A Short Love Story + 5 Facts About Me

Hi, Hive Community!

I’m Kristine, a virtual assistant and ESL teacher from the Philippines. I’m a mother to three wonderful human beings –all boys. I am onboarded by @antonette. We met through Facebook and she shared her knowledge about this amazing community. I joined here to meet different people and learn from their experiences as well as share my own. I believe this is a perfect way to just write my thoughts and feelings out and somehow ease the burden of the daily struggles I encounter (hello, adulting! 😁).

What Will Hive Expect from Me

I will be sharing more about my hobbies and my life living in the rural area of the Philippines, including lessons I picked along the way and experiences that helped me keep going in life.

About My Hometown and a Short Love Story

Here's a funny story about my love life and hometown.

When I went to college in the city, I used to say to myself that I would never marry someone from my hometown because I didn't want to stay here. I liked the city life back then. But jokes on me. I married someone from my hometown whose house was just close to ours. We were never really close back then. We just started to know each other in the city when we both were already working. This person, who is now my husband, was so in love with our town that he wanted us to live here. Later on, I fell in love again with our town and don't ever want to leave!😁

What a turn of events!

Here are some of my favorite photos of my hometown depicting the countryside.

Situated just close to the mountains and the sea, specifically the Sulu Sea in the west, beautiful sunsets are a mainstay and perfect mountain views are always in sight.

My Family

Here's the family that we've built here in this beautiful countryside.

I adore my husband, who has been my pillar and partner in everything, and we're blessed with three boys who have been our ray of sunshine whenever we encounter some gray clouds.

As a wife and partner, I hope that I am a source of comfort and love for my husband. As a parent, I hope that in this life, I will be able to nurture my kids holistically to help them be the best version of themselves.

5 Facts About Me

• I am a nurse by profession.

Seventeen years ago, I graduated from my BS Nursing degree and hoped for a better future as a nurse in the US. However, I got married early to the love of my life and built our family here in my hometown. The question that I ask myself now is, do I still have a chance to work in my line of profession? To build a career in the work that I once dreamed of?

I can still remember what I wrote in our yearbook. *Ten years after graduation, I’d be a head nurse in one of the prestigious hospitals in the US. *

Will it ever come true?

• I became a virtual assistant slash ESL teacher to be with my young kids.

Yep, the reason why I exchanged my nursing profession for remote freelance work was because my kids were young, and we were a family of an OFW at that time. My little kids, definitely, needed a mama beside them 24/7. It was sacrificial yet it was very fulfilling and very worth it. I love my kids to bits and if I were given the same circumstances again, I’d still choose to set aside my nursing career to be with them during the time they need me the most.

• I love designing graphics but I’m not an expert yet.

I have a little online craft store. I make journals, planners, and other print products. I’m still a work in progress though, still learning and learning to be better. For me, it's my kind of therapy to just be fully immersed in the process of crafting.

• My personality type is INFJ-A.

This personality type stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging - Advocate. Sometimes I feel it’s a curse. Sometimes, I’d think of it as a gift.

It’s a curse because I believe this personality type makes me “feel” more. I’m a very emotional and sensitive person. I’m also idealistic and put too much pressure on myself to reach my ideals. As a result, I just tend to bring stress to my own self.

It’s a gift sometimes because being an introvert, I’m fueled by breaks and pauses where I give myself time to reflect on my life and the things that are happening to me.

• I follow Jesus.

I’m not perfect. I was sinful but was bought by the blood of my Savior Jesus Christ. I still struggle in my journey of following Jesus because it’s not an easy feat. But only by God’s grace I know I will make it through.

There you go. If you've reached this far, thank you for taking the time to get to know me a little. I’m excited of my new journey on this platform, a place for me to express myself and share my life. I hope to know more of you, too. Feel free to drop a comment, say hi, or tell us a fun fact about yourself!

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By posting, I'm implying that I fully understand the rules of the Hive Community. All pictures used in this post are my own and edited in Canva. I have not used any AI tool or grammar-checking tool for this post and will not be using these prohibited tools in any future posts or engagement.