Screenshot

fil-in-the-gap

I am a Filipina in the diaspora, born in the heady sixties, raised during the repressive Marcos regime, this blog is about living and loving in the belly of the beast.

foster; dcfs; adoption; motherhood; parenting

  • Do-it-with-joy

    The other day, my husband made me think. He was joking around as usual, but maybe there’s some truth to it. He said he is going to accompany our daughter to her cheerleading event not because it’s an obligation but because he wants to see her cheer, implying that I do things more out of a sense Read more

  • Night of the Living Moms

    Parenting, joyful as it is, can be an exhausting, and at times, a zombifying enterprise– particularly when you’re a mother who insists on having an identity beyond mom, mama, nanay, madre, who feels the need to create art, build your community, get your PhD, walk on a wire, and still have the time and energy Read more

  • Fostering

    When a child comes to you, you are mistaken to think you have a choice. He has chosen you, the way kitty cats rub their noses against your face while you lay asleep to leave a scent that says, “you are mine.” The way your heart sinks at the sight of a beloved, or swoons Read more

  • The village, not the state

    It takes a village to raise a child, or so the cliche goes. And I believe this saying with all my heart, using it unsparingly to remind teachers, principals, and camp counselors that kicking a child out for misbehaving is not in the child’s best interest. It has worked for the most part. But when Read more