During weekdays (school days) I wake up at 4a.m. to prepare for my son’s breakfast and baon for school. And if I have to finish some online work the previous night, it would mean that I only get around 3-4 hours of sleep.

Last night I finished work really late so I was only able to sleep for like 3 hours. Since I do not have any pending work that is due for a couple of more hours, I decided to sleep again after my son left for school before 6a.m. I was able to sleep for another two hours.

And even if I’m still sleepy, I’m starting the day with a smile on my face because of these:

Postcards from online friends can really bring a smile to anybody’s face, wouldn’t you agree ?

I hope you’re all having a great week so far.

When I decided to start collecting postcards about two months ago, I knew that it will be something that I will truly enjoy. What I didn’t know was that there are wonderful benefits as well. And what would they be, you might ask ? Here are just some of them :

* Preparing the postcards that we will send has become a ‘bonding’ activity for us. My husband is in charge of choosing which stamps to purchase in bulk and he’s the one who decides which ones would go well with a particular postcard. I write the address (and the message,of course) on each postcard. I also keep track of which postcards have been sent to a particular person. My children would give ‘suggestions’ as to which postcard we should send.

* Whenever we go to the mall, my children would be the first ones to remind me to buy more postcards so that we will have enough postcards to send for the coming week. They love going through the stacks of postcards at the local bookstore.

* Browsing through the postcards has made my children appreciate the beauty of the Philippines more . They do not only look at the photo but they read the description at the back too. I know that they are learning a lot from it.

*My children are also learning about our country’s geography. It is no longer about memorizing statistics and names of places for them like they do at school. They now have an idea people wear during a certain festival or how different Kawasan Falls is from Tinago Falls.

*Whenever a batch of postcards arrives, my whole family gets excited about them. My husband would not just check on each postcard but he would look at the stamps, too (he collects stamps as well). My children would ask me endless questions about the places that are featured on the postcards. They would say that someday they will travel and see these wonderful places for themselves.

Here are just some of the postcards I have sent so far :

And these are some of the postcards I have received:

If someone takes the time to pick a postcard, write a message, choose which stamps to put, go to the post office to personally mail it – - all because you have requested to receive a postcard from them, wouldn’t that make you feel a bit special and more appreciated? Well, that’s what I feel whenever I receive a postcard. The fact that someone would go through all that trouble means a lot to me. Collecting postcards is definitely going to be a favorite hobby – not just for me but for my whole family.

I have mentioned before that I plan to put up another blog that will serve as a home for my new hobby, collecting postcards. My husband is also excited about it since he will also get to feature his coin and stamp collection.

The blog, Creations & Collections, has finally been launched and so far , we have made a couple of posts about the postcards that I have received and the new commemorative stamps that has been added to my husband’s collection.

I have been swapping postcards with the other moms from PMC and so far, I have sent and received quite a number of them. A couple of days ago, I received a total of six postcards and I can’t wait to make a blog post on each of them. I have so far made a post for three of them.

It was also through the other moms from PMC that I have learned about PostCrossing. It is a site wherein a member gets to send and receive postcards from random members from anywhere in the world.

Initially, a new member like me is allowed to send five postcards. I was assigned to send postcards to members from Taiwan, Finland, New Zealand, USA and Russia. My husband was suppose to mail them today but it has been raining so hard since yesterday that he wasn’t able to leave the house.

Receiving postcards from different parts of the world is also a great way to learn about the cultures of various countries. I am looking forward to receiving postcards from other members ; it’s like taking a peek of what their country has to offer.