Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Vel from Life and Home at 2102

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Happy Saturday everyone.  This week in Spotlight I have Vel from Life and Home at 2102.  You will love getting to know about Vel and her sweet family and then be sure to hop over to her wonderful blog.  Vel is so sweet, creative and her blog and  social media sites do not disappoint.  Enjoy.

Hello everyone!

I hope your Holiday season is off to a great start!

I am so pleased to be featured here today at Junk Chic Cottage!

Thank you very much for this opportunity to tell you a little something about me and my little blog Kris!

LINK HERE

For those of you who do not know me, I am VEL CRISTE, Mom, wife, Kiddie-doc and 'frustrated' decorator who loves all things design for the home and on myself! ;-)

I started the blog in 2011 as a way to share what has been going on in our lives, to friends and family back home in the Philippines where we're originally from.

Banawe Rice Terraces - One of the famous sites in our country

My passion for fixing up our foreclosed home ended up being both a fun, therapeutic and challenging thing for us since the Blog pushed us to do so much more than we ever thought we could!

Like our Kitchen Renovation HERE

Our efforts in making our house a home , at least a small room was, even featured  in THIS OLD HOUSE MAGAZINE!

Find out about it HERE

But enough about the blog, and let's talk a little more about me and my family.

The Center of my universe

My husband and I met in college, pre-med back in the Philippines.
We got married as soon as we finished med school and had our first born very soon after.
With a growing family to support, and while I was finishing up on my Pediatric Residency in the Philippines, he decided to try his luck here in the U.S. He eventually got into research at the CLEVELAND CLINIC in Ohio where I eventually gave birth to my second son right around the time I finished my training in the Philippines! hew!

My husband then pursued his Neurology Residency training at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago and I took the foreign medical licensure exam, which by the way, consisted of 4 different exams, in a span of 1 year ( that was really tough since remember I just had my second baby too!)!

source

I remember praying a lot more during those times since I was so stressed out about so many things going on in my life - the exams, pressure to pass and do good, taking care of my baby and also moving to another country!
But I was faithful to my prayer and told God that if He really wanted all these things for me, He would "make it Easy" for me to see that. And you know what? HE DID!

source

God helped me PASS ALL MY EXAMS with flying colors and He even allowed me to easily bring my son's nanny with us to the U.S. ( a very rare circumstance ) so we would have some help with the kids and for me to pursue another round of training in Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai in Chicago!
That was a  very clear sign for me and I had no doubts from then on that life would only get better.

Nine years after my second son was born, at the ripe ol' age of 40, I had another wonderful surprise...

Our daughter Sophia

I couldn't ask for anything more in our lives right now. God has provided so much blessings, that asking for more is just being "greedy " I think (Although I always pray for happiness and health for my family and friends all the time still). But I know and believe, that we will always be in need of GOD and His graces all our lives and beyond, so I will continue to pray, live my life the best way I could and enjoy the blessings and talent He has bestowed upon me.

I hope I didn't sound too preachy, but I think you should know the real story of how we ended up in our new home country, and how I try to continue to make the best of everything we have, and to try to share it in my own way, not just for my family, but to all my friends ( on and offline) as well!

I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

P.S. I just wrapped up my CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR HERE, if you have the time, please, do check it out! :-)

XOXO,

VEL


Thank you Vel for letting us get to know you on a more personal level.    Hope your shopping, wrapping, baking is going great as we head on down to the big day.
Have a good week end.
Kris
:)