Merry Christmas!

Oh December :(

I know December is a happy month but why the sad face on my title, well, it is because there has been three hospital trips for us for this month alone!!! and that is definitely not good.

First one, my Father in law who lives with us was rushed to ER due to high blood pressure. 240/160. That was not a joke, so he is on maintenance medicine and is doing fine now.

Second, my husband's niece who happens to be visiting with her mom first week of December got very sick. Health center worker suspected it was Dengue so we have her checked and stayed overnight at the hospital, It was blood infection and not Dengue, she was given antibiotics for 7 days. Good thing they are not with us anymore, they went back to Cavite after few days.

Third, just last Sunday, my brother rushed Nanay to the hospital due to very high blood sugar, she passed and for a few moments they can't revive her, I immediately hurried to hospital and saw her restless. I was worried and I myself nearly passed out because I realized I have not eaten anything for nearly 8 hours that day due to many things that we are doing. Haay talaga :(

Anyways, mom is okay now, she's back home at my sister's house, we will go back to her doctor on Friday for a follow up check up.

With all that stress and not to mention the unexpected expenses..I think I need a longer vacation and  REST. I can't wait for the holiday. Come December 23 and we're off from work and will resume on January 05. The longest Christmas vacation I will have so far.

I am still thankful though despite  of these unhappy incidents, I know we are still blessed and that we wll celebrate Christmas with thankful and happy hearts.

Christmas dinner set up

image source: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/school/conference-venue-hire/christmas-said-2014

I want to do this kind of table set-up this Christmas, with table napkins and dinner plates and trimmings  but the thing is, we spend Christmas eve at my sister's house in Bulacan and I know their dining table will only seat 6. but who knows, maybe we can find a way :)

This one is simple but nice. Red table napkins and mats :)

image source: http://inspiredbylilfeet.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-eve-lil-feet-style.html

Or maybe, we can do red disposable plates instead, perfect for the kids and for us who do not want to do dishes afterwards :) We just have to find a long table so we can all seat together :)

image source :http://cloudfront.bernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2011-xmas-lunch-1.jpg

This excites me!! Can't wait for Christmas with the whole fam! :)  23 more days to go!

Happier..bigger :)

We are getting bigger :) I can't count how many pounds we have gain na since we got married but have you notice what is very obvious?, the smile is very much the same ..

People may think that we are not complete as we do not have a baby yet but to us, it's entirely different.

Despite the odds and struggles and everything we encounter, we remain and will always be one happy couple.

SMILE EVERYONE!!!

Photo taken last September 26, 2014

House and Lot update

Actually it is still a piece of lot somewhere in the not so far away land of Cavite and no house construction yet but it is gonna be our very own house and lot someday thus the title :)

Anyways, we are already on our 15th month of the 2 years no interest down payment. But even as early as now, staff from Antel has been calling us and reminding us to start the PAGIBIG housing loan process because according to them it is not quick and easy.

We started gathering the necessary documents since last month and this week we are scheduled to go to Pagibig main office for the housing loan application form. Hopefully we can finis that application form this month and submit all the requirements as early as January next year. Keeping our fingers crossed and praying it will go smoothly.

I really can't wait to have our own place. I know it will still be years and we both need a lot of hard work for it to materialize but I know it will be sweet someday..to be sitting in a porch at your very own home...with the green plants and the smell of flowers right beside you.... haaay..for now I will just keep on dreaming.

Look like it's Christmas!

Greetings from where Christmas is celebrated the longest :)

Picture taken after church worship service yesterday :)

May you all have a nice and wonderful week!!

My new header

Did you notice the changes in this home of mine? I'm still not that very satisfied but this will do for now. I am specially happy for the header I made :) and the quote. The pictures here were taken years ago but as you can see, those were one of my favorite photos of us thus it deserves to be there plus it shows our current state now..happy and free :)

Three Reasons to Get Some Sleep

I got this on my email this morning and I can say it is very timely as I was having a hard time sleeping last night. I think it was already 3 in the morning when I finally fell asleep and that's not a good thing because I have to wake up early too because of work.

So here's the article..
~~~~~

Three Reasons to Get Some Sleep

by Jonathan Parnell

Life is short. Stay awake for it.

So goes the tagline for the second largest coffee franchise in America. It’s catchy and practical. Drink our coffee, it suggests, not merely for its taste, but for its benefits, that is, to be awake to life. And the reason being — here comes the resonating connection — life is short. The clock is ticking. Our days are numbered. And we Christians agree (Psalm 90:10; 103:15–16; James 4:14).

Life is too short to sleep all the time.

But life is also too short not to sleep a large part of the time.

The fact is humans need sleep, between 7–8 hours a day. But most of us aren’t getting it. According to studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleep deprivation is epidemic. In the last week articles and infographs have been circulating the web with convincing evidence that this is the real deal.

In addition to that content, here are three reasons why you should get some sleep.

1. God created you to require sleep for a healthy life.

In a sense, this highlights the most intuitive reason why we need sleep: to survive. Most of us (not all of us) know from experience that going without ample sleep has drastic effects on us physically and emotionally. The latest study claims that going just one night with less than six hours of sleep may alter our genes and cause several side effects — from a higher chance of catching a cold to the loss of brain tissue.

But perhaps the most shared result is that without enough sleep we’re “more likely to get emotional.” Now we know how to fill in that generic term. Without enough sleep, we are more easily stressed and frustrated. Our capacity for patience dissipates. Lack of sleep is a sucker-punch to our ability to listen and think creatively, and therefore be productive.

Personally, one of the toughest things during my time in seminary was sleeplessness (and I think I got more than most guys). David Mathis and I don’t mention sleep in our little book How to Stay Christian in Seminary, but it could easily merit its own chapter. Days that followed only a few hours of shut-eye often meant the Hebrew was harder and our home was unhappy. But a good night of sleep was like its own mini-vacation, and it still is.

God created us this way. Just like oxygen and food, we need sleep to work right. It won’t look the same for everyone, and some are in situations where their care for others inhibits a solid snooze, but know for sure that we need sleep. It was God’s idea.

2. Sleep is the midwife of humility.

Humility is a heart-virtue that gestates. It matures over time, born by truth and practice. We believe facts about reality (we’re needy creatures, not autonomous beings), and we act in step with those facts.

Next to prayer, sleep may be the most central practice that lines up with the truth of who we are. Sleep is that necessary moment that comes every single day when our bodies go slow and our minds start dragging. They witness to our fragility. And eventually, we will surrender. Our problem, as the studies suggest, is that we don’t surrender soon enough. Oftentimes we push back. The invitation gets handed to us with generous terms, but we resist until we’re wrestled down.

To be sure, some people have trouble falling asleep. One report says 40 million Americans suffer from 70 different sleep disorders. It’s serious, and deserves treatment, which could be simply adopting new habits. But the concern here is the heart of the matter. Whether we fall asleep quickly or not, we can welcome sleep for what it is. We can choose to bow out of the action, to know that the world will be fine without us for a while. We can welcome that segment of the day when we make ourselves most vulnerable, when we exit consciousness and are forced to, in the right sense, “let go, and let God.” Whether we actually say it or not, going to bed prays, at least in practice: “Now I lay me down to sleep. Lord, I pray my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, Lord, I pray my soul to take.”

Sleep is intrinsically a humble thing to do.

3. Sleep is distinctively Christian.

Really, there is something remarkably Christian about sleep. We see this first in the Psalms and then fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

We read in Psalm 3:5–6, “I lay down a slept and woke again, for the Lᴏʀᴅ sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” Then we read in Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lᴏʀᴅ, make me dwell in safety.”

It’s Saying Something

Two things are happening here. First, David is making sleep an act of faith in the Lord’s protection. Enemies surround him, and they want to destroy him. But he sleeps. He knows the Lord sustains him and guards him. But why? How does he know this? Here’s the second thing to see: David trusts in God’s protection because of what God says in Psalm 2.

In Psalm 2 we see that the Lord’s King — who is also a Son — will reign. He will have the nations as his heritage and the ends of the earth his possession (Psalm 2:7–8). The Lord exalts him and issues the warning of his supremacy: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2:12). This is an endorsement that carries throughout the entire Psalter. The Lord is committed to his King, his Son, his Anointed — and David knows it.

David is God’s anointed king, but he mirrors the true and better Anointed King that will descend from his lineage (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s faith in God’s protection, displayed by his sleep, points us to the Son of David who also knew how to sleep — which we see in Mark 4.

Why Jesus Slept

This scene of Mark 4 shows us Jesus and his disciples out at sea when a windstorm arises. The waves are so intense that they’re breaking into the boat, filling it with water (Mark 4:37). The disciples are terrified. This is a shipwreck in the works. But where is Jesus? He is in the stern of the boat asleep on a cushion (verse 38). He wakes up to stop the storm by his word and the disciples are awed. But we as readers — disciples with a canonical conscience — see him sleeping and we’re awed.

Jesus slept for the same reason David did. He knew that his Father would protect him. Based upon what God had promised to his King, to David, to Moses, to Abraham, to Adam — Jesus knew God would keep his Anointed. Sleep was the symbol of faith in that promise. It was for Jesus and for David and for us.

The Same Spirit of Faith

When we sleep we are saying — in that same spirit of faith — that God will protect his Anointed and all those anointed in him (2 Corinthians 1:21). We are saying that no matter how many thousand enemies surround our soul, because of the Father’s commitment to his Son, we will not be destroyed. We will not be condemned. Nothing will ever be able to snatch us out of his hand (John 10:28). Nothing will ever separate us from his love (Romans 8:38–39). When we go to bed, we are saying that.

Christian, life is short. You should get some sleep.

Remembering

For us here in the Philippines, November 1 is for remembering our departed loved ones but I guess in my part, it does not have to be only on that day because as far as I am concerned, I do remember them almost any day of my life.

I also don't believe in Halloween and do not celebrate it but since my Father passed away last year, we had to go home on November 01 and visit his grave (I'll say his grave because I am very sure that he is not there anymore). This year though, we (meaning my husband and I) were not able to make it home, sad because I'll surely miss a family gathering but we had to accept it. 

Unhappy it maybe but It doesn't mean I forgot Tatay because he will never be forgotten, his memory will always live in my heart, his voice, his jokes and all of him.

Anyways, I'll visit when I go home next time.

I still miss you

I miss you Tatay.....

Nanay is now 75

And I am so thankful because I know it's already a gift. I pray she'll live longer and that she will be granted more strength and peace and joy and all the love that she could get.

Simple celebration in our bahay kubo (nipa hut)

Nanay and her older sister Aunty Huling

She looks so happy but it is still a sad thought that she was not the same as before. Anyways, we enjoyed everyone's presence and we had loads of fun.

We love you Nanay!!

A true gentleman goes to market :)

These were actually old photos of my husband taken one Christmas season when we were at my parent's house. Sometimes I miss the kind of life at the province. Slow,simple and peaceful.

Why so serious mahal?

fresh greens!

Now, that's how you carry it :)