Category: X-Archives

Polaroid Pogo Prints, Habakkuk 3, & Some Link Love

Rhiza5 Comments

1. Polaroid prints. We got a Polaroid Pogo Printer more than a month ago, but my excitement died down with each passing day as I realized how difficult it is to find Polaroid Pogo films in Manila. Why, surprise, surprise. A pack of 100 Zink photo sheets came in the mail last Friday, and I was left wondering again how my husband manages to cook up surprises like this from under my nose!

He ordered the Zink sheets from ebay, the package was shipped to the Philippines from California, and just like that, my love for instant photography is back. Mind reels that there’s a separate blog about this sometime soon. You bet. (:

2. Habakkuk 3:17-19. Last Sunday, David preached in church for the first time and the experience was awesome. I know, that last sentence was pretty biased, coming from his wife and #1 fan by default. But what’s truly awesome to me is how God prepared him for this. Sure, he didn’t have a degree in Theology, but his message felt so real to me because I’ve seen Habakkuk 3:17-19 happen in his life more times than my fingers can count and my mind can recall. I sat there front and center, listening to him preach God’s Word, feeling like I was getting to know him a little bit more, and feeling blessed and inspired of the message that God placed in his heart. So okay, I may be biased, but come to think of it, if there’s anyone who sees this man for who he really is now—ups and downs, good days and bad days—it’s got to be me. And I’m soo thankful to be a witness to how God is continuously working in his life, and our life together. (:

3. Link love. And now I send some link love to these people whose blogs/videos inspired me this week. After the jump.

Continue reading “Polaroid Pogo Prints, Habakkuk 3, & Some Link Love” →

Day 12: Beautiful things happen during sunset

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12/30: Sunset. Just a quick post on my lunch break.

Somewhere between lighting our unity candle and our first kiss, the sun started to set. Although I can’t remember noticing the sunset that day (’cause obviously my mind was nowhere but on the man who was holding my hand),  I’m glad there were photographs that preserved the moments somehow.

I don’t have much to say today so I end this with some borrowed words from an Indian poet, words I wish I thought of saying first:

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm,
but to add color to my sunset sky. ~R.Tagore

I wonder if Mr. Tagore , as he was writing those very words, found love too. (:

Stray Cats, An Answered Prayer, and Happily Married

Rhiza2 Comments

Hello, I interrupt regular programming to give way to these three beautiful things that just made my day. Inspired by Three Beautiful Things, I thought I’d start sharing random blessings on random days here in my blog, too.

1. Last week, we took in 3 stray cats off our street. They were just too small and we couldn’t bear the thought of leaving them as we were passing through Thursday morning. They’re about 4 weeks old, we learned, thanks to Google. We feed them milk using medicine droppers and keep them in a shoebox.

I can’t remember ever wanting cats my whole life but so far, the experience has made me know David’s soft side a little bit more. Oh you should see how serious he is taking care of them! I tell him he’s becoming emotionally attached (and how adorable I think that is), which, of course, he denies.

2. My husband and I led Praise & Worship in church today. Standing up there together to lead a congregation of worshippers is a real joy (and an answered prayer), I still can’t get over how blessed I am.

3. Later in the evening, we opened our doors to a bunch of hungry friends from church and had an awesome time eating, and watching a cheesy tagalog film, and just hanging out. They brought some Chooks-to-go, I cooked tuna sisig, David played host.

As the day ended, I sat on the couch with my husband and we talked about how we spent the whole day extending ourselves to others and what a blessing it had been to us. “I’m so glad I married you,” he whispered. And I need not say it then but I know he knows that’s exactly what I feel too.

It’s God’s love for us that causes Him to bring us to an end of our strength

Rhiza9 Comments

 

Sometimes, all you need is encouragement like this on a bad day week and you start to believe, without a doubt, that everything will be okay.

I don’t know what your intimidating giant is today. It may relate to your job, your roommate, or your school. Maybe it is a person, a lawsuit, unemployment, a disaster . . . maybe even your own partner in life. Perhaps it is some fear that is lurking around the corner, sucking your energy and draining your faith. God is saying to you right now, “All I ask of you is five smooth stones and a sling of faith. I’ll take it from there. You don’t have to wear somebody else’s armor. You just trust Me. And I’ll strip you down to nothing but faith, and then I’ll accomplish a victory where I’ll get the glory. But as for you . . . you trust Me.”

Perhaps you don’t know what lies across the valley. Maybe you can’t get a handle on what that giant is; but it’s there, haunting you. That uncertainty alone is a giant. But look at that worry in comparison to the Lord God Himself, and say, by faith, “The battle is Yours, Lord. It is Your battle. I lean on You. I give You all my weapons, all my skills, and I stand before You, trusting You.”

It is God’s love for us that causes Him to bring us to an end of our own strength. He sees our need to trust Him, and His love is so great that He will not let us live another day without surrendering our arms to Him, giving Him our fears, our worries, even our confusion, so that nothing becomes more significant to us than our Father.

Never, ever forget it: the battle is the Lord’s!

~Chuck Swindoll

God’s wisdom can sometimes be frustratingly incomprehensible! Frustrating, in a beautiful kind of way. Truly it’s in those hardest of days that He manifests Himself even more, because there you know that His grace is sufficient and your strength is not your own.

Surprise, I turned 28!

Rhiza4 Comments

..one month ago, that is.

Date backtracked–I have to post these pictures before I totally forget all about them! It was, after all, my last birthday as a single person, and I’ve got the sweetest fiance who made sure I had the sweetest surprise birthday party ever!

Apparently, David had been secretly convening with my family and church friends the whole month of May, organizing this sweet surprise. There was food, flowers and confetti, Rhiza-themed games, and an embarrassing AVP of my childhood pics. David also “showed up” with a recorded video of a song he wrote for me, a video montage of birthday greetings from his/our family and friends in New York, and later on, a live Skype feed projected on a huge screen for *gasp* everyone to watch and see.

28 happy years, indeed. :)

And of course the whole family was there (can’t believe I didn’t have pics with my two brothers that night though, LOL), as well as my extended family in church. I just love how David & I have extended families from two sides of the world! :)

Jeni, Xaris & Ivy: my boyfriend’s accomplices.

Totally clueless, I had to call David to tell him that my family and friends gave me a surprise party, only to realize later on that he was the mastermind pala!

Reading what I wrote last year, on my 27th birthday, I just can’t get over how time flies by, and how God makes all things work together for good.  So much has happened since I turned 28, and I could only expect that the next couple of months will be even crazier, and more mind-blowing!

Year 28. I am sooo going to live every moment of this year, that’s for sure. :)