My three year old grandson Francis

    Mama: " pat a cake pat a cake..., for Francis and me." 

    

    Francis:  "No, Mama, its Baby and me not Francis and 

                      me... Not Cian and me... Its baby  and me.
                                 

                    
                      Remember that Mama? "

               ( Cian is the younger brother of Francis ) 

Amoebic Dysentery

               The house where my family lived before was located in a place where safe water was scarce. We fetched water from a  mountain source which passed through a long line of bamboo poles.  Many of the families were getting drinking water from that source.
               I contacted amoebic dysentery.  Good that no one among my children got it.  It was a painful experience.  I told my doctor about it and he advised me to eat okra or saluyot aside from taking the antibiotics and pain reliever that he prescribed. . He , too, became sick of amoebic dysentery.  Okra gathers these tiny organisms  in our stomach and dispose them through our wastes. I bought okra, boiled them and ate them. My young children were not used to eating them but I told them the benefits of eating okra. And they began eating okra. Try it.
            

Gardening

                 As prices of commodities increases, gardening helps us in many ways. Think of the nutrients that one may get from the products of his or her garden.  My daughters have gardens of their own.  At home, I replanted pechay after a good harvest.  I now have radish, malunggay, ampalaya, ginger, tomatoes,pechay, eggplant, okra, alugbati, saluyot, and pepper. I am planning to plant gourd though it occupies bigger space.

Doctor Fishes

              When my family and I went to Manila, we toured the Manila Ocean Park. It was a beautiful experience. At the exit, we went up and  we saw the area  where the doctor fishes are found. I read about the doctor fishes. Then my two children and I paid P 150.00 each for the foot spa which lasted for twenty minutes and went to the pool where the doctor fishes are found. I had an aching tendon and my feet smells bad. With a towel each that were given to us, we dipped our feet in the pool and the fishes gathered around  us.There were thousand of small and bigger fishes who feasted on  the dead cells of many feet.

              There were also other people with us, children and adults.  It was a very tickling experience. The fishes bit  the dead cells of my feet and I just ignore the very tickling sensation.  After a a few minutes, we transferred to another pool and let the bigger fishes bit the dead cells of our feet. After twenty minutes, we wiped our feet.

              My feet no longer smells bad and my tendon is not aching anymore.  I am planning to go back and pay more to have more minutes of foot spa.  This  God's little creations made wonderful healing on me. Thank you, Lord.

Vengeance is not ours.

            When we are angry, we are hurting ourselves. God does not want us to make revenge. It is His work. Let us offer our sorrow, hurt feelings, our sentiments to God. Yes , When God hears them, He will console us, pacify us and give us peace.  I was wrong at times when I talked about my sentiments to my close friend, to my family or close relatives. I did not offer these ill-feelings to God.  I carried the burden and it made me sick.

            I thought of avenging people who hurt me and I sinned in thought. My hurt feelings just come out of my mouth because it is said that what is in our hearts comes out through our mouth. As I read a verse, I stopped

the thought of avenging someone who hurt me. I am sorry, Lord. I should have offered that to you.

            My brother-in-law who lives in another province came to visit us to seek advice regarding his boss who wanted  his house evicted. He could not sleep and  it showed sign on his health. He got a little thinner. His boss sided with his co-employee when they argued..  I advised him to offer his boss to God and to be careful in his work. I told him to open the verse on Psalm 91 on his office table and in his house after he prays it. He will be protected by that prayer.

            My advise on how my family were protected during Martial Law when the military and the rebels clashed. I was afraid because my husband was not around. To overcome fear and to be able to sleep, I opened the Bible to Psalm 91, read it and placed it near the headboard. I was already assured that God protected us and He did.  Thank you, Lord.

Pray

            I urge the reader to pray the Rosary. For prayer petition please go to the sites:
                    a. fatima.org
                    b. our Lady of Lourdes France   ( open the French site )
                    c. comepraytherosary.com.

           Most of my  prayers at this sites are being answered by God. I know God wants me to wait for my other petitions' answer. and I know His answer is the best for me.Thank you, Lord.

          

Deaf-mute Pregnant Woman

          When I attended the prayer meeting, a woman who shared testimony , narrated how her sister , a deaf mute , delivered her baby.  The doctor does not know sign language so she was asked to stay. The sister whose sign language in childbirth  is also limited ,  for such term as pelvic girdle pain, muscular pain, pushing , engagement , etc. Her demonstration made all of us laugh. She did not laugh; a true comedian. At the first baby's cry and reactions, she thanked God , the baby is not mute  and  deaf .

          Doctors and midwives  must know sign language so they will know how to deal with patients who are deaf-mute.

Mutya ng Dabaw 2011.

                Guess what? This year's Mutya ng Dabaw was one of my fourth year high school students. She is tall and beautiful. Irene Benn Lascuna,  now 22 , is witty.  I taught Physics in their class.  I am happy for her.
                After graduation, she  took up International Studies, major in Asian studies. She is now a fourth year student at Ateneo de Davao University
                .

Send- off Party

               The president of the faculty club wanted me to set a date for the send off program. Personally, I don't want it. I just want to leave school quietly.  Talks or speeches about my achievements and my contribution to the school are not big deal for me  . I could have been promoted but I chose not to. I left school with the lowest salary grade. I am glad I did. What is pride  and honor? It will not help my soul.
               Trophies and medals and many certifications are nothing compared to a better relationship with God. Those things will lost their glories and their values.  And only those people who knew you can remember your achievements.  People who do not know you will just put you in oblivion or may throw away the trophies and medals that were displayed to give way to the new ones.  That is similar  to a person who visits his hometown and no one greets him  because he no longer lives there. These people may not recognize him anymore and the new faces do not bother to welcome him..  But God always remember who we are even when we were not yet born.  He knows everything about us. And He is just there to welcome us back.  God has a great love for us and while we commit sins, He wants us to be truly sorry for them. Material things are given by God, but if we deny Him because we have acquired wealth and forget Him, God can easily get  it back.
                It is a choice. Money or God.  I prefer God. He is  the Greatest Provider and I wont go hungry.

Let God handle our money.

           When we receive our salary, the first thing that we do is buy what we like, pay our bills, Did we pray to God how to handle our money?  God provides us work and receive salary. Money is given by God to strengthen our relationship with Him.  I had received money but never let God decide for me. I did not wait for Him. And it was a very big mistake. I should have offered  my salary to Him and let Him decide what to do with my money. Money slipped through my hands because God curse that blessing.  If only I had prayed and waited for God's answer, I would not have  problems at all.  Man always decide on his own what to do with the money he had on his hand. He forgets the Giver of that money.  We should really pray for God's guidance what to do with our money. We must wait for His guidance because God  always has a speedy answer on what to do with the money. But when we decide on our own, God can not control us because we did not let Him control our finances.

Carbonara

                 I invited people at a party in our house. They partake all the foods served. There were  kare-kare, birthday cake, mango float, spaghetti , carbonara, among others.  When we had a meeting at the chapel , the suggestion as to where the priest , his staff of choir and altar boy  would eat dinner  after the Holy Mass ,was made and it was suggested that the residence of the Barangay Captain will be the venue of the dinner. It was a common practice that the members of the community will share, prepare food  and delivered at the house of a member as suggested and agreed upon by the group.      
              Each member suggested his or her food to prepare and the house helper for the Barangay Captain looked at me and suggested that I cooked carbonara. At first she could not name the food but she remembered some of the ingredients and so came up with the exact name of the recipe. She said that she tasted it and found it tasty and delicious. She suggested that I cook it. So I said yes.
             Then another meeting came and the venue was the residence of my daughter whose house is just a stone throw away from our house.  I cooked their favorite carbonara which is my signature recipe for the group.
                 Here is the recipe:

                 1 kilo flat spaghetti noodles
                 2 carbonara mix
                 2 cream of mushroom soup
                 garlic
                 onion
                 salt to taste
                 slices of ham'
                 1/4 kilo strips of chicken ( previously boiled )
                 Cheese      
                 1 Nestle cream
                 1 big can of evaporated  milk
                 2 cooked egg ( optional)

                 Saute garlic, then add onion  and add cream of mushroom soup mixed in water.  Add cube slices of ham.Stir then add chicken, milk, and carbonara mix. Stir . Add the Nestle cream and season to taste. Pour the gravy to the previously cooked flat spaghetti . Spread cheese on top. Serve hot.

Note. Stir in one direction only when cooking food that make use of milk in their product.





            
              



        
    

Have problems?

       Problems make us weak and worry. What to do when worry comes. Praying to God is the first and foremost thing to do when worry sets in. Let us not pray just for lip service. As what I have said, God knows what is in our hearts. Pray to God with all our hearts. Pray with faith. God carries our burden and help us find solutions to the problem. He relaxes our minds and we always feel this after praying.  God created fruits for us to use in relaxing our minds.

        Banana contains certain amino acids which our body will turn it into some substance which will allow us to relax .  When I was operated on appendectomy way back in 1969, my body was weak. I could not even hold a ballpen for longer than  two minutes. I easily got tired. I ate bananas and I found out that I felt relaxed, free of stress from my worry about post operation. Unlike today, operation at those times take longer in healing. It took me a month to be certain that I was already capable of doing work. 

Kulugo ( wart or verucca )

             It was in 1972 when I noticed that a wart began to appear on my right thumb.   I scratched it because it was itchy and irritating. The following day, another wart appeared on my forefinger. These virus warts were live and watery, its thread-like matter when taken out can spread to other parts of my finger to form small warts that became bigger. It was painful and spread  to my middle finger. It left a mark on the registration form of the COMELEC. during my finger -printing . I could not hold the chalk well because, the more painful it was when I began writing on the chalkboard. The live wart spread on the other fingers. I was worried it might spread on my body.
            My mother saw my fingers and advised me to remove it. I must get some wilt banana leaf and stay outside during thunderstorm. I waited for bad weather everyday. Then one night, bad weather came. It rained so hard and there, the thunderstorm strike that it lightened the area. I remembered what my mother told me and I got the wilted banana leaf which I kept in one place.
             Although very much afraid, I stayed outside. The lightning did strike followed by a very loud sound of thunder. I brushed the banana leaf over the warts on my finger and threw the banana leaf at my back without looking at it. I did it three times at every sound of the thunder. At every brushing, I would utter, " Kulugo, go with the lightning. " Funny , right?    Then , I got inside.  The warts were still there. On the second day, I noticed that not a single wart was seen on my finger and I could no longer feel the pain. I showed my fingers to my mother and I thanked her for the advise .
             It may sound superstitious to anyone, but that was the treatment  which I passed on to my children in case of appearance of warts.

A friend's pride

              A friend had for a number of times showed off her bundles of money to me. She even offered the bundle to me, then put it back inside her big pocket. In my presence, counting 30 yens with a value of ten thousand each bill amounted to more than one hundred pesos .  Sometimes, when neighbors gathered, she would show her money to me and offered the bundle.  Think about it. Pride is in her heart. Her fingers showed off gold rings and gold necklace .
             God knows what is in a man's heart. My relatives and friend would somehow tell me to do the same to her by displaying big amount of money which my son-in-law gave to fully pay the house mortgage. I said no. God  will be angry at me. Time flies and this friend loses some wealth and no longer displays  gold rings on many of her fingers. I don't know what happened to these jewelries. Pawned or placed inside a jewelry box  remained a good guess.  It is a good sample of reflecting that wealth is lost when a person is greedy or boastful. God curses blessings when  He is not at the center of our hearts.

God knows what is in our hearts

               What is in our hearts, comes out through the mouth.  When man is angry, he can not voice out words of love through his mouth. He feels it in his heart, so the words coming out of his mouth are words of  anger, curse, etc. It is time to reflect. We commit sin in thought, in words, and in deed. If man does not kill a person using a weapon because he cannot afford to kill a person but his thought of wishing him to die is still a sin. 

                I  reflect on life after death. Thinking of hell and its eternal pain made me pray  to God that should I die, I want Jesus and Mama Mary to be at my side.  If we do not reflect on death , we will not be able to picture what would happen if we do not repent. We refuse to think of death, some knocking on wood thinking  it makes their life longer. Death knows no time. God knows when we die and what is in our hearts. 

Little Jamie did it again.

             Jamie  washed again the utensils. the simple training was effective. Now she talks about germs while washing. 

Jamie : "Mommy, there are still germs. "  She rub the plate again with the liquid detergent.  I did the rinsing of the

             utensils . 

After washing, she went to the other house to change her wet clothes. Jamie also  sprinkled water to the plants 

              this morning.

Our little girl Jamie

               Jamie will turn four on March 31.  This morning , Jamie assisted me in cooking. She peeled the plastic wrap of hotdogs . Then , I cooked fried rice. She helped me and used another ladle. With my assistance, we were able to cook it.  Standing on a chair, she began washing the utensils, used liquid soap detergent, then rinsed them with water. Glasses, spoons, fork, bowls, plates, ladles, platters were the items being washed. When she heard the sound of the motor, she called on her father to wait for her. I just told her to go , so I continued washing the remaining four items of dishes.

               With my guidance, I let her pray to God to save and help the people of Japan in Jesus name. That was in addition to her daily morning and evening prayer to greet the Holy Trinity. Jamie is very generous, sharing her food to her friends. 

A Moment of Truth

            Japan's earthquake and tsunami are strong reminders of our vast destruction of God's creations. God created the earth and all its glory to make it worthwhile and pleasant to live. But man destructed the earth's mantle and soil. Man , without satisfaction, mined the earth's ground to cloth others with jewelries and fashion. Man, indeed, is greed. I, myself, is guilty of destructing the earth. I started now to segregate waste to give way to fresh air. My little start will somehow motivate me to be on guard so that I will no longer put any waste material for others to burn in dump sites. 

              I now start putting vegetable peelings to a container to rot. In that way, I can plant vegetables on the rotten peelings.  Guilty as I am, I hope God will forgive me for helping in the destruction of His wonderful earth.  The earth's plate destruction  is tremendously attributed  to man's desire to unleash power,  thereby,  putting it in non - stability. Wastes , in millions of tons released in different places on earth are  one of the reasons why  global warming affects us. Climate change is felt everywhere. It is time to reflect. 

Happy Birthday, Jess

On the day of his birthday, he went to work. I went to an office to get a clearance.  Afterwards, I went home and saw some neighbors busy helping my son in preparing the food. Soon, a few of my husband's close friends arrived.  At this point, I would like to greet my husband a very, very happy birthday!




How will the mechanic complete another cunning battery?

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you , Lord  for healing my husband who was sick the night of his birthday and for answering my prayer for an issuance of a clearance from the Ombudsman for retirement purposes

The bending Bamboos

               My late mother told us a story about the bending bamboos.  There were bamboos growing near the small dry creek located on a mountain where they lived. The bamboos were very tall.  Stories were told about the bending bamboos on  late night and sending  a person up that may cause accident or death.

              One late  night , my mother (I don't  remember if she had a companion that time), was walking towards a path near the bamboos. She noticed that the tall bamboos began to bend. My mother ever a brave person, continued walking and uttered repeatedly the name of Jesus she made her way through every bamboo. At her back, she noticed that the bamboos returned to their normal positions. She passed by them without being catapulted upwards. In times like that, never forget that the name of Lord , Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can ward off any bad spirits.  The evil spirits roamed around. Never forget to let God accompany you wherever you are, even when you are  travelling.

Justin Robert

http://babysearch.bonds.com.au/entry/24831/justin-robert-h

http://babysearch.bonds.com.au/entry/24831/justin-robert-h

Inspired by my Daughters

                 Seeing my daughters' successes make me always happy. I have three beautiful daughters and three sons, the youngest died at the age of eighteen.  Looking at all my grandchildren reminds me at how blessed I am. They are good-looking guys. I have a photographer granddaughter whose works reminded me of my talent in the arts. My daughters' husbands are all nice and understanding.
                 The boys never fail to charm us. My co- teachers always tell me how blessed I am for having beautiful granddaughter  and handsome grandsons.  Really, these guys make us feel happy. I am truly inspire to write blogs for them  and others to read which in the process, they would learn something.

Worries

               Thinking of our worries does more harm than good. It does not only give us stress minds but it separates us from God. We solve problems through our own understanding and we forget that there is God who is just waiting for us to tell Him all about it.  We solve problems by ourselves.

                A  father saw the letter written by a teacher that his son can not make it to the graduation. the letter was written two months ago.  He consulted his son who was afraid of telling him and feared he might get angry.  

                The father who has  faith in the Lord kept his calm and told his son to try for the next year if he could not make it.  In a few weeks, another letter came telling him that his son made it to the list. Had the parent scolded the son  or said harsh words to him, his son could have done the worst by going away  to another place.  It is important that we let God solve the problem because God promised us that He will guide us which path to take in solving the problems. We must consult God first in everything we do.

Funny but Embarrassing

            In college, My relatives and I went inside a ship to send off another relative who  was going  home from a vacation. I could not exactly remember what I wore that time . When it was time for us to go. we went to go downstairs. the stair was made of steel. I was ahead of them.  Passengers downstairs were on their respective double deck beds . some were sleeping. Others were just sitting and observing other passengers; some talking to others. . I went down the stairs but suddenly I went down  fast. . It was some 8 to 10 steps stair, I hit the bottom of the stair but standing up . I hit only the edges of the steps going down past another step. It was as if the stair was just an inclined plane and slippery. The noise I created upon hitting the bottom made some passengers awake  and surprised. 

          Many of them were afraid  I might incur some broken bone. I was just fortunate. My special angel just guided me down. My relatives were afraid but suddenly laughed. Shock as I was, I just smiled and laughed with them. Although, very embarrassed, I could only muster a word of thanks. 

Syokoy( Merman)

         Do you believe in Syokoy ( Merman )?   I was in high school then. I went to the river where  many logs are piled to be towed by a launch ready for loading on a big ship.  I could not  remember the exact time but it was daytime.  I stepped from one log to another. I enjoyed it. There were other women and men who were washing clothes at a distance far from where I was. Suddenly, a syokoy appeared just  five to ten meters away. He looked at me. He was black and his eyes were  big  and red. .  He had  fin  at the top of his head down to his neck and spine
         Since I heard about them on stories , after a few minutes of seeing him. I immediately ran back , stepping on  all the logs filed,  unmindful  if the logs were not tightly tied. My heart beat fast. When I reached the bank of the river, I  did not look back afraid of seeing him again. I could easily remember his feature.  Young as I was at that time, these creatures are often the characters played on many soap operas and movies . Perhaps, they will not appear on film location because of so many people around. Just thinking how they will feel if one of these creatures suddenly appears to them.

Justin Robert

http://babysearch.bonds.com.au/entry/24831/justin-robert-h

Let us always honor God

My Lord and my God.  Feed my soul as I feed my body. Wash my soul as I wash my body. Let us always honor God.  Our blessings from God are ours to enjoy but we must not always forget that these are given to us by God. Never forget God when you are blessed. share your blessings. Many people are also in need. Love, love and love God  always.

Pray the Holy Rosary

Join the world in praying the Holy Rosary; click on this site.
http://www.comepraytherosary.org/