March/April Newsletter 2007

Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks for the continued support.

Jonathan's Surprise

Jonathan finally posted an album: TwenTee!

It was a surprise dinner held at the Salud residence. [They hosted our entire trip!] Mike Gayatao planned it and grabbed a few close friends. Oddly enough, it was Jonathan's 5th surprise birthday party since he turned 15, and he STILL gets a shock every time. We had to tell small white lies this time, though. I took him and Jenny out to dinner at Bravo's that night (photo) to lure him away from the house. As you'll see in the video, it worked! Even the "surprisers" looked surpised when we finally arrived, hehe! It was a fun night, complete with an hour-long freak blackout. Thanks to everyone who came. Your friendship warms our hearts and keeps us close to home.

Our Recent Trip to Manila

I spent the entire time taking pics and videos, but I left the job of posting them to the kids. Please check these links to see what that trip was all about:

Jonathan's 20th Bday Surprise Party

Maica's Debut (Jenny's Album)

Maica Salud's Debut (Chrina's Album)

maica's debut (aNa's Album)

Hmmm, I just might post more pics later...

1a.m | Sold Out

http://www.1am.com.my


Our church in KL has just launched their second worship album. 1am is the brainchild of Pastor Timothy Loh's sister, Catherine. Jojo and I have known her for the last twelve years, and we admire the dedication and unfading passion she has for the youth.



Trivia: For those who are old friends of Joe Fabregas, he has two cuts in the album. (Won't tell you which ones, though.) Please check out the site to hear their songs firsthand. My personal favorites so far are "My Father" and "Always in Your Heart".

For Crying Out Loud!

The other day as we were checking into our flight at the airport, our initial frustration and irritation with all the taxes imposed on travelers was rudely averted by the loud cries of a three year-old child. All those in line and even those behind the counters of the airport tax booths were wondering about this lone child standing in the center of the room. Where was the parent? Was she abandoned pre-flight? How can anyone miss this child when she was belting a scream more resonant than the aging PA system?

So we direct our attention to the object of the child’s wrath, and we spy the mother, a youngish, quiet soul, cowering in one of the queues. She stares back forlornly at this uncontrollable tiger of a child.

I know, I know. The first thought that comes to mind is that oft-cited example we hear at the parenting seminars, first given by Pastor Steve in 1988. It’s about the spoilt child we all see at the bookstore (mall, Toy Kingdom, Apple shop) checkout, laying sprawled on the floor, kicking his heels, screaming invectives at the yayas and throwing a fit because daddy didn’t get him what he wants. Jon, Jen and I did not get the satisfaction of rolling our eyes that day, though.

The drama continued on to the immigration area, and the hundred or so travelers trapped there had a spectacle to watch. We now had the luxury of time to take stock of the child’s situation. The story was that this child was traveling abroad with her mother for the first time. She had been left with her grandparents after birth so the mother could work. After a couple of years, the mom successfully petitioned her child to join her. But, alas, this child was not made to understand the situation. She kept calling for her ‘mama’, and punching and biting this strange woman who was taking her away from the only secure relationships she had known. We all cried right there. The other women in line came around to console the mother. One older lady even said that her own daughter, now grown and traveling with her had done the exact same thing.

I cry (again) as I write this piece. What unmentionable pains do the millions of overseas workers go through in the hopes of giving their loved ones a better life? Is it worth it? What else can one do when there is literally nothing to put on the table? What is being done at home to uplift the quality of life, provide opportunity for gainful employment for the Filipino? Or are we satisfied with feeding this vicious system that enriches our national GNP but robs our collective soul. And lastly, will the routine of electing the new batch of lawmakers really change anything? Apparently the sarswela of Filipino life and politics is so like the teleserye. The point is not to find an ending, but to prolong the drama so as to maximize profit.

Turning Twenty

I'm supposed to be packing for a 'quickie' trip to the PI to be with my Jonats when he celebrates his 20th!!!!! birthday. AaaaAAAArGH!!! I can still remember the feeling of growing out of my own teenage years, so HOW IN THE WORLD did my son get to be this age?

Just as I feel like slipping into a song about the sun's rising and falling, I remember my friend Lillian. She came just a week ago to tour Penang with her one and only son Zach. I asked her how she felt having to watch her son suddenly shoot up and become a man. She said that she felt proud... proud to see all the hard work she poured into raising that precious son now bearing fruit.

The fruit of a mother's labor is indeed to see her boy become a man. And not just any sort of man, but a man who fears the Lord. In these past two years of being away from the Philippines, isolated from all his peers, his friends, his soccer team, his buddies, the Lord cocooned my son. There were the inner struggles and super-human challenges he had to face, the likes of which I was unable to shield him from. So I am beginning to see that the task of raising this son has been taken over by a greater Parent.

It is with this thought that I face the week ahead. Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him... As the song goes, "I must have done something good."

VIP in Penang

Mommy Joyce, Jojo's mom, celebrated her _th birthday here in Penang. It was her first trip abroad in 35 years. There is nothing quite like having your parent come and visit you in a "new" home. We were falling all over ourselves taking her to all our fave spots, hoping to give her an idea of what our life has been like the past 17 months.

She stayed all of 11 days. That meant waking up 10 mornings and finding her at my kitchen sipping coffee, 10 lunches out with her, 10 afternoons roaming the streets of Penang, 10 family dinners, 10 evenings spent chatting or reading or hanging out together, 10 "Goodnights", countless words of endearment and encouragement and faith, 10 days of knowing smiles and quiet reassurances, 10 days of "mommy-hovering".

We miss Mommy so...

Food Tripping

I was gonna name this album: "Penang Trippers". But after loading the pictures, I noticed that our most prominent tourist attraction here is... yup, Makan-F00D-Alimento...TSIBOG!!!

When we first moved here in 2005, Pastor Manny chided Jojo to... "Remember me when you are in paradise." Penang is food heaven, as our ever-growing waistlines will attest to. Last February, he [finally] came, he saw, he conquered. His visit seems to have opened a floodgate of other food trippers to Penang: Juliet, Eric, Ditas, Janelle, Mommy Joyce!, Adrian C, the Liauws & Limbs, Lohs, Battungs, Yuens, Lillian & Zach...