How Beautiful (YouTube Tuesday)

What a wonderful 

a day set aside for sharing our favorite video.

           Thanks to our genius Josh at Its Tiger Time 

If you participate, remember to leave your YouTube Tuesday link at Its Tiger Time as well as all the blogs you visit .

26 Years: Celebrating EDSA and YOU

*Linking this to my sister's article dedicated to our mom where she won fourth place, Top Mum

26 years ago from today, Jaime Cardinal Sin urged everyone out into the streets of EDSA to join hands in prayer...

ah, People Power!

It was a peaceful revolution that gave rise to a new era of freedom from the hands of the Marcos regime...

an end to years of bondage, tyranny and dictatorship!

It was a year filled with hope...

a year of fulfilling dreams...

A momentous event ...

Our triumph as a nation!

Tin, my youngest sister and Ton, my nephew
26 February 1986

That was also the day, YOU came back home...

the day YOU started celebrating new LIFE!

You were born with a congenital heart disease ...
 thanks to the quick action of your cardiologist, they were able to perform your operation...

but not without tears my young one...

1983 Batangas City

Mom carried you in her arms day and night...

she gave up her teaching career to take care of us...

Dad was blessed with a big project to finance your surgery...

and Mama Mary saw you through all your sufferings...

you were promised to Her Child, had you sought that vocation...

Tin, before her operation

Every year this day, is a celebration...

a moment to reminisce how we rose above despair.

We take time to light up our candles of hope...

and be filled with gratitude that Liberty was born...

a day of Resurrection!

Communion day, 1989

Everyone was amazed by your transformation.

You are our butterfly.

That is how resilience and virtue grows...

Entering the cocoon... 

alone...

...in the dark..

...

waiting...

for the right moment...

for our time...

We are being prepared for something

better...

something worth living for...

1992

Graduation Day, UST, 2002

I enjoy watching you grow...

Singapore 2012

Happy 26 years PEOPLE POWER!

Happy 26 years Tin!

Today, we celebrate your second life...

We love you sooo much!

{One Friday Moment }

{One Friday Moment }

A single image capturing a moment.

A simple, special extraordinary moment.

A moment rummaged from a leisure walk with my sister in the Japanese Garden (Singapore) 2010 that I want to pause, savor and remember.

"This Moment" is a ritual on Life inspired by the Wee Man adopted from SouleMama which was introduced to me by Roy Durham of Roy's Garage Sell and Auction

 If you wish to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments.

Remember to shout TGIF...it's Friday ;) YEY!

Is God a Panacea?

Somewhere, sometime before The Widow Lady Lisa Brandel moved over to Facebook, I read a couple of her posts and it led me to five Truths she revealed about herself . I took it as an assignment to face myself in the mirror and look at myself straight in the eye everyday...

I know it'll take me forever to acquiesce everything in me...

 I'd cry over some things I see...

and laugh at times...

but 
it is totally liberating...

----------------------------------

When I moved out of our house at twenty, I found myself always sick in the dorm where I lived but instead of taking me to the doctor, the person-in-charge gave me a book...

Have you ever read this one? Louise L. Hay, You Can Heal your Life
(Phil.ed Diliman, QC:Claretian Publications,1995)

I was so curious what it had to tell me so I leafed through the pages and came across this...

p.156

I have never thought of it this way. However, sixteen years later, an intimate friend confided that my blood pressure lowers everytime something bothers me and I haven't addressed it.

As much as I assert myself in matters like children's and women's rights, I realized that I do tend to ignore certain issues in my life. I thought I did others a favor by just pushing things inside...anyways, I thought, nobody will ever know how I truly feel.

I lacked sincerity...

"People lie to protect themselves and cover for their mistakes. Some will lie to appear more agreeable and to impress others in a social situation. 
In effect, they want to elevate their self-esteem."

-Gina de Venecia, "Lying Behavior", Dear Manay Gina, Tempo,
Vol. 30 No. 049 ISSN 0116-3973, Saturday, February 18, 2012, p.7

My friend asked me if I did a favor to myself when I accumulated negative energies in my body. Since the body never lies...the truth holds,
"Garbage in, garbage out."


I,finally, consulted a doctor and he asked me why I mortified my body (This was what I meant by Rafa-el coming to me one night). 


I took my antibiotics and felt better in a few days...

The Spirit blows life and if I truly wish to share God's joy to others then I should start healing...

I was so self-absorbed, Rafa-el had to reach out for me...


"Choose," He said to me smiling...

So, I sing this to me everyday :)


"When I feel the love inside myself... it's easy to love you..."
-Jai Josephs-

My reflections from: 

Ascending the Hills

Everyday Gayaan

Martha's Daily Devotions 
The Widow Lady


*Kindly add to similar posts, I'd love to read them :)

{One Friday Moment }

{One Friday Moment }

A single image capturing a moment.

A simple, special extraordinary moment.

A moment rummaged from my weekends with my niece that I want to pause, savor and remember.

February 2012 with Belle
Photo taken by Michelle Tandoc-Alamil

"This Moment" is a ritual on Life inspired by the Wee Man adopted from SouleMama which was introduced to me by Roy Durham of Roy's Garage Sell and Auction

 If you wish to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments.

Remember to shout TGIF...it's Friday ;) YEY!

Love Song

I have been spending most of my free time on my sick bed for a few weeks now ~ awake at times, silently waiting for someone to reach out and free me from this illness.


Rafa-el came one night and spoke to my heart...

"Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul." 

- Anonymous 

Credits: Music by Yiruma, River Flows In You

Images from Google

Paintings by Laura Blank

Words by melissa

Inspiration: YOU

The muse sings her song ~ and 

You are part of it...

I am God's guitar 

and you are

my 'new' melody...

{One Friday Moment }

{One Friday Moment }

A single image capturing a moment.

A simple, special extraordinary moment.

A moment rummaged from my experience in Sonia's Garden (Tagaytay 2011) that I want to pause, savor and remember.

"This Moment" is a ritual on Life inspired by the Wee Man adopted from SouleMama which was introduced to me by Roy Durham of Roy's Garage Sell and Auction

 If you wish to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments.

Remember to shout TGIF...it's Friday ;) YEY!

YouTube Tuesday

Tune in to...

a day set aside for sharing our favorite video.

           Thanks to our genius Josh at Its Tiger Time 

If you participate, remember to leave your YouTube Tuesday link at Its Tiger Time as well as all the blogs you visit .

Il Viso dell'Amore

1 February 2012

I woke up with a big smile today and greeted everybody with so much happiness that one colleague asked me if I were in a 'new' relationship. 

by Syed Alfandi Mansor

Well... I am. 

I found myself immersed in LIFE ~ 

This morning, I had my shoes almost ripped off in the train station. I wasn't exactly smiling at the person who did it. In fact, I squirmed my way towards the second floor. Ooo, it has been like this since the day I started working two years ago. The only difference is, people started forming a line 'lines'. I wanted to take a picture and post it as a Friday moment or suggest it to be a part of  our "It's more 'FUN' in the Philippines" tourism campaign. 


I 'survived' entering the train. I didn't even have to lift a muscle because the men beside me 'dragged' me inside. Whew! 


I  (brisk) walked my way towards the office when the cars stopped right at the pedestrian lane. It confuses me that they repainted it and people couldn't use it because there were cars on it. Oh well...


While in the elevator with wall mirrors, I saw my reflection. Oh geez, I looked awful! And I started laughing ('Che pazza!' Is this the face of Jesus people see reflected on me?). The people beside me looked at me thoughtfully and I found my way out of the lift.

I could imagine Him laughing at me right that very moment...

----------------
I am in a relationship with myself. I could express what's in my heart and head with ease. Whenever I feel myself apologizing for no cause, Corinne's post  Everyday Gyaan: Are You A Gnat? comes to my mind and I ask myself, 'Am I ?'

I breathe fresh air. I have a right to live in joy!

I am in a relationship with others. As I allow myself freedom to become more my true self, I become more understanding and more patient with the people who surround me ~ most especially the ones I always come in contact with. 

I learn to receive not just give. Not just give but to give more.

I am in a relationship with the world. I become more engaged and more aware of other people's presence not just in my google circle of friends or colleagues at work, I am a part of a bigger reality called life. 

I exist. I belong.

And most of all, I am in a relationship with God. While reflecting on this, I remembered my conversation with my soul sis Sancheeta. She asked me if my heart and mind were telling the same thing because I was asking God for someone and yet another thing occupies my heart. 

So it always brings me back to my heart check up...

 and there I hear that I am loved...

 and I allow myself to be loved.