Life Lately for this Housewife and the fam

A lot of things happened the past six months and kidding you not, I really feel the need for a vacation from all of these because I’m soooo exhausted.

I’m just going to ramble a bit, aright? And just share with you what’s going on with my life lately and what has kept me from updating the blog and the page for some time.

You’ll notice that I’m going to talk a lot about my kids because my life at the moment, is still mostly made up of motherhood. When they’re busy, so am I — just in the background.

Summer Showcase

Our two older boys, Pablo and Lukas, just had their Summer Showcase with the School of Alice Reyes Dance Philippines, which is so fortunate for them. They had the workshops at the University of Makati this year and the grantees of School of ARDP had the opportunity to join dance trainees from the Philippine High School for the Arts and from the University of Makati (UMAk). It’s a big deal because PHSA train all year long, so they bring so much skill and energy to the table, our boys don’t have any choice but to keep up.

Believe me, it’s a good thing especially for male dance trainees to be around fellow male trainees, because it motivates them to work harder, learn harder steps and to do better. I’ve seen it happen last year when the boys trained with them, too.

The workshop culminated in a performance at the University of Makati’s theater. UMak has a marvelous theater, did you know? I’ve always been at awe each time I get the opportunity to visit their facilities. I think that if there’s anything that the Binays have done really well, it’s investing on the city’s university that caters to a lot of low income Makati residents.

Will I consider sending my kids to UMak? Our answer is ‘yes, why not?’ We’ve met a handful of teenagers from UMak and a very dear friend of mine, our former Makati neighbor, graduated from there.

As far as we’ve observed from among UMak students around BGC and in church, and among those that our boys talk about when they get home, they are a happy, hardworking bunch who don’t put on airs. These are the kind of people that my kids love having around.

Now having said that, I’m not sure, though, if it would be a good fit in terms of programs. While ARDP started giving training as an extracurricular in the university, Pablo and Lukas are looking more into applying for scholarships that would allow them to earn a degree or a certificate in dance.

That…and the fact that we are currently not Makati residents.

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Directing a Mini Musical for VBC

Simultaneous to the boys’ summer dance workshop, we were also preparing a mini musical for this year’s Vacation Bible Camp at the church. This three-day summer event for kids is organized by the Kids Ministry and aims to offer an engaging and immersive experience about God and His character.

The camp features a 10-minute storytelling musical or theatrical play, along with arts and crafts, fun games, and a discussion centered on the Bible story presented.

This year’s theme was Jonah, and I was asked to direct the mini musical for Vacation Bible Camp.

In the past, I’ve directed a few 7-minute Christmas presentations for the church—those special segments during Christmas services. I’ve always enjoyed these projects, especially since they often involve working with my husband and kids, making it a meaningful experience for our family to serve together.

However, this time presented some challenges. At that time, I just started a second job, which left me feeling quite exhausted having to work extra hours at night. Additionally, the rehearsals were scheduled for early mornings in BGC, while we live in the South. With only about two hours of sleep each night (since my main job starts early at 6 or 7 a.m.), I was concerned about my ability to perform well.

This, on top of  working with young volunteers who, for most of them, had zero experience in theater.

I’m glad I didn’t back out because God truly came through for us. He sent us an incredibly capable Assistant Director, Judith Miraflor, who not only supported us but also rallied enough volunteers for the musical. What began with just four hesitant volunteers grew into a beautiful, joyful, enthusiastic team of ten

And I fell in love with all of them!

Judith not only stepped up as Assistant Director, but she also bravely took on the role of Lighting and Sounds Director, meticulously managing the timing and all the small details over the three days.

My husband, Jay, composed the music for the lyrics written by the scriptwriter, Jasper Wolfe, and also created the animation we used as backdrops for the scenes. It was a joy to work with our eldest son, Pablo, who not only danced in one of the scenes but also choreographed the main song for the presentation.

One of the most rewarding outcomes of this event was seeing Pablo develop a vision in choreography. He’s now dreaming of pursuing opportunities in both the dance and musical theater industries.

And to think, just three months ago, we were unsure on what direction he would take!

Our other sons, Lukas and Judah, also joined the ensemble, making this a true family effort. Even Pablo’s girlfriend, Althea, chipped in her genius with the costumes.

Given what we had to work with at the start, I believe the final result was excellent.

If you’d like to watch the mini-musical on the story of Jonah, here are the three videos. They each run for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Day 1: God Calls Jonah

Day 2 -Inside a Fish

Day 3 – Preaching in Nineveh

Praise Dance Recording

Last year, I blogged about the release of Word Power, a gospel album for kids that’s free to stream on Spotify and other music platforms.

The second album was released this year, and I think that they are working on the next of the series. To quote my previous blog, “‘Word Power,’ a music album for kids to help them memorize and keep Bible verses in their young minds and hearts.”

But even without the albums, Victory Kids Ministry continues to produce these songs monthly for Kids Church Online. Just a few weeks ago, a friend in Thailand sent Jay a video of kids praising God and dancing to one of these songs which happened to be one of the songs that Pablo sang.

How amazing was that?

In July, around the same time as VBC, Jay was overwhelmed with all the music he needed to create and ended up using the wrong Bible verse and needing to compose a new piece quickly. He needed a female singer to record it, and since I was the only one available a few minutes before midnight, he had to ask me —hahaha!

Jay and I haven’t collaborated as much as we did in the past, and there’s a reason for that—creative differences! Back then, it took us forever to resolve issues when our ideas clashed, so we try to avoid working together when possible so as not to deter him on his deadlines.

But that evening, Jay didn’t have a choice. He had to ask me for help, and I was happy to do it. I found it funny, though, because earlier that day, I was teasing him on why he hadn’t asked me to sing any of his songs yet, and he gave me all these silly excuses. I guess God really has a sense of humor—haha!

Anyway, to make the long story short, here’s the song that my husband asked me to help with:

Just to give you some context, I sang professionally for 15 years, but I haven’t had many chances to sing since I quit, so an opportunity like this really makes me happy.

Ms. Saigon in Manila

I finally got to see Miss Saigon! Of course, it wasn’t Lea Salonga on the bill, but that didn’t dampen my excitement—I was still thrilled to experience it.

This was actually my Christmas gift from the bosses. As the only Filipino left on the team, they asked what I’d like for Christmas, and I told them that I’d gladly take whatever budget they have for me to buy tickets. They ended up giving me enough to buy three balcony tickets. That only left me to come up with the funds to get two more for Jay and me.

Unfortunately, because I had to wait for more funds to buy the last two tickets, we couldn’t all go on the same date. The boys ended up seeing the show before we did.

I was anxious at first since I’d never seen the new Miss Saigon and wasn’t sure how they’d react to some of the scenes. Having Sean Miley Moore play the Engineer was an indication that changes had been made to update to today’s times. I wasn’t sure how intimate the moments would get. I mean, I knew it wouldn’t be explicit, but hey, I’ve seen Waitress and some of the scenes came as a shock to me and I’m not even conservative!

Beforehand, I made sure to talk to the boys, explaining what to expect and reminding them of the rules for theater behavior. The last thing I wanted was for an usher to come over and ask them to leave.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly. Pablo said he loved the music and the story, though he wished they had done more with the choreography. He had a similar reaction to Hamilton when we watched it the year before—thanks to our generous sponsors, but he says Ms Saigon became his top favorite musical because of the music.

Since Miss Saigon is currently running in Singapore, I’m planning to write about my own experience watching it in Manila. I hope to get to it this week, along with sharing my thoughts on Sandosenang Sapatos, a local show I recently saw, which is gearing up for a rerun and a tour (I think)!

Judah, the Blogsketteer!

Our youngest son, Judah, has been more active lately. For the past several years, much of our energy and funds have gone toward the older boys due to their more pressing needs for financial support in their activities. But now that Judah has expressed a desire to explore his own interests, we’re encouraging him to try out different activities to see what resonates with him.

So far, he’s been involved in an animal welfare campaign led by fellow homeschooler Megan Uyao. He’s even been given the title of VP of External Affairs for Likha’s Cradle, the organization Megan founded. His contributions have mostly involved attending planned activities and participating when necessary – like boldly answering questions when a speaker asks something to encourage the other participants to, well, participate, too; and he recently wrote a blog post about a coding event. Before that, he visited Biyaya Animal Shelter in Cavite with Megan and other homeschoolers.

This year, Judah is also joining the STEM club.

A few weeks ago, he responded to a call for photographers and helped document this year’s Me & My Dad camp through pictures. I’m not sure when his next opportunity will arise, but ministry volunteering seems to offer plenty of chances for him to get involved.

Judah has also started drawing classes with Art Start, and we’ve been amazed to discover his talent! He’s never been one to draw much before, and as a child, he struggled with writing, which still sometimes hurts his hands. But he’s doing so well in his drawing class that I’m beginning to wonder if he might actually illustrate his own book—especially since Pablo has been so busy lately.

What’s next for this Housewife?

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. To be honest, there have been times when I considered quitting content creation altogether because keeping up with my blogging contemporaries has been really challenging — now that it’s more of a numbers game than anything, and especially since I have to maintain a full time, work from home job.

But I keep thinking that maybe I haven’t given it my all yet.

The truth is, after logging off work at 3pm, I often fall into lazy mode. The only energy I have left is for a 20 or 30-minute workout. This is probably one of the reasons why the second job didn’t work out. My system simply shuts off after 3pm.

I was sad about losing the added income, but I’m also relieved. It wasn’t for me, my heart’s just not in it. There were a lot of things I wasn’t able to do and plans that were shelved because the job wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I’m grateful that the added income had come through for us in a financially tight season, but it really wasn’t for me.

However, I’m determined to do better and give content creation another shot since it’s really what I wanted to do. I just need to manage my time properly to be able to do it. I reckon, if I wanted real freedom, taking on another job wasn’t it. Not for me anyway.

I’ve already scheduled interviews with three homeschool veterans and set up recording and video shoot days with my husband for the second season of The Homeschooling Podcast!

I’ve also been gathering footage and clips of our family’s activities, and I plan to edit videos for our YouTube channel. Yes, I’m finally diving into video creation—something I’ve been putting off for quite some time.

What I’m most anxious about is not just putting content out there for the sake of it. Yes, I would love to earn more from this, but my heart is to genuinely help people, offer hope, and share our experiences in a way that provides useful ideas and insights for those who might need them. I don’t want to be just another digital noise. I want to give value to others. But if in any way, our videos may even entertain, at the least, then perhaps it may be worth exploring.

So that’s coming up, guys! Wait for it!

 

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Before I wrap up this blog, I wanted to share some exciting news—Pablo, is part of the ensemble for REPYTA’s Jepoy & the Magic Circle! The show opens on October 5 and will run until February 2025 at the new REP Theater in Eastwood. It’s Pablo’s first time back to musical theater, and for some of his friends as well. We’d love your support—tickets are priced at 1,000 and 1,500 PHP. I’ll announce when the company releases tickets on sale.

I hope to see you at the theater!

That’s all that’s been happening with this housewife over the past few months. I’m working on getting new plans rolling by October, so stay tuned. I’ll get there soon enough!

Ciao!

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” James 4: 13-15.