joy's notepad

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Villa Escuedero!

It is been a while since I've seen my loved ones in the Philippines. And seeing our pictures together lessen the feelings of deprivation.

Last year I visited my family in my homecountry and one of the highlights was to see Villa Escudero.

The entrance. They are going to put stamp on our hands!

My daughter-in-law, my son and my mother on the way to the entrance.

My granchildren found a friend. But he won't play with them.

By the way I have 6 grandchildren and the youngest is Aerith. She is one year old now.

Picture taking again!

My son-in-law with his son and my daughter with her daughter.

Wow, there is an airplane here too. The owner of Villa Escuedero must have been a very rich man.

I wonder if the owner of these place was afraid of war. Oh my, he was prepared for an attack as I can see!

Well, time to explore the rest of the place. And here are the carriage.

We are at the entrance. The carabao is going to transport us to the heart of Villa Escuedero . No need for gas, but poor animal.

I remember when I was a child, I have seen the carabaos plowing the fields before rice planting, but they changed their career. Now, they are use to pull the carriage. I suppose they can't complain. Tragic fate?

Anyway, before I can make you cry, let us continue the journey.

As you can see at the picture, everybody were so curious to see how this place looks like. I wonder what they are thinking? Everybody were speechless.

Well the trip with the carriage was very enjoyable because this lady and the guitar man sung songs for us. Filipino songs that pulled me way back when I was young...mmm younger than I am now. They were really good. I wish I could sing well too. But, no camplaining, I like to hear others sing for me. I feel like a millionair for a little while.

Wow E.T is here too waving to us passerby! Maybe he is on vacation too.

What happen to the animals? Transformed to be a stone? Maybe Medusa was here on vacation too?

Remember Medusa? If you look into her eyes, you will be change into a stone.

Anyway, back to the story...again

Now it's coconut harvest season, but the people turned out to be stones too. Must keep an eye on Medusa. Don't want to be here forever as a sculpture of stone.

But guess what? Some are just enjoying the heat of the sun:) Well there is always a difference between people.

At last we are now in the heart of Villa Escuedero and we are starving. So two of my granchildren tried fishing. But the fish won't bite. But I believe there is food somewhere else here.....

Well, me and my first daughter decided to explore the river. Believed me no one of us can paddle and we didn't reach half of the journey:)

But my second daughter and her hubby did a better job. Hi hi

Anyway this place was perfect for soul. body and spirit. Feels like home....

I might be boring you now. This post is longer than I thought it would be. So, this will be the part one. I will be posting the next part in my next post because I still have a lot of fun things to share. Hope you will be there too .

Joy

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The beauty of summer!

I really love summer because of the beautiful flowers that I can see around. These pictures were taken from my garden.

Every calling is great when greatly pursued. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Life is life, you can got through it cruisin, or you can go through it bummin. It's your choice.

Scott Fischer

Heroes are merely men who do extraordinary things during extraordinary times.

Jeremy Roland

There are two ways to get rich: You can earn more or you can require less.

Our needs can never exhaust God's supply.

When circumstances overwhelm

and seem too much to bear

Depend upon the Lord for strenght

And trust His tender care - Sper

A Christ centered- life cannot be a self- centered life.

God's word never misses it's mark.

A little encouragement can spark a great accomplishment.

Success is not found in the achievement of a goal, but in the awareness and harnessing of the skills and abilities we possess. Michelle Cadorette

It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot

A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker. - Buddha

Never apologise for showing feeling, my friend. Remember that when you do, you apologise for truth.

- Benjamin Disraeli.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. - Indira Gandhi

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. - Charles Dickens

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves. - U. Thant

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. -

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31:24

Monday, July 16, 2012

Counting the sheeps!

Counting the sheeps from one to one hundred, Have you ever tried that? I did.

Photo by: Ole Johnny Male

Many years ago, I had problems sleeping at night for reasons that I couldn't really define . And they said that if you count sheeps from one to one hundred, you probably sleep before you reach 100. But, to no avail. Then I tried exercise, eating foods that makes one dizzy before sleeping or a glass of red wine. Nothing helped at all. As a believer, I prayed to God, I cried, I read scriptures before going to bed, but none of these helped. I was really desperate. Where was my faith? Then I went to a doctor so that he can prescribe sleeping pills for me. So I begun taking sleeping pills so that I can sleep at night and work at daytime. I know that in the long run if I won't stop taking pills, I will be dependent of the medicine and it won't do me any good. And it is not the kind of life that I wanted to. Besides, it makes me dizzy during daytime and I was depressed and my temper was really short. So, sometimes I tried to stopped , and then no sleep, then begin again and the vicious circle goes on.

After one year of living a miserable life because of lack of sleep and for all the pills that I have taken, I finally decided that I won't take any pills anymore. It just make my life unbearable. I told God that from that time on, I will put my life in His hands. I was to tired trying to make myself sleep. And if I die for lack of sleep, at least I put my life in His hands and that gave me peace . I did not want to try anymore, so I let Him do the rest. That night, I slept very well, without pills . I just trust God.

And that gives me a lesson. I tried to make things happen, I forgot to let God make things work for me. When I finally surrender everything to him, His peace filled my body, soul and spirit. And that cured me.

Photo by Ole Johnny Male

It reminds myself of the the story about the sheeps that wanted to cross over the bridge, but there was a monster under the bridge. The small ones just told the monster that a bigger one is coming, so he can take the biggest one instead. Then the small ones crossed over the bridge. Then, it was the biggest sheep's turn to cross over the bridge , but he was bigger than the monster and the monster was defeated.

What I learn from this story is that I have to let God who is bigger than me, fight for me. When the enemy attacks, I just say to him that my God is bigger than you.

How about you? Is there anything to hard for God? He is bigger than our mountains of problems. We only need to put our trust in Him and be obedient!

Now I don't count sheeps, but blessings. When mountains of problems comes, I focus on the promises of God and the assurance that He said " He will never leave us or forsake us.

Photo by me:)

JOY

Thursday, July 12, 2012

A visit from Germany!

Living abroad has some advantages and disadvantages. One of disadvantage is we seldom see our relatives from the Philippines. So when our cousin and her daughter came to visit us from Germany where they resides, we were all excited. And so they came!