Weekend Snapshot # 8 : Sunset

I like to gaze at the beauty of the sunset or sundown (in some American English dialects) becuase of it's bright colors.. the shades of red and orange are so vibrant and are lovely to look at. I took this picture last Saturday while I was riding the car, I asked my husband to slow down co'z I like to take a picture of the sunset... good thing, the traffic light is still red. I remember when I was still in gradeschool, my grandma will not let me go out of the house when the skies are yellow or orange, because according to her it is the time where bad spirits are coming out... I don't know if there's truth in it but I guess that's what their parents had told them a long, long time ago. But whatever my grandma says, I love to go out of the house and look at the clouds changing it's colors.

Cousins

Meet my new cousin Zafina Anika. She was born last April 17, 2008. She was so cute... with thick black hair, thick eyebrows and long eyelashes.. Her face is round like her mom.

Today, she was really crying out loud becuase she couldn't get more milk from her mom... her mom made no choice but gave her a bottle of milk. The bottle of milk pacifies her and causes her to fall into a deep sleep.

Meet the proud Kuya. His name is Z boy. He was very excited to see her baby sister. When we were in the hospital, I told him to pray that the nurse will allow us to take pictures of her baby sister. When we asked the nurse, she said yes. I told Z boy that God answered his prayer.. I was so amazed with his reply... he said.. Yes!..yes! God is Awesome!!! (with facial expression and a husky voice lol!)

While I was taking this picture, he always reminds me that this baby is her baby sister.... Really a proud kuya.. lol!

5 Reasons Why I was Missing...

I was missing in the blogsphere for the past weeks because of 5 reasons… (there are a lot of reasons but I just summarized them into 5)

First, I was busy accompanying my mom to the doctor because she was diagnosed to have a goiter. We will be back for another check up next week. Please help me pray that everything will turn out well for her. Second, my friend who is a pastor asked me to assist her in her trainings, and I was then busy helping her. It was a breakthrough for me because it made me wake up early in the morning since the training will start at 9:00am. I have to wake up then at 7:00 am… but during night time, I don’t have anymore time to open the PC and do my blog stuff because I’m very, very sleepy. Third, because it’s already summer time here in the Philippines, we are now preparing for our Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS). It’s an activity where we teach children about God and the Bible for a duration of one week. We are on our preparation stage, and we are excited of what the Lord will be doing for this activity. Our DVBS will start on May 12. Fourth reason, my husband made a music room for him to do his music thing without any distractions. But the sad thing was, he also transferred the PC into his music room so that he can easily do his recordings. He just seldom does recordings but I’m not anymore excited to use the PC because he’s always in the music room and is very noisy playing his guitar. Now, I was wearing an earplug while writing this.. (lol!) He always hear me complaining about how noisy he was… He asked me “what do you think is the best solution for this?”.. I told him, “buy me a lap top”..he.he.he.. (I was just joking) his eyes opened wide and was laughing because he was shocked with my answer. Lastly, the fifth reason was I’m just being LAZY for these past weeks, I feel like I always wanted to have a rest…

My next weeks will be quite busy, I hope I can still have the time to visit my friends blog and to write some post here…

God Bless Everyone!

Found Pup

We were very surprised to hear a crying pup early in the morning. We thought it’s from our neighbors given that we don’t have any puppies anymore. But still the crying didn’t stopped and we noticed that it’s from our garage. My husband went outside and tracks down where the crying sound came from. The crying puppy was under the car. She was a white cute little pup, of mix breed. She’s a bit dirty, skinny and it seems that nobody is taking care of her. When we tried to give her a comforting touch, she's a bit scared. We wanted to keep her, but we couldn’t afford to have so many dogs at home. We already have five dogs, and an additional dog will be an added expense to us. So we decided to find someone who can own her. I called my classmate because she told me before that her kids wanted to have a pup despite of the breed, but she already got one. I talked to an eight year old daughter of my church mate who happened to love dogs… she has asked me of a puppy before but the sad thing was, the puppy died because of an accident. I told her that I have something to give her… a new puppy… She seems not excited but replied “Okay, but I hope it’s white!”… “Yes, of course, the puppy is white”, I said. Her eyes opened wide and the excitement was now evident on her face… “When can I get it? she quickly asked.. I told her that I will give it to her soon until the puppy will become a bit chubby. She was so happy of that news. I wonder what name she will give to this pup. I planned to give the pup this Wednesday. I just hope this pup will be comfortable with her new owner and new home.

Weekend Snapshot # 7: Riverside

Part of my schedule every Saturday is to go to my relative's house which is located along the riverside. This is a very nice place for you to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. Everytime visitors come to their place, they never get inside the house immediately but instead look at the river which really calls their attention. One time, when I spend the night in their house, I suddenly woke up in the middle of night because I thought it was raining... to my surprise, it's the sound of the river.

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Time

Time is so peculiar. When I’m chatting around with friends, working with something very important and rushing to a place for an appointment, it passes faster than I’d like. Just like this morning, I was rushing to finish my school project which is already long overdue, I started working on it at 10:00 am and I was hoping I will finish it before lunch. But to my surprise, I finished at 3:00pm.

When we are in the midst of pleasurable activities, we cannot notice how time passes, but when we are in the midst of trouble, sorrows, pains and problems how we wish time could pass to soon. Many people wished that it would be the end of the world. But I believe that these are the times, where God is doing something in our lives. He is molding and refining us to be the right person that He wants us to be.

During this time of pain and sorrows, it may seem difficult to see the goodness of God. We might feel we are abandoned, neglected, we are alone… just like the story of “Footprints in the Sand”, but it is during these moments that we are assured that God is in control of our time.

"God makes all things beautiful in His time.."

What would you do? (Part 2)

My husband’s relative asked my mom in law to let her stay in the house. Mom welcomed her without any hesitation. Let’s just name our visitor, Ms. Melody. She said, she will stay in the house for a week after her surgery, mom gladly said yes. But she stayed in the house for two months.

Her long stay in the house would never be a problem except that she’s very demanding. She has a lot of complaints and demands that were sometimes beyond our ability to provide it. We understand she is sick, but she must also consider that we are not her helpers. A simple “please” and “thank you” to her demands could brighten up our day, but these words are few to her. By the way, Melody is with her mom and her boyfriend, so that makes 3 of them in the house.

After a two month stay in the house, Ms. Melody and company went back to their place for a week to rest. Hooray! We also had our rest. But we couldn’t believe that she came back too soon and texted us.. "Hello, pls. prepare coz, I will be back soon.. " What???? So demanding… She sounds to be the owner of the house, texting her helpers to prepare and clean the house because she’s coming back. So, she came back for her RAI Treatment (Radio Active Iodine). Mom told her, that she cannot stay in the house anymore after her treatment for health reasons… (effects of radiation), especially that me and my husband don’t have a baby yet. Melody agreed, and said yes.

But after that agreement, Melody asked her mother to ask my mother in law to let her stay again in the house. Mom just kept silent. The sister of Melody offered her place for her, but she said she don’t like it there. Melody’s brother also suggested that they will just rent an apartment. But she didn’t listen, instead she insisted on asking mom to stay in the house. She asked to let her stay on the vacant room used to be occupied by my brother in law. Mom did nothing.. (with a broken heart ) she said okay… but with conditions. The conditions were: first, mom will not be anymore preparing for their food, second, she cannot go to the main house, she will just stay in her room, because she needs to be isolated. She agreed to all these conditions.

FRIDAY
Friday, was her schedule for discharge in the hospital. We are so busy preparing the room for her, since it was not used for a long time. My brother in law took a leave off on his work just to help mom get his stuff on the room and clear the room. Mom was so busy that she even slept at 1:00am just to clean the room and make it sure that it is comfortable. I also helped mom the following day because I can see it her face that she’s really very tired. At around 3:00pm Melody called and informed us that she’s coming.

At 5:00pm she arrived home and goes directly to the room prepared for her, because she was not allowed to have contact with people. At 6:00pm, Melody complained about the room prepared for her. She said it was so hot and she can’t breath… there are lot of mosquitoes… My husband was so eager to help her in her discomfort, told her to turn the air conditioner on… (even though we don’t use it because our electric bill will get doubled) but for her convenience we told her to turn it on. But Melody didn’t listen, instead she went inside the main house and slept on my mom in law’s room. Hey? What about the rules? What are you doing Melody?.... My husband was enraged with what she did. Melody did not even appreciate the hard work for the room prepared for her. She didn’t respect the rules set for her.

Because we were so angry with her, we never came home that day. Mom slept at my sister in laws place. Me and my husband stayed at the school at Nazareth. We never had a good sleep that day because our hearts were so heavy that it wanted to burst out…

SATURDAY
At 8:00am of Saturday, my husband woke me up and said we will go back to the house and gave all the people in the house a lesson… (he.he.he.. I'm a bit scared) I told him to ask mom to go with him, since I have a seminar to attend.

Mom and my husband went back home… still angry. As they went home, Melody’s mother was their and explained what had happened last night. My husband also explained our side… (in an angry tone). After that incident, Melody, her mother and boyfriend, transferred to her sister’s place. Melody’s mother hugged me and said “I’m sorry for everything… I was so touched by her gesture and I comforted her. I even prayed for her…my husband also asked forgiveness to Melody’s mother because of how angry he is. But my heart was still heavy that day because Melody and his boyfriend just went out of the house; just wave their hands not even bothered to say the words “Sorry”… “thank you”… or whatever...

Wheeew! Glad they leave….

SUNDAY
We thought it’s over… 8:00 am it’s about time for us to go to church when Melody called. She asked mom to let her come back and promise not to go out of her room anymore… What???? Mom asked me and my husband, would it be okay?... But my husband said… you decide.. it’s your house. Just to please them, Mom said yes… , but only for a week. Oh well, I hope it will only be for a week…. I’m afraid they will stay for another months. They went back home and they were very silent. Melody doesn’t have any complaints anymore after that incident. She still had her demands but we don’t bother to listen.

TODAY
Just today, Melody, her mother and boyfriend went back to their place. I’m hoping that they will not come back anymore… (lol!)

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
What would you do if you were in our shoe? What would you do if they will call again and ask to stay again in the house?...

By the way, you can also read a related post on this at this blog Cookie's Corner.

Weekend Snapshot # 6 : "The River"

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I found this wonderful view of our river here in the city of Golden Friendship (Cagayan de Oro City), the Cagayan River. If you try to zoom the photo, you can see kids near the coconut trees bathing in the river. These kids found the river their playground... they even jump their way from the bridge down to the river without getting any harm. Before, there's a floating restaurant passing through this river, but it is not anymore available nowadays (I dont know the reason why). Everytime I pass by this river... there's always this fresh air approaching me.. really comforting and relaxing.

With this lovely river, what more can I say... I'm proud to be a Cagay-anon!

Happy WS everyone!!!