found this interesting wall thingy from my favorite bakery, bread talk (i don't know if its painted/drawn or if its a sticker), and it made my night. this is not objective of course but it nice to be reminded that you are an amazing person and that no matter what circumstances were in, there is something beautiful in all of us.
creating moments that we could remember in the future is the best. bonding time a midst the busyness of our individual lives something that we look forward to. ruby and i had six days of free time last week and we went to panglao to spend it with sister and her husband. they are on final two weeks of construction in their hotel/resort and we want to help out any way we can. and that any-way-we-can turned out to be mopping, dusting, crawling on all fours on the floor, heavy-lifting of furnitures,wiping, sweeping...blah, blah, blah
(confession: i am making this way harder than it was! hehe)
in reality though we did some help but we had a good night and morning out. carsten and his brother treat us to a delicious dinner and drinks after.
mango shake @ 11:30pm
moon peeking though the leaves while we're sitting on the beach
moon later at 1 am
then on the third day we head out to dumaluan beach and strategically planned to just sneak into bohol beach club without actually paying the 500php entrance fee *wink*. we planned to wake up @ 5 in the morning (take note of the word planned please), we woke up 6: 45 am and arrive at around 7 something. great. the sun is finally up and it already hurts the skin when you stay for 5 minutes (it is a wonder to me how white skinned people can stay out in the sun and baked)
ruby
les and ruby
what else was left for us to do was walked a little bit and settled in having breakfast.
fried rice and egg and veggies
best gambas i've had in three years! yes. it can only be found here.
old wooden tables
it was low tide... and the beach was calm and quiet with only a few vacationers and not one tourist (foreigners)
this guy right here was a little nuts.while sister were fixing themselves and changing into swimming attire... he kept looking at us and grinning with his missing teeth. funny but sister did not think so. haha.
too often we are fooled with surface appearances. we thought that if a person looks good and acts well-behaved in church he or she is a true picture of holiness and exemplar christian living.
a deeper problem is usually not visible with the naked eyes. we may have observed that we are too often very adept in hiding what is the true condition of our heart. we masked it, we hide it well because we don't want others to know that we are weak and we need help. i think this is also because we sometimes see our that problems are the same with what others are undergoing and they seem to be well-equipped and strong enough to overcome it with the sheer power of their will. we are embarrassed to admit that when we face the same problem we do not have the strength (enough) to go through it on our own. so we hide it... we cover it in our laughter, we cover it in more work/ministry, we slap others on the back, we entertain, we encourage but deep inside us we are crumbling; we long for release, we want to cry out, we clamor for help and too often we are too hurting to heal on our own.
we fail to realize that the problem usually runs deeper. when we see people with bad temper or insulting attitude we think, "that man needs to keep his cool', but unless that man realize that his reall problem is his heart , the motives, the desires, the longing, he could not really "keep his cool".
too often we get busy with life. we get preoccupied with something else that we are not observant that we have let the ability of our heart to function like it's supposed to, to long and want and desire for the things that is of God.
my heart is wrung-out, tired, achy, numb, and stony. i look forward to God's promise in this verse:
Ezekeil 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
finally! i have proof that i work with kids! i know i have already mentioned that i work in one of Compassion International's field project here, here and here. and i did mention that it is a fulfilling job. but i think im re-evaluating that statement....
i left my purse on the top of my desk to talk to some parents and settle some things outside. when i got back somebody pointed out that i have a new artwork scribbled on my purse. this is a hand-me-down but i love this :-(. Oh well, i think i will need a new one now.
re-evaluation done: this is still a fulfilling job! and the artwork isn't all that bad, right? now i have a conversation starter! :-)
and to answer the un-asked question: no, i still don't know the artist who did this but i have my suspects. one 15 months old and one 3 years old :-)
i had given way too much time to something in my life that i have unintentionally given my God the left-over. in my head I was thinking,
“God will understand, He gave this to me. surely he will not begrudge if i take
care of something that was clearly a blessing to me”.
i remember that i was scared of anything at all that would
“steal” my attention and devotion to Him and my ministry. i was careful, too
careful to the point of inaction, that i would displease him by prioritizing
other things in my life. i tried to balanced my time, my priorities, my wants,
my desires, my ministry and everything else but I always thought that God was
the center of my life.
lately that has not been the case. it is different now. my priorities
have shifted and i know I have been aware of it but was too caught up with the
niceness of everything to really mind.
then God in all his gentleness sliced up through my foggy
little brain in a way that only He could. i could not resist him. He does not
just want me to balance things out; with all the things that i want on this
side and Him on the other side. He wants to be above all things in my life. He
wants to be my life, the source of everything good and perfect.
It is undeniably true that when we behold God as he is, we
will see our real nature. Our selfishness. Our stubbornness. Our pride.
i was mortified. i am selfish. i am stubborn. i am proud.
And i really do not have anything. i looked at myself and had to hang my head.
Shame on me.
for months i felt nothing. i was not numb, i just felt
nothing. i ignore the gentle tugging of the Holy Spirit because i thought that I’m
okay.
i am not.
i keep coming back to God because i want something from him. i did not come to him because i want to make him happy again or because i love
him, but because I needed something and i he alone has the power to give
it.
i have kept doing it to the point where i got so weary and
tired with my own foolishness. i was shameless.
but God is waiting for me. He has waited for me. He was so
KIND. It is His KINDNESS that has led me to repentance.
I am sorry. I was sorry.
it is not easy letting go and
letting Him take over. even with the knowledge that he only wants what is best
for me. but that is faith. something I have to learn.
God is good. this time its not
just a trite thing to say.. it’s truly experiential.
i'm not a food blogger. far from it. but i'd like to share photos about this food place that my sisters went into last week-end. the place is called surfin ribs. ruby has already been telling me about this place and that the food is good so i was a bit excited. when we got there the small diner was packed and we had to wait, we were number 5 in the waiting list! i would just usually convinced the others to go and find somewhere else to eat that we do not have to wait and stand but this place has promise so i keep my mouth shut plus i have already smelled something that whipped my appetite :-)
photo courtesy : google images
we order the baby back ribs since the name of the place imply that that is their specialty, spicy crabs and two orders of hot wings.
photo courtesy : google images
we were given an apron so we will not blame the resto if we ever spilled spicy sauces of our clothes :-). it was the first time ever that i have eaten with an apron wrapped in front of me. we have to dig in and use our hands but it was one of the most delicious and satisfying meal i've had in a while. thank you to sister (youngest) for showing us this place.
photo courtesy : google images
photo courtesy : google images
one of the things that i love about the place also is that it's very... regular. you can eat fast without any fork or spoon and nobody minds you. they also have the most interesting washing area. check out the photos below:
loving this song recently. only one of the four that i keep on replay on my pocket tunes.
It all began
At the show island one weekend I was a friend of your cousin uncle said "hey how you've been" And with your checkered yellow-ed shirt on And my Reebok converse shoes on Let's watch something random (walked the debris filled beach) Turned into something awesome
And I smile I love no, I laugh happier somehow No I don't know what is up with me I laugh too much recently No, They don't know much about us When we're exchanging glances We'll figure out one day, What happened on your 24th 34th birthday [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/yuna-random-awesome-lyrics.html ] It all began with a simple Confession You I had an urge to kiss me you and I was on the verge to miss you (i did miss you, i do..)
...... okay fine.... i tried to re-phrase the lyrics... i am NOT a lyricist!
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