Rhyss! I'm going to wash dishes again. Then I am going to cook, then we eat, then I will wash again.

It's a vicious cycle Ma.

There are things/places that works like magic to me:

My boys' laughter...never failed to make me feel blessed

Aaron's hugs and Rhyss' "how are you ma?" after a tiring day

Bookstore...always makes me feel happy every after visit

My winter outfit...makes me feel pretty. Haha.

Kitkat...

Sammie's "I love you auntie Christine"...

Stormie Omartian and Joel Osteen books...

Pens, different kinds and different colors...

Massage...

Zumba...

Perhaps every girls dream is to be treated like a princess. Secured and assured that they are loved. Constantly reminded how precious and fab they are. The importance of knowing that they are special and needed. 

In the end, the only one who can fulfill all those is the lover of our soul. There is only one God who can do those things, accepting us even in our filth, and no matter how much we mess up. 

While eating breakfast, he choked. 

What happened? 

I am just not used to having my adam's apple going up and down. 

My knight in shining armor

I have so much work lately, no full time help, my husband out of the country, and my youngest sick. It was  like juggling all my roles altogether.  I felt so physically tired, emotionally burdened, and stressed. With that guilty feeling of leaving my children all on their own, my 13 year old taking care of his sick 5 year old brother while all his friends are on a grand vacation playing HOC.

My body finally gave in to  too much stress the other day. But my teenager just allowed me to sleep and rest, never complained, and took care of his ading even if it means depriving himself of sleep also. He waited until the schedule of his ading to take his medicine, and willingly administered his "banyos" because our little boy was still very hot at that time.

I am blessed to have a teenager as responsible as my son. So I will not anymore fear if he talks about how excited he is with being a teenager, with his adam's apple starting to show.

I just want to sit on a bench and watch the colors of fall...

Not too many people have the real gift of engaging in meaningful conversation. 

I never loose. I either win or learn.

Remembering you on your 61st

A sucker for travel and ballroom dancing, loves food and sleep, "seriously funny", richly generous, workaholic...I thank God for allowing me to experience 29 years of love, care, patience, and kindness from an incredibly strong and tough woman like my Mom.

Of sensitivity and compassion

If you cannot think of anything to say, better not say anything. 

I feel so much offended when people who are not close to me (and sometimes even those who I think are close to me) starts talking about my Mama's case with so much fanfare, asks me how the case went and start giving their comments, like it's just somebody they have read from the tabloids.  

Oftentimes I wish, I can slap them and remind them it's my Mama they are talking about, and no matter how many years passed, losing her in that manner is still one of most painful experience I had to go through.

Choosing to be quiet though, is still the best thing to do. 

Knowing sorrow allows you to value joy. Going through difficult times gives you the courage to face anything with faith.  Experiencing pain allows you to choose peace.  Working on your lot, fully trusting God, gives you more compassion towards others.

God can restore anything that has been stolen from you. You may have failed a thousand times or lost everything once held dear. But God has not run out of mercy. Nothing that you have done is too much for the mercy of God.

Zechariah 2:8

...for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye...

These are a few of my favorite things

Talking to and giggling with my Ee and Aa
Zumba
My bees' laughter
The bees' and the princess' hugs and kisses...and yes, Sammie's voice and how she calls me
Talking to my sister 
Ramyeon and wintermelon tea with my friends
Sunsets
Sleeping

You can't always learn when it's easy. That doesn't take faith. Some things you can only learn in the struggle. - Joel Osteen

Don't get burned twice by the same flame.

When excitement ends, discipline begins.

It's not love that sustains a marriage. It is the marriage that sustains love. 

Love is a decision. It is not a feeling. 

We all want to go to a higher level, but sometimes you've got to come off the mountain you're on so you can go up a higher one. - Joel Osteen

Psalm 25

1 In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.

2 I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

4 Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
    for you, Lord, are good.

8 Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

12 Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.[b]
13 They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
14 The Lord confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever on the Lord,
    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
18 Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
19 See how numerous are my enemies
    and how fiercely they hate me!

20 Guard my life and rescue me;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, Lord,[c] is in you.

22 Deliver Israel, O God,
    from all their troubles!

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves