Why, Lord, Why?

I got this from my devotional subscription from Susan Gregory of Daniel-Fast.com. I thought of sharing this to you since at one point in our lives we ask this "Why" question to God.

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"Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, "

why then has all this happened to us? Judges 6:13

Do you ever find yourself wondering about why you're going through such a rough time when God's promises are supposed to protect you? You've prayed, you've read your Bible, you attend church and yet the pressure doesn't seem to lift.

That's exactly what happened with Gideon. The Midianites were walking over the Israelites like they were a carpet! They stole their cattle, sheep, donkeys and ox. And just before the harvest, the Midianites would take over the land and let their camels eat the crops down to the stubble. The Bible says they were like locusts.

The Israelites were left impoverished and hid in caves and dens to hide from the invaders who they feared. Even Gideon was hiding in a pit when the angel of the Lord came to him.

The angel more or less said, "Why are you acting this way. Don't you know who you are? You are a child of the Most High God!"

That's when Gideon replied, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?"

As the account continues, Gideon learns that he hasn't recognized his position and was allowing the enemy to steal and destroy what was rightfully his! He had the power of the Lord with him. In fact, God told him that because He would help him, defeating the Midianites would be like defeating one man!

Too often, we also forget who we are in Christ. We don't access the power given to us . . . and instead we stay in the pit and allow the enemy to steal, kill and destroy what is rightfully ours. When Gideon realized his errors, he made sure everything was right before God and then he went to battle and won.

We can do the same thing! Read Judges 6 and see if you can find yourself in the Scriptures. Remember your identity in Christ and then access the same Lord that Gideon accessed. The victory is ours, but we need to take it!

120 GB External Hard Drive

I'm excited! My Hubby is coming home tomorrow and he is also bringing with him the external hard drive that our family friend is giving to me. Yipee! This netbook of mine has a very small memory and thus an external drive would be very helpful. I've been wanting to buy one for many months already but thank God for one that's coming as a gift!

Yes, this is me, I get overly excited with things that may seem small to some people. With my great excitement, one may even think that my hubby is bringing a gold bullion and not just an external hard drive. LOL! If that happens, I wouldn't even know what to do anymore. But as what I've heard, these precious metals can make as very good investments. Hmm... But I'm already so happy with my 120GB external drive. Yipee!

Traffic Jam

I've just chatted with my friend from High School today and she told me that it was the Cagayan de Oro Fiesta yesterday. It has really been quite a long time since I witnessed our fiesta in the City. I miss all the exhibition, parades and other activities for this special day. But then, she told me that even if its our city's fiesta, she avoided going out of the house because the traffic was just so bad with too many people in the city. I could just imagine how bad it is because I too have experienced a lot of traffic jams when I was staying in Manila and in our city. The heat was unbearable plus the fumes from the cars and jeepneys that goes up your nostrils. But somehow, if you're far away from home, you kinda miss those things. You miss the people cracking jokes in the jeepney with almost everyone laughing even if the joke is corny.

And speaking about traffic, I've just seen a site that sells all the traffic stuff from traffic cones, warning flags and traffic barricades. It is important to have all the proper traffic devices for the motorists' and pedestrians' safety.

Scenic Sunday - Krabi

Late afternoon in Ao Nang Beach

Krabi is one of the famous tourists destination in Thailand. Krabi itself is a great place but this is actually more like a base to go to the other beautiful islands like Koh Phi Phi, James Bond Island and etc.

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The Gold Mercedez

I came across this photo last night from one of the forums and I was so amazed to see a gold Mercedez Benz. It seems this has been included in an exhibition in Dubai. I wonder how the owner would feel after parking a car like this in the side streets. LOL!

For now, only the rich and the very wealthy can own all these golden things like gold cars and gold bars. For them these are great investments for the future and a way to show off their great wealth. But I'm just reminded in the Book of Revelations that says, in heaven the streets will be made of gold. WoW! I can't wait to see that and step on it.

Yummy Sunday - Kropok

This dish is called Kropok here in Thailand, but I think it's a Malay word. These are actually made from fish and tastes more like fishballs from the Philippines. I like this because inside is soft and chew but there is also a crunchy side of it. We usually order this when we go out at night for Roti and Chayen at our favorite Chachak place.

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The Silver Place

A few weeks ago my sis in law and cousins went with me to buy some silver items for my sister's jewelry business. The shop where we go sells wholesale jewelry, wholesale handbags but unfortunately they don't have western belts. My cousins were so shocked with the wholesale price that the owner is giving us that they ended up buying a lot of stuff for themselves too. I remember the owner told us before that they really don't make a lot of money per item. They just mark up the items a few baht and because it's cheap, more people come and buy from their shop than the other shop. And that's how their business became so successful that even people from far away provinces go to their shop to buy silver jewelry and other items. Well, that's a good business strategy huh? But I guess that's how business in the wholesale industry works. They don't make a lot of money per item but because people buy in bulk, so that's why they gain. I've even discovered a site that sells wholesale handbags for a very cheap price. They've got great looking handbags, wallets and belts that even a non-handbag enthusiast like me, enjoyed looking at the wide variety of their quality products.

Sealed With A Kiss

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

The seal show was one of the highlights of our trip to Songkhla Zoo a few weeks back. This seal is just so adorable and is very respectful as he can "Wai" ( Thai way to show respect) using his fins. He also did a lot of tricks like diving to retrieve someones watch or money. I saw one dropped money in the pool and he immediately retrieved it an gave it back to the owner. I wonder if he would still return the money if it was a gold coin. :) But kidding aside, I've heard that gold coins are of great value these days and will continue to be more valuable as the years pass.

Anyways, back to the show, do you know that after the program our li'l boy got kissed by the seal? It was so cute as the seal kissed his cheek and my li'l boy was so happy with the kiss! He kept telling me after the kiss, " The seal kissed me, Amma! Cho nice! ( so nice)"

The Dream Garden

I remember our little girl's prayer last year to have a little garden in our new home. She was so excited to move and look for a house with a little garden. But that didn't happen yet. The house that we moved in don't have a garden but it's always possible to make one at the front porch since the space is quite big. But actually, we are still having second thoughts whether to stay in this house long term or move out in a couple of months. This house is actually perfect for us but it has a drainage problem which can cause flooding when a heavy rain comes. My Hubby and the owner checked the cause of the problem and it seems that it can be very difficult to fix this. The neighbors said that this problem has been existing for quite some time which causes this house to be flooded during the rainy season. Anyways, we'll have to talk to our house owner again and see what he will say. For the meantime, I will have to delay a bit on planning our li'l girls garden. Once we are settled on this house matter, then we can proceed in getting our gardening clothing, work boots and work gloves and create our girl's dream garden.

Growing Fast

I've just been looking at our old photos and I am just amazed as how our kids have grown so fast. It only seemed like yesterday when they were born, were so small and fragile to hold. Now, they're far from fragile as they have become stronger and even have fallen so many time but stood strong.

I thank God for continually protecting my li'l ones and letting them grow in wisdom and strength day by day. Thank you Lord!

Li'l Treasures

My kids are my li'l 'treasures'. As with any treasures, we must take care of them, protect them and value them. I'm trying to do as much as I can for my li'l treasures. As a stay at home mom, a lot of my time are indeed invested on them since they are still small and dependent. There are always pros and cons of a stay at home mom. The pros, can spend more time with my li'l ones, be able to train them they way accordingly and impart whatever values or principles I want them to have 24/7. As for the disadvantages, I get easily worn out as I have less 'me' time and sometimes I even feel so burnt out. That is why I need more of God's grace and wisdom everyday.

As for some people, their treasures are literally material things. They have all kinds of precious metals, crystals and even gold coins. They acquire all these wealth in the hope that it'll grow and be a great future investment. Maybe they are investing for their kids or future family which is also a good move. We all have different kinds of 'treasures'. But I'm also reminded with the verse that says, if we lay up treasures here in earth, they will rot and get destroyed but it is better to lay up treasures in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.

Patience

Oh patience, where can I buy you? I really need you at this hour of need.

If only patience can be bought, I would have to buy a lot of them everyday to help me with my everyday life. But God is a God of wisdom because he can only grant us patience after testing our patience.

When I was younger, some people told me that I'm a very patient person. They never saw me flare with anger and those sort of things. But I guess, that patient person has disappeared after having two strong willed and energetic kids. :) But I won't give up. Everyday I still pray for God to grant me patience towards my kids and everyday I will still try harder and harder. It's not easy indeed. God grant me patience.

The Reader

Our li'l girl has grown to love reading so much these days. Yes, she has loved books even when she was still small but before she will just be looking at the pictures and sort of studying it. It has just been recently that she really reads them word for word. She reads much faster now too. So, I've changed my mind and won't be selling the Grollier set we bought for the kids anymore. I thought of selling those books after seeing all her reading materials from her Homeschool curriculum and I thought she won't have time to read her Grolier books anymore. But I was proven wrong when I see her read her Grolier books every free time that she has. I'm glad that she is a reader and is like 'thirsty' to know more things.

Gone are the days, when our girl was still a baby. Gone are the days when we was on diapers and inside the stroller. And speaking of strollers, you might want to check out www.stroller.com where they have every kind of stroller imaginable from baby planet strollers to stroller accessories.

Back to our girl, she is slowly growing up to be a lady. And it is my prayer that indeed she will be a woman after God's own heart.

Awake and Enthusiastic

For two nights in a row now, our boy woke up at the middle of the night. He had this irregular sleep routine a few months ago and thankfully, it stopped. And I think this 'routine' of his is starting back again.

Last night, we were all asleep when he woke up the 2nd time. I was awakened when I heard the door slammed. And there, I saw under my sleepy eyes, our li'l boy soo awake and enthusiastic entering the room. I thought he just went to his sister's room and so, I asked him to go back to bed and when he did, I felt his body and clothes all wet! Oh no! It means that he must have come from the toilet and played with the water!

I immediately changed his clothes and diapers and it still took awhile before he slept back. He was very uneasy and fidgety the whole night and even if he slept late last night and woke up 2 times in between, he still woke up so early this morning! Arghh..

I really need more of God's grace and wisdom as we are again experiencing sleepless nights with our boy. I pray that he will get back to his normal sleeping routine again. I can't wait till he grows a bit older when his sleeping pattern will be better and then he can have his own room with kids bedding. We won't need all those baby bedding and crib bedding anymore, but we've actually given all those to our friends already.

The Box

Our brother's family have come and gone but our li'l girl still misses her cousins. Just this morning she showed me a box. I was wondering what was inside the box only to find out inside were her cousins' things. Some of the things they purposely left behind while some they forgot. She told me that we have to bring that box when we go to visit them in Vietnam. That's our li'l girl with her 'big' faith. I didn't promise her anything of going to Vietnam, but I just simply told her to pray. But as far as she's concerned, she has already prayed and she's therefore making preparations to visit her cousins in Vietnam. So, I guess we will be bringing that big box soon! LOL!

Health and Diet

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I want to come to a point when I won't be much concern about how much weight I lose a week but more on my over all health. I've actually tried to lose weight for quiet some time now but it hasn't been quite successful as I always end up going back to my normal 'unhealthy' eating habits. Admittedly, I love sweets and fast food. Thank God that I don't crave too much fast food anymore like before, but I still can't take out my sweet tooth. I've searched far and wide for weight loss diets and start very well. But then, after quite some time, I miss a thing or two and go back to my original ways.

If my main goal is healthy living and not 'weight loss' then, I guess things will change and I will have more chance of success. But then still, I need a complete change in my lifestyle though and I will need more discipline, motivation and support.

Hmm... I will have to motivate myself again to get healthy and fit for my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Mommt Moments - Movies and Kids

I haven't joined this meme for quite a long time already and I'm glad to be back. This week's Mommy Moment's theme is 'Movies and Kids'.

When we were in Taiping last year, watching animated films was one of our favorite's Day Out activities. I think my daughter and I were able to watch 3 different animated movies last year. She truly enjoyed these time outs together.

Now that we're back in Thailand, we can't watch movies at the cinemas anymore because they don't have English movies in its original soundtrack. They usually dubbed all these movies in Thai. I'm not sure why the cinemas here in the south don't have time slots for English movies anymore. But anyways, my daughter and I just go for ice cream and window shopping during our day outs.

This was a photo taken when my daughter and I watched Ice Age 3

Thomas Train

My li'l boy loves toy cars, trains and airplanes. I find it quite amusing too that he calls the train, "Thomas Train". I guess it's because his first exposure with trains was through the cartoons " Thomas the Train". Anyways, as we sent our brother's family yesterday to the train station, both our kids were asking us if they could also ride the train. They've both ridden the train before but I guess they were still too small to remember the experience. So, I just asked them as usual to pray that they will be able to ride the train next time. They actually like to experience riding the train and the bus. They didn't have much opportunities to ride both these modes of transportation because we usually travel by car to Malaysia. Though it's a bit tiring for Hubby to drive but still we find it more convenient because then we can go around the city with our own transport. Sometimes, we also have our car's engine, air intake systems and etc. checked in Malaysia since most parts and accessories are cheaper there.

Anyways, maybe we might consider traveling by train or by bus next time. I'm sure our kids will be delighted and I think we can also save a little bit.

Praying for Friends

My heart is burdened and sad for a few days now. I've received news back home that our family friend, one very close sister in the Lord whom I consider as my discipler is at the ICU now. I'm not so sure of the cause of her sickness but they said it's some kind of a virus. She just had a simple flu for many days due to the virus and has cause her blood pressure to rise until everything became complicated. Now she is considered to be 'brain dead' and the doctor said that only a miracle can let her recover fully. I'm praying for God's special touch and healing upon Ate Gina.

Then just this evening, I heard another sad news of a friend whom I met in Cebu several years back. She had also passed away this morning leaving her husband and 3 month old baby. Oh, I can't help but be heartbroken for the Husband and baby that has been left behind. My prayers are with them that God will also strengthen them and comfort them in these painful times.

I can't say anything much except that God is still sovereign. These events somehow also reminds me that indeed life is short and that every single second that we spend here on earth is very important and should be maximize to impact eternity..

Our House Owner

We praise God for giving us great house owners. We've never had any problems with our past and current house owners. Most of them are so kind to us and always ready to extend their help when needed.

Our current house owner is a policeman ( the first was a soldier). Unlike the stereotype policeman, he is thin ( with a small tummy :)) and soft spoken. A few times we called him about some problems in the house and he never failed to come and see the problem whenever he's free. Once he called a roofing contractor CT to fix the leakage problem. I also remember the time when we were still deciding to rent his house and my Hubby asked him if he could repaint the house first before we move in and he willingly did so.

Now, we have a bit of a major problem in the house and he promised to solve this plumbing or drainage problem. It's actually a huge task to repair the drainage system as it's a neighborhood problem. But he said he will do his best as he doesn't want us to leave the house. It seems that he and especially his wife are happy that we are taking care of their house well.

Anyways, I'm glad for a considerate owner, maybe if we request for a vinyl siding CT and window replacement CT, he will gladly do it for us. But for us, having our drainage system fixed is more important for now. And if ever we need to do some home improvements, maybe we can do it on our own too.

Learning Without A Roof

I just missed being with the kids in the village. And I was glad to have to opportunity to go with the team last Saturday as my SIL offered to take care of the kids. These kids are indeed precious and I just pray that they will have a great future ahead of them by God's grace. They all belong to very simple family and most of their father's are fishermen. Their mothers also work hard by selling the fish at the market and that's how they earn for their daily living.

And since the team just come every Saturday to teach English, we really don't have a proper place to teach them. Their houses are so small and they don't have garages. So, most of the time, the kids just gather outside the open area that's available in the neighborhood and learn from their. During the summer, the teachers and the students are outside the scorching heat of the sun and during the rainy season, classes are also canceled as the kids get wet.

We are now planning to put up some tarps to protect the students from the rain or the sun. We don't need those hurricane tarps as the roof tarps will be sufficient. Hopefully, we could start on this project this month so, the kids will have a more conducive place to learn.

The Blessing of Budget Airlines

I'm really excited with all the ongoing airfare promos of budget airlines nowadays. Traveling has indeed been made more possible and affordable through them. Praise God! I remember the first time I traveled for our exposure trip to Thailand and paying more than 20 Thousand pesos just for our round trip international fare. But nowadays, we can book tickets for as low as 2,000 - 3,000 Pesos.

And because of cheap fares, we get to be visited by friends and family members more often. My brother's family are here now and they only paid around 100$ ( for 5 people) for their fare from Hanoi. This November, my mom and sis' family and few friends are coming over and they only paid around 8T pesos for their round trip tickets from our hometown. Wow!

Without budget airlines, it would have been very costly and more difficult to travel as a family. Without budget airlines, being visited by family members would have been rare occasions. But praise God for He makes all things possible. :)