Godly Heritage

The Patts Family

Since before any of us were born, God planned for us to share our lives with each other. He knew exactly how our strengths and weaknesses would balance one another, and the depth of love, understanding and commitment we would learn to feel. He knew that the richness of our separate characters would be developed through the hard times, and that mutual trust and respect would be born as a result of overcoming the trials together.

He knew that we would laugh together, and cry together. He knew we needed each to hug, to help, to teach, to share, to love. We needed a family that you can count on.

This year 2011. Our side of my family had a great reunion held in Panglao, Bohol, Philippines, the hometown of my parents. It was wonderful to be with my loved ones. I am so glad that I belong to a family that loves God and love each other. Thank you to my parents who set a Godly example to their children.

I will pass this Godly heritage to my children as well.

It's been a great year to our family!

May you have a wonderful journey this year of 2012!

God bless.

Christmas Decors

The tree is not up, the wreath is still in the box and some other Christmas decorations that we usually have every year. Last year, although we celebrated Christmas in Australia, we had a chance to put up our tree and few christmas bakings which my kids love to do. But this year, we will be going to the Philippines earlier than last year, so we had no chance to decorate. But nevertheless, we had few things at least to make   our house a little festive :) 

The Nativity 

At least we have a tiny christmas tree :)

A blinking capiz Star lantern in our window

Josel, my son made this for us 

He even make one for my family back home in the Philippines. The Patts Family

More ornaments. We'll use this in our tree next year.

This one is not a christmas decor, but it was given to me as a Christmas and birthday gift from a good friend. Love her. She chose the modest one too :)

A Royal Doulton Doll, her name is Kate. Isn't she beautiful?  

and of course, flowers from special people in our church. Made me feel so loved. Thanks.

We will be leaving in two days to Philippines, but I'll keep in touch! 

Got to go, I still have more packing to do.

God bless.

I Have A Purpose

I AM A MOTHER AND I HAVE A PURPOSE!

I am not anguishing I am not floundering. I am not deceived.

I have a vision. I know who I am and who God created me to be.

I know my purpose. I have direction. I know God’s mandate for my life.

I am walking in the perfect will of God.

I know it’s not easy. I know it’s hard. But I’ve counted the cost. My goal is set. How could my career be easy when I am impacting this nation for God?

Also the generations to come! And eternity!

How can it be easy when I am destroying the plans of the devil?

Such is the power of my God-ordained career,

the highest calling ever given to women—motherhood!

I have embraced my calling. I am not intimidated by antagonists.

I will not be moved. My heart is fixed.

I may be hidden in my home, but look out world! I am sharpening and polishing my arrows. I am getting them ready to shoot forth and destroy the works of the enemy. In the power and anointing of God I am advancing His kingdom!

Fragrances

It's a habit that stucked in me since I was young. I love to collect perfumes! specially the sweet and floral smelling scents. I just love things that smells good :). But It took time before I got to finally find a perfume that really suit my personality. There are so many amazing perfumes out there and it's pretty challenging to find that really suits you and amazing on you. Not all branded and signature fragrances can suit you as well although it can be fun. Do not be fooled by nice and prettiest bottles, but take time to smell it first yourself personally before buying it. 

Here's some tips that can help you find the right fragrance for you:

 1.To keep it simple, perfumes come in five general categories. 

Fresh, sweet, floral, oriental and woody. Decide on these categories you love. Or you can have all of these scents and can wear them on different occasions, depends on your likings.

Heavier scents are more appropriate for the outdoors or night time, while lighter scents are better suited for places like work or school. But if you want a signature scent, look for something that will transition well between different scenarios. It's quite pricy but you don't have to worry about having two scents on different occasions.

2. To make a good choice, you should go to the perfume store in the morning when you can smell things better. However, if you have cold or you are tired, you should put off your visit till another day.

3. Try perfume on clean, non perfumed skin. During one test you should try only up to three different fragrances because your nose will not be able to recognize more scents. Smell coffee beans in between testing to neutralize the scent before trying another one. Some stores have coffee beans ready for you during testing.

4. Do not smell the top of the bottle or it's cap because the scent you smell is not the real one. You may smell an odor of alcohol instead. You should not also try perfume on the piece of paper but on your skin.

5. When you spray perfume on your skin for the first time, wait for about thirty seconds until alcohol evaporates. Then you will be able to find out what the top notes of perfume are. The top notes are highly volatile, it evaporate quickly and  not last very long. The base notes have a profound influence on the blend. They are very long lasting ( it comes out 20 minutes to 2 hours later) :) That's why when I'm buying perfume, it took me a while to figure out the smell.

6. If you have already decides which perfume to choose, buy the smallest bottle of it. The expiring date of perfumes is usually up to three years from the manufacturing date. Even if you do not use your perfumes often, they may change. 

I love fresh and sweet and spicy scents. Fresh are refreshing in summertime while sweet and spicy are my all season favourites. My favourites right now are Carolina Herrera, Euphoria, Giorgio Armani Code and Burberry Brit and my day scent " sweet little things" from Victoria's secret. 

How about you? Do you care for perfumes and fragrances? What is your favourite scents?

Have a sweet smelling day everyone!

What's cookin'

There are days that I enjoyed cooking a lot, like today and some days I wished I could fill my freezer with process foods, just heat and eat. No sweat. But that would really make me feel guilty, because I am convinced they're not that healthy and it doesn't come my family likes. I love cooking fresh vegetables, seafoods and meats that's why I make my own freeze ahead meals. It will take some time but it can be so comforting knowing I have those meals for those evenings I simply don't want to cook or no time to cook :)  

 There are ready to eat meals available in asian restaurants, but still no beats home cook meals :) and can save you some money too.

This is what I cooked today. Filipino foods are complicated . It takes time to do one meal. Adobo and beef stew are good toppings for steam rice.

Pork adobo 

Calderetta (beef stew)

I made wontons (uncooked). Some will go to freezer for next batch.

... and some for today :) 

Did you make freeze ahead meals? 

Have a great day!

Laughter

It was a lovely day today, so we were all able to hang out in our backyard and enjoy the weather. While kids are playing, I sat under the tree and try to read a good book when a naughty bird drop something right into my head, a smelly gooey thingie..ew! It could have dropped anywhere around me, but no, it landed on my head. I did not get upset, but instead we all laughed. I laughed at myself and imagine God is laughing along with us. I love His sense of humour.

In study of gelatology, the way laughter affects the human body, and have discovered that laughter is a natural stress reliever. It improves circulation and muscle tone, and it increases your heart rate and certain hormones and endorphins so that you feel better. Laughing usually leads to a brighter outlook on life and is good for the body and soul.

Laughter is good for us. It is a gift from God! Proverbs 13:15 says " A Merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." It changes our mood and allows us to see the world through new eyes. We also need to laugh at ourselves as we tend to take ourselves too seriously at times. We should allow the laughter to bubble up from our depths and infect others with this amazing medicine. It may be hard to laugh when things aren't going well, but in those very moments something light and humorous little things may be just what you need to pick up your spirits and help you handle your stress. Find some bright spot to lift up your day. Take time to laugh.
I thank God that we have been given this gift of laughter. I thank God for giving me a family that loves to laugh.
Our God must have laughed a lot when I came into being as I have done, and will do, so many silly things in my life. I don't encouraged someone to go around and make fun of every situation and laughing at inappropriate times. There are so many times when we are overwhelmed with what each day offers and maybe the burden in this world weighs heavily on our shoulders and we find ourselves sulking all the time. It is at those times that we need the strength and the incredible unconditional love that only our God can give us to help us through, but there are also times if we can smile or laugh the situation will be so much clearer to see.
Did you know that smile and laughter is more contagious than colds and flu?
Did you laugh today?

Tis Season to Give Thanks

This month is  a reminder to have a thankful heart, although we should give thanks to the Lord each day and all throughout the year for what He had done to us. Reminder is a good thing because sometimes  in the busyness of our life, we forget to express how blessed we are. Giving thanks not only for the blessings but to every challenges along the way , good or bad. Our God is  always our strength. 


I love these verses,
" Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; and he maketh my feet like hinds feet, and will make me to walk upon my high places..." Habakkuk 3:18-19.


As I pondered with it this morning, my heart is full of thanksgiving! His Word is full of promises that we can claim everyday. No words can express how thankful I am for the things He had done in my life. I rejoice in Him. I take joy in the God of my salvation. He is my strength and he makes me walk on the high places.
Our joy doesn't come from our blessings, our JOY is our blessing, His PROMISES is our blessings. As we enter into this season of thanksgiving and as we focus on the many blessings God has bestowed upon our lives, let us remember that even if there are things that we give thanks for were to be taken away, we still have cause and a reason to rejoice. He is the I AM and no matter what comes against us, God is able. He is our strength. 


Everyday is a season to give thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!