This post is a quiet bit late because it is almost half way of February but still a good way to thank God for all the blessings He had poured in us in the past year. What are the things that you are thankful for last year 2015? For sure there are many, but sometimes we tend to forget or count. Our mind capacity is limited to remember all of the things that were happened in the past. However, good memories last for a long time.
One of my previous post in this blog is about the things that I’m thankful for 2011, that’s 5 years ago! So now I would like to write about the things I’m thankful for 2015. Here are the 5 things and events that I thank God for giving me.
1. 1oth Wedding Anniversary
First in this list is our 10th wedding anniversary we celebrated last December 10, 2015. It is a simple celebration where eat in a newly opened Chinese restaurant here in our city. After several days, we got our new “wedding ring” we purchased from a jewelry store in Okpo.
It is a decade of love, joy and excitement. I never imagine that me and my wife will experience that kind of adventure in our marriage that we will be living away from home, raising our kids in a foreign land and we will be independent from other and fully dependent to the Lord.
I remembered the hardships and ups and down during that 10 years of our marriage. I will not forget that we need to sleep at the floor (with only bed mats) during our first few months together.
It is indeed only by grace from God that we are able to reach 10 years. Though me and my wife knows each other before courtship, we have quite differences, but we learned to adjust and understand each other along the way.
2. Living together as a Family in a Foreign Land
These days many families are living far away from each other because parents need to work abroad. I’m not exempted from that because my father was an OFW before.
It is not good for children that parents or either of them are not in the home for a long time because they need guidance and physical presence of the father or mother. Thanks to technology we can communicate easily to our kids but still it is not enough. They need our presence.
It is one blessing that I’m thankful that we are living together here in South Korea since 2008. It is not a privilege for many Overseas Filipino Workers working abroad.
3. Healthy family
I will rather choose healthy family with less money than a sick family with large deposit in the bank. I’m thankful to God that my wife and kids are healthy this past year in spite of cold weather here in Korea. We are always praying for God’s protection upon them and to give us strong immunity against all sickness, in Jesus’ name!
Health is wealth. That saying is always true. If you’re healthy, you can do everything, you are not limited by physical or mental disease. You can travel wherever you want. It’s a good feeling that you can walk and drive a car without any limitation by your physical movement.
Thus, for this year 2016, my wife and I have a challenge to reach and maintain our weight. Her target is to maintain maximum weight of 56 kilograms while for me, 70 kilos.
It’s little bit hard these days because it’s winter season here in Korea so it’s very hard to sweat and do exercise outside like walking and jogging. One of our strategies is to lessen the amount of rice we eat. In addition, we will eat more vegetables every meal and lessen consumption of rice and meat.
4. Continuous Work in Korea
A job is a blessing from God as well as your business and other sources of income that you may have. I’m grateful for the Lord because of another opportunity to work again in South Korea way back in 2014.
I have resigned in my previous work in my former company in 2013 because of very slow growth in my career and knowledge. In addition, the work I’m doing became routine and it made me bored everyday I went to the office.
With God’s grace, I was hired by another shipbuilding company in the same city I have worked for the last 6 years. It is easy for me to accept the job offer because our family have adjusted quickly in this kind of working environment.
We have already know what is the place we will live in. We have no problem eating Korean food and we like the place of Geoje because it is clean and safe.
5. My Parents-in-Law Visit
My wife’s parents have visited us here in Geoje last August 2015 until October 2014 for two months. This is their second time to come to Korea, the first one was in 2011 when I was still with DSME.
My in-laws are quiet bit old to travel. However, they are still strong with God’s grace and hope to continue that way. It’s a good feeling that you can treat your parents with this kind of vacation because not everyone can afford to vacation especially if it is outside the Philippines.
My wife and I just want to make good memories with them together with their grandchildren. I wish that they can remember all the beautiful places they have visited here in Korea as they grow older and cherish the moment that we have spent together.
How about you? What are the things that you are grateful for the Lord in the year 2015? Is it a new job? Your dream house or car? Or a nice vacation with your family? Please tell us more in the comment section below. Thanks!
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