Still of the Day
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I am not evil, because I don’t do bad things
“We should not merely hate what is evil; we should also cling to what is good.”
It is true that our tendency to defend ourselves when we are posed a moral question is to enumerate the bad things that we don’t do. Romans 12:9 tells us that We should not merely hate what is evil; we should also cling to what is good.
As christians, goodness should be the logical outworking of our faith, the direct result of our salvation. It’s time we take the moral high ground and let our works show that we are different from the rest of the world. It’s time we show the people around us that being a christian doesn’t only mean going to churches or attending christian concerts or wearing those icons all over our bodies but its about time we let our lives speak for ourselves and reflect the Christs glory.
Happy Anniversary Mahal
three years quickly passed
as we celebrate once more
the beauty that’s us
that day
There was this one particular day that I remember. It was just like any other day. It was particularly a sunday. I woke up pretty early to go to haverford and prepare for that day’s morning worship. I was looking forward to an event later in the day.
That afternoon, I accepted an invitation to visit another church and attend some sort of a praise and worship event.
That’s when I met her. She wore jeans and a white blouse. She came over and introduced herself and left right away because she still needs to practice. After the event, everybody went downstairs for some refreshments. I ended up talking to her. It was your regular Hi’s and Hello’s. Out of the blue, I decided to show off and told her, “hey, you wanna listen to my song?” She replied yes and did something that threw me off the wall. She told everybody in that room that I am singing my song and asked everyone if they want to hear it.
Great. Just Great.
Well, the cat is out of the bag so all I could do is wail and scream like any cat would when surrounded by a pack of dogs … in a form of a song of course.
After my song everyone else jumped and sang their song. When it came for her to sing her song, I was dumbfounded. It was the saddest most beautiful song in the world. It was saying that goodbye’s are not the end of things. My melancho-phlegmatic nature got so excited to a point where that song kept playing over and over on my head.
I can probably say that from that moment I just can’t stop thinking about her.
Days passed, turning into weeks and months. We’ve seen each other more and more. A movie here, a cup of clam chowder there, roller blading, volleyball, song writing, long drives, 10 mile walks, yada yada.
The turning point was when I had to go away for three weeks. I went home, and I plainly told everyone that … yeah I have a girlfriend and she is so cool, pretty and I’m going marry her. Well all of it was true except for the girlfriend part. Three weeks passed and there wasn’t a day that I longed for her. Ever heard of the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder?” . I felt something like that … only … on crack. I suddenly realized that I’ve fallen for her and if I don’t tell her how I felt, I’d implode. So I did just that. I told her that I loved her.
I got back from my trip on sunday met up with her and a bunch of friends I really wanted to tell her how I felt but I wanted it to be special. So I told her that I loved her when we were on our way to Boston Market to get our lunch. I was planning a sort of shock and awe approach, got the shock part pretty well and kinda faltered in the awe department.
The 19th of this month marks our 3rd year of marriage. We’ve gone through a lot. In between the 3 moves, 2 job changes, and 1 baby, I love her more each day.
Happy Anniversary mahal.
mother’s day 2007
i count my year of pregnancy, so this year made it my third mother’s day.
i don’t know how my own mom feels during mother’s day, since she’s a veteran to the day, but for my sister and i, it’s a sweet exciting and proud day. standing with the other moms/wives in church when they call you up for recognition is a proud moment for me- one, because i get to stand next to great mothers who have really shown their love and sacrifice through so many years, and two, because i love being a mom to my daughter and a wife to the one i love. i’m up there, happy, because i really love my family.
so last week, i approached a table where there were men from our church, talking about cars and heave-ho manly stuff, so they were a little baffled as to why i decided to join their table. i reminded them that the next week would be mother’s day, and so they promised that they would prepare something for that week. little did i know that they went to perze for ideas. knowing my husband, he’d do something- one, simple & two, chaotic.
so last sunday, as the men, after five minutes of chaotic shuffling and organizing, they formed a line, with their backs to the audience. as perze counted to three, the men turned around, with letters in their hands spelling out “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY”. added to the major cheese factor, they topped it with a song from the seventies, “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.” Hoping that wasn’t my husband’s idea, i shook my head “no” from the horror of cheese flying about in the sanctuary….i mean, cheetos, kraft cheese in a can, velveeta, poly-o, and even easy cheese.
but it got a good laugh, so it got some pogi points.
anyway, i do want to thank my mom and nanay. they are two women that i can honesty say i admire and truly appreciate. they’ve been so sacrificial and are examples of unconditional love and support. even my nanay, who i haven’t met in person yet but have gotten to know through talking, is an exceptional mother of 5 kids. i’ve seen how perze’s turned out, and how much he loves her, and i know that the values she’s instilled on her children are similar to the values that my mom has taught us. also, being a new mom myself, i can understand better how parents feel, the protection they strive to control so that they’re children won’t get hurt, and the hope they have so their children will have a good life. even with the young believers, i have a better perspective when we talk about their relationship with their parents. or when they come to me for advice, i’m able to see it through a parent’s perspective, and help them to see it through their eyes. because i know how it feels, personally…never wishing hurt on my own daughter…and hoping that when the time comes, i’ll be able to have a good relationship with her.
but during mother’s day or the whole month, i want to give a shout out to all the moms out there who strive to care and love their families, and put them before herself. hats off to you ladies. you deserve so much….to my own mom, nanay, my sister, and to all my friends who are babymamas. God bless you ladies. The hardest job on earth is to love and raise a child- to train them and protect them, and then to have faith when you need to let them go.
you can access the complete album in the module on the right for my most recent album:
and they’re also available on our twelvesixteen.net gallery:
1 month shy of 2 years!
i can’t believe it. i really can’t. she understands so much for a 2 year old, or maybe i’m just very inexperienced with toddlerhood as i am with Nasguls. i’m such a proud mother…because i love having her as my daughter. i am sincerely a happy woman…if you can strip my life down, i’m happy because of love- love from my family, love from my husband, and love from my daughter.
today, as we were playing on the bed, she stretched out her hands to hold my head so she could kiss my forehead. then she held out her hands again to hold my cheeks so she could kiss my lips. then once more, she held out her hands so she could hug me. man, that warms my heart…she’s so loving. it makes me wonder what, in her tiny cerebral cortex, would want to kiss me, and not just once, but thrice.
she’s saying more words now, even two word sentences- or phrases…i can’t wait til she can talk so i can hear her voice more, and we can have conversations about important things like how lint is made, or why her shampoo bottle floats on water.
these days, aside from watching her favorite shows like Charlie and Lola and Veggietales, we read books or look at books with pictures so she learns new words. i’m also trying to get her to learn all her shapes, and her 123’s and ABC’s…so far, she’s got 2,3, A, triangle, and circle down…so she has selective learning, maybe because 2 and 3 aesthetically looks more memorable than a 1 or a 4, and a triangle more than a circle. she also knows all her animal sounds- even the gecko and elephant. soon, she’ll be able to master the sound that a dinosaur makes, specifically a Brontosaurus. that may come in handy at the playgrounds when some kid may condescendingly growl at her like a Pachycephalosaurus.
she’s also not very fearful of things- except probably the alligator. although i think this fear was bred because of my scary prolonged intonation of “alligator” and not so much of how it looks. kids are very intuitive with sounds you know. they’d be afraid of lint if you routinely sound frightened and furrow your brow with suspicion.
what else can mention?
oh! and a new thing, she sings so much now- with all her shows, with the tv, and even when you sing her favorite songs. she doesn’t sing the words, but she definitely has the timing exact. it really shows that she has great memory…even with knowing what objects are. if you introduce a new word to her, she’ll remember it. but yep. my girl’s a singer and dancer.
next month, it’s her birthday and i’ll again say goodbye to another phase of her life- she is officially a toddler…time always gets me sad…i think after i got married, i saw exactly all the things i can never live without…and my daughter is one of them.
i understand now why parents cling so hard to their children…it is something children cannot yet understand, like floating shampoo bottles.
that’s her above: ready for the pool.
here’s more of my favorite pix.
a bridesmaid, a groomsman, & a flower girl…
i’m fixing up my marchesa xanga cuz it started looking like cobwebs were forming around the corners. so with my digital walis, i decided to clean up and throw away, rearrange and add new stuff. i like keeping my marchesa site updated once in a while because it’s usually a journal place where i can write more of what i’m thinking rather than what i’m doing. and since very few visit this site, i’m more willing to be honest and pensive about anything and nothing.
recently, i’ve been asked by a friend to be a bridesmaid for next year. i was quite a bit surprised because i’m not as close to lei than i am to rog, but i think it’s cuz we hardly had anything to relate with each other, but we’ve been good friends ever since we met because my relationship with perze was intertwined with rog & lei. it’s actually funny because in 2002, rog and i got close cuz we were working with the youth. then that summer, i met perze who ended up bringing his friend lei to BASIC. to make the long story short, after some funny drama, rog ended up courting lei faster than perze courted me. all the while, while we were all single and friends, i’d share to rogie about perze and rogie shared to me about lei- all the while- perze and lei liked us…ever since that year, we’ve been friends, esp. through hard times…and perze and i have always tried to be there for them when they had relationship problems- and even to their engagement…so i was pretty much very honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid, esp. since there’s only 4 other ladies in her party. it’s a perfect number of people in the wedding party since you don’t want too many people up on stage or in the party table. it would look too cluttered and leads to potential chaos.
so since i’m one of her bridesmaids, i’ve been helping her out looking for dresses, wedding online sites, receptions, ideas, and giving her some feedback or help…since it’s hard enough being the bride…it’s really the duty of her bridesmaids to help her out…and i’m one for giving, esp. when you’ve really been there for me when i’ve needed them- and rogie definitely has been there for me, perze, and my family. and since lei gave me that honor, i want to help her and rog have a really happy wedding. besides, i’m really appreciative of their humilty…they’re not the type to boast or draw attention to themselves, to be flashy or proud, so i know how much they deserve a memorable day- for their love and relationship to be celebrated as well…they’ve really taken their time.
this year, we’re going to 2 weddings. next year, 4. crazy…plus, next year at rog&lei’s, not only will i be a bridesmaid, but perze is a groomsmen and zem a flower girl…so we’re pretty involved with this couple…from the start…
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