Celebrating Love, Life and Christianity

One of the big events we had recently was a triple celebration--my birthday (January 5th), my nephew Matt's christening (January 6th) and my parents' 40th wedding anniversary (January 7th).  At first, I thought of sending my parents to a getaway for their anniversary but when my brother decided to get his new baby baptized at the same time, we decided to get together for a celebration and have family and friends over. It was small and intimate, but memorable.

We had a renewal of vows ceremony for my parents following my nephew's baptism. This part, to me, was the most memorable. I wept. I couldn't hold back tears while witnessing my parents reaffirm their love and commitment to each other.  The last 40 years for them was certainly not all bliss. There too were plenty of pain and sacrifices. But my parents battled through them with their love and respect for each other, which for so many years I have witnessed and admired.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude that day, and recalling the event now makes me feel grateful again. Grateful to God for blessing my parents with 40 wonderful years. Grateful for the love that my parents have for each other--the same love we were showered with while we were growing up. I hope God will bless them with another decade, and more.

I'll be in my seventh year of marriage this year. I can say with confidence that I am blissfully and earnestly happy with my marriage, but it'll be a long, long time before we get to 40. My parents' success is a hard act to follow. I can only wish we accomplish half of it!

Inspirations

I can't believe my last blog entry was done nearly five months ago. I really have neglected this space, which I hold so dear. One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to blog more often, at least once a week. Clearly, I haven't fulfilled that. And I think I may need to rearrange my routine to make time for blogging.

Truth be told, I believe that I am currently in my happiest.  I have everything I need--a simple yet comfortable life, a family I love and who love me back, a wonderful husband I simply just adore, a beautiful little boy who makes me laugh every single day, a promising career and a few hobbies that keep me challenged and feed my passion for creative things. One day, I promised myself to document my happy times, so that when the sad times come--and I know they will one day, I'll have something to look back to and recall to keep my spirits high.  Oh, I have so many stories to tell, experiences and thoughts to share. I now wish I had written them all up!

I don't write much, but I write when I'm inspired. I've had many inspirations along the way, and now they are starting to build up and pushing me to write this entry. There's that birthday message from Aileen saying she wishes I blog more--I have not forgotten about that. There's my husband who reminds me that my "neglected blog" has started fishing spam comments. And then there's this nice message from a stranger telling me she came across my blog through a google search for a recipe and that she has since been inspired by me.  I had no idea people were even reading my blog, let alone be inspired by it.  What a joy this is to know!

So I am making a renewed commitment to my blog.  I will visit this more often. I will make it more active. I will share more and be more inspired by the other wonderful people I read and follow.

I will find the time to write. I will document my joys, and sorrows too. I will preserve the memories in this little space, and one day I know I will thank myself for doing so.

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Photo:  My 1-month old little nephew, Matheson.  It was I who gave him this name.