ISSN 0115-0839
Forever thankful WHITFIELD DJ CAALIM: Freed Inside Prison
SMILE, Parents
A Day at the PHARMACY
The Basics of HOMESCHOOLING
CONTENTS September-October 2020
REGULARS
FEATURES
8
3
Notes From the Frontlines Shineymae B. Dinoy
Myths About Liquids
Touched Lives
Evelyn V. Almocera
On weight loss, cold water, juices, and energy drinks
12
If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again Diana Loomans
Parenting regrets and wishes
18
In Defense of Old-school Moms Shannon Roberts
Rethinking family size and a woman's worth
23
How to Clean Your Cloth Face Mask
24
A Child's Milestones Are Not a Race
26
The Rewards of Home Gardening
DonaJayne Potts
Is spraying it with alcohol enough?
Kaila Sharlene
The folly of comparing children
4
iContact Michelle Anne P. Diamante
Expressions of Gratitude
6
Finance Rose Fres-Fausto
Managing Money During the COVID-19 Crisis: Tips for People With Unstable Income
10
Grace in the Act
14
Education
22
Letters From the Heart
Joyce Faith N. Avance
A Good Turn
Gracel Ann S. Saban
The Hows of Homeschooling
JLM
A harvest beyond fruits and veggies
To My Future Wife Arts & Crafts
28
Framed Quotes Share a Thought
James M. Fajarito
Finding the Bread in Prison Whitfield Dj B. Caalim
Saved by bread
34
Travel-inspired Activities You Can Enjoy Indoors
32
Gabriel S. Tiano
42
Mark Jubilee M. Matira
I'm Deeply Thankful to You
43
Word for the World
The Power of Hope Series
Life lessons in everyday environs
44
38
46
Parenting Portrait
Kara Santos
Wandering without leaving
36
My Greatest Teachers: Mother & Nature Jan Lee C. Gumban
Cheerfulness & Thankfulness Ellen G. White
Smile, parents, and the kids smile with you
Mamerto M. Guingguing II
Be Thankful
Julián Melgosa & Michelson Borges
Psychic Traumas
Paul Twain Falcunit
Contagious
Coming up… Forever Happy • Coleen Perez: On the Road to Forever • Buying Joy • Overcoming
Trauma • DNA Testing in Court• Adlai the Rice Alternative • Hot Glue Project
47
Word Play
47
Book Review
Jecsoon O. Mariñas
Hidden Message
Noldy Sakul
Counsels on Stewardship
COLUMNS
5
Notes From the Frontlines
Subscribers Section has taken on an expanded form. Notes From the Frontlines features our loyal readers and our dedicated distributors who are at the forefront of our mission to share “healthy, happy, and holistic living to the glory of God and the blessing of humankind.”
Touched Lives By SHINEYMAE B. DINOY
Here and the Hereafter Leonardo C. Heyasa, Jr.
13
Forever Thankful Consult Your Lawyer Atty. Silvino L. Sumagaysay, Jr.
Impugnation of Filiation
17
Personal Answers Sheryll Ann M. Castillo
Relationships Have Rules
21
Dear Doctor
31
Food for the Family
33
Standpoint
40
Children’s Corner
Linda L. Varona
Recurrent Mouth Sores
Miriam R. Estrada
A Quarantine Recipe
Nathanlie M. Baldoza
Seeing Our Voices
Janet R. Tolete
Ketchup Matters
Eternally Grateful. Whitfield Dj Caalim talks about God's providence whenever there's an audience. Find out why he is grateful for even a small piece of bread on p. 28. Cover photo by Great Image Photos and illustrations in this issue are from shutterstock.com unless credited otherwise.
“You know, Shy, I drew strength and inspiration from Health & Home when my husband died,” she related once. “It kept me from depression.” I used to pray for her whenever we met, but now, she prays for me. I thank the Lord for making me an instrument to reach out to people who need comfort and prayers. I thank my kind customers who continue to patronize our books and magazines, even though some say technology has rendered them obsolete.
photo courtesy of author
ABOUT THE COVER
A
fter being a student literature evangelist (LE) in April 2004, a summer job for two months, I started to appreciate how my personality developed by becoming an LE. You see, I used to be quite shy. Since I also missed the camaraderie among my fellow LEs and the experience of meeting various customers, I decided to work full-time. I am proud to be a sales representative of Health & Home (H&H), because it touches the lives of many. One of my customers used the magazine as her reference for her master’s degree thesis and for raising her two children all by herself. In 2012 I met a teacher who was ecstatic when I introduced the magazine to him. He had previously seen it in the hands of a colleague. As soon as he opened and scanned H&H, he immediately liked it and wanted to have his own copy. He remains thankful for how this magazine has positively changed his views on life. Another customer always has something to share about what she has read from the magazine. Ma’am Letecia Piol wishes me to sell more copies because many people are losing hope nowadays.
Shineymae Barsobia-Dinoy is a Health & Home sales representative or literature evangelist who serves the territory of Baybay City, Leyte, down to Maasin, Southern Leyte. She has two kids and a supportive husband who helps her reach remote places to share the magazine and other helpful reading materials.
Health & Home ︱ 3 ︱September-October 2020
Finance
By Rose Fres-Fausto
Managing Money During the COVID-19 Crisis Tips for People With Unstable Income
L
ast issue, we discussed how to manage money for employees who receive stable income. We are now going to discuss the same topic but, this time, for people with unstable sources of funds. If you belong to this group, you may be employed on a daily basis (in which case, no work no pay), a freelancer, a business owner, or someone who just lost his job due to the crisis. Times are really challenging that it is difficult to know where to start, but let’s try to tackle this.
1
Bring down the fight-orflight initial reaction now. It’s been a few months and it’s important to put an end to this human default reaction to crisis. Hopefully, by now you have absorbed the shock. Get into a calmer dispo sition to think about your next steps. If you continue to put a huge amount of cold cash under your mattress
because you’re afraid that you won’t be able to withdraw money when you need it, think again. If you continue to hoard food, alcohol, tissue paper, face masks, etc., it’s time to stop that now.
2
Revisit your needs and wants expenses , and be brutal in paring down your needs list to the bare essentials. Yes, your needs are defined differently during normal times and during crisis situations. Gather your family members in coming up with the list. Even if you think you can still afford to spend for most of the items in your normal times needs list, it is better to be aware of their real category so that in the event of a prolonged crisis, you know which ones should go first.
Health & Home ︱ 6 ︱September-October 2020
3
Use your emergency fund. If you heeded the first basic law of money (“Pay yourself first.”), then you should already have this essential fund equivalent to six months up to one year of your expenses. Use it now and congratulate yourself for the foresight and discipline of preparing for times like this.
4
To those without (or with insufficient) emergency funds, check what you can liquidate. Prepare your balance sheet, if you haven’t. This will help you make a systematic inventory of what you have and properly evaluate what you can sell right now that can help you tide this crisis out.
5
Do not withdraw your long-term investment. This crisis may tempt you to sell your long-term investments in the stock market just because you see the price levels going down. Please go back to the purpose of your stock investment. This is the bucket that you set up to build your retirement fund for your old age. Are you there already? If not, you don’t have any business liquidating this fund at this time. In fact, if you can still afford it, try to continue setting aside for this fund because times like this provide the best returns for
Education
By Gracel Ann S. Saban
THE HOWS OF
I
HOMESCHOOLING
’d definitely homeschool my children!” I declared with conviction right after an insightful discussion on homeschooling in my graduate school class more than a decade ago. But a classmate, who is a parent, commented that it would be easier said than done. “Homeschooling is ideal. In fact, that’s what I also wanted, but it didn’t happen because both my husband and I needed to work,” she added. Fast forward, I became a wife and a mom while juggling full-time work as a faculty at a university, which started when I was still single. The loads turned heavier, though, when I became a mom of one and then two.
My hectic work cycle made me totally forget about my conviction years ago. The evolution of homeschooling, however, inspired me to contextualize its application to my own children, despite my being a working mom and their attendance at a formal school.
What is homeschooling? Homeschooling is education initiated, facilitated, and contextualized by parents within the context of home (and world) learning. As part of a progressive movement worldwide, homeschooling has recently become a popular option for parents to educate their children at
Health & Home ︱ 14 ︱September-October 2020
A Child ’s Milestones Are Not a Race By KAILA SHARLENE
L
ife is not a race. A child’s development is not a competition. My son, Wyatt Maktrav, is a late talker. When he was 2 years old, I was expecting him to say a few words but to no avail. Three years old, 4 years old, still none. I started questioning myself. Where did I go wrong? I did everything I could. We sent him to a nursery school when he was 4, but he couldn’t catch up to his peers who were already talking. We took him out of school after a few months because the teachers were always complaining. Wyatt couldn’t follow instructions.
Comparisons
Every time I would fetch him I could hear other parents saying: “Baka hindi nila kinakausap.” (Maybe they don’t talk to him.) “Babad yata sa cellphone kaya hindi pa nagsasalita.” (He’s probably using a cellphone too much that’s why he can’t speak yet.) “Pinapabayaan lang yata nila ‘yung bata.” (Perhaps they’re neglecting the child.) People started comparing. “Buti pa si ganito ang galing nang magsalita.” (That child is better because he/ she already talks well.) “‘Yung anak ni ganyan ang galing nang magbasa.” (That person’s child is already good at reading.) I can’t help but be envious and just cry it out. Why is my son not like them? Health & Home ︱ 24 ︱September-October 2020
EAD IN FINDING THE BR
PRISON By WHITFIELD DJ B. CAALIM
he third of seven siblings, I was born and raised in Manila. My father was a seaman and my mom, a housewife. We lived a fairly comfortable life together, that is, until everything changed in 2008. Father was diagnosed with a serious heart problem. One of his valves was no longer functioning and the doctor said he had only about eight months to live. All the family’s savings went to my father’s expensive hospital bills, wiping out all our resources. Both my parents became jobless. At about 10, I witnessed how our family suffered and hungered. We usually ate only twice a day. Sometimes, when our relatives got tired of giving us money or food, we got to eat only once. To help me continue my education, my parents sent me to a relative. I was able to eat and study in exchange for helping with the chores. But being away from my family—doing chores and obeying orders from other people instead of playing outside or focusing on my education—made me sad and lonely; bitter, even.
ph
our o to c
Health & Home ︱ 28 ︱September-October
te s y
2020
of au
thor
models not subjects of article
Cheerfulness & Thankfulness By ELLEN G. WHITE
L
et parents surround their children with an atmosphere of cheerfulness, courtesy, and love. A home where love dwells, and where it is expressed in looks, in words, and in acts, is a place where angels delight to manifest their presence. Parents, let the sunshine of love, cheerfulness, and happy contentment enter your own hearts; and let its sweet, cheering influence pervade your home. Manifest a kindly, forbearing spirit; and encourage the same in your children, cultivating all the graces that will brighten the home life. The atmosphere thus created will be to the children what air and sunshine are to the vegetable world, promoting health and vigor of mind and body.
A cheerful countenance There is nothing gloomy in the religion of Jesus. While all lightness, trifling, and jesting, which the apostle says are not convenient, are to be studiously avoided, there is a sweet rest and peace in Jesus that will be expressed in the countenance.
Christians will not be mournful, depressed, and despairing. They will be sober-minded, yet they will show to the world a cheerfulness which only grace can impart. Children are attracted by a cheerful, sunny demeanor. Show them kindness and courtesy, and they will manifest the same spirit toward you and toward one another. Educate the soul to cheerful ness, to thankfulness, and to the expression of gratitude to God for the great love wherewith He hath loved us. . . . Christian cheerfulness is the very beauty of holiness.
Health & Home ︱ 38 ︱September-October 2020
Share a Thought
By Mark Jubilee M. Matira
I’m Deeply
F
Thankful to You
elix Frankfurter, an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, once said, “Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions, especially when it is deep.” Do you have someone significant whom you have long been grateful for but haven’t had the chance to thank yet? Here are three students who would like to take the opportunity to do that. photos courtesy of interviewees
To my Lord, God, Thank You for giving me my family through whom You send me, undeservingly, Your love and blessings daily. Thank You for my parents, who do everything to take good care of me and my siblings. They introduced You to me and showed me the reality: I can be content, for my riches are in heaven. Thank You for giving me ministries that help me find my purpose and through which You draw me close. They honed my independence as I realize that on You alone I am dependent. Thank You for teaching me sympathy and empathy, for showing Your unfathomable love and mercy. These words are not enough to praise and thank You, but I want all to know that I am forever grateful that I have You. —Maria Reneria N. Dominice, 22, B.S. Mathematics, Central Luzon State University, Muñoz, Nueva Ecija
To my mom, Ann Rose Adi,
To my girlfriend, Kristine Billen,
Thank you for putting our needs and wants before yours, for working from dawn till night, for staying up with me on projects that demanded sleepless nights. Thank you for waking up early to prepare good food, for your patience whenever my siblings and I are not in a good mood, for all the prayers you silently utter. Thank you for always believing in me despite myself, for being my lips and mouth when I lose courage, for making me feel you’re proud I am your daughter. I have done foolish things in life, but you are always by my side. With you, God has blessed my siblings and me more than we deserve. Thank you, Mom. —Angel Raine R. De Leon, 22, B.S. Accountancy, Northern Luzon Adventist College, Sison, Pangasinan
Thank you for being with me for the past four years. Those years had been full of pain, discouragement, and sadness. Over time, I realized that God has given you to me to help me keep my faith strong. He sent me many people I am thankful for, but you are constantly by my side, reminding me that God guides me in this journey. You have encouraged and supported me when I needed it most. The Lord has been using you to answer my prayers. Thank you! I love you! —Elijah R. Barrientos, 20, B.S. Civil Engineering, Technological Institute of the Philippines, Quiapo, Manila
Health & Home ︱ 42 ︱September-October 2020
Mark Jubilee Muya Matira is editorial assistant of Health & Home.
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