Welcome 2016!

While everyone's welcoming 2016 with  loud bang's and colorful fireworks display, I was quietly praying to God for His favor this new year. 

Looking back at 2015, it was not as fulfilling as my career in 2014, not as exciting as my 2013 adventures, not as interesting as my ministry in 2012. I was asking God to make my 2016 just like these previous years, and He rebuked me.

He reminded me to not dwell on these past achievements, 'cause He prepared something new for this year, the future glory is greater than that of the past. Oh yeah, I remember the verses. After Google'ing the exact verse, I opened my Bible app to this:

Little did I know that it's the app's verse for the day. I smiled. I thanked God for His Word. Praise God for a very timely reminder, and assurance of His greatness. 

“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT

"The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

Haggai 2:9a NLT

Why Christmas?

It's been 2 years since I lost that (super) excitement for Christmas. What gifts to buy? What clothes to wear? Party here, party there. I get frustrated with the christmas rush -- the traffic, the mall, the noise. Everything has been so commercialized. (Or does it come with age. 😝)

This morning I woke up early for work... Left the house while the sky was still deep blue dark, the cool breeze softly blowing, the streets so quiet. Waited for almost an hour only to catch an SRO bus that looked more like a service bus for children's excursion. A 50+-km bus ride, me standing, with only 4 hours of sleep (for the 4th straight day). Yeah. It's Christmas.

And so before this Christmas day ends, before I say "another day had passed," I asked myself what makes Christmas so special. I don't want to wrap up today as another day. I asked God to make me feel how special Christmas really is and He reminded me this song....

EMMANUEL HAS COME (Don Moen)

Christmas is about His glory
Christmas is about His grace
Christmas is a gift of love
Our father gave us
More than just another story
About a special time and place
Christmas is a time to lift
A song of praise

For God with us
And we celebrate
The glory of His presence
Christ has come
To fill our hearts with love
He came to save us
King of kings and Lord of lords
His Name is Jesus
God with us
Emmanuel has come

Angels fill the night with singing
God is reaching out to man
Bringing us a gift of hope
In Christ the Saviour
More than just a time of giving
This is God’s eternal plan
And Christmas is the reason
We can sing again

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Remembering Glenda

July 16.

It has been a year since we had an unwanted visitor --Glenda! It's a tropical cyclone with a 37-km wide eye (as big as Manila City?) and powerful winds that hit gusts of around 213 kph.

I remember I was on duty the day it landed on the eastern part of the archipelago. Everyone's panicky. I understand. Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devastated Visayas just 8 months earlier. I wasn't that worried, I'm used to so many of these tropical depressions, habagat, storms, typhoons -- 20+ each year! Besides, Batangas is not usually on the typhoon path. But Glenda was different. Night came and it started to whistle. Glenda made its presence felt. Later on I heard violent winds playing with the roofs. Our house was vibrating and I was shaking. Glenda kept me awake that night.

The next morning, we were shocked with the scene. We've never seen roofless houses and toppled trees in the neighborhood before.

Well, at least the typhoon stopped.. and so we thought. After an hour of silence, the winds were freaking out again. Water came rushing inside the whole house, and one of our windows was slammed down... As if Glenda had just been recharged for a much wretched comeback!

Our whole morning was crazy as we attempted to prevent the flood from coming in. The rest of the day was crazier as we find ourselves roaming the house wading through the water, even dining with our feet soaked in flood.

Well the rest of the week was the craziest. We had no electricity for the next 4 days. Candles and batteries were like precious jewels you can't easily find. Water was also scarce. Even fastfoods don't have them. Not to mention of course the damage done to the whole Southern Luzon and Bicol Region.

Glenda's damage was said to be the 7th costliest Pacific typhoon, 3rd in the Philippines.

Yeah, Glenda is unforgettable.
Thank God we survived.

My 2014 in Review

Thanks FB for the Year in Review, but I'd rather list down important things, not based on the number of likes or comments, but what's really memorable to me.

So, here's my memorable 14 for my 2014:

1. I celebrated my 30th birthday doing stuff for other people (I think that's a very good reminder that I'm not just a grown up but a matured woman looking after the welfare of other people). So, I celebrated my 30^th (almost) every month… ^,^

play time with the baby CyD

2. I welcomed a new man in my life -- no, not yet that man -- it's baby CyD!

3. I've been using Sun Cell's freebie and this year, I finally bought a smart phone.

the beautiful Calaguas shore

4. Finally I was able to go to Calaguas -- 5 years in the making! It's my best beach bumming destination so far.

This year also brought me to the wonderful Biri Rock Formations in Samar -- an amazing display of God's majesty.

5. I tried something new this year -- wakeboarding. It was not a success, but I enjoyed it.

6. I tried something weird -- civet coffee, whose beans passed through the civet's gut.

7. 2014 also brought me to my first out of town professional lecture – in Chong Hua Hospital, Cebu City -- and a major speakership in PhilSPEN's SINGs.

8. I had the most toxic cycle menu this 2014 -- a Renal Diabetic Diet for 4 weeks! @,@

9. This year, our family bid goodbye to Apo Conrado.  We also lost our furry love -- Scrappy Doo.



TS Glenda's aftermath in our backyard

10. It was my first time to experience the not so usual blow of mother nature. When typhoon Glenda hit Batangas, it was the worst I experienced. The wind was so violent, then we had no electricity for almost a week, and water was so scarce, you can't have it even in restos.

Another unusual was our flooded street day before Christmas.

11. Our family was able to invest in real property -- an answered faith goal for 2014.

12. My life (death) plan was completed this year, then I started another life insurance.

Baby Cydlings in sidera

13. This year’s Christmas vacation is my longest -- and my most workaholic. Our tiangge experience is really something!

14. In 2014, I said yes… to some… thing!

The best is yet to come -- for me, my family, and friends -- this 2015. ^,^

Malapascua Island

happy feet in Malapascua

This one's our first stop for our #AVinEV Adventure.

Malapascua Island is a small island of the municipality of Daanbantayan in the Northernmost part of Cebu Province. It's mainly a diver's island known for the thresher sharks and manta rays.

Activities:
If you're not into diving, enjoy Malapascua's marine life by snorkeling. (I think Sumilon & Sombrero Island offer a lot better snorkeling experience.) There are (table) coral reefs and fish sanctuaries, and a Japanese shipwreck. If you don't have your own gears, the resorts usually have rentals. Or you might just bump into a boatman who'll offer you the island tour with the snorkeling gears included.

The Japanese shipwreck is located near this watchtower. 

Other activities in the island include jet skiing, kayaking, and wind surfing. The island's white sand is also inviting for beach bumming, and some sunset watching.

Aabana Resort has a wide nice beachfront.

How To Get There:
It is recommended that you go as early as 4 in the morning so you'd be in Malapascua by lunch time. Ride a bus to Maya Port from North Cebu Terminal. Non-aircon Ceres bus costs PhP163 per person. From Maya Port, take a boat to Malapascua Island. This costs PhP80 per person, but you may be asked to pay PhP100 if there are only few passengers. This happened to us, and it's OK rather than to wait for the boat to be fully loaded (around 16-20 passengers).

Maya Port was affected by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) but it's already functional

Past. Present. Future. Living Life Fully...

Living in the past won’t bring us anywhere. When we focus so muchon what we had before, whether good or bad, we can’t enjoy whatever blessing we have at present.  Same goes when we try to live in the future. We seem to panic and worry that we can’t appreciate what we have at the moment.

Living in the present can also pose a danger as we tend to not move on, dwelling so much on the blessings of today that we can’t plan for what is ahead.

What do we do then?

I believe there’s nothing wrong if we reminisce yester years, if we enjoy today’s gifts, and plan for the days to come. It’s our attitude that counts. We don’t dwell so much on whatsoever happens. We live today to enjoy what God is giving us; looking back at our past to remember God’s faithfulness; and we trust our Savior that our future is in His hands.

What does this mean to me?

It means letting go of the things I’m clinging to…

And letting God have His way…

His sovereign will…

NO EXCESS BAGGAGES.

I thank God for every season of my life.

Season of pain, season of joy.

Season of mourning, season of celebration.

Season of stumbling down, season of triumph and victory.

 “In every season, I know You love me.. I know You love me...”

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originally written 02082009

an excerpt from Ptr. Rico's sermon