So Blessed

Just received a package a while ago from my Franciscan friend Sr. Thea who stayed in the Holy Land for three months. She sent me all these – key chains from Assisi, France and the Holy Land and also a Divine zeal key chain from Myanmar.

I love the rosary best. She said it is blessed by touching the big rock on which Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. The center medal at the back of the image of the Blessed Mother is soil from the Holy Land.

Don’t ask me how I was able to post this photo. It was just by trial and error. I took it using my tab’s camera.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Looking Forward To 2020

So this is the second day of Christmas. And it will last till the Baptism of the Lord. It is the shortest season in the Catholic calendar. That would be in January 12 next year.

How was your Christmas celebration? Ours was a quiet one with the family. I like all the reflections during the nine days of Simbang Gabi.

We exchanged gifts on the 24th. I like all my gifts. They are thoughtfully given. Nate and I played with his two water guns at the garden. He was the Blue Boy (with the blue gun of course and I was the Orange Lady. Precious moments with Nate.

I still can’t figure out how to attach photos here since there are no pictures in this tab’s gallery. They are all stored in my new phone. ♡☆. I am still finding it hard to navigate this gadget and update here on WordPress.

Do you also look forward to 2020? May the winds of change create a positive outlook for all of us.

Read Full Post »

Oh My

Finding it hard again to update here. What happened WordPress?

Read Full Post »

These Things….

Little surprises that make me smile:

• Long chats with friends abroad through messenger. Listening and hearing their voices – just great
• A cup of hot green tea on an early morning.
• Oreo kissing my toes and being just silent besides me.
• Nates’ shouts of “hello Nonna” over the phone
• Seeing a new bloom in the garden
• Getting in touch with neighbors to say hi
• Finding  a new author with a good book
• Reading, reading until your vision blurs because you are sleepy
• Afternoon shuteye
• Hearing the church bells for dawn masses
• Watching videos on different recipes one could prepare for Noche Buena
• Surprise visits from friends
• Surprise phone calls
• Lovely and inspiring posts from WordPress friends and fellow bloggers
• Beautiful comments on your blog
• Attending Simbang Gabi and watching priest friends with their uplifting homilies online
• WAITING FOR CHRIST’ BIRTH
• Being excited for the celebration of Christmas 2019
• The early morning cold breeze
• Listening to Christmas music

Read Full Post »

Learning Posting On Tab

By hook or by crook, I have to learn to use this gadget.

I am like a kid groping, relearning things again. I could not even find my reader feed to be able to see and make comments on your posts.

Read Full Post »

6th Day Of Simbang Gabi

Watched three masses today aside from the regular Simbang Gabi mass that I attended. The morning mass was presided by my priest son Fr. Lovell at Manila Cathedral. The other anticipated mass was presided by our priest friend Fr. Aly. They both delivered meaningful and uplifting homilies.

Was able to talk to Fr. Lovell last night before his scheduled 8pm mass. We talked about the family’s health, the upcoming Christmas celebration and updating each other on some recent news. So glad to know he’ll be spending Christmas and New Year in Canada.

Would love to invite Fr. Aly to dinner one of these days when they are no longer busy at the shrine. The kids and I miss his jokes and his earlier life at the seminary.

Just a thought, some government paid bloggers have decided to quit and stop their FAKE NEWS when they learned of the US plan to not give visas to those who are involved in human rights violation and extra-judicial killings but I doubt if they would remain silent for good. They might be cooking up other names in the process. This early, they are brandishing for a duterte tandem come 2022, the daughter would run as president while duterte would be his vice. Mind-conditioning? Yes I believe so. My goodness one mistake of electing a duterte in the government is enough. Most of his still believe in what he says, hook, line and sinker.

Where are we going Philippines?

I still don’t know how to attach tags here using this tab. Need help please.

Read Full Post »

It’s Unfortunate

Oh my, PC is acting up. I don’t know much how to blog using this tab. It’s taking me a long time to write. I don’t even know how to add the categories and tags here.😫😢😕 This is just a trial.

Read Full Post »

My Year In Books

Wow! Goodreads has just released its annual report on how I fared in books this year.

One thing I like about the site is that you get to maintain a virtual library and you can always browse about book summaries and their corresponding reviews.

TOTALS

I read 50,503 pages across 147 books. The shortest is around 57 pages while the longest (a set of books actually)  composed of 2,098 pages. The most popular book I read this year is Pride and Prejudice. My average rating for all the books I read this year is 3.5  (5 being perfect) while the highest rated one with a score of 4.56  is Michelle Obama’s Becoming. I  wrote  a short review of this book somewhere here.

I was just surprised that they released this early when there are 22 more days to go before the year ends. I have just finished one of Nadia Hashimi’s books but it was not included in this report.

I didn’t expect I could finish 148 books when I started last January. I pegged it at 120.

There are several more books I have to read maybe at the start of the year 2020 but I am hoping I could finish three more before the year ends.

Do you participate in reading challenges? Are you also excited to discover new authors?  I started this challenge back in 2015.  I’am at No. 47 Best Reviewers and No. 31 Top Reviewers. Not bad, not bad at all 🙂

 

 

Read Full Post »

Heartland Series 21

I hear the church bells ringing

Another day of anticipating

And waiting….

Getting closer to the day

When Christmas is

here.

 

Read Full Post »

The Sky At Our Feet

Oh, lovely!

Back in 2016 while I was on the lookout  for more authors to read for my Goodreads’ Reading challenge, I found this gifted author by the name of Nadia Hashimi. Hashimi is a pediatrician, novelist, and a former Democratic congressional candidate for the  US House of Representatives for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. She was born in the  United States  to Afghan parents who migrated to the US in the  early 70’s.

The Sky  At Our Feet is my fifth read.  Her books  were mostly set in Afghanistan during the turbulent years of the country. I am quite excited to read this since I all enjoyed her four earlier books. I was always looking for new authors, Asians specifically  and I was lucky to find several of them who are truly gifted writers although they are new in the field. I did some reviews of those books I found earlier.

Here’s a brief look on the story culled at Goodreads:

Jason has just learned that his Afghan mother has been living illegally in the United States since his father was killed in Afghanistan. Although Jason was born in the US, it’s hard to feel American now when he’s terrified that his mother will be discovered—and that they will be separated.

When he sees his mother being escorted from her workplace by two officers, Jason feels completely alone. He boards a train with the hope of finding his aunt in New York City, but as soon as he arrives in Penn Station, the bustling city makes him wonder if he’s overestimated what he can do.

After an accident lands him in the hospital, Jason finds an unlikely ally in a fellow patient. Max, a whip-smart girl who wants nothing more than to explore the world on her own terms, joins Jason in planning a daring escape out of the hospital and into the skyscraper jungle—even though they both know that no matter how big New York City is, they won’t be able to run forever.

What’s on your TBR?

Read Full Post »