Have you started your Christmas shopping?

Christmas is definitely a time for joy and lots of shopping! The malls are now decorated with trees and streamers fill the air. It is really a difficult thing to make a choice considering the variety of products which you could find both in online and offline market. To make these easy, I take into account the following points:

1. Keep a list to be a reminder to whom gifts are given. Do an early shopping. Malls aren’t crowded yet. In addition, if the recipient is in a far place you have sufficient time to mail the gifts for them.

2. Consider the likes and dislikes of the recipients. Generally, men are sports lover. Hence, their likes include sports equipments. There are those men who also love electronic gadgets, wallets, handyman tools, men's clothing and perfumes. Women love jewelries, flowers, clothes, lingerie , perfumes, cooking and sports stuff. So, when you buy gifts for them you buy something related to this.

I go online, and see what the popular fashion stores have to offer. Online stores offer a complete range of fashions including: casual wear, formal wear, outerwear, petites, tall, nightwear, special occasion ranges, lingerie and footwear. Online shopping is so easy. I just type in the search engine the names of the gifts I want to buy and the internet will do it for me. Comparing the prices really helps me in my decision of buying the particular item within my minimal budget.

Handling Family Problems

If you're going to enjoy God's blessing as a family you must learn to cope with difficulties. So:

(1) Try to remember that you're all on the same team. Don't take your frustrations out on your loved ones. Too often, home is where we go when we're tired of being 'nice'.

(2) Before you speak, get the facts. Nothing's more damaging than jumping to conclusions. 'Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything' (Proverbs 13:3 NLT).

(3) Handle it with wisdom. List all your options and you'll be more objective. That's how you'd handle a problem at work; why not do the same with your family?

(4) Find something good in the situation. 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God...' (Romans 8:28 NKJV). No matter how bad things seem, every situation holds something positive–look for it.

(5) Make sure they know you love them. It's okay to express how you feel so long as you do it graciously. But make sure your family knows you love them. When people feel loved they can weather almost any crisis. Think: when do you need God's love most? When you deserve it least! Try to follow suit.

How do we deal with emotional issues after flood?

It's already 26 days since flood swept over our city and damaged around 7 billion baht ($234 million)worth of properties! Coping with a flood can be challenging. We're dealing with not only the flood itself but also emotional issues. Waves of depression set in when the survivors experience fully the losses they have incurred- destruction of their houses, shops, businesses and lands in all their terrible physicality.

After the flood, we deemed it important not to be overwhelmed. It is prudent that we rest and eat well.We tried to keep a manageable schedule and tackle only one task at a time. That's the reason why it took almost 2 weeks for us to thoroughly clean our living room and our surroundings.

Last Sunday as we went to church, our minister tackle some helpful tips as treatment for depression that I would love to share to you:

• Avoid being alone. Force yourself to be with people.
• Seek help from others.
• Sing. Music can uplift your spirit as it did for King Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-23).
• Praise and give thanks. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
• Lean heavily on the power of God's Word.
• Rest confidently in the presence of God's Spirit. “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance” (Psalm 42:5).

Yes, we're depressed after the flood but God called us to maintain faith and keep our focus on HIS love and the hope He has given us for eternity. In doing so, we can weather the storms of life. It can be done. It's done!

These food wait for us!

I'm already excited to go home and eat the food I missed for 3 years already!!! Here's a smorgasbord of food photo I saw from Placernon Surigao facebook account . For those who don't know yet, I came from one of the barangays of Placer. Placer is a 4th class municipality in the province of Surigao del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 21,542 people in 4,237 households. Placer is just a little coastal town but rich in mineral and marine resources.

First and foremost, my parents will welcome us with Lechon, or litson in Filipino (or, I suppose, in any Philippine dialect). It's basically a roasted pig.

I can't wait to taste the crispy skin of a perfect lechon that melts in your mouth after the initial bite. Then I'll attack the belly next, it's where the secret herbs and spices come in close contact with the meat.Just looking at the photo makes me drool to the bones!

Next comes the Dinuguan ( pork blood stew, blood pudding stew). It's a Filipino savory stew of blood and meat (typically stomach, intestines, ears, heart and snout) simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili (most often siling mahaba), and vinegar. I only eat dinuguan prepared by my very own Papa Ben.

Oh , I remembered Humba (sugar-braised pork). I want to taste its tangy and sweet together. I could eat loads of rice with it.

Placer has fresh fish all day long and fresh danggit (rabbitfish or spinefoot) is really good to be fried, as paksiw or even for tinola except for the painful fact that cleaning them is a hellish experience!

Placer is rich with Fresh Bulinaw (anchovy) in the market. It' s great for kinilaw with cassava as side dish!

The ginamos (fish paste) in Placer is the best! I love eating it with rice, cooked or ripe banana and raw mango. You have to add vinegar or lemon so it will not be too salty. I like adding chili on it mmmmm yummy! Thinking of it makes me drool!

Once again we could visit my hubby's grandma's farm and harvest fresh coconut. We could eat all we can!

Placer is rich of cheap and fresh seafood. One can choose from a varieties of shells and clamps, prawns, fishes, crabs, lobsters and the list goes on. And the restaurants in PLacer offer varieties of tastes and serving methods like deep fry, stir fry, steam and so on. One only needs to ask the recommendations from restaurant owners and they will be happy to recommend to you what is nice. After that, all you need to do is to wait for the dishes to be served and enjoy.

I promise myself that I will not deprived it with the good food our town could offer. All I need to do now is to compile fast weight loss tips to be used after I will satisfy my tummy cravings!

Pre-book meal for our Airasia flight !

We pre-order our in-flight meal to save up to 25% on meals and avoid the disappointment of not getting the meals we want onboard. Airasia provides healthy and delicious meal to suit everyone's taste. Their menu features traditionally Malaysian and Indonesian theme fares and well known international favorites.

We just ordered light meal because we're not heavy breakfast-eater (our flight will commence at 7:45 am) so here's our pick:

Roast Chicken Thigh with BBQ Sauce for hubby.

Marinated roasted chicken thigh served with BBQ sauce, roasted potatoes, carrots and green beans.




Premium Pizza for moi...
A specially made tomato based pizza that has been topped with a fine selection of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.





Pancake + Honey + Butter for lil Hyzyd.
3 pieces of hot pancake served with butter and honey.





All pre-booked meals come with choice of coffee/ tea.

We're ready to fly with full tummy.

Flying and dressing up!

Now that we've booked our flight back to Philippines, I'm crazy over planning what should we wear! As small a consideration as it may seem, for me attire actually plays a big role in this whole flying adventure of my family. I honor this journey, weight it with preparation, excitement and then we'll surely dress for the occasion. That's not to say we'll have to be fancy but is to say: Match. Layer. Wear clean clothes that aren't ugly t-shirts. From personal experience I can tell you that dressing yourself and your children in matching, comfortable, nice clothes (and by nice, I just mean lacking stains or holes) results positive results: Whether your fellow passenger's respect you more if your family looks respectable and your children will have visceral, tangible evidence that traveling by air is something special. When they are not dressed as if they it's just another day at daycare or preschool, and you are not dressed like the family is making a quick run to the supermarket, it sets a positive, exciting tone. This is an airplane trip! Whether it's the first or the 500th it is still thrilling!

I remembered the first time I went back to Philippines (after a year and a half), I made certain preparations to look my best. I rebonded and colored my hair , do facials (I should have used nanocleanse after stumbling on nanocleanse reviews in the net to help reduce my acne scars but I already spent for facials:( ) and shopped for the attire to wear.



Though some says that there's no need to dress up when flying but let me tell you that it matters to me. My impression with those passengers that dress nicely is that they respect their fellow passengers , the journey, and that they are not taking the experience lightly. If they have kiddos with them, I am far more apt to be patient and less likely to presume that these kiddos will be a detriment to our flight because they appear respectable. Just like that ...attires might be a small thing for others but plays BIG role for others (like moi).

WE'll be HOME on Summer!

Finally, after 3 years here in Thailand we could be HOME (in Philippines) to enjoy our summer vacation with our families and friends. The booking was one of the "spur-of-the-moment"decisions we've made in our lives but it's worth it! Thanks to Airasia and its fantastical Great Chinese New Year sales! Our flight from Hatyai-Kuala Lumpur is only 2,580 THB ( $86.20) for the 3 of us. We chose ONE WAY only because we’ll dropped in Penang, Malaysia after Philippines to process Hyzyd’s visa as well as my hubby’s mother. From KL-Clark (with return tickets) , it only cost us 1440.94 MYR ($462.87) for the 3 of us. Cheap…right?

All we need to do now is book a flight from Manila-Butuan via Cebu Pacific Air. I can’t wait to be back to Philippines on April 1, 2011! I could finally see my parents, siblings and friends!

Rainy season needs rain boots

On rainy days I love to wear my rain sandal- as I have called it. I won’t worry if it will soak in water puddle but I don’t like my feet being wet for the rest of the day on rainy seasons. It calls for a fashionable rain boots! These days, I noticed on TV that women used rain boots as glorious combination of fashion and function. I haven’t seen yet in department stores here in Hatyai City but I’ve seen online that you can easily find a pair of women's rain boots to match your personality or even your mood at any given moment. You want something flirty, fun, funky… you name it and you’ll find the boots for you.

I just wonder if I have the guts to wear one if ever somebody will give me a pair rain boots. So far, I’ve only worn rain boots when I’ll go to rice fields with my grandparents and during our Agronomy laboratory days. Will these fashionable rain boots suit for me?

I love sale!

Who doesn't love sale? Here in Hatyai City, almost all items are on sale...all year round!If there's a dress I like in FQ and L Boutique or a cool blouse from Body Glove, I won't buy them in their original price. I know that sooner or later they’ll need to get rid of their old collections and mark them down. So, if I really love a good deal, I wait 'till these stores have blowout sales.

After the flood , there's a citywide sale for all items . I checked the boutique near our school and to my delight, they're selling its 990 baht ($33.24) clothes down to 200 ($6.72) baht to 50 baht ($1.68) only! They’re stylish and chic and they’re not soaked in the floodwater-only about 2 inches from its hemline. I was able to buy a short sleeve dress with modern retro lines, decorated by a piquet bow on the neck in a romantic and intense shiny bright fuschia. The color is perfect for the bright color trends . It has belt at the natural waistline. The hemline falls to the knee. I’m sorry I couldn’t provide photos at this moment because my digicam’s battery is still charging but I’ll update this post as soon as possible! I also bought 2 high-waisted skirt (black and red ) because I’m a big fan of high-waisted secretary skirts at the minute. I’m now in the mood of adding high-waisted skirts to my wardrobe. These skirts have gone beyond a passing trend because they work so well for most body types. They add curves to slender/boyish figures and accentuate the waist for curvier women, for a classic hourglass shape .

Why do I love sales? It's the best time for me to get the tops, dresses, skirts, shoes, bags and accessories I've been harboring to buy for the longest time at discount prices. There's a good deal with it.

How about you, do you love shopping on sale?

Happy Birthday Marce Mye!

Happy birthday Marce Mye. Hope you have many fruitful years to come with your loveones. We mean every words written in the banner and as it says already...I look forward to enjoy our friendship and being marces:)

How do we deal with stress and anxiety during FLOOD?

What do you do when you're stressed and tensed? If you asked the smokers , they'll surely reason that cigarettes (or pipes and dominican cigars even) bring down the level of irritability, anxiety and stress. They believe smoking helps to relieve tension and improve the mood.

I don't smoke neither my hubby so you won't see us smoking when we're under pressure. The recent flood that happened in the city is one of the circumstances that is out of our control, we felt stress. Our safety was threatened at that time, we got anxious. How do we cope with that as Christians?

We PRAY. The Bible recommends taking everything to God in prayer. We pray that the water won't continue to rise and submerging our 2nd floor. We pray for our safety and for all the people in Hatyai City. This verse in Philippians offers the comforting promise . Our minds were protected by a peace that goes beyond our ability to understand.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

After praying we started praising and the stress and anxiety just seems to go away. Praise and worship took our minds and thoughts off of ourselves, off our problems, and refocus them on God. As we begin to praise and worship God, suddenly our problems seem small in light of the largeness of God.

How about you? How do you deal with stress in life?

Happy birthday bros!

Happy birthday dear handsome brothers, Benjamin Jasper (Nov.10) and Rogne Keith (Nov.16) . May you both always have many things to laugh at and real good friends with whom you can have chats. Now that you're both in your early 20's , it's time for reflection. Winning all the time isn't important in life . Compromise can go further as it prevents strife. Set good examples to your younger sisters . Always be good boys and make God the top priority in your life. With HIM everything will be fine.

Cleaning up after flood

After the floodwater subsided, we struggled on what to do next. The water really wreak havoc on the structure of the house, few of our personal belongings, and the health of the inside environment. Flood waters contain many contaminants and lots of mud and we're grateful that we don't own high dollar items that get ruined-we don't have carpeting nor wallboard. We saved our few appliances and our dining set withstand the flood but not our TV rack, bookshelves and sofa.

Cleaning up is a long and hard process. It took us almost a week to clean and sanitize our small abode and few flooded.

Our landlady lent to us her turbo cleaner so we're able to wash away mud from our living room, backyard, hallway and even the door and window screens. We clean and disinfect every surface. We scrubbed surfaces with hot water and a heavy-duty cleaner. Then disinfected with a solution of 1/4 cup chlorine bleach per gallon of water to kill germs.

In the kitchen, we only got a portable cupboard. We cleaned and rinsed it with a chlorine bleach solution before storing the dishes. Thankfully, I don't need to disinfect glass, porcelain, china, plastic dinnerware, enamelware , silverware, metal utensils, and pots and pans because I was able to save them all.

We threw all our garbage just outside the house because our landlady told us that a garbage truck will pick them up. Piles of garbage lined up in our street and I wonder when will the garbage truck ever reach our place.

Because we can't buy a new bookshelf immediately, I temporarily keep all books, Hyzyd's toys and other items in boxes.

My hands are still sore from washing truck load of laundry and it's Saturday already, I need to wash another pile of laundry. Our favorite laundry shop hasn't yet opened so I don't have a choice but to wash clothes by hand! The household chores is overwhelming but I love it because it serves as one of the best fat burners- I was able to work out my body and utilizes all of my muscle groups. This, in turn, builds strength, endurance, and flexibility. Even folding clean clothes, and scrubbing our toilet qualify as moderate physical exercise which can help me stay fit and healthy.

Only Flood Insurance Will Cover Your Flood Losses

The recent flood has damaged our school's new photocopier machines , furniture and all textbooks and worksheets of my K-1 students. The flood really caught us off guard . No one ever expected that the school will be flooded at 1 meter high! Though we already resumed our classes since last Thursday , it will still take time to restore everything to normalcy. I'm not used to a lifeless room. The water stripped off the colors of the room-the pictures and all the decorations you expected for a kindergarten room. I'm coping with a no-break class discussion. Without workbooks , I'm forced to extend class activity to 10-15 minutes more!

As I experienced flood, I began to wonder if there's such thing as flood insurance available here in Thailand. I ask our landlady if her home and the home we rented has been insured so that she can get in touch with her insurance agency and file a claim for your flood. She said that it doesn't cover floods.

Experience makes us wise. My brain just hatched an idea that if ever we'll have our own dwelling place, I see to it that I get hold with that flood insurance. Even for our future car, I'll look for a policy that covers flood-related damage. I don't have adequate knowledge about these things yet so I better check for homeowner insurance rate and car insurance rate so that I'll be knowledgeable enough to handle such things when the right time comes. This is called preparing for the unexpected and sometimes it is well worth it, especially on days like this one!

Hatyai City Flood before my bro's eyes

I'm sad that I can't do anything to save our TV rack , bookshelves and some other things but it's nothing compared to what I felt for my brother. I was heart-broken to know that my brother wasn't able to save most of their things -fridge, microwave oven, iron, his wife's costume jewelry and especially their clothes.They don't have neighbors like we have that will inform them of the coming flood and neighbors who will help them carry their things.

I couldn't contact them for two days and when the water finally receded we went to visit them but we met my brother on the street. He went home with us and advised him to get my sis-in-law and niece to stay with us for awhile because without electricity they couldn't cook whereas in us we have gas stove. I'm so relieved and thankful to God that though they lost most of their belongings, they're alive and healthy! We all are!

most of my bro's things are floating inside their house during the flood

another flood to hit Hatyai City?

Before we could cope with the flood another bad news hit us: a heavy monsoon storm hit the southern province of Surat Thani . It's just 6 kilometres away from the city and rumor has it that another dam will be opened to release the overflowing water on November 6 (that would be tomorrow) so another flood is possible. We're advised not to put our saved things downstairs for the meantime and be prepared.

It started to rain earlier today and I don't know what will happen but I trust my living God. I know that He'll take good care of us.

My father send inspiring messages to us today and we'd love to share it to you:

Please INITIATE/START UNITED PRAYER AND BUILD A 24-HOUR HOUSE OF PRAYER 7-DAYS A WEEK CUZ GOD is ABOUT TO POUR OUT the SPIRIT OF INTERCESSION AND GRACE TO PREPARE THAILAND FOR GREAT REVIVAL. YOUR BIBLE READING NEEDS TO INTENSIFY. The WHOLE BOOK OF HAGGAI is GOD'S MSG FOR YOU AS HIS AMBASSADORS FOR THAILAND. PLS LET The OTHER FILIPINO AMBASSADORS to READ THIS. WE LOVE YOU ALL AND ARE DECLARING GOD'S BLESSINGS FOR YOU.

Hatyai City Flood before my eyes

My first experience with flood was in year 2004. It was December and we just finished our Christmas party in school. We rode on our school's jeepney and got stranded because the jeepney's wheel got stuck in the mud and we're in the middle of nowhere. The driver left us to get help in the neighboring barangay. When he didn't come back for couple of hours we decided (I'm with my 2 co-teachers) to leave the jeepney before it will get dark. We passed through the flooded road which reached to my waist . That's my only encounter with flood and it doesn't scare me at all. I even attended my boyfriend's (my husband now) company's Christmas party few hours after that incident.

But my experience of FLOOD few days ago sent me to flood of emotions - panic, feeling out of control, anxiety, uncertainty, and disorientation!

Let me walk you through my journey starting on November 1.

November 1 6:35, at home

It's the first day of school for the 2nd semester and as early as that we're ready for school but it's raining so hard! We don't have any means of transportation except riding on our motorbike. When the rain stopped for awhile, we sped off to Hyzyd's babysitter. She's not expecting us to send Hyzyd that day because she thought that we're informed that a dam somewhere in Sadao need to be opened that day to pull the lake level down in a timely manner (this is according to Filipino friends they have living in Sadao and Padang Besar but in Thai news I didn't read about the opening of the dam, they simply put it that tropical depression that dumped two days of constant rain on southern Thailand has caused flooding) and it means FLOOD in the city. I'm shocked with the news and told her we'll be back after checking this piece of mind-numbing news to our school heads.
8:20-11:10 am
Only few students were present on that day but I still gave them the lessons I prepared on that day. The teachers didn't talk anything about that dam to be opened but I noticed that parents were swarming the place to get their kids! It's very alarming but our school head didn't say anything about suspending the class. I was on my way to printing my students grades when I met my co-teacher. She told me that a friends of hers in Padang Besar was informed by her director to call all her friends in Hatyai City to be ready because at 3:00 pm the dam will be opened. We told our head and our principal about it but it seems that they don't know anything about that and asked us to just wait for the school's manager's further instruction.

12:30 noon

After printing my documents outside my school's premises (the school's printer is kinda busy that day), the kindergarten teachers informed me that we could go home because the manager already declared that the afternoon class is suspended as well as the following day. I called my husband and asked him to be home earlier than 3:00 pm because I was worried that the road will be flooded and he couldn't pass and couldn't get home . I also informed my brother and friends to be ready and buy survival supplies that will last them for a week or more!

4:00 pm

I waited for my husband for almost 2 hours already and he's still didn't arrive at Hyzyd's babysitter's place. I called him but he's not picking up my calls. I was worried to my bones and prayed fervently that my hubby's just OK. After few minutes, he called me and told me that floods are everywhere and he's in the shop because the motorbike died after hitting flooded roads. If possible, he asked me if I could just walk with Hyzyd to return to our place before the water goes higher which I complied readily.

I trod this knee-level water carrying Hyzyd clod with raincoat in one hand and umbrella on the other and a heavy backpack.

7:00 pm

The night is so peaceful and the rain stopped already. We thought that if it's true that the dam will be opened, it won't reached us . We haven't moved our TV, fridge, books and other things yet upstairs . We were tired of what happened on that day. I was so tired of worrying about my husband. I'm so thankful to God that amidst all the flood he hit on the road, he arrived safe and sound.

10:30 pm

The sudden power failure woke me up and as I looked through our window it seems that only our soi, I mean our lane experienced the failure. All the rest have their lights on. I noticed that our neighbors were out and watching the road. Later did I know that they're waiting for the flood to come and to wake all the sleeping neighbors.

11:30 pm

We're already on bed and ready to sleep when I heard our landlady calling my hubby's name. She informed us that the water is already in our street. Good thing that Hyzyd is already sleeping deeply so I had time to help my hubby. We're all quick to take care of what needs to be done. My hubby spent most of his time helping our neighbors. To my disbelief, in only 30 minutes, the water already reached our front yard! I haven't yet transferred all my books and the CDs. My hubby was unscrewing our TV rack when the water reached our living room. There's no more time to disassemble it so we put it on our dining table hoping that the water will not reach it. No matter how I wanted to carry our bookshelf upstairs, we couldn't because it's big, bulky and heavy. It's hard to leave it along with our other belongings soaked in water. This flood really taught me to let go and let God. It seems unreal!

our TV rack on our dining table

my last glance of my precious bookshelf

November 2 at 1:14 am, our landlady helped me saved most of my books...she stayed with us and cooked for us. Thank you so much Auntie Saw.

November 2
8:01 am

The water is still rising and it already overflows from our fence. Our place is one of the areas that's engulfed by as much as 3 meters high of water.

Our first floor is fully occupied on the 2nd day of November.

November 3
6:41 am

The water started to recede.


November 4



Our place is strewn with mud, garbage and debris left behind by the flood. I can't wait to clean this up but our water will not be available until tomorrow.

We're blessed by our neighbors. Before we could ask for help, they showered us with water,food and milk for Hyzyd. The full force of the emotional flood tends to hit me after the flood and it's tempting to avail one of those Orlando vacations packages I saw on the net to escape exhaustion, grief, desperation and depression but by God's grace (and because you prayed for us) we're coping well. Last night we already have our electricity and internet so we have the time to inform our family back in the Philippines that we're fine.

It is a good thing that this flood event only come once in a decade.