There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did I’m going to celebrate!

Today, I’m going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.

I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at God’s seemingly simple gifts: the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.

Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I’ll make someone smile. I’ll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don’t even know. Today, I’ll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I’ll tell a child how special he is, and I’ll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me.

Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don’t have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me. I’ll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine.

And tonight, before I go to bed, I’ll go outside and raise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures.

As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

By Gregory M. Lousig-Nont, Ph.D.
from Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen,
Patty Aubery & Nancy Mitchell, R.N.

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A message every adult should read because children are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn’t feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I learned most of life’s lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I looked at you and wanted to say, ‘Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.’

Each of us (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, friend) influences the life of a child.

The date is not definite yet, but I will be traveling again for another home design project. That would make me a busier bee then. It will involve interior design for a condo and I hope it won’t be as difficult as the previous one since we had no contacts yet that time and just relied on one contractor. Hopefully, we’ll make a deal with a new contractor for the carpentry works, window screen installation and other furnishing jobs or we might even hire again the previous one. Oh well, I’m praying things will turn out better this time. The previous project was not easy for me considering I had less time spent with my online ventures. Anyway, God is good and He always provides.

Photo credits: aileenguirnela.com

These days, most companies strictly discourage sending personal emails during working hours. And how about sending online instant messages via Yahoo Messenger or ICQ or Skype? Some companies allow these chat programs as means of communication for business-related matters but some employees still sneak in few messages to their loved ones.

As one of my friends declared, the work results are more important than these limiting company rules. IMO, it really depends on the job description and one should adhere to company rules as a responsible employee. What is your opinion about this?

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I want to share with you a personal experience that happened during our vacation. My husband and I had a car snow accident few days ago. Before the accident happened I was already praying the Psalm 91 as we were already anxious about a sudden snow storm. On our way to our hotel, our car hit the snow slope. In my panic state, I thought God didn’t hear my prayer.

But believe it or not, in less than a minute, and if you can just imagine the timing, there was a sudden knock on our car window asking us if we were okay. They said they would help us. What a relief to know that they were rangers from the national park. It seemed as if they were heaven sent as they suddenly appeared from nowhere. We really thought we would be stuck in the snow that night. I was already thinking of the worst but we got help immediately.

Despite what happened, I’m still thankful that we got home safe. Now I realized that God listened to my prayers. I was asking for safety, He gave it to me and my husband. I remember that we have to be specific in our prayers. I forgot to pray for safety for our car too. At least the damage was not that bad. It’s just the front bumper that got a dent.

According to the ranger, if my husband was overspeeding that time, our car could have overturned. Another thing that I’m thankful was that our car hit the snow slope side, otherwise we could have fallen over the cliff.

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I hope you’ll be blessed as I had been after reading this simple testimony about God’s presence and protection whenever we need Him. Thanks to Odeth for letting me publish her story here.

Have a safe and relaxing day ahead!

Early last year, I had an interior design project for a condo which was quite tough considering the work location was in another province and I was not familiar with the stores around. Mom was my partner as we shopped around, going over the smallest décor and detail to major appliances and furnishings. We made sure that the overall concept of comfortable living was embodied in the final design while staying on budget. Thankfully, our client was happy and satisfied with the modern and comfy look of his condo unit.
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I’m just thankful that technology offers us many ways to learn more, not just with tech-related stuff but with life in general as well. This is why I am fond of browsing a lot of technology sites even if I am not a geek. I just read to get ideas and I don’t really oblige myself to comprehend some concepts and terminologies that I find are too techie.
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Anyway, our family just spent the Holy Week here in the city and we supported most of the parish Lenten activities. Beside our home is a beach resort, so instead of going to farther venues to celebrate Easter, we just opted to stay nearby and it was indeed a good decision. Lunch was yummy with Rellenong Bangus or stuffed milkfish as our main dish. Thanks to Auntie for being the expert cook! She deboned the milkfish without cutting it in half and sewing it back as most cooks do. It was a budget celebration but a very enjoyable one.

Have you ever watched a sunset in its entirety, from the moment the sky changes to its orange hues, you see the sun coming down slowly until it touches the horizon giving that beautiful spread of colorful rays until darkness shrouds the earth?

As a child of the sea, I love watching sunsets. This photo is taken at the Pacific Shores subdivision, Talisay City, Negros Occidental

What do sunsets tell me?

The vibrant display of hues at dusk is never the same every day and every minute, and such are the daily challenges life hands us over with. Just like sunsets, some days are wonderfully colorful, or lightly hued or dark and overcast but they’re all beautiful and meaningful just the same.

And just as these spectacular sunsets prepare the earth for darkness, we can anchor on our life’s successful and wonderful moments to get us ready and courageous for the challenging days ahead.

Sunset at Praha 4, Prague, Czech Republic

Sunsets always have a simple message for those who seek life’s meaning.

I immediately could feel my heart sank as I read the four emails telling me that their servers are running fine and my site being down is a solitary case. The first message from them read: “We apologize but we can’t seem to see the source of the problem. The server is running just fine and only this domain does not load.” The next messages told me that “… the domain is pointing to a different or conflicting nameservers.” Tsk. I was also advised to change the DNS nameservers in my domain registry account which I did but will still take effect after about 24 hours.

And guess what’s up with my site now? It’s up and running but dated back to October 2008!

It seems to have a world of its own with the recent post still at October 28, 2008. I submitted another support ticket about this strange behavior and was replied by the tech support that they’re checking on it. Even my dashboard is backdated, including my widgets, links, sidebar and plugins still dated to October 2008.

These are just those times when I want to cry. Really. My travel blog is currently my main online venture and it’s so sad to see my Adsense report showing minimal clicks and my site visitors disappointed to visit a backdated site. Add to that are my Entrecard advertisers which I had to cancel to be fair with them. Ugh. I am in a waiting mode now. Waiting for the tech support to finally shed some light on the problem and hopefully fix it and waiting for my site to finally go back to its senses.

Have you encountered the same backdated problem with your site?

These are miniature polyresin objects from Rayher Hobby Kunst (www.rayher-hobby.de) which I bought from a hobby shop in Pori, Finland. I also bought a small wood frame where I can glue these nautical-themed objects. I love arts and crafts and haven’t done any creative piece for ages already. These items are still waiting for me to be worked on as a handcrafted souvenir from a Nordic country.

To view more Photohunt nautical entries, click here.

Here’s to a fun and love-filled Valentine’s Day to you all!