Love, KB ♡

Someone made me realize how much I missed hiking.🥹

“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”

The patient is an old man in his late 70’s. He lives with his wife, who is also around the same age as him. After I administered the injection, I sat down and talked to them for a while. It turned out that he was hospitalized earlier this week because of stroke. At the end of our conversation, they asked me how much they will be paying for my service. I laughed and told them that they don’t need to pay me anything. It’s okay.

Maundy in latin translates to “Mandatum” which means, mandate or command. As we commemorate the last supper of Jesus with his disciples, In John 13:34, he said, “A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another”.

So today let us ask ourselves, “How can I love you today, Lord?”

Let us love not only in words, but also in action.

God bless!

I’ve thought of writing about this topic because aside from being adopted myself, I have childhood friends who were adopted too. Some of us didn’t take it well upon knowing that we were not biological children. I wouldn’t blame them though since we all have different ways of dealing with such issue.

For myself, I found out that I was adopted when I was 4 years old, and it was a funny story that I’ve always looked back to from time to time. When I was 4 years old, I was with our family friends because they invited me to spend the holiday in Baguio. Aica, not her real name, went to me and said,

“I need to tell you a secret. But promise me you won’t tell anyone? My mom will kill me if you do!”

“Okay”, I replied.

“We are both adopted. I am your real sister.”

“Really? I can’t believe it. What do you think our real names are?”

That time, we did what kids usually do, we imagined what could have been as sisters if we were not separated. Hehe!

I had a lot of questions while growing up, even before I found out that I was really adopted like, where were my ultrasound and baby pictures? Why were there times I hear people saying that I’m adopted? They kept denying the truth and made-up excuses that filled the blanks in mind. There was a hole in my heart when I was growing up, I felt like something was missing and I didn’t know what it was, but that didn’t make me stop loving my adoptive family any less.

My family loved me like I’m their own, they provided me with more than anything I could ask for. However, like Cinderella, I had evil relatives who took advantage of the situation and bullied me whenever they could. Of course, there is always an antagonist in every fairytale, and I kept everything to myself until someone saw what they were doing and told my family about it. After that, I haven’t seen them ever since.

In 1996, my father died from brain cancer. I was 6 years old back then, but I can still remember some of the memories during that time. I was heartbroken. My mother tried to deal with the pain by going out with her friends and there was one time where we went to Subic with her friends after my dad’s burial. While I was sleeping during the trip, I suddenly woke up and I overheard them taking about him.

“Days before he died, he told me to look after Mary (that’s me!) and that all the investment he did was to ensure that she will have a good future.”

I cried, and at the back of my mind, “I have 3 other siblings, why me? I’m adopted?”

For my 18th birthday, they sent me to the US as a gift. My oldest sister migrated there with her family around 2005. On that day, my sister bought a pack of beer and she called me to the kitchen, sat down on the counter, opened 3 bottles of beer, and gave me one. Her husband was standing next to her.

“Mary, there is something we need to tell you.”, my eldest sister said.

“What is it?”

“You are adopted. But-” she tried to explain.

I laughed and said, “I KNOW!”

They were both shocked.

“We love you so much. We never treated you differently.”

Being adopted is a blessing, not a curse. To be honest, I was always proud to tell people that I am adopted. In fact, there was a time my teacher asked me to speak in front of the whole school in 5th grade about being adopted and talking about it soothes my heart, it made me more thankful than ever. It helped me cope with the emotional baggage that I carried throughout my childhood, and I will always be forever grateful.

In Jeremiah 29:11, it says, “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Everything happens for a reason. God has put you there because He has plans for you. You may not know what it is yet but soon, you will realize it. Don’t blame your parents. Be thankful that you have a family who loved and accepted you as their own. You are blessed to have one. You are fortunate enough that you were not aborted.  If it’s not for your family, will you be able to get your degree? Do you think you would eat delicious food, 3 times a day?

Think about it.

Ask yourself this question before you throw a fit, am I well provided?

If yes, embrace what you have and always be thankful.

Not everyone can live the life that you have.

Jesus was teaching in the temple when the teachers and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”. However, their true intentions were to trap Jesus into saying something that they can use against him. What did Jesus do? He wrote in the dust, stood up and said, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” When they heard this, they left one by one until Jesus was the only one left with the woman. He stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No Lord”, she said.

And Jesus replied, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

The first time I heard this story was in a retreat 11 years ago. I was bawling my eyes out. I felt it. The love of God surpasses all understanding. Like what Maricar Reyes said in her interview with Tony Gonzaga, “No amount of sin can make God love us any less. He is always waiting with his arms wide open until the day we come back to him.” This holy week, despite everything you are going through, I pray that you will be able to feel God’s love too. For true love can only be found in Him, the author of Love. Stop saying that you deserve it, you do because you are His.

Have a blessed week ahead!🤍