Monday, May 14, 2007

the single day i was more powerful than lacson, cayetano, aquino and others...

i woke up this morning feeling slightly sad. tomorrow is back to work day. how negative huh? greeting a wonderful day with sadness. then i turn to my daughter beside me...happily babbling to herself... and i realize, today is an important day for her, today we vote for her future.


I wanted to vote early, but hubby wasstill relishing the last day of vacation so he's sleeping in.
we got to vote at around 2:30, just afew minutes before the precincts closed.


i won't tell who i voted for, but knowthat they were well thought of. i chose not the really popular candidates butthose whom i really believed in. there were some candidates whom i knowwill not make it to the magic 12, but i voted for them anyway. i believe in themand i just know that with them, my vote will count, win or no win. i just feel bad for those who opted notto vote, because they thought that no matter who they vote for, the cheaterswill win anyway, so why bother. i feel really sad for these people. they are passing up on the only daythey are more powerful than any politician in our country. today we get tochoose who will serve us. today we get to decide who will shape our future by making laws. our chosen ones may not all win, but atleast we gave them our support, and at the end of the day, we did our part inthe electoral process. we did our part as Filipinos.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

for you my love

<rings

i was inspired... so i made this for you...

my spiritual gifts

last friday, hubby and i went to the Rivers Center to take our spiritual gifts test. we should've taken the test 1 month before but we were not able to make it since we had prior engagements. (austin's bday... sorry Lord).

then ealier today, saturday, we attented our 2nd post MSS module. as always we arrived late. the speaker was already discussing the different gifts that one can receive from the Holy Spirit. a few minutes later they started distributing a piece of paper with our names on it. it contained the spiritual gifts that they discerned each of us had. i was excited when my name was called, excited yet apprehensive. i was afraid to open the piece of paper to find out that i had no gift! honestly, i think that would've depressed me. but God is good and He gave me 6 gifts. 3 dominant, 3 subordinate.

here they are:

dominant gifts:
service
mercy
teaching (!)

subordinate gifts:
wisdom
knowledge
helps

how did i feel after reading this? my initial reaction was relief. i was gifted after all. after leading such a mediocre life, God loved me enough to give me such gifts. i was also surprised to have the gift of teaching. me?!? teaching!?! i have always been afraid of public speaking, i have no people skills at all, i always hated recitation and reporting in front of the class back in school... so why teaching?! well only God knows i guess. the gifts of knowledge and wisdom didn't surprise me as much. i have always loved to read, especially religious and inspirational books. but teaching?!? i felt extra apprehensive when our speaker kept on telling me that i was definitely being called to teach since my spiritual gifts were complimentary (teaching, wisdom, knowledge). she said that i should practice and hone these gifts. (pressure... pressure...)

finally, after the initial shock, acceptance settled in my heart... and gratitude.

God knew my weakness, and he chose that area so that He can challenge me to serve Him better. so what if i have no experience, so what if my very few forays in speaking in front of people turned out to be disastrous. God provides. God will never leave me alone. God empowers.
And so i hold on to His words:

When i came to you my friends, to teach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. For while i was with you, i made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially His death on the cross. So when i came to you, i was weak and trembled all over with fear, and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit.
- 1 Cor 2:1-4


Thank you Dear Lord for my gifts. Grant that I may use them for Your greater Glory!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

celebrating manila style!

As I’ve posted previously, we just celebrated our 6th year anniv as husband and wife last Friday (it was also a Friday when we exchanged I do’s last 2001) we were planning to go on a swimming trip, just the two of us. Hubby was already planning and scouting the prospective resorts we could go to, but of course work had to interfere (hehehe) i decided to just go on leave for half a day. Hubby fetched me from work, gave me the flowers and his other gift and we went straight to MOA. We ate lunch then ikot lang. i was trying to look for board shorts for Saturday’s family outing… but the good once are all sold out. We tried to watch a movie but all the cinemas except one were were showing spiderman 3…and we already watched that last Wednesday. ( the other one was showing “ang cute ng ina mo” ) so no movie for us today.

At around 4pm we decided to go toFortSantiago, the place where Rizal was kept prisoner before his execution in Luneta. Why here? We have always been interested in historical tours. The corregidor tour amazed us incredibly. We are now even trying to book us a tour with old manila walks. It’s just nice to go on an adventure where you don’t just go for sight seeing and picture taking, you also get to learn stuff and appreciate your culture in the process. Plus, well being a Mapua student, hubby used to bring me here when we were still bf/gf, we even celebrated one of our annivs here, syempre picture taking galore din even then. I remember, we had this really nice picture on the intramuros wall,but both of us were feigning a smile but ended up with a “simang look”…because before the pic was taken, we were arguing about the camera’s positioning. I was afraid that it would fall into the river as he rushes over to my side after pressing the camera’s self timer. I bugged him about it and I pissed him off. Hence the “simang look” hehehe…

We toured the museum, there was a group of foreigners with a tour guide and we tried to follow them, listening to the guide’s trivia and explanations, until he started looking at us. Buking! Hehehe. When we went outside we saw a “katipunero” having a hard time folding the Philippine flag during flag down. Being a C.A.T. officer in highschool hubby knew that the flag should never touch the ground, in reverence to our motherland. (officer din ako noon, pero di ko alam yon!) and here was this man trying to fold the flag with its edges all over the floor. Of course to the rescue and hubby ko! Here are some pics. Notice ka-kulay pa nya ng uniform ang mga katipuneros (lol!)

kahit off na ako, tulong pa din sanay na sanay sa C.A.T dakilang katipunero we sealed our fort santiago tour with a kiss

We left na soon after, we were tired, hungry and dehydrated. B decided to conclude our day with a authentic manila experience, eating at the estero at ongpin. Grabe lang talaga ang traffic! We wanted to visit the old church there but there was no parking area. Hay. When we got to estero, it was a bit crowded. It was a little street beside the creek with food stalls offering fresh seafood on their trays. You can request how you want you food to be cooked, whether stuffed, fried, steamed etc.. Dampa style eating with a distinct Chinese taste. We decided to stay in the upstairs aircon room. We ordered 2 pc stuffed squid, beef with broccoli, calamares, hototay soup, 2 rice and 2 cokes. Everything looked yummy and the preparations didn’t really take along time. Plus cheap too. Everything cost us a little more than P300. Haay, sira na naman ang diet, what diet?! Mwhehehe.

upstairs sa aircon room dinner is served!

After dinner, super busog na! we went driving around and were able to take these pics of manila by night.

manila by night manila by night

Hay, on our way home, kahit super sleepy na, we had to pass by a grocery store and buy our supplies for the family outing the next day. And when we did get home I had to cook some spaghetti.
Busy, happy, fun, fulfilling day.
Happy anniversary again honey!

Friday, May 4, 2007

six years!!!

six years ago we made a commitment in front of God and in front of man. today we look back and acknowledge that we have reached this far not by our own strengths but by God's grace alone!
happy anniversary hunny!!!!
his gifts? flowers, a day dedicated only for our celebration, and a pair of rings! awww... how sweet huh? what a way to celebrate this milestone!
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