Nearly 90 kids had the best time of their young lives…and learned about God in the process

DVBS.  Many of you may not know these four letters.  But to nearly 90 kids, nearly 30 volunteers, and not to mention an exhausted yours truly, they’re four letters that would be treasured for years to come.  Below is a video that’ll show you why:


DVBS means Daily Vacation Bible School; and through 5 days of interactive stories, fun games, and action songs, nearly 90 kids had terrific fun…and learned about God in the process.  Traditionally, our church holds these every summer, with a different title and theme each go-round.  This year, it was called MAIN STREET.

The (sometimes harrowing) experience of recruiting volunteers, advertising MAIN STREET to parents in our church, and nitpicking over everything so that the execution is perfect doesn’t compare to the fulfillment that comes with hearing the kids’ shouts of glee and their taking to heart Christ’s love for them.  There’s no greater high than serving God in ministry, and in my case, serving the young people.

Here are my reflections over the last few days:

Should you side with the Philippine Lady Gaga concert protests?

If I wasn’t so loaded with preparations for my church’s DVBS (which is happening TODAY, please pray!!), I’d want to make an article about all the hoopla going around about Lady Gaga’s upcoming Philippine concert being protested by certain groups.

However, I just read this awesome blog article on the subject, made by excellent Victory Christian Fellowship pastor Joseph Bonifacio (who has earned the love and “I do’s” of the stunningly beautiful actress Rica Peralejo, lucky guy), and he said it way better than I ever could.

So, should you side with the Philippine Lady Gaga concert protests?  I suggest you read this article before making your stand.

Click here to read Joseph Bonifacio’s article. 

How do you show PINOY PRIDE?

With our independence day coming up, I’d like to ask my Filipino readers how you guys celebrate Pinoy Pride.  The reason for this is I’d like to make a blog entry on Filipino patriotism, a category I haven’t made in quite a while now.

So, Pinoy readers, how do you show how you love your country?  Leave comments, please!

(Update:  Here’s my PINOY PRIDE acticle.  It wasn’t the stuff I was asking for on this list, but I hope you guys like it anyway)

(This blog site, Lessons Of A Dad is mostly about parenting, marriage, and other topics aimed to develop the reader’s mind, body, and soul.  However, Filipino patriotism is also a passion of mine, and I put these kinds of articles out every once in a while.  I’d consider it an honor if you’d follow or subscribe to this site.  You can also go to my Facebook page here, and I’m also on Twitter at @lessonsofadad)

25 Things About Me

I’ve been constantly surprised and blessed how this blog has reached people from all over the world.  I get hits from just about everywhere in the globe, from pretty much every continent.  Wow.

Therefore, it’s a no brainer that not many of you know me personally, so this next blog entry is a re-post of one of one of those surveys on Facebook notes, way back in the day when Facebook was still young and people were into these things.  I just updated the list a bit since it’s been many years since I did the original version.

So, without further ado, here’s 25 Things About Me…2012 edition:

Mother’s Day Tribute

In honor of our mothers, my daughter, Lynn, and three talented friends of hers sung a beautiful rendition of Yeng Constantino’s hit, “Salamat” in church earlier today.  View the video below:



Indeed, we all owe a debt of gratitude to our mothers.  They’ve sacrificed so much for us.  The Children’s Ministry kids coming out to give their moms roses during the song, us asking them to stand and be acknowledged, the preacher praying for them as they stand…they’re all just little tributes to the amazing women who raised us (and raise our children).

To the beautiful mothers out there, happy Mother’s Day, from Lessons Of A Dad.

How to effectively show love to your kids

A few months back, I featured Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages of Love for advice for couples.  I find that book fantastic when it comes to improving relations with your spouse (click here for that article).

Knowing the 5 Love Languages of love is also very beneficial to parenting.  If it’s vital to know your spouse’s primary love language, it’s just as vital to know the love language of your children.

In fact, one of the offspring of the best seller is called The 5 Love Languages of Children which is among the books I recommended as parenting books for dads.

(I know I'm supposed to make a mom equivalent for Mother's Day.  My apologies, work is still quite intense.  However, only a few of those books are dad specific.  The rest could be read and used by both parents).

Anyway, back to the topic.

Imagine a teenager running away from home, possessing in his heart great anger and resentment towards his parents.  “They don’t love me” he bitterly barks to his friends.

The grief-stricken parents, meanwhile, tearfully cry out, “How could he do this to us?  After all we’ve done for him!!”

Do the parents genuinely love the teen?  Of course!  But, maybe, they didn’t show it very well, or in the love language the teen understands.  The problem was not sincerity; it was how this sincerity was displayed.

So let’s review, folks.  What are the 5 Languages of Love?  Then, how can we figure out what is the best approach with our children?  So, he’s the 5 Languages of Love (taken from the book’s website)

Looking for a great school for your child? Here’s reasons why you should try Montessori

There are lots of schools out there: big schools, small schools, affordable schools, expensive schools.  There are lots of different teaching programs, too, and they’re mostly good in their own way.

However, please see the video below in its entirety.  It excellently explains what I think is the finest educational method out there when it comes to developing the whole child.  Please watch the video before scrolling below.

Then, if you live in the major cities of the Philippines (Manila, Cebu, Davao, CDO), allow me to tell you about a school that faithfully adheres to this method…as a lot of the schools that do carry the name of the method actually do not follow it.  Enjoy the video.



Now, the problem is that there’s no patent to the name “Montessori,” and so any school can put “Montessori” on its name and people will think that it is a Montessori school, when it is actually very far from one in practice.  

The video talked about two things that real Montessori schools do to enhance learning.  Here’s a few more, which can also help you tell the genuine Montessori schools from the fakes (the two reasons told in the video being 1. and 2. respectively):

Mother’s Day is around the corner. Give mom something special!

Next Sunday is a very special day for the lovely moms in our lives.  With Mother’s Day around the corner, it’s just but right that you’d give mom something special.  If you're having trouble finding that perfect Mother's Day gift, maybe what I'm going to feature below can help.

Amazon makes finding the perfect gift for mom really easy by gathering all their top gift products that moms would love all in one page.  Very handy. 

Click here to see Amazon’s Mother’s Day gifts.

What’s cool with what they’ve done is that they listed gifts for all sorts of moms, such as:

A teacher who made a difference

One of the greatest joys of my job as a teacher is that I can make a difference in the life of a child.  This is especially true in The Abba’s Orchard Erdkinder (high school), a small yet excellent Montessori school, because it gives a chance for teachers like me to really become close to and mentor the child.

One of the most inspiring stories that I often revisit to remind me that I teach for life-change, not just my subject, is the story of the life of Teddy Stallard.  Please watch the video below in its entirety, and prepare to be inspired (and it may be wise to have tissues nearby).



This clip is from the video study series of one of my favorite books on teaching, The Seven Laws of the Learner: How to Teach Almost Anything to Practically Anyone.  I would strongly recommend this book to all teachers, especially to those who work in a Christian school or Christian ministry setting (that’s the direct audience of the book).  It will not only tell us that we all can be Mrs. Thompsons, but it will surely give us great tools on how to be such.  Trust me, after reading this book (and, ideally, going through the video series, if you can find it) your teaching life will never be the same again.