A Mom and More

While everybody’s talking about, watching and reading the news, and more often than not, worrying about what the future may bring – my family and I have moved on with our daily affairs. This October is a hectic month for my siblings in the export business, my husband in direct marketing and my son in lomography; they all have major projects to showcase this month and I proudly share them with you in this blog.

I believe this busy-ness, reflective of our drive to attain our life goals, helps my family defuse qualms about the grim effects of the much publicized second Great Depression (which is said to be unfolding before us). It gives us the upbeat feeling of waking up to each new morning and seeing progress in our work. It allows us to shine brighter and be more creative amidst resource deficiencies and to help send out sparks of hope to others. Most of all, it leads us back to or keeps us hitched to a loving God of supreme possibilities in our life journey.

Manila F.A.M.E. International (16-19 October 2008)

http://www.manilafame.com/en/?idpg=ZmFpcmhpZ2hsaWdodA

My siblings Arlene and Arthur of Paper Capers International http://papercapers.net/?page_id=3
http://www.manilafame.com/en/?idpg=ZXhoaWJpdG9ybGlzdHNvZQ==&prodcat=&rid=NzAw&countnuma=5
have spent countless days sourcing eco-friendly and sustainable materials aside from paper and have barely slept these past weeks to produce novelty packaging boxes to exhibit at this show and capture new foreign buyers to weather the global slump.

I have never seen them as stressed as they were these past months since they started joining CITEM exhibits 22 years ago. As entrepreneurs, I feel proud that they have gone beyond just thinking about how much profits their factory would earn and what things they could buy for themselves; they have found joy in sharing their blessings with their lowly workers and needy family/friends (including me) and could only pray for more orders to be able to carry on their business and help maintain their manpower, most of whom have been with the factory since its birth.

Being a regular guest of the F.A.M.E. for the past two decades, I would strongly urge you to spend this Sunday with your family at the SMX Convention Center, Seashell Drive, Mall of Asia Complex from 11 am to 4pm (for only P200 entrance fee), to experience and be proud of the Filipino’s exceptional creativity and fine craftmanship in products for living and accessorizing, and better yet, realize that we have been blessed with unique talents to use and to survive.

7th Agora Conference 2008 (20 October 2008)

Like my siblings, my husband and his colleagues at the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) see the global market as teeming with opportunities for Filipino entrepreneurs to tap. Sometime around midyear, my husband involved my daughter in preparing the advertisement and logo for PMA’s 7th Agora conference with the thrust: Marketing Possibilities, Global Opportunities. Since then, on top of his daily work stresses, my husband had to attend to this PMA assignment as coordinator for the affair. The onset of the global financial crisis made him overly anxious and worried as some sponsors backed out, companies went on belt tightening measure and declined to participate, and some past year attendees just kept mum as the conference date drew closer. Naturally, his worries spilt over at home and we just had to understand this extra load.

Challenges often open up paths which we seldom tread on. True enough, this week, PMA saw an influx of conference participants from the business academe as conference fees for this group were reduced from P 3000 to P 2000, in keeping with the times.

Walk-ins are welcome to the conference http://www.philmarketing.com.ph/index.php?hd=feat&sec=2
this Monday, 20 October 2008, from 8 a.m. to 5 pm at the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel Manila, where Filipino marketing mentors share their experience in embracing and growing from globalization and insights in meeting the impending economic crunch.

Lomographics (24 October 2008)

My son seems impervious to global going ons and works incessantly (with nonstop music and Gyunyo as his only intermission break) as Graphic Designer/Online Marketing Associate for the Lomographic Society International Vienna, Austria. I wish I could be as focused, rigid and determined as he is in meeting his financial goals (I have always been a generalist with too many soft spots). Even his extracurriculars revolve around graphic design and lomography.

http://images.kazarareta.multiply.com/image/2/photos/893/500×500/1/LOMOGRAPHIC-EXHIBIT.jpg?et=ExpUp0UOiVZ4kgaxXs56Lg&nmid=118874990

This Lomographics collabo-experiment exhibition of lomographers, artists and writers at the Team Manila Studio, 7 p.m. on 24 October 2008 – where he is listed as exhibitor – gives me confidence in the Filipino youth’s distinct artistry and bright future in a global niche of their own. As a mom, this gives me a sense of fulfillment and pride in seeing my son keep in step with pacesetters of his chosen career.

I have also taken my life in strides for the past years, even without the global financial crisis. This blog chronicled some hurdles satisfactory met with the Lord’s strength and guidance.

How do you and your family plan to surmount the global crisis and cope successfully with these times?