relief is a simple joy

It is always good to remember that we are largely the person responsible for our fate.  We can choose to put our lives on public display like the modern television reality shows.  I think that there is an exhibitionist in all of us.  I believe that we all want to matter or there is simply a desire to say something.  But I also believe that retiring from public display will come unexpectedly when you just simply decided that it is enough. 

Monsters and Gremlins

I have monsters or gremlins sleeping over in my room almost every night.  The monsters generally live in when they sleep over.  They scatter things, pull out books from the basket and leave them everywhere.  They leave their sneeze sprinkles on the pillows.  Sometimes, they take off wearing our shirts.

The gremlins are sweet-looking little things but they have the most deadly farts!  They are like snakes slithering and crossing over each other until they are one big knot in the middle of the night.  One sits up in the dark (the genuine gremlin) and sees her grandfather sleeping with gloves.  She pulls one finger at a time while chanting "funny, hands", wears the gloves while saying the same two words as she fades in the dark again.

As we all know, monsters and gremlin are sweet while asleep.

my other space

This is my 4th office.  This is where I work as a reseacher and writer.  Right outside are children talking about projects, girls whispering about the boys in their class and birds chirping the latest in air and landing spaces just further beyond the corridor.  I am surrounded with books and children making noise while their teacher tries to keep them on their task.

The best place for distraction and focus is within this four walls of the Discovery and Learning Resource Center where I hole up to concoct and write ideas. At the moment,  I have French Musique playing in the background and it can be very inspiring. 

I see a quaint cafe someday, serving iced coffee and chocolate, biscuits and scones just right outside where some girls are sitting on the floor.  That is a very yummy idea.

a very decent space in one corner of a very busy library

photo take by Brianna Abellera G3

a regular day inside the library

the grill work outside my window

Oh Jose

There is not enough space to breathe with awe each time this little person does something absolutely different from his brilliant brother, Jacob.  It is our fault that we sometimes take him lightly because he can make things look groovy and rock n'roll when we are serious over things that are actually funny. He makes us realize things differently.

A year ago, before his Kuya's 5th birthday, he surprised me with his uncanny way of "reading".
I gave Jacob the first letter clue to the gift I was going to give him while we all lay on the bed ready to sleep. Jose was seeminglyl unmindful of our conversation.

Me:  My gift for you starts with the letter "h" (and I sounded the letter).
Jacob urged me to say the next letter and I said "a" then the third which was "m".  As I gave the sounds of the three letters for Jacob to figure out, Jose turned to his other side to face us and nonchalantly, said "ham-ster".

This dude is not a conventional reader.  He never paid any attention to the first attempts of his teachers and parents to teach him how to read, the way he was not paying attention to colors before he started on his own to identify the spectrum of colors.

He baffled us many times whenever he'd come up with puns.  Ordinary words were given a new twist and a funny meaning.

"Wear your brief now Jose"!
"Corned brief?" he'd retort.

Anyways,  laterly, he baffles me with his different approach in drawing.  While he gingerly plays with a pencil and tentatively makes marks on a paper, his imagination would start to work as he sees the figure that emerges.  You can imagine how a snake would evolve into a robot with more angles that he would accidentally draw.  Really.  Not much ado!

Today, his left hand and fingers are more coordinated with his eyes and his brain.  He is very happy to draw a lot!  he can now summon his hand to create what is on his mind.

http://instagram.com/p/cC2MuOuw_Z/

He can go on and on tranced and impassioned.

http://instagram.com/p/cC0LrNOw7m/

A priceless find

We often ask ourselves at the end of the day, what for is all these? 

 I thought that I had been hogging this beautiful letter for such a long time now.  here is to share with comrades of the trade.

 As I have witnessed my students grow,  their parents grew before my eyes too.  Some came with nothing but dreams and hopes for their children.  Others came with plans and a handful of expectations.  The wiser of the lot know that their children will benefit more from discovering themselves through the challenges that they meet growing up in a school.  In the end, everyone would agree that we can destroy our child's life plan if we meddle too much.

We live our lives in full view of our students or children. Without words, we teach through example. Perfection is not a prerequisite.  the desire to be and to reach the ultimate good would be more than enough. 

And if we still believe as parents that our child's path should be lined with roses, and the air they breathe must be infused with perfume, then maybe we are not being realistic.  We can perhaps close our eyes without a heaving sigh but rather with a contented smile if we know that our child can wipe the sweat upon his brows and be alright to face himself once again when the morning comes.

thank you.  it was a pleasure having your child join our trip to a better world.

Summer's Eye View

 May 20-June 5, 2013

 While we missed Antipolo, we also had a good time on the other side of the earth.

a shot at the famous golden gate

family reunion at Concord

meeting Lily Pad for the first time

my brother's garden in Stockton

we went for a walk to a beautiful Japanese garden after a hearty lunch

believe it or not!  this is a 20 year-old pair of Indian moccasin walking the streets of San Francisco

 Ta-ta!  to Oaksville Grocery next time.

On Honors and Awards

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Good Morning Parents, HEDCen students, teachers and friends of The Little Farm House!

Of course, this is the day you validate the effort that you have put in, day in and day out to get to this moment when you can say that you have succeeded.

Indeed you have! But do not forget this.  Einstein himself believes that Not Everything that can be counted Counts, and not everything that Counts can be Counted. 

Try to figure an remember what it means.

Are you as good only as the medals you have won or the honors and awards that you have received?

Yes we can count all these!  Others may even say that it is already a habit to come up here on the stage year after year and once the cycle is broken, everything is broken.  One forgets that a person is not made of certificates and awards.  God did not create a child out of these materials.  Look at yourself.  What are you made of?

You are made of your soul, your bones, muscles, tissues, organs.  Your medals do not hold you up and make you walk or think even.  When you are hungry, your medals cannot even be eaten.

So why will anyone cry a river of tears or put up a protesy just because he is not getting any award.

Can your certificates love you?  Cook for you? Bless you? Heal you? 

I just want to remind you that loving your family and friends and making them smile is another way of looking at awards or rewards.  And yes we do not count the good deeds that we have done. 

I am in awe and I have admired the children who put dedication to learning.  And there are different ways to do that. One is to study to learn.   Another is to make mistakes and learn.

I hope that you see and realize the merits of both.  I hope that you don’t hurt yourself and your souls  for a piece of metal or paper.  I hope that you see yourselves beyond these.  I hope that you appreciate yourselves because of the other beautiful and amazing things that  you are and can become.

 The Dalai Lama said that the planet has enough of successful people.  What our planet desperately needs are peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. 

I hope that your success will lead you to desire to be what our world desperately needs.  

Congratulations students!  And to the parents, May I say that you are the wind beneath your children’s wings.  Congratulations to you too!

 Cheers!! 

 

I have been trying to tell you

There have been many instances when I would catch myself saying the same things over and over for the last 30 years or so.

That gives me the validation that I have firm resolve on principles or ideals that I have lived by in my life as a mother and a teacher.

It is good to know that I have allies and if no one will believe my words, here is Einstein:

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted" 

 "Learning something means coming into contact with a world of which you knew nothing.  In order to learn, you must be humble." -Paulo Coelho

"The planet does not need more successful people.  The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds." Dalai Lama

Our planet also needs not only social workers but soul workers.

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think."  Albert Einstein

It is learning from one's own experiences not only to benefit the self but to offer these lessons as guideposts to others.

********

 Just a few thoughts I have come across that I find might be useful more than the perfunctory "Congratulations!" to the awarrdees in the Recognition Rites tomorrow at HEDCen.  

So many parents look for schools that will give their children awards at the end of the year regardless of the rules of the game.  I find students who have gotten the honors and awards every year and still are empty inside.  Worst is when they get used to it and cannot therefore humbly accept when they lose in the "race".

Life is never a 'race'.  It is the slow trickling of water in an almost dying river or the rush of colors in the sunset.  It is something that one must personally experience and authentically live.  It is setting one's own benchmark in the effort for self-improvement.  Life is breathing the way one breathes not to benefit someone else's lungs.  Life is also about extending one's arms and hands to make a contribution to others.  It is so much more about knowing one's soul, healing one's hurt, getting up to try again and applying the lessons learned from having a life and from making big and small mistakes.  

These awards that I will confer tomorrow do not define the person or the child.  It must not be coveted for the honor and award as the end in itself  but moreso for its significant contribution to learning some life skills.  

I salute the children who have tried in spite of limitations, who have learned to laugh at their silly selves, and who at the end of the day, have a firm grasp of who they are and who they are not, what they did, and what they want to do when the next morning comes.

I love the children who have cried in desperation and have openly grieved for a goal unattained, I love those who have other "important agenda" and are seeking their own venues,  I love those who make me laugh and those who are alive because they are free from the shackles of (wrong) expectations. 

somethings to say to The Little Farm House folks today

Imagine a world without children.
It would be a world without hope.


They give us a reason to wake up early, go to work, go back home.
They give us a reason to dream.


I guess and I believe that we would like the best for them.
The best is not always the most comfortable, the least difficult, and the most expensive that money can buy.

And the best is not the same for everyone.  It is a difficult formula because there is none. 

So we venture into the world of parenting armed with nothing except our best intentions.
God knows that.

And yet if we ask ourselves what these intentions or prayers are, what comes first in the list?

But there is something that we have and for which we do not have to pray for because it is and will always be there.

Our love for our children is more than enough to keep us focused on what we have to do or ought to do.  Your heart is lifted when your child smiles and that is when you start  to see.  How much more when this child begins to talk and entertain us with his wisdom?  This is when we learn to listen.

Our children may not always amaze us but we continue to love them and best if we continue to help them build life skills,  teach them to persevere,  and learn from their mistakes.  

I hope that as you watch your children sing or dance and give their best, that your eyes will not wander around looking for some children to compare with yours.  Watch them with your hearts and without fail, you will love what you will see.

Today, I hope that you also work on creating a peaceful community, a peace-filled world by loving your family.

Today, these children dedicate their best afternoon to you.


 


 

Brian Patten

So Many Different Lengths of Time

by Brian Patten

How long is a man’s life, finally?

Is it a thousand days, or only one?

One week, or few centuries?

How long does a man’s death last?

And what do we mean when we say, ‘gone forever’?

Adrift in such preoccupations, we seek clarification.

We can go to the philosophers,

But they will grow tired of our questions.

We can go to the priests and the rabbis

But they might be too busy with administrations.

So, how long does a man live, finally?

And how much does he live while he lives?

We fret, and ask so many questions

Then when it comes to us

The answer is so simple

A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us,

For as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams,

For as long as we ourselves live,

Holding memories in common, a man lives.

His lover will carry his man’s scent, his touch:

His children will carry the weight of his love.

One friend will carry his argument,

Another will hum his favourite tunes,

Another will still share his terrors.

And the days will pass with baffled faces,

Then the weeks, then the months,

Then there will be a day when no question is asked

And the knots of grief will loosen in the stomach,

And the puffed faces will calm.

And on that day he will not have ceased,

But will have ceased to be separated by death.

How long does a man live, finally?

A man lives so many different lengths of time

Immahhh!

Sunday.
breakfast.
little voice calling me.

it's breezy
in my room.

the bed
undone.

yoga
in a little while.

beautiful breaths

a bugtronaut

there's beauty behind the lush and fresh

at prayerful rest

vibrant and glowing

a little shy

nature's design

lovely young ones full of joy and innocence

vegan

a beautiful giver

No regrets!

Sweet crochet.  A future tablecloth or a bedspread.  Now a shawl over my seater.  No regrets.  I love it!

unfinished and no way I will

PS
I remember my three children crocheting while I make my doilies and this... no texting and social networking at that time yet. 

wrap with love

Be kind to the earth.  Fill your bin with found and used things that will make beautifully wrapped presents. 

(back)

for a little girl (front)

for a little boy

for the entire family

1) have old colorful magazines at hand / a black and white magazine would give the retro look

2) keep those ribbons to make a pretty bow, tie the sides of a package together (challenge:  don't use clear tapes at all).  use interesting strings. 

3) recycle used paper bags (cover the brand with an interesting collage that tells about the person you are wrapping the gift for.

4) wrap with love.  say a little prayer or a good wish

5) don't get attached!  give those gifts away!