The Truth That Changed Me

It was January 2012 when my life made a total turnaround from where it was.  For almost 2 years before that, I was on my worldly pursuits in life-  money, power and recognition.  God, family and friends was at the bottom of my priority list.  And I thought I was on the right track of my real purpose in life.  I was blinded by  my belief that if I will have those, I can easily bring back God, family and friends to my top priority list since I  can already have all the time in the world.

I was almost there.  It was only a matter of time.  

And then God took it all away from me. 

Not only that, He also gave me problems and challenges that caused me pain, heartaches and sleepless nights.  He broke me so bad that I was on the verge of depression.  

But I thank God for His love, grace and mercy.  For enabling my heart to seek Him, instead of hardening my it and blaming Him for what I have been through.  Those times were the hardest times of my life -  but I can honestly say that I am grateful for them to this day.  Because I now understand that God had made go though those as He molds me to be ready for the time when I will accept Him as my Lord and Savior.

When I accepted Jesus Christ in my life, my life totally changed.  It was no longer my power, no longer my priority list and even no longer my life plan.  He made me learn to surrender my life to Him.  He gave me peace beyond understanding.  Trials still come, but I no longer worry that much or be burden about it because I  have His power and His grace and His mercy and love.

Life with Christ is not a bed of roses.  Problems and trials comes regularly.  The difference it has from my former life (without Him) is the peace amidst the trials, the unexplainable  joy and the extraordinary strength to face them. 

And so let me share to everyone this important truth that totally changed my life.  As we reflect this Holy Week of this truth, it is my hope and prayer that you too will experienced God's grace and love and live life in light of eternity-

That God wants us to have eternal  and abundant life (John 10:10).  But our sin problem has caused us to be separated from God (Romans 3:23).  That the payment of our sin is death- not physical death, but spiritual death or eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23)  But God out his love for us, sent His one and only Son as a payment for all our sins once and for all and whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). 

Our only job is to believe and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

On January 2012,  I prayed the prayer of acceptance -  I admitted to God that I am a sinner and asked for forgiveness for all my sins. I expressed my faith in Jesus and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior and invited Him into my life.  And thank Him for dying on the cross for all my sins and for the eternal life He has given me.

Before that day, I was never sure I would go to heaven if I die anytime.  And I always believed that doing good works- helping people, being kind, avoiding mortal sin, etc. would merit me points to go to heaven.  after all, I don't kill, or rob or commit adultery. But I was dumbfounded to have found that none of those is the way to eternal life.  These truth in the bible is so clear and I never knew-

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast.

And there is only one way to the Father-

John 14:6
I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

After that day,  my life was never the same.  I have in my heart the peace and joy that I never experienced before.  I began to thirst for His word and the desire to get to know God deeper and deeper.  I am assured of my salvation and have this longing for others to know Him, too.

I am living in the light of eternity-  that life here on earth is too short, but eternity is long and unending.  I am living (through His grace and power) life with the purpose of investing in eternity.  And I thank God for enabling me to do this.  I am not a perfect follower of Christ- I stumble still along the way.  But I know that He is always there to guide me in the right path-  always forgiving and always loving.

Until now, I cry with the thought of how gracious He is to allow me to go through what I have been through and then find myself under His grace, mercy and love.

Life with Christ is not easy, but with His power-  it is peaceful and joyous and victorious.  Not even the worst problem can undone it.  As long as we are faithful to His word and completely surrender our lives to Him.

Thank You CCF

Miggy's Graduation

Warning:  This post will contain too many proud claims of a very proud mom.  So bear with me, mommy mode talaga.  I can't help it. :-)

First of, I want everyone to know that I was so excited and so proud when I received a letter from the school that Miggy is tasked to do the Farewell Speech/Closing Remarks.  Of course, what went through my mind immediately was my son is surely an awardee or part of the top honor list.  But since they were still taking their final exams that time, I thought to myself that of course, there is no announcement yet.  But last day of their practice came and I still got no news about it.  Until I overheard one parent during their farewell party that the school do not give awards or release honors list for preschool graduation since they maintain their non competition principle (no awards)- I have yet to ask the official reason for this.  But you can actually ask for your child's rank from his/her teacher.  I have mentally noted to do so when I get his card after the holy week.

But then again, please allow me to make yabang a bit-  out of the 60 graduates, only 5 of them delivered a speech including the 2 emcees.  And so I just had to assume my son is part of the Top 10, or hopefully top 5. :-)  Forgive me, I am really a proud mom!!

Having said that- let me proceed with the graduation kwento:

I have to say great job to OLPMC for the well planned and organized program.  It started on time and the flow was short and smooth.  The candidates presented two numbers as their tribute to teachers and parents.  And during the distribution of diplomas, I was near tears-  I realized how fast time flies.  My son is going to Grade 1 already next year and before I knew it- he'll be in his teens!  I am grateful to God that He gave me the chance and power to become a full time mom.  I really have to enjoy all this time with my kids while they are still young and all they need is mom and dad.  :-)

Then the kids handed us a gift from OLPMC. It was sweet of them to give us such a nice gift-  a personalized mug with our family picture and a handwritten note from Miggy.  Nakakaiyak lang the note.

When it got to the part where Miggy's speech was nearing, ako ang kinakabahan! Hahaha! Ngek!  Parang ako ang magiispeech.  But Miguel was confident.  Even during the time that we were practicing, he keeps on telling me that he will be fine and there's no need to make paulit-ulit to practice.

After the ceremony, Miggy requested that we go to Shakeys for his cravings:  MOJOS! So off we went to Shakey's ATC.  Of course, TIMEZONE is a must after-lunch go to.

The video of his speech accessible thru my FB account.  Click here.

See some picture below also.  Would like to thank Achie, Tita Gheng, Tita Sally and Tito Benjie for joining us.  :-)  Thank you Tita Gheng for the lunch! :-)

The Graduate

The Stage

During his speech

Diploma

Farewell Address

With Achie

Chicken, mojos, salad and pizza (not in the pic)

Kuya's gifts

Timezone

Thank you Lord, for bestowing my son the ability and intelligence.  If not for your grace and will, he will not be able to give us such a wonderful gift.

Maxene and Miggy at Great Image

Graduation Picture at Great Image

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Movie Time

Another Year

Thank you Lord for making me turn 34 today.  I am looking forward to another great year with you.

Sunday TAHO Habit

Eating TAHO (Soy Yogurt) after our Sunday worship service is starting to become a habit for Maxene.  She could not resist to ask us to buy one for her.

 I will remember to bring them their own straw next week as I am a little bit uncomfortable with the cutted straw they were using.

Kuya wanted one, too

Happy Maxene

:-)

Thank you Lord for such happy kids!

GLC Course Level 2- Done

Finally, we had our last day of school last Wednesday!  Vacation na until July uli for Level 3!  We are still looking forward for our graduation day on May 18, though.

Thank you Lord for enabling us to finish the course.  So much we have learned that is keeping us in the right direction- You will and purpose in our life.

To God be the glory!

OLPMC Open House

This is my second time to go to Our Lady of Pilar Montessori Center (OLPMC) Open House and Vergil's first since he was not able to join me last year.  As expected, he was very impressed with the teaching method and materials they use.  We were both schooled in a traditional set-up where blackboard exists and the teacher's unending lecture happens.  The Montessori way of teaching is different.  Lessons are given in different stages so that those who are more advanced or faster to learn can already go to the next stage and those who needs a longer time need not be pressured.

I was actually surprised when Miggy started reading already during his Junior Casa days (3-4 years old).  Now he can easily read a book.  At 5 years old, he can now add, subtract, multiply not just single digits but multiple digits as well.  In their language class, they can already identify verbs, nouns and adjectives. And the list goes on...

I love also the fact that they already have an E-Learning Module where they use PC or tablets.  And they can access it too, at home.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

And here is Miguel doing his part-

And Maxene couldn't resist to join her Kuya.  The teachers told us to just leave her with his Kuya while we went around.

  :-)

The Cross

It is always good to remind myself of what Jesus Christ has done for me.  Because sometimes, I take for granted the most important thing that ever happened in my life-  the day I was saved and assured of my place in God's family and in heaven.  Being a sinner so unworthy, Jesus gave me eternal life with Him still.

Here's a great song that speaks volumes:

Proud Mommy

This morning, I received a note from Teacher Jona (see below) informing us that Miguel is assigned to give the Closing Remarks on their Graduation Ceremony on March 24, 2012.

I can't help but feel proud!  And I thank God for giving me such a wonderful son!

:-)

PS.  Daddy is very proud, too!

Photo of the Day: TAHO MERIENDA TIME

Miggy's Field Trip

A week before his field trip, Miggy was already excited about it.  He had visited Manila Ocean Park twice already,  but the thought of visiting it again with his classmates excites him and we just had to say yes to this field trip.

We got up early since assembly at school is at 5:30AM.  It took a while though for the tour organizers and the teachers to get everyone settled in their respected buses, we left the school 7:30AM.

Assigned to our bus as tour guide is Kuya Aljon.  I was expecting to take a short nap on our way to Ocean Park, but Kuya Aljon kep us all awake with his games and interesting trivia of almost anything, anyplace we passed by to.  He also made a running tour of Intramuros before heading to Manila Ocean Park.

Kuya Aljon, our tour guide

Upon arrival at Manila Ocean Park, we had to spend 30 minutes at the bus to wait for its opening time.  And another 10 minutes at the lobby which was no fun at all because of the hot weather.  But the little boy did not mind at all.  :-)

Our first stop is SERILAND.  We visited 3 exhibits or areas:  Kid's Paradise, 3D Cinema and Trick Art Museum.  We were supposed to visit Mirror Maze instead of Kid's Paradise but the latter is unavailable due to an accident a day before.  I think a mirror was broken.

Kid's Paradise

3D Cinema

The Trick Art Museum was very interesting.  They were just simple wall paintings but the trick is when you use the camera (without flash).  I wish we had more time to take pictures.

After a tiring morning at Seriland, we had lunch on board our bus, then they gave us free time to roam around the place before our 1:30 schedule at Penguin Talkshow.

Playing around

I thought the Amzaing Penguin Talkshow was a usual kid's show but I was surprised to have learned that it was actually a digital puppetry and stand up comedy in one! We were laughing the whole time!

Enjoying the Penguin Talk Show

Oceanarium was next.  We already visited the place twice and there was nothing new inside.

Nemo was a hit as always :-)

Magical Show was next.  This is the part when the camera's battery went out already.

Then Trail to Antartica was next.  But before you go inside, you will see a large a aquarium where you can see small penguins and you can feed them for a fee.  Miguel was really really insistent on trying it out that I had to pay 250.00 for a chance to feed the penguin one fish (as in one lang, you have to pay additional for another fish) and a photo op with the penguins. It was all over in a second! But the boy was really happy!

The Trail to Antartica was never a trail at all.  It was a big decorated room of ice where you can take picture as if you're in a snow. It was really cold!

Trail to Antartica

After the Trail to Antartica, we were already tired and exhausted and most parents were already wishing to go home. We dropped by the souvenir shop on our way out the area for pasalubong.  Our last exhibit was the Dancing Sea Fairies, and we already saw that the last time we visited Ocean park so I was kinda hoping to skip it and just grab something to eat but Miguel insisted we go and see it again.  We were there for less than five minutes.  Just a room of floor length aquariums with jellies- they are lighted with different colors though which makes them attractive.  It's obvious that the place was built to be a bar or resto.  Maybe it did not go well so they turned it into exhibit instead.

We left the place around 6PM already and the kid's were tired that they dozed off shortly after deaparture. 

All in all, we had fun, especially the little boy.  :-) 

Thank you Lord for this day. It would not have been possible without your guidance and protection.