These Days

The first time I visited Las Vegas was in 2003 with some friends from Intel -- Gz, Iris, John and Sherwin.  We drove from Chandler, Arizona to Nevada. Stopped at a random roadside.  Gotta love the open spaces. Las Vegas lights! The Bellagio Fountain - a must-see! I did not take a lot of photos from that trip but I get a second chance later this month. =)

Fourth and last topic on the VCF preaching series entitled Thrive. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)  What does it really mean to be a new creation? It means: 1) New standing.  There is no more condemnation because we have been liberated by Jesus.   Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. 2) New power.  We are led by the Spirit.  For you did not receive a spirit that m...

Week 3 of VCF's preaching series entitled Thrive. In the old testament, there are 248 affirmative commands and 365 negative commands.  These are the laws that Jews of that period needed to follow every single day.  That is a lot to remember and even a lot to follow.  No wonder why there was too much focus on the law during and the corresponding consequences and penance for violating it.  Moreover,  " For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." (James 2:10) The law is powerless to save us.  In fact it arouses sin (Romans 7:5a), reveals sin (Romans 3:20) and magnifies sin (Romans 7:13b). In Paul's letter to the Romans, he determined that: 1) Knowledge of the law is not the answer. 2) Self-determination will not work.   "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." (Romans 7:15) 3) Reading the Bible is not enough.  "For in my inner being I...

There are two current TV ads that I really like- Coke's Lolo Mario ad and McDonald's Hooray for Today ad.  I love the positive messaging.  We all could use more of it not only in TV, but more importantly in real life. You don't have to look far or hard to see people who are not having the best day.  In my daily walk to work, I see people who seem to be annoyed at the simplest things.  They hate having to wait for the traffic light to change so they can cross the street.  They hate it when somebody ahead of the line has multiple huge bags that will take longer for the guard to check.  They are annoyed while waiting for the elevator.  Are we so impatient to get to where we need to be such that every little delay is an annoyance?  Hahay...  And it's not just about waiting.  Just listen to the conversations around.  There's a lot of complaining, gossiping, etc.  Sometimes, I just feel like shaking people and saying, "Huy!" ...

First (of six) long weekends for the year to celebrate Chinese New Year!  Here's a quick roundup of what we did... Saturday, January 21 .  I met Em at the Boni MRT station after lunch.  We went to the OMF main office to buy new Bibles for Papang and Mommy, to replace what was lost in the flood.  OMF has a 20% sale on all imported Bibles from January 16-31.   Then we went to Shangri-la Mall to watch Confucius , a Chinese film that is part of the 6th Spring Festival sponsored by the Ateneo de Manila University.  It was a good movie, but spoiled by the noisy kids who just could not stop blabbering, and not even about the movie.  Gaaah!  The Spring Festival runs from January 20 - 29.  Check this out for the movies and schedules. After the movie, Em and I walked to SM Megamall to meet Richard, Neil and yaya at Pic-a-boo.  We had to schedule a studio session for Neil's yearbook pictures because he was absent (sick) when they took...

Gabrielle is Josh and Dida's baby daughter and she celebrated her first birthday last Sunday.  I look forward to events like this because it's also catch-up time for the parents.=) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake Josh with Matti and the birthday girl Dida and Gabrielle Neil and Ericka Friends! The bubble show that Neil missed because he was asleep... We hung out at Tom's World for after the party. Happy birthday, Gabrielle!

Neil's school has a Chinese curriculum and Chinese holidays are celebrated.  Last Friday, January 20, was their Chinese New Year program.  Neil and three other classmates performed Old MacDonald in Chinese.=) What's up with these faces, Neil? Kung Hei Fat Choi!

The work year started with a bang.  Top managers from Atlanta visited for a few days to meet with us and discuss plans and goals for the year.  My direct boss, the director, has talked about coming to visit for over a year and it has finally pushed through.  His manager, the VP, and another VP came as well.  Aside from the big team meeting, my small (but terri-fic!) group of 4 also had special sessions with them to discuss upcoming projects and activities.  We have a lot to do for 2012 but it's all good.=) It was a tiring but productive week and I appreciate the opportunity to interact with the bosses on a more personal level. After dinner at Cyma in Greenbelt.

Neil's favorite videos these days.  He can watch these over and over and over again.=)

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.   Slaves to Righteousness What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit di...

Let's see how long I can keep track of Neil's haircuts.=)  His #8 happened last Sunday, January 15.  As usual, it was at Rustan's in Glorietta. We dropped Christmas gifts for the Hinto kids first before going to the mall.  This Max's crown is from my officemate's daughter's birthday party last year.  He likes wearing it and we let him.   He still doesn't like the process and cried most of the time.  He was all better as soon as it was over. Ayan, happy na ulit.  Still with the crown on.=)

Ready!  The start of the year always brings a lot of promise.  We vow to do new things, make changes, be better people.  We are hopeful and excited and rearing to get things started. Get Set!   VCF begins the year with corporate Prayer and Fasting.  Everyone is enjoined to fast, do daily devotions, join prayer meetings -- dedicate time to what's really important.  We have participated in this annual P&F for the past 5 or so years.  While we are eager to get things started for the year,  P&F is like stepping on the brakes so we can focus and think about where we are going, how to get there and more importantly, Who we are following.  We ask for God's presence, guidance and grace as we begin the new year. Fasting does not have to be on food alone.  It is also on activities and habits that occupy our time.  The primary thing that I realize after the fast is how much time I spend on unfulfilling activities,...

Thrive is VCF's opening series for the year.  Thriving is way above surviving.  To thrive is to flourish, be successful, to grow, develop and blossom.  It's a good thing. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10b This week, the series is entitled Dead or Alive -- what it means to be dead to sin and alive in Christ. We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.   If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resur...

Here's my 11 for 2011.  Just a few things 2011 will be remembered for, for me and the family. Online buying/selling .  No doubt, my bills from online buying skyrocketed this year compared to previous years.  I blame group buying sites and eBay.  Still, it was not out of hand (in my opinion).  They were mostly good deals like the Corregidor Tour ,  buffet at the InterContinental Hotel , Zong , and toys from Clever Cats , etc.  To balance, this was also the year I started selling (and sold) a few items on eBay .=) Art Appreciation .  We saw Next to Normal , Seussical , Yuchengco Museum , San Diego Museum of Art.  It's not a lot but still better than previous years.  I want to do this more this year. Photography .  This year, I also did new things related to photography.  I joined officemates on 2 organized shoots in January and March , and joined a contest sponsored by RCBC.  My entry was in the top 20 .=) ...

Neil at 3 5/12 is all about words.  If he liked reading before, now he loves it.  Reading is easily the activity he spends the most time doing.  We've stacked up on books in recent months but it appears that we may need to get him new ones because he's memorized a lot of them.  His favorites lately are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, My Very Fist Bible and Chicka Chicka ABC. We also got him a few Adarna titles and he likes Si Pilong Patago-tago and Figure This Out (a surprise hit picked up at the airport). Just yesterday, he read all pages of Guess How Much I Love You.  He used to lose interest in between but not this time.=) He also likes wordplay. Rhyming words .  We would say "what words rhyme with..." and then he would state the rhyming words.  He hits the mark on most of them but it's funny when he invents the words. First letter of words .  He also likes stating the first letters of words.  One time, I said 'big eyes" and...

I'm an avid note-taker.  I just like writing stuff down for remembrance.  I use a planner all year to keep track of our family activities and I have recently used them as scrapbook of sorts. One of my pleasurable tasks at the end of the year is picking a planner for the new year.  For 2012, there was no question.  I was going for the Starbucks planner which I first saw from this post on Animetric's World .  I like the size, cover and page layouts.  So starting in November, I had Starbucks coffee almost everyday and even suffered the Christmas drinks which were too sweet and fancy for my taste. I got my planner on December 2, after which I was back to P5 coffee from the vending machine.=)  Now I am starting to fill it up with 2012 things.  I pray that this will be a productive year full of meaningful events and breakthroughs.=)

One of the benefits of high-rise living in Makati is having a great view of the fireworks on new year's eve.  It goes on for hours!

There are very few stuff I treasure in this world.  One of them is photographs.  I like taking them, editing, organizing, creating layouts , printing them and displaying them.  I don't keep a lot of other physical memento from special or even ordinary days in my life but you can bet that there will be pictures. I was really sad that all the photo albums were damaged in the flood.  Some pictures were beyond repair but there were still a good number that could be recovered with careful cleaning, drying and cropping.  I spent a good portion of the holidays pouring through the pictures, saving what could be saved.  I especially treasure the baby/childhood pictures, family pictures, and those from special events like weddings and graduations. Recovered from the flood Papang and Mommy's wedding pictures and portraits Mommy and I doing surgery on the albums Last year, I intended to start scanning the film era pictures for backup but just aroun...