I just feel inspired to write down my reflection today. It’s been a year since we got here in Bataan. Life is so different then. Life brings us here for a reason and I know it. “To grow where we are planted” is what our motto. My husband and I were born and raised in the province of Bohol and lived our whole life there. After we got married, we eventually made a life of our own. In 2013, we got our house and lot and from then on we always wanted to stay together through thick and thin. Several opportunities to work abroad knocked our door but we always reconsider our promise to be together. March 2016, my husband broke the news that the Area has called him informing him that due to some relevant changes, Tagbilaran Institute of Religion is no longer qualified for a Part-time Secretary and that his service will be terminated sooner or later. Despite of this bad news, he has given a chance to decide whether he would accept the newly opened item in Bacolod as Full-Time Support Specialist. He was given 1 week to decide. We earnestly asked Heavenly for help in our decision. Accepting the offer means leaving us 4 in Bohol while he’s working in Bacolod. After several days of praying and fasting, we finally made our decision to accept his job opportunity. Life was hard after that, I was left in Bohol with my 3 kids. I had my job as a teacher in one of the public schools in Tagbilaran. Since our children were still young, they got illnesses every now and then. I cried a lot and even asked him to come back to us. After a year, we decided to transfer to Bacolod and stop working for the meantime. It’s another sacrifice knowing that his salary is barely enough for our food. I was pregnant and in May 2017 we journeyed to our new place. We were completely strangers. The language is quite different, the food, the culture but eventually we got the hang of it. The Alijis Saints are very friendly and accommodating especially the Mondejar family. They took as in while we were looking for a house for rent. Year 2017 is one of the most trying times in our life. In July, my son Howard was diagnosed with a rare disease-HSP. While he has been in the hospital for 9 days I was also about to give birth to my 4th child. Despite the hardships we had, Heavenly Father continuously showed His tender mercies for my family. May 2018, my husband got another work assignment in Bataan. This time, we were confident that God will help us on this. He paved the way for us to keep our promise to stay together as a family. I thank Him for loving us enough to take us out from our box. We have grown a lot in our relationship and faith in Him. We may not be in the place where we were originally planted, but He grafted and placed us here where we can grow and make a difference.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
My Living Legacy 