What Else?

 It's a good thing to have someone you can teach or impart knowledge but what's even better is to have someone or friends you can learn from. We all need a "what else" kind of friends. A friend who will say what else? when you tell her I am going to start my coffee shop. And you say, and the coffee will come from the coffee beans I will grow. What else? Then I will serve sandwiches with meat from my chickens and pigs, and you will help me with finances and knowledge. What else do you need from me, I'm here.

That last line is the icing on the cake you'd want to hear from a friend. 

When you're ready, get ready

 All these years I dreamed of a land filled with animals; chickens, goats, cats, cows and pigs roaming around the orchard of different fruit trees. I can't have this here in our land in the US because it not only requires a lot of land and financial investment, I would need a permanent help with daily work. So my dream was always pointing towards the island in the tropics. But I could not find someone who can see  the vision I have for my land in the island of Camotes. I have tried training and encouraging the street kids, I have paid good money for my caretaker to make the land productive but to no avail. I gave a piece of land to my nephew and niece hoping they would go and see what they can do there, but it's been over 2 years and neither one has even went to look at it. 

But God is faithful and He saw the dream in my heart so He sent 2 people who shares my passion of farming and cooking.  We are now in the process of developing the land and I Thank Jesus beyond words.

One of my mentors keep saying "When you're ready, get ready" I am ready. And I am getting ready. 

The poor you will always have with you

 I have many acquaintances but I only have 2 close friends. I am not a high maintenance friend and so are my 2 friends. We talk when we want to talk and no one gets offended when one is not included in their travel plans. By travel I mean, "oh why didn't you tell me you were going to the store, I could have gone with you" Well, what about I don't want you shopping with me?  But number 1 on my list of what I hate in friends and what would make me hide from these people is the kind with the poor mouth---Always talking about money and the lack thereof. Talking about the bills that are unpaid and the kids needing shoes for school. I don't involve people with my needs, and I don't involve myself with that kind. 

We have to start talking like we're blessed and start acting like we're blessed--that's how the blessing gets activated.

Silence is acceptance

 My cheese almost slipped from my cracker when I watched this so-called news media and social media. The grilling of that Secret Service heifer pig Kimberly Cheatle and the viral trending post of the public bashing of that cow pig Jude Bacalso in Cebu. I caught myself getting carried away in anger and frustration. Cheatle is typical of these other corrupt, depraved politicians; they believe they're above the law or that they can create their own law. And Jude Bacalso is a typical Filipino with the colonial mentality---it's your right to abuse the lowly, no big deal. I don't know what I'm more angry of: that ugly stump of a man who thinks his advocacy to be accepted as a homosexual is more important than the basic right of a waiter or the waiter who believe that it's ok to be disrespected and made to stand an hour and 49 minutes to listen to the demeaning lecture by the ugly stump. 

Injustice in any form always rub my scale the wrong way. I grew up watching my family being abused by this so-called rich employer/landlord in Cebu and I rebelled against it in silence because my parents told us "it's ok, we need to respect them". Respect is one thing. Accepting abuse is for the comatose.

Rule of 5

John Maxwell, a motivational coach teaches this simple rule of 5. 

Imagine you have a tree in your backyard and imagine yourself getting up every morning and hitting that tree with an ax 5 times. Not 50 not 500 but just 5 times. Do that every single day 5x and there's not going to be a debate about it---that tree will eventually fall. So what is your tree? What are the obstacles to your dream or goal that needs to be axed?  Keep swinging that ax in the direction of your dream and whatever obstacle you have will eventually fall. A million-dollar dream needs a million-dollar mindset.  

And sitting in the porch eating chicharrónes complaining about the heat is not moving in that direction. Oh wait.... I'm talking about me.

Follow Through

 Ok here's a question: If you die right now do you without a doubt know for sure that you are going to spend eternity in heaven in the presence of God. If you have to pause a minute to search yourself for the answer, then you're not sure. You need to settle this and receive Jesus as your Lord. The bible is very clear on this, we all have eternal life but the question is where are we going to spend it--with God or in hell?

Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead then you shall be saved." God loves us so much, His plan for salvation was not complicated or sophisticated, but it cost Him His only son. Confess and Believe, that's all you have to do to be saved. Again: confess and believe.

Now the next question: If you die right now, what unfulfilled dreams and ideas will die with you?  In your deathbed you don't want to be surrounded by them 2 and saying to you: you didn't give us life, you didn't follow through so now we're going to die with you.  Think about that.

Keep the dream alive

"Follow your passion" I have said it and you've heard it too many times also. When there's a dream in your heart, that's because God placed it there for you to follow through to accomplish His bigger purpose. And regardless that you don't have the talent or resources to execute the dream to completion, you can develop the talent for it, and God will give you wisdom to sustain it. 

But how do we know that the burning passion in our heart is the dream initiated by God? I don't have a burning passion, I have a hobby.  I love to grow food and I love to cook food, but I don't want to be told what to cook and when to cook. I also garden differently from most people--I hate watering plants and I don't grow seeds in seedling trays. I sprinkle seeds on the soil and wait for what comes up. I also am not good at nurturing sickly plants.They start wilting and wrinkly? Ok, bye. 

A hobby can be mistaken as passion and mostly it will fade and die in time of difficulty. inability or  inaccessibility. But that dream in your heart stays even when no one shares your enthusiasm for it. Don't give up the dream, just stop talking about it. Nurture it in your heart, keep it alive by the power of imagination. If you can imagine it, you can have it and you attract what you expect. 

Now I need to practice what I just preached.

July 13 Butler PA

What happened last night brings me back to the 1963 assassination of JFK. I was only 6 years old but I remember adults talking about it even several years after, like they know the man who was killed. 

A few inches would have been fatal and we would have lost President Trump last night. But God. God did an angelic dispatch proving His promise in Psalm 91:11 "For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways" 

I don't care what theory you got about this event, but my question right off when I heard the news within minutes after it  happened "How did the secret service miss the shooter?" Big time lapse in security that's what. But God!

I Pity the Poor

 I owe it to the few people who reads my blog and I apologize that I left this blog for several years. I don't know why I quit, I don't know what made me quit. I won't even try to recall or repeat the same excuse--well, I forgot what my excuse was. I quit reading and I quit writing. Until 2 weeks ago.

I was scrolling around You Tube and I found an old documentary of Bernard Madoff. Remember the guy in his late 60's with hair and a belly just the size of a sugar baby watermelon who ran off with rich peoples money totaling $50 billion? Yes, not a typo. Billion.  But then again, this happens every day it just doesn't make it to breaking news. 
Anyway, it led me to see the book written by his daughter in-law Stephanie, titled The End of Normal. For how many years of not writing is also the number of years I haven't picked up a book to read, so it was a drag at first having to retrain myself to get focused in the story and be engaged in it. Then I was finally in it.

Then I bought the second book Truth and Consequences, this time as told by Bernie's wife Ruth and their son Andrew. It's a well written book about family and betrayal. And lots of money. But there's more that Ruth doesn't know about or don't want to know about--the mistress. Of course, with all that money and no mistress? Now I'm waiting for another book, this time written by the mistress--Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie and Me. 

Don't worry, after this book I'm going to read something else that would give the impression that I'm an intellectual and cultured. Whatever that means.

The Power of Asking

 Friday 2:30 a.m. What do you do when sleep refuse to come to bed with you? Write? About what? 

Well, I have been musing on the verse in John 16:24. Almost everyone knows to recite "ask and you shall receive" regardless that they don't know it's a bible verse or if they even believe it.  But the rest of the verse that says " so your joy may be complete" is often left unquoted. So I started to really meditate on it. So my joy may be complete.  

Ask. Joy. Complete. I don't like to ask; not for directions or for a refill on my drink at the restaurant. But lately, the Lord revealed to me that to not ask is prideful. So I started thinking that as long as I'm asking, I might as well ask big. Ask big so the answer would make God look like He is really God. I have already listed 3 things that I want God to do for me before the year ends, so any day now I am expecting to receive it. 

Asking is a biblical principle so it works in every facet of life. Take Mcdonald's. Mcdonald's doesn't sell edible food-- they sell the hype of food, but several years back their management started training employees to ASK a customer when they place their order : do you want fries with that? One simple question, and that first year Mcdonald's revenue increased $20 million! That's the power of suggestion in the form of asking. So start asking. And ask BIG!

Looking back

 I was talking to a friend who lives in Mexico and a feeling of nostalgia came over me. Well, as you know with me, it doesn't take much to make me feel nostalgic. 

I found these pictures of the apartment I was renting when I tried to live in Cabo San Lucas back in 2008. What if I stayed and made Cabo my home? What if I made Cabo home and I learned to speak Spanish fluently and found a rich Mexican to build me my dream Mexican home? Would that have been a good choice? Instead of buying lands in the Philippines that would take me almost 2 days to travel compared to just 3 hours across the border from Texas. Two sad words: WHAT IF!

No regrets. I have a good life now. Not good but great.

 I spent practically half a day yesterday rereading my old posts---all the way back to 2006. I just skimmed through each post and I was surprised to see how good my vocabulary was back then. I could tell I had fun too!  My creative writing teacher used to tell us: If you want to write, read! And write every day. 

Well, life or lack of it took over and I got lost in the maze of social media. But happy to say, I finally am reading good books again, and not posting everything I eat on Facebook. See? I can quit anytime. Says the addict.

Last year went back to Cabo San Lucas again and stayed the whole month of April. I love Mexico but for now I am sitting here in my crib in the woods listening to the birds. I wonder if birds get melancholic occasionally, like me. I doubt it, really.

 

Life in the woods

 The pictures are from 2 years ago. This year my garden is very discouraging to look at because my fruit trees are not producing as good as expected, I guess because of the cold blast last December which is not normal for us in the south. It's just as well, so I won't have to worry about harvesting since I'm going to Canada in 3 weeks. 

It's all about passion3

Amazing Japanese bakery in the mountains! Bread of life living with nature!

Because life is not hard enough

 I have been enjoying my vintage coffee grinder that I found at the flea market 3 weeks ago. It's now one of my favorite kitchen toy. 

Memories of a fig

 Figs with gorgonzola cheese. This picture does not  even look appealing, but this was my first experience eating fresh figs 11 years ago at a restaurant in Allen, Texas. After that day, it was etched in my psyche that I have to have a fig tree. I didn't how or where because at that time I was living in an apartment. But I know one day I will plant a fig tree. A year later, I met the man who is now my husband who owns this land where I now have 7 mature producing fig trees. Is it that important that I should talk about it? It is to me. Or I won't have anything significant to talk about today. 

if not now, when can I quit

 I miss the old days before I got stuck on Facebook. I miss reading and writing and using erudite words instead of OMG LOL and ATM.

My departed husband used to hate the idea of lugging a camera on our travels because he felt that instead of us savoring and taking in the details and sensibilities of the moment, we instead have to be concerned about lighting or angle so we can "watch a copy of the moment when we get home" He had a point.

And this is what I have come to be enslaved in with Facebook. Whatever I do, I feel like I have to post it on Facebook without asking myself why? So many times I have come to realize this as an obsession, yet I have not been successful to quit it. It's like a knee jerk reaction to something that has no purpose except because it's what almost everyone does. Well, today is the day I'm going to stop this beast. In Jesus name  I can do it. 

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I'm starting to start

 Well, hello there! I am taking a break from working in my garden and I just finished eating breakfast. My garden is my sanctuary and resident therapist. I have come to conclude that as I get older {in number} I have less tolerance to long conversations, long articles or long commentaries on social media. I used to gobble documentaries and stories about people, about places or things. I miss that old me.

And I am really trying to get out of Facebook in the hope that I will be able to go back to my reading days... reading good sensible information instead of reading foolish posts on Facebook. Today, I start.