I am just full of gratitude these days. Aren’t you? And why shouldn’t we? Being able to wake up every day, be with our family and do meaningful work are actually more than enough to thank God for this wonderful gift of life He has given us. This is why my previous post was all about gratitude, for allowing me to have a career in the online world and live a dream lifestyle that I have chosen since retiring from government service in December 2007. This post will also be about gratitude as I look back to all the previous year’s blessings. And I believe, I have one more gratitude post to write after this. My heart is just brimming with joy that I need to express all of them before I burst out of utter bliss. ❤
Before I look back at 2018 though, I want to look back at the last 3 years since we’ve had Tuz.
In a nutshell…
2015
We rented a 1-bedroom apartment in Dumaguete where we spent 6 months of my pregnancy. On my last trimester, we headed back to my house in Alabang to finish my term and to give birth to Tuz. We enjoyed being first-time parents. We traveled to other parts of the country as usual.
2016
We enjoyed our time in my own house, my first dream house (which is practically my first baby because of all the blood and tears I poured into it) I started my momtraneur blog. I went back to full-time VA mode. We traveled to other parts of the country as usual.
2017
We started our mushroom farm right at my own backyard in Alabang. I finally finished all the mortgage payments of my house. I was finally a homeowner after 10, long, painful years! We had my house rented to foreign tenants. We went to Kuala Lumpur which was our baby’s first travel abroad. We traveled to other parts of the country as usual. We started setting up our farm in northern Mindanao.
And now, for 2018…
2018
Our farm was in full operation.
We split our time between living in the city and living at our farm.
Below is our home up in the mountains where I turned an old room into a cozy bedroom/home office — Jen By Design: Making an Old Rustic Room Look Cozy and Nice
And soon, I decorated a living area outside our bedroom as well. I vlogged about it here: Turning a Bodega Into a Cafe-Inspired Living Area
We did a lot of plant experiments.
We experimented on planting, harvesting, selling so many fruits and vegetables.
We hired our 3rd set of farm helpers.
We launched our products.
We launched our first bottled mushroom product — Mushroom Chili Paste which eventually had 4 variants (Original, No Sugar, Extra Spicy, Sweet & Spicy). This was soon followed by another product – Mushroom Langka Jam, which is a seasonal product because jackfruit trees only bear fruits during certain times of the year.
We then modified and improved the labeling of our products.
We partnered with 5 establishments to carry our Mushroom Chili Paste :
Jaco’s Stopover Cafe in Claveria
Bittersweet Cafe in Gingoog & CDO Uptown
Trading Post in Butuan’s Watergate Hotel
Gat’s Natural Produce in Ayala Centrio across Cotton On
We got so busy like never before to the point of burning out.
GOD IS GREAT!
By the end of the year, someone offered to invest in our business and became our partner. This angel from heaven will finance our farm biz and bring it to the next level this 2019. It was just so timely and amazing!
Aside from all these farm biz endeavors, we were still able to do so many travels, we were up and about almost every month, while at the same time managing my full-time VA biz, being the co-owner and CFO of our farm, a life partner to Mahal and a full-time mother to Tuz. I’ll do a look back on the travels we did in 2018 for my next post before I return to my regular blogging, which I am improving by the way. So expect more blog posts from me this year.
All in all, we just feel so blessed in our life. Things just keep getting better and better. And we have God to thank for all the blessings, happiness, abundance and joy we’re experiencing. I used to just wish “more of the same” every year because I am content (most of the time) with my life. As long as we are together, we’re happy and healthy, then I’m fine. But God, being God, is just so abundant. His blessings have no limits! He always wants his children to have more than enough! So thank you, Father God!
This makes us excited for what 2019 holds for us. Abangan!
God is great! We lift everything to Him! All glory to His name.
How about you? What are you excited about this new year? ^_^
MomTraNeur - The Self-Help Mommy 
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