Who doesn’t want to have some investments before reaching our retirement age? Of course, we all want a bright and worry-free future for our children. Thus, we need to be mindful of our spending habits. Otherwise, this dream for our children will be put into oblivion.

Anyway, one of our goals this year is to save more and spend less. When we finally have big savings, I would like to invest our hard-earned money on foreclosed properties because banks usually sell them at incredibly low prices.

Since banks are not into real estate but lending business, all they’re after is to recover the outstanding loan exposure from these terminated mortgages. Hence, these acquired properties are being sold at an affordable price with easy payment terms for quicker disposal.

Just like Salvo foreclosures, there are also a lot of foreclosed properties here in the Philippines. In fact, you can easily find good resources online. With low downpayment and interest rates, you’ll surely come across a good deal.

When I first attempted to start losing weight early last year, I thought doing hard exercises for long hours until all my joints hurt was a greater idea than cutting down on my daily food intake.

Funny, but it’s true.

I’d rather go through hard labor than eat less rice or skip meals.

My unspoken motto was, “It’s better to be tired than hungry.” LOL. Because when I’m hungry, I tend to be impatient. Hunger has this devilish power to put me in a grouchy mood.

You see, prior to giving birth I’ve always been slim even though I ate a lot. So the words exercise, diet, or diet pills were simply not in my vocabulary.

Little did I know that as we get older, our metabolism tends to slow down. Which means — you don’t burn calories as fast as you did when you were younger.

Ouch! Truth really does hurt sometimes, doesn’t it?

The thought of being old, wrinkled, and overweight haunted me for weeks. It made me paranoid!

The next thing I knew — I started exercising religiously with this motivation in mind: I have to slim down to have my self-esteem back. Because when you’re slim, you look good.

That’s how I see it.

It’s all physical — nothing more, nothing less. It’s all about me.

Weeks later, I wasn’t motivated anymore. So I stopped. Why? Because I wasn’t losing weight as fast as I wanted to.

I was impatient. very impatient.

I made two more pathetic attempts. But I just flunked miserably, leaving me more discouraged than I had ever felt before. For months, my weight had been fluctuating from 60 kilos to 59, then back to 60, down to 59 again, then back to 60. It was topsy-turvy!

Then it hit me. God made me realize I had the wrong motivation.

Upon realizing how superficial I had been, I made a decision to run regularly on weekends. But this time, I had a different motivation in mind.

I want to take good care of the body that God has given me, so I can serve Him, my family, and others. After all, He is the source of my strength. My life is not about me — it’s about Him. We are all created to give glory to the one sitting on the throne. I repeat, to give. Not to receive.

With God being my number 1 motivation, I was able to keep myself motivated in achieving my goal. And what’s amazing is, I wasn’t even thinking about losing weight anymore. I just run because I want to be healthy!

And here’s the good news.

To this very day, I weigh 51 kilos (112 pounds) and every one I know sees the big difference. Yes, I am no longer overweight! (SIDE NOTE: my eyes are twinkling while writing this part.)

For the very first time, I had victory in my hands.

I am a living testimony that if you put your trust in God, everything is possible. And sometimes, you don’t even need to lift a finger. God is always willing to do all the hard work for you!

Thank you, Lord, for the change of heart.

Can you just imagine the amount of calories I burn every single day chasing after my little daughter who has just started walking on her own? She’s all over the house, and we can’t stop her from walking any time she wants. Yes, anytime — even in the middle of the night.

Oh boy! She takes my breath away!

It’s a good thing there’s a vitamin store nearby that I can count on. Otherwise, I would look for a vitamin store online.

I love buying things online.

Why? Because imported items are way cheaper than the ones being sold at the malls. Plus, paying through Paypal is safe and hassle-free.

So far, I’ve had more than 15 successful transactions with online stores/sellers. I bought toys, a book, memory card, a DVD of the Christian movie “MOST” (The Bridge), clothes, feeding bottles, and a whole lot more! The items were delivered to me in good condition in just a day or two (except for the DVD because it came from the US). Sometimes I even get a freebie!

It’s cool knowing that almost everything can now be purchased online. (Yes, even home furniture, tiles and sport trophies!)

I spent the whole day organizing all the cabinets in the house, including my kids’ toy boxes. I was shocked to find out that we’ve been keeping things we no longer use and need.

I had to throw away small broken parts of Greggy’s toys to free up some space, and had to organize the drawer containing all his documents in school such as test papers, drawings, arts and crafts from kids church, cards, coloring books, etc. I didn’t want to throw them away because those are my little boy’s work since he started going to school two years ago.

I wish we had our own Velo binding machine at home, so I can easily compile important documents anytime I want. Temporarily, I compiled them using fasteners and labeled folders for the sake of being organized.

It was a long day!

To keep myself from falling asleep, I made these new sets of scrapbook photos last night while desperately hoping for my baby girl to sleep. Her face was resting on my chest with my left arm draped over her body.

And since my right hand was free, I decided to make it useful. LOL.

For some weird reason, she’s been sleeping really late since she started walking. Poor me. I need to wake early because her big brother goes to school. Ugh.

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