Volume 19 / Issue 66 / 2020
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EDITORIAL
To Start a Relationship with Jesus Christ Admit you have sinned. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 Believe that Jesus is the only Savior. “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 Confess and leave your sin behind. Stop doing and thinking things that displease our Heavenly Father. “If we confess our sins ….” 1 John 1:9 Invite Jesus to be your Savior and the Lord of your life. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12 To continue growing in your relationship with Christ, have fellowship with other believers, read the Bible and pray.
L-R: Patrick, Delsey, and Johnson
MOMS EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Delsey Garner Cover & Layout: Patrick Tan Distribution: Johnson Li
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Published quarterly by Asia Pacific Media Ministries. Unit 2608 Raffles Corporate Center, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center, 1605 Pasig City, Philippines. Telephone: 914-9767. E-mail: moms@apmedia.org. Reproduction of photos and articles is prohibited without permission. 2
MOMS MAGAZINE
THIS ISSUE
From My Heart Dear Readers, My name is Delsey Garner, I am excited to present to you this edition of “MOMS” entitled, “COVID-19, CRISIS and CHANGE”. Because of COVID-19, families have lost jobs and experienced crisis like financial insufficiency and being isolated from our loved ones. Now we face changes to our everyday life. Changes like wearing a mask when we are outside, working from home and only being able to communicate with and see people through a chat room. It is said, “Change is constant” and we all know that change can be hard! I know how hard change can be. My husband and I spent the last 20 years in the states pastoring and raising our only child. Being a pastor’s wife and mother were normal for me. Then we responded to what we believe is God’s call for us to be missionaries here in Asia Pacific. Making that change was not easy, but we knew that the God whom we relied on in the U.S., is the same God who will help us in our new lives here and the adjustments we are faced with. I pray that during this change caused by COVID-19 that we will all find the strength and encouragement we need as we fix our eyes on Jesus, “the Author and the finisher of our faith”. (Hebrews 12:2) I am looking forward to hearing some great stories of what God has done for you and how this magazine has blessed you. Only by Grace, Delsey G. P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Evelyn Damian, MOMS former editor, who just retired. We appreciate all of her dedication and hard work while serving as editor.
Table of Contents EDITORIAL
From My Heart 3 CHIKA-CHIKA
Openness is Closeness 4 WISE CHOICES
Parenting is Partnership 6 MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Has Anything Good Come from ECQ? 8 FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING
New Lifestyle, New Hobby 12 Vegan Shakshuka sans Egg 13 ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
How do I raise my children in the faith during pandemic? 14 3
CHIKA-CHIKA
Openness is Closeness by D. Garner
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mother realized that she was not as close to her child as she had once thought.
“Kagabi nag-text sa akin ang aking panganay. Nag-open daw sa kanya ang aking pangalawa na may tampo raw siya sa akin. Sabi ko, ‘O, bakit daw? Hindi ko alam yan!’ Sinabi ko rin na close naman kami ng kapatid niya. Ang sagot ng panganay ko, ‘Hindi naman siya open sa ‘yo!’” - JS Sarmen It is hurtful when we are the last person to learn something about someone we thought we knew very well. Just because we talk to our children all the time, doesn’t mean we understand all of their struggles and offenses. Growing up I felt like I was not free to speak openly about my questions and struggles. The idea of talking to my parents about certain issues seemed awkward, so, I usually talked to my friends about them instead, because it was easier to express myself to them. Maybe this is why some parents first hear about their children’s problems through the spreading tsismis. Some of you may nod your heads in agreement when I say that when I was a child I was not really allowed to say anything or express my feelings or reason out my actions. I found it funny that when I was being scolded, my parents would ask, “Why did you do that?”. But when I would start giving my answer, they would think of me as talking back. This experience made me feel like my parents did not care about my opinion or what I felt. We all want our children to talk to us about what they are experiencing. But when our children start telling us about things they did and those things go against our standards, how do we usually respond? I hope we can avoid the tendency to scold them outright or stop the conversation abruptly. As Christian parents, we are concerned about what our kids believe morally, spiritually and emotionally. But how
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Delsey and her son
“True closeness comes when there is an openness in the relationship to express what we truly think and feel, even when it is painful or hard.� do we know where they are at in their emotional health and spiritual journey if we, as parents, do not give them an opportunity to speak their minds and talk about difficult things? When I became a mom, I decided, to give my son a chance to voice out what he was thinking and feeling. There were times when it’s really hard for me to just listen and not interject myself but I did not want to shut my son down. My husband and I always told our son that he could talk to us about anything. I think that statement helped him open up to us about his physical, emotional and spiritual questions he had as he got older into his teen years. I pray we can encourage and motivate our children to be open and as moms we can learn to listen intentionally. Closeness is not just talking about the events of the day or homework. True closeness comes when there is an openness in the relationship to express what we truly think and feel, even when it is painful or hard. Openness is closeness. (Title credit to: JS Sarmen)
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WISE CHOICES
Parenting is Partnership by Michelle Klaris Rey-Cabansal
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ave you ever felt confused and overwhelmed in decision-making? Did you ever feel that you were not on the same page with your husband? Have you stayed awake, till the rooster crowed or the jeepney horns blared, waiting for the answer to those tough questions: How will this decision impact my kids? How will they grow and develop in this environment we have put ourselves in? All of us come from different backgrounds, upbringings and experiences that impact the way we parent. My husband and I have been married for almost 10 years. We have three girls (ages 8, 6, and 2) and each one was born in different region of the Visayas. My husband jokes that it was part of the plan to follow the prayer of Jabez to enlarge our territory. We have been able to raise our children without the physical presence of extended family members, relatives or nannies. We traveled with our kids across multiple municipalities and islands as part of our job working in non-profit, non-government organizations. It was not always a smooth journey and all I can say is that I am grateful for the grace given to us. We worried about how the travel would affect our kids’ health and development and if video calls would be enough to make their grandparents real to them. We worried, at times, how to help them process what they saw in the community compared to the truths in the Bible. I would like to share with you two questions that my husband and I have often asked ourselves. These questions have kept us grounded when the reality of our challenges blurred our vision. They also strengthened our partnership in the parenting of our children.
Klaris and her family
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What are our values? • LOVE. Love is the source of our thought, words, and action. Love God, love others. • HONEST RELATIONSHIPS. We desire to build strong, honest relationships with those around us. • ADVENTURE. Go! Have fun and learn alongside others. • DISCIPLESHIP. We acknowledge that God has a purpose for each of us and we will grow and steward what He has entrusted to us. Knowing our values has helped us in times of struggle. When COVID-19 stranded us in my husband’s hometown, a place far away from where I worked, we had a family meeting. With the future uncertain, we asked our girls what their concerns were. To our surprise, we were all concerned about the same thing. Which was, when would we be able to return to our rented apartment for our valuables (such as their favorite stuffed toys and guitars)? We thanked the Lord, that as a family we did not have to make a large adjustment because our values were already embedded in our lifestyle. What do we hold in our hand? What is in our hand? These are the things that can be used to provide solutions for our daily challenges. It includes our inborn and acquired talents, abilities, and attitudes. It is also the identified support groups and resources that are available to us within our community. What is in our hand needs to be continually nurtured and developed. Because we value adventure and desire to be ready to go where we would be called, we chose to homeschool. We found it to be consistent with our value to be intentional in discipling our kids. Homeschooling also gave us the opportunity to bring out talents that we had put on the side such as drawing or cooking. We feel fortunate we were already homeschooling our children before the pandemic! Taking a look at what we hold in our hand is humbling and empowering at the same time. Challenges and pressures tend to make us focus on what is wrong instead of counting our blessings. One of those blessings is our spouse, who also wants what is best for both the children and the family. The beauty of partnership in parenting is that you never have to be alone on the journey. It also establishes a stronger connection between you and your spouse. Perhaps you’d be surprised to see that even SuperMom can’t save the day without SuperDad. 7
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Many were caught off guard when Covid19 caused a lockdown in the Philippines. Here is the account of a mother, who is also a doctor, during ECQ. Initial Reaction To ECQ
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he declaration of the Enhanced Community Quarantine came as a bit of a shock. All the freedom we enjoyed was put to a sudden stop. Along with that came all kinds of uncertainties: financial, health concerns and supplies. My family, like the majority, flocked to the grocery to stock up. We had to struggle by means of our travel, my son had to adjust to distance learning for the last few weeks of the schoolyear. The first few days of the ECQ were pretty hard to digest. News spilled out with devastating information on the rising number of cases, the fallen front liners and the frantic efforts of the government to keep everything in order. There was an overwhelming overload of information.
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MOMS MAGAZINE
Biggest Fear It was very daunting, as a medical professional, it came to a point that it almost paralyzed me with fear of going to work with the threat of COVID right at the forefront. While the rest of Metro Manila was locked indoors to keep their families protected, my job required me to go to hospitals and clinics where sick patients would come to seek medical care. It was like stepping into a battlefield with an unseen enemy. Even though I knew what my profession entails, I am currently not living for myself alone. I have a husband and kids, an eightyear-old and a two-year-old, and the thought of them contracting the virus through me was so frightening. The guilt of placing my family at risk every time I stepped in the house brought so much anxiety. If I could only spend the rest of the pandemic safely indoors, but that is not realistic. New Experience While spending a lot of time at home, I was mostly online and was able to reconnect with old friends. One of them, my classmate from medical school, talked about her plight as a radiologist. They were not given enough PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) because they were not considered as front liners, even though they really are. I tried to ask a few people if they were willing to help with supplies, and to my surprise someone responded. That moment started snowballing into more opportunities to coordinate much needed medical supplies such as masks, face shields and
Doc Claire and the donated supplies
isolation gowns. Supplies suddenly started piling up and we could not find space for it all in our small condominium. Our church generously opened their doors and it became a mini bodega and a drop off/pickup point for supplies. Surprising Positive Result This coordination of medical supplies and donations gave me a new perspective. The desire to just lock up inside the house was replaced by the passion to connect with fellow medical professionals and try to fill in their needs even in a small way so that they could continue to work safely and care for other patients. It was just amazing to see doors open up. Suddenly, I was talking to people I had not been in contact with for a long time and started to receive a huge Continued to next page
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MAKE A DIFFERENCE
outpouring of financial support. This support was not just local but also came from all over the world. I was coordinating the transport of medical supplies as far as Jolo, Lanao, Isabela and Cotabato. Together with the church’s COVID task force, we provided approximately 1,500 masks, 950 face shields, 50 gallons of bleach, 150 pcs of body suits and gowns, 50 boxes of noodles, 60 pcs of goggles and 20 gallons of alcohol. The Lord is to be praised! Blessed Opportunities I praise God for the generosity of my friends, family and the support and partnership of my home church, ICS. A few weeks into the quarantine, God impressed to me a word: “RISE”. I believe God presents to the world extraordinary circumstances to take us further and soar higher in our journey with Him. He has shown us unique opportunities to reach out and minister in moments that do not otherwise happen if not for that moment. May we not miss out on 10
Radiologists who received the donated PPE
“I believe God presents to the world extraordinary circumstances to take us further and soar higher in our journey with Him.” the special work that God has for us this season. Let us give Him glory, always and in everything. Spiritual Effect ECQ brought us to a full stop and shifted our focus to God. Removing any distractions that often consume us in our normal lives with our busy and never-ending schedules and rigid obligations. It also presented a way for us to serve others in a unique way. Beyond this pandemic, may we let this moment resonate in our testimonies to future generations.
MOMS MAGAZINE
Give one positive effect from the lock-down for you or your family “The lockdown has given me and my husband time for each other and for our two daughters, since there was no school and no work. I feel that our relationship as a family was strengthened.” - Erlinda Apoli, Butuan City
leave my children.” - Tanniah Navarro, Cainta, Rizal
“...more quality time together and made us all health conscious. Personally, I discovered the green thumb in me. So, I’m into gardening... planting and growing vegetables in our small terrace. Very rewarding new hobby for me.”- Pearl Joy Cordero, Cabanatuan City
“Family devotion and family bonding was strengthened. I was healed from illness ( high blood ) because I was able to rest in a couple months. No pressure, less stress! Praise God!” - Cresha Matiga, Tacloban City
“Quality time with family and getting to discover more of the things I didn’t know I could do. Example: learning how to create arts and crafts.” - Riza Salcedo, Mandaluyong City “Nakita ko po yung tunay na value ng family. Ang sarap ng feeling na matagal ang oras na magkasama kami sa loob ng bahay at naka-discover ako ng mga bagay na akala ko hindi ko kaya. Mas na-appreciate ko ang provision ng Lord despite this pandemic.” - Dimple Manalo, Mandaluyong City “As a busy mom of two young children, having my husband at home made our quarantine days more meaningful and joyful. I also got to attend zoom conferences which are made available now, unlike before, I worried where I would
“The lockdown has given us more time to reflect and get closer to God. It has also improved family bonding.” Bernette Algar, Bacolod City
“Despite the dreadful toll the pandemic is taking, me and my family are becoming more thankful for the small pleasures in life. God never promised us this life would be easy, but He does promise that He is bigger than any storm we face and He’s always working for good.” - Jamil Gomez, Taytay, Rizal “Our family was able to gather for family altar more than twice a week without being bothered by work schedules.” - Imelda Avila, Mobo, Masbate “Lockdown reminded us to be grateful and grace-full because we see that so many around us are suffering, to show gratitude for good health and everything we have. Living indoors for months now allows us to practice LOTS of grace for, and FROM, each other so we are “gracefull.”” - Faith Nacarato, Mandaluyong City
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New Lifestyle, New Hobby by Wina Velasco Javier
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uring this Quarantine season, I believe we’ve tried almost everything. From making a little profit via online selling, getting into baking and cooking, playing indoor games, holding online reunions or learning crafts. It is fun to try something new and different. For my family, it’s trying a new healthy lifestyle. My two youngest kids introduced my husband and I to a vegan diet. A vegan diet is a plant-based diet with no meat, dairy or eggs. However, my husband and I will occasionally eat fish or a slice of cheese to balance our diet from soy-based or mushrooms, which are high in uric acid. As a family, we try to cook and bake using new vegetarian recipes. We create plant-based burger patties, cookies and anything else we can make up in the kitchen.
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The downside of this diet is that, it seems like many quality vegetables are becoming quite expensive. Shifting to vegan would need more varieties of ulam recipes so, I realized I needed to produce our own crops. I started saving the ends of kangkong, spring onions, papaya seeds, tomatoes seeds etc. and planted them in pots. Then I remembered that my mom had a green thumb when she was still alive. In front of her house she had an empty lot and was able to produce a lush garden there and harvested a basketful of leafy vegetables. She passed away six years ago and I just thought of resurrecting this empty lot to develop my own little farm, just like hers. I gathered my seeds of watermelon, papaya, ampalaya, labanos, sitaw, tomatoes etc. (I can sing the Bahay Kubo song to name the variety of vegetables) and planted them. Now I hope and pray for a bountiful harvest in due time..
Vegan Shakshuka sans Egg by Wina Velasco Javier
Ingredients • 3 cloves garlic (minced) • 1 medium onion (finely chopped) • 6 oz. soft tofu • 1 can of diced tomatoes • 1 red and 1 green bell pepper (finely diced) • A handful of spinach • 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro for toppings • A dash of turmeric and other Mediterranean spices you wish to add Procedure • Lightly brown tofu chunks, set aside. • Saute garlic, onions, add bell peppers, diced tomatoes. • Season according to your taste. • Turmeric is optional but it will give a good blend with paprika or any Mediterranean spices you have. • Simmer and add the spinach until it lightly wilts and serve topped with cilantro. Best served with Papad or pita bread or any crusty flaky bread
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ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
Digital art by Christian Pascual
Just Asking with Peter Banzon
Q: A:
How do I train my children spiritually when they’re not able to attend services at church?
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his long pandemic has prevented children from attending church and receiving spiritual input from their Sunday School teachers.
But you have a great opportunity to train your children in spiritual matters at home. After all, the Bible commands parents to train their children in the ways of the Lord using His Word, the Bible. “...These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 6:6-7 Thank God that the Bible has been brought to life through the different digital platforms. Animation, videos and images are all available for use. You can prepare these teaching times by going through what’s available on the internet. Make sure the presentations are Biblically sound. Think of the questions that will help them think through the Bible stories. Watch these resources together with your children. Then, discuss with them the lessons and applications. These times can be both fun and meaningful! End each session with prayer, asking God to help you and your children to live according to His word. 14
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