Before I start my new entry let me just share two "messages" I got yesterday and today.
Yesterday morning, as soon as I woke up, the first thing in my mind:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and everything shall be added unto thee."
This morning when I read the reflection of today's reading, the message that struck me was:
"Our God is a God of surprises!"
I guess these two messages set the "stage" of how I am dealing everything what's on my plate now.
I remember mentioning in my previous blog entry that one of our major goals this year is to buy our first home, LATE this year.
I don't know what happened but one thing led to another and we suddenly found ourselves being led to buying our own home, NOW.
It's a big decision alright!
Hubby and I were just reading articles that will keep us informed and knowledgeable of the processes but in two weeks' time so much has happened!
We really haven't bought the house but we are finding ourselves doing baby steps.
We've studied our finances, asked advice, watched and looked at the market for the last two weeks (in two weeks there was so much movement in the market), visited possible sites, compared buying old and new houses, talked with builders, studied the buying process, registered to new home and land releases and prayed like we've never prayed before! We're not praying that He grants our wishes but we're praying for guidance as this is really a very big investment. To make the long story short, we're new to this and we don't want to make any mistakes so we're carefully doing one step at a time.
Nakakakaba talaga.
With this new investment comes a whole new set of sacrifices.
If you have been following my blog, you know that there is a deep desire for me to travel locally and globally because I felt I have deprived myself of that when I was younger. I really wanted to go to the US April of this year because I know that once we take the big plunge of buying our own home, travelling will be the first one to be sacrificed. And yes, my worst dreams came true!
Hubby and I had an initial study of our finances and it will be very difficult for us to squeeze in traveling for the family (to give you an idea how much new homes now cost in our area, it ranges from $500,000 and above). Unless I work full time and get the full annual pay of teachers on my level, then talagang maluwag kami, maraming sobra. But I still decided to work as a casual mainly because of the kids. At the end of the day, it will be a choice between spending time with my kids and taking care of my family well over the extra money and owning our own home with much ease.
Knowing me, I should be all grumpy and already super sad because of the would-be scenario. All traveling plans for the year and the next few years, scrapped. But I'm unusually okay. I'm not crying, I'm not grumpy, I'm not mad. I guess I was ready for it. I have long faced the music and so when we found ourselves already in that situation, I was ready emotionally.
I am thankful I'm taking all these things positively. I am also inspired by my kids as they are also cooperative and making their own little sacrifices in helping achieve our goal of saving up for our own home. When we go out and they see something they like, we just tell them NO and remind them of our future plan, and they are okay with it. No more crying and whining, especially for Sam. Everyone is focused on the big project!
I am actually not giving up. In my heart I know that all will fall into place. That there will be a time for all those traveling plans to happen. It might be a difficult start for us, but I'm keeping the faith that it will be easier in a few year's time -- the time when the kids are much bigger and I can go back to work full-time.
The search is on and our hearts are in place ;-)
