Year End Personal Reflections

The year is coming to an end for 2019 and I took sometime to reflect on this year. I am thankful for how God kept us in check several moments throughout the year. The blessings that I personally received because we made a decision to put David in Yokomi Elementary  (Science and Technology Magnet) School. In light of that, let me begin.

Year End Hindsight – God is awesome and wise

For instance, in hindsight, as I reflect on the year, I realize the wisdom and goodness of God is beyond our understanding. What do I mean? We made a decision to put David in a public school.

Did we have a choice? On one hand, we could in fact continue with CAVA (our homeschooling option). On the other hand, I could continue to struggle taking care both David’s schooling and my father-in-law’s needs.

The two years of working through both, got me feeling exhausted and a need to change our plans. In reality, we did not have a choice. We had to either change of course of plans or I died exhausted. We got to do something different. As a mom, I was stubborn.

I felt unless David got to attend a good public school or I would persist on our original plans. I would bit my teeth with grit and get him through his new school year. In retrospect, it was never a good plan and God knew it.

God in His wisdom intervene and gave us the best. Long story short, God made an opening possible for David to attend Yokomi Elementary. We grabbed it and the rest was history. What an awesome blessing!

This decision we made, with God’s blessings, gave both me and Dan, my husband, precious time together. We did not see the benefits of that decision we made until much later. It was like God knew we need it.

Personal Blessings and more

There were two major highlights this year, personally for me. David was given two free tickets to Big Fresno Fair in October. Above all, I got to ascot him to the Fair.

After being here in Fresno for about 11 years, believe it or not, it was my first trip to the Fair just as it was for David. However, he had to write a journal on his experience to the fair. It was amazing by the way! Needless to say, we had a great time there ( daddy was not there).  Shhsh..

On December 13th, the day before David’s school closed for Winter break, Mrs Giometti gave me the opportunity to chaperone David’s class for a field trip to watch Nutcracker at Saroyan Theater in Fresno.  It was another amazing experience I truly enjoyed and I was thankful for it.

Did I anticipate all these when we made a decision to put him in a public school? No, absolutely not! Through it all, we learned that we should not take our time together for granted.

In conclusion, we had to learn we need to make deliberate decisions to make time for ourselves if we are going to survive, not just for our marriage but also our family. So we have to consider taking care of ourselves before taking care of another.

Is Trump impeached or is he not?

‘Trump is impeached!‘ The media appeared to celebrate together with the House Democrats this week. On the night after the House Democrats voted using 2 articles of impeachment to impeach the President and passed it.

This headline ‘Trump is impeached!‘was echoed by several media and reporters from Washington Post appeared to celebrate saying: ‘Merry Impeach-mas!‘ that night the House passed the votes to impeach him.

The Day after

After that celebration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a Media conference, to announce her decision to withhold the 2 articles of impeachment from the Senate.

She attempted to use the ploy to force Senate to comply to her demands for a fair trial to impeach the President. Meanwhile prior to that, Minority House Republicans complained about how unfair the impeachment inquiry process was.

However,   An article from Bloomberg cautioned the House Speaker to forward their agenda, because any delay could cost Democrats disastrous outcome. At this point, we could safely conclude that as long as the House Speaker continue to withhold the articles of impeachment from the Senate, our President was and is not impeached!

Has the ‘Hate for Trump’ triumph?

Above all, is this the end of Trump era? I would like to think not. Listen to me. Despite the controversial clashes between Democrats and Republicans, the people of America gotten some good lessons out of this conflict. How? Let me explain.

‘Drain the swamp!’ This signature promise got Trump elected in 2016. He won over Hillary Clinton and became our 45th President. Today he fought hard to drain that swamp.

Who are the swamp? That is a great question! Now, let me explain how the route to impeachment started. Shortly after his inauguration, Democrats accused the President of colluding with Russia and because of that, he stole the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. Democrats got angry and demanded for his impeachment.

As the result that, Mueller’s investigation began. Subsequently, America held this man responsible for the truth and He spent 2 and a half years trying to find what happened.

Meanwhile, Mueller’s report came out and found no evidence in Trump colluding with Russia. However, several of his associates and advisor received sentences with months to years of imprisonment. Mueller concluded his report on one questionable key point. Was he guilty of ‘obstruction of justice’? He left that to Congress to decide his fate.

 Was there anything good that came out of Trump era? Let me elaborate why I thought there was. For instance, out of this conflict, we had Attorney General William Barr whom I came to respect. In addition, 3 years into Trump’s presidency, we found out some truth.

Through Barr, we learned from Inspector General, Michael Horowitz’s report, after investigating the origin of Mueller’s investigation that what we thought would never happen, happened.

So, what did we learn? We had evidence that our system got rigged.  FBI & CIA, attempted to take our President out of the office through deception and corruption. There was possible collusion between DNC and FBI against Trump’s campaign.

Opinion – Unless United States government convicts its people that wrong is corrected, that justice prevails. No American will ever trusts the justice department. Similarly, this interference intercept by FBI cannot happen again. Most of all, no future President should have to go through this.

At the same time, we also learn biased Media against our President exist and they manipulate. We discover how the media brainwash the citizens. The Trump era teaches us the need for critical thinking and the need to trust our instinct.

For instance, the average people got to know what fake news are. They are better at identifying what are facts now from those that are not. They realize that speculations are not facts. Similarly, they are aware that conspiracy theories are dangerous.

In conclusion, whatever the outcome is, people have grown in their way of seeking the truth. They will be smarter and not easily manipulated in the future.

Should ‘Hate for Trump’ triumph? No! I hope not. If America succeed in impeaching a President based on their hate for him, without any substantial evidence of wrong doing and got convicted, America is doomed. What is the future for our next President?

Surgery for the first time

Surgery for the first time with our little ones, never comes easy for all new moms. Neither did it come easy for me. Yesterday, David underwent a major dental surgery for the first time in his life. Meanwhile, mom’s anxiety level went up through the roof.

It was a difficult day for me especially because David had his first general anesthesia dental work procedure and we have no idea how he would respond to the medicine. On the other hand, my anxiety level went on a overdrive mood since the day before.

“Nothing can prepare you for that day”

As a new mom, every milestone of your child matters. Some, you love to share with your families and friends. Some, you cannot wait to get there and some you just drag going there. This new experience for David, became my stressful learning experience as his mom.

When we first learned that he had to undergo this surgery, Dan and I did all we could to prepare for this day. We searched and learned about what to do. What to expect and how to prepare for that day.

My personal advice for this, just be brave and go through it with lots of prayers. The truth is no matter how well you think you are prepared for this day, you are never prepared for the unexpected. When everything went well and smooth, you are most thankful for loved ones prayers and God’s peace.

“Go into the new experience knowing that you are covered in prayers and God’s presence is with you and your family.”

Surgery – knows that you are not alone – works with your spouse

Here is one important reminder. Heroes are unnecessary, works through this new experience with your spouse. There is nothing wrong to let your spouse know your stress, your anxiety and you need support.

While we tried to prepare for David’s dental surgery last week, we discovered he had head lice and nits. What do you do in a situation like this? I had every bedding and pillow covers washed in hot water. Basically, only feeling relieved when the house is fully clean.

We got an electronic comb that kills all lice and nits when in contact. In fact today, we did another round to make sure all lice and nits are dead. We have plenty to raise our stress level but, keep in mind, to let your spouse help out and you do not need to be your child’s hero.

In conclusion, do not let stress cripple you. Let your spouse help you, and know that nothing can prepare you for that day. Just be brave and go through it with lots of prayers, support and God’s peace. You can get through it and you can do this!

Have a great week and thank you for reading this.

Lisa Page-An Opinion Piece

Lisa Page was interviewed and that story was made public on Sunday (12/01/2019).  What do we know about her? She is an American former FBI attorney who served under former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe. If you are interested to learn more about her, click on this link.

Today, I focus on my personal thought based on her interview with Daily Beast that first appeared on Sunday in the news. It is not my intention to bash her further while she suffers. But, through this article, I hope to bring out some lessons we can learn.

 “I try to keep my life together”

Lisa became a talking point figure when her personal text messages with another senior FBI agent Peter Strzok appeared on the headline news. Clearly they were a couple and they had an affair for a stretch of time. They kept their relationship a secret from the others until Strzok’s wife found out about their affair.

Eventually, according to the published interview, Lisa’s husband forgave her affair and  kept their marriage together with their 2 young children. Infidelity is the ultimate betrayal of a spouse. It is an act not likely and easily forgive. Unless the spouse  treasure the relationship and is committed to the marriage, this marriage is doom to fail.

 She held her life well by a man who committed himself to her in marriage. Similarly, I believe he kept their life together.

Lisa Page- What lessons can we learn from her?

When you decide to marry, choose a spouse who commits to the union. In a sense, Lisa got married to a man who is committed and a great husband. She got it right! However, she took this man for granted.

Lesson #1 – Do not cast pearls before swine. Do not invest your time and energy on someone who will end up trampling on your effort.

Lesson #2 – Step into your marriage with your eyes opened. Basically knows what you are getting into. Be sure to know that LOVE is not blind. To LOVE someone is an act of self-sacrifice.

Lesson #3 – When one chooses to forgive, let it be wholeheartedly. Do not hold your spouse as a hostage. Forgive the past completely and start a fresh. Erase the past without a trace. If you can do that, your marriage will be strong, stronger than ever.

Lesson #4 – If you commit adultery and your spouse forgave you, show remorse and repent. Commit to change. Commit to a better you. Put your best effort to change because likely, there will not be any second chance. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Final piece of advice to Lisa Page

Lisa, please take your time to reflect on what you did. That is an act that almost tear your family apart. These are some good questions to ask yourself. First of all, question #1: ‘How did your action hurt those who truly love you?’

Question #2: ‘Why you deserve to be forgiven?’ Question #3: ‘Look deep into the eyes of your children and the man who loves you and tell me you deserve forgiveness after what you did to them?’

Above all, here is my final piece. Similarly, the only way you can move forward is to commit yourself to your family. Here is how you can make a plan to commit to change as well as to a better you for the sake of your family. Please stay out of the media, Lisa.

At the same time, it is important that you recognize it is not President Trump’s fault, neither is it your affair partner, Peter Strozk. The fault lies on you. I ask that you own up and turn from the wrong you did. Then you will move forward with your life and be happy.