I felt discouraged.

Of course I am human.  I am not the type that likes to pre-empt a situation. But then, given the chance to view the new house unfinished gave me a rough idea of how downsizing means. And it was a boom!

Reality bites. Ouch. An eye-opener indeed. It took me to serious thoughts. An event leading to another. There are big decisions to be made in the coming days. It does involve major financial decisions.

But the good news is-- we are elated to be moving to the new house soon. Here's a peek ( no-that door color is going to change, now way it is going to be mint green) . And we are very grateful to God for His bountiful provisions. For the gift of financial blessings, gift of wisdom in choosing this one at the right time! I also cannot thank enough my friends ( Agie & Gracy) who keeps on inspiring me and encouraging me throughout these years. They both are heck of risk takers, generous ,bold, positive and most importantly kind.

And while we are downsizing, we do have a lot of "getting used to" to deal with. Like the kitchen , dining, living room size. It is going to be small, goodbye SPACE. The 4 bedrooms are of good sizes though and I am very happy with that. We are too excited for the new things coming our way this year. There is no reason for me to be discouraged. There are many reasons to celebrate!

This is an Unexpected Project for this Year. I've submitted to the idea that majority of the times, the greatest things come unplanned. It just Happens.

Crushed my Heart

Remember my daughters, that each time you walk out that door and say Goodbye to me, My heart is crushed a hundred times. But I do recover. Each time I see that joy and enthusiasm you are showing to LIFE. That is the only inheritance i could give to you. Your mother has no riches to share other than that growing Love for LIFE. I wish you share the same & wish I could embody this to you my loves.

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Today, I worked from home to see my Kylene go. How thankful I am of the job that made all these possible. Thank you , papa Lord! A job that doesn't starve us, actually a job that pays very adequately and gives the perfect work-life balance i have been wanting to strike since the beginning of my working mama lifestyle. This is a milestone that is worth celebrating. You are so gracious My God.

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It's Friday and the weather has been superb.  I could hear Spring knockin' and that means longer days soon. How I am missing more actions happening outside and enjoying daylight! But it will come soon, one more month to go for winter. So, here's a throwback of what we did last summer at Port Stephens. oh, yeah , we were daring and bold to that heat.  And it was worth it.

oh la la. Summer!I remember how beautiful you were, of course with a toddler in tow!

She is almost 2!

I browsed through my archives and realized that I haven't posted of Kylene's first birthday and now, she is almost 2. Oh no.

The decision to celebrate it in Bohol was rather sporadic. No matter where you celebrate your birthday,the most important thing is --- we have that special memory tugged in our hearts to celebrate her first year. I do clearly remember, we did have a celebration under a very high temperature and our little Kylene is having a hard time coping with it coming from winter weather in Sydney.

But there she is---she showed up ready for her big day, messy in spaghetti!

with my lola Berta ( papa's mom). This is very special. 3 generations.

Joan was left out here. She came a bit late from her flight from Sydney. 

yeah, we were all together to celebrate Kylene's 1st. I told you, it was special!

and there's the Baquial's

Kylene turns 2 in a month's time. And we are all flying to Goldcoast. I hope it would be less chilly than Sydney on her birthday weekend. 

my tiny little Kylene

she is becoming very sickly these past days. I have ran out of things to blame. Maybe the weather, her participation in the daycare or maybe she is expanding and thus, her muscles are moving of which fever is a reaction. I have read this sometime ago written by a pediatrician.

She did have the same episode before she turned 1. And now , another round of constant sickness as she is about to turn 2. It's been a month now that we are battling with poor health, poor sleep. God, strengthen me. It is a pain looking at your child suffer. And wonder if you can really survive the sleepless nights. Thankfully, my parents are here. Oh, what a relief.


But we had better days too.

When she is not sick, she likes running around the yard and makes mem'ries; It makes me smile.

Looking back, this little love is too tiny. I love it, I carry her around like this.

Those were the days when she is satisfied with just being with mama like this.  No hassle coming with her on city escapades. These were the pre-One era.

my hands are free for grocery with this baby on the carrier.








or going to the beach with this.  Also, this was the eczema times. oh, it was hard. But, that doesn't stop me from moving her around. I want her to be outside and be surrounded by nature's finest. Like me, I want my kids to be in love with LIFE's natural beauty.

Long drive to Canberra? No problem. This was the last adventure we went to that I could still carry her using the carrier.

But this was her favorite. She is closer to my bosom and could smell me really well. Babies are so attached like that. I am OK for her to stay that way. Do you see Kylene?

I am very grateful to go through this experience of mummyhood. It's very tiring , very very tiring and yet very satisfying, rewarding and I being very contemplative is very happy of Life has to offer. 

The CPA journey continues

I will take 2 subjects this semester.
I hope I can continue to soar like what I did before. I was fortunate in previous semesters with those grades I got. I wasn't proud of my strategy. Struggling to finish reading all the modules till midnight before the day of my exams. And it was a very difficult subject- Financial Reporting. That wasn't amazing.

But, the stars aligned, the grade came in, and I passed it. But believe it or not, it came to me as a warning. Because my score was just spot on. It was the passing score, no more no less. Had I miss one, I would have failed it.

I have skipped Sem 1 2015 to give way to all my vacationing, and now I have to work harder by taking 2 subjects. Then hopefully, some positive results and I promise to really dedicate myself to this. So, help me God.

As a form of motivation, I promised Cheyenne that I will work with her as she does her Saturday selective prep classes. So, we are both working hard this semester with an end in mind.

Oh yeah, please convince me that this is going to be exciting. Hell yes, we can do this self.

COLDEST in Sydney

okay, it is not cool.
It is freezing cold here in Sydney. For the record, this is our coldest so far since we came here. It is our 3rd year and we are not enjoying this. But life goes on. We continue to live with resilience and flexibility and yes we are very glad winter has come. Because we look forward to;

. August- well, it's my birthday month but most importantly, it is Kylene's. My little love turns 2. Can you imagine? she turns two soon and she is still not sleeping through. We do have tough nights still especially these past nights, winter cold nights. She finds it very hard to return to sleep after waking up at 3am. My poor husband had to endure all these. Too bad he needs to be awake early to work. But darling, we will endure this, Kylene will change soon and she will be a better sleeper. We did have better nights before these past nights.


.Spring- oh my gosh. 1 and half months more and we are getting there. And my Cheyenne turns 11. We are imposing some goals for Cheyenne this semester and while I am excited of it, I do not want my Cheyenne to feel so worn out. She is enrolled for the selective preparation course. She is giving it a try. My smart girl is making her way to the next big step, preparation for high school!


.New House- we are moving to a new  house this year. God, thank you! how exciting! We decided on this buy on Chuck's 37th birthday last June. It is under Construction, so we will share this bountiful blessing soon!

. Selling - we will be taking this huge step of selling our old house. Our first. The one that I love the yard so much. We do not have much luxury of space in the new house, so it would be somethin' to get used to. But yes, huge moves going on. Amazing God made all these things possible. His surprises are just sooo wonderful.

.Studies- so, I will be taking two CPA subjects this semester. I need more focus and time. I will have to remind myself to be Positive. Always


. Job - it has been good so far. The Almighty blessed me with this new job which I feel very comfortable. I am surrounded by positive and driven people. And money-wise, it is worth it.


Bold moves. Radical decisions. That made our winter days quite Eventful.

why Bohol makes me happy

I am still not over it.
The summer breeze. the clear white water of the sea. The Bohol i know.


Much to my joy is coming from Kylene's reaction to the weather. Unlike our first visit, she is better now. She didn't show any hesitation that she could withstand the heat. That she could enjoy the water and enjoy Bohol too.

so- here's the answer why my hometown makes me very happy.

1. Because I am more relaxed. Imagine someone doing all the other necessities for you. You would have to pay heaps in Australia to get someone to drive you to places or someone to look after your kid although I am still very hands on. Or someone doing the laundry neatly piled ready to be worn again. Just having that someone to make your life so comfy. Absolutely relaxing.

2. The places you wanna go is just in the island. First of all , both families are within the same town- how good is that. Pools, zoo, adventure, beach, rice fields, butterflies to name a few.

3. Fresh, inexpensive local food. You could never go wrong except if you get caught with touristy places and prices. I got bitten myself. Watch out!

4. And how lucky that God picked Bohol to be home of His amazing creation of beaches. I am so happy to in commune of His work of art!

5. and finally to be HOME. no other place can make me feel so at HOME like that. Australia atmosphere cannot surpass that feeling yet and have no plans to.

I cannot forget this beach feeling and that ice cold beer inside the bucket.

I know I do not need to say more. Just picture this.

Kylene survives with her milk. I needed that beer.

And just approximately a kilometer from home is the Butterfly Garden albeit it's small size has actually entertained me.

ate Cheyenne tried on her wings!

and we actually did it! Yes, i prepared them to see where rice came from.  So, i brought these boots. I was expecting green rice fields but it was harvest time in April. So, here, the golden rice fields.

Kylene didn't show any itching at all & I am sooo thankful!

Huh..took me some time to finally put up something in my blog. I was too busy with the spontaneous lifestyle I am having at the moment. I am very fortunate & blessed. And, oh yeah, i have more stories to tell!