I am supposed to be working/writing, but I am feeling sentimental. It must be the effect of our family bonding time this weekend, with our extended family on the Santiagos side, among other things. We had a mini-family reunion of sorts at my cousin BJ’s wedding in Tagaytay. It was a fairly extravagant wedding, with none other than the Vice President, Jejomar Binay himself, as one of the ninongs (principal sponsors) and VIPs. (He was one and a half hours late though! Tsk tsk! The groom’s father – a longtime friend and brad of the VP – wanted to go ahead with the ceremony without him, but the good VP asked for everyone’s patience to wait for him.. Oh well..)
Anyway, like I said, I am feeling sentimental. Weddings and family reunions, esp. those where ALL the members of my family (Papa, Mama and the siblings) are present, usually have that effect on me. Also, since my sister and bro-in-law are here (they are based in Brunei) we had a family meeting at my parents’ place after getting back from Tagaytay and had the usual updates from each member of the family. And I came away from it with this:
I have come to realize that we (hubby and the kids and I) may not be in a place right now where we could afford a grand wedding in Tagaytay, or maybe even an instant weekend getaway to anywhere we want to go, or even a dinner out at a high-end family-friendly restaurant, and other things like that.. we may not be “truly rich” in that sense yet..
But at least we have each other. We have God and we have each other and we have our extended families and friends and community.
We may not have a house to call our own, but we have a roof over our heads, and furniture to boot! Most of which was given to us for free (I have blogged about this before here)!
We may not eat at fancy restaurants or pricey food joints, but we can afford to have meals 3 times a day and lots of times snacks in between.
We may not have millions of pesos at our disposal (YET! haha! Claiming God’s abundant blessings in this aspect, for all the right reasons of course!) but we have money to pay our bills (well, just about enough! harhar!) and other things we need in life. We can even afford to hire an Ate to help with the chores and to help watch the kids when I have to work out of the house. (Thank You Lord for this recent blessing!)
We may not have a car, but we have healthy legs to walk with, and enough money to pay for jeepney fare, and occasionally, even taxi fare.
And so on..
In short, we may not be RICH in the eyes of the world, but I know that in the eyes of the Lord, we are getting there. Thank You God for our family!
I’d like to end with a love note for our little angels, who at times want to buy this and that whenever we’re out, and wonder aloud lots of times why we don’t buy what they want (don’t get me wrong though, sometimes we can afford to, but CHOOSE not to, it’s part of our “training” for them *winks*).
To our dearest Tim and Rysse,
We wish for you the very best in life, and though we may not be able to give you everything you want materially, we know that God will give you everything you will need and so much more. All these years that your Papa and I have been alive and well and blessed, maybe not in material wealth (yet!) are a testimony to His love and faithfulness.YOU are why we are TRULY RICH. We love you.
All our love and prayers,
Papa and Mama
Truly Rich and Blessed 