Lugang Cafe experience

1st day on our first vacation week together as a couple, EVER!

Bryan was raving about Lugang Cafe since last night. Saying his friends highly recommended it. So straight to the airport to the South Wing of SM MOA. Hello, Lugang Cafe!

We had the pork xiao long bao, piping hot! The minced pork (yes we're so unhealthy) worked wonderfully with the chicken oil rice (youch!). And the wow came with the fish heads with garlic oyster sauce. Melts in your mouth! Succulent and fresh. The fish they used was an "Imelda". Even my dad was unfamiliar woth the fish. I have to find out what it is!

2 thumbs up for Lugang Cafe and can't wait to try more next time.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Getting together

Really appreciate the girls coming over to visit. The weekend has just begun!

My brother, the happy father

Can any picture be more perfect? My brother did good. The Lord has clearly done such a miracle. Looking at these two lovebirds, I look at the child that is now a man.

Remembering how I used to clean his wounds, teach him math, fight off his bullies, going through so much family drama together. Now he has come into his own life.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dani's first Holy Week roadtrip adventure

For the long holiday, Bryan planned out a little road trip for the family. A first for me, a girl who went to a very traditional Baptist Church all her life. All of a sudden, our base church does it in a very different day. But I appreciate VCF's way of handling such an important time of the year. They extend the message for the month.

So that left us with lots of free time to spend with family.

We left for Anhawan on Thursday. After that day, I sincerely hope we get to do this more often. For this family's growth, first and foremost.

2nd day led us to Garin Farm and Racso's Animal Farm.

Couldn't help staring at Dabi's face the whole time. Everything so new and so full of promise. God was right to teach us to see things through the eyes of a child. Full of hope, trust and fearlessness.

Praying for more encounters with the Lord as I continue to raise Dani to see His face. Praying for hearts as stubborn as mountains to be moved. Nothing is impossible with the Lord.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My heart overflows

Looking back at these times just brings my heart flowing full to the brim. Hard to believe where I was about 5 years before. God has worked His miracle in my life. Everyday a joy and God outdoes Himself each time.

Great is our God! Happy Resurrection Day! Our God is alive and reigns forevermore.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Liam Experience

And I thought Danielle was my unforgettable experience! Liam's entry topped that list a month ago!

Giving birth was definitely the height of my courage level, so-to-speak. As someone who is such a wimp when it comes to hospitals, needles, doctors. Danielle definitely brought out the "best" in me. I couldn't wait to get her out! Not just with excitement but after 9 months, my body was ready to let her out :)

To give a bit of a side but significant story, we had really strong earthquakes and aftershocks on Feb. 5, 2012. Iloilo was shaking so much that I was sincerely freaking out. With Dani's room on the 3rd floor, you bet I was scared. Magnitude 5.2 is no joke.

As I was calling Joey to ask about the earthquake and if they felt it in Roxas, apparently my brother's world was indeed shaking and it wasn't because of the earthquake. It was time!

So amidst all the tremors and after shocks, we hurried back to Roxas just in time to be there for Vicky's big moment.

But seeing Vicky and what she went through for Liam (Jose Lucas Cristiano if you want the long version) was a wow moment for me. I delivered via c-section while Vicky was able to deliver the old fashioned way with a little help from our best friend, epidural. That girl was such an inspiration! I was there for majority of the time, seeing her push and contract. Vicky has strength beyond her meek physique. What a fighter! I was exhausted for her!

But as they say, it takes a village. Yup! The village was there. All we lacked was a powow! (I look like a mess!)



Just like that... There he was...

Just like that... My baby brother is now a father. What an angel! Dani is now a proud manang/achi!

If you don't think God exists

If You Don't Think God Exists

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.

He asks one of his new students to stand and .....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
Student does not answer.

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a
word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.

To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

That student, by the way, is Albert Einstein.

Ask God to help you get there

By Rick Warren Once you have found your promise in God's Word, pray and ask God for success, just as Eliezer did in today's verse. Is it really okay to pray for success? Yes! If you aren't praying for success, what's the alternative? Are you going to pray for God to make you a failure? Eliezer clearly shows us that it is okay to ask God for success in accomplishing a goal as long as the motive is right. When your success helps people and honors God, praying for success does not become a selfish act. So my question to you today is this: Are you praying about your goals? Are you praying about your future? Are you praying about your dreams or are you just kind of keeping them to yourself? Your prayers reveal a couple of things. First, they reveal how serious you are about your goals. If you don't pray about them, you really don't care about them that much. If you only pray about them once, they are not a desire, they are just a whim. The other thing your prayers reveal is how much you are depending on God to reach your goals. If you never pray about your goals, never pray about your job, never pray about your finances, you are not depending on God in any of those areas. The more you depend on God, the more you'll pray. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

God's promises

The Bible has over 7,000 promises from God to you - promises of success, confidence, health, prosperity, strength, wisdom and more. Why does God make these promises?
Because he wants you to learn to trust him.
The size of your God determines the size of your goal. And godly goal-setting always starts with a promise of God. Don't look at your limitations; look at the promises of God.
Good morning!

A thought for the day

An important principle here is that it is never too late for you to make a change in your life, even though making the change may take longer than you think. This is why you can't procrastinate. You can either drift through the next ten years or you can have direction over the next ten years. God wants you to have direction. - Rick Warren

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone