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.

my GOD - GOD of all comfort

Among all the names that reveal God, this, the “God of all comfort,” seems to me one of the loveliest and the most absolutely comforting. The words all comfort admit of no limitations and no deductions.

Hannah Whitall Smith

God of all Comfort

We love seeing the word ALL if it points to something favourable for us. We love when  ALL of the shoes at our favourite store are on sale, or  ALL  of the candies in the bowl are dark chocolate, or  ALL  of the bills are paid in full. However, when  ALL  aspects of life seem to crash down around us, that’s a different matter. We find ourselves in desperate need of the “God of all comfort”.

Consider the ramifications of that name. No problem or heartache is outside of God’s range of comfort. He has unlimited resources –a vast wellspring – at his disposal. When we’re hurting, truly the loveliest name of all describes God bringing us not some comfort, not comfort for some things, but ALL the comfort we need.

The GOD of ALL comfort waits today to comfort you. No laminations. No deductions.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

                                                                                       2 Corinthians 1:3-5


day 1 of take my heart oh God

found a new love

*i meant found 3 new loves*

this lady here introduced me to the new loves of my life: 

malot & i in moon cafe, robinsons mall, cybergate

in the midst of training for the communications department (compassion international), i had a terrible tooth sensitivity issue. so i asked permission to have my tooth checked-up and according to my doctor what i am experiencing is called dentine hypersensitivity.  "it is sensation felt when the nerves inside the dentin of the teeth are exposed to the environment. The sensation can range from irritation all the way to intense, shooting pain (wikipedia)". glad that mine is just an irritating irritation.

i have to have a root canal, a treatment in which diseased tissue from this part of the tooth is removed and the resulting cavity is filled with an inert material. this dampened my day :(. 

good thing malot dear introduced me to two new things that saved my day :-D

yogorino yogurt

YOGORINO frozen yogurt!!! 

although their websites boasts, "it's not frozen yogurt, its YOGORINO... that's all". the sour and the creamy made a perfect blend"  :)

bentley's tea

BENTLEY'S GREEN TEA!!! 

    Product Description

It's a tea connoisseur's dream come true! Over 100 Bentley's Finest gourmet flavored premium black and green Tea from India and China bountifully fill this elite, hand-crafted wooden tea chest. Open it up and find that its lovely red-lined lid can double as a serving tray! From the classic, aromatic bergamot of Earl Grey black tea to the exotic taste of Passion Peach tea, there's a pleasing variety of our finest classic blends to treat your tea-loving taste buds! Drink a cup of royalty with Bentley's Finest Tea!

i personally do not like tea. this one's different. it's flavored. it has spiced. it has a little bit of a kick to it :). so i'm recanting my abhorrence for this tasteless thing now. i'm a fan.lol

fish mozarella melt

FISH MOZZARELLA MELT!!!

this has baked tomatoes underneath that makes almost all your taste-buds come alive. i am now putting spaghetti ala gambas to second position from the list of moon cafe favorites. 

ummm... what was i complaining about earlier? oh, right. dentine hypersensitivity. what is that again? hahaha. just kidding. i am sure i'll have to confront that problem later.

thank GOD for a blessed day :)

20 reasons why he dislike the philippines

i assure you with utmost assurance, you will only have two kinds of reactions after watching this, you'll either agree or dislike this guy. let me know what you think. lol

it's not so much the reasons that he cited that's irritating, because almost all of those really needs to be given considerable consideration and attention by our government and every concerned filipino citizens, but it may be because of the snobby, snotty, haughty, (okay, defensive. lol) our-country-is-better-than-you attitude. 


he is stating facts. no doubt about that. but, does he have to curse with an "F" word when describing everything that he doesn't like? Ah BASTA! this guy needs more than just a lesson in culture tolerance and constructive criticism but also a good whipping.


two comments i thought balanced it all out : 


comment one: american
"look,i'm not filipino ,but you know what,bro? you shouldn't say all these things.all countries have differences,negative or positive.It's not like our country, america is so perfect. we may not have some of these bad things that you see in the philippines but still, IT'S F*****G EVEN. we have negative stuff in america too,and other countries as well.there's no perfect country!

and i've got 20 reasons why i don't believe in races, just humans."

comment two: filipino

"as much as i'd like to dislike this video, i just couldn't. he is mostly right. and the thing is, there are a lot of things us normal filipinos can do and i'd start with the easiest:

1.stop throwing garbage / pissing/ spitting everywhere and anywhere (yea, he forgot to mention about spits)

2. learn to fall in line.

yang 2 yan di nga magawa ng karamihan eh (those two are mostly the ones that most filipinos couldn't do). Puro reklamo lang (they're all complaints). you do not need to be a genius to realize what's wrong or right. i mean come on? how hard can it be?"

declining knowledge

As wonderful as life is in so many respects, many of us look at our world today and wonder how we are ever going to get out of the messes that still seem to afflict us so sorely. Many people appear stuck in fairly unremarkable relationships at home or at work. Our political process seems broken by a fundamental incapacity to see our common interests or devise ways of pursuing them together. We become obsessed with our differences and fearful of others and absorbed with our entertainments to an extent that we seem unable to seriously contemplate how we might reach out to one another instead of building higher walls. It is for all of these reasons that the most urgent need today is for human beings to regain or discover a clear vision of God.

Observing this gathering calamity decades ago, A. W. Tozer wrote:

The decline of the knowledge of [God] has brought on our troubles …. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as he is …. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing [what most ails us at the present time].

Only a fresh vision of God will reorient us on the inside in the manner needed to begin to truly reorient our world on the outside.

*excerpt from Dan Meyer's sermon* 

undignified

it's funny sometimes when we declare that we do not need to please anybody - just ourselves. we say, "as long as this makes me happy, i do not mind what others will say". that truth is very subjective at times because now and again what makes us happy is when we see other people , our friends and families, our acquaintances and love ones,  approve and is pleased with what we've accomplished and achieved. i am not sure if that is also true with you but it is with me. i fail to remember that i'm supposed to "do everything, absolutely and undoubtedly, everything for the glory of God". 

last sunday's message was about the audience of one. our GOD. losing our supposed reservations so God would be glorified. do more and exhaust everything we got

i couldn't help but remember a long time ago when i was with my Immanuel Bible College group on a 3 day conference in waterfront hotel that involved a non-stop praise and worship for 5 hours. i can still see in my mind that while the whole congregation of people were jumping and swaying and clapping in time with the song, i just stood there clapping my hands. my friends from both sides, and from the front and the back of where i was sitting was already doing all they can so i'd jump. but i didn't. why? i'm not used to jumping and dancing, clapping yes, but dancing and jumping? gracious me! you may laugh but i was embarrassed about what will people say to me. i know i would look so awkward.

so the message hit me hard. and as always when God speaks to you, you sit in your chair and squirm and soak what he wants you to learn - so you could grow.

2 Samuel 6:17-19

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD.¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

david has been dreaming of bringing the Ark of the Covenant, which was the symbol of God's presence during the old testament times, to the city of david in jerusalem. king david was so desperate to please God so much that he sacrificed oxens and fattened lambs every sixth steps all the way to the city.

... and david danced before the Lord with all his might - wearing only a linen ephod... 

he was dancing in the streets a midst the blowing of ram's horns and loud shouting in praise for God's great goodness in allowing the Ark of the Covenant to be brought upon the city of david. he didn't care what he must have look like to the onlookers. all he wanted was to make God see how grateful he was!

but.

^{2 Samuel 6:16-20}

¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart...

she DESPISED him in her heart! talk about crazy! what were she thinking?! she was more concerned with what other people would say, with what the "slave girls" would think of her husbands dignity. probably she was thinking, "how would this make me look?"

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

what was the price for her indignant thought and insulting outburst?

2 Samuel 6:23

²³ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

as for David.

2 Samuel 6: 21-22

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

david was not called a man after God's own heart for nothing. he did not mind what people thought of him, he didn't mind what his wife had to say, he cared nothing about his status as a king. all he did was "danced and praised" God. and it paid off. God blessed him and michal got what was due her.

would i be willing to do the "undignified" (and i'm not just talking of dancing) for God's glory?
would i willingly "sacrifice" (if i'm really shameless to say sacrifice) propriety and poise so i can delight myself in him?
how about you? are you willing to do all that it takes?
or would you rather be michal?

*personal enlightenment comes if u read the whole chapter of 2 Samuel 6* (just saying)

One Day

20 years of being apart is sure to a be longgg time. 

on the first day that they met...

dexter : "we will see each other again."

emma: "i know we will."

...and they did see each other again, they meet one day each year on the day they first met for the next 20 years...

'tis sounds so sad :(. you ask why? here are some of the lines that proves it :

emma: "whatever happens tomorrow, we have today...i'll always     remember it... (see what i mean? sounds fatalistic.)
dexter: "maybe we could just be friends" (on the day they met)
dexter: "emma and i were just good friends, and anyway she's not my type" (dexter's answer to her mother's inquiry of the status of his relationship with emma)
dexter:"i'm so much better when your around"... 

 the official trailer

the movie was a story about ENDURING love (maybe). but still i think they should have been together from the start. i'm not so sure if their lives apart from each other was covered in the adage that goes "everything-happens-for-a-reason" kind of stuff or it was just the effect of bad decisions.

maybe, just maybe, they did learn something valuable but i am not sure if those learning where able to compensate the tragedy of emptiness cause by a life lived separately from the one that was meant for you since from the very beginning.

personal opinion: yes, they did realized something in the end... they were meant to be, that what they had since from the start was true love and they have wasted years, emotions, resources on other stuff that they should have spent with each other.

under the cover and between the sheets

destination: M/V Logos Hope

sharing here a few pictures i took during a tour with friends up on M/V logos hope ship

this diesel thing used to provide power for the ship from 1973 to 2008 when it was replaced because of a crankshaft failure.

one of the book that i was drooling to buy but haven't 

my least favorite character... eww

this one can be found in the "Life is a Journey" gallery in the ship

i say the picture is worth a thousand words! lol!

what do i think of the whole thing? hmmm... the books aren't as cheap as advertised but the Life X-Perience gallery was truly and experience :-D

this declaration is debatable... every single one of my friend here in cebu knows that i only have the courage to tour downtown  alone if i'm in a taxi :-D

forgot to take a deep breath say, "stomach in". haha

going home

from 1970's to the 20th century

life is a JOURNEY!

i felt like a kid tied to a chair and sorrounded by candies and sweets and lollipops and chocolates !!! books!!! lots of them :)

i will be forever regretful that i didn't buy this one :(

love this particular children's book. it has a lot of pop-up stories in every page!

the tour ended in this manner... adams singing lullabys and ate lani fighting sleep. haha.

shaken

was having a quiet coffee and breakfast with my sister... coffee half way to my lips when i felt the tremor -- i saw the glass of water shook and stared at it for a few seconds when it finally hit me that truly it was an earthquake! nobody is immune to fear - i was a bit scared honestly because when my brain grasp the idea that the tremor was actually an actual earthquake - my mind conjured only one image - Japan-... and i was like gosh! is this also going to be as bad as japan? thankfully it was not. later learned that it is a 6.8 earthquake and that almost every island near dumaguete (which was the epicenter of the quake) and some parts of mindanao has felt its "shake"... and that there was this alert for a tsunami for west coast of cebu and east coast of negros (i'm very embarrassed to admit i don't know if we are in the east of west coast of cebu!!!) and that there's panic in the colon area.

i think, sometimes, not having a television is a blessing in itself...


my mother from negros called me and announced that our living room suffered the most - it cracked! but other than that all my family and friends are safe. praise God for his protection.


her call though was not all that bad. she also mentioned that my uncle (her brother) and my aunt (her cousin) are now faithfully coming to church. 



certainly God's ways cannot never be measured and his wisdom is absolutely infinite!


------

almost forgot to post this picture.... this was taken in Chika-an, SM, Cebu City last January 2012. bff carina , leslie, and I had a really good time swapping stories and reminiscing funny moments from the past... thinking that what did not kill us really made us stronger :-D... wishing for more of this times. miss u Ca ..
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sister dear, ruby and i had a blast watching Saving Private Ryan and Tears of the Sun this morning --- abusing the streaming sites for free movies is waayyy good! and dearest dear sister was feeling generous and  charitable she did my nails and painted it bloody red! yay!
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yesterday's message was truly a strike through the heart. Habakkuk kept on hoping and clinging on to God despite the seemingly hopeless situation... even if it was looking as if God himself has left them. he learned to "Rejoice in his Faith".... trusting nothing but God's promises.

Habbakuk 3:17-18

        ¹⁷Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,

    ¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation!

   

note for self: remember, it is easier ALWAYS to walk by sight than by FAITH. so do not be deceived.
-----
ps.
loving the gloomy weather and the cool breeze. just wishing and praying that this rainy moments won't cost some people's lives or properties. 


bless this week Dear Father :-D

colored in between GreenS

taken in CEndet, Cebu City

like any other girls - pretty things like this amazes me