Weekend Blog Follower Caravan #21

I’m joining the Weekend Blog Follower Caravan again this week!  It’s been months now since I last joined this very helpful weekend meme hosted by OnlineBiz and Resources.  And since my blog is less than a year old, I think I still need all the help and support I can get from kind fellow bloggers out there.  And lately, what makes it more exciting to join this weekly meme is the $5 added bonus to be raffled off every week among all who participated!  Thanks to Coffee on the Side and Walking News Paper for being this week’s sponsors.

Looking forward to blog-hopping this weekend and connecting with more blogger friends in blogosphere…Have a great WBFC weekend!  Thanks for stopping by. ;-)

Beginning of Another Homeschool Year

Some of our homeschool materials

This week has been a very hectic week for me as my children and I have officially started our 3^rd year of homeschooling.  Just like any other moms out there with school-aged children, I, too, kept myself busy with the nitty-gritty of preparing for the coming school year which, of course, includes the initial requirement of enrolling the children with a local homeschool provider located in Metro Manila, and as their “Teacher Mama”, choosing all the curricula that we can use this year, organizing our daily homeschool schedule, and planning for the activities that we can start with this week.

A Blogger Award for Me?

When I received a comment in one of my posts here in my blog that I was given a blogger award, I immediately got excited to discover what it was.  Yes, I was given “The Versatile Blogger” Award, my very first blog award!  Thank you to Mommy Chris of The Mommy Journey for thinking of me and appreciating my new blog.

A Different Mother's Day Giveaway

In celebration of Mother's Day, my good friend Mommy Chris of The Mommy Journey in partnership with photographer par excellence, Tracey Heppner of Tracey L Heppner Photography, are giving away a free family photo shoot to one blogger mom and her family.  I rarely join giveaways since I started blogging three months ago (yeah, pretty new!) and this is my very first time to join a local giveaway.  I do not want to pass this one because I think it's different from all other blog giveaways I've encountered so far.  For one, we do not have a really nice camera to capture a complete family photo.  And every time the four of us go out, either mom or dad is not in the picture with the two kids because she or he is behind the camera taking the picture.  So this giveaway would be a great chance for me to be treated with a very nice photo opp with my family - all four of us in the picture this time.  Also, I am enticed to join this giveaway because I do not only get to receive something out of winning (in case I do win), but what's more important to me is I get to participate in a worthy cause and give something to others, especially to the less fortunate little children of Gentle Hands, a ministry (located in Quezon City) dedicated to helping the urban people, especially children, of the Philippines.  In effect, I will not only be blessed with a treat of an excellent photo shoot with my loved ones by an international photographer (again, only in case I get to win this giveaway, haha!), but I also get to become a blessing to the ones very dear to my heart - the little children.  That to me is already a reward not here on earth, but in heaven...I just hope I could get to visit Gentle Hands with my children sometime in the future, and be a blessing to the little children there once again.

If you want to know more about the giveaway details, check them out here.  There are only four more days to go before the giveaway ends.  And if you want to be a blesser of Gentle Hands, too, you may visit their website here to get more information on how you can donate.

Weekend Blog Follower Caravan #10

Hi there!  Thank you for visiting my blog.  I'm so excited to join the Weekend Blog Follower Caravan hosted by OnlineBiz and Resources.  As the purpose of this weekly meme states, "it is designed for bloggers to help each other in terms of blog followers either through Google Friend Connect (GFC) or email subscription."

Since I'm a newbie in blogging, I'm really looking forward to meeting more blogger friends and following more interesting blogs.  I'm also looking forward to getting the love and support of fellow bloggers by following my blog...and I will surely reciprocate the love and support back to you. :-)  I am also open to exchanging links with you if you have a "family-friendly" blog.  Kindly leave a comment below (together with your URL) so I can link you up here and follow your blog, too.

I am Tess, by the way, a stay-at-home mom (hopefully a work-at-home mom soon, Lord willing) blessed with 2 adorable and energetic preschoolers and wife of 11 years now (and going strong) to my BF (bestfriend) and ex-BF (boyfriend).  For more than 12 years, my career evolved around the I.T. industry, and  now I am happily blessed and humbled that my life evolves around my ministry - my family, especially our children.  It gives me so much joy seeing my children grow up and personally witnessing the different milestones in their life, that no amount of money can  compensate.  Everyday, for me, is an exciting journey and a wonderful blessing...Get to know more about me and my life's passion and pursuits...and I would love to get to know more about you, too.  God bless!

It's My 2nd Month Blogaversary!

YES, it’s my 2nd Month Blogaversary, woohoo! (LOL)  Nope, sorry I don’t have those fancy stuffs to giveaway (just yet).  I must admit I’m still going through a learning curve here.  How I wish, though, I can accelerate it but it's just that my hands are always full and I can only do as much in a day.  Can somebody with a kind heart please help me without asking anything in return?!?! (LOL)

With the topics that I have posted so far, I never expected that I will be getting a positive response from readers and a not-so-bad site traffic coming from different parts of the world in less than three months since my blog launch…and yes, even though I don’t have that much followers yet! (LOL)  Truly, the World Wide Web has its amazing power to easily spread information across the globe.  Nevertheless, I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been reading my posts and to those who inspire me to go on.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Another New Beginning

Hhmmm...How to begin is usually the hardest part for me in writing. In the realities of life, in almost everything, beginnings are usually difficult but exciting. I remember all my bitter sweet beginnings - my tiny little steps as a baby, my first day in school, first job, falling in love and getting married, moving in to a new house, giving birth and raising children. And now that I am a full-time housewife and mother, I am thrilled to have found another new "beginning" in my life, and that is blogging!

I have always wanted to share my thoughts, opinions and experiences, especially how God has been moving in my day-to-day life, to others but I just do not have the knack in public speaking nor in expressing myself very well in the oral language. I guess I am more comfortable and better in expressing myself in writing. This is me. Not so much of a talker but a writer. Ever since I was young, I have always been fond of writing in my diary. Being a part of the editorial staff of my high school and college then was challenging but exciting, too. I guess that's where my writing skills were honed. So I guess this new venture of mine in blogging would be another exciting one for me, as well. A great venue where I hope to share, to inspire and even to educate...all for the glory of God!

Still learning about this thing about blogging, but hopefully with God's help and wisdom, I will get into the groove of things here and learn, haha!  So watch out for my next posts sometime soon.