my little ballerina

My baby sister is now 6 and a ballerina at that!

I still remember clearly like it was yesterday when my mom gave me a call and asked for my permission if it would be okay with me if she would adopt a baby. I was a senior in college then, studying like crazy for finals. I was Cebu-based for the past four years already for my pre-med education. Getting that call from Momsy was a surprise really. She was talking as if adopting meant just choosing from a grocery store for something really expensive she had to ask for my permission! I always knew my mom wanted kids, little ones, grandchildren if possible (obviously far from possible yet since I was still in school) because my youngest brother was already a junior in high school. She missed having little kids running around. Despite knowing how she wanted to have those little kids around, I didn't expect her to adopt adopt. Borrow, maybe - she'd borrow babies from my aunts, uncles, or friend's kids. But adopt? Anyhow, it didn't take momsy a lot of time to convince me, I told her I'd support her with whatever made her happy. Poppy, on the other hand, wasn't too convinced at first. But after a lot of prayers, he heeded to mom's plea. Mom explained to me the legalities of the whole situation - that if they were going to legally adopt the baby, it would mean blah blah and blah. Of course I had no qualms about all those legalities. What mattered more to me was that this made mama sooo happy and excited!

So lo and behold, as Papa put it aptly, mom had the shortest pregnancy ever, and three days after giving me that call, SHE entered our lives and it hasn't been the same ever since...

Bien Maria Tan Rodriguez. Born February 20, 2002 at Borongan, Samar.

Quick story behind the adoption that's hilarious!

So, my mom got a call from my Mamita (my paternal grandma) who was then at Borongan, Samar, doing her usual visit to her bakery there, and, as usual, dropping by an orphanage she's been supporting for years. Mamita raved about the baby who happened to be the daughter of the orphanage's help who was only 15! Imagine that! Apparently, Jackie, the 15 yr old mom, was impregnated by one of the barrio men (she wouldn't say who) and left her without knowing even she was pregnant, so alas, as soon as she found out she was with child, she gave the baby up for adoption. So Mamita was deadset on helping with the adoption, referring the nuns running the orphanage to my mom who my Mamita knew sooo wanted babies. My mom was surprised with Mamita's call but at the same time, she felt her heart "skip a beat" hearing about the baby's plight. My Mamita especially raved about how "puti kaayo" (very very white/fair complexioned) the baby was. After getting my dad's yes, the next day, Mama and my sister, Ivi, went off and drove 10 hours to Borongan, Samar, to pick up the baby.

Lo and behold (again!)... Baby Bieni (or Eian, as we used to call her when she was days old!), the new addition to our already big, happy family!

Important note, she wasn't as puti as Mamita raved about (read: NOT puti all) but she was a beauty in all her not-white-at-all/dark complexion! As she now has come to terms with, at age 3, she learned to say, "There is beauty in black" or "Black is beautiful" to whoever would tease her about being sooo dark (read again: our brod Tingtong).

Bieni was all we've ever hoped her to be. Beautiful, witty, smart, loving, lovable, sweet, and the source of our family's joy and laughter!

Behold (again!) our six year old little angel and now, a beautiful, graceful ballerina at that! She had her first ballet recital on Sunday, and she was aaaaamazing! I couldn't be prouder! (SEE PICTURES ABOVE - can't figure out how to bring them down here - grrr)

Now and then

Behold, the tres Marias. 

Fondest memory of our childhood as a trio: we wore exactly the same clothes (headbands, ponytails, shoes even!!!) till I was about 11!!! All those years, our dearly beloved Mama would always tell us we had to so it would be easier for her to find us in a big crowd!!! Traveling abroad with my mom, her sisters, and their families was even a funnier treat - two of my mom's sisters also had their own trio daughters - imagine 3 sets of non-triplets wearing the same getup from head to toe! Again, we were convinced because we might get lost in the big crowd.

Now, where are those darn pictures with our terno getup from head to foot?

Hmmm...

Fast forward to an eternity after... Hahaha. We are now three dalagitas, living our own lives, enjoying life to the full, loving our Momsy after she's played dolls with us during our childhood (we're happy now, she has a new doll to play with hehehe - thanks for saving us, Bieniii). And yes, as in the picture, we now wear our personalities, no longer the same matched outfits from a childhood that seems too long ago.

A for Amazing grace!

A for Aaaamazing I say again!

It's funny how God arranges everything - especially the most unexpected of things! Even the most mundane, most trivial of things - things which you wouldn't expect HIM to take notice of, all the more do something about! But GOD is GOD, HE's not GOD for nothing! AAAmazing, I say! HE is amazing! HIS love is amazing!

So what most trivial, simplest of things am I talking about?

Say, for example...

*the unexpected coffee beans present from my dad's friend when I started craving/longing for my daily dose of morning brewed coffee (been sticking with instant coffee for more than a month now - no thanks to no Bo's nor Starbucks this side of the world)

*Milky Way chocolate bars out of the blue (yes, they're not available in any of our grocery stores here!) - thanks to my good friend Chetan & her mom in the States

*Reese's chocolates from out of the blue too! (nope, still not available here) - still haven't figured out where those came from (just suddenly popped out from my 'rents fridge)

*and today, today, today, out of the blue again, my good friend Junjun dropped by the office and brought me his and his wife's birthday gift for me - a PINK (PINK!!!) shoulder bag & my fave bath gel!!! Awww, they're the best couple ever! 

See, little surprises, little little somethings, little little little unexpected treats from an AAAAmazing God!

BUT the BIGGEST, MOST UNEXPECTED SURPRISE TREAT of all??? (I literally meant the BIGGEST!)

my Pantaleon!

(cheesy, mushy, yikes ewww - i can hear my sisters saying all these now - but what the heck?!! life's too short - like choobs and i always love to say - to hide what shouldn't be hidden in the first place, how happy we are! double cheesy, double mushy, i know i know, effy! hehehe) ---> but more on the BIGGEST surprise gift in my next blogs!

sources of pure bliss in pics!

 

with mah gurrlllss (best ones in the world!): boodic, tshily, nini (with hubby marts)

the Rodriguez kiddos: all 34 of us with the best grandma!!! MAmita!!!



*leftmost:

Poppy & Momsy

*aww that's my choobs with me: best surprise gift ever!!!

 

*next picture: my Lingkod family during our traditional rummage sale fundraising

*next: with my gorgeous siblings Tingtong balingtong, Yanini the kikay, and uber talented (albeit half-drunk in this pic) Effy --- at Nini's super the best wedding ever

*next up is me with my new partner in crime (explains why she's all covered in black something) idernsmae (aka sister marymae)

*next is that unforgettable family pic from our unforgettable bora trip

*last but not the least the kid with all the kikay cupcakes? that's the love of my life, bieni, my baby, my all! she's 6 already! *sighhhhh*

pink forever...till death do we part!

I attended my good friend Yong's mom's wake last night.. It was such a tragedy for their family. She died in a car accident on Good Friday. She was only 61...

Yong seemed better than the last time i saw him Monday. Sadness in his eyes but he's always been very strong, always seeing the good, better things in others and in every circumstance...

Right after the mass, another good friend, Lyra, asked me if I went to see Yong's mama in the coffin already, told her I've never been the type to look at the person inside the coffin. Instead, I approach the coffin, stay at a good distance, say my prayers from there. I never once looked at the person lying in the coffin (except for tita ching, Poppy's sister, who succumbed to cancer 8 yrs ago). I don't want my last memory of them to be the one actually in the coffin, dead, still, lifeless. Usually, loved ones of the dead place the most beautiful picture of their beloved on top of their last "bed", bury him/her with that same picture lying on top of the grave. True, we'd want to remember them that way - alive, smiling, laughing, full of life...

So the rest of the evening, it got me thinking about my own death (100 years from now), my coffin, my wake, my burial, flowers around me, and every single detail of my funeral. I told Boodic, my ever beloved cousin/friend, that foremost, I want my coffin to be all pink (baby pink, fuchsia pink - whatever shade of pink they have on stock!), that I be dressed in my pink college grad ball gown, my flowers to be all pink liliums, my wake to be just a couple of days (not an entire week, puhleeassseee, that would be too tiring for me na, um I mean for my family, that is), that I be buried here in Ormoc, my beloved home, that I want everyone in white during my funeral, happy cheerful songs to be played (not the usual "and i will raise her up..." or worse, "pahulay na dayon..." please no; Harvey, please sing for me on my funeral "heaven is my home" before I'm buried 6 ft under!), i want pink balloons (all shades, please), lots of food and drinks at the cemetery (there should at least be red horse for my brod & cousins, red & white wine for my girls)... 

These thoughts might be morbid (choobs was aghast at the very mention of my own death, wake & funeral all planned out in detail!!!) but it's not like these are constantly in my head, hindering me from the living out my life - nah, nothing like that. I just happen to think about these seemingly crazy things whenever I attend wakes & funerals - I end up thinking of my own one day (one sunny day, I hope!)...

Mostly because just like how I want to remember the dead for their "live" version, I want everyone around me to remember me as the cheerful, oh-so-happy, life-loving, laughing person that I am!

my sources of pure bliss

I've never been much of a blogger. True, I dreamt of becoming a writer in my childhood - I wrote for the one-time existence of our high school paper, I always did really well in my English classes, I kept a diary in my grade school days - yet none of those ever made me feel like I deserve to write or that I should write. Period. But amazingly gifted sister always inspired me to write my heart out; she does. Difference is that she writes well. Very very well, to be exact. My blogs would fade in comparison to hers. Then again, what the heck, I shouldn't throw away the inspiration she brings to my life. Another blogger that inspired me to just speak out, share my life and my loves to whoever, is the amazing patty laurel (not for the celebrity that she is but for the REAL person that she is, kikay, maarte and all, but still sooo real, reading her blogs made me feel like she's some long-lost girlfriend from way way way back). So to Iffy (ilovemyupper) and Patty, here's to the inspiring effect you've had on my life...

Bits and pieces of me... My sources of pure bliss (bow)...

My unconditionally loving God who has blessed me without fail despite all my flaws and frailties - He has been the only constant Being in my life;

My Poppy - with his inspiring devotion to his faith in his amazing God, his inspiring commitment to his faith, family, work, businesses; love him for the quiet strength he has, for all our wisdom-filled conversations, his funny, teasing remarks; for all that he is to our family - source of sooo much inspiration, I wanna marry someone like him (I'll be damn lucky if I find a guy who's even at least half the man that he is!)

Momsy dear - for the intrigera, kanahan, too-excited-for-my-love-story mom (whose ultimate dream in life was to marry right after college & have all her daughters follow her footstep - getting married right after college; sorry for that mom, am definitely way past after-college haha); for the happpeeee, coool, kikayyy, fashionable mama that she is 

Yani - my dearly beloved fashionista sistah who lives to NOT EAT yet she's happy, healthy (she exercises nonstop, you'll live long, dai, so long as you don't eat only chips!), and IN LOVE (lucky you, lolo, you got her real good, man! lucky you!); her passion for fashion is inspiring but am a hopeless case, just happy with comfy over style, but she doesn't give up on me; she stands by me, sticks with me through thick and thin; will miss you bigtime :(

Iffy - my uber talented sister, the go-getter of the family; been sooo proud of her ever since time began for always fighting for her dreams, living them, working her ass off to achieving them 

My only brod Tingtong balingtong - youre getting there, dong... closer and closer each day; he loves his red horse & though he denies it (by putting a macho, distant, tough exterior), he has such a big big gentle heart

My honeybun, the apple of my eye Bieni, my baby, my love; lurve her sooo much I wanna spoil her to death!

Mamita - my idol, the epitome of a mother & grandmother, she's simply the BEST!

To all the best uncles, aunts, cuzzins (oh you guys know who you are) - love you to death, you make the world a fun-ner, happpiieeerrr, carefreee world to live in!

To my bestfriend of tooo many years, Mylene - despite the oceans that keep us apart, you were, always have been, always will be the best friend anyone can ever wish to have in their entire lifetime - I'm so glad to have met you at age 17, when life truly began to rock! Luv ya, soul sister!

To my brothers & sisters in Lingkod - the beautiful instruments who remind, guide, and inspire me to be the best that I can be, to be all that God has created me to be; it is such an honor to serve God and others in need with you guys 

To my chooboy - you are the most beautiful, unexpected gift of all! my phone-buddy (burning the phone lines with you makes you such!), Skype-buddy of late (hahaha free clearer lines yooohooo), laughing-buddy (oh how we love laughing our hearts out) - who would've thought set-ups were bad? I definitely thank God for you & for everyone else who set us up! *big hugs you guys (you know who you are!

*The abovementioned are but a few "reminders" of God's great love for me; these people HE uses for me to always know and believe that truly in and through everything, HE is there, HE, my all, in all...

Pure bliss, isn't it?