Welcome Back, Anna! :)

I haven't blogged for almost a year now! But if there is one thing that is truly worth sharing with you is that by next month, my husband and I will be holding our little princess in our arms! I am currently eight months pregnant and is so eagerly waiting for the d-day! For the last eight months, I have been caressing and talking to my tummy, even imagining my baby talking back to me, too! My journey to motherhood was not all smooth-sailing, but it was all worth the pain and the discomfort. From the kicks and sommersaults that I would feel and my quest to getting the right and comfortable posiition to sleep every night, I did not notice that it's already the 35th week! I've been reading articles in the internet regarding pregnancy and how to care for the baby when she comes. Call me excited, haha!

Away...

I am the most positive person you'll ever meet, I swear.

But ever since I arrived in a place away from home, I felt like everything just turned upside down. Now I truly understand how working away from your comfort zone feels.

But please don't get me wrong. From the bottom of my heart, I am honestly grateful for this one of a kind blessing. If not for this secondment opportunity, Australia may never be part of the list of the places where I have been.

I'm here for four and a half months. I flew out of the country just a week after I got married. No honeymoons and wife duties yet.

On my first day at work, it felt the same as working back home, only that I don't speak Tagalog. It was hard for me at first to express my thoughts because everybody here speaks English really good! (Of course!) And I was eaten up by how they show confidence in everything that they do. That confidence that would want to tell you that "hey, I'm really good at this." But I don't want to comment further. :D

So is it really like this to be working with people of other culture, of other race, of other color? I talked to my other office mates who are currently in Houston to share how I feel. And unsurprisingly, we all feel the same.

But now that I'm writing this, I realize that what makes this really hard for me is that everyday after office, I would go home and see no one there. Yes, I am alone. My husband is miles away from me. I kiss my mom and my sisters through Skype. At least I was sent here when technology is up and it makes homesickness a little less felt.

Now I wonder, maybe this is really what I wanted. Because I never asked for this. But then my ever loving God brought me here. It is in the thought that He knows the true desires of my heart that I get peace of mind. Whatever experiences and feelings that I have while I am here are part of my preparations for a grand blessing which I am about to receive. I have to constantly remind myself that I am being prepared for something really BIG! And all the things which make me feel sad, alone and super stressed here are blessings in disguise.

I still have 86 days to do honor Him and the name that my parents gave me. And day by day, the things He prepared especially for me will reveal one by one. At the end of it all, I will always be thankful and grateful for everything, and I mean everything, that God allowed me to experience while I am here. :)

Ang Aking Liham Para Kay Kupido :)

Alam kong natutulilig na ang tenga mo sa kabi-kabilang kahilingang natatanggap mo para panain ang puso ng sinisinta ng sandamakmak na mga tao. Pero bakit ako? Hindi ko naman tinawag ang pangalan mo. Ni hindi ko inisip na humiling sa yo kahit sa panaginip man lang. Hindi ako humarap sa salamin ng alas dose ng hatinggabi para manalangin na ipakita ang taong nakalaan para sa akin. Pero isang araw habang nagkakape ako e bigla mo na lang akong kinalabit sabay sipat sa dibdib ko. At yun na. Dun na nagsimula ang lahat.

Akala ko dati, masyadong makamandag ang pana mo. Yung tipong pag tinamaan ka e malulunod ka na sa kakaibang sensasyong dala ng pag-ibig. E bakit sa akin mild lang ung formula ng nilagay mong solution sa dulo ng pana mo? Ni hindi ko nga naramdaman na nasa paligid ko lang pala ang taong makakatuluyan ko. As in literal na nasa paligid ko, kasama kong nagkakape. Kung binigyan mo lang ako ng warning e di sana sinuklay ko muna ung bangs ko. O kaya nag-excuse muna ako, nagpunta sa wash room at naglagay ng konting papula sa pisngi para hindi obvious ang pagbblush ko. Panay pa naman ang tingin nya sa relo nya, pakiramdam ko e boring akong kasama. Sana e nagpractice man lang ako magjoke para walang mga "dead air" moments nung bigla kaming iniwan ng kaibigan namin. Pero bakit ko pa pinaparating to sa yo e tapos naman na un, at wala na akong magagawa kasi nanuot na sa mga ugat ko ung mild formula mo.

Pero naman! Di mo sinabi na may immediate and long lasting effect ung mixture na un, as in panghabambuhay. Naging bahagi na sya ng sistema ko at di ko na sya mabura sa utak ko. Buti na lang at hindi sya nauntog habang binubuo namin ung kalsadang dadaanan namin nang magkatuwang. Di naglaon ay niiyaya nya akong magpakasal.

Ano ba ang saysay ng sulat na to e masaya naman na ako sa buhay pag-ibig ko? Wala naman. Ang totoo nyan, gusto lang talaga kita pasalamatan. Dahil siguro sa dami ng nagmamakaawa sa yo, pinili mong mag unwind muna at tumigil sa Starbucks nung araw na un. Tapos nakita mo kami. At alam mong kami ang nakatadhana para sa isa't isa kaya di ka na nagpatumpik tumpik pa. At noon din ay sabay mo kaming pinana habang ginugulo ng hangin ang aking buhok at humihigop ako ng mainit na kape. :)

My Unknown Dream Comes True :)

A girl can only dream of a Prince Charming when she was still little. As she grows up, she is realizing that Prince Charming can only be found in fairy tales. She realizes that in the real world, that one true love she's been dreaming of is that one person who has only 10 out of the 900 qualities of the guy she wants to be with.

As a young girl, I was focused in maintaining high grades in school and helping my mom in her small business. Dreaming of a Prince Charming seemed to have no space in my life. Or maybe because I had the idea that high school should be the most enjoyed time of one's life, and I would not enjoy it as much if my mind is occupied with thinking of how to make a special someone happy.

Then time flew so fast, a lot of things happened and I managed to become a professional. That was the time that I prayed to Papa God diligently everyday so He would give me my Prince Charming. I know I am a grown up, but for me it was not too late to dream of what little girls would dream of - to live in a grand castle with her own King. Translate it to a real world's language: I wanted to meet the person whom I would share my whole life with.

This dream came true in the morning of 8 January 2012. Finally, I married the most unexpected person, the one that I've never seen myself going out with even in my rarest dreams. Don't take it negatively, it was because we had our own separate lives that we never even saw each other for the longest time.

But fate has its own way of letting people realize that sometimes, the dreams that come true are the ones that you never knew you had. And on one beautiful Sunday morning, it was my turn to believe that. I can never thank our Good Lord enough.

Malapit na malapit na! :)

Wasted Time, Really?

I believe that once in our lives, we spent some time on something we thought were significant to us, something we thought would last, only to realize in the end that it was something we didn't want to ever happen; something that we'd tell ourselves that we would never even think of in our next lives. Those times that you'd realize that you should have done this instead of that; times when you should have trusted yourself instead of other people. There is this feeling of regret and guilt that you knew you wouldn't experience if only you've thought the other way around. More often than not, we call these moments our wasted time.

Time, as it has always been told, is free, yet priceless. You don't need to pay a single centavo to have it, but you also couldn't use all the riches in the world just to have more of it. When your time ends, it just ends. And so as the cliche goes, spend your time wisely. :)

Why did I suddenly think of this? Well, being an Eagles fan (I don't know if I can call myself a fan, but I really love their songs), I included in my playlist their song called "Wasted Time." It's about how a girl, fearing the near end of its relationship, thought that she had just wasted the time she spent with the boy. There is this part of the lyrics that struck me, though I couldn't understand it fully: "Sometimes to keep it together, you got to leave them alone." Come to think of it, that makes sense, right?

My take on this is that whenever you do something, you had the choice whether to do it or not. So there should never be any moment in your life that you'd regret. If you feel that you just made a not so good decision, then I believe that you should just take it as a lesson. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. Whether to teach you something or to make you feel good, you should embrace and accept them with all your heart. You'll never know why things happen until the reason happens. Trust your instincts. Trust your guts. Most of all, Trust Him, because He'll never leave you behind. :)

Here Comes Christmas.... and then... !!!!

Christmas is here once again!!! Normally, I would anticipate this occasion because it means I could take some time off from work. But this year is extra special... this would be the last Christmas that I would write my name as Anna Loraine C. Go. When the new year starts, everything will change, and so will my name!