deebeedee

My wife and I got married on this day nine years ago. Here is a photo of us taken about ten years ago when we were still dating each other. We looked so young then! And wow, I had hair.

I started my blog a year ago today. I’d like to reflect on my year in blogging but I will be enjoying my family’s company this New Year’s Day. I will resume blogging, hmmm, tomorrow? Wish you all a wonderful New Year!

My first year anniversary at my current job has come and gone this month without much fanfare. But I quietly celebrate anyway for it’s been a blessing working there and I’m happy to be at a place where I can use my graphic and web design skills effectively. In addition, the hours are flexible and the people I work with are very nice.

But things weren’t always this way.

Before this job, I was without a steady means of employment for a little over a year. The company I worked for at my previous full-time job had ceased operations. I was part of the team that survived several rounds of layoffs but who saw the company eventually shut down. I entered a job market replete with displaced web industry workers. Although I would sometimes get good responses from job inquiries and sometimes get as far as the second round of interviews, actual work was few and far between. Pounding the pavement had become a full-time endeavor in itself.

It was a difficult time. Here I was with several mouths to feed and mounting bills to pay. After six months, my unemployment insurance checks had ceased coming. As any typical household going through a crisis like this, domestic tensions began to emerge. Pressure to provide for my family was increasing while job prospects hadn’t gotten any better. Even this cautionary verse was hanging over my head rather ominously.

My identity as a man was being challenged. But where was I to base my confidence? Should it be on my education, on my accomplishments, on my vocation, all of which at this point had failed me? Or was I to base my identity on Christ who has given himself up for me?

Frankly, I felt a lot like Job. Job was that Bible character whose riches were wiped out, whose children got massacred, who got boils all over his body, whose wife wished he was dead, and whose friends did not support him. The extent of my trials was of course far from what he had gone through but I had an inkling of what he must have felt. I strove to be like Job whose response to all this was to believe that God was good to him.

It wasn’t easy. But the Lord has been faithful in so many ways during this trying time. My kids never starved - there was always food on our plates. We never lost our place of residence. Our basic needs were being met. God has brought forth people who lent a helping hand, whether monetarily or in kind. My family and I witnessed a tremendous outpouring of kindness towards us. The Lord also allowed my wife to step up to the plate by giving her the time and energy to open up a licensed child day care at home. That helped tremendously.

Through it all, I learned that in order for God to increase, I must decrease. In this place of humility, Christ’s faithfulness was demonstrated and His glory manifested.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2,3

Exactly twenty years ago, on January 23, 1983, I set foot on American soil for the very first time. I arrived from the Philippines and haven’t gone back since. And why haven’t I? Hmmm, I never really planned for it really. But I would like to go someday especially with the kids in order to show them the motherland. Although most of my relatives are here already, there are a few who are still there (and doing quite well, so no reason to move here) whom I would like to visit. My parents vacationed there this past Christmas. My brother visited a couple of years ago and had a blast. They say I wouldn’t recognize Manila anymore.