Going Home

We’re going home in the province today and we are leaving in one hour. I am just finishing all my to do list so at least I can have a worry free 3 day vacation with my parents.

Our province is home to vast rice fields (you will not need an ATV with Polaris Accessories there) but as you walk with the small path walk along rice fields you can almost smell the grass and the trees. Lovely province I must say. For sure I’m taking a lot of pictures and will share it to everyone as always.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

My soul follows hard after thee

I've been listening to this song for almost a week now, this is an old song but it blessed my heart, it motivated me to seek the Lord more. I hope this will bless your heart too!



My soul follows hard after thee
Early in the morning will I rise up and seek thee
And because thou has been my help
Under the shadow of thy wings
I will rejoice

Lord I want to praise you..praise you Lord
With all that's in my heart
~~~~~~~

Travel.Bus.Mom

It's almost weekend again and I can't wait for this week to be over because of another long weekend. November 1 is Monday and that is a regular holiday here in the Philippines. It's the day to remember all the departed love ones and for us it simply a day of rest (from work) and day to spend time with the family. I will go home on Saturday so I can be with my Mom whom I've never seen since May of this year. That was long! And I am missing her so much.

Though going home at this time of year is quite tough because everyone is going home, you expect heavy traffic along the major roads and highways and the buses for sure will be full and getting a seat is a major pain but I will not be discouraged. I really want to go home and see my mother.

If only traveling with our motorbike is easier, we would have opted that but our province is four hours bus drive from the Metro and I will not risk hubby’s and my life with the small motorbike in the middle of super high ways.

How I wish we have a car, even a second hand car would do- but it would be lovely if we have a luxury big car, like the one with lambo doors that CariD.com is selling. They are beautiful! I can imagine how exciting it is for the whole family to go road tripping together.

But since we don’t have a car yet, the bus will do us fine. I hope.

Small Washroom at Home-I'm thankful

For spa owners out there: beyondnice.com is offering a huge sale on their hot tub covers and some other items as well. You might want to get it for your home use also. I like the idea of having a spa at home no? I imagine my self relaxing every night when I get home from the office or from ministry work.

But alas- I only have the small washroom in our rented apartment to which I am thankful. Because everyday I see people sleeping in the corner of the streets -they don't even have decent homes so I need not complain about my small washroom.

Be thankful for every little blessing everyone!

Laughter. Medicine

" A merry heart doeth good like a medicine"

My devotion this morning is about laughter. And I am so glad I am reminded to laugh because laughter helps us cope with problems and I needed that. My office life is becoming very stressful and I should laugh more often otherwise I do not know If I can still come and work efficiently for the next few months.

Laughter they say is the best medicine- who knows it might be the best fat burner too. Laughter boosts our immune system that's why it helps us feel better.

And so even if I have take home work this weekend, I will take time to laugh.

Thankful Thursday-Vacation

Thankful Thursday is very interesting today because you'll  know something you do not know yet about all the ladies participating! Head on to Lynn's site and join us.

But before I do mine. I just want to thank God for being so GOOD!!!!! The 5 days vacation we spent with my husband's relatives is such a a wonderful time. I rested and was rejuvenated.

see the reflection of the couds and the blue sky in the clear water?..Beautiful!!

The place is very laid back and I love it, they have no Television, no Internet, not even a radio so we were completely shut off from the world for 5 days and we all loved it!. We had shrimps and crabs everyday (no wonder I gained weight again and thinking of trying tonalin cla to lose some) we swam our hearts out to beautiful river just besides their home and we went boating for two days!! And what's even better is that we were able to share God's love to the kids and to the people as we did one teaching/feeding day for the children :)

And for my list of ten things you do not know about me, here it goes.

1. I find it hard to sleep without a pillow in my feet.
2. I was once a recipient of the highest award in class (first grade)
3. And I didn't get any on the 2nd grade (I really do not know why)
4. I always have ballpen/s in my bag (I feel like incomplete if I have my bag and I do not have a pen on it.
5. I love working behind weddings, parties and events!
6. But I do not love partying :(
7. I do not like sweet foods such as cake, ice cream, jams but I do crave for chocolates once in a blue moon.
8. I am a night person as in I can stay awake the whole night and sleep the whole day.
9. My day always start with a breakfast even if I wake up in the afternoon:) (during weekends)
10. I Do not have a beautiful voic ebut I sing in the church :)

Bridesmaid Dresses

I am helping a friend for her upcoming wedding and we've been browsing sites for styles she could use for her bridesmaids. What do you think about these Mori Lee bridesmaid dresses. Aren't they nice?

If I choose for a bridesmaid dress I want something that they can re-use so it won't be a waste of money. And with a lot of styles out there I am sure we can find one that will suit all her five bridesmaid.I am back to wedding planning again! And I love doing this also. It's like one of my ministry already, helping ladies in their most awaited day!

GOD'S STRENGTH FOR YOUR WEAKNESS

by:  Patricia D. Bailey

God has orchestrated a unique destiny for each of us-one that will exceed our greatest expectations, one that He wants to help us fulfill. But some feel trapped by behavior patterns. Others feel limited by personality traits. Some hide behind their challenges, without attempting to excel beyond them. Others in their own strength create the type of future they think they want, only to discover it isn't as fulfilling as they had expected.

These people have found they cannot transform themselves. Self-help may have provided a degree of success, but instead of depending on God, they have relied on them selves. It's supposed to be about depending on Jesus, so HE can turn our weaknesses into strengths!.

Above all, God wants our hearts. He wants you. Our part is to cooperate with Him by yielding to Him, so He can make the finishing touches on our rough edges. We do this by building an intimate relationship with Him-learning who God is, what He can and wants to do for us, and how to let Him work with us and for us. This takes time, as does any relationship, and it is a process of growing and maturing spiritually. But the investment will pay off as you fulfill God's perfect plan for your life.

~~

Talk to God about your areas of weakness, and ask Him to help you yield to Him, so he can turn your greatest weakness into your greatest strength.

Urgent Prayer Request

Today was a long and exhausting day for us. A friend whom is also a co-worker in Christ needs a lot of prayer. His wife gave birth prematurely (eight months) through C-Section this morning but the baby died. We all grieved with him.

He was so excited to get hold of his daughter..but God has other plans.

Please pray for the mom also, she is still in the hospital and is in pain physically and emotionally. I almost cried when she asked whom the baby looks like. I do not know how painful it is because I have yet to become a mom but I do know it is painful enough to be depressed and sad.

Imagine you have waited and long to see your child, you have waited to hug her, to give her your breast milk, to carry her in your arms, to give her your love and affection.

Imagine going home from the hospital without the baby..

Please please pray for them. They need it badly.

Ministry in Samar?

So it is true, if you love what you do, you’ll find ways to do it even in times that you don’t have to do it. When we went for a vacation last week, we didn’t go to church on Sunday because there is no Christian (full-gospel) church around (which is sad). What we did, we gathered all the kids from the neighborhood, which are mostly sons and daughters of husband’s cousins. We did what we usually do on weekends. Feeding and teaching children. The husband and his brother taught them songs and told the story about David and Goliath.

While me and my brother in law’s girlfriend cooked and served them the food. What else will I cook? Noodle Soup (Sopas) it is. That’s the only feeding food I know how to prepare.

We honestly thought of bringing this kid with us back home! he's so adorable! Look what he did while others are singing

Anyways, the kids enjoyed it. I guess they enjoyed us being there also, especially when the husband let them play with the PSP, kids here don’t see those kind of gadgets everyday, a s I have said, most of the house don’t have a TV or a radio so how would they even know about such Bluetooth headset or an X-box? 

But guess what? Aside from the trees to climb, they have this very clean and peaceful river everyday for them to swim their heart out!

We will definitely miss all of them!

Hi everyone!

 It's been a week since I last posted. My husband and I went to their hometown for a short visit and I didn't know I won't be able to go online there. It was my first time in their province and I was surprised to see  their very simple and laid back place. My eyes feasted on greens, mountains and trees, fresh air. You don't get it everyday here in the Metro. It was very refreshing. You wouldn't believe me if I tell you that the rice we ate for five days are freshly pound by by my husband's aunt. Fresh crabs and shrimp everyday, it really was one vacation I will never forget. I've taken hundreds of beautiful photos and I am sharing it to you all on my next post. For the mean time, I've got to go and check hardware restoration. Stay tuned for the pictures :)

Be strong!

Be strong and take courage..

do not fear or be dismayed..

for the Lord will go before you 

and His light will show the way...

My blogging journey

When I was still in grade school, I used to get good grades in compositions, when I was in High School, I became the editor in Chief of our school paper (it was a small school though) but nonetheless, I was in love in writing, I wrote poems, I wrote everyday in my diary-which are being kept into our old house in the province till now. I even wrote short stories in my native  tongue/language back then.

When internet became the in thing, I made an online diary. When blog was introduced I did not make one immediately but kept on writing in my personal diary. When I was about to get married and I have read a lot of wedding blogs, I decided to make one -for me to document my wedding preparations. That was 2005. And that start to where I am now.

I do not say that I am now a blogging guru but I am thankful I have already inspired? Or maybe influenced is the better term some friends to do blogging also. It was not easy, the first few months where you have to build your relationship to your fellow bloggers, the first few links you have to make, the submission to google cache and the html codes you have to learn, I tell you it was not easy. But looking back now, i can very well say, it’s all worth it.

SOME BLOGGING TIPS

Blogging has improved a lot now, if you want to build traffic and exchange links, there are thousands of sites that can help you achieve such. But of course, you need to check if the site is legit or not. You have to carefully study if it brings you the traffic you want. Exchanging links with higher page rank is a must if you want to increase your page rank too and when you sign up to free link exchange network, make sure they bring guaranteed results and that your sites’s back links will grow. Join forums, advertise your blog –there are hundreds of ways to get free advertising but like any other business, you have to invest time and effort and sometimes money too.

You may also blog for your personal use only like some of my friends, they just want to write and they find blogging as the outlet. Whatever reason, I hope you do enjoy blogging as I do. Have a nice day everyone!

Hope of all Hearts

That's my husband singing the “Hope all Hearts” from the very recent “Dinner For A Cause” This dinner is for the benefit of the SEED OF LOVE ministry.

This ministry helps sick children in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) through ministering to them, visitation and prayers and occasional gift giving and financial assistance. Health insurance like the one from Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina is alien to these people and they badly need help. Most of the patients here belong to the poorest of the poor here in Metro Manila and from all over the country. I’ve visited twice and both visits broke my heart.

I pray they’ll find their HOPE in JESUS.

My diamonds

Women love all kinds of jewelries, no doubt about it. But I guess diamonds would still be on top of our list. Diamonds they say are girl’s best friend. I do not have any diamonds nor would I have one in the near future, I just can’t afford it and so is my hubby, not even if wholesale diamonds are a lot cheaper.

But I have other diamonds in life.

My husband- he’s my bestfriend and he’s far better than any diamonds I can get in this world.

My parents – I will forever treasure them.

My nieces and nephews- like a women who take good care of her jewelries, I will also take good care of them, they bring smiles to my parents faces and to me! They are the family’s gems!

My friends- like diamonds and jewelries, if you have the best cut..you should be proud and I am..I’ve got so many good friends, real find :)

Do you have nay diamonds too?

It's cold :)

Good evening!

Just got home from the church’ prayer meeting although I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing because of my tummy, something is wrong since afternoon and I do not know what it is. I’ve already consumed 2 cups of tea and I hope that would make it feel better.

It’s been raining, I haven’t seen the weather report so I do not know if there’s a storm coming this weekend, I can feel the air coming from the window and surprisingly it is cold here but not as cold as those who have winter season and not as cold as you think we need an electric fireplace already. It’s just right. I love this kind of weather. I need not turn the electric fan here in the room right now so it’s something.

How’s the weather in your part? Do you live in a tropical country too? Or do you live in a country where there are four season?