Faith and Your Family

My God-Given Family

Gary, Shella, Gabriela Isabel and Miguel Lucas…We’re the Villamors.

Life to us, as a family, is plain and simple.  We exist, co-exist and try to enjoy what each day offers.  We’re not perfect but we all know God gave us all to one another.  We love to do road trips, trekking, watching movies and pigging out.  Gary’s a mountaineer and is the family man; I’m a writer and a struggling wife and mom; Isabel is the moody but (more often than not) sweet daughter; and Lucas is the equally moody but cute baby.

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Family Night

Our family dedicates Sunday evening (after coming home from church and eating great dinner with our church friends) to this so-called family night.  Family nights are set up to let the family members (and occasionally some friends) have fun, relax, and just be themselves.  This is much like a program where the head of the family (the father) presides as any assigned family member can conduct (or host) the rest of the activities.  A typical family night program looks like this:

I.    Singing Songs

II.   A Simple Opening Prayer

III.  Storytelling (this is best for families with smaller children; for those who have teenagers, you can change this part to a serious lesson.

IV.  **Discussing Family Affairs (this is when family members get to talk about matters like the family budget, activities at school, and general well-being).  This should not be a moment to vent-out grievances, instead, this should be spent on seeing the good in each family member and capitalizing on that.

V.   A Simple Closing Prayer (remember that saying: A Family that Prays Together Stays Together?)

VI.  Snack Time 

(**) Families with younger children can choose to skip this part of the program.

A family that sticks together through thick or thin is the ideal family.  They can be rich or they can be the poorest people in the planet yet with so much love at home and forgiveness up their sleeves, any family is out to conquer any type of obstacle that the world will throw at them.

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Forgiveness: The Greatest Advice My Husband and I got from our Marriage Officiator

Gary & I

Gary and I decided to get married when we were just 8 months into our relationship.  It wasn’t a mistake at all.  Sure, it wasn’t exactly a bed of roses for us each time but this doesn’t mean that we’re unhappy either.  After all, happiness is a state of mind.  So with this definition, I can safely conclude that we’re doing great as a couple so far.

All married couples start with honeymoon bliss (where they are both blind to each other’s mistakes and weaknesses).  After the first year or so, this feeling of bliss fades and reality sinks in.  Mr. Perfect turns into Mr. Nightmare for some.  Even the smallest matters can cause rifts (for instance, the hubby has a habit of leaving his dirty clothes everywhere else except the hamper). 

Many couples are given the advice to have patience or to love despite weaknesses.  Some are even told to put God at the center of their lives (which is, of course, the best thing to do).  But the officiating officer during our marriage ceremony advised differently.  He only said 3 words: forgive, forgive, forgive.

That is a mighty good advice and I can see his wisdom now.  With two, imperfect individuals (who were raised by two, different families) living under one roof, disaster is sure to happen!  But with much forgiveness to spare, the relationship will definitely last longer. 

My husband is my bestfriend but he is also my worst enemy at times.  We’re just too stubborn and proud that we sometimes make a head-on collision.  But after every word fight, forgiveness reigns supreme…and that is why we’re still together even after 7 years!