i can't try hard enough

pictures. i will be showing off some of the shots that i did with my sister's new camera. bear with me. i'll improve with more practice. these pictures were taken during the youth camp and from panglao island where i spent the rest of my weekend with sister and her husband.

leslie - at the top of balay silangan campsite, loay, bohol

this proves we are sisters... we play with whatever is in our hands when talking on the phone :)

 jori - at the foot of the bunk bed - in a room i shared with 12 more people. what do you think is on his mind? haha

 aliyah to me: "hi baby!"... glowing because at first i thought i'm the only one she calls baby. ha! it turns out that she calls everyone baby. 

 les and carsten's sliding door. my left leg looks bigger than the other. 

 les - in alona tropical. 

 mr. and mrs. madsen. watch out for the opening of their resort. alona northland resort (click to go to their website) on november 2012

 i know i already told somebody that this is my fave place in panglao. this place has a dreamy sort of feel. maybe because of the hanging stuff all around and the way the cottages are build. and the place has lots and lots of trees, goody :-)

 kayaks. waiting.... waiting....

 the window that i love - while having breakfast in alona tropical 

 lightning mcqueen and his gang. belongs to a boy having breakfast with his parents right next to our table. his dad is eyeing me suspiciously while i took a picture of his son's toys. lol 

  mango juice in the morning instead of coffee. what more can i say? 

 water lilies nearby :)

 panglao homes- quietest compound ever :-D

 :-D

worth the wait

at its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.

-          Flannery O’connor

worth the wait

waiting. filling time while we wait for the phone to ring and deliver the good news or get the bad news over with. standing in line. preparing for an event. or simply waiting “until things get better.”

but what if the good news we wait for never comes? what if things just don’t get better/ what if the waiting is meaningless? too many people abandon hope, abandon trust, and decide, despite the contradiction, to live happily with their despair.

our Lord has something far better in mind. in him we find meaning in the waiting. While we watch our hopes fade, he is turning our eyes toward a truer hope. while he makes us wait, we learn to trust our future dreams to him. waiting is hard, but waiting on God means the wait will be worth it.

for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

day 17 of take my heart oh God

summer lovin' 1

this was taken at cendet, cebu city. one of the spur of the moment shots and edited in picknik. don't you think it looks nice? i do :)

the loner

a midst the greenness of the rice field
you stood unmoved
no deafening noise...
no glaring lights...
no lurking shadows...


free from the bustle of the city traffic
free from the cobwebs of intrigues that tends to spoil one's life
free from being involve in a world of chaos


how lovely you are 
to be placed where heaven and earth meet...






by: *Lani Paloma- Gatumbato*

monday blues

i think i'm much more umm... indisposed than i let on. :( throbbing head, countless throwing up (no, i'm not pregnant!), weak limbs and abdominal pain, both eyes feels like they are going to pop out of their sockets and other irritatingly irritating stuff only women with problematic monthly woes would understand. haay. sa pagkakapoy!


feeling lazy so even if i think im gonna gag with the thought of jollibee for lunch i still went out (under the protection of sunglasses and im-soon-going-to-die-feeling) and bought jollibee!


sorry for the terrible post/rant :-D ill do better next time. i hope? 

why i love HIM

do i love him because he is too precious to me?
that loving him would mean my life?
do i love him because he is my happiness?
that without him i am nothing? lost?
what is being lost anyway?


one morning, i wake and called his name
didn't i do the same thing then?
but this day is different to me...
quiet different.


my thoughts crowded the room
calling the same name i've known
why this feeling unknown to me
 keep braggin' and pullin' me
from the person i've known to be?


i let my eyes go wanderin
maybe... yes, maybe i could let my emotions
go as a drop of rain
but no! i can't deny this feeling anymore
that keeps telling me -
"you love HIM"


i let my eyes go more beyond the scene
the bleak cold morning
the old weary sun
the lonely rugged mountains
the dropping leaves,
the empty highways
even far far away


but my thoughts keeps on forcing me to HIM, back to HIM
i look like a girl in love!
i whispered
Jesus... Jesus... Jesus...


why do i him so?
and of course i should know
He had loved me first








*by: Lani Gatumbato*

hope alive

all human race has something in common,

something elusive,

something intangible, invisible.

something enormously important...

behind every action

beneath every endeavor

lies this quite, persistent, creative force...

giving strength to all who believe in it,

and call upon it, and blend in into their lives.

HOPE... enfolds some people like a shining mist.

apostle paul was a missionary of hope - in an almost hopeless world

and it took a lot of courage for paul to stand up 

and tell those people that hope was real

and that is is almost as important as FAITH or LOVE.

if you lose all HOPE,

you stop trying and you stop caring...

each of US is put here

to HELP dilute the misery in this world.

keep your HOPE alive.