anton baylon

Just three months left to go! Let’s see how we’re doing:

1. Read the Whole Bible > lots of catching-up to do! double-time!

2. Less than 20hrs of overtime per month > last 3mos. average = 14hrs!

3. Have a nice long family vacation in the Philippines > planning ^_^

4. Manage our Cash Flow > this is tough.

5. Pass JLPT Level N1 > Completed Feb 2011.

6. Get Certified > ITIL V3 FE, Completed Sept 2011.

7. Develop a Web/Mobile App > this might be impossible. darn it.

8. Read at least six books > Gave up on this at the Checkpoint Review.

9. Reach 23 BMI > major set-back when I got sick, but still doable.

10. Pick up a Sport/Exercise Regimen > to do together with #9, doable.

11. Write More > Weekly Nihongo Essay c/o 木村先生’s 作文塾, etc. check!

Backstory:
Eleven for Twenty-Eleven (part 1)
Eleven for Twenty-Eleven (part 2)
11-for-2011 Checkpoint Review

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ”Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

-Matthew 8:1-2 (NIV)

It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;

who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,

so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who neither know victory nor defeat.

-”The Man in the Arena“, Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
for our hope is in you alone.

- Psalm 33:20-22 (NLT)

Hey @nicolebaylon, can you believe it’s (almost) been a year already? : )

Exactly 364days ago (it was a Thursday)*1, we went for your routine check-up thinking it was just like the previous ones. All our previous check-ups had been normal (aside from the time when Nate was in Breech Position and we wanted him to turn around – silly little boy.) Little did we know, that the main event was going to happen the next day.

I can still remember the concerned look on our doctor’s face when she informed us of our ‘situation’. “Polyhydramnios“, she said. Amniotic fluid levels are supposed to go down during the last weeks of pregnancy, but yours didn’t.

She told us not to be alarmed, but to come back again the next day to do another round of tests.

I think we were calm about it. I tried to be, for you. And like the responsible and techie parents that we are, we did our research online, and found some rather alarming stats (0.2% to 1.6% of pregnancies!) and info about our condition. But that’s what using the web to get medical information does to you, more often than not, it makes you more worried that you should (“Cyberchondria” – according to Dr. Hank.)

We prayed. Well, we were praying the whole time. The whole situation was out of our control. We didn’t know what happened, how it happened, or what will happen. We had so many concerns, even fears. But we lifted it up to God, we remembered His faithfulness and His sovereign plan. He is good. He is in control.

And He gave us peace that day.

*1 Erratum: checked my calendar and found out that it was exactly a year ago (and a Wednesday ~_~) Nate was born two days later.

Thanks for the invite Jesslee!

1 Samuel 17:32-37

32 “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”

33 “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”

34 But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!

37 The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”

Stay Humble. Don’t let God’s blessings get to your head.

Before he was made Israel’s first king, Saul started out humble.

Or was he really? His line of questioning comes from a heart that values lineage, ancestry. He was “not proud”, because in his eyes, and maybe also in the eyes of the community, they were the least of all the clans. But when he became king, suddenly they were the head of the entire nation. When that happened, it went to his head (pun intended).

So Saul probably wasn’t really humble in the first place. That attitude was something else.

Humility is not self-deprecation. Humility is not having low self-esteem. Humility does not change, should not change, on circumstance. It is not based on that. What is humility? I don’t know, don’t ask me. hahaha.

Also, found an interesting note in YouVersion: God stole my ass and made me king. Catchy title, I know, but it’s a good read, and very encouraging.

I quote:

How about the missing donkeys of our lives? Do we act in thanksgiving as we are told to give thanks in all things? Or do we gripe and complain that something important is missing, broken, lost, stolen. How quickly do we forget the simple fact that God is still on the throne of the universe?

Stay humble, put your trust in God. Always put your trust in God.

My new suits arrived today! :D

Thank you Lord!

Nate’s Heart Shaped Drool <3

JULY 2, 2011 Checkpoint Review

1. Read the Whole Bible

• Plan: 50%
• Actual: 27%
• Notes: I have a lot of catching up to do!

2. Less than 20hrs of overtime per month

• Plan: <20hrs
• Actual: 33.5 hrs (Jan to Jun Average)
• Notes: Recent months have been around 30hrs, I think I can bring it down to 25 within the next months.

3. Have a nice long family vacation in the Philippines

• Plan: Scheduled for Christmas 2011

4. Manage our Cash Flow

• Was able to do it for a month, but somehow stopped along the way (again).

5. Pass JLPT Level N1

• Plan: Pass July/December 2011 Exam
• Actual: Passed December 2010 Exam! w00t w00t!
• Notes: Still continuing Vocab Study via Anki, and company (internal) nihongo course

6. Get Certified

• Plan: ITIL and/or anything else
• Actual: None
• Notes: I have a lot of catching up to do.

7. Develop a Web/Mobile App

• Notes: I have my development environment set up. I have a general idea of what I want to make, and how to make it. I just need to lay out the detailed plans, and actually start coding, testing, releasing.

8. Read at least six books

• Plan: 6
• Actual: 0
• Notes: Okay, I’ll say this now – this is never going to happen.

9. Reach 23 BMI

• Plan: 23.0 BMI
• Actual: 20.7 BMI
• Notes: It was a steep climb, probably even steeper from here on.

10. Pick up a Sport/Exercise Regimen

• Notes: Does carrying Nate count?

11. Write More

• Notes: Do tweets count?

I didn’t expect to pass this exam, at all. I’m sure many will agree, it was so much more difficult than the July exam. But here it is. My JLPT journey ends here. Finally. Next stop: Fluency.

To everyone who helped me get this far, I am very grateful. Thank you.

I guess that’s one down, 10 more to go.