My little ones

OR not so little anymore ! How did they grow up so fast?

So anyway, i was browsing through my files on the computer. You see, my children have the habit of leaving the documents, pictures, videos and etc. in the computer all jumbled up.

So from time to time i check the files and clean them up. Well, to my surprise i found a picture of my children all together in ONE photo ! Isn't that short of a miracle ?

Well, i'm the proudest mother. Let me introduce you to my beloved baby children (they will ALWAYS BE MY BABIES).

To the left most(black and red) is my eldest daughter, Princess. She's the clown of them all and usually the most childish. She has the amazing ability to talk for hours. Like me, she adores shoes and bags. I guess that's every girl's Achilles's heel. But when put to a task, she is a responsible ATE.

Beside her is my one and only son, King. And yes, he does take after his name. He has become quite the king of the family. He is the splitting image of his father and that includes some of his behavior too. He may be a head ache a lot of times but he is also the sweetest (lambing) to me.

To his right is my youngest daughter(black and pink), Kyna. And yes, she is the one i talked about in my previous blog. Aside from all those things, she has also been known as the most KIKAY in the family. She adores accessories (bracelets, earrings, headbands, etc). And i have to say, majority of the files in the computer either has her name or her face in it. Yes, she is a teeny bit vain.

Lastly, to the rightmost is my second child (back w/ faux fur), Precious. At first glance almost plain in attitude; she does not usually stand out among the four (In her subtle way, she actually does). I call her the mature one because she acts all mature and thinks she knows what she is doing (which offends and irritates me sometimes). The most difficult to open, and yet the most frank. She stands firm and fights for what she believes in.

All of them in one roof: it's pure beautiful CHAOS. Each of them have given me their fair share of grey hairs, headaches and ulcer attacks.

But i love them all nonetheless. Nothing they could ever do could make me stop loving, adoring and being proud of them. NOTHING.

This comes from a mother who has gone through it all and is still standing waiting for the next battle. And has felt pain and disappointment but is still loving and believing.

And this is just a part of my story ...

I'd love to hear about your stories too !
Don't hesitate to share. =)

Travelling tips

With me in this picture is Dulce Pozon, her daughter and her nephew.
I haven't gone to many places but i do love to travel. The title of the blog is a little bit misleading but i'll go ahead anyway.

When i travel, i bring with me just one lagguage bag no matter the length of my stay. Why? I know that when i go home, my baggage would either double or quadruple. I'm a Filipino, and we just LOVE to bring pasalubongs.

With this in mind, and a low budget, i try my best to shop wise and get great deals. Men would have raging hormones when they see a beautiful sexy lady. Female on the other hand would have raging hormones when they see a beautiful bag or sexy shoes.

So basically, this blog is about SHOPPING. Guilty as charged. What kind of female isn't? Now dont call me materialistic or anything but whether i buy anything or nothing at all, i do get a rush out of shopping.

All those pretty dresses all lined up waiting to be worn. Those uber hot shoes that just scream FEMME FETAL. And of course, the bag that gently whispers "i complete you"

Travelling abroad makes all these a wee bit more affordable than in the Philippines where, it seems, everything MADE IN USA is instantly $$$$ -- expensive.

All in all, this is what i have to say.

Tip1: Go light in your travel trips. You would never know how much you could shop.

Tip2: DO NOT SHOP IN MALLS. Beware of the great temptation. Instead, shop in well-known Factory Outlet Malls. They sell great quality branded stuff more than 50% of the tag price.

Tip3: Think before you finalize that purchase. You'll never know that the next store you're going to go to has something better for you.

Tip4: Don't think too much! You might pass out on the opportunity of a LIFETIME! If it's a really great item, dont think you're the only one after it.

Tip5: Count you money before you leave the house; count your change and count how much is left everytime you leave a store. Why? You woulnd't notice how fast it all dissapeared if you wouldn't.

So, i hope you had a laugh with this one!
No drama stuff for today.

Have a pleasant day!

Youth Encounter 5 (YE5)

A few nights have passed since my daughter has slept in this house. Okay, maybe just 2 nights. But i miss her already.

Well, remember when i told you about this community called Bukas Loob sa Diyos? All my kids have joined in. Every summer, Bukas Loob has a camp fot the youth ages 13 above. It's called the Youth Encounter.

Three of my children are part of Youth Encounter 2 (YE2), while my yougest wasn't able to join that batch because of her age. The following year, she was able to attend and so she is part of Youth Encounter 3 (YE3).

And every batch is sponsored by the previous batch and the other youths that were willing to help. Well, my youngest daughter, Kyna Dy, has been quite active in the youth and was happy to help around this batch.

I guess Bukas Loob sa Diyos has been continually growing because this year, it's our 5th batch of the youths! That's a total of 6 batches all in all! Youth Encounter Seeds, Youth Encounter1, Youth Encounter2, Youth encounter3, Youth Encounter4 and our latest addition, Youth Encounter5!

It is really quite amazing how seeing these young people experiencing Jesus Christ. The way they look before and after is quite different. As if the heavy load that they were carrying for so long has been magically disappeared.

And so, i say to you: it's never to early to let your children know about Christ. Most especially the children of today's generation.

New York City Police Department

On one of trips to America, I went to visit an old gal pal of mine in New York. We go way back to my college days. Let's stop making my age the topic here shall we?

I stayed in their beautiful house for a few days. She has a wonderful husband who has become a good friend of mine too.

She showed me the sights, sounds and feel of NYC, but one of my funniest is this picture.

In it you can see me and two Officer Sivori and Officer Thompson of the NYC Police Department. Pretty cool, right?

How i got to let them have a picture with me was the funny part. We were walking around the city as i said. We got a little hungry and found a hotdog stand near by.

I try to avoid these kinds of food because they are quite bad for the health, alas, the smell was enough to make me surrender.

There was a line and these two officers were the ones in front of me. After their hotdogs were done, twas time to pay. Well, the cashier didn't have any change and that was all the cash they had.

Tadaaah. I came to the rescue. I volunteered to pay for their hotdogs. Then it was our turn. I ordered VEGGIE DOG.

While our buns were being heated, i told my friend that i should have gotten a picture with those cops. It would have been a great souvenir.

She answered in two words: "Why not?". I thought about it for a second and realized that she was right. So after we got our hotdogs, we went to where they parked their police car. They were actually about to leave but i was just in time.

They were friendly enough about it. So here ya go. My picture with the cops.

What's your story?

Just Imagine - Ilana Yahav

Browsing the internet... ahem ahem. Or should i use the younger generation's term: surfing the net has become one of my favorite pass times these days.

I guess being a mother, wife and an in demand businesswoman keeps me so busy that it is very convenient for me to turn on the internet and everything becomes just a click away.

It's 12:30pm. Lunch break for the office and yes, that includes the boss. I was online looking for something to make me relax.

So i first check my email.The usual business messages, updates of my friendster (hehe), and an email from my daughter -- wait. That one is unusual. So i went on and read it.

"mum... see this video. so cool. i think i found my calling."

The last statement was quite disturbing but i payed no attention to it (hehe).

To my surprise, it was indeed a very beautiful display of talent. Imagine, telling a story through moving pictures using SAND.

I have never heard of such art. But it was indeed breath taking. And for those 4 min. and 30 seconds, i was transported from this buzzing office to ... --- hmmm. i have no words for it.

Maybe you could be the one to supply the word for me after you've seen the video.

Enjoy !

Mohawk hair

Hmmm ... i may have not mentioned it , there have been quite a lot of changes with my children lately.
His new hair style is called Mohawk. It has blond-sh streaks called highlights.

I disapprove of this but I allow my children to make their own decisions up to a certain point. And every mother knows that they go through certain phases. I call this the Mohawk phase in his life.

Where do you get inspiration for such fashion ? Indians right ? Mohawk. I mean American Indians..

When i first saw him with this hair, i couldn't help but get mad and threaten to shave off all his hair.
Ofcourse, I didn't but i could if i really wanted to.

I want him to learn his own lessons and experience life but I really hope he would outgrow this Mohawk phase.

Care to share your funny experiences with your children ?

Her Recognition

Recognition day !
During the turn-over ceremony , our little girl was the host !
And the recipient of The Key of Responsibility for their batch !
Our baby, the star dancer !

The latest bloomer of the family is my youngest daughter.

Although she excelled in a lot of extra curricular activities, we felt that there was more to her than that.

Her grades were low and she was struggling with her identity. That prompted my husband and me to decide to transfer her to another school. And then , her fairytale begun.

At first, she hated her new school. With only about 10 of them in one level, the teachers were able to monitor her progress and inform us of anything amiss.

With much persuasion, she slowly participated in class until her confidence in herself grew. In the next months, she showed much promise and the school offered her more and more responsibilities and roles in school. Both academic and extra curricular.

At first, we as parents, were skeptical about this. Maybe this is too much too soon. We were soon proven wrong when she ran for vice president of their school and WON ! We were already very proud not expecting that in the coming months, more is to come.

Month after month, she joined their programs and school activities. Her grades dramatically increased. She became the star dancer in one of the programs, the host for their turn over ceremony and she was the one given the key of responsibility to their school!

I thought the whirlwind fairytale had died down. Come April, we were given an invitation to their recognition ceremony. I browsed through the pages until something in the last page caught my eye. It was my daughter's name ! She was given an award for winning 2nd place in their Chemistry quiz bee ! Imagine that!

All those happened in one school year. Just 10 months !

Trials, change and transition may be difficult ... but they are the chances that God has given us to be better and live happier.

p.s.

My daughter said she's aiming to be the valedictorian next year!

My son is home !

After almost 6 months, my one and only son came home for thier semestral break.

It has been such a long time since he last came home because of thier school's hectic schedule. And thus the long separation...

I was actually quite shocked upon his decision to stay home permanently. He said that being too far away from home too long makes him homesick. I sure hope that this is an honest confession rather than an excuse. Every mother knows how children are.

Alas, i shall enjoy his company and wait for his decision.

Finding Neverland

Have you heard of that place (Neverland)? Sounds quite familiar doesn't it ?

I was looking for something in my daughter's room when i stumbled upon a dvd entitled Finding Neverland. Quite a catchy title isn't it ? Well, the last time I heard about Peter Pan was in one of those Disney movies that my children used to watch endlessly. Curiosity got the best of me and so i decided to take a little break from treasure hunting and headed to the living room.

Now, i wont spoil the fun by telling you the plot or the story, now, would I ?

Well, after the movie has ended, i found myself looking at an empty box of Kleenex. There was a sense of joy that i found watching this movie.

Indeed, as we grow older, we sometimes loose our childish imagination caused by the harshness of real life. We forget that those imaginations were our only joy once upon a time. And we actually need that in our lives to escape the bitterness of reality.

here's a little quite from the movie:
Peter Llewelyn Davies: This is absurd. It's just a dog.
J.M. Barrie: Just a dog? *Just*? [to Porthos]
J.M. Barrie: Porthos, don't listen! [to Peter]
J.M. Barrie: Porthos dreams of being a bear, and you want to shatter those dreams by saying he's *just* a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That's like saying, "He can't climb that mountain, he's just a man", or "That's not a diamond, it's just a rock." Just.


If I have already sparked your curiousity much , then my job is done. Enjoy the movie !

SONG TO PONDER

Yesterday was our praise ministry practiced. The attendance was almost perfect maybe because we had a new songs.
along the way, i tremendously felt & mesmerized the lyrics of the song,
made me believed that Faith is the virtue to salvation.
I would like to share to my readers some of the words in the song...


FAITH UNLOCKS THE DOOR

PRAYER IS THE KEY TO HEAVEN, BUT
FAITH UNLOCKS THE DOOR, WORDS
ARE SO EASILY SPOKEN, PRAYER
WITHOUT FAITH IS LIKE A BOAT
WITHOUT AN OAR, HAVE FAITH WHEN YOU
SPEAK TO THE MASTER. THAT'S ALL HE'LL
ASK YOU FOR.......

NARRATION;

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU PRAYED FOR
SOMETHING BIG OR SMALL. AND HOW LONG
DID YOU HAVE TO WAIT OR DID THE ANSWER
COME AT ALL. WORDS ARE MERE EXPRESSIONS
OF THOUGHT, NOTHING MORE. BELIEVING,
MY FRIEND, IS WHAT REALLY COUNTS. AND
FAITH- FAITH IS WHAT UNLOCKS THE DOOR.


Hi guys, pause for a moment, digest, digest, digest!

Nuclear Wastes will pass phil. waters next month

Recently , there has been quite a lot of commotion about the environment. Which lead me to read to do a little research to see if the Philippines by any miracle is doing anything to take part in this world wide phenomenon.

I Google a few keywords and what i see before me almost makes me gag. Of the whole page matched key words, only waste segregation seems to be the action taken actively. The rest are so sad to read.

see link: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/news/reprocessed-nuclear-waste-ship

One of which is a a link to Greenpeace website wherein an article is highlighted. As i read through this article, i feel a pang of sadness pass through me.


Then it hits me, why should i rely on others when I can start saving the environment in my own way.

A little curiosity does go a long way.

Good Friday

All over the world, Christians joined together to celebrate Holy Week. It is the last week of Lent. It commemorates the last week of Christ's life here on earth.

And every Good Friday, my church would hold a procession in honor of Christ's death and soon his resurrection.


Last friday , the day started out cool with light clouds hanging in the air. It would have been a great time to start the procession because it wouldn't be too hot. Alas, the event usually starts at around 3 in the afternoon which was of course quite hot.

And so, arriving at the starting point just 15 minutes early, I say a little prayer and the procession starts.

My husband and children were waiting somewhere along the road to catch a glimpse. And so , just as we passed by them , they took a couple of shots so i may be able to show you guys.

That's me wearing white and black khakis .

Our little night out

Last night, my daughters and i came home quite late an quite tired.
You see, we went out for a little swim with my friends and their families too !
It was one of those hidden beauties in Cagayan de Oro.
The place was known as Abbas Orchard. A small private school slash residence. What's amazing about it is its location.

From Marco Hotel , you'll have to follow an unmarked road. It was so difficult to locate it at first because the road never seemed to end. Upon arriving there, we all heaved a sigh of relief. And our gracious host was there to greet us.

Leading us to the pool area, he gave us a little background of the school and it's owners. They turned out to be close friends which is why we were allowed to have our little private swimming in their pool.

When we arrived a the pool area, my children and i were amazed at the spectacular view. We were high above the mountain edge. The swimming pool was an infinity type and you could see the shoreline of Cagayan de Oro.

We ate, we talked and we joked at each other. Not long after, we were simply looking at our children having so much fun in the pool. I couldn't help but remember when they were just babies who were afraid of the water.

I glance at my friends and they must be thinking the same thing. I broke the mood and simply joked about our age. And that got us started on talking again.

We all did not notice the time. So when one of the husbands glanced at his watch and declared the time; we almost jumped. It was already almost eleven o'clock.

We called in the kids to get ready to leave. And they whined all the way to the restroom. When they finished getting dressed, the told us that they planned to come back the next day. Look at them, making their own plans!

Of course the parents agreed. We went home tired and dropped to bed immediately.

Just before i close my eyes, i thank God for giving me a chance to have my family together like this. It was indeed memorable.

Nature's Fury

I love nature. I love going out to have fun and relax.

One of those occasions is the lunch at Nita's place.

I kept a small information from you guys... towards the end of the meal, it suddenly rained. It poured hard and with so much fiery. It was one of the most beautiful sight i have ever seen.

To be able to experience something so intense like that... makes you realize that there is a God. No matter how much money you have, how beautiful you are or how powerful your friends are, it will not stop the rain from pouring.

The wind was so strong that i had to hold on to my bag to prevent it from flying away. The waves were pounding against the shore and the infrastructure on the shores. I was worried but deep inside i was happy.

A feeling of contentment and joy flowed throughout my body. Every breath i took was with pleasure.

Alas, i had to stop my feeling of ecstasy because as a mother, i had to make sure that my family was safe from harms way.

Treasure life and take a second to appreciate life.

Nita's Place Eatery

One of the responsibilities of being a parent is ensuring the safety of your children.

After a day of vacation, my lovely daughters, Stephanie, Abigail and Kyna were coming back home from Camiguin Island with their Aunt Trixie.

There is only one way in and out of Camiguin and that is thought the BARGE. Unfortunately, the terminal for that is around 2 hours away from Cagayan de Oro. Trixie called the evening before to ask permission to ride the bus going back home.

As a very protective mother, i did not agree. I was afraid that anything might happen during that ride. I have fair experience and knowledge that bus drivers are not that cautious when they drive because they are confident that the people are afraid of them because they are big. Thus there are many accidents relating to the bus.

Upon meeting them at the port; my husband suggested that we eat at a good sea food restaurant that is just in the next town.

I knew that it was his favorite place to eat whenever we travel to Butuan. It's a small quaint floating restaurant called Nita's Place Eatery. It has been there since the early 1970's.

You would think that it is just an ordinary restaurant because it looks old and undeveloped... another disadvantage is it's location. It's tucked away in a small corner of a bario by the sea.

Upon arriving, you could see the full parking and cars waiting for a place to park. It was packed.
My daughters and guests stood amazed at the sight of such chaos.

fortunately, we were able to find parking quickly. We waited for a few minutes to be served and was quickly welcomed by the staff.

One good description about this place is HUMBLE. The place was nothing fancy, their utensils were ordinary and their staff didn't even have a uniform.

When the food was served, it was delectable. The soup was amazing. The flavors were alive and every sip that you take is like luxury.
All throughout the meal, we were silent. HAHA ! It's the only thing that could make our family stop talking.

After the meal, our guests could not stop singing praises about the food. It was indeed an experience worth remembering.

I invite you all to come with me to experience my side of the story! (soon i shall post pictures about this mini trip)

Enjoy life !
Live ! Laugh ! Love!

On one of my trips to London during the visits to my brother , they brought me to a well known landmark in London. They call it the BIG BEN, the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster . This is the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest free-standing clock tower in the world. It celebrates its 150th birthday in 2009, during which celebratory events are planned.

The first picture is a picture of the Palace of Westminster with the Big Ben.

The 2nd picture is me, 2 priests , my old duty mate in city hospital named Viola and the priest's wife.

The view was beautiful. We could not get a closer shot because there were a lot of people crowding this land mark.

Hopefully, i could show you more pictures and tell you more tales about my exciting adventures here and abroad.
After all, this is my side of the story.

Happy reading !