I SEIZED THE DAY

My husband and I met online.  After sometime, we progressed from writing emails to phonecalls.  About nine months after our first email, we were on the phone and I was sick.  My Just-Another-Caller was worried that I was sick and had not eaten yet.  Even if he was then in Buffalo, NY and I was in Manila, he looked in the internet for a Manila fastfood so that he could order and have some food delivered to me.   I was so impressed with his gesture.  I thought that he  was so thoughtful.  Of course, by then, I was falling in love with him and was quite getting impatient about where we were going.   I was already almost in my mid-thirties and I could not afford any wasted time.  If  the calls and emails were going somewhere, I needed to know.  If they meant nothing, I needed to know as well so that I could move on and not waste any more time (and money too!) on my phone pal.   

So, while I was talking to him, my mind was going like this:   What have I to lose?  He is too far away, in fact, he has not even seen me in person,  to make me utterly foolish if my action would not produce the desired result.  Besides, if he acts ungentlemanly towards me afterwards, then he is not the right one for me in the first place.  But, on the other hand, if   things go well after my action, then all the better of us.  Either way, I will be in a winning situation.   One result will, yes,  bring disappointment and sadness, but those will only be temporary.  Life will go one for me.   

So, a few minutes later in our conversation, and from out of the blue (according to my ex-phone pal ;-) ), I said "I love You".  The line went dead quiet. He now claims (I just asked him again as I was writing this post how he felt after my declaration) that he was nonplussed.

But that wager brought us to where we are now - 8 years of marriage, 4 children, and the life I've always dreamed of.

...THREE DAYS FROM TODAY - Wordless Wednesday

IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING

SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK

And now, I am heading over to Peggy's Simple Woman's Daybook. :-)

FOR TODAY

 Outside my window... the sky is oh-so-blue and the weather is oh-so-cold. Winter is catching up, it seems, but without its usual snow.

 I am thinking...about love and St. Valentine's Day and our anniversary and of how God has been so good to my husband and me. :-)

 I am thankful...for this restful Sunday.

 In the kitchen...a big pot of chicken stew is well, stewing. It is called Colonial Chicken Stew and I found the recipe in my in-laws collection of recipes. I am trying it for the first time - and ...... I'll reserve my judgment after I have eaten it.

 I am wearing...my usual house attire - sweatpants, sweater, shirt. No glamour at all. :-)

 I am creating...still the crocheted table cloth that I started five years ago.

 I am going...to Mass late this afternoon.

 I am reading...when I get the chance, Christ in the Home by Raoul Plus, S.J.

This picture was grabbed from Amazon

 This picture was grabbed from Amazon This is a great parenting book. It covers advice for remaining in-love; being husband and wife, respectively; raising children, among other things.

 I am hoping...that my baby will not cry too much when my husband and I go out to celebrate our anniversary. It will be the first time for him to be left behind since he was born. I am nervous but I forgot that I have a baby when I agreed to my husband's plans. I was thinking of last year when he was still in my belly and my husband and I were able to have our date. Oh silly me!

 I am looking forward to...our 8th Anniversary on the 17th. My husband planned a treat for me. I am learning...how to be a better writer. Yey!

 Around the house...it is after lunch and the dinner plates are stacked in the sink. Voices chattering on the phone fill the house.

 I am pondering...my head is too full of things I want to write about that I have not much time for deeper thoughts. :-) On the other hand, I have been thinking much about love lately - since St. Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

 A favorite quote for today...lifted from Christ in the Home and attributed to Madame Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI:

"Above all, seek to please your husband...he has good qualities but he can also have some that are not so pleasing.  Make it a rule for yourself never to concentrate on these and above all never permit yourself to talk of them; you owe it to him as you owe it to yourself.  Try to look at his heart; if you truly possess it, you will always be happy.  Make his house agreeable for him; let him always find in it a woman eager to please him, busy with her duties, with her children, and you will in this way win his confidence; when you once have that, you will be able to do, with the mind heaven has given you and a bit of cleverness, anything you wish."

One of my favorite things...is a freshly sharpened pencil. I like to do my drafts in pencil. Most often than not, I will not be using the drafts that I wrote, but at least I got to see my thoughts on paper and am able to start somewhere.

 A few plans for the rest of the week: Same as usual - keep house, take care of children, teach children. Oh, there is that special day - go out on a date with my husband. Yey!

 A peek into my day...

There are the usual dishes to wash.

They always pose a challenge that I try to ran away from.

Homeschool is more manageable with Daddy 's help.

He is not so itty-bitty anymore. 

Have a blessed Sunday!

Imelda

ON THE OCCASION OF THE FEAST OF LOURDES

Thank you Dearest Lord for letting your Mother visit us occasionally.  That reminds us how much you love us.  Even though all revelation have been complete with the coming of the Lord Jesus, You continue to remind us, forgetful creatures that we are, of Heaven and what we need to do to attain it.  The visits of the Blessed Mother show us a mother concerned for the welfare of her children.  As a mother myself, I know how important it is to check on the activities of her children just to make sure that they are safe and not doing what they are supposed to do.  And on a more positive note, that motherly supervision lets the mother aid her children in their time of need, even when the children do not know that they need help.  Thank you Lord for showing us Heaven and eternity through the Blessed Mother.  It is the encouragement we need to remain steadfast in our belief and hope ever more fervently for our salvation. Amen.

DECISIONS DECISIONS

One of the hardest decisions that I have made in my life happened when my husband and I were just courting.  I was a, should we say, a regular Catholic, a devout Novus Ordo Catholic.  My husband was a traditional Catholic.  From the limited encounters I had with the Catholics inclined to traditional practices (i.e., those before Vatican II), I concluded that most of them were too holier than thou and in my words, Pharisaical.  My husband-to-be then was quite different, however.  He was nicer than most and quite faithful.  There was only one problem for me - did he believe, like many in that Catholic circle did, that the Seat of Peter was vacant?  I could not be married to a husband who thought so.  I valued my Catholic Faith much and I did not want to be separated from it, a fact which  could happen if I married someone who did not accept the present Papacy.  This concern crept in my heart when, in an effort to explain some of my issues,  my husband-to-be referred me to a website that contained some vitriol about the Church and the Pope.  After some thought and prayer and a lot of tears, I decided that I would break off my relationship with my husband-to-be so that I could remain faithful to my Faith.  When I told him of my decision, he laughed out loud and explained to me that I just did precisely what he told me not to do - look at the nasty stuff in the website.  It was unfortunate that the place where he found the answers to my questions also contained bitter, if not downright mean, words against the people and institutions I loved.  But at least, that event clarified one thing for me - my prospective husband believed and accepted the Papacy.  My main concern was addressed and our relationship prospered and now, we have 4 children after almost 8 years of marriage.

Better Than

Better than wealth that calamities can wash away
is wealth in heaven that lasts for all of eternity.
Better than the costliest perfume that coats the body
is the perfumed scent of a clean and pure soul.
Better than beauty that decays and turns to dust
is the grandeur of God overflowing and illuminating one's countenance.
And so I pray:  May God grant me the grace not to settle for less.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Yellow Roses

How lovely those flowers were in the garden.  Unfortunately, the plant is now long gone.  It did not survive in my little garden.  It never did well, in the first place.  I bought the plant from a discount store where it sold for only $5.00 and was labeled Kordes Perfecta.  I bought it weeks before I was able to plant it because it was still winter.  Then when it was planted and bloomed, it showed yellow roses much to my surprise.  

Dusting Off

Well, hello all.

It has been a long time since I last wrote here.  I've been quite busy with so many things.  Writing wise, I have been filling my first blog with content.  I put anything and everything I can think of about in that page.  Now, it is going neither here nor there.  I envisioned it to be some sort of a magazine - one with every little sort of writing thrown in.  I suppose it can get confusing. :-) I guess it is time to put some order in my writing activities.

With this, I wish to say Welcome all and I am glad to share this writing journey with you.

Best regards,
 Imelda