WARNING: Queso-filled.

This is to the man who has mustered some courage to really pursue me and break through my diva walls. To my El Gwapo, thanks for being my new BFF, my prayer partner, my jogging coach, my shopping consultant and my ka-HHWW. 

Through you, I am becoming more and more convinced that God really really really loves me and favors me. =)

Happy birthday, Love!

Ang Syota Kong Puti

Naaalala niyo pa ba yung sinulat kong Walang Pamagat? Wala pang isang taon buhat nang sinulat ko iyon  pero napakarami nang nangyari sa akin. Nakapagdaos ako ng aking kaarawan sa bahay, ang theme ko non ay geek. Nakapunta rin ako sa lugar na isa sa aking pangarap dayuhin, ang bansang Israel. Nakapunta din ako sa unang pagkakataon sa Mindanao upang mag-abot ng tulong sa iilang mga barangay. At itong huli, natapos na rin ang bahay na pinapangarap ng aking mga magulang. Tunay ngang walang maikukumpara sa gawa ng Diyos. Lahat ng aking natamong biyaya ay dahil lamang sa Kanyang kabaitan at pagkakaluob.

Pero siyempre alam kong mas interesado kayo sa aking buhay pag-ibig. :-) Napakamakulay nito ngayon (naks) dahil sa syota kong puti. Hindi ko nga akalaing magugustuhan ko ang katulad niya. Ang tipo ko kasi dati ay Pilipinong lalaki na kulay kayumanggi. Pero siguro nagustuhan ko siya hindi dahil sa lahi o hitsura niya. Isa siyang mabuting tao at napakapasensiyoso.

Nung una ko palang siyang nakilala, hindi ko siya gusto. Hindi kasi siya gwapo sa paningin ko hehe. Pero walang biro, hindi ko siya gusto nuon dahil para bang may naplano na ako sa aking isipan na klase ng lalaki na aking magiging boypren. Pero dahil sa kanyang panununuyo (at siyempre panalangin) nagustuhan ko na rin siya. Ganon yata talaga kaming mga babae. Dapat hinihintay, dapat sinusuyo at matira ang matibay!

Hindi ko naman sa nilalahat, pero alam naman natin na ang mga tao sa ibang bansa lalo na ang nasa may bandang kanluran ay hindi masyadong mahilig maligo. Hahaha. Kaya naman nuong nagde-date pa lang kami, inaamoy ko talaga siya nang bongga (palihim nga lang), dahil kung hindi siya mabango, hay naku, ayawan na.

Ang syota kong puti ay nagtatrabaho sa kumpanyang gumagawa ng computer games. Kaya siguro halos lahat ng pag-uusap namin ay mayroong sound effects na kasama. Mas naipaliliwanag niya ang kanyang sarili kapag sinasabayan ng tunog ng inilalarawan niyang bagay. O-ha!

Ang syota kong puti ay mapagmahal, hindi lang sa akin pati na sa kanyang mga magulang at mga kaibigan. Siguro isa na rin sa nagustuhan ko sa kanya ay ang pagkakatulad ng kanyang ugali sa ugaling Pinoy. Siya ay magalang, konserbatibo, simple at masayang kasama. Isa rin siyang dakilang maginoo. Hanggang ngayon ay hinihila pa niya ang upuan para sa akin at iniuusod palapit sa mesa bago ako umupo. Kilig!

Ang syota kong puti ay takot sa akin. Haha biro lang! Ang totoo, ang syota kong puti ay may malaking puso na parang isang bata. Siya ay mapagkumbaba at madasalin. Natutuwa ako kapag kinukuwento niya sa akin kung paano pinagaling ng Diyos ang kanyang sakit sa ulo o dininig ang kanyang mga mumunting panalangin.

Ano pang masasabi ko? Ang syota kong puti ay da best! Salamat, Lord!

Turn It Off: Ways on How to Use Online Networks to Enrich My "Real" Life

Before I became a netizen, I was a library-goer. My huge shoulder bag used to contain a pencil case with different colored gel pens, a pocketbook to read in the subway, and a cute phonebook that was made in Taiwan. I also kept a diary with a planner at the back where the birthdays of my close friends and relatives were marked. Playing games for me then involved huddling up with my cousins in our living room to play Scrabble or Pictionary or a trip to the nearest arcade. To call for pizza deliveries or plumbing services, we would use the very handy Yellow Pages.

And then internet happened. Everything can now be done in the world of triple w. 

Image from dvdactive.com

I don’t know if you guys are familiar with the movie, Electric Dreams. I was one year old when it was released. I'm not really sure how I can connect it to this blog post but I think it's cute so I put it up anyway. The movie was about a love triangle between an architect (Lenny Von Dohlen), a home computer and a pretty cellist (Virgina Madsen). In contrast to the film’s poster, the home computer was actually the one responsible for sort of bringing Dohlen and Madsen together.

In a recent article I read from RelevantMagazine, the writer suggested ways on how we can use our Internet pursuits to add meaning and richness to our offline life. And this inspired me to come up with my own. We don't have to be tuned in to various social networks just to gain 'likes' and look cool, and get addicted to the point that what we consider our important relationships start becoming shallow online connections.

Facebook

Aside from checking in at every posh place every time I have the very rare opportunity to, and aside from posting several variations of my angled head shots, I think I can do more with it by engaging my spheres of influence to be involved in something radical and purposeful. Some call this "very brave and selfless" act of sharing information with a mere click of the computer mouse as slacktivism which may seem a semi-passive and lazy way of being involved with advocacy issues, but didn't the Kony Rally start this way? The viral video that the NGO, Invisible Children spread made all of us become aware (and uncomfortable) to the extent that it urged us to do something about it. And what about how Daphne Oseña used Twitter and Facebook to obtain support from Canadian volunteers of Global Medic to supply and restore clean water for the province of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines after the devastation brought by typhoon Sendong?

Photo taken from aljazeera.com

Let's use this social network to create groups and communities of people and spur them into positive action. Let's leverage on it to encourage, uplift, inform and innovate. I know Facebook is meant for us to have fun, but 'meaningful' can also ride along with it, right? 

Pinterest
I use Pinterest to compile images of places I'd like to visit someday and to share photos of other people's dream destinations, most of which I'd tag as eye candies cause these places are too sweet for me to afford. But perhaps, instead of just re-pinning the bytes, why don't we use Pinterest to connect to people who'd like to travel to the same places and organize an à la gapyear.com tour with travel buddies (potential friends) all over the world? Travel is more fun, not to mention cheaper and safer when done in groups, and like-minded 'pinners' can use this network to gain not only cheaper hotel rates but more culturally-enriching travel experience. 

Instagram
Girls like me love taking photos - not just of our own pretty faces but also of every single meal we're about to partake in a day. Sushi and wasabi? Click! Cheese sandwich and orange juice? Click! Green leaves? Click! Why don't we use Instagram then to gather friends and colleagues in a food-tasting (with photography, of course) party? Host a costume party at your place and make a DIY photo booth. While you're at it, why not youtube some songs you've been wanting to learn with your guitar or piano and host a jamming session with friends? 

Let us not only be digitally wired but let us also be plugged in to a community of sociable people thriving in healthy, solid and deep relationships.

Weary of Doing Good

I wonder how a farmer would feel, when after having planted on his field for several months, having toiled day and night, and having braved the harsh rays of the sun, he returns to an empty land. Having anticipated a year's harvest, on which he could feed his family, he comes home to the same irrigated soil that he had left to yield crops half a year ago and finds it fruitless.

Would he cry and curse himself? Would he scream at the heavens and ask God why? Would he throw his open baskets and wooden carts upside down with frustration? Would he still wake up early the next day and work just the same? Would he give up planting?

I'm now finding myself inside the shoes of that farmer - in terms of my work and in other areas of my life. I felt that I've worked hard enough to earn something significant but instead received something that I felt I did not at all deserve. A strong sense of entitlement has engulfed me.

So I began to tell myself - why do I need to do all those things when I know and I've proven that nothing valuable will come out of it? Why do I need to sacrifice and offer myself to people who won't do the same or at least show genuine appreciation to what has been given? Why do I need to continue sowing pleasant seeds when I've only been given thorns and ugly weeds?

Yesterday, as I was contemplating on these things, God reminded me to keep breathing and carry on. I must not allow disappointing situations to remove my joy and change my character. I must give thanks at all times because my security does not lie on people and outcomes but in Him.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  - Galatians 6:9

I know these are just words and where rubber meets the road is another thing, but since I consider these words true and powerful, I'm finding hope.

On Loop

Future wedding song LOL

On A Mission

WHAT is the purpose of my life?

I've been thinking about this thought one night in March as I was preparing to sleep. My bed is comfortable, and so is my life. But right at that moment, a realization hit me.

If to have a successful career, to acquire a massive amount of wealth, and to have a family of my own are what I should aim for in this life, then I'm being short-sighted. I'm convinced to believe that I'm not created by God just to work for money and give birth. Surely, I'm created for something greater than these.

God commands me to love Him with all of my heart and soul and to love my neighbor as myself. If I became the most successful woman on earth but failed to do what He asks me to, then I've totally missed the point. Everything that I do and strive to do must always be an act of obedience to God's commands.

I got up from my bed and wrote the insights I received, which are mostly from the book of Isaiah chapters 58 and 61...
Only God can make my life fulfilling and purposeful and I should endeavor to accomplish these goals -
1. Share God's love to others.
2. Feed the poor and heal the sick.
3. Bind up the brokenhearted.
4. Set the captives free.

Then another question came - but how? I started praying for an opportunity to accomplish these when I remembered that late last year, a friend had asked me to help in a medical mission she's been organizing. I told her that I'd support monetarily because that's the easiest thing to do, but I knew that night that I needed to be more involved. I decided to join a group of them and fly to the southernmost part of the Philippines and deliver medicines and share God's love to its people.

General Santos City, Philippines is home to the famous boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao and Shamcey Supsup, Miss Universe 2011 - 3rd runner up. But those are not the reasons why we chose this particular place to visit. Little did we know that blessings would abound and new friendships would be found there.

Arms loaded with medical supplies, clothes and food items for kids, our hearts filled with hope and in complete dependence on God's faithfulness, the 21 of us journeyed from Singapore to Manila to General Santos.

Within our 3-day stay, we were able to reach out to four communities and to provide them not only with medicines, but also talks on proper hygiene, counseling, and prayer.

For me, the best thing about this experience was not the fact that I'm actually able to do such things as going out of my comfort zone, being brave, and exhausting my resources to help; but the greatest thing was seeing God's hand move despite my/our lack. Anybody else can do good works, and charity is becoming more trendy these days. But I would say that a most successful mission would be one that pointed and reflects to Him who started it all.

All for Jesus!


P.S. Please watch out for our online blog (for more stories and personal testimnonies of the rest) coming out soon - General Santos City Outreach 2012 (gensanmissions.blogspot.com).

Billet-doux



Photo by creativephotographymagazine.com



You are my hiding place

We meet and talk in places only both of us know about

Like a cozy shelter in the middle of the the rain

Like a quiet spot where all my weepings are hushed

The space between your arms

Is where my troubled heart is being balmed

A safe harbor of my deepest secrets

Of old scars and failures

A place where my fears disappear

Where only a sweet melody is playing

Where my soul is weaned and resting

I find no danger in the rush of a great flood

For a mighty refuge I have found

There's no other place I'd rather be

Where you are is where you'll always find me.