*moments w/ family & friends*

so how was everyone's Christmas? always hoping that all was well!

here's mine...
well first, i was happy to see my friends at willow and so grateful to see that the church was packed. willow held 12 services for Christmas and each one of them were packed. about 7400 seats not including the lakeside auditorium where people can watch in the big screen. just amazing! all glory to God!

nway, we hosted for Christmas eve... lots of preparation and shopping, we dropped off 2 loaded vehicles of stuff at goodwill... too bad they don't take baby furniture w/o manuals so I have 1/4 of my garage full of baby furniture to be picked up by NCCS on the 3rd. nway, with all the last min. stuff and driving here and there... thank God! - though tiring - our Christmas eve turned out just the way we had hoped for! plus, OUR BASEMENT IS DONE!!! just love the carpet and theater seatings... thanks to Christmas! i'm sure if we weren't hosting we would've probably waited till next year. i'm so humbled that my fam enjoyed our presentation of food and decorations... thank God for the strength, we couldn't have done this all by ourselves.

Christmas day, we went to my sis' place and spent the night there. my goodness! sooo much food! i feel so bad coz a lot of the food got wasted. so sorry Lord =( as usual we enjoyed every moment together. every laughter, every gifts, every hugz and kisses... plus we have a new member in the family... not mine, but my sis-in-law's new pug... my niece named her, bb (short for betty boop - her fave character).

pictures? was too bc to take pics.... but here's what i got

29th: great! i'm now a mom of a teen! NOOOO! my eldest daughter turned 13th last sat and i tell you... this has been the most stressful and confusing bday party i arranged. she just could not make up her mind. we had to cancel her original plan of having a sleepover. but i just have to have some of her real close friends (4 of them, but 2 only made it) thankfully, 2 of her cousins (almost the same age - last seen when we went to VA last summer) came over and added more color to her bday. thanks to 2 of my girlfriends, they stopped by too to celebrate with us (marge w/ fam & char). our house was once again a full house (when is it never anyway?). thank God for the life He gave my daughter and His amazing plans for what's ahead of her. Lord, may you guide her every step and keep her away from any harm and temptations. Help us raise our kids just the way you want us to. And may they grow to be a good example to their family and friends. Amen!

here's some pics:

so, now it's new year's eve... as a tradition, we go to my sis' place, have a karaoke and movie night... still have to buy some poppers and all that good stuff to welcome 2008 with lots of joy, laughter and love. may you and your loved ones have a blessed 2008 and may the Lord be the center of it all!

thank God for 2007 (may it be tough for you this year or just full of blessings) and let's embrace a new beginning the Lord offers us in 2008! God is good all the time!


continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others! thank you for your dedication, your support and prayers!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

just sharin'

it's almost midnight and i thought of blogging before noel and i start cleaning the basement. yep! we're vampires... hehehe really? we have lots to do in our list and we wanted to get things done right away before we end up putting it off again. weird? yep! i know.

quick update about project hope: thanks to our faithful supporters who promised to send in their donation before the end of the year... we've received $600 last week! all glory to God! please continue to pray for our trip this march. with our finances, we need God's help to make our trip happen.

nway, i thought of attaching today's ODB on today's blog since the message brings the true meaning of Christmas... i think it's important for others to read it just in case some do not bother reading the daily devotional section. i encourage you to read on and hope you'll receive a message that will stir your heart.

I sure hope I made it on time for everyone to read today’s ODB. Since for sure some of you, including me, will be on vacation for the rest of the year. So let’s start!

Two weeks ago, I gathered my kids to talk about the Reason for the Season... you know what Christmas is all about! You can just imagine the logical discussion we had... ah! the amazing questions they all had were unbelievable – as an adult, I think I learned more from them than they did with me. Anyway, after many Q&A and the excitement of gifts they look forward to opening on Christmas Eve and day, I asked them a question that brought silence in the room. The question was, “Since Christmas is about Jesus’ holy birth, what gift would you like to give Him for His birthday this year?” Well, after much thinking... we all came up with the idea of adopting orphaned children for Christmas by providing them with their needs through the help of our home church (www.willowcreek.org ) and as an individual to show God’s love to others by offering help (for my kids, it would be at their school) & prayers for people in need of one. For in Isaiah it says, “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.” The Lord wants us to serve others for this delight Him and once we do it others, we have done it to Him.

See, God’s gift of Jesus is most fully realized when we become messengers who feed the hungry, befriend the friendless, or offer hope to the hopeless. We can make sure that the decorations and lights lead us to know Christ’s peace and love and to share it with others.

When Christmas season starts, many of us become preoccupied with decorating & shopping. We invest our energy and money in this yearly ritual. Although, this can all represent our excitement for the season this also has a downfall... we become absorbed in the commercialism of the Christmas season that we place emphasis on material things and putting the gift of God’s message of love and salvation to the bottom of the priority list or sometimes totally disregarding it.

On another note, when we celebrate a child’s birthday, people bring presents for the honoree. Rightly or wrongly, the child expects presents and most guests would not feel right to come to a party without bringing one right? So, why is it that when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ (Christmas Day), we expect presents for ourselves and not for the honoree?

Friends, if you spent time and money getting Christmas presents for your spouses, children, grandparents, friends and co-workers... why wouldn’t you get a present for Jesus? This year, as we decorate for Christmas, buy gifts for our loved ones... let us not forget to decorate our world with the best Christmas gift of all... the love of Jesus Christ. What I suggest for a present will not cost you a dime, but it is a gift that Jesus will truly welcome and love. Okay, here goes.... drum roll... I challenge you to bring a friend, a classmate, co-worker, neighbor or family member to church for the first time as a Christmas present to Jesus, the ONE whose birth we honor. Now, if you’re one who’s been putting off going to church yourself... I encourage you to go and bring yourself instead.

Remember, a heart-work is God's work... not ours and it’s the best Christmas gift ever!

Once again, thanks for your prayers, support and your faithfulness in reading the Daily Bread I would send. May you all have a Merry Christmas and blessed 2008!!!

so out of it!

yep! that's me... i'm so out of it today. i'm working, but i'm not myself. u know the feeling?

so lemme just update you w/ what's been happening in my world...

besides shopping and prepping my home for Jesus' birthday celebration... well....
we just had a blast celebrating our annual frendz' Christmas party (16th yr). kudos to the magsingit fam for offering their new home and for the wonderful Christmas story and crafts to keep the reason for the season alive!

although we were incomplete, we made the most out of it. we had a great time from start to finish. the white elephant game (although the rules were changed - hmp! nevah again - rules are rules and we're stickin' to it next time lolz) and the apples to apples which turned out to be charades (don't ask!) brought too much laughter that by the end of the night my cheeks were hurtin'. thank God for such awesome friends and husbands who are absolutely nutz in the head just like the wifeys!

what surprised me though... by 2am everyone's tired lolz - tsk tsk tsk we can't hang anymore lolz! so does that have anything to do with our age? yikes! goodness! we're still young, but i guess too many kids really takes away your energy.

i'll let the pics speak for itself!

whew! thanks to blogging i'm getting my thoughts together.

i'm so looking forward to this weekend's service at willow and i sure hope my friends will be there to experience it with me and my fam. if you live in illinois... you're invited too!
come check it out www.willowcreek.org

i will definitely blog before Christmas... so blessings to you and bye for now!

stay safe and warm =)

here's a photo of a frozen tree caused by today's ice storm (freezing rain).

if things can wait (no emergency), stay in and keep yourselves warm - well at least to the ones who live here in the midwest. check on your loved ones and elders nearby. let's also pray for those who are suffering without heater, power outage & shelter during this difficult weather. if you have access to lend a hand to someone in need, let's do our best to help.

let's join hands as we lift up these people to the Lord. These people are in deep need of great comfort... may the Lord give us the resources to be His hands and feet to provide for them.

in Christ,

love

blog time - it's been awhile * )

this Christmas season is really keepin' me busy. i've been trying to come up with new things to do this Christmas, not only for my family, but also for my friends' 16th Christmas celebration together.

the reason for the season should be the focus and i'm so grateful that my kids are slowly gettin' it *wink*

last night at awana, i realized one thing... that we truly get Jesus' birthday mixed up with "it's all about gifts and us". so while playing with son yesterday, we talked about what we can give Jesus for His birthday this year... we came up with the idea of serving someone in need. we wrote it on a piece of paper, discussed it with the whole family and wrapped the paper w/ a nice gift wrap and hung it on the Christmas tree for Jesus. we prayed for the Lord to bring us to these people. we've also taken some wish lists from 4 orphaned kids, registered at willow.

we truly believe that when we touch others in the name of Jesus, we can bring hope and comfort. for the Lord said, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and His people.


*update (the highlight of this blog)*
i praise the Lord for one of my devoted ODB readers, Gloria Lyon. i never knew this 'till my sister had a chance to talk w/ her. i was informed of her courage and faithfulness in spreading the word of God w/ the help of the ODBs. she has taken the next step God has brought in her heart to proclaiming the good news... ever since she started receiving the ODB, she's been printing many copies of them and have encouraged 5 more people to volunteer with her to minister to the prisoners in the south side of Chicago.

all glory to our heavenly King! the Lord truly uses the smallest things in life to bring His gift of salvation to everyone. and i'm honored to be one of His servants.

and so i encourage you... that every act of your obedience to the Lord can be multiplied by our greatest Savior, Jesus Christ. let's spread the good news to everyone! we have a big job to fulfill with the Lord.

continue to be blessed!
-lovely

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

although everyday should be full of thanksgiving to our dear wonderful God, today is too special... i've incorporated something different (full of great memories) - not just traditional thanksgiving (no filipino food this time), but a day full of gratitude. i've asked each member of our clan to write down 5 things they're thankful for and out of those 5, we will pick one that is most significant to us and tell the story behind it. can't wait for every one's sharing!!!



we'll i'm just doing a quick blog since i have a lot of last min. errands to do. i wanted to share to you one of the most heartfelt experience i had with willow creek (our home church), last sunday. part of the thanksgiving service they included, towards the end of the service, the baptism of people who are ready to take the next level with Jesus Christ. the experience was awesome! so many people who expected to be baptized that day as well as people who just felt the calling to do so that day, most of them were all expensively dressed, some i'm sure with a $$ do, but nevertheless that didn't matter... the Holy Spirit definitely touched the heart of these people and i tell yah, i could not get myself together - i was in awe and tears just kept running down my face. the presence of the Lord was just too strong that day that even if the service was waaaay over, people stayed to witness this phenomenal experience of grace. i'm sure the Lord was absolutely pleased with the whole thing.


well, that's it for now... hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving with your loved ones! may you all be filled with gratefulness to our Almighty God, who has been soooo good to all of us from beginning up to the very end.


all glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ!

i would like to leave you all with a treat from yanna... here's what she does when she's bored:

overwhelmed with support

hello all, just wanted to say a quick thanks for all who responded to yesterday's odb (experiencing the unexpected). i was in awe just seeing how many people are praying for us as well as people who share the same experience as we do.

please kindly pray for my husband's former co-workers as well who were also let go. i'm sure they also have a family to support.

i see the goodness of the Lord in spite of our situation now. the warmth of the prayer gatherings we would do at home - all because we honor a ONE TRUE GOD! i truly believe in the saying: the family that prays together, stays together.

oh! btw, in spite of all this... the Lord blessed our daughter, Camille, as one of the top 10 Honor Roll in her school (out of 1k students - only 10 have made it). noel and i are def one proud parents.

thank you all for your prayers... it's definitely a powerful weapon we continue to hold on to.
all glory to our Heavenly Father!!!

Reflections (In Dedication to Our Dearest Friend, Ella)

Grazela Ventura October 20, 1976 - November 9, 2002

5 years ago we lost one of our best friends, El, to a terrible accident. She was a person who saw good in people even when it was hard to find. One of the ways we see ourselves is in the reflection of our image in other people's eyes. I liked the version of me I saw in her eyes, and I continue to miss it… and of course along with many other things about her. My reflection in her eyes was like a curved mirror in a carnival that shows people as taller and slimmer than they really are. I know I'm not as good a person as El saw me to be, but I think it made me a better person to see the possibility.

I know you have a special memory of our dearest El in your heart. Let it remain an inspiration to you to bring out the best in you and in others. So many things have changed since El died, some good and some are not so good, but because God’s mercy are new every morning we can wake up and see a new beginning and a brand new hope. No one knows us better than God, faults and all. Yet no one better knows our potential either. God sees each of us as capable of more than we can imagine.

We should all learn from El to be careful how we look at other people. If we see only their flaws, that will be their reflection in our eyes and perhaps all they may see in themselves. But if we see other people as God's children, if we see God's image in them, maybe some will see that reflection… God's image shining in us.

We dedicate this day in memory of our dearest El. May you all feel the comfort and unconditional love of Christ as you reflect the wonderful memories she spent with us.

Please join me in prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for being a companion and a friend to all of us. Thank You for sustaining and guiding us by the presence of Your Spirit. Help us to remember that the life we live is a reflection of our gratitude both for life on this earth and life yet to come. Remind us that both of these are underserved gifts from You and that all of this is made possible through the life of Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord for this opportunity that we can come together in unity as we give You thanks for the friendship You have brought upon all of us. Thank You for the time You allowed us to spend with El and for the wonderful memories we all can never forget. The bond we have for each other was made real because of the precious time You have taken to knit us together. We offer this day to You, in Jesus Holy and Mighty name, Amen.

*new creation*

i just have to do a quick blog about this.

a friend of a friend of mine (r u confused yet? hehehe) was introduced to me some years ago. only saw her couple of times if i'm not mistaken, but kept in touch with her via email. anyway, by the grace of God... she emailed me today with a good news that she was baptized on oct 17th and surrendered her life to Jesus Christ. WOOHOO! PRAISE THE LORD! a huge celebration in heaven again f0r another saved soul! i'm so excited for her. to top it off - that's my birthday. hehehe sorry i gotta throw that in. *wink*

nway, watch out for her coz soon she will be joining our blog team!!! congratz again, ley!

on another note, i wanted to share to u what happened to me last night. i dropped off my son to his awana club and usually i would go home while he's there enjoying himself with his new found friends. but the Holy Spirit truly knows what i need at the right time. for the past few weeks now, i've been reading some parenting books to equipped my husband and i on how to raise our kids the godly way. i'm currently reading "don't make me count to three" and the next one in line is "parenting is a heart work". well friends, i decided to stay for the Bible study and lo and behold the series was about "parenting is a heart work"! truly divine!

long story short... i felt so good being there. hearing every one's different stories and sharing different thoughts with new people i never met before. it felt great! i knew that the Lord is watching over me and guiding me as i so desire to obediently follow His provision. i'm so glad i stayed and i look forward to the next session.

ALL GLORY TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER!!! GOD ROCKZ!

continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others.
-love

weekend update!

woohoo! this weekend... although tiring... i was able to check-off everything in my list of to dos.
will post a before and after pic of my dinning. i'm so happy with the new look. thank you Lord for the strength - i really needed it. for 2 1/2 days i was totally wired to get it all done.

plus... managed to make it to my friend, lina's bday celeb last sat - got there at 10:30p even if i was pretty sore. unfortunately liz and lina were already leaving to go meet some friends at the club... so i just had a very short moment to be with lean. i sure hope she had a great time though. belated happy birth lean!!!

well, i needed the laughs that night - n sure thing i got it! tanx to my girlfriends - always great to be with them. left a 230a, but then again it was dst so... my daughter, c and i got home at 230a (which apparently was 330a).

sunday: instead of going to the adult service... i brought yanna to promise land for 2yr olds. and i must say i made the right choice... she sure loved it! i gotta hand it to willow. they sure know what they're doing. i was the only mom who stayed while other kids were there all by themselves. i've never seen such behaved 2yr olds. God is great! i sure hope yanna gets used to it... i really want her to learn about God at an early age. although she knows how to pray before meal... i still need to work on getting her mind and heart equipped with the word of God. i felt embarrassed when a 2yr old boy came up to me and handed us the kid's Bible and said, "here, read God's book, esp. the part with the donkey and say, AMEN afterwards. my mouth almost dropped i tell yah! i commend the parents of that boy, evan. oh wow! i just realized... his name is evan... and we recently just watched, evan almighty... a must see movie, btw.

i know i missed a great service since my family wouldn't stop making me jels about what they learned and the people who performed the play and the songs that were sang. grrrrr... that's ok, i wouldn't miss yanna's 1st experience with her new sunday school classmates hehehe.

will load some pics tomorrow... i'm too lazy right now, besides i need to do some reading and prepare tomorrow's ODB. (oh! btw, so sorry if i haven't been keeping up with loading the ODB online - will try my best to get ahead.)

keep the smiles and remain optimistic coz GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!!!

busy weekend ahead

i'm working from home right now. while waiting for my co-worker to email me a report i thought of blogging quickly. here are some of my to do list. although i'm not feeling quite myself today... i really want to try to get everything done in my list. so here goes...

friday:
1) send ODB (a)
2) work
3) go to walgreens & menards/home depot or lowes (whichever one i end up going - works for me!)
4) prep my formal dinning
5) gather tools for scoring the wallpaper
6) strip, strip and strip some more... hey! i'm talking about the wallpaper in my dinning.
7) patch holes (if there's any)

saturday:
1) the best part of wakin' up... FRESH HOT COFFEE!
2) prep my painting tools
3) paint, paint & paint some more!
4) if i'm not too sore and hopefully i'll be done right away... go to e's house to celebrate lina's 30th bday!
5) if it's unfortunate to go.... then i'm left with rest, enjoy my accomplishment or regret it - lolz

sunday:
1) praise & worship our good God!
2) have our weekend luncheon
3) if need be... work on the dinning if i'm not done by sat.
4) enjoy the rest of the night with my fam.

k, gotta get back to work!
continue to be blessed and happy friday!

I'm a newbie to this

Hello all,

Yes, I am new to this whole blogging thing, but I a ready to learn and share. Anyways, I want to start by saying a little about myself...Many of you have probaly met me or have seen me at some family event that was thrown by the Miranda family...Me and Lovely have worked together for over five years. I just want to say that Lovely is such a beautiful person and if she knows it or not, she is an inspiration to me....When I accepted Christ into my life a little over a year ago, she was one of the first people that I called...and I continue to share my experiences with my walk with Christ.

I will just say that the past year has been one of change in my life.....And I know that I am not the same person. On a daily basis, I acknowledge Christ as my savior and I always ask for his help in making decisions and believe me I am a living witness that Prayer changes....

PS: That is my little doggy PUFFY.....He is soo cute, but bad as H*LL....I will keep you all updated on his adventures

change is always good!

well, i've been contemplating on which blog should i keep. but i've decided to take this to the next level. i'm very optimistic so i really think that change is good. we just have to learn the process and soon we'll get use to it and eventually learn to love it!

so, what am i really proposing here... well, i created an account with multiply.com and so far i'm likin' it.... so i decided to go and transfer all the blogs created here and use that account instead.

i'll keep this one open for my team bloggers, but i'll start the link now for my readers.

hope you'll like it as much as i do! don't worry, if it doesn't work out, then i can always go back *wink*

be blessed with all the possibilities ahead of you!!!

Feeling Blessed?

I know I just finished blogging about our trip to Canada but I thought of sharing you something that hit me today when I went to the office with my husband to talk to our team. See, my husband and I have been in business for almost 7 yrs now. In the beginning of our business, I was more of making money and recruting everyone. Didn't really care so much for my people. And so the years passed, so many things happened in our business. Some people that we brought into the business are still here, some became our family, some are still clients for years, some still referring people, some still calls us and invite us for parties or just to have lunch of dinner, some became our sister and brothers in christ. We love all of them. It's funny because William and I became a mom and dad to them. Now, I don't even see this business as work anymore. I see everyone that we brought into this business fighting for their dreams, their families. One person I brought into this business. When I met him, he was so depressed. He lost hope. Didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't find a job. He has 7 siblings that his supporting and mortgage to pay. God gives hope. Doesn't matter how old they are. Some are 20's, some are late 40's, different background, some are just highschool grad, we also have professional - nurses, lawyers, doctors but then again when they accomplished their dreams, something is missing. They don't have the peace & joy. And God is the only one that can give them the PEACE & JOY. One thing I know for sure is God made us all and HE loves us all.

I've been reading this book called Guide to Success..

Let me just share you part of what I read.. It says ---

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Sometimes things come to us. The work seems to go smoothly and the rewards seem even larger than we expected. What, am i on the roll? we may want to ask ourselves. No, its not on a roll, its time of blessing. Sometimes God just seems to let us have so much, we wonder why He's doing it. Life seems wonderful,and we can enjoy it. But we can't forget that all this blessing has a purpose. God doesn't give a promotion without expecting we'll use our new position wisely. He doesn't give raises that He expects us to spend only on ourselves; we need to remember the work of His church and give accordingly. Feelings blessed? Have you asked God what you can do to share these blessings? ...

This part --- is really true.. Yes, William and I received so many promotions, awards, winning trips but the joy that we have now seeing our teams we brought into this business years ago are also receiving the the samething, making good amount extra income along with his families and kids. They now have better relationships with their families. Our hard woks pays off, with God's help. Our everyday talk with them. Meeting their families. Having them over here at the house just to talk and listen to them. Planning the events. Booking their flights/hotels. Preparing lunch/dinner for them. To make sure that they ate. God really made it all happened.

Today, I had a talked with one my team. I was almost in tears just hearing him to say Thank You to us for guiding him step by step when he was feeling down, when his business was not doing well, when mostly all of his friends are being so negative and didn't have believe in him, when he was spirtually empty and all I can say is THANK YOU LORD! You were there to help us. Another team of ours, who had breast cancer. Couldn't find a flexible job because of her situation with her 2 little ones. She was an accountant. We asked her what she wants out of this business. She just wanted to make extra money for her kids clothes but she doesn't want to build a team. Again, Thank you Lord! and now she can buy and help her husband at home and at the sametime spending more times with her kids. First time, I met her -- I kinda pre-judge her. She's late 40's and I thought she's not gonna be good in this business. And I was wrong. I asked God to forgive me right away. Now, this is her 2nd year in the business and she also became our family. Again, we just planted the seed but God made it grow. Thank God that we didn't listen to some people that actually said to us before that we will never make it to this business. Because only God knows. He has a purpose. God introduced WFG to us for a reason.We are just so thankful that were not only here to help our team to accomplish their dreams but God also put us here to let them know that God is the only way. Without God in our lives, WE ARE NOTHING.

Lord, we lift our team to you. Continue to guide them. You know who they are. You know their needs. We thank you Lord for many blessing you've given us. We thank you Lord for giving us the opportunity to work with them. Thank you Lord for using us once again. Lord, keep us from being proud instead let us respect you in all we do. Thank you Lord for making us to do good things that makes you proud. We could have not done this without you Lord. Let us be humble enough Lord, to recognize the others on our team and be thankful for them. We love you Lord! You know our hearts, our intentions. Lord, I know you know that It's not easy to work with people. But I know that you put us here for a reason.

Lord, I know that you are not done with us. We thank you, We Love you, All Praises to you Lord

Thanks for letting me share this here. Goodnite and Be Blessed!

Our first time long driving trip with Kai

Nice to be back! Came back this morning at 3AM..And I came to work around 2PM..I feel like we go out of town every two months. Lol. Which I am very thankful for and can’t complain. Really, this trip didn’t really go the way I plan it…I guess I just have to wait for HIS plan. I mean my plan was to take my side of family to Canada since they haven’t been there plus my parents doesn’t really like long driving or to even go anywhere. I mean Will and I been there 4x and this is Destiny’s 2nd time. I guess the 2nd time my mom actually went out of state was when they went to New York for my cousin’s baby’s Christening. (And I really had a hard time convincing them to go) and the 1st was when we all went to our first WFG convention back in 2001 (Las Vegas) I really thank our Lord for bringing WFG to us and this really give us the opportunity to visit different city, state and country. C’mon we all know that it cost money whenever you go out of town. This past trip to Canada – really its just convention but since my hubby doesn’t like to go anywhere without us and I have been telling him to go since the convention is only for one day and if the 3 of us go . We all know that were gonna ended up spending more and he said that it's okay just as long as we're all together. And that's very sweet of him...I know that I should be thankful because not everyone-- especially if their hubby or wife are going out of town for business. Most of the time -- the company are not allowing them to take their families or they just don't like the idea of bringing the whole family for whatever reason. I know that one of my colleagues here - she complains everytime her husband can't come home right away from business meeting and sometimes it will take him a week to get back. I mean we always go together to all the events and I love going with him but ever since Kalea was born. I'll be honest -its not easy to take a baby to out of town all the time. But I'm glad that my honey is always happy and excited to bring us.. So, I said 'Ok, fine".. So then -- we ended doing our vacation and this time really were not on that situation to be spending a lot. But God always Good! Even if our plan was not to do anything big. We still had a great time… Sorry – my memory card was full. And that is one of the reason I didn’t take any pictures from the HARVEST Party at Willow Creek. So thanks Love! =)

Kalea's trip to Canada =)

-Said our prayer
-Daddy cooked some hotdogs and eggs for breakfast
-Left at 5AM to pick up the Van
-Then we started driving
-Love, thanks for the CD. Will and I were listening it together and it was so cute because we would look at each other, smile, and nod. Lolz. Didn’t get to finish it coz the kids woke up. So, we started playing the Stellar Band CD
-Kai’s awesome –since this is her first time long driving. She was sooo awesome. We would only stop to stretch for 10 minutes and time to drive again. The drive wasn’t too bad. It was only 8 hours… compare to the 17 hours we did last time…
-And this time – we decided to rent a van with no TV. Just to see how Kalea is going to be… And thank god!!! She’s a trooper! Didn’t give mommy, daddy or Ate des a hard time. Either she was sleeping or talking. ha ha ha. We also had a great time talking. We had our time with Des and the rest was just me and Will.. We never ran out of things to talk about.. Lolz.. Especially knowing how talkative we are.. ha ha ha
- Convention was sooo awesoome --- it was only for one day-- so many good things going on and we are very excited for our team

Kalea just chillin and relaxin


Bridge to Canada





WFG Limo service for all the Associates


Dinner at Sushi Palace


Dad posing with Canadian money lolz



Kai and Des-- just woke up



Monday morning -- we went to see http://www.unionvilleinfo.com/ .Very nice place -- so relaxing to walk around

Uh Oh! I am getting an error saying that "We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota" Help anyone??? Love????

You can go to my website to check out the rest of the pictures.. Some-- I haven't download http://picasaweb.google.com/SantosFamily2007/CANADA



Anyways --i'll continue uploading more pictures later.. once it let me upload more pictures.. Again, thank you Lord for the safe and fun journey..Thanks for making it all happen for us...it was fun long driving again with my family and this time with Kai...he he he...Looking forward for our next trip and i think this time its just gonna be me and my hubby ( no bebe's allowed) ha ha ha and Lord willing --- it will be my family and my inlaws for our trip next year.

Ciao! Be Blessed

parties again?

yesterday after work, i had to run a few errands while in a hurry to get home on time since my 2 kids were going to their own separate halloween parties.

noel brought our son to his school's "halloween hop", while my daughter and i went to pick-up her friends and my gf, aileen. too bad dad didn't bring a camera, but you know for mom... cam is part of my necessity *wink*

well, off we went to elevate's "pumpkin bash" in willow creek. our girlfriend, char w/ des and her friend met with us there as well.

the girls had a blast watchin' and dancin' with the "stellar band" and def enjoyed the awesome activities they had put together. 1400 jr. high kids came. where were we? well, we ended up waiting at chilli's... of course we have to have our own fun too! as always, great talk with my girls.

here's some pics from last night!

both my hubby and i received a warm thanks from our kids for an awesome nite! just what we needed to hear to complete the night *wink*

but b4 i sign-off, just wanted to wish my gf, char and her fam a safe and fun trip to canada! see u all when u get back! can't wait for her endless stories and pics.

enjoy the weekend everyone! continue to be blessed and be a blessing!
-love

parties on a roll!

ahh! it feels good to finally blog. i've been bc running around all week finding stuff for the halloween party we put together for our friends (great way to see everyone since we hardly see each other).

well first, i celebrated my 31st bday last wed. i had a taste for seafood n since there's really no other place i know that my kids would dare to eat than red lobster (bsides we haven't gone there for years now)... they love shrimp anyway so why not take advantage of their endless shrimp special hehehe. well, after that late dinner we were all shrimped out hahahaha but i gotta hand it to my husband, he made our night perfect with his silly jokes and his talent in magic - i couldn't have asked for more. the entire clan weren't able to join us since it was school night. nwayz, again thanks to my loving and thoughtful husband, he gave me a remote starter for my bday - yep! he made up an excuse to be able to use my truck - not knowing he was getting it installed that day. thank God for husbands who look out for their wives' convenience esp. during winter. been using it since then... love it!

i guess the celebration wasn't over... my family along with my bf char coordinated a surprise bday party for me last friday. this was the 1st successful one hehehe ~ finally, no one slipped! ~

my hubby did a great job convincing me that we were going to watch a movie with the kids. man, i can't believe i actually fell for that! but all is well... i had a wonderful time! it's always good to be reminded of how much you're loved *wink*

note: click the thumbnails to see more pics!

sat: our 1st ever frendz halloween bash!!! i'm so blessed with such great friends of 16yrs. how do we do it? simple! we don't let anything get in the way... bsides love... understanding and support is the key! now we have the Lord to protect our friendship for life! now, what else can u ask for?

char and i were the hosts - and when you're the host, you gotta match with the theme! i was a school girl (but eventually was mistaken as britney spears - grrr!) and char was our sexy cop!

oh! and thank God for the glow sticks - the kids had their first disco party (inside their ate des' room)

anywayz, the highlight of the event came late that night - the Lord really does not waste any time. a friend was in need of encouragement and prayer. the Lord was glorified once again! and again, i'm so humbled and grateful to be used and be a part of His amazing plans (it was def unexpected)... esp. at a halloween party? c'mon! God is just sooooo good y'all! He sure is worthy of our praise and although coordinating a party is pretty tiring and puts a hole in your pocket... it was all worth it after having to experience the love of God to my friends. i'm sure char and her husband, will, can attest to that.

i have such great appreciation to the santos family for offering their home at the last minute! esp. with 18 kids (not yet complete i may add) but couldn't have done it without char's help! also, thanks to e for makin' it early... you're such a big help!

well, parties are starting to come up like waves... next thing you know Christmas is here! woohoo! i'm lovin' it! looking forward to each of them.

char posted more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/SantosFamily2007/CostumeParty2007

continue to be blessed!

*wish* has been granted!

as promised to our lil' yanna & our boy with a big 10... we celebrated both their birthdays just the way they wanted.

with balloons, cake, gifts, hotel room, pool, bowling, luncheon... the entire family had an OH! SO AWESOME TIME! i couldn't have asked to be anywhere else. of course mom had to do all the arrangements... the pay-off? not one person had a dull moment.

here's a summary and again i'll let the pics speak for itself.

~ checked in last friday at hotel indigo (highly recommend this hotel - very inviting, colorful, relaxing, best for kids to enjoy instead of having a boring can't touch this or that hotel room - if u know what i mean *wink*) both kids and adults loooooooooved it!

~ ate some sumptuous food

~ said our grace to our Heavenly Father... thank you LORD!

~ swam till midnight! - we had the pool all for ourselves.

~ when the kids woke up, they went straight to the pool, while the adults hung out in their very comfy lobby, enjoying our bf and starbucks (ahh! the best part of waking up... who says it's just folgers? hehehe)

~ went to sagano jap rest in downtown barrington for our luncheon (yummy!)

~ went bowling (we all had a blast dancin' the chacha slide coz everyone in the bowling ally participated at one point)

~ the boys hit some balls at the batting cage

~ and of course... took the opportunity to go church (it's fuel time again! this is the 2nd year we're tackling our fuel handbooks and this time it's about the amazing life of moses - can't wait to share what i'll learn from it as we go through this series - stay tuned k!)

~ i was sooooo tired, but the boys still had the energy to watch the pacquiao fight.
for all it's worth... we thank God for a wonderful time He put together for yanna & ayre's birthday. thank you Lord for the plans you have for our children. may you guide their way and keep them safe in your loving arms. all praises and glory to you my Lord!

*sweet mood*

when yanna's in her sweet mood - big brother just can't resist!

power of self-control

k, before i share my newly found hobby (hope it'll stay that way hehehe) - meditate: self-control love, self-control! (i need to read the daily bread i sent today and i mean i need to read it over and over again to master it in my life) whew! k, now back to what i was trying to say...

i'd like to share my thoughts to char and all the other married couples out there who struggle from the adjustments marriage can bring. i'd like to remind you though that i'm not an expert, but simply being a friend, sharing to you what noel and i have realized and learned from our own struggles. of course we still have our misunderstandings - but thankfully now we are aware to handle it God's way. i would also like to point out that it doesn't matter how long you've known each other or if you have been married for 5, 10, 20, 50 yrs... marriage is a lifetime of adjustments. there is more to it than what you've been through so far. we should learn from our mistakes... not to take one another for granted. we shouldn't dwell on changing each other and pointing out flaws instead we should work on building and encouraging each other up. there's nothing more promising than to put God in the center of your marriage. He will give you the desire and power to change, you cannot do this on your own nor can you change your spouse. one of the best blessings we have in our marriage now that truly is helping every areas of our lives is that we do our devotional together before we sleep.

we're grateful to know that a big part of being married is to please God. i really believe that marriage must involve three persons: God, the husband and the wife. entering a marriage relationship has a life long commitment and God forbids divorce (that's in the book of Matthew). honestly, as for me and noel... ever since God renewed our spiritual marriage... divorce is never an option anymore.

and to all the singles out there, i encourage you to choose your marriage partner carefully. in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 it says, "one should never enter a relationship, as intimate as marriage, with those who refuse to honor Jesus as Lord. although my kids have a long way to go, this was actually our topic the other day. that we prefer our kids to be with someone who loves the Lord with all their heart, mind and soul. why? because having Christ as the first in your life brings great peace, comfort, joy and agape love.

~ ok, that's our lesson for today hehehe ~

anyway, i will post a picture later, but i recently joined karate and kickboxing class with my daughter, camille. and i could say it was definitely AWESOME! i'm such an unfit person hahaha, i'm not into sports nor have failed myself in many exercise techniques (classes, videos, equipments, etc.) that's why yesterday i felt like i was at a boot camp or something hahaha. those push-ups & sit-ups i had to endure hehehe i like the jumping jacks, but anyway, over all it i really think it's worth it. i must say though that kickboxing really pushed me to give up. my legs gave in on me. i'll try again next time, but i was commended by my peers coz they said for a first-timer i did more than what was expected and performed pretty good. however, my instructor said "i knew you're going to be the problem child!" hehehe - well coz i was giggling a lot. yikes! k, i hope i keep up with this... need self-control. i can do this!

i'm glad my daughter loved it! it's a great time to bond with her too! (in a different way - seeing another side of each other)

k, back to work!

Our Marriage Review

Hello readers, I don't even know where to begin. Thanks Love ( putting me on the spot there..j/k)lolz.. First of all, let me just say Thank you lord for another great weekend especially the sharing that I am about to tell you all. It might be a little confusing so bare with me

Hope that I don't lose you . =)..So, ill try to keep it short ..we'll see

William and I have been married for 3 yrs now. And we went out for almost 6 yrs before we got married. Every 6 months or a year . we would have our Marriage Annual Review ( You talk, I listen), See William and I are totally different people. He is more on the serious side, very expressive and very emotional. And here I am the comedian one, unexpressive about my feeligs and unemotional( not all the time - okay). Hey, that's what makes us a good couple -- opposites attract..lolzz... Well, Saturday morning after our great meeting with our team. My hubby went straight home around 2PM and asked me if we can have my mom babysit the kids for the rest of the afternoon but I just came up with an excuse and told him that my mom is working that day. Really, I was just trying to avoid his question because I know exactly that he wants to have our talk. So, Yes -- I was pretty nervous...Knowing me --like i said.. I wasn't even ready. I didn't have anything ready to talk about.. Lolzz. I am not gonna tell you guyz the whole thing here but I will just give a good example.. Basically, my honey and I was saved and accepted Jesus Christ on Sept 2003. I started going to church before him but I noticed the my husband has more desire to follow the Lord and be obedient to HIM. Don't get me wrong, I also do have desire to follow HIM but I am the slow process and I know that God's time will come. At home, William does more of our devotional prayer and listening to Bible CD --- and I do the reading and research ( whenever I have my question). He asked me If i still love him. I said of course especially He is now a new creation, that’s who you are. He is changed, transformed by the love of God. He really didn't believe me right away. So, i had to explain to him in a very harsh funny way. But even if we kinda ended our conversation in a very confusing way. He was very understanding enough to just leave it alone and let me relax and have time to think. lolz..So,him and destiny went out to get some food.... I know that it wasn't done. So today! YES! and we just actually finished our dinner and finally continued our talk and finally finished this subject. Today i apologized to him from the harsh words I said yesterday. See, since I wasn't ready to talk yesterday. He was asking me some questions. If he was boring me -etc.. And I paused for good 30 seconds and I said 50-50... But I didn't' get to explain it to him right. But you can see the look on his face that he sort of understood and confused at the same time. So today after I had a talk with my girlfriends, I went to the car for good 20 minutes and I just prayed to give me the wisdom to talk to my husband. So thank God for the words. This time - he finally understood what I was really trying to say. We both know that our Marriage is not something that is going to be easy. We will face many more spiritual battles than we are facing right now. We both have to have a committed prayer life and devotion time ( not just him doing it) but also me with HIM. To be apart of a marriage team and not afraid of anything that Satan will try and destroy our lives. We both know that God knows everyone’s desires and knows that He will lead us on the right path. I know that HE desires us to show the love that He has for us in everything that we do and that means walking it out daily in our lives and to experience the true marriage in God is to let Him be an author. I know that even if we both made mistakes or have our downfalls from everything -- No matter what we know that God is there. He is the head of our marriage. Its not about looking at our mistakes anymore but its about learning to love unconditionally even through those mistakes. I know that God wants my 100% commitment, my heart and be obedient to HIS words. And may I say that I am guilty of all these. God is soo good! He just made a way for me to wake up and realize what I've been missing. I thank God for my husband. I thank HIM for being able to share HIS feelings about me anytime and it helps me a lot. I learned something new everyday. What did I learn from this talk experience? First of all and the most important - that one should we believe and trust our most loving Almighty God in every step. God ways are perfect. I have changed ( it will not happen overnight) but all things are possible with HIM and I have a new changed loving husband. Of course there is so much to be done, but we leave everything up to God. Well, gotta go to sleep now. I think my husband is about to read my blog soon..lolz.j/k. Hes been asking me to sleep now. See, one thing about him --If you wanna know. He can't sleep when I am not next to him. Before, I find that very annoying. Now, I find it very sweet. Thank you Lord for all your words of wisdom, your promises, your love, for directing me to the right path, the trials and forgiving me always. Thank you Lord for our marriage. We know that you are not done with us yet. We love you Lord. Goodnite!

All the praise and glory goes to our Lord, Jesus Christ

double celebration

i planned to blog yesterday, but i got lazy to even get near the comp so here i am taking a break already from working.

whoops! i had to log off earlier coz i had tons of work to do. so i'm here again.

nway, mama's 2yrs old in heaven now. her celebration along with my son, ayre's bday turn out great! my siblings n i were so pleased to see some of my mom's good friends. brings back great memories.

also thanks to my 2 lovely best friends, char n marge along with their family (whom of course are my extended fam 2) were there to make the night more complete. we had some great laughs...

can't believe it has been 2yrs of heavenly life with my mom and 10 yrs of earthly life for my son! plus, this friday will be my youngest daughter's 2nd bday. we're planning to celebrate it differently this time (specifically requested by ayre - don't worry i'll for sure blog about it) - we're celebrating both yanna's and ayre's - too excited for them!

k, i think i need to recharge my mind... i'm lacking things to say right now coz of the surprising revelation i got from someone close to me...hehehe let's see if she'll blog about it, otherwise - oh well! my mouth is purrrfectly sealed.

so since my mind is blocked from words... i'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

njoy d rest of ur nitey nite!

Don't leave Char unattended- lolzz

Man Oh Man! -- Im still at work.. Just waiting for the time so I can go home. My boss is not having a good day today. So I can't call and make personal phone calls ( to chat..lolz). But its okay - Im listening to my praise and worship song over here at work.. Thank God for the Crosswalk site and it's not block...Yipppee! Thank you Lord... Well, just reading the blog ---since February 2007 -- As I look back-- we did and accomplished some stuff here huh...God is good!.. Almost 8 months already.. Wow! how time flies huh.... k --- im just jamming here and sort of babbling here while I wait for the time




Well -- as you can see I am just reminiscing here "Our good ol'd days"..lol
Guess what I am eating right now.. I just took a picture of it. ( thanks for the camera phone.lolz) ... here you go
Fresh tomatoes from my co-workers with Tajin ...Yummmy





You gotta try this... It's the best...Okay! I think I can go home now...

Oh btw - if u want to picture me while typing my blog.. Here's my computer ( at work)



and here are the pictures i have on my desk..My kids ( my friends babies, my family and my babies)
-- sorry, camera phone makes the pictures kinda blurry -- but i think you can pretty much tell who's in the pictures. Right..lolz----



K -- i think I can go really really go home now...Im going to my Mama's celebration.. But I still have to pick up my mother dear and my bebes.... k vavooo


Enjoy your weekend!

Tomorrow is a very special day for our Dear Mama!

Our Mama is a Christian,
In every important way
The fruit of the Holy Spirit
Is displayed in her every day.

Our dear Mama is filled with kindness,
With love and joy and peace;
Her patience and her goodness
Inspire, and never cease.

She follows our Lord Jesus
With faithfulness, and more
She's gentle and has self control,
She knows what prayer is for.

Thanks Mama for being a Christian,
And showing us how to be
We will follow your example
For all eternity.


Tomorrow is your special day with our Lord Jesus Christ. Know that you were the center of everyones lives. Tomorrow we will celebrate your day- the life you lived and all the things you gave us. You left each and everyone of us a sweet and wonderful memories. Please think of us as we think of you always. =)

Kids and their activities

Today was a fun and busy day for me. Thank You Lord for the coffee! =) For some reason --everything was just moving so fast today. I went to drop off my Lil Kai at my mom's house this morning. I went to work then left around 2PM. I went to pick up Destiny and take her to her Orthodontist appointment. She has her workshops today for student council( not at her school but different school in Schaumburg). She's trying to run for either district rep or president. I am so proud and excited for her and the rest of her classmates. There are only 5 of them in her class that are involve in student council. I also got to meet her new teacher. As always-- we were chatting and she wanted to see Kalea too. It's so nice that my sweet daughter invited me in to look around and talk to some of the students and teacher ( at Robert Frost Junior High School). I was gonna say No because I was such in a hurry to do my errands ( Wednesday or Thursday) is my laundry day =) . I know probably to some of you is not a big deal but I've been actually doing this laundry day of mine -lolz for the past 7 years now. I never do my laundry on weekends. Because I try to have my weekend open for ( different things except house chores) lolz. So right after I drop her off - I went home and separated the clothes and did my laundry. I didn't get to finish my laundry 'coz I wanted to go to my mom right away and see Kai. We had dinner at my mom then we went to pick up the kids ( Des and 2 of her classmates Radha and Chloe). I promised their moms that I will take their kids home. But my mother dear and I wanted to go groceries first.. So we went to food 4 less.. The kids was being so goofy and so loud - they were doing their dance inside the store. Guess what? I didn't stop them and I even cheer for them...lolzz... Finally! we were on our way home to drop off Chloe. Oh goodness! I thought we were just dropping her off but Chloe's mom wanted to see Kai too and again -- chat for few minutes ( hey, my dearest mom was enjoying our conversation too lolz). She has her own studio. Here check out her website www.photographybyjune.com. Next stop- is Radha --- Radha's mom actually been a good friend of me and William. She's been to our office several times and sometimes she would call me if she has to go somewhere and need to drop off Radha. Today she was so cute. She said that she's been busy and one these days she will cook Indian food for me. Lolz.. So sweet... I love waking up every day even if how sleepy or tired I am . I just thank God for another blessed day to be alive. I love seeing Des with her many activities and can't wait for my Lil one to be doing that someday. Yes! It is tiring but the best feeling ever that I feel so bless, proud and humbled to be part of my families activities. Tomorrow will be another day and tomorrow will be Destiny's first day to experience with AWANA. I can't wait to hear her sharing.It's such a great feeling to just be able to study HIS words and share the goodnews to others. We love you Lord! We Praise You Lord! Thank you Lord for being there with us, for guiding us, for listening to us,for directing, for caring, for dying, for loving us. Through you Oh Lord we receive the power to do all things. Praise to your Lord Jesus Christ! Nitey!

traffic jam!

wow! a usual drive of 30-40 mins turned out to be 3hrs. however, what better way to make the most out of this time, but to blast a praise and worship cd! yep! that's what i did. besides finishing my coffee right away, singing at the top of my lungs, saw some damages caused by the quick storm that hit yesterday, cutting the split-ends i found in my hair (ewe!), i had a chance to evaluate each person's way of dealing with traffic.

the results: about 75% of the people i saw were annoyed and frustratedly talking to themselves, undeniably swearing at whomever they're blaming the traffic to. tsk tsk tsk so sad =(

but through it all... on the other side of the road, me, myself and i made the most out of that moment. although i typically don't enjoy sitting in traffic, i had to keep a positive outlook. i know things can come up and ruin my day in a blink of an eye... but as i focus my time in singing praises to the Lord and just talking to Him about everything i had in mind, it helped me realized that it is truly our choice to make the most out of something so irate or uncomfortable. besides, we never really know what could've caused the unexpected circumstances that comes our way... there are many reasons, so why beat myself and waste my energy for it?

however, once i found out what was causing the major traffic jam, i immediately took the chance to pray for the people involved in the fatal accident which also caused some closed roads. i'm not quite sure what really happened but i prayed that God will take over the situation.

so bottom line... instead of ruining your day coz of traffic that is way out of your control or a situation that wears you down... be of good cheer for when we keep our mind on God, God gives us peace of mind.

remember: life is not made by the dreams that we dream but by the choices that we make.

continue to be a blessing!

Our Sweet Memories

Oh My Gosh! Look at Us...

barney's the bomb!

yanna loves barney, the purple dinosaur. the show really is a good learning influence to my kids. here's a sample of the many things yanna learned from barney. she's known this since she turned 1!

how to count 1-10 in swahili (africa's language)

have a good night!

up all night *priceless*

hey there nat! great to hear from you... we missed you, but we understand your hectic sched. thanks for the kind words... i'll call you later. =)

i'm working from home today. noel and i were up all night watching and talking. it is those moments that we treasure the most. we talked about so many things (trip to the philippines, project hope, the first time we met, childhood memories, friends we haven't seen in a long time, the kids' future, etc.) that we didn't realize it was so late already. but after all that we always go back to the Father. we joined hands and lifted everyone and everything in prayer. we do that every night. it has helped our relationship and our communication grow into (like what noel says) "a great achievement that many couple tries hard to do, but fails."

the Lord can do that... i'm not saying we're a perfect couple, but the Lord continues to transform every area of our being.

look what i found last night! these are the simple things in life i truly treasure.
noel's old letters to me, some are back in 1992 and here's what caught our attention...

isn't that amazing! we didn't see each other for over 2yrs. but now...

let see, let me use noel's own words: "i loved you then (1992), but i'm in-love with you now."

keep the sparks alive! treasure the simple moments and fall in-love over and over again.

have a blessed day!

long time no blog

sooooo sorry to all, i know i've been a stranger. been busy with school and weekend trips with my family.

hi lovely, charisma and marge! lovely, you're giving me goosebumps (in a good way, mama!). so sorry for the loss. my thoughts and prayers for the garcia family too.

i just wanted to say hi to everyone reading the walk2remember blogz. yes, lovely's right, i hope you all continue to be blessed by her encouraging stories. i know i am as well as my mom and my husband.

i may be busy with school, but i do look forward to lovely's daily bread (which sometimes you do miss to send, mrs. miranda - hmm! j/k)

okay, that's it for now! till next time beautiful people!

God's doorstep

yesterday morning i received a phone call from my sis informing me that ansel went to be with the Lord at 2am yesterday. both tears of joy and sorrow surrounded me as soon as i received the news. joy, because the Lord's timing was amazingly incredible. that out of all people He used my sis and i to witness His loving mercy and grace to the garcia family... and sorrow for i know how hard it is to loose a loved one.

when we are struck by trials and tribulations, many of us try to make sense out of it. however, many of Jesus' teachings don't make sense when viewed from a human point of view.
Jesus' teachings contradicted many of our human understandings. the strong will not always finish first and the rich will not always be powerful. Jesus promised mercy to anyone who believes in Him. He promised that those who mourn the loss of their children would be comforted. i believe this promise with all my heart; as i am constantly reminded of my dearest mama that even though she left this world bedridden, i now picture her walking, talking, and enjoying the place of pure happiness, in the very presence of God. same goes with tatay (my friend's father-in-law), my aunt, and ansel who took advantage of the time they had left to accept the Lord with all their heart... and now are all enjoying the PERFECT PLACE God has prepared for them.

you too have the assurance to enter the kingdom of God if you just repent of your sins and believe that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sake. when you do... the Lord promises that you will not perish, instead you will have an everlasting life with our Heavenly Father.

i encourage you my friends to enter the doorstep of salvation through faith in Christ. believe me, it's a wonderful feeling and you will never regret it.

"our thoughts and prayers to the garcia family" - may the God of all comfort surround you all during this difficult time.

continue to be blessed!

Celebration in Heaven

did you know that when one sinner repents, God calls for a celebration in heaven? yep! he seeks for shepherds whose desire is to rescue lost sheep. He's not just simply recording transactions or making a mark every time someone gets saved. He so longs for the souls of the lost that he will go out and pursue them. then when the wayward lamb is brought into the fold (once lost and now found), heaven itself is barely big enough to contain His joy. that my friends, shows the seeking heart of our Heavenly Father. why am i saying this? because it was an honor to once again have witnessed God's saving grace to the 5 people my sis and i met last night.

here's the story:

my sis has a co-worker whose father was diagnosed with lung cancer last december. chemo was not helping at all which resulted the cancer to metastasize. he is under home hospice for it has now affected his liver. given 2 mons to live, we were kindly invited to pray for him. his name is ansell. he was so delighted to see us and kept thanking us for praying for him. that experience brought memories of my mom and my friend, alice's father in-law. all suffered from lung cancer, but have joyfully accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

my sis and i felt the pain that grace, the only daughter, and the wife were going through. i saw myself and my siblings in grace's eyes. the desire to make her dad feel comfortable, the tiredness, the longing for hope, the indescribable pain of seeing a loved one suffering from this deadly decease. all i could do last night was to hug her, offer her my friendship and encourage her to look up for hope. if i could just stay last night to listen to her cry of healing, i would've. i can't imagine how hard it is to go through this and be the only child, the only strongest one in the family (at least physically).

however, in spite of this trial in their lives, i know the Lord has a better plan in store for them. that this experience will make them stronger and that the Lord will be glorified in the end. the Holy Spirit has certainly guided our coming in and our going out. we were able to witness not only to ansell, grace, the wife, but also to ansell's 2 sisters. from one question of "how did i know how to pray that way?" to another definitely opened the door for salvation.

after almost 2hrs. of an unforgettable conversation with them, my sis and i felt that the joy of the Lord has entered their household. what more can i ask for? we were in awe and joyfully delighted to once again have been used to get God's message and love across to His lost people. remember, we're only the messenger, but God is the message. and that's an opportunity i cannot pass.

all glory to God!

continue to be blessed!

-love