navigating

i can't imagine how time flies!!! its been sixty, 60, sesenta, days since i had my last blogged. thanks a lot for sending me notice - blog.co.uk. i really was behiiinnnnddddd-of-what's-happening-in-this-whole-wide-world.

what-do-you-know this day i had to really sit on the computer to read my mails, and-forward-and-answer-them. my mails were piling up soooo fast. really, i was so caught-up with surviving-and-in-keeping-my-head-above-waters that everybody passed me by. i think even the turtles passed by me. yesterday, a friend from riyadh, called me - she said i haven't answered her emails. as far as i know, i've sent a reply to her email, but she informed me that the address i sent it to was now obsolete. really! and all along i was thinking- why, she hadn't replied to my mails. maybe she's sooooo busy! i guess, i just have slow down for quiet a bit. maybe inhale-and-exhale. admire the flowers. feel the rain. listen to the sounds.

mmmmm...just maybe!!!

these days, i’m focused on surviving the rat-race and go through the motions of life. I was so focused on living day-to-day. praying. look for money. food. pray. give thanks. pray some more. money again. food again. pray more and more. give profuse thanks. and on and on. i was so caught up in this world, that when i looked-up the days, months, years had gone by.

my kids have grown. the Beijing Olympics had ended.my sister left for Norway. my niece gave birth. the town fiesta came-and-gone. the American idol-season-7 ended. the amazing race has a new season. the high school musical-is-now-in-their-final-year. tyrone has grown. the oil prices goes up and then down. the prices of commodities goes up. the Peso-Dollar exchange is on the upswing. my first son had his capping ceremonies. i’m missing my second son so much who is studying away from home. and lately, i’ve done some long walks. importantly, i haven’t been laughing for a while and haven’t said i-love-you for a long time.

GOD really love me. i know that my love ones are still there for me.

i am now experiencing what my parents were feeling when we were still in their care - meaning, still depending on them during our growing-up years. and we were eight, at that!

me, i have three kids. all in their "schooling-period". two are now in their third collegiate year, while the young one is in grade six and preparing for her high school years. being a mother, i want them to have the best in life - specially education. studying in a public school, i enrolled my children in a private school, buy them toys, clothes and things that we (my siblings) didn't/couldn't afford when we were children. their life now is much more "betterer" than ours. they have computer, ipod, celfons, television-, etc. all those "instant-things of life". they did not have to walk to school, fetch water, look for their younger siblings, share clothes, etc. i know that these are things in the past. but i can't help but look-back at the time when our parents were raising us - eight children!

now, they are only three - but this did not make our life any easier. especially when the time came - paying their tuition fees and providing their daily needs. i am hoping that despite the "era-difference" of our times, we have raised them just like what our parents did - strong, loving, responsible, GOD loving, and embracing life to the fullest.