So what?

You failed your finals. You gained some weight. So what?

You’re single again. You lost your job. So what?

What now?

You live.

You try again. That’s what. 

Notes on Elisabeth Elliot's Love has a Price Tag

Elisabeth Elliot - missionary, mom, author

I first knew about Elisabeth Elliot from the movie Through Gates of Splendor. It documented their missionary days in a remote jungle in Ecuador and how their husbands were killed by the Auca people whom they have been praying for to share the gospel with - their husbands of barely five years.

Their story convinced me more to seek God's kingdom and live my life for Him.

Keep a Quiet Heart
Then I came across my sister's book written by Elisabeth, Keep a Quiet Heart. It is a compilation of writings on various topics like family, faith, even social issue commentaries. I read it three times from cover to cover and has been greatly blessed with her views and messages. Googled her and found out about her website which featured daily devotionals - http://www.elisabethelliot.org/.

It was sad to know she has stopped writing and speaking. She is a great blessing to the country of America, even to the world. So I decided to support her by getting another book: Love Has a Price Tag: Inspiring Stories That Will Open Your Heart to Life's Little Miracles. It will definitely not be the last book I will read by her.

Notes on Love Has a Price Tag

The purpose of life is to know God Photo credit:PraisePhotography.com

1. The purpose of life is to know God - we do this on our own. Others may point us closer to Him, yet the experience is all unique for every individual, personal.
2. When God made man, He made him in His own image. When He made the animals, His imagination roamed wide and free - The Adventures of Toby is an animation series that is not only top quality but parent approved.
3. If we give out love, there is ultimately no way on heaven or earth to avoid receiving and receiving far more than we could possibly give.
4. Life is full of things we can't do anything about, but which we are supposed to do so mething with. - My take on this, my son's special needs in class is NOT a problem but a purpose - to improve myself, that I may be able to love them more, and learn to trust God more.
5. Prayer is like incense. It costs a great deal. It doesn't seem to accomplish much (as we mortals assess things). It soon dissipates but God likes the smell.
6. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life
7. God has no problems only plans. Corrie Ten Boom

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No yaya again and again

Alam mong DAPAT nang maglinis kung may hinanap ka sa asawa mo at ang sagot nya ay, "Asawa lang ako, 'di ako manghuhula." (You know you really have to clean up when you ask your spouse for something and he blurts out: "I'm just your spouse, I'm not a fortune-teller.")

Our resolve has been tested, and we failed. Again.

Flash back to year 2010, I told myself prayerfully that it will be a no-nanny lifestyle for us. However, I was tempted with the offer from the long-time house help from my husband's side. She has ten kids, and she wants the 7/10, a 13-year old girl, to be our nanny. All of her older daughters are married now. They started the family life in a very young age. Not attending school, they chose to start their own families instead. Yet, they still depend on her.

We wanted to help, that's why we agreed. A month after though, our young nanny was on her way back home. She missed home so much. I think it goes both ways. Her family misses her too?

Plus, our house has been set up in such a way that it really is boring to a typical Filipino teenager. We don't have TV or cable subscription. We work from home. We don't go out much. It wouldn't be so nice to have your boss behind your back all the time?

Coincidentally too, I have been really busy that I am not able to help her with a lot of the house chores and kid responsibilities. So I guess it really is that way for us. Shoe box living by ourselves.

Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults. 

-Benjamin Franklin

I checked on my kids about their reaction towards this new but familiar set up. My eldest, turned 5 years old three months ago, admitted she prefers having a helper. "It's nice," she said.

I admit. It really is more comfortable. The voice activated service that nannies and house helps provide make life easier. I can always delegate the things I don't want to do, or the things that don't require much high level thinking. That's not a luxury we can afford anymore. We're particular with strangers living with us, and we have exhausted both sides of our families connections of probable yayas.

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. 

- Oscar Wilde

It's not only me who has decided to go nanny-free. My neighbors did too. Though it seems that they're already looking for replacements. Their works don't allow them to be with their kids.

There are several things that I have noticed about the relationships between amo (boss) and yayas (nannies) do not prosper if the boss stays at home. Plus, if the boss thinks of the nanny as dispensable, it'll be very short-lived.

There have been televised stories of nannies stealing from their boss. Or even kidnapping the kids. I have friends who share these twists. They have vowed to not go the nanny way as long as they can.

It really is tricky. Yet my dream is that one day, Filipino families will not require this set up. Families will send their kids to school. Children will finish their schooling. No need to work as stay-home helpers, worse, go abroad to be nannies.

Words are like elevators. They either bring people up, or down, or nowhere.

The Manila Floods: Why Wasn't the City Prepared?

The Manila Floods: Why Wasn't the City Prepared?

An article published in Times.com about Metro Manila post-Ondoy (typhoon Ketsana). Republishing it just so we will remember that we BROUGHT it upon ourselves.

The situation of the Philippines is horrible, even before Ondoy hit. This explains the exodus of intelligent Filipinos patriotic enough yet full of the country's woes. This explains why even hundred of years after our colonizers, we are still not free.

We are our worst enemies. We kill ourselves because we abuse each other - whenever we don't obey the traffic rules, whenever we take home office supplies from the office, whenever we let a friend in the long queue. We don't know who we are because we never bothered to read our history and learn from it. It's like a whole country in drugs! A president we overthrew is running again for the highest position with a big chance of winning again. A dynasty of political families who has robbed the society of its resources and dignity. We never took pride in ourselves because we have always wished to be someone else - an American, a Spanish, a European, as long as not a Filipino! Why? Because we hate hard work. It has always been luck and dole outs and alms. We sell our souls and dignity for coins. We'd rather be laughed at dancing silly at a noontime show than honestly work our day's keep. So our youth get this impression that money is everything when it's not. They become easily lured into what sells - nursing, caregiving, going into showbiz, marrying a foreigner. And once we taste luxury, we hold on to it as tightly as we can. It becomes our lord and savior. The rich and powerful would still be affluent even if they give out 10% of what they have to the less fortunate. They don't because nobody wants to break the cycle, the status quo. Change is scary, it brings the unknown. How can a people who doesn't know anything, not even himself be courageous of what is to come and therefore be prepared? So we just let the climate change consequences drown and kill us trusting that God will provide and the international support would come in.

I do not hate what is happening. This is never new. I hate it that we are not learning from this - never. We never develop that sense of dignity to look within and overcome.

Correct way to shake hands with someone

Learned something new today. :) At the ministry fair of Bread of Life Makati, People Unlimited Ushering Team demonstrated the best and proper way to shake somebody's hands. Extend your right hand, get a good grip of the other person's hand and shake once. Yes, only once. There, simple and proper.

Let's examine it further. When you extend your hand, you are initiating a connection and basically, you shake hands because you want to show your sincerity, eagerness and courtesy. Then when you get a good grip, you show you are open and honest. The only once shaking is, to me, formal and wise.

So there. Learned it, practicing it, sharing it. :)