Good News Mama!

If you were to ask me one thing my parents did right in raising me as a child, my answer would be an immediate "They raised me with pets!" Most of my happy childhood memories involved me with a whole buncha dogs, two cats, a few lovebirds, and some fishies. But my favorite was always a Collie dog I grew up with (just picture an overweight Lassie because he had a Filipino diet). Whenever I was scared, he was there to comfort me. When my parents were tired from work and wanted to watch TV, I would just go to the backyard and my fat dog would greet me and play with me. One day I was curious about what it would feel like to be bit by a dog so I stepped on him on purpose and cried when he bit me real hard...lol. After he died of worms, I had a couple of other dogs: a mutt, a shih tzu, a blind AND deaf poodle, a lab retriever....It wasn't until my parents divorced when I was 7 that I wasn't allowed to have pets anymore. So I've suppressed this longing for a dog until I ...

WoooOOoOoOoO it's been a LONG time since I typed on a computer/laptop. It's actually weird for my fingers and the sound of the keyboard is annoying my ears, but I've been horrible at keeping up with fb and blogger. I'm on my husband's laptop bc he's out with my little brother and I'm home alone with the pup (which I will blog about separately). But I do believe a lot has happened these last few months, and I'm going to list them from least to greatest. Just another testament of how good God is to me in my life! God provided me with a job as a summer school teacher for second graders at a church in Cerritos . I got the job through a sister in church (thanks Bethany!) and absolutely LOVE it. It was hard for me at first because I went through the feelings of guilt ("I got my license as an LVN...I should do nursing asap...it makes more money..it's a waste of money not to use it..I already wasted money trying to get a Bachelors of Political Scie...

This has been on my heart lately. So many young people struggle with lust, and they lose and fail over and over again. I can't count the number of times my girl friends have turned to me with this struggle, and even though I tell them what God's Word says, they go off and fall to their sin. The issue isn't that they didn't listen to me..the issue is they didn't listen to God's Word. It's important to kill sin. Why? Because if you don't...the sin will kill you. Praise the Lord that He is in control of all things (Romans 8:28) because honestly, if He wasn't, I'd be very discouraged.  I can honestly say one of the biggest struggles for me, in this season of my life, is being one of the only young married women among a lot of friends, and watching this happen over and over and over again. It is my prayer that my girl friends learn to love God more and learn to obey Him and listen to wise counsel based on the Word of God. Here are ...

Praise the Lord! I know this sounds kinda funny, but I actually enjoy going grocery shopping now. Not sure when it happened, but as I was walking down the aisles last week (I try to go grocery shopping at least once a week) I found myself taking my time and soaking it all in. I think the reason for this is because I haven't failed at cooking. It's also encouraging because a few people tasted my cooking and said it tasted good. But of course, I had those really  bad mistakes done in the kitchen that I'm glad no one was around for. Let's just say, I overcoated some garlic shrimp I was trying to make and that I felt like my heart stopped beating with each shrimp I ate. Gross. Bad memory. Do I stay within my budget? Absolutely not! I wish. We are trying to spend about $50-$60 a week...and my favorite places to go are Fresh N Easy, Winco, and Zion Market. For shampoo and soap or cotton balls and toilet paper, I go to Wal Mart. I can't believe money flies by so quick. B...

Sunday morning is my favorite. I vaguely remember, about a decade ago, I made a Livejournal entry about how much I loved Sunday mornings. I described how every Sunday morning, I'd wake up to my mom singing and ruining all of the lyrics. And how my family would go together to Catholic Mass, and then we'd go to Cerritos and eat some DJ Bibingkahan or Pinoy-Pinay. Those are still some fond memories I hold. And then I became Christian, and those memories remained as they were: memories from the past, never again to happen in the future. But now, as a married woman, I love Sunday mornings still, if not more. I wake up to an empty bed, because Kevin wakes up earlier than me. And I go downstairs and he's up and talking with my brother-in-law Michael, making omelettes. Michael's omelettes are always so pretty and fluffy, with yummy vegetables and other fancy-shmancy stuff in it. Kevin's omelettes usually look like they went through a car crash, with hot dogs and spam ...

...before the storm. Found out a few things this past week, and I'm trying to make sense of it all. Maybe it's not supposed to make sense. The only comfort I have is that God is in control. And thank God for a wonderful husband and some wonderful friends too.

A few hours ago I returned home from our Wives Ministry. A couple of wives meet every two weeks and are going through a wonderful Bible-based book called "The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace. We're on chapter 9 and are talking about Love! What is true love? Is it based on feelings and romance? Or is it something bigger, something exemplified by a God-man dying on a cross? And what are some challenges to loving your husband? It's really nice to hear stories, share struggles, praise God together, and try to glorify God as wives. Kevin has been so good to me, and it's hard NOT to love him :) He's just so wonderful. But of course, he fails me, and I fail him, and I can't shake off the reality that I am a selfish human being. There are so many changes that come with marriage, such as...living and serving this other human being! And I'm not talking about bebes, folks. As a wife, I try to keep things clean around the home and cook for Kevin, and I have to m...