Mommy Moments - School Days

This week's theme for Mommy Moments is School Days. My Li'l girl had he first experience of school October last year while we were in the Philippines. But unfortunately, she was only able to attend school for a few months since I couldn't manage to send her regularly with my baby boy with me and transport was just challenging with our house that's far from the city.

Then, this year, we sent her to another Kindergarten here in Malaysia. She'll be attending half the semester here before we go back to Thailand and then I need to do home schooling for her there. She's really enjoying her school here and I just wish international schools in Thailand are affordable so we can send her to school there.

Anyways, here are the photos of her in her uniforms .. from Little Epistle Evangel school in the Philippines and Tadika Marks in Malaysia. The video was taken in the Philippines during the United Nations day.

School is Fun!

I really thank God that our li'l girl is enjoying her school. Gone are the days when she would cry and refuse to go to school. Everytime we fetch her from school and ask how's her class, she would enthusiastically reply, "It's fun!".

I also observe that she's indeed learning a lot of things in school. She's learning to socialize with her classmates and even a lot of additional inputs from her lessons and her teachers. I've been trying to homeschool her since she was 3 but I really wasn't very successful in making it a regular homeschool. It also has something to do with the fact that she was still so young that time that I really didn't take it so seriously.

So, now she's comfortable with the traditional school setting and I'm also a bit worried on how she'll be we go back to Thailand and I do serious homeschooling with her. As of now, we still don't have much choice but to homeschool her next year as International school is way too expensive for us. A Thai school won't be much help for her too since everything then will be taught in Thai including Maths, Science and English.. oh did I say teach English in Thai? heeheh!

Anyways, seriously though, we're already in the lookout for homeschool materials for her. I heard there are a lot of choices here in Malaysia. We better search earlier as time just flies so fast. I hope we could find a good and affordable curriculum for her.

When she's a lot bigger like Secondary level or College level, we would have more choices for her since we could send her for boarding school in India, or maybe find a good school here in Malaysia or the Philippines. There's even a more convenient option by letting her get accredited online degrees from the online schools available in the internet. I've also heard that they offer online degree scholarships. Anyways, why am I thinking about this now when she's only 5 years old. Let me take one day at a time. :)

Thankful Thursday 17

Welcome to my Thankful Thursday post! Thank God, I'm more oriented with the days now and therefore am up to date with the weekly memes that I'm a part of.

This week I'm thankful to God for the following:

1) .. for rain!.. It has been very HOTT for the past weeks and for 2 days now, it has been raining. I love the rain because it makes the weather so cool but I especially love it after the rain has gone, everything looks so fresh and 'new'. Thank you Lord!

2) .. for the healing of my Li'l girl. Our kids has been falling sick quite often lately. But I thank God that our li'l girl is well now.

3) .. for our girl's kindegarten. She has been extremely enjoying her school and once again, can't help but be amazed as I remember God's favor as the school offered her to study there for FREE!! Amazing God!

4) .. for our the opportunity to be a blessing. For a few days my Hubby has been helping out a friend come out of drug addiction. Finally, the friend has agreed to go to a Christian rehab center outside town. My Hubby and friend went there yesterday but he still have to clear out some records and stuff before they can accept him. We're praying for a smooth processing of all his documents.

5) .. for food, shelter, clothing and even God's bonuses of blessings.. Thank you Lord!

How about you? what are you thankful for today? Please visit Laurie to join us.

Crossing Borders

Our road tax is going to expire next month. It means we have to take a trip to the Malaysian and Thai border to renew it. So, my Hubby and I are planning to cross the border and stay in Hatyai for the weekend. It's also an opportunity for us to have our Li'l boy immunized there. He has been born in Thailand and started his immunization there, so we don't have a choice but to follow through the Thai vaccine schedule and have him immunized at the same hospital where he was born.

Anyways, I already miss Thailand, and I'm quite excited to visit our 'home' for the last 6 years. We still have to check on our accommodation for that weekend though but I've been dreaming to stay at Hotel Novotel. (LOL!) There's actually an ongoing Accor Hotels City Super Sale and Novotel hotels in the South Pacific are included in the sale! There are more participating hotels from 27 cities in 10 countries . This sale is actually just for a limited time. They offer discounts up to 60% if you book from June 23-29 and stay from July 10- September 30. You might want to check it out. Who knows you can get a very cheap deal to your next business travel or holiday tour. But for me, I have to check on our friend first if we can stay at the center for a zero rate. LOL!

On Being Content and Happy

My five year old has been having this attitude lately in which she would have something ( may it be a toy or food) be content with it until she finds her brother or cousin brother with another toy. Then, she would want what they have to the point of not being happy with what she has. So, many times we have to reiterate that she must be contented and happy with what she has. Because if she's not contented, she would turn out to be ungrateful for what she has. I guess, this seemingly new attitude of hers is just normal for a child ' to have everything what they want' but it's not a very good attitude to bring on until adulthood.

Anyways, I wasn't so sure how she receives this 'sermon' of ours every time we correct her. But one afternoon, I knew then that she must have understood what we meant.

It has been a usual 'challenging' afternoon of forcing her and her cousin to eat properly and finish their food. They're both very playful when their together so, it takes a lot of scolding and reprimanding before they finish their meal. I was not in a good mood already, it was a hot afternoon, was tired and sleepy. But then, suddenly, our girl hugged me and said, " Amma, I'm happy with what I have - I have you and Appa". It was a very brief sentence but it totally warmed my heart. Then, I knew that whatever we told her must have already been embedded in her heart.

I just hope and pray that God will continue to give us wisdom in training our children, the way they should go.

On Contests and Deals

I've joined another contest, and this time the winning package will be an all expense paid trip to Gold Coast Australia for two. This contest is indeed fun and exciting since it's like being on a race with other contestants. My Hubby and I are hoping that we could win this contest and be able to go to Australia and see some Kangaroos!;)

It'll be nice to see Australia. I've heard that Melbourne is also a great holiday destination. We have a few friends from there and we also some beautiful photos of the city. If we were to go to Melbourne, the first place we would want to visit is the Zoo, then the museums, then the parks and so on and so forth. It would also be nice to stay in Hotel Ibis especially that this hotel will be taking part of the Accor Hotels City Super Sale. It means, you could get great discounts up to 60% if you book from the 23rd-29th of June and stay from July 10 to September 30 this year.

Anyways, enough of dreaming for me, let me check out the contest website for me to earn more tokens for the contest. For the meantime, you might be interested to check out the City Super Sale and make your holiday plans for this year. There are more 250,000 participating hotels in 27 cities in 10 countries. Book your stay in these hotels now.

Word-filled Wednesday 1

Yes, at these times, we can't trust in our resources, in our circumstances but we TRUST in His name alone. Amen!

Paid in Full and Debt Elimination

Paid In Full.
That was the status of my travel booking when I checked the travel site last week. When I saw it, I can't help but chuckle and show it to my Hubby because those were the phrases I usually see in Christian bumper stickers. It tells us about what Christ did for us. He paid the penalty of our sins through His death on the cross. At that time, it also had a different message for me. Paid in Full, also meant that, that the free trave and l tour was God's favor for me.

The next thing I want to see in our lives, is total debt elimination. ;) At the start of this year, my Hubby and I wanted to be debt free from all the house loans and credit card bills. Hopefully, God will grant our hearts desire and truly be debt free at the end of the year. How? I don't have any idea, but I believe God will answer our prayers. Some people ask for an expert's advice like Dave Ramsey's advice for total debt elimination and knowing the debtor's rights . But, for us we just have to be truly careful and responsible with our spending and pray for God's blessings in our lives.

1st Day with the Babysitter

As posted earlier, we were looking for a Daycare Center or a Learning Center for Lyle. But unfortunately, we found the learning center way too high for our budget and the DayCare center didn't meet our expectations.

Actually, one of the reasons why we want to send him to a Daycare was that my Hubby and I want to spend more time together: plan things, make teachings and do other things we want to do peacefully without kids. And thankfully, there was this Aunty who offered to take care of Lyle. We actually just want 'free time' 3 times a week for about 2 hours.

So, today was Lyle's first day with the Aunty. We excitedly sent him to the Aunty's house and he was okay. He didn't cry at all when he saw us left him. Meanwhile, my Hubby and I went to the nearest coffeeshop to have our breakfast together and studied for a teaching. And boy, the 2 hours just flew so fast.. Hahaha! So, we went to fetch Tricia from the school first before proceeding to fetch Lyle.And guess what, when we went to the Aunty's house, Lyle has already been crying. It seemed that he has already been crying for 30 minutes! And we thought 2 hours was fast.. but I guess, for the first timer Lyle, 2 hours without us has already been like eternity for him.

So, there goes Lyle's first day with the babysitter. Hopefully, he will be okay when we send him there again, a day after tomorrow. Hopefully... hopefully.... I still have to do my practice driving, make few more teaching preparations and etc.. so, we really need this free time even just for 2 hours, 3 days a week.. :) Please Lyle..please be okay with the Aunty.

Design and Spaces

I've just watched a show in Discovery Travel and Living about renovating an ugly kitchen to a beautiful one. I truly enjoyed the show but at the back of my mind, I also missed my so-called chosen career which I never had a chance to practice for a long time, Interior Design. I love what I studied in university and had a great time studying, but if someone would ask me to do the interior of their house, I would have to politely say 'no'. I don't have the confidence to do it anymore and it was like altogether, my interests have been diverted elsewhere. I'm not that keen to designs now and my creativity side hasn't been tapped for a long time.

Anyways, back to the show, what I love about the new design of the kitchen was the fact that it had a lot of storage area plus the additional reading nook that they created. Imagine, having a reading nook in a kitchen? Yes, that part of the design was actually needed since the mom has two kids and so she can keep watch on the kids while she cooks. The kids love to read books. As for the storage area, they really needed a lot of storage to keep the kitchen neat and tidy. In the US, there's also an option for them if they have small houses and can't afford to make big storage as part of their design, because they have services like All state self storage that meets their storage needs wherever they are in US like the, phoenix self storage , arizona self storage or arizona wine storage .

My Mom is a Blogger!

I've got a cool Mom! My soon to be 69 years old Nanay ( Mom in Filipino) is not just updated with the latest internet social working sites like Friendster and Facebook account but she's now a certified blogger too. Her blog is entitled, " A Glimpse of a Widow's Heart" and here you will be able to read about her personal experiences as a wife, a mom, a grandmother, a widow and testimonies of God's faithfulness in her life.

I'm glad that she has a new found hobby, that will keep her occupied apart from her role as a mother and granny to all her grandchildren. I'm sure a lot of us will be encouraged and inspired by her writings and reflections.

To Nanay! Happy Blogging.. and see you in the blogosphere.. :)

Yummy Sunday- Kenny Roger's

It's an early Yummy Sunday entry for me this week..:)

Two Saturdays ago, we gave my Mom in law ( and ourselves!) a treat. We went to Kenny Roger's here in Taiping. Yes, yes, yes, the 'newly' opened Taiping Sentral has got Kenny Rogers. And we love it! One thing that we like about this place, aside from the food is that they've got very good customer service. The guy who served us was very friendly and polite like he must have come from the best California PR company . (LOL!)

Anyways, here's a sample of the food that we ordered. YUM!!

This is what I got: Original Chicken, Cheesy Macaroni and Rice

My Hubby ordered Black Pepper chicken, Mashed potatoes, pasta and rice

What I like about Kenny Roger's is that their food is not the usual 'fast food' . It's healthier since it's grilled with a lot of side dishes to choose from. But the price is higher compared to normal fastfood so, it's a restaurant that we can only visit occasionally.

For more Yummy Sunday entries just click the badge above. :)

Mommy Moments - That's My Dad!

Today's Mommy Moments is a tribute to the father's on Father's Day. So, I'm posting the photos of my hubby- the father of my kids! He has been a great father to my kids - at times, he can be a strict disciplinarian or a Charlie Chaplin depending on the situation. But at all times, he does everything out of love for God, his family and his kids.

Hubby and Tricia at 4 years old

HUbby and Lyle at 10 months old

My kids are surely blessed to have a father like him.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!!

For more Mommy Moments entry, please click the badge above.

The Convenience of Everything Online

Several years before, when you want to book an airline ticket, you have to go to the nearest travel agency or airline ticket outlet. But now with the convenience of internet booking, everything is just so convenient and easy. This is the age when we can just buy anything and everything online, from cosmetics to the latest furniture and even a house and lot!

There's ebay, leylong, shopwiki and so thousands of online shops. But with the rise of these shops online, we also have to be careful with our online purchases. We have to make sure that the site in which we're buying goods are legitamate, secure and certified. We have to check the PCI compliance of the site. How to know if the site is PCI compliant? There will usually be some kind of security proof at the bottom of the site. If you're want to start an online business you might also want to check what are PCI compliance costs .

As Bread That is Broken

This song has been ringing in my ears today since my devotion is about being broken to be used by God.

"As bread that is broken use our lives,
As wine that is poured out, a willing sacrifice.
Empower us Father, to share to love of Christ
As bread that is broken, Lord.
Use our lives."

It is really true, our lives can never be useful unless we have been broken - we undergo a period of humility, trials and testings. Just like the wheat, it has to be grounded first before it can be made useful.

Are we willing to have our lives broken, to undergo things that's not the norm, things that are not comfortable, to undergo trials, humiliation and testing, so as to be used by God? Are we willing to have our lives poured out, spread out for people , sacrificed just to be used by God?

If we are, only then God can use us.

Lord, let my life be broken for you.. Let my life be a willing sacrifice for you ..so that you can use me.. Let this be my prayer and my hearts desire.

Li'l Einstein in the Garden

I thank God for giving my girl the love for drawing. She just really love to draw and can draw for hours and hours. Sometimes we have to stop her because she's consuming sooo much of A4 sized paper already. I also loved to draw when I was young, but I have to admit that my daughter indeed draws a lot better than I did at her age. I remember that during my elementary years, I just copied what my sister or brother drew. But for Tricia, she can draw anything she wants to draw and seeing her draw seems like it's just so simple.

So, this is one of her latest creations, the Little Einstein characters plus the spaceship. She wanted me to contribute in her drawing and asked me to draw a garden, so I drew the fence and the rabbit ( looking at it now, it seems like a 5 year old drew it too!). She just love to have a garden and been dreaming to have her own. I'm sure that when she grows up this dream of hers will be fulfilled and she'll have a complete set of gardening tools from a small shovel to a dethatching rake . So, in the future she'll either be an artist or a gardener. LOL! Just kidding! I'm sure God has a great plan and purpose in her life.

Thankful Thursday 16 - Father's Eyes

1) I'm thankful for our Heavenly Father's love for me that even though how much I've failed and staggering to get back on my feet, His hand is always there for me. That's God great Love and grace.

2) I'm thankful that God has let me experience the love of a father by giving me a kind, gentle hearted and good earthly father. I couldn't have asked for more. Though my father has passed away 5 years ago, but I could still remember his goodness, his faith in God and unwavering strength as he suffered cancer for 2 years. God was indeed His strength.

3) I'm thankful for my Husband who is being a great and wonderful father to our two precious kids. He just loves them much and gives his best for them.

4) I'm thankful for my brother and brother-in-laws who are also leading great examples to their kids, nieces and nephews. They are all a blessing!

Advance Happy Father's Day to Everyone! May we remember most of all our Father's great love to us as we celebrate Father's day this Sunday.

For more Thankful Thursday Posts, head on the Laurie's Blog on Women Taking A Stand.

Dream Prize

After writing about the travel package that I won from a contest, I just couldn't help but 'dream' of winning another contest to travel to any part in the world and which is good for 2 or even the entire family. If I were to choose a destination, I would really like to go and see Paris, France. I've seen the beauty of this place only through the photos and television and I can't imagine how everything will look like ' live'. I'm sure it'll be a surreal experience.

Of course, the Eiffel Tower would be the first stop. But I really have to make sure to visit the Louvre Museum and sink myself deep at the artistic creations of the painting masters. I would also love to taste first hand, the orginal french cuisine. As of now, I've only tasted the 'french bread' sold at local bakeries..LOL! Anyways, I've found some sites with everything french: Thalasso for French Spa, Cave a vin for French wine, Batteries electroniques and assuranc eviedeces for Insurance in France.

Okay, I better wake up from my dream now and get into reality. Anyhow, I'm still in the midst of a beauty in a town called Taiping. Thank God for the beauty of His creation.

Travel Booking Done!

Oh my.. I can't believe this is happening. After exchanging several emails with the travel and tours agent, I finally got my email last night which confirmed my booking, itinerary and information about my Treasures of the North Travel! Praise the Lord! I'm so excited but at the same time anxious as to how I'm going to be without my kids and HUbby and vice versa.

You see, I won this travel package from the blog contest I joined a few months ago. But unfortunately, the prize which is the travel package is good for only one person. And if buy another travel package for the whole family it will be so expensive and we just couldn't afford it. My prize package alone is worth 670AUD.

At first, I was not so sure whether to claim my prize and travel without my family but after talking with my Hubby, my Mom and friends, they all encouraged me to go, to have a break since it's actually just a once in a lifetime experience. Actually, I won't really be alone, I will be in a group tour. And the amazing thing is that the other winner (from the same contest) is a fellow Filipina. So, communicating with her, we immediately became good buddies and decided to travel together with a group. The itinerary of our travel us just awesome: from Bangkok, we're going to Sukhothai ( the first capital of Thailand), then Lampang ( jungle trekking on the elephants back) to Chiang Mai and back to Bangkok. There were so much of activities in stored for this trip.

I'm excited.. but I think I will surely miss my family for 8 days.. but anyways, this trip will only take place 2 months from now.. so I have a lot of time to bond and spend with them. I just thank God for this opportunity to travel and to have a break. This is actually the first time I won in a contest so, I'm sure God has a purpose for these. :)

Properties for Sale

It's been quite sometime since we wanted to sell some of our lots in Balulang but still there are no interested buyers yet. Actually, we haven't done some serious advertising ever since and we're just kinda waiting for buyers ( through referrals) to come and buy. :)

My cousin told me of a site where you can advertise for free and we were thinking to advertise through that. But if we really want to be serious in selling our lots, then maybe we have to consider getting a realtor. If we get a good, professional realtor like Kirk Lewis of the Austin Realtors, then I guess we won't have to wait for long for our lots to be sold. I heard that Kirk Lewis' company is highly competitive and has excellent quality of work.

Back to our lots in Balulang, I hope that the time will come soon for these lots to be sold off. Maybe it's time for us to do serious work too in selling them. What about you? Would you be interested to buy a piece of land in Balaulang, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines? :) Then, don't hesitate to leave a message.

Li'l Boy Blue

Our Li'l Boy is sick again... Just the other week, he had a very bad cough and now he's having fever. His Big sister also just recovered from her fever just 2 days ago. There must be some kind of virus hanging around here.

But even of our li'l boy is having fever, he could be as active as he can be. I even didn't notice his fever yesterday afternoon until I felt his cheeks so warm against my cheeks. Yesterday, was also a very hot day so I thought that it was just because of the weather. But after a few attempts of cooling him off by giving cold compress and letting him drink lots of water, he was still very warm. That's when I took out his paracetamol and let him take it.

We're not going to the doctor yet ( since I'm sure the doctor will give us the usual medicine ) but I'll just regularly let him take his medicine and maybe we'll wait for a day or two. If it doesn't go off, then I guess it'll be time to go back to the Doctor.

I pray for the healing of my Li'l boy. As a mom, I'm never at ease when one of my kids are sick.

Of Playgroups, Daycare and Kids Activities

We're looking for some kind of a playgroup for our Li'l boy. We feel that he also needs some kind of interaction with other kids and at the same time give Amma and Appa (us, parents) some kind of a break. :) We've thought of sending him to a Daycare Center but after taking a look at one of the Daycare Centers in town, we opt not to. There are not much choices around here but we will be looking at 2 other places and see if we are comfortable in sending him there. One of the centers is actually a reading program for toddlers while the other one is a nursery. If these centers don't meet our requirements, then hopefully we could find a playgroup for him or we will just have to create activities ourselves to keep our active li'l boy occupied.

I wish there would be more activities and events geared towards the children's needs here in town. I've discovered that there's this cool widget from ParentsConnect.com that informs parents of all the events and activities in their area. But sadly, this widget only covers areas around the US. I've actually installed the widget in my blog now. It might be helpful for some parents who live in the US. You can have one installed in your blog now. You will also get a chance to win 1000$ by installing this in your blog.

Thankful Thursday 15

It's Thursday! And it's quite unusual that I'm not disoriented with the Day today. Thanks to my li'l girl who reminded me that Thursday is when she goes to art school.

Okay let me go to my list of thanksgiving for this week:

1) I thank God for our kids esp. our li'l girl who's very excited and happy with her kindergarten and art school! She literally gets up on her own everyday to go to school ( kindergarten/art school).

2) I thank God for meeting our needs just perfectly at the right time! AMazing!

3) I thank God for a beautiful family here in Taiping.

4) I thank God for the healing of our li'l boy. He has been having cough a few days earlier.

5) I thank God for this beautiful place, Taiping. I just love it here!

Of Hot Weather and Juicers

It's quite unusual for Taiping to be hot all day and without rain. My Mom in law said that before, even when it was hot during the day time, but usually there'll be some rain showers in the afternoon that helps make the place cool. But, we've been here for almost a month and it hasn't been raining ever since. It has just been HOT! Imagine, the clothes that I hang dry gets totally dried in a half a day.

Oh, with this HOT weather, how I long for Ice Kacang ( Halo-Halo for Filipinos) or Ice cold coke!! But my Hubby has been limiting my Coke intake now so maybe I'll have to change a bit and crave for fruit juices instead. Yes, fruit juice, that would be the best alternative for Coke, right?

I remember my Tatay and Nanay who used to have a juicer and my Tatay would experiment and put different mixtures of fruits and vegetables in the juicer. Everything he made surely taste nice and healthy too. Now, there are different types of juicer recipes available from a green star Juicer. It would be nice to have juicers too. Maybe then that will be the time when I could stop drinking coke. Hmmm? Oh, when , oh when, can I have a healthy lifestyle? I better start now and take care of our bodies or tomorrow might be too late.

Zoo Time

God meets the desires of the Little children. Our Li'l girl has always been wanting to go to the zoo. We promised her earlier that we would surely take her there but she just have to wait for awhile. After our afternoon picnic last week, we passed by the zoo again and told her that 'soon' we would go there.

Maybe she prayed hard enough because the day after, we got a call from our Pastor friend and told us that their church Sunday school from Penang are going to make a trip to the zoo and is inviting our kids ( plus the parents, of course!) to go to the zoo! Oh, we were ecstatic and immediately I was overwhelmed by God's answer to our kid's prayer. We promised her 'soon' ( which was actually indefinite) but God's answer was immediate. Amazing!

TMC Penang Sunday School

Remembering Mizpah

I was reading my Mom's blog this afternoon about the places and houses which we lived in for the past years. Then, I remembered the mini mart that we used to have called Mizpah Mart. The word Mizpah is actually a place in the Bible which means, the Lord will watch over us.

That small business actually started out quite well, there were still not a lot of competition in the area and our store's location was quite strategic. I could vividly remember our Grand opening day with all the shelves, glass display showcases so new and filled with grocery items. Having a mini mart was like every child's dream come true. Imagine, having to eat all the ice cream, junk foods and stuff! But then, the Asian crisis came and it affected us since our bank's interest rates has soared up so high and sales were slowly decreasing. There were also bigger grocery stores built nearby our area. The mini mart stayed on for a few more years but truly as what the name of the store implied, the Lord indeed watched over us. Even if it wasn't doing very well, but all our daily needs were provided. Everything just came in perfect timing, the payments due and the money needed. I remember my sister busily calculating all the sales at the end of the day and having that sigh of relief after knowing that she could pay the agent who's coming the next day. But I'm sure the business has also helped our family in many ways.

Then, finally my parents decided to close the business. It was not a very painful decision but I could remember our excitement ( and anxiety too) of moving to our rest house next to the river. Oh, so many memories.. but thank God because everything that happened in our lives truly has a purpose.

A Thorn Has Been Taken Out!

"It's like having a thorn taken out from me!", ( murag ko ug na ibtan ug tunuk!) that's the literal translation of what we Filipinos say after passing through a difficult circumstance or solving a problem. And that's exactly how we feel now. In the past, I've written some posts of going through seemingly tough times but with the assurance of God's promises and presence in our lives.

True enough, we've just passed through as stage and that explains, why 'one thorn has been taken out' from our lives. There are more stages to pass through but as always, God is with us as He will not allow circumstances to happen in our lives that is beyond what we can bear. His strength and grace will always be sufficient.

Part Time Job

Here I am again, doing my part time job at 12 midnight. No, I'm not working at a call center nor working as a security guard on a night shift. LOL! But I'm now, doing my part time job as a pro blogger!

From 12 midnight onwards is the only time where there's total peace and quiet in the house since everyone is off to dreamland. But as for me, this is the time when I can write my posts and try to grab some tasks. This is one of the advantages of being a night person, my mind is just so awake and active at this time. This is also the time when I can think more clearly and write more 'creatively' (?). I think it also has something to do with the fact that there are no whiny kids and fighting siblings hovering me. :)

But seriously though, I'm always thankful to God for this 'part time' job. That even if I only spend a few hours a day doing my blogging chores but the income I get is already equivalent to getting a normal 8-5 clerical job in the Philippines. Thank God for his provision! Everything is indeed just so timely too as we are on our break and therefore has a lot of traveling expenses. I can't imagine how everything would be like without my blog income. But then again, we know that maybe if I didn't do pro blogging, surely God has other means of providing for His children, right?






And by the way, if you're interested to Earn extra money blogging and in the internet. You can also try Yovia. I've just learned that this site also teaches you to blog, earn through your blog and at the same time you also earn by someone clicking a 'fidget' in your blog or facebook account. I'll be trying this out too and see how it really works.

Pinoy Preaching

One thing that I miss whenever I'm out of the Philippines is hearing a sermon which I can fully understand and relate to. When we were in Thailand, I couldn't absorb much of the preaching because its usually in Thai ( unless they have a foreigner preacher as a guest) and most of the time the English translation is not so clear. Whenever I'm here in Malaysia, we usually go to a Tamil church, so about 80% of the preaching will be in Tamil and about 20% in English.

But last Sunday was different. We had a Filipino preacher that Sunday! I was already quite excited when my Mom in law told me that the Pastor who will be preaching in the church is a Filipino.

So, Sunday came and when we went inside the church, I immediately recognized the Filipino pastor and greeted him in Tagalog. He was quite surprised to see a lone Filipino in the crowd of Indians too. But we never got a chance to talk since the service has already started.

The Pastor shared a powerful preaching and the great thing was, I completely understood 100% of the sermon and not to mention, I could relate to everything he said, from the "Filipino" jokes that he cracked ( in which only Filipinos can understand) to the way he constructed his sentences in English. He was preaching in English but isn't sometimes we literally speak as if we are speaking in Bisaya? He was a very dynamic and funny preacher but at the same time shared the Word powerfully.

In short, I was so blessed last Sunday. It was a preaching about Faith and its actually what I needed to strengthen in this seemingly difficult times. :) So, I guess that's why God sent a Filipino Pastor all the way to Malaysia to let me understand the preaching 100% and remind me of certain things. Praise the Lord!

You've Got Mail

I can't imagine how the world of communication has totally changed because of email and sms. I could vividly remember during my university days where I would regularly walk from Molave Residence Hall to the UP Diliman Post Office to send letters or cards to my family and friends. Then, I would wait for weeks before I can received their reply, that is if they reply at all. :) Then during my time, handphones were still a rich businessman's gadgets, and even SMS messages were still unheard of.

Oh, writing about this now makes me feel so ancient! LOL! And fast forward 2009, billions of people already have email accounts, handphones, internet access and etc. Communication is faster and easier but at times not so secure. Take for example our emails, we're not so sure whether its being kept private or not. And with a lot of scams and hackers, our privacy gets jeopardized.

But have you heard of a very private and secure free email? I consider gmail and yahoo as private and secure but I've also heard of Privacy Harbor in which their primary commitment is keeping you safe and secure. If security and privacy is your main concern, then better Get your Free Private Email now at PrivacyHarbor.com now.