Happy ChistMas Greetings to all!

Wishing you all the joys of the ChristMas and Holy-Day Season. As we celebrate this glorious time of the year, may Christ's presence be very real to you.

Warmest regards and wishing you God's richest blessings for the New Year.

The X-Factor USA first Winner is...

...Melanie Amaro! She's my bet since the beginning when she sang "Listen" on her audition. She even made an immediate impression on the X Factor judges during that initial audition. The 18-year-old's road to success was not easy. Can you believe that she was cut from the competition during the Judges' Houses portion of the show by mentor Simon Cowell? I was really shocked that she was not chosen. Thankfully, Mr. Cowell realized that he made the biggest mistake and personally went to Melanie's house and asked her to be back on the live show!  Since then, Melanie has sailed straight through the competition and was finally declared the winner during Thursday night's live final, taking home a $5 million recording contract! 

How to Help Typhoon Washi ( locally known as Sendong) Victims

 When Hatyai City was hit by flood , we're informed and partially emotionally ready...but when it actually happened (around 10:30 PM) and reached 3 meters high (no one expected the water to rise more than a meter) I'm in panic. I never felt such kind of fear that brought chill to my spine. I prayed soooo hard liked I've never done before. I didn't sleep until I'm sure that the water stopped rising. After 3 days, the water started to recede. Imagine the mess it made- our place is strewn with mud, garbage and debris...and no water! 

The flood that covered Hatyai City last November 3, 2011

I'm really touched with our Thai neighbors. They're soo concerned about us that everybody's giving fresh milk to Hyzyd. Some gave us bottles of mineral water. They gave us two packs of relief goods -rice, canned goods, noodles, oil and soy sauce.  I'm impressed of how fast the government send help to the victims. I even saw the previous Prime Minister near our area. He personally visited Hatyai City and helped on giving relief goods. Thanks God for our friends who visited us and hand us food and diaper.

Since then, every time I heard about floods, I whispered prayers to the victims. I've been in their shoes! I'm really put into grief when I learned that Typhoon Washi (locally known as Sendong) caused flash flood that swiped off lots of houses, belongings and the worst, lives in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan. They've experienced much worst than what I experienced. It came like a thief in the night when everybody's soundly sleeping. They were helpless when it happened. I think, we can help them.

Here’s how :

Visit  Philippine Red Cross and you can donate online (credit card, paypal, online banking, megalink, Bancnet, GCash


SMS
Text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)

G-Cash
Text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882

You can donate the following denominations:
Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
And did you know that you can send your old clothes and other useful materials for the victims of Typhoon Sendong to ANY LBC and JRS BRANCH AND THEY’LL SEND IT TO CDO/ILIGAN FOR FREE? 

Your help (even in small ways) could save lives. Give LOVE (through your monetary assistance, time and effort) on CHRISTMAS. This is the best Christmas gift we could offer to the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. On the other hand, we at Pinay Mommies Community (PMC) accepts donation to help the victims buy food, clothing and drinking water. We can't help all the victims but at least we could make a difference and bring hope to some of the victims . You can send your donations via paypal addressed to admin@pinaymommies.com and place "PMC Cares" on your subject. 

You can visit Pinay Mommy Online for other options to help CDO and Iligan City victims.

What is important on Christmas?

Facebook walls are now flooded with Christmas greetings, Christmas parties, how one trying to find sexy nurses uniforms (never thought that Christmas event could be fancy dress-themed event too) or gathering ideas from friends on what to give for Christmas. Wow! Christmas is really on the air but if you're here in my place...you really miss how we Filipinos celebrates Christmas.

Though the city's mall in here have Christmas trees and Christmas decorations but still there is no excitement as I count the days leading to Christmas. There's no excitement among children. There's no Christmas parties to anticipate nor Christmas vacation to enjoy. We'll all be in school until the 30th of December. We'll be having New Year's Party though. I terribly miss the goodwill and good wishes and fellowship. On Christmas eve there's no church bells or clusters of families making the annual troop march to Church with grandma.

But I was reminded that having the perfect Christmas doesn't depend on having perfect Christmas party, Christmas trees, ornaments, dress, gifts or vacation. It all depends on your feeling of gratefulness to God Almighty who sent His son Jesus Christ to save humanity from eternal condemnation. We do try to celebrate at home when we can and invite our friends. It is always fun to share with them our food and traditions. As Christians we observe Christmas time by honoring the Lord through soulwinning, helping the poor, singing Gospel hymns, and drawing closer to the Lord in the Scriptures.What is important on Christmas? It is the spirit of LOVE for everyone.

Happy Christmas to all!