Joy Inventory #2

(... and help for Sendong victims)

Merry Christmas everyone!

One of my fondest christmas memories was when I was young maybe a few years back, there was one christmas eve where we (mama, my sister, baby brother) joined papa in the last simbang gabi. We were actually after the family bonding and the breakfast that comes after. Sometimes we eat at Mcdo or buy putobungbong that's why everyone is so hyped to go. 

Then at that christmas day, after the simbang gabi, we went home, the air was very cool and we, all of us, snuggled with our parents in their bed like sardines, side by side. it was very cozy and we were laughing a little before we went back to sleep that early morning.  That' when i remember then how much i love my family and  how grateful I am that all of us are together.

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For today's joy inventory:

1. because of the gifts i received, i find it wonderfully surprising that a lot of people actually care about me..,, sometimes we tend to forget

2. my family is complete

3. we had a successful choir presentation after just 1 practice hahaha

Today, at church, everyone was in a very festive mood. It's so fun to see again the people close to you and having the chance to wish them well this Christmas and for the upcoming new year.

My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the wonderful, thoughtful gifts i got. you can tell that these givers took so much time and effort to be able to give the best gift. After all it' s the thought that counts.

Anyway, Christmas is also the best time to reach out and give. On our last company christmas party, instead of the common practive of exchanging gifts, we were asked to pledge/donate for our colleagues in Taiwan (flood victims) and our fellow pinoys in Cagayan de Oro.  i am now using up this space because I know that we have a lot of fellow Filipinos who are in the midst of trying times. Typhoon Sendong have left people homeless this christmas.

Here are ways to help:

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/19904/ways-to-help-sendong-flood-victims

Hope you have a wonderful christmas day!

Sincerely, Flor

Happy Easter everybody!

My easter may not have been as eventful as everyone's, having not joined any Easter Egg Hunt activities. Random fact: today our local SM has a special promo selling eggs at 1 peso a piece. Imagine that! What a nice way to celebrate this holiday!

Okay, so this Easter, I have learned something, too and for me every learning experience is a good experience.

Today, we had a chance to visit one of my friends' friend, a guy who, as they say, has lost his way in this life. Or probably, he has chosen a path that even he himself describes as non-exemplary. He used to be a spiritual, scripture-reading person and had a future goal of sharing the gospel until one day he realized this all stopped and he already has an entirely different life. I can assume that what he now is, is not an overnight experience but an accumulation of choices that he has made along the way.

At one point in the visit, he tried so badly to avoid us, keeping himself in his room, also pretending he has somewhere to go to. He left us at his house. But when he came back to get his wallet, we grabbed the chance and did all that we can to persuade him to join us. We wanted to be close to him and make him feel sincere that we were there for him. Well, all's well that ends well, he did join us and we gave him a message about the importance of scripture study and its benefits on our lives, and how, if we hold fast to its teachings, we will be able to "thwart the fiery darts of the devil" (if I'm not mistaken) and avoid temptation.

Well what I remember most was his message. He told us that he can relate a lot about temptation. He gave us a message that felt powerful to me. He said that if you give in to one temptation, something will come that will be an even bigger temptation than the first, until you give in to that too. And if you give in to that, you will give in to many more and become numb in the end.

So true, so true and so powerful. I never thought that the visit can evoke him to say these things to us. The guy who tried hard to avoid us ended up giving us his piece of mind, his feelings and testimony. I hope that we can all persuade him to come back with us.

So there. I've shared with you my Easter learning. Have a nice day and I hope we could all remember the essence of the Jesus' atonement and Resurrection which we commemorate today.

Happy Easter :)

Sincerely, Flor

PS. I hope the message in the picture would ring true in my life as well. I'm going through something too, as with all people, we are all plagued with temptations that are pretty hard to battle. Hopefully, I can spring back 

So You Think You Can Dance...

Who says we can't have fun? Here are my fellow singles dancing their hearts out just at our local church dance social. . . Not your typical church activity, eh?