am glad that I had spent 3 years of my life with you and I am looking forward to spend the rest of my life with you..
Happy 3rd anniversary Bhi-mine.
I love you. Period.

Fireproof Marriage

Our marriage is not a perfect one. I and hubby have petty quarrels most of the time because of our differences. They say February is the month for "Love", yet it was on this month that our marriage has encountered another trial. I was deeply hurt..I feel like I was giving up. But after a few days of soul searching I finally made a decision, to never give up.
Running away is not the answer to problems that we encounter as wife. After the incident, I and hubby watched a movie together. It took me six hours downloading the full movie from YouTube but it's worth it. The movie was great and I would recommend this to every couple who strives hard in their marriage. "Fireproof" made us realized that we should never leave our partners especially on fire. As of now, we are trying hard to save our marriage, not only for our daughter, but also for ourselves. We are currently on the 8th day of the 40 days Love Dare.

Here is my message to hubby on Valentines Day:

You are not the ideal man I’ve been wishing for..
But you taught me what true love is all about..
Not on the happy moments that we have, but on situations when unconditional love grows deeply..
We’ve been through the ups and downs..
we fight like normal couples do…
you made me cry..
I made you cry..
But whenever these things happen…when the “worse” overshadows the “better”..I am clinging to what... I promised, not only to you but also to our God..the promise of commitment to love you until my last breath..
As we build our family, it is not the love that will protect our family..
Feelings come and go..but the commitment that we promised to each other will live forever in our mind, heart and soul..
With God’s guidance, I pray that He will continually bless our marriage and nourish it with love…
To the man who made me a mother..
To the person who gives me heartaches..
To the friend who’s willing to risk his life for me..
And to the husband I know will love me forever..
Happy Valentines Day..
I love you more.

Here are some of our pictures on Valentines Day:

This is also my share to Mommy Moments

Marriage Differences

Quotes on Love: Love until it hurts. Real love is always painful and hurts; then it is real and pure.- Mother Teresa

It is really heartbreaking whenever couples argue for many reasons, usually for differences. I admit, I am one of those wives who sometimes want to give up whenever I have those petty quarrels with my husband. We are different in many ways. Aside from being opposite in physical aspects (he is big and chubby and I am petite and skinny), we are totally opposite when it comes to personality. He is an outgoing person, I am an introvert type. Even on how we were brought up by our parents-I grew up with disciplinarian parents and he was not.

There is only  one thing we have in common: we love each other so much. Our differences will not break the bond our love has built. Instead of treating differences as threat in our relationship, we see it as opportunities for us to grow and thru acceptance we will see the real love for each other. It is true that when we love, we give each other the right to hurt us. Love really hurts, but through the heartaches, trials, and success in our lives, we managed to stand up and continue with our dreams and plans. As long as there is love, respect, communication, commitment and faith to God, we will love each other. And that will last forever.

As one of the famous quotes say:
A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love.

This is my share for Wednesday Whites

My Younger Sister is Getting Married!

My younger sister during my wedding

Finally, my younger sister is getting married on December 16. The one man whom God prepared for her has finally found her. They originally planned for a civil wedding since church wedding is expensive. But then I recommended for a church wedding without nuptial mass which is less expensive. Wedding is one of the most memorable moments in a woman’s life. For me it matters that two people being united as one will speak their promises and commitment with each other in the church of God. The wedding will be a simple ceremony with the immediate family and friends as guests. I am giving her my full support and sharing my experiences about  wedding settings made easy.

It does not matter how lavish or simple a wedding will be, what is important is the love, faith, respect and commitment a husband and wife will promise to each other. Two bodies, two souls and two hearts will be united as one.

Love Quotes: Marriage is the golden ring in a chain whose beginning is a glance and whose ending is Eternity.

This is my share for Wednesday Whites.

Movie Dates with Hubby

Having movie dates with hubby is one of my ways of finding time for ourselves alone, to relax, laugh and develop our intimacy towards each other. It is very important to nurture our marriage since we are our child’s inspiration to know the meaning of family, love and respect.

We always have time, usually every two weeks to watch movie together, and one of the movies we usually wait is the Twilight Saga. I am so excited to watch it next week with hubby. Though we are exactly opposite in our personalities, I am happy that we do have one thing in common: we love to watch movies especially those famous books that are turned into blockbuster movies. We enjoy watching Harry Potter, Twilight, The Lord of the Rings, Schindler’s List and other Greek mythologies characters.

Since being a mom and wife makes me busy, I am glad that through these movie dates, we find time to know the famous people and events when we don’t have the time to read books and newspapers. Turning famous books and events into movies helps us to have an in-depth understanding of the characters and events.

Although some of these movies do not necessarily reflects my real life, I admit that sometimes these influences me in some of my decisions. No wonder I accepted hubby’s proposal when he told me “You are my life”, so sweet. And I am looking forward that after watching this “Breaking Dawn”, he might tell me “No measure of time with you will be long enough, so let’s start with forever.”

My share for Wednesday Whites

The One

This is a story I shared in the Big Magazine, and I am sharing this now in Mommy Moments Unforgettable Stories.

Do you believe in miracles and signs? Every girl has a fantasy of finding the one God had ultimately prepared for her-her one true love. I admit I used to be one of them. I fell in love for the first time..to a man my family was not in favor of. However, a sweet dream turned into a nightmare. I woke up one day with a broken heart. Time has passed by, another relationship has begun. I fell in love and was hurt for the second time. I was deceived by love. I often hear people say, God won’t give us things we can’t handle; but there have been times in my life when I thought God always knew more about what I could or couldn’t handle than I did. I do believe, however, that When God see you need a little help, He goes one step further to let you know that everything will be alright.

My heart and mind were enlightened by my best friend. Her heartfelt words helped me to stand up and to fight with all the heartaches I’ve felt.I had thought that my past relationships were all failures. But my best friend made me realize these were not failures, but a success. The experience of getting into an unpleasant relationship is a blessing in disguise. One of the purposes of a relationship is to test if a man is worth the pure and endless love a woman or other way around; a test if the two of them are meant to spend the rest of their lives with each others arms. The purpose was fulfilled. I have realized I haven’t met my future husband yet. I’ve learned to trust in God’s special ways and special time. I’ve learned to open my heart for His greatest gift.

I praised God for His great love. I never thought that He had already planned a very special way of meeting my one true love. I prayed for it. I asked for signs. I was afraid of falling in love with the wrong man again. I prayed that whoever will fulfill the three signs would be the one that God has prepared for me. These three signs were an angel, rain with that guy and a pink rose. It really amazed me that these signs were indeed fulfilled. I was so surprised because I never expected that my one true love is actually one of my friends. I am now married to my one true love and the Lord has blessed us with a beautiful angel.

As the saying goes, life is like a box of chocolates..Its uncertainty is a mystery. But one thing is sure; you’ll never hesitate enjoying the chocolates if you always believe in Him..And you’ll see that every bite is so sweet.

Art of Shaving For My Hubby

As a wife, I am concern of my husband’s grooming just as I take good care of my little one. If a child is a reflection of her parents, husband’s grooming is a reflection of how his wife takes good care of him. Husbands love to be pampered by their wives. And being a wife of a man who works as an appraiser, I should be aware on how to take good care of his skin and how to maintain his face with a clean-shaven fresh and flawless look.

I used to worry when I see those cuts, razor burn or irritation on my husbands face after his shaving. Since I want my husband to have that clean look without hurting himself, I took an effort to learn on how to apply the art of shaving to him and I am glad that now I don’t see anymore those cuts and burns.

Warm Water helps open pores so it is vital to wash his face with warm water to detoxify and remove oil and dirt in his skin at the same time opening the pores.

Next is applying the shaving cream over the area to be shaved. But since some shaving creams contains chemicals that irritates my husband’s sensitive skin, applying pre-shaved oil is necessary before the cream.

Shave in the direction of the hair growth gently. My husband uses electric shaver coz it allows him to shave fast and prevent razor cuts. It is best to clean the shaver cutter after every shave for sanitation purposes and for longer use.

After shaving, he rinses his face with cold water to close the pores and applies natural moisturizing ointment. Two times a week he exfoliates his skin using a natural facial scrub to maintain his fresh look.

Hope these tips will help your husbands too to prevent razor burns and cuts and maintain that fresh clean look. As they always say, it takes a woman to get the job done properly. Hope you enjoy the art of shaving with your hubby!

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary Bhi-mine

I am insufficient expressing myself in words. I want to thank you for loving me anyway.

Time flies so fast. Many things happened in our two years together as husband and wife- good and bad things. But whether it is good or bad, I am glad that we are still together, our marriage is firm no matter how many trials have passed our way. I thank God for bonding us always together-believing in the true love that he planted in our relationship. I thank God for all the blessings he gave to our family.

Our second year together is a fruitful one. Our family is growing. Firs we have Celine, and now we are expecting for our second angel to come this October. We are fortunate also that finally we have our own “home”. I am looking forward continue building our dreams together as one and raising our family through the guidance of God.

We’ve grown together for these two years, and I’m looking forward to maturing more with you.

Happy Anniversary Bhi-mine.

Valentines Sweet Surprises

Valentines Day is one of my favorite occasions that I have been waiting for every year. This is my third valentine with my hubby. If only I could wish for Valentines Day everyday, I will wish for it. It is not the bouquet of flowers I received yearly that makes me “kilig”, but the thoughtfulness of my hubby.

from bhi-mine with love...

to bhi-mine with love...

God, grant me the serenity...

What if you are happily married for almost two years, with an adorable baby, and then suddenly your loving husband confides you about his lewd behavior seven years ago prior to meeting him and courting you? He promised that he regrets his past behavior and swear that since the day he loved you, he never thought of cheating you? That he learned from this obscene behavior and made him realized that it was wrong, he was thankful to God that He never allowed that something resulted from his actions, and he was thankful to God He never allowed it to continue because He has a better plan for him?

I never thought that I will be encountering this scenario. The moment my husband confided, my heart was broken into pieces and tears came shedding from my eyes. I never thought that he was never honest with me, that he kept this secret for almost two years. He said he was just afraid that I will dump him when he was courting me if ever I learned his lewd past behavior. Since I learned about that issue, I began confronting him time and time again. I had used up all my tears and emotion to the point of completely shutting down to the world around me. I always wonder what’s really running through his mind. I was really disappointed of his dishonest behavior which made me question his commitment and love for me.

I have been praying always for strength and serenity. Until one day, God answered my prayer. When God puts two people together, He gives you what you need to strengthen and encourage each other, and will put people in your path to advise and help when you cannot do it alone. If we allow our pride to fall and seek the guidance of God, we will see the light- the serenity. I held unto so much pain because I was too prideful to admit that there was a problem in our marriage.

God allowed me to communicate with three people to help me overcome this struggle. First, he let me meet a driver to whom I released what I have been feeling inside. He told me, my problem is too little compared to his problem. He was happily married for thirteen years and he has a son. Then one day, the doctor told him he has leukemia. What would happen to his plans for his family and to his dreams for his wife? But still, he continues to fight for life for his family. That he never lose hope and instead of spending the remaining of his life in despair, he spend more time for his love ones. Second person who comforted me was a friend who believes that the love that binds my marriage and our baby will help us overcome this struggle. She was one of the people who witnessed our love story. She told me I was lucky enough that I experienced to have a child from my one true love and we still hold our present and future. This friend of mine will undergo an operation that will remove her reproductive organ, and with this she will never experienced to become a mother. And the third person is one of the persons I treasured most in my life, my bestfriend. She taught me of forgiveness. She reminded me of the love and commitment my husband gave me since the day he told me he loves me. She told me that marriage is like a big picture, and we are still in the process of putting the puzzles together. She made me realized how much blessed I am that the pain was from the past, my present is untouched, and we still have the chance to take care of our future. I must not allow this past issue to break our marriage which was blessed by God. My bestfriend’s family had encountered many trials too but I still can see her happy and blessed to feel the presence of God.

I am grateful to God that He allowed me to put together my husband’s pieces of heart after giving it away so many times, because it does not take much of a woman to break a heart, but it takes an incredible woman to accept the broken pieces and have the patience to turn them into a beautiful, priceless work of art that she gets to cherish for the rest of her life.

Serenity Prayer (Reinhold Niebhur)

God,

Grant me the serenity;

To accept the things I cannot change;

The courage, to change the things I can;

And the wisdom, to know the difference.

Sorry Bhi-mine..

Since the first time I got mad with you because of a missed call from an unknown number, my heart has been filled with doubts about the love you have for me. The trust and confidence I have used to feel was shaken by my jealousy, insecurities and doubts. How many times I have cried because of not believing in you, thinking that you’re not happy with me anymore.

But then, last night, I prayed to God to give me the peace of mind I’ve been longing for. The wrong thoughts have been bothering me for so many nights, making me see your flaws rather than your efforts. I asked God many times why I fell in love with you.

Today, God gave me the answers to prove how He truly loves me for having you in my life. With my sincere prayer, he granted me the peace of mind and emotional security I have been looking for.God helped me to discover that all the accusations and assumptions I have for you were all wrong. I am very sorry for the pain that you felt because of my bad attitude, for being so paranoid with our relationship. I have questioned your love for me many times, but still you’ve been patient with my behavior. I should not have accused you, but rather should have trusted you. I should have believed in you.

OUR FIRST YEAR TOGETHER

Somewhere back in time
You became a friend of mine
And day by day we've grown a little closer
You're my spirit to be strong
A friend when things go wrong
So I've written down these words to let you know

Loves grown deep, deep into the heart of me
You've become a part of me
Let us plant the seed and watch it grow
Loves grown deep, deep into the heart of me
You've become a part of me

Such music sung by Kelly Nolan made me reminisce of the past. That was the song I have chosen as the audio background of the slideshow I made and presented at the reception during our church wedding. Memories suddenly restored on my mind as I listen to the sweet music- our movie dates, lakeshore trips, dinner dates, valentine cards, bouquet of flowers, surprise gifts and all the efforts of my ex-boyfriend (presently my hubby) that made my heart melted.

I had played the music repeatedly to remember that intense feeling of love for my husband. Last May 31, 2010, we celebrated our first church wedding anniversary. Within a year of our marriage, many things happened.. a lot of things has changed.. Having our little angel Celine is the best thing that happened to us. She inspires us every moment of each day, her sweet smiles, her cute pictures on my desktop, her babbling sound that wakes us every morning, heart-melting milestones we witnessed, the love we see through her eyes, the comfort she feels as we cuddle her, and the trust she gives everytime her daddy throws and catches her in the air.

I could say that the first year of our marriage is a year of adjustment period. It is filled with ups and downs. We had encountered misunderstandings resolved through the love, commitment and patience for each other. These conflicts are expected since we are exactly opposite of each other. We were raised by two different families with different lifestyle, and way of upbringing and disciplining. These disagreements have formed spaces between the two of us. Both of us had experienced the feeling being rejected, ignored, insecure, unsupported, unloved, not respected, and unappreciated.. yet we didn’t have the intentions of doing these. The saying is true, "people hurt us accidentally even when they truly love us.." The corners of our room witnessed the quarrels we have. But at end of the day, we can’t sleep without resolving the conflicts. After all the tears I shed to express my deepest emotion and the heartbreak he felt as he listens to all my complaints, we choose to hold on.. cause we know, that the love we still have for each other will help us mend our broken hearts. We look forward resolving all the misunderstandings and find ways to bring back the harmony in our relationship. We believe that we could grow the seed of love we had planted before.
Amidst our busy life doing our work, parental obligations to our daughter, household stuff, fixing problems, we still find time to develop intimacy and companionship. There’s always a time for us to drop at the movie houses, go shopping, bring Celine to studio for a pictorial, eat street foods together (qwek-qwek, batal manok, fish ball), go to grocery to buy foodstuff, and set a time for dinner dates.

For a fruitful year with my husband, I came to know him better. I admired him for being patient of me, for providing us the security and support, for being the first one to raise the white flag during our disagreements, for being the first one to break down the barrier that blocks our hearts and souls to gain access to each other, and for being a good father to our daughter.

I thanked my God for giving me such a wonderful, loving, supportive husband. He is the "partner in life" I ever hoped, prayed and dreamed of, and my life has been abundantly blessed with his presence and love.

I look forward building our dreams together, raise our children to be a good child of God, and grow old together without getting tired of loving each other. We learned and we continue to learn as one mind, one heart, one soul, one body.
(6/17/2010)