Bomb Blasts at Lee Gardens, Hat Yai and Park Hotel Yala

Photo taken from Chubz C.

A couple of hours ago, a bomb exploded at the basement of Lee Gardens Hotel in Hat Yai and Park Hotel in Yala. There were still no confirmed reports on the number of people who were injured or died in Hat Yai, but as what we've 'heard' there were 7 casualties. In Yala, a news report of 40 people injured and 5 casualties.

We were having lunch at Sugar Rock restaurant (Hat Yai) when we heard about the incident. We really had goosebumps all over since our friends were supposed to have lunch at Mcdonald's ( located at the ground floor of Lee Garden's) but it seems plans changed and everyone decided to go to Sugar Rock. We believe that's how God works to keep all of us safe. As for our other Malaysian and Singaporean friends, they were having their lunch at Sizzler's ( located at the 2nd floor) when the bomb exploded. They really felt the whole floor go up a few inches and down again. It's a good thing that the floor didn't give way and the glass windows didn't shatter. The staff immediately evacuated them to the fire exit and they safely escaped. But as of this time our other friends are still on the 33rd floor of the building and waiting for the smoke and the way to be clear before they can safely go down. I've heard that there are still hundreds of people trapped on the 4th floor of the building.

We're continually praying for the safety of the people in Hat Yai. Please pray with us.

The House With A Garden

Our family saw a house for rent the other day, the good news is, it has a garden and it looks beautiful! If there's a good news then there must also be a bad news, right? Well, not yet..I mean, the price for the rent of that same house is a bit expensive for us (that can be the bad news), but then we still haven't negotiated with the owner yet as she's still in Japan. So, I won't conclude that there's a 'bad news' just yet.

Anyways, we saw the house from the outside and it really looks nice. There's a garden in front and a small yard on the side. The relative of the owner whom Hubby has talked with, said that the owner just did renovations with the house. I'm not sure whether she did kitchen renovations Brisbane, laundry renovations or bathroom renovations but it seems that that's the reason why they're making the rental much more expensive than usual.

Hubby will still negotiate while we pray for God's will. I'm sure that, if that house is for our family to occupy then, the rental can go low within our budget. If not, then it means God has other plans for our family. :)

Telephone Bill - Solved!

Phew! Thank God for hearing our prayers! Hubby went to the telephone company yesterday, brought our outrageously expensive phone bill and talked to the office manager. Though it seemed that the process for the complain was long but the TOT officers were very kind and polite and at the end, they crossed out the X,000 Baht bill! Praise the Lord!

The officer apologized and even explained that things like this happen because of all the cable lines (cable lines, phone lines, electricity lines and etc) triggering each other making the computer 'crazy' and 'confused'. Thank God that Hubby just had to pay our normal telephone bill which was just a fraction of the original bill. PTL!

Special thanks to Ate Lits for your concern and prayers too! God bless you Ate!

Moving Houses

Moving hasn't been much a part of my life until recently. Imagine, our family has been living in the same house for almost 20 years. Yes, I stayed in the house where I lived as an infant until my teenage years. That was our first move, and then our 2nd move was about 3-4 years later. Since I was studying in Manila during our first move and working in Cebu on our second move, I really didn't experience a lot of the packing and unpacking. I know it should have been very difficult for our family since 20 more years of accumulate stuff is no joke. During that time, we also don't have services and shops that sells cheap moving supplies. So, they had to pack everything from what was available.

Then, as I got married and lived here in Thailand. We've moved more than a couple of times too, in our few years of being in the country. Now, I can say that moving is not an easy thing. One would think that packing the things is the major job, but there's the unpacking and the rearranging. Oh, it took us months (!) to settle in our 2nd home. It was a great blessing that our brother's family came to visit us that time because they really helped us a lot in packing and transporting our stuff. Then a few years later, we have to move again here ( our 3rd house), since the houses (2nd and 3rd) are just nearby, it was much easier and we didn't have to bring in a lot of things too.

Oh, thinking about moving now actually stresses me out already. But... I could still consider moving into a new house as long as the house has a bigger yard and is affordable. Our kids have always prayed for a house with a yard or garden so, they can be free to run around and take care of pets. Hmm..we'll see..

Serious Conversation by My Kids

My kids were having late breakfast today. So, I just left them eating on their own while I was chatting with my Mom. I was just in the living room so, I overheard them talking while having breakfast. I was quite amused as to how they were having a serious conversation.

My daughter has actually been reading the Book of Revelations for the past days. Yes, she had some questions about this book but she has understood it better when I told her that this book is full of symbolism and future things. Anyways, she has been sharing to my son who's only 4 years old about the end times, heaven and etc. My son is still so small and can't seem to understand a lot of things that his sister has been saying but it was amusing to hear them discuss and share. He asked a lot of questions and there are also somethings that he doesn't want to agree on like death and etc. but they were talking like grown ups.

Oh, time just flies so fast.. the next thing I know they are already grown ups and will have more serious conversations with each other and even with us. :)

All This Time

All This Time by Brit Nicole is one of my favorite songs these days. I remember hearing this for the first time at KLove.com and immediately searching for the lyrics through Google. Then, I thought of learning its chords in the guitar. The chords are quite okay except for the tricky C#m and B chords but it's the strumming part that I'm having a bit of difficulty. There's an easy way in which everything is 'down' (stroke), but I somehow get bored with it. Oh, I'm not an aspiring guitarist or band player and I don't need these Marshall Amps as of this time, but somehow I just miss playing an instrument. I used to play the keyboards back in my high school days, but I was never good at it.

Anyways, I will try to master playing the song in my guitar and maybe let my daughter sing it. Oh, this is also one of her favorite songs.

The Shocking Phone Bill

I got a shock when I saw our phone bill yesterday. It was 8 times higher our usual monthly bill! At first, I thought that it was a total bill for the last 3 months or so. But when then I saw that it was only for a month. I can't remember calling the Philippines last month since I usually call home from Malaysia ( coz it's cheaper there). And then I saw that there was this single call for X,000 Baht! The number called only has 4 digits and the under the location called was 'life insurance' in Thai. I don't remember asking life insurance quotes from the phone. And when I saw the date of the call, I realized it was the time when we were in Malaysia. Oh, it's really very mysterious and shocking at the same time.

Hubby called our phone company to complain about the bill and they asked him to go to the office with the bill. Oh, I really hope and pray that we won't be able to pay for something, a 'call' or life insurance stuff that we didn't apply. Hubby said it might be a 'crossline', like someone's trying to use our number to call others or stuff like that. But my only prayer is that whatever it is, we won't end up paying for it. Where can we get such a big amount of money? :(

Letter from Our Sponsored Child

I finally got our 2nd letter from our sponsored child from Compassion International today. I was so happy to receive the letter and it left me in tears.

You see, I've just thought about Haron today, our sponsored child from Kenya. Honestly, I thought to give up sponsoring him because it takes a lot of percentage from my online earning. Giving our monthly support has truly been sacrificial for us, and a thought just came over me that maybe I'll just give it a few more months and then stop our sponsorship. And then today, I received his letter.

Since he doesn't know how to write in English, an translator writes in behalf of him. It was a long letter telling more about himself and expressing his gratefulness. He was so thankful of all the letters, drawings, photos and stickers we sent him last year. He said sends his 'Hi' to Tricia and Lyle and that we are all so special to him. When I read these last few words, I was almost in tears. Here I was, already thinking of giving up my support for this precious child who walks all the way to school, fetches water from the well to bring to his family and who just have the bare necessities in life. And he sees us special since we support him to go to school.. I was humbled... I was rebuked... I realized how self-centered I was and I was just concerned of our own comforts. There were no words to express how I felt.

Yes, I would continue to sacrificially give and support this child. This child is precious to us and on God's sight. If he finishes his studies, it will truly be a great blessing to him and his family. He might even be able to alleviate his family from poverty. I'm sure God will honor this and He is able to bless us so, we might bless others!

Silver Business

My sister is still doing her silver jewelry business. She gets her silver jewelries here in Thailand because it's quite cheaper to buy them here than in the Philippines. But recently, it seems that the price for silver has also gone up, so I'm sure she has to make her prices higher too. I will try to look for better jewelry deals here in Thailand and maybe it might help her business in the future.

Anyways, if your from Cagayan de Oro and is interested to buy silver jewelry, you can send me a message and I'll tell you how to contact her. :)

Waiting

The period of waiting is not a very comfortable experience. It's a time that's full of questions, uneasiness, fear and all the rest of the emotions. But if we continually cling unto God during this period, it's also a time of knowing God and His ways more and more. It's a time of changing us and humbling us, because it's at this point that apart from Him we can do nothing.

Waiting can be a beautiful experience too, because we know that after the wait, we are a new person.. after the wait, we see the fulfillment of God's beautiful plan in our lives....

Thus, I will continually wait.... wait on God and His plans for our lives..

Lost Files

I almost panicked the other day. I thought I lost all my files inside my external hard drive. Actually, it was my bad since I left my son to play on Starfall.com on his own while I was working in the kitchen. I think he got bored with the game that he decided to just randomly press all the keys and play like a 'computer wizard'. And when I tried to open the files in my external hard drive, it just went blank! I tried and retried a few times and the results were the same. Oh, I have a lot of files in my hard drive, all the photos, my ebooks, homeschool ebooks, videos and etc. These files were like collected and compiled for a couple of years and I couldn't retrieve them anywhere else. And finally, I decided to restart the laptop and plug the hard drive in and out. And whew! The files are up and running.

This experience led me to search on google on how to back up your computer . I guess I will have to learn how to do this so that I won't have to worry again if something happens to my computer or my external hard drive.

Car Over Heat

A few weeks ago, our car got overheated. We didn't notice the temperature gauge at all but we were just so surprised that a green liquid was splattering out of the car on our way to the Water Department (to pay our water bill). Hubby had to stop the car and open the hood. When he did it boiling green water were getting splattered everywhere like a hot fountain!! Thank God that Hubby's reflexes was quick and he immediately backed out. The hot water only scalded his left hand. Oh, I can't imagine if it could have hit his eyes or his face. Anyways, he tinkered a bit after that and put water on it. I'm not sure what was wrong with the car at that time but our car is still running well now except for it's regular tinkering sounds and jerking here and there, there's no need to replace anything like Airtex electric fuel pump .. But still, we're praying that we can replace our car into a newer one. :)