I will live this day as if it were Christmas.
I will be a giver of gifts and deliver to my enemies the gift of forgiveness;
my opponents, tolerance; my friends, a smile;
my children, a good example,
and every gift will be wrapped with unconditional love.

Project K for Kindness at Dagatdagatan Letre, December 17, 2011

Today Series 10/22

Our favorite spot of interaction is always the toddler’s kitchen. There are new faces and there are familiar faces… our “favorites” were already “promoted” to pre-school section.  There are two kids that are actually siblings of the ones we’ve visited before (so, they are leaving their kids here, huh? not only one? but the whole bunch??)… Two at least (from previous batch) were already adopted.

What strikes me (horrifies me!) most among the new stories is about that little boy “Stan” (not his real name), who (when he was a baby) was left bundled and placed in old duyan (swinging crib), and put in garbage heap! The basurero found him (bless him!).  The duyan, baby inside, was tossed to garbage truck… lucky that the basurero checked it… just imagine if they thought that it was just a duyan! Now he is a healthy 3-yr old boy who wants to eat and munch a lot!

There is also one heartwarming story about a 9-yr old boy who was “found” in the hospicio by a “bodyguard” of a another kid from elite school who sponsored christmas party there that week. The man recognized the kid as the one missing since last year, apparently lost in the mall. The family is looking for him eversince. What a great reunion, you could imagine!

I don’t want to judge the people that made these kids and put them to earth! Maybe they cannot deal life and parenthood, i dont know, maybe they are “orphans” themselves… what counts now here is that there are still amazing and nice people who keeps and helps keep orphanage like this. I don’t want to say that these kids are unlucky people… I know that they are as blessed as we are. Being here and cared for is a blessing enough.

– the party!

– the “babies” at their playpen…

– the most blessed toddler of the year!

– this lola is amazing with her intricate puzzle… when I admired her determination… she said with a smile “i have all the time in the world…”

– my “angels” doing the charity works with me!

I will run from no danger I might encounter today, because I am certain that nothing will happen to me that I am not equipped to handle with your help. Just as any gem is polished by friction, I am certain to become more valuable through this day’s adversities, and if you close one door, you always open another for me.

Today series 9/22
1st time to blog from my iPad2

1. My Aliya, my new tiny best buddy.
2. My Lean, my cuddly bubbly kid.
3. My Jolo, my teen-age heart throb
4. My Papi, my old buddy.
5. Successful “Pillow Me” concept
5. Travelled to Palawan at P25 airfare
6. Travelled to Ilocos at P88 airfaire
7. No major sickness in the family
8. My friendship with sisters FLor and Kerol and Natz
9. Surprise parties (dad, tian, pa nick)
10. Taking Mama and Daddy to Antipolo (where they had their 1st date)
11. Chat moments with mama and daddy by the window
12. Books of Mitch Albom
13. Leaping to SVS venture
14. Bestseller pillows like “Like” and “HP”
15. My newly-painted house
16. Puregold 100 stores
17. Sunrise and sunsets at paradise
18. My new venture in stocks
19. My trips in the park with ALiya
20. Beach time with Aliya
21. Snorkeling with Papi!
22. Paddling in the water!
23. Spelunking with cousins!
24. Mentoring my new “leaders”
25. Their appreciation of my mentoring
26. My promotion… without increase :>
27. Arranging Aliya’s photo album
28. Gift of paint/art set
29. My new bathroom
30. Mama and Daddy
31. Playing in the rain with Aliya
32. Volunteering
33. BLood Donation
34. Inspiring others to volunteer and to share
35. My new iPad (gift from SVS)
36. My new gate and terrace
37. Our friends at Hospicio de San Jose
38. Time with my in-laws
39. Winning major in raffles
40. Aliya’s color/art skills
41. Jolo’s love for music
42. Jolo’s 1st stint to perform in stage solo!
43. Lean’s many great lego creations
44. Our new business ventures
45. Time at MOA with Papi and ALiya just watching sunset
46. Eating seafoods with friends
47. The IC Manual
48. “Full-moon” moment with Papi
49. The Paoay church! Magnificent!
50. “Survived” many PI storms without much damage
51. Aliya’s laughter
52. Our new Audit Room, and my new desk
53. The Sumaguing Cave! Amazing!
54. Chance to help new staff to learn
55. Our series of training and workshops
56. Helping kins in tuition fee
57. Seeing my kins in Naga
58. The Classic Series of Readers Digest
59. DQ moment with Lean. Discovered DQ’s Double Dutch Blizzard
60. Helping hands of family
61. Parlor moment with Aliya
62. You Tube moment with Jolo
63. “Me” moment every now and then (at the spa)
64. Watching babaw movies with sisters (friends)
65. Church moments
66. The Palawan Underground River! Awesome!
67. Kikay days with BFF (tried eyelash extension)
68. Books of Francis Kong and Bo Sanchez
69. Beach moment with Papi
70. Stargazing!
71. Gain in FAMI’s investment
72. Church moment (Antipolo) with Daddy and Mama
73. Chat moments with brothers
74. Bookstore moments with Jolo
75. Gift of books by friends and son
76. Found long-lost old letters and diaries
77. Connecting with old friends
78. New SVS office
79. The Vigan walk with Papi
80. Teambuilding with staff
81. Reading books to Aliya
82. Gift-giving at Dagat-dagatan.
83. Zeroing my credit cards
84. Gimiks with old high-school buddies
85. Discovered chocolate of Lido
86. Lean’s new sofa-bed
87. Few moments of Hilot-paa (Jolo)
88. Fireworks moments
89. New friends
90. Eat-out moments with colleagues
91. Visita Iglesia
92. Helped trained the managers
93. Writing for Tips and Insight (T&I)
94. Blogging moments
95. Hearing good speakers, Francis Kong and Jojo Baldo
96. My positive outlook
97. Probono work for a foundation
98. No “casualty” in the family this year
99. Healthy ME.
100. To God and to all of His blessings!
101. This List!

Actually I never thought (until last night) that there was already a 4th Shrek… as always, I liked it . The moral of the story is about appreciating what you are and what you have, i hope it will never got to the point that one will never know how important they are, until they lose them (like Shrek).  I will always remember the “cake” scene and will be watchful about how I will treat the people or how to react on a situation….

I just finished watching the Toy Story 4… the last part is so touching… It’s  about reminding the importance of friendship and loyalty. And about not forgetting to always to seize the childhood and playful moments.  We can all “go back” to that moment of childhood and realize that we can be happy always….

emote moment lang even in the midst of children’s movies… :>

see link:
xmas 2010
valentines 2011

Eat Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
It’s nice to find a book you want to “savor”… not wanting to rush reading and yet enjoying every page… wanting to go on, but keeping the pace slow so it will last much longer… this is THE book you can call a “companion”… (best to read in airports and beach) nice… proud to say I’m not yet finished with it…

Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
An intriguing book that makes one “dizzy” on plot and sequence but also loving it thinking how clever it was structured. I am not a ‘romance’ reader, but this one qualifies as that with twist of sci-fi?! Not yet finished, because I’m having hard time “digesting” because the idea of “predetermined destiny” is kind of “off” and against compared to my theory of “butterfly effect”… anyway, this book is a source of good discussion between me and jolo, that’s why I am keeping at it.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Got curious when featured in Readers’ Digest and found the first few chapters as intriguingly interesting. Though quite theoretical its not conventional. “The Power of thinking Without Thinking” it says in its cover… it said don’t overthink… but hey, It made me think quite a lot in every page…. thus, I’m still at it. (a good LRT companion too)

ABNKKBSNPLKo by Bob Ong
Jolo picked it up, convincing me it will help his tagalog vocabulary. A local book which Jolo and I found funny, light and yet insightful about simple things. I was enjoying the first few chapters (I have to read it first to know if it is suitable for Jolo, or needs PG), when Jolo found me amused and smiling, thus he took it, read it in few days, lent it to classmates and friend… and since then, haven’t seen it yet again to finish it… haay…

(Today Series 8/22)

Happiness is a choice! we can choose to be happy… just as the same that we can choose to be good! and better everyday!

The Cathedral

My Travelling Feet @ Laoag Museum

Marcos Mueseum @ Batac… already closed when we get there :<

My favorite Paoay Catherdral… breath-taking, amazing!
(pardon the feet, I really cant help but get this shot even i’ll have to lie-down there)

one more time… my best postcard shot!

That’s only our (half) DAY 1… full-pack DIY “heritage” tour!
Love it!