Thursday, June 24, 2010

Painting

Today I am still painting Jessica's room. She is really excited for the transformation. There are still more to be done like adding racks on the wall where she can hang her collections. Jessica loves nick nacks and collect things that she loves to hang on the wall, so racks are the solution to make her organize as well as not to deprived her interests.


It's a mess right now and don't know when I'm going to finish it lol.

To give you an idea of her old room here's the pics and also her room to be...


This is her old room







and this is her room to be look like, well not exactly the same but the color combinations are like these :) Green and blue (both light) and a touch of squash yellow.
I think it's gonna be beautiful. 

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Child's Heart

Today is Jessica's birthday and she said that she want to repaint and redecorate her room as a gift.  According to her...from a babyish to an  almost a teen look and feel room, lol . So we sorted out her things, I couldn't believed how many stuffs Jessica have in her room. She loves nick nacks, and collected most of her drawings and writings since she was 4 and I found this note that she wrote to us when she was 6 years old and it brings back memories when I wrote this article about Child's Heart in my diary.  I remember this note when she put it in desk in our room. This note is a reminder of an honest and pure heart.





A Child's Heart

Mark 10:15-16 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kigdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all... (NAS)


Children, they are helpless creatures. Bundles of energy that only stop running around and asking questions when they are totally out of battery. They seem to get into everything they're not supposed to whether they know they should or not. They climb trees, run around, jumping on high structures fearless and generally run adults ragged just watching them. Where did they get their energy? 


Jessica is one of our bundle of joy. She's an active tumble little daddy's girl but she loves outdoors like me, she loves to run around and do some silly stuffs. Oftentimes, whenever we were outside she'd go the swing and show off..."Dad, watch me fly so high like an eagle"...that's what she often say. She loves to ask questions and try anything she can get on her hands. It does not matter if it drives us to distraction or puts a big smile on our face. She want to learn, she wants to know. Children are like a big sponges soaking in anything we will give them. They are good listener and a doer of words. They are driven by a desire to understand the world around them and when they see something special, that is a priceless moment. They smile in wonder and amazement. The thrill of the moment of something simple like seeing a rainbow, or a bugs with unusual look or a bike ride without training wheels for the first time is a powerful things to them. They find fun in every situations, free from worries and cares of life.  They accept and return love and care unreservedly. Their hearts are pure, they don't hide grudges in their hearts, they can easily forgive and forget. 


Jessica wrote us this letter last Saturday night when we talked to her about how disappointed mom and dad for what she did at church. She and the other girl in church were laughing so loud and playing during prayer meeting. I gave her my "look" but she totally ignores me, so I took her hand and let her sat beside me until the prayer meeting is over then told her that we will have a talk when we got home. She got tears in her eyes as we talked to her about how we should respect God's house, and that she should initiate and be an example to other children at church. Ignoring to what is told is not acceptable, that it is not being considerate as well as laughing and playing during the service. She knew these things and she's doing pretty good at church, all our children are behaved and usually participating in every services and church activities. Probably, she just got carried away and need reminders. That night, before bedtime she came to me, hugged and say her goodnights. Hubby found the letter she wrote. She placed it in our desk in our room. I was so touched. Jessica is six and yet she knows what forgiveness means. She doesn't take it lightly or take it for granted. She is concerned about how we feel  and how God feel of what happened earlier and feels sorry that she disobeyed. 

I wish I could be like a child in God's eyes again where I can easily forgive and ask forgiveness to what I've done rather than blaming someone. That I could find amazement and wonder in small and simple little things in life. That I could have full of energy and not tired of bragging about what I have done for the Lord. I want to get excited and joyful, free from cares of this world. Without it, all that is left is the mundane at best. That I could be faithful in little things I do, so God will entrust me with bigger things. There's are so much to learn from a little child and there is a reward in the joy of a child. I wish I could have a child like heart . A heart that is honest and pure, just like our little bundle of joy. 


Happy Birthday Jessica! keep that pure and honest heart. God have something special prepared for you.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Imperfections

Welcome into a special place in my house, my laundry room lol. Not a lot of people can see my laundry room but this is the place where I can get frustrated because I cannot keep up in organizing everything and everyday there are files of laundry  to be wash. I think I spend the whole day washing clothes the other day :)

I have sometimes a tendency to be want everything to be perfect and my laundry room is a place of other imperfections.

There is a survey that called general social survey, and it been tracked down that recently women moods nowadays become less and less happy, isn't that interesting? We have given more opportunities and yet we seem to have more gloom. But there is a merit reason for that, I think one of the reason why women are less happy because we put really high expectations on ourselves. In fact, we want to be perfect in everything. A perfect family, job, looks, clothes, children, a perfect life, everything  has to be perfect, but that's not being realistic. More demands of responsibilities can be one reason as well. But what happens is with the increase of demands we tend to have high expectations on ourselves rather than realistically lowering our expectations we increase them and the results are when we don't do things perfectly, we're hard on ourselves and to others, when people criticize us we take it really personal. If our relationship fails, we feel like a failure and feels like giving up.

You know what, I've learned this on myself, instead of feeling like giving up, I give up on being perfect! there's a lot of freedom in that, you know why? You and I are not called to be perfect. We are called to be restored and forgiven and loved and covered in God's grace. We don't have to be perfect because God is.

2 Cor. 12 9...that we can rest in our weaknesses because thats the place where strength of God is.
Don't give up, but give up of being perfect, extend mercy into yourself and to others because we don't expect them to be perfect too. There is only one that we can rely on being perfect and that is God himself. So rest in Him and we will be more happier than ever.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Forgetful

Today, I'm getting crazy looking for my cellphone. I know I put it in some place safe but just can't remember where? I tried calling it but I did not hear it ring :(

I have a terrible memory nowadays? I've noticed that I've been very forgetful lately. Could be a sign of getting old. I forget about almost everything. Once, I was looking for our foster baby's stroller for days and we concluded that maybe somebody took the stroller by mistake in the church because we had bunch of babies there. But after many days, I suddenly remembered that when  I picked up my other foster at school, that was when hubby is out of town, I left the stroller in the sidewalk while I'm putting the baby back in his car seat!...good thing, it's not the baby ..lol. Then, there were times I bumped to somebody I know but can't remember their names. 

Most people remember either names or faces. Some really sharp cookies remember both. Most of the time I remember neither. It's so embarrassing. I've always wished that I had a photographic memory, like others do. I'm really bad with names. My brain is such an interesting piece of contradictory gray matter. It struggles to find the right name file for most face files. 



Sometimes I experienced selective remembering.

I don't want  to be selective, about remembering the glorious things God has done. 

Deuteronomy 4:9 says, "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." 

These instructions from Moses to the people are instructions for us, too. Forgetting was easy for them and, sadly, it's still easy today. The Message puts verse 9 this way: "Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves." Remembering the things He has done has a purifying effect on our lives. We need to "stay alert" and to "keep close watch" over the things in our lives that would distract us from what He wants us to do.

Temporary things will come and go, but verse 23 says that we have to "Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord." I want to be careful to always remember the Name of my awesome God and the things that He'd done for me, even if I can't remember the name of my first cousin.

Any suggestions about forgetfulness? By the way, I found my cellphone on top of one of the book in the bookshelf and it's in vibrate :)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tiny enjoyment of the day!

There are thousand tiny things from which one can weave a beautiful little pleasures for one's life.

For me there is always that which appeals to my senses. There are certain smells that I love like fresh cut grass, flowers in spring, roses, after rain, mountain air, fresh baked bread, perfumes and scented candles and soaps. There is the joy of a feeling the smoothness and smell of washed and clean clothes.Then there is the joy of seeing the glory of nature, the sky, trees, ocean, beautiful scenic places. God's wondrous creation.

Today, I am glad I was able to do a little of  my tiny enjoyment  of the day, making decorative scented soaps. It's been a long time that I haven't done this. I am sorting out things here and found a box of glycerin, soap molders and essential oils, the one I use for fragrances. It's been fun!

I'm sure everyone have their own tiny enjoyments that will make your day, at least to re-route you from a busy everyday routine.

These are what I come up with :)



Saturday, June 5, 2010

Finally


...the launch of my own blog for my friends are here :)

I blogged long time ago, only to be connected with my loved ones all over the world. I grew up in the Philippines so family ties are intact. Some of them are in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia and North America. We are a big clan and scattered everywhere:)
Since long distance phone calls are not cheap, and I have no time to chat online all the time so blogs came handy, free and accessible to keep us updated to each other of what's going on in the other side of our worlds. Mostly, we wrote it in our own dialect Tagalog or Bisaya.

I realized I have friends also that I wanted to share my thoughts, passion and my daily inspirations, so in able to do that I made this blog for my friends. Don't worry, I won't write it down in tagalog lol If so, I let you know what it means :)

I am looking forward on spending time with my friends here specially those who live far from me. I might not bring you for a coffee, but hey, we can share while sipping our latte here :)

Coffee is the word. It is available to all of us, doesn't matter what country you live in, what language you speak, you can get a cup of coffee without much trouble.
Coffee for me is friendship and warmth, an experience, an offer, a good excuse to get together. When someone invites you to get a coffee, it isn't because they are thirsty or cold, but more likely because they want to spend time with you. Coffee makes a promise :)

People who don't even like coffee usually love the smell and the experience. I have friends who don't drink coffee, but they never pass up the opportunity to go to get some. It's the place, the people, and the passion. They will have hot chocolate, tea, or smoothie or some beverage just to embrace the invitation to get together because we need friends. We need each other.