Dark!

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                                                                  Dark!



It is winter. It is dark and cold. And many of us are lonely, scared and depressed in this time of the year. Those who live in a country where the sun shines almost all year round, but living in poverty will certainly exchange their lives with us. To experience how it is to have plenty of food, sleep in a soft bed and stay in a beautiful house. To sit beside the fireplace and read a nice book. To see the snow and make snowman. And if we do really exchange our comfort with them, they will be happy while we will be more depressed.


Why is this so? Loneliness affects many. It is Christmas season, but there are more lonely people in this time of year than any other day of the year.

One thing I know, when I feel lonely, God reminds me come to him.

My husband is a sailor and is away most time of the year. My family in the Philippines is so far away. It is breaking my heart not to be with my loved ones espeacially this season. And then I feel lonely. That is why it's good to be

able to come to God because he assures me that I am not alone and he is with me and those I love. And I have always to see to see the bright sides of life and his blessings and be a blessing instead.

                                  King David prayed:

Then he continued with these words:

The I will go to the altar of God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.






Imagine that! Even King David was lonely too. He had everything. Wealth, power, good looks and many wives. But it was not enough. He needed God. There he finds the real pleasure and get inspired to sing and play.

Why?
Because God is light. We noticed it when it gets lighter, we become happier and we feel better.

Because God is good and when we experience His goodness,
 we became grateful and will automatically feel good.

Because there is help from God and that gives us courage.

Because there's joy in his presence and we find comfort.

We come to God, because he is a source of life. When we do, we too became alive.

David experienced it. And we will also do so summer or winter. Be cured of loneliness especially in dark days. Then we are the one who is going to be the light around us. We can inspire others and share hope.

Isn't it wonderful to be able to encourage others?



John 1: 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Have a nice and happy Christmas celebration friends!


                                                                           JOY

Blessings of the day!

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This flowering plant ( Helleborus)  that I received from my friend Lillan as a Christmas gift. One of the gifts coz, she has  one more gift  to me. To be opened on Christmas day. She is really nice.

Roses from my hubby. It is our 22th anniversary today. Four roses means I love you much. He said so:)

I am blessed to see that my plants are blossoming:)

And because my hubby is not at home, I invited my mother in law to eat dinner with me and my youngest daughter. A blessing to have her around.

Table for three!

I served kaldereta, rice and salad. And my mother in law said that it was tasty:) Glad she liked it. First time to served kaldereta dish to her.

We are blessed with beautiful sunset!

And with that, me and my new created stuffed doll Marte say goodbye!

JOY

The joy of giving!

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Today, I am wearing the color of Christmas. Color of giving? Together with my older sister, brother-in-law and friends, we are going to visit the elderly to share God's love to them.

And it seems that the weather cooperates today, since there was snowstorm yesterday.

I love sunshine days. It makes this place a little bit warmer.

Nice background for the dry plants and trees!



Anyway, we decorated the place for the occasion. This is the activity center of the nursing home where I actually work almost everyday.







First visitior. My sister's mother in law. A lady with a good heart.




Anyway, this is Claudia who shares God's words today. She read from the Bible the birth of Jesus. She said that like before, people from all walks of life accept Jesus Christ birth differently. Herodes the king wanted to kill Jesus, while the shepherds and the three wise men worshiped him. The question was how do we react of Jesus birth? Do we accept him as a gift from God or do we reject him? Christmas is all about Jesus and God's love to mankind. So her prayer is for each and everyone to accept the God's best gift.


And after Claudia sharing, Reidun shared also how they celebrated Christmas before and how God answered her prayer when she lost a gift from someone she loves.



     Åse shared something from the song book about Christmas.



Then, my sister, her hubby and Claudia sung a song about lighting a light this Christmas.

Maria sung a solo sang. It was like hearing an angel singing from heaven. Our spirits lifted up on high.

 But this make us teary eyed. A duet of mother and son. So wonderful.

And the little boy Trond swaying at the background while his mother and brother sung.

   Well, this is food for the soul and body. We brought with us cakes ,breads and fruits for them.

Happy faces!

Here comes the big Santa with the gifts to the elderly.

And Adrian, our cute santa . The gift in the plastic bag consist of small chocolates, cookies and homemade strawberry jam.


 And our cutest Santa did his best too:)



But, there is more:) My sister and brother in law baked big cookies with the names of the elderly written on it.



So look at the smiles!

 Surprise! They baked cookies for us too! And look at our smiles:) Thank you so much sis and brother in law.

The joy of giving. With that I know that God was joyful when he gave his Son as a gift to all of us. The greatest gift of all!

JOY

They made me really cry!

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What's that suppose to mean? Tears of sorrow or tears of happiness? Well, happy that it was tears of happiness.

Surprise, surprise! I was at the flower shop today to buy  flower plants to put on my window post, as you can see under,

when the saleslady asked me If I am going to be home later that day. She said that she is going to bring something for me. Well, I thought that my husband is giving me a flower bouquet for our 22 years of anniversary this december month. How thoughtful of him.

So the flower bouquet arrived. I was so excited to open it, thinking that it was from my hubby. The bouquet is so beautiful. My heart leap with joy.

But, I was so suprised when I read the dedication from the card. It was not from my hubby, but from the very sweet and with lovely heart Gracie of " Gracie's Network".

She is thanking me for the card that I sent to her and wishing me Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Then , tears began running down  my cheeks. I was so touched, so thankful, feel loved and the feelings is so overwhelming. What a very nice gesture from Gracie. Bless her heart. Thank you so much Gracie. 

And when I opened my mail  box today, guess what ? Another surprise. Archie from " Chateau de Archieviner" sent me postcards from Caledonia. Again, very touched and he made me a very happy woman too.

Thank you so much Archie:)

And there are two more bloggers that made me cry when they published a post this year in their site dedicated to me.

The first one was from my second daughter living in the Philippines. Her website " Michi Photostory"

My second daughter and her family !

She  published this letter for me.

                           Happy Golden Birthday to my mom! 

Happy Golden Birthday to you! It was sad that we can’t be with you on your special day for obvious reason, plane ticket is so expensive and I guess its 3 years’ worth of our house amortization. =) Thank God for technology because I can greet you in my post.

I just want to let you know that I am really grateful that God gave me a mom like you, though we’ve only been together for seven years and we never really grow up with you. We are still thankful because we know that across the miles you are always there to support, pray, care and love us.

I know you’ve been through a lot and if there’s one story na pang MMK (Maalala mo kaya) that will be your story. You suffered and sacrificed a lot just for us so even though we we’re not able to live with you, we’re still happy for you because you truly deserve to be happy.

Growing up without a mom beside me is not easy but it also taught me how to be strong, independent and responsible person. I always think that you’re not with me so I have to learn to fight my own battles, run my own race and achieve my dreams.

I salute you for achieving all your dreams; you got your degree while taking care of our youngest sister and at the same time working to support us. When I became a mom, you serve as an inspiration to me because I know that you had 3 kids at the age of 20 without nanny and househelper and I only have one son so I know I can do it too.

You taught us to have good relationship with God so when life is so tough, when we’re about to give up and we can’t run to you for help because of the distance, we can always call God to strengthen and comfort us.

I’m proud to be your daughter and I hope that I can be like you. I want to be a good mother to my little one and I hope that I can raise him the way you raised us, they say that the first 7 years is the most important phase and I hope I’m on the right track.

Happy birthday and I really pray that you will have more birthdays to come because I can’t imagine the future without you! Jeg elsker deg!

(And this is her son, my grandchild wishing me a happy birthday)

 

Just reading her letter made me cry again....her words really warms my heart.

Another published post dedicated to me was from Arvin " Written feelings" . Although we don't know each other very well, he did it for me by my request. And he made me feel very important. Thanks Arvin. You leaved a mark in my heart.

LUHA, LIGAYA, at LANGIT (by request)
Ni: Arvin U. de la Peña

Kabiguan na natamo
Luha man naging kapalit
Di pinanghinaan loob
Hinarap ang kapalaran.

Taas noo pinagyabang
Pagbangon mula ng iwan
Sa ligaya na nakamit
Kapiling ang bagong mahal.

Ang delubyo na sinapit
Parang bula na naglaho
Pagbuhos ulan sa buhay
Sikat ng araw pumalit.

Mistula ng lumilitaw
Langit na ang pakiramdam
Nangyari sa nakaraan
Sa isipan ay limot na.

Luhang tumulo sa mata
Nangyaring sama ng loob
Ligaya ngayon sa puso
Katulong Diyos sa langit

So those people really made me cry. Tears of joy!

May God continue to shower you all with more blessings because each and everyone are a blessing.

Happy week- end friends!

JOY