how time flies!how the kids has grown. time was when they could not do simple tasks without our (with my husband)assistance.time was when i was always early going to the office since i was the one who brought them to school. time was in every thing they do, a mother must be there beside them- doing their homeworks, school projects, buying school materials, making costumes for school programs, attending first communions, scouting and closing ceremonies. time was when going to the fastfood stores were a family affair- one could not go without bringing the whole bunch. time was my hugs and kisses were enough to erase their pains and wounds. time was when i did story telling before letting them sleep. time was when our voices was powerful enough to stop them- meekly and obediently. time when we say the magic word "NO"- its really a "NO".
now, how they've grown! i felt i was losing them. i felt like they're slipping through my fingers. i felt like i was becoming insignificant in their lives. now, they go wherever they want to go with all kinds of excuses-researches, birthdays, practices, group works,ad nauseum. and all i could mutter was - ok! take care! try to come home early. and now, we (with my husband) were left alone. looking at each other and try to comfort and reason (they're big kids now) with each other. now, i couldn't say no to them. i could not reprimand them, but exhaust all my reasoning and understanding ability. or maybe, i am getting old?

October is the month of the Holy Rosary (for us Roman Catholics). It is the month for Mama Mary, the Mother of Everyone! Mama Mary enjoined everyone to pray the Holy Rosary everyday of our lives. But for those who cannot do it (due to millions of reasons), do it for the whole month of October only. I confess that as a family, we cannot pray the Holy Rosary everyday because of the nature of my job. But, for myself, I really do my best to recite the Rosary for this month. I am a true believer in the power of praying. It helped me through the ups-and-downs of my life when I was still single and up to the present-as a mother. Mama Mary never let me down.
Having a Rosary with me and praying, give me power to be able to withstand the challenges I met in my life - as a mother, as a wife, as a friend, as a daughter, as a sister, as a person. Praying to Mama Mary sincerely and fervently will ease one's burden in life. Although, it is said that GOD never gave us something which we cannot take and we do not need. It is true! HE answered our prayers beyond our expectations. We just don't realize it instantly. We tend to make excuses. Or, we just don't recognized immediately that this is what we've been praying for.
The best prayer is praying thru Mama Mary. Let Mama Mary intercede in your prayers to GOD. As a mother, She knows how we feel. She knows what we want. She knows what's good for us. She takes care and loved us!
Though, my children knows how to pray, I am hoping and praying that they will do so until their olden days and so for their children.

there is no dull moments in the Philippines. every living daylights of the citizens of the Philippines woke up to every kind of triumph, disaster and scandal hounding our country. two weeks ago, it was about the bags full of half million pesos given to the visitors of the malacañang palace. of course, the people involved denied it. the people who received/accepted the money denied it. after a few days, some people came forward and said that they received such money. while all the hullaballoo was going on. we woke up again to anotherdisaster - one of the popular mall of the country was bombed! 11 died in the incident and hundreds were wounded. again, speculations abound as to who were really the culprit. i was aghast! why killed innocents? some say it was a terrorist attack. others say the people behind these bombings were the authorities. to divert the attention from the bribery scandal. people like me, a very ordinary citizen, don't know what to believed.
i kept telling myself that government officials will not do it. its unthinkable! they are supposed to protect the people.
the people behind this bombing had no right to inflict pain and death to other people who were busy minding their own lives. and trying to survive the daily rat race. this incident effectively wiped out the bribery incident from the headlines of the newspapers. the people were now focused on the latest news about the bombing fatalities.
i could not helped but wonder if there are some thruth in the allegations of the bombings. i was upset. just when everything were going up roses for the Philippines because Christmas season is fast approaching. the spirits of the people were all bouyed-up for the coming Yuletide season, this happens. as a mother, it is my fervent wish, that our country will be peaceful, for my children and the next generations to come. quo vadis, Pilipinas?

i hit a snag!my latest blog dated october 11 was not published. it was not posted. i've been looking for it over, under, everywhere, still no success. i make "pindot" every button on edit, design, settings, etc. still to no avail. you might think i've dropped out of the "blogging"  world. i'm still very much in. but in a quagmire of technical glitches...

yesterday(was that really yesterday?), i rode a bus that would take me home after my travel. a seven-hour journey. it goes this way. . .
while on my way to allen terminal (northern samar) the motorcab i was riding met a megabus going to davao from manila. the bus was plying the maharlika highway. since it was way past the hour of the last bus that would take me home, the driver flagged the bus. i was praying that it would stop and let me in as passenger. it is said that they never picked-up passengers along the highway, hence my trip to the terminal. luckily, they took me in. i was ecstatic. finally, i am going home. by the way, the place i've been to has no celphone signal, specifically the globe company. my estimated time of boarding the bus was way past the hour of three in the afternoon.
20 minutes into my trip, i heard the sound of tools and other clanging, way from the bottom of the bus. i looked around. i was afraid that something might be wrong with the bus. but when i looked at the driver and the bus conductor, they were engaged in easy banter. while the rest of the populace of the bus were either sleeping or busy with their own thoughts in their own worlds. so, i guessed it was a normal sounds which happen every time the bus tilted to the left and to the right.
the road was bad to very bad to worst. and on we go...
30 minutes into my trip, i heard kids were puking and mothers were comforting them. the smell of the bus was... (unmentionable). its good that this was an ordinary bus. after a few kilometers of travel, the smell was "gone-with-the-wind". and on we go...
An hour into our trip(within the vicinity of calbayog city), a passenger shouted - "stop!" she reached home. she excitedly dismounted the bus and went to "diskarga" her bags, luggages and boxes. and on we go...after another 20 minutes, the bus came into their "official" bus stop - an eatery. a barker shouted to everybody inside the bus that everybody should eat, pee, or whatever ablutions the passengers needs to do since its still five hours to tacloban city. while everybody was having a break, the woman who disembarked earlier came. she was looking for a lost luggage. so, everybody helped in looking for that big box - inside and out of the bus. the box was never found. after the 30 minutes stopover, on we go...
a few minutes into the trip, we heard (again!) sounds that seems like pans and bells and whenever two metals met. it sounds like a fiesta was going on and everybody was cooking something. we were laughing inside the bus. it stopped and the conductor went down the bus to look at whatever that sounds came from. he brought a rope and tied whatever caused the sound. D
on we go... it was already dark. the weather was rainy and it made the road muddy and slippery. a few kilometers past the town of gandara, we stopped. the eaglestar bus infront of us. it looked like there was an incident on the road. the driver went down to verify. he came back and announced that a ten-wheeler truck turned sideways and thus blocked the road. a long line of buses and other big vehicles on both sides of the road were stranded. questions erupted -"are we going to stay here the whole night?"; "has helped arrived?"; "was somebody doing the something to clear the road?" and so on. after nearly 30 minutes, everybody heaved a sigh of relief. the vehicles in front of us started moving. some heavy equipment was in the area and did the job of filling the part of the road that made the vehicles swerved and slide. thank GOD! so on we go...
when we reached the town of tarangnan, a passenger yelled- "stop!" a young mother(about 30 years old) disembarked. she was holding a six month old baby (or about). the driver said - "oh, there's a whole barangay of them." they (driver & conductor) started counting - 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7. she has seven kids. ages ranging from 6 years old to the six month old baby. we didn't saw the husband. again, the driver informed us, that the husband went ahead of the family. he was waiting for them in the area. the mother came back to the bus to looked for the slippers of her children. and in turn gotten an advice from the group - to start family planning. she was so young. i couldn't say anything. and on we go...
another 30 minutes went by and finally we reached the city of Catbalogan. i was happy, a couple of hours more and i'm home na.several passengers went off. and on we go...
by then, the passengers had quitened a bit. maybe because its 9 o'clock in the evening and its time for sleep. or maybe because the trip was really tiring because of the road condition. this was my last leg of the journey. i couldn't sleep, but was counting the towns that we were passing through. at last, we were nearing the san juanico bridge. it was the landmark that says home was on the other side. suddenly, there was a commotion inside the bus. two passengers were saying that they ought to disembark at Catbalogan! everybody was suddenly commenting that Catbalogan was two hours ago. and that the driver reminded everybody when the bus stopped in Catbalogan. maybe, these two riders were enjoying their ride so much that they forgot where they will get off. but the bus went on...crossed the famous bridge...and to the new bus terminal. i eagerly got off the bus. finally, i could sleep with my family. and wait for my husband. he sent me off and now he's fetching me! by the way, the time was nearly eleven o'clock in the evening.

Yeheyyy! our country - the Philippines, is celebrating another victory! in case you've been out of coverage area, our champion boxer Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao - did it again!!! yes, he won over the Mexican boxing champion Antonio Barrera, yesterday. he won through a unanimous decision on the 11th round. i felt really proud. this is another moment to savor, since that "desperate housewives" let down uttered by desperate actress teri hatcher. in this instance, Pacquiao is not the desperate one, but his opponent Barrera. He (Barrera) threw Pacquiao a foul punch, which reduced his winning points and terribly reduced my respect for him. i thought Barrera was a gentleman. i thought that he is above his Mexican boxers who tried to cheat their foes inside the ring. Barrera's defeat meant hanging up his gloves for good. he should not have done that foul punch. now, his retirement is tainted with that one foul act. this also means that Mexican boxers cannot win over the Filipinos. every Filipino, has a smile on his face over this triumph. Pacquiao really delivers. although, the fight on television ended at 4 pm, by eleven o'clock, we know that Pacman won through the internet news.
it is so frustrating watching the "live action on the television. we, the poor ones who relied on free tv, cannot do anything but to be patient as commercials, sponsors, advertisement, or whatever-you-call-them, flooded our screens. it was test on our patience. even if we know that Pacman won, we still had to watch tv to see the action, and of course - to-see-is-to-believe!!! it did not help that at the other channel, the movies which i was waiting for was being shown. i pity our remote control... i know it got a headache of switching from one channel to another. my husband utilized the time by taking a nap between rounds. i'm sure it added a good thing to his well-being.hahaha!!!
til my next blog... i'm still at euphoria!

hello everyone!!!merry christmas!!!one hears on the radios and sees on tv's the countdown to Christmas!!! me? well life goes on...
in one of my travels, i realized that the word "star" is a favorite name used by people either in their businesses and popularly in transports.
i've rode the "silver star" bus, and followed "golden star" and "green star" buses. while on a stopover, "five star" and "three star" buses passed us. as i went on with my travel, i passed by the "five star" printing press. and saw the advertisement of a drink - "lone star". i've bought my plane ticket at "northstar" and another office was called "south star". A favorite bus plying the maharlika highway is the "eagle star". nightclubs are called "stardust", "starry", "starlight" and "starnight". all of these made me "starry-eyed". further, when i read reviews its rated with "stars"- five, four, three, two and one. depending on the merit given by the judges. when i saw my niece, she shyly show me her "star" given by her teacher during their class. travelling along edsa- one could not help but notice the advertizing billboards graced by "showbiz stars" - "mega star", "superstar", "star for all seasons", "diamond star", "rising star", "promising star", "action star" or a "starlet". our bus refilled at "star oil". even our life depends on the horoscope of "stars". and we are living on a "star".
i can't help but think, why are we so fixited on the world star? maybe, because it is unreachable, unattainable, that by giving "star names", this would somehow let us feel we have reached the unreachable. or maybe, the word "star" has a magic and charm on its own that somehow made us feel lucky and one with the universe?
whatever it is, my life is full of stars.