The past few days have been difficult. Last weekend, my kids’ two nannies decided to hie away from our employ. They put my daughter, three-year-old Nicki, to bed, then left six-year-old Nathan, who was watching television, packed their bags, and left. No “Thanks for having us,” no tearful goodbyes, nothing. They up and left our kids in our house, with no one else, save Nathan’s nine-year-old cousin, to watch over...

Merry Christmas from the Deens

Today, my wife, son, and I joined over 50 of our colleagues from the church in the Philippines where I work, for a fun day of environmentally aware activities at the Zoobic Safari Nature Park in Subic, Olongapo. The almost three-hour drive, while hardly difficult, certainly tired me out even upon arrival there, and suffice it to say that I was adequately pooped. It was well worth it, though; the Yellow team had a lot of fun going through...

Korean telenovelas show a lot of piggybacking. My wife likes Korean telenovelas. I, therefore, want to piggyback my wife to show her my appreciation of her. It isn’t as hard as it looks. She’s quite...

My life revolves around four people: my God, my wife, my son, and my daughter. I blog about Cathy and Nathan all the time; It’s only fair I tell you a little bit about the other girl in my life, my two-year-old, Nicola Jean, or Nicki. As of the moment, Nicki is a polar opposite of her ahia (Chinese for “older brother”). Whereas Nathan is personable and warm, Nicki will generally ignore most people with whom she is...

Today, my five-year-old son, Nathan, and I volunteered for the Real Life Feeding Program of the Real Life Foundation. Every Saturday, the Real Life Foundation invites volunteers to assist in a medical mission slash feeding program for over 150 malnourished children of Pasig City. For only PHP250/adult (PHP100/child if you’d like to bring a child under the age of 12), you pay for the medical checkups and nutritious meal of 10 children...