~mind snapshots~: June 2006

a smile is contagious

have a great weekend! ^_^

i wish i was a punk rocker

i find myself singing to this song whenever it's on the radio.. dont know why.. the melody perhaps.. the lyrics.. or maybe just because. =p

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Chorus
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 & 69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late to a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar
Not everybody drove a car
When music really mattered & when radio was king
When accountants didn't have control
& the media couldn't buy your soul
& computers were still scary & we didn't know everything

When popstars still remained a myth
& ignorance could still be bliss
& when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
When my mom & dad were in their teens
& anarchy was still a dream
& the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail

When record shops were on top
& vinyl was all that they stocked
& the super info highway was still drifting out in space
kids were wearing hand me downs
& playing games meant kick arounds
& footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face

think it through

i bet all of us have had these experiences where 'implulses', 'in the heat of the moment', 'top of my head', 'conversation crappiness' takes over.. and they may get us in trouble at times.. here's something i read yesterday..

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

~~ Daily Motivator ~~

There are a few things that you must respond to immediately. In most cases, though, an immediate response, without taking the time to think it though, can be worse than no response at all.

Give yourself some valuable space between what happens and what you choose to do about it. And in that space, use your powerful mind, use your experience, use your perspective, use your intuition to craft a positive, effective response.

Lean toward under-reacting rather than overreacting. Not only will you reduce your levels of frustration and anxiety, you'll be able to more effectively handle the challenges that life brings you.

Learn to be ok with the fact that something will not be immediately resolved. Then calmly, thoughtfully, carefully and diligently move forward to obtain the most positive, valuable outcome.

If you're faced with an emergency, then by all means take action right away. Just keep in mind that emergencies are relatively rare, and in most situations you'll be far better off when you take the time to get it right.

A smart response will almost always take you further than a quick, ill-considered response. Invest the time to think it through, and that investment will reap great rewards.

-- Ralph Marston

gowns and invitations

wedding updates.. at last! =)

my parents got the ento gowns and wedding invites today.. next is to distribute the gowns and to finalize the list of guests to whom the invitations will be delivered or mailed..

guest updates.. according to tenten.. zced and dante wont be able to make it.. jot and eroll are not around as well.. as for jr.. he'll be in another country that time (yata).. =( i hope everyone else attends.. =)

by the way.. we got the rings last may 30.. just didnt have time to post the pixs.. =p

change

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.

~ by .. i forgot.. will post it tomorrow.. ^_^

tree marriage

weird huh? well for me at least..

apparently, the marital union of a person with a tree is widespread in india.. it's kind of a proxy marriage..

in one such practice, a bachelor is wed to a tree and then later on the tree is chopped down.. thus giving the guy a widower status and requiring him to marry a widow..

prenup HMU artist

heya! check this out --> http://zorpia.com/jbaunabscbn

it's the website of the HMU artist we got for our prenup shoot.. =)

chinese wedding.. not..

we attended a chinese.. uhmmmm.. wedding.. last saturday..

well i really wanted to come because i wanted to see how chinese hold their weddings.. the ceremony itself, tea ceremony etc..

to my dissappointment, we were just there for the reception.. =( the wedding ceremony has been done earlier in the day, i guess..

there wasnt much happening during the reception.. we welcomed the couple then dinner started (a 12 course meal.. something to cheer us up.. *lol*).. then the cake cutting.. videos.. toast.. and more of dinner.. a string ensemble was playing all throughout dinner.. that's about it.. to sum it up.. it was just dinner..

when the dessert was served, that was the signal that the event is nearing the end..

things i learned about their custom..

- when the invitation says the attire is formal.. IT IS formal.. long gown/dress for the ladies and suit for the guys

- you should not come early as the event starts 30 minutes after

- you are expected to give a red packet.. and mind you.. one red packet per guest.. with at least $80! phew! e dalwa kami ng pangga ko.. but since we are not locals.. we opted to give $60 each.. haaay..

some of our officemates did not come because of this custom.. and even to the last minute, my pangga and i were still deciding if we should come.. but since we gave our word, we came..

- if you are given an invitation, even you are not coming, you are still expected to give a red packet! talk about pressure! hehehe..

one of our officemates said, the next time he sees someone approaching him with an invitation, he'll immediately say that he cant come.. *lol* =p

so there you have it! tips on getting by when invited.. and to avoiding the invite altogether.. hahaha! =p

wedding invites

we've finally completed the digital proof of the wedding invites.. problem is it will cost us P7750 just for 150 pieces.. =S no extra copies.. it's only 2 months before the wedding.. is it wise to try and find someone else to do the invites? =(

gewi!!! tulong!!!

Family Stories

~~ from Our Daily Bread ~~

God . . . has given us the ministry of reconciliation. -2 Corinthians 5:18

Everybody loves a family story, and today's Bible reading contains one of the most well-known stories in all of Scripture-the Parable of the Lost Son.
Author Henri Nouwen, in his book The Return Of The Prodigal Son, suggests that all Christians, at some point in their walk of faith, are represented by each of the three main characters. At times we are the wayward child in need of repentance and forgiveness. At other times we are the big brother who wants to hold on to resentment and withhold forgiveness. But as we mature, we become like the father, whose highest desire is to have all his children reconciled.

Nouwen ends the book with these words: "As I look at my own aging hands, I know that they have been given to me to stretch out to all who suffer, to rest upon the shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessing that emerges from the immensity of God's love."

What role are you playing in your family story? Do you need the courage to repent and seek forgiveness? Or do you need the compassion to extend forgiveness?

God has given His children the "ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Now would be a good time to start. -Julie Ackerman Link

Lord, grant me the courage to confess my faults to those

I've offended, and the grace to accept the confessions of

those who have offended me. May I become a minister of

reconciliation to bless my family on Your behalf. Amen.

A right attitude with your family begins with a right attitude toward God.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

God has a funny way of talking to me.. i know im stubborn at times and a normal person would easily give up on me.. but still He finds ways to get through to me..

when i was filled so much hatred towards this particular person.. i would imagine myself strangling him.. not without a chair of course.. as he is twice my height.. =p (yes, i still manage to make myself laugh)

the following day.. i read the article above.. sabi ko kay Lord.. 'i know, i know, masyado kong galit.. e siya kasi e..'

i ask God to help me understand this person's hurtful action towards me.. i may not forgive him at once.. but understanding would take me one step closer..

how can you forgive someone who's not even sorry for what he has done? makes me wanna wish him a miserable life.. *bad jane* *sigh* i just cant simply make myself forget..

and then i found myself reading through some more articles.. and i found this one..

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Does forgiving mean forgetting?

Many people believe that to forgive someone they must first be willing to forget. By this they mean that they must be able to dismiss from their memory the painful events that caused a break in their relationship. In other words, they need to pretend that nothing bad ever happened.

Simply trying to forget the wrongs that are done against us is like spray-painting a rusty old car. It seems like an easy solution at first, but eventually the rust breaks through and the problem is worse than before.

Well-meaning Christians often support the "forgive and forget" model of forgiveness by appealing to God's forgiveness, as in Jeremiah 31:34. In their view, this text means that forgetting precedes forgiving. They say that if we don't forget, we can't forgive.

There is a sense, of course, in which God "forgets" our sins. Once He has forgiven us, He will never use them as evidence against us. But the all-knowing Creator can't forget things in the way that we do. Data can be erased from a computer's magnetic memory, human recollections can be obliterated by time and disability, but all of history is constantly before His gaze. From eternity to eternity, God is the same. The divine Author of Scripture caused the sins of Jacob, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul to be recorded for our benefit. He hasn't forgotten their sins in a historical sense, but they will never be used as grounds for condemnation. It is our sin's debt -- the rightful wages of our sin -- that God "forgets."

God doesn't expect us to wipe the sins of others from our memory. In fact, we probably won't be able to, no matter how hard we try. He certainly wouldn't want us to pretend that we have forgotten things we can't forget. What He desires is that we forgive sins committed against us (Matthew 6:14-15) the way He forgives our much greater sins against Him (Matthew 18:23-35).

It takes greater forgiveness to forgive a grievance that we remember clearly than to forgive a grievance that we have partially forgotten. Merely ignoring our memory of a grievance isn't forgiveness, it's only suppression of anger. Genuine forgiveness, like God's forgiveness, clearly sees the offense and then forgives it by withdrawing the penalty and continuing the relationship. It's natural to deal with our anger by suppressing our memory of an offense, but it's supernatural to remember it clearly and renounce our right to revenge. Revenge must be left in the hands of the only One who is always objective and just (Romans 12:19-21).

-Tim Jackson

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

and He does it again!

i guess, like you guys said.. i should listen more intently to my heart and what His trying to tell me.. =) there's just too much noise at times that His voice becomes garbled..

note to self: find time to listen and reflect..

It's What God Says

~~ from Our Daily Bread~~

It was commanded me by the word of the Lord. -1 Kings 13:9

An experiment with teenagers showed how they handle peer pressure. Groups of 10 adolescents were brought into a room and instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three charts. Nine of the people had been told ahead of time to vote for the second-longest line. But one person in the group had not been told.

The experiment began with nine teenagers voting for the wrong line. The tenth person would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip his hand up with the group because he lacked the courage to challenge them.

In 1 Kings 13, an unidentified man of God performed miraculous signs at the altar in Bethel (vv.1-6). But then, after this great victory, he took the word of another prophet to be the truth even though he knew it was contrary to what God had told him (vv.15-19). Because of his disobedience, he was killed by a lion (vv.20-24).

The story teaches us that God's Word is superior to anyone else's word and therefore should be obeyed. When we're tempted to buckle under pressure, it's then that we must stand firm. God's Word-the truth-can always be relied on. -Anne Cetas

O help us, Lord, to heed Your Word,
Its precepts to obey;
And may we fight the tendency
To walk in our own way. -Sper

God's Word is the compass that keeps us on course.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When i read this reflection and the prayer at the end of it.. i said it a couple of times in my head.. especially the part where it said 'fight the tendency to walk in our own way'..

when can i say that im walking in my own way? how do i know which path God desires for me? should i ask for signs? or should i simply wait?

there are times when i would ask my pangga.. 'pano natin malalaman kung anong gusto ni Lord para sa tin?'

we've been praying for an opportunity for quite some time.. it came.. and with it, a lot more other opportunities of somewhat the same kind came.. now, things became a bit confusing or should i say overwhelming? ok, confusing.. which path should we take? how can we be sure that that's what we've been praying for all along?

did i marry the right person?

i got this article from a mail that was forwarded to me by a friend.. read on.. =)

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND. "

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said, "How do I know if I married the right person?"

I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, "It depends. Is that your husband?"

In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?"

Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind.

Here's the answer.

EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse. You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies.

Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love... because it's happening TO YOU.

People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet." Think about the imagery of that __expression. It implies that you were just standing here; doing nothing, and then something came along and happened TO YOU.

Falling in love is easy. It's a passive and spontaneous experience.

But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria of love fades. It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts.

The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship, but if you think about your marriage, you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking, "Did I marry the right person?" And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when marriages breakdown. People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside their marriage for fulfillment.

Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most obvious. But sometimes people turn to work, church, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances.

But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage. It lies within it.

I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this):

THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It'll NEVER just happen to you. You can't "find" LASTING love. You have to "make" it day in and day out. That's why we have the __expression "the labor of love." Because it takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it takes WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work.

Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse) to succeed with your marriage.

Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger, certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger. It's a direct cause and effect. If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable... you can "make" love.

Love in marriage is indeed a "decision"... not just a feeling.

Hold Hands And Jump!

~~ from Our Daily Bread ~~

Two are better than one. -Ecclesiastes 4:9

When Leo and Amy opened a 300-seat, fine-dining restaurant, Leo admitted he was "scared of everything." Amy equates their leap of faith in starting their business to holding hands while jumping off a mountain. But if you're going to do something scary, "you want to do it with someone you know and trust," Leo continued.

Chris and Karie, another couple who took a risk to own and run a restaurant together, say they have "a good working relationship, as well as mutual admiration for each other's work."

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, knew how crucial it is to have companions in life. He wrote, "Two are better than one" (Ecclesiastes 4:9). When one falls during a difficult time, another provides comfort and support (vv.10-12). We need our spouses and friends to help us through the scary times and to provide emotional support. Loners make life harder for themselves (v.8). But those who recognize their need for others find help and encouragement.

If you need to take a leap of faith-something involving finances, a career change, a new ministry-invite someone trustworthy to hold your hand as you make that jump. Or give that same encouragement to someone close to you. Because two really are better than one. -Anne Cetas

We are dependent on the strength
We draw from one another;
Words spoken give encouragement,
Love practiced draws us closer. -Sper

Those who trust God can help others to do the same.

~mind snapshots~

Friday, June 30, 2006

a smile is contagious

i wish i was a punk rocker

Thursday, June 29, 2006

think it through

Sunday, June 25, 2006

gowns and invitations

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

change

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

tree marriage

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

prenup HMU artist

chinese wedding.. not..

Sunday, June 11, 2006

wedding invites

Friday, June 09, 2006

Family Stories

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

It's What God Says

Friday, June 02, 2006

did i marry the right person?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Hold Hands And Jump!

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