The storm has passed. Thank God. For a moment, I felt like one of the apostles on the boat, afraid that any minute, it would capsize. Far away in Vietnam, that evening when the crisis happenned in Manila, I had to constantly remind myself of who the captainof my ship was and that all would be well.
I left Manila Saturday afternoon for Ho Chi Minh City, leaving P and L in the care of my 75 year old aunt whom we had “imported” from Davao. Two household help and our trusted driver completed the household staff that would look after the needs of the kids while I was gone.
The time spent in Vung Tau with H on Sunday was the calm before the storm. How God provides you with moments of respite is a blessing. Monday evening, while chatting with P via YM, she told me about what had happened at home the night before.
P is the kind of child who sleeps through anything. Sa Tagalog, kahit pasabugan mo pa siya ng bomba, she will not wake up. For some strange reason, that Monday night, she slept fitfully. At around 11PM, she woke up and decided to check on the doors. Walking to the living room, she was surprised to see the French doors unlocked. Her heart beating quickly, she went to check on the front door which to her great shock she found open, slighly ajar. She ran to the kitchen to check on our helper, M, and was surprised to find her cot empty. Thinking that the house had been broken in, she buzzed and called for the senior helper, let’s call her I, and asked where M was. I appeared dazed and at the same time upset, having been roused from sleep, P tells me. After serching for her all over the house, I decides to call her celphone, and P recalls hearing them arguing on the phone. After 30 - 45 minutes, M returns, with a sheepish smile and rosy cheeks.
Flustered, P demands to know where she went at 11PM and M says that she went to buy load. Off all the things to do at 11PM right? She says there was an emergency at her home in the province and that she had no load. As a backgrounder, M was the same helper who lost Pare, the family dog, a little over a month ago. Pare was lost under her watch while they were both at home on a Sunday afternoon.
Appalled at what I had heard, I asked a good friend to go over to our house and interrogate the helpers. In addition, I also called my tito, who is currently the Barangay captain in our village, and a friend who lives a few doors away from us. All of them came swooping down on my home that Monday evening while P recounted the events of the evening before to me via YM. Thank God for technology.
After much interrogation, it was decided that M would have to go. She had breached security and put my children in grave danger by her callousness and carelesness. M had already lost the beloved family dog a month earlier, what was she trying to do now?
When the decision to let M go was relayed, senior helper, I became agitated and hysterical. Strange behavior for someone much older and who apparently wasn’t to be blamed for the behavior of her companion. “If M goes, I will go too!!” she threatened. Hmmmm. Everyone there was surprised by her pronouncement. Was she hiding something as well? Did M have the goods on her too?
I do not want to pass judgment but I thought the behavior to be very odd. Also, I thought it was terrible that she would threaten and undermine authority in such a way. I had already been trying to be as nice as I could be to these two. Stretching my patience for as long as I could over the last couple of months but this behavior was certainly no longer tolerable.
And so we decided, okay, we had to let the both of them go.
Thus, for the next few days, four to be exact. My children and aunt had no helpers whatsoever. Only our trusted Manong driver was left behind. Friends would come and sleep over each night to keep them company and make sure that they were safe. A neighbor, Migi’s Ninong, who was in between jobs, would come over every morning to ride with them in the car, and then again at dismissal time. P took care of everything the next few days and was exhausted at the end of each day. I could not get home because there were issues and problems to deal with in Vietnam plus the weather in Manila did not make it safe to fly home and there were also no seats available.
All that time I would cry myself to sleep every night, thinking of my poor children back home. If I could only ride a broom and fly home, I would have done so. There wasn’t much I could do and I became depressed for the next few days. Sticking to the laptop and hanging on to every YM and text message that P would send my way. I wished the days would go by quickly and that I could be with them soon.
Cutting my trip short, I came home exactly a week after I left Manila. By then, a part-time helper had been found but my daughter was visibly exhausted from everything she had gone through. I was just so happy and relieved to be back home even though I knew it would be a while before I could really rest.
My aunt told me that soon after I left, senior helper I had sat across her on the dining room table one lunchtime and asked her pointblank —
I : Pinadala kayo ni ma’am dito ano? (Ma’am had you sent over right?)
Auntie : Iba ang pinadala sa inimbita (Being sent over is differenr from being invited). Inimbita ako ni ma’am mo dito. (I was invited)
I: Inimbita kayo para bantayan kami? (You were invited to watch over us?)
Auntie : Bakit ko naman kayo babantayan? May ginagawa ba kayo na dapat bantayan? (Why should I watch over you? Are you doing something that merits my watching over you?)
Good answer auntie!!!
At this, senior helper I scowled, stood up and left.
The nerve, right?
After hearing this, I was all the more convinced that the two had connived but that God had stepped in and woke my daughter up to make her aware that something was going on. God’s protection is always, always upon us. And even though the circumstances become very difficult, we can always trust and believe that the events, the challenges we go through, are there to mold us into better persons and that He will provide for us, no matter what.
The day after I arrived, I interviewed three potential helpers and two made the cut. One of them is a young woman from our church and the other is a 38 year old lady from the town of San Fernando, Sibuyan 
Those of you who read this blog regularly, know that the town of San Fernando became (and still is) one of my advocacies. I considered it a very clear sign from God that the first person who would come to our aid and be our first helper in this time of distress would come from this very island! Certainly, there are no coincidences in God’s plan! When I read her bio-data and discovered that she was from San Fernando, my hair stood.
And so God provided, wonderfully, and in His perfect time. The two helpers arrived a day before I needed to report back for work. My home became quieter and peaceful. Gone was the loud, irritating music that would greet me every morning and when I would come home from work and the heaviness that filled our home over the last few months. I pray now that my two new girls will stay with us for a long time and that we will all be able to live and work together in harmony as one family.
That’s not the end of the story folks. Just when I thought that I could put up my feet and finally get some rest, another storm came. But first God gave me time to get a haircut and a back massage a day after reporting for work. Thursday evening, I found myself at the Emergency Room of The Medical City with a daughter writhing in stomach pains.
George Muller said, “The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm by standing firm against great testings.” The last two weeks of my life has been a time of great learning for me and yes, in spite of everything, I rejoiced and found comfort in the love and comfort given by God and true friends. Of course this goes without saying that because I am only human, I had some pretty tense moments. And moments when I just wanted to pull my hair out from sheer exhaustion. But through it all, I know in my heart that I was only able to make it through because of His grace. Truly I could only do all the things I did because HE strengthened and continues to strengthen me.
To be continued…
Add to del.icio.us
Digg this!
