For the very first time, I posted all my previous wedding anniversary blogs daily in fb as a prelude to this year’s 31st celebration. I’m proud to have completed the six-day countdown. You may click any or each of the links below for a throwback.
Apologies to my fb friends who might have been bombarded with these old blog posts for several days now. My thanks to all who already reacted and greeted us in advance by writing their comments. But special thanks to all who took time to click the link and read my posts. Your very precious click has certainly spelled magic by adding to the views which I monitor closely in my blogger dashboard (as all other bloggers do)! That meant you are helping me grow my blog. Oh, how I enjoy keeping track of all reactions in fb (đ ❤️ đČ) but I love the clicks to the link more! đđđ„°đđ
When news of the lockdown came in March, hubby (a Math Professor at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños) deliberately timed his travel home, side-tripping to our new residence in Taguig where our two daughters (whose workplaces are in BGC and Makati) had been staying.
Our family decided that the kids stay there while hubby stay with me, my mother and her caregiver at home in Fairview.
I have always described myself as a weekend wife but this pandemic has made hubby and me home buddies once more, bonding everyday yet observing physical distancing within the confines of our very home. đ©đ©đ© I’m not a frontliner but as a HCW exposed to the hospital, I had to exercise due care primarily because of my mother’s special needs as an elderly.
Would you care to know how we maintain physical distancing at home? Well, for a HCW like me, it means:
*sitting at the opposite ends of the dining table with hubby during mealtime, and
*just saying hi/hello to my 96-year old mother from her door
Five months had gone by. We have been surviving the pandemic, transitioning from ECQ to GCQ, practicing COVID-19 prevention standards in our desire to shoo the virus away, keeping it from invading our home. A habit that we have been conscientiously doing for the past months. No joke, promise!
Oh, yes, we have taken so much effort doing all these routines daily outside and inside our abode.
Would you care to know how we maintain physical distancing at home? Well, for a HCW like me, it means:
*sitting at the opposite ends of the dining table with hubby during mealtime, and
*just saying hi/hello to my 96-year old mother from her door
Five months had gone by. We have been surviving the pandemic, transitioning from ECQ to GCQ, practicing COVID-19 prevention standards in our desire to shoo the virus away, keeping it from invading our home. A habit that we have been conscientiously doing for the past months. No joke, promise!
Oh, yes, we have taken so much effort doing all these routines daily outside and inside our abode.
- not forgetting to rub one’s pair of footwear in disinfectant-soaked foot mat at the doorstep and wearing another pair inside
- removing and leaving sling bags, buddy bags, handbags, jewelries, wallets and other personal effects in the disinfection container outside the door
Wipes and alcohol spray to disinfect personal effects in the designated area
- rushing to the bathroom for a bath before going elsewhere inside the house or before joining hubby to watch TV in the living room or before taking a meal after a day’s work
- washing goods outside the house as they arrive from the supermarket or upon delivery from online shops
Ready-made disinfectant and hand hygiene solutions
strategically placed near the faucet outside the house
strategically placed near the faucet outside the house
Allowing goods to dry before bringing them inside the house
- Chairs made as reception area for all incoming items from the supermarket and delivered packages including food and ayuda đ
We (hubby and I) had to schedule our going to the drugstore or the supermarket. Thanks to the privilege accorded to health care workers! My HCW ID has always been an indispensable passport, sparing me the need to bring our quarantine pass or join the long queue at any store entrance.
Since I had been working from home certain days of the week, I've been faced with the challenge of preparing energy and immune booster meals. Here are some of them.
 |
| Ensaladang Camote Tops with Kamias |
đđđ
Click to view recipe
 |
| Chapchae |
 |
| Corn soup with chicken |
đđđ
Click to view recipe
 |
| Sauteed Ampalaya with Egg |
 |
| Spanish Sardines Garden Omelette |
 |
| Sardines-veggie Patties (Tortang Sardines with Veggies) |
đđđ
Click to view recipe
 |
| Chicken-Veggie Wraps |
 |
Fruit-veggie salad (with Pickled Bilimbi or Burong Kamias, unripe mango,
ampalaya, steamed okra, onions and tomatoes)
ampalaya, steamed okra, onions and tomatoes)
 |
| Ensaladang Ampalaya |
đđđ
Click to view recipe
 |
| Tokwa't Baboy with garlic, string beans and zucchini |
 |
| Ensaladang Talbos ng Camote (Camote Tops Salad) |
 |
| Oven toaster-baked potatoes with Cheese Whiz |
Some of these recipes are not up yet in my blogsite so there are no links available.
With the pandemic, celebrating our 31st this year is uniquely different from all our other wedding anniversaries. No staycation. No travel. No special trip anywhere since our last in November of 2018.
We celebrated life these past months under new normal circumstances- - -
Ayana Grace had a memorable 30th birthday in quarantine 20 kms away from our Fairview home.
My mother turned 96 this year without her grandchildren.
Watch her dancing the TikTok craze on her birthday.
đđđ
Watch her dancing the TikTok craze on her birthday.
đđđ
We also had virtual blowing of birthday candle for Ana Cristina’s 28th birthday.
But wait, there’s more! A taste of precious lessons from the Lord, we also enjoyed!
While He allows us to experience certain circumstances in our lives, He also never fails to make His presence felt in our midst. The dreaded unseen enemy, the deadly COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) virus, did not spare us, having entered stealthily in our home- - - infecting my mother, hubby and me.
We had first-hand experience battling with the disease, leaving us without any choice but to call upon Him (and a few close friends and loved ones). For the very first time, I seemed to feel so alone, having nobody with me in the hospital to stay with Nanay. Hubby could not keep me company as he did in her past hospitalizations. It was a family decision that I stay in the hospital with her in order to avoid unnecessary hospital exposure for hubby at home.
 |
| That’s me with Nanay at the Emergency Room while waiting for the result of her blood tests (before the nurse requested me to stay at the designated Waiting Area outside) |
What I thought was dehydration fever brought about by diarrhea was a prelude to an emotionally and spiritually-challenging trial. Hearing the COVID-19 positive result of my mother’s swab test gave me tremors. Human that I am, my little faith and limited perspective wondered how a 96-year old could survive the ordeal.
From a regular room, she was transferred to the COVID Ward, I was also afraid for my own self. I was subjected to a swab test at once, having been a close contact as her caregiver, and was subsequently placed on hospital quarantine. It was a privilege I was blessed to avail as a hospital employee. That was the most convenient arrangement for all of us. But experiencing quarantine was like being in exile away from home. Facing the walls of the room the whole day, with only my gadgets keeping me company, allowing me to communicate with my family and be informed of what’s going on outside through the social media. Having to do office work on my hospital bed while on quarantine somehow helped lessen the stress of dwelling on our travail.
The fear was real! What if I develop symptoms? It was SOP to monitor one’s health status daily. I made my own monitoring sheet. What if my symptoms worsen? I prayed that my temperature would not rise beyond 37 degrees Celsius. But it did! I had low-grade fever, chills and headache at night. I also had occasional bouts of dry cough. I prayed so hard that my symptoms would not worsen as I was thinking of my mother. Who would take care of her if I develop complications?
Counting the days until my swab result was out was another dreadful thing. It was, indeed, as the test yielded a positive COVID result. I had a strong feeling it would be because of the fever that started a day or two after the swab test was taken.
My quarantine room and bed
It was barely two months before my retirement from service. I was preparing for a turn-over on top of daily office works. Why at this time? There were so much to do and there I was… hands tied on my quarantine bed. I had no choice but work from my quarantine bed.đ©
These were questions and concerns I could only raise to God in prayer. But He made me realize I needed not understand His purpose. Waiting has been a precious lesson--- counting hospital and home quarantine days daily not only for myself but also for hubby whose RT-PCR result also yielded a positive result despite being asymptomatic. Mother was classified moderate (she was monitored in the ICU but praises to God that her oxygenation did not drop to a critical level that would necessitate intubation) while I exhibited mild symptoms.
Had it not been for the comforting promise of His Word, full of assurance that His ways are higher than mine, I would have lost hope. We had to wait patiently for Him to lift us out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and set our feet on a rock, a firm place to stand. To be certified fit to work and rejoin the community was something we looked forward to.
Every morning, He whispered that we hold our peace for He will fight for us... for the cleansing of our bodies, by His mighty healing power and grace. He made us see that His hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear too heavy, that it cannot hear. He revealed Himself to us as the God who has done great and terrible things, which our eyes have seen.
I was discharged after 15 days of quarantine but chose to stay with my mother who was also transferred back to a regular room after having been monitored in the ICU for 13 days.
That called for shout of praises and thanksgiving for how He has dealt with us, for how His healing grace amazed us. We thank Him for more of His precious truths He has revealed through His Word, and for the many lessons we have learned, individually as His children and as a family.
Today, we do acknowledge Him, the author and finisher of our faith, our Omnipotent and Sovereign God, who has seen the beginning and the end of this pandemic. We need not know the reasons for the things that come our way. We only need to trust and believe that all these are for His greater honor and glory.
Meanwhile, we continue living the new normal, praying that daily we are safe and protected in the palm of His hand.
Hubby has made house rules that we follow strictly.
Wearing of masks in common areas inside the house.
Placing alcohol dispensers in strategic areas for accessibilty and convenience
Use of separate materials for handwashing and dishwashing
UV disinfection
May His wings bring us to the mountain top,
that we may see and behold the beauty of what He has in store for us,
and by His grace, emerge victorious in this pandemic.
Oh, dear Lord, have mercy!
A blessed 31st anniversary to us, my Adam!
đđđđ❤️đđđđđ
and by His grace, emerge victorious in this pandemic.
Oh, dear Lord, have mercy!
A blessed 31st anniversary to us, my Adam!
đđđđ❤️đđđđđ
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment. Would love to see you back.