My Year 2017 In Review :-)

I think this is a bit too early as there are still several weeks before we finally bid our sad but sweet goodbye (at least for me) to Year 2017. I made some lists for me to accomplish for the coming year. But this just made my day and I praise God for His wisdom. I've come across @bloghound's article this morning and I was inspired to share to the community, how my life this Year and as a steemian now. I still have a lot to do this weekend. The double birthday party celebration of my Korean nephews. I promised to sir @bobbiecayao to attend to it. Well, I can just edit this post, alright? I can't stop now, I have already started typing. :-)

I just want to share this latest family photo I have in my profile. Both of my daughters were still so young back then. My year 2016 has ended with a victory, by God's grace. I think it was the year that I have been through a lot of heartaches and sorrowful experience. It was the year that my father got terribly sick for almost a month. And respiratory failure claimed his life by the month of June, Father's Day month. Well, we still able to celebrate Father's Day back then before he died. And by God's grace, I was able to withstand those crazy storms in my life.

Then the start of my 2017. You can see here in this photo, just the three of us. :-) And I assume, we can all read between the photos, hehehe I mean, between the lines. :-) Don't mind these lines. hahaha :-)

My favorite picture, actually this one. And so my 2017 began.

January 2017
This is the birthday month of my two lovely daughters and my husband. I really don't belong here, do I? hahaha. Mine is in April. :-) My husband's birthday is on January 9, my eldest, Chauncey is on January 17 and my youngest, Carleign Seth is on January 9. Since I birthed these lovely darlings (both of them) via Caesarean Section (C-Section), I get to choose the date of my giving birth for the second one. The perk of C-Section delivery, I guess hahaha. Physically painless, though, but very painful in the pocket....ouch!!! I don't know, but according to my OB, I am not able to do normal delivery due to some abnormality within (my cervix can't open and I don't labor at all). In honor for my devotion and love for my husband, I chose his birthday to be the same with Carleign. And so that's it. :-)

February 2017
It's the month of love and sweethearts! They say that this is the only month where most people feel loved and very much in love. I don't mean to sound bitter when I say I disagree. Not because my husband is almost always at sea and or on board. He's a seafarer by profession and currently the chief cook in their ship. Yes, I am geographically single most of the time :-) For me, I am always in love. Well, you are free to raise your eyebrows here :-D. I love my mother and my kids. During this time of the month, we usually celebrate the valentines by eating out together.

March 2017
Almost summer and another school year will end. We love to go to Baywalk, as long as I am not busy and as long as my budget allows. We always have our afternoon worthwhile there. I bring my kids with me and I also enjoyed being a kid myself once in a while because of the playground. My favorite is the swing. :-D During this hot month, we usually go to our cousin's home whose near the beach. It is in San Vicente. We spent the Lenten season there. Both my kids love to swim.

April 2017
Finally, my birth month. Well, the only highlight of this month, this year for me was, when me and my eldest attended the wedding of my office mate. It was held in Manabo, Bangued, Abra, last April 8. It's my first time to go to the place and it was quite far. We almost didn't make it because the driver we rented was no longer available at the said date and time. He backed out at a very short notice. We were all up by 4 am (the agreed time for all of us to be picked up at our meeting place) and the wedding will start at 9 am. The travel time, usually from our place to the venue is at least 3 hours. It was also settled by God's grace. He provided a new van and a new driver at a very short notice. We left La Union at around 6:30 am. We were late, but at least we made it. I've learned to appreciate the saying "better late than never", literally because of that one.

May 2017
Mother's Day. The usual thing, we eat out and enjoyed the moment. We went to Poro Point Baywalk again at around 6pm and have our picnic there. It was also this month that we had our company outing. We went to Ilocos Norte. We had fun and I was able to bring my eldest with me. It was a great and memorable mother-and-daughter bonding time.:-)

June 2017
Father's Day. We went to visit my tatay's grave. We stayed there for several hours and just offered him a prayer. We had a simple snacks and then we went home.

July 2017
My ading came home for a short vacation. We went to Forest Lake to visit my tatay's grave.

August 2017
The month where I had my shortest hair cut ever. :-) It was also the birthday of my good friend. My high school batch. She came from Seattle to have a short vacation here. She also celebrated her birthday here, it was a double celebration with her niece.

September 2017
The month where I was promoted from dealer to FAM (Franchise Assistant Manager) at Personal Collection (PC). This is just one of my sidelines.

October 2017
The month where I was invited by @bloghound to join steemit. It was also the month where my eldest got baptised (water baptism)

November 2017
The company gave out bonuses. :-) The happiest month of the year. : -) I have used some pictures here and I just copied the link of my article about this for your reference. It was also the birthday month of my ading.
https://steemit.com/life/@shirleynpenalosa/now-that-s-good-news
Here's the link to that one. I've made an article for him.
https://steemit.com/family/@shirleynpenalosa/happy-birthday-ading
And also the very simple celebration.
https://steemit.com/family/@shirleynpenalosa/simple-celebration

December 2017
My first pay our from steemit yesterday. Bitcoin rose up. Thank You Lord. :-) Thank you everyone. :-) We also attended the double birthday celebration of my Korean nephews. :-)

Looking back at my 2017, I have weathered many storms already. And I can say that as long as I live and as long as I have God, I can withstand any storm that will come my way. I also have learned to choose my battles wisely. Through the years, It has always been God who is fighting for my battles. I know I am never alone.

To God be all the Glory. :-)

Thank you for taking your time and reading this. This was, so far the longest article I've done here.

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