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The Big C

Just recently, a good friend of ours experienced the biggest challenge of his life — he was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer that hit his colo-rectal area.

Like us, they belong to a prayer community so it was not long before news of his condition went around. At that time, they were looking for an oncologist-surgeon whose specialty was the colo-rectal area. Immediately, they were swamped with emails, texts and calls from brothers and sisters in Christ. The doctors in our community began recommending co-doctors (in fact, the doctor they eventually chose happened to be a cousin of another brother); a doctor-sister accompanied his wife yesterday at their first visit to this doctor; prayer brigades were set up and many even went to their home to pray over the couple. Others asked about their financial situation and were suggesting that if need be, the hat should be passed around the entire community (which we used to do for similar situations of brothers and sisters in need.)

Such a situation is devastating to any family. But what is admirable about this couple is not that they are afflicted with all the concerns that go with a family member having cancer. It is HOW THEY ARE RESPONDING IN FAITH TO GOD. Last night we had a prayer meeting and they shared about how overwhelming it was to feel God’s love for them through the people who responded. Their faces showed the peace and calm that only trusting in God’s control of the situation brings.

The more difficult part of their challenge is yet to come but I am confident that with the kind of attitude they are manifesting now, they will hurdle these together. Those of us who are healthy at the moment cringe at the prospect of facing The Big C. But for this couple, The Big C takes on new meaning…

CARE and COMPASSION from the Lord through COMMUNITY.

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The P500 Kasoy

Last month, I arrived at the yoga center without having had the chance to take my afternoon merienda.  So when I saw I was early, and my yoga friend Chona was there, I asked her to accompany me downstairs to buy some fries from McDo.

Chona dissuaded me, claiming we still had to do our warm-ups and we could be late for classes. Besides, she said, the center had a plateful of cashew nuts we could munch on.

I should have listened to my intuition. I got a cashew, took one bite and heard an awful crack. A crown at the upper right of my mouth had split in 2.  So, a few days later, I had to go back to my ortho to have the crown replaced.  The cost? P500 buckaroos!!!

That was the most expensive kasoy in my entire life! From now on, I will swear off kasoy and all things nutty until these braces come off….

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Julia, adopted Pinay

Julia from her blog profile

The death of Julia Campbell in the hands of a Pinoy made me shudder. After all, here was a foreigner who left the comfort of her First World country to become a Peace Corps volunteer in our own land and made it her own. She learned how to speak Tagalog and Bicolano (in fact in a recent TV video clip of her in the aftermath of Typhoon Reming last year, she chose to speak in Filipino rather than in English). She was well-loved by the people of Bicol as well as her foster family and many more whose lives she touched over the last 2 years. For such a young life to end this way is not just a tragedy for her family but for our whole nation as well. Continue reading “Julia, adopted Pinay”

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Janette Toral’s Book Launching

I had the privilege to meet and chat briefly with Janette, one of the organizers of the recent iblog3 summit.

This coming May 2007, Janette will be launching her e-book and of all things, she is giving away 100 free copies under certain conditions. Check out her blog site if you want one too. It would be great if I am still lucky enough to fall within the first 100 bloggers to get this book. As a newbie blogger, who attended her very first summit, I was overwhelmed at how much I STILL HAD TO LEARN ABOUT BLOGGING. The problogging facet of it intrigues me since being at home most days, I am online almost always, so why not try to monetize that time and be even more useful, di ba? Janette’s e-book is sure to push me in the right direction and get me up and running on blogging. Continue reading “Janette Toral’s Book Launching”

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Traveling Unaccompanied Minors

I just took another baby step towards letting go — our 2 boys (aged 15 and 13) took their very first plane ride bound for the province by themselves (a female cousin was with them but she was also just 15).

For those of you who are still single, you probably cannot empathize with the anxiety that envelops a Mom who has to drop off her “babies” at the airport and pray they get through the check-in, boarding and arrival at their destination without a hitch. But for Mommies like me, it is scary to say the least.

From home to airport, I rattled off a checklist of things and reminders for them:

– Keep your tickets and boarding passes always in your backpacks

– Don’t forget to shut off your cellphones before take-off

– Watch your cellphones and wallets

– Don’t forget to have lunch

– Text me when you enter the departure area, before boarding and upon arrival

– Lastly but most importantly, NO BOMB JOKES!

(see how praning I can be???) Continue reading “Traveling Unaccompanied Minors”

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Cebu Pacific’s Online Reservations and Ticketing System

Online booking and ticketing is making its way into Philippine homes. Convenient! Or so I thought….

Our 2 boys are headed for the province soon so the other night, I logged on to Cebu Pacific’s website and began booking their tickets. It was a cinch! The pop-up windows first showed me the available promo rates for the date I chose, then after my selection, it began asking me for passenger details. Processing my credit card did not pose any problems at all. Soon after processing, the e-tickets of the boys were emailed to me pronto! Wow, I thought to myself, what a comfort to do things from home rather than have to troop to a ticketing office.

I thought too soon. Our niece who came to Manila for a convention and who was traveling back home with our boys needed to have her e-ticket rebooked. I went through the website. Nope, there was NO ONLINE WAY TO REBOOK! Egads!

There was a 24/7 telephone number though so I promptly dialed it. A friendly customer rep assisted me with the rebooking. Okay, so far. But then, here came the bad news. The e-ticket had to be reissued and it could not be done online. I had to go to the nearest ticketing office to get it done. Huh? May record locator naman. If they could email me a newly-purchased ticket, why couldn’t reissuances be done online via email as well? Beats me… Continue reading “Cebu Pacific’s Online Reservations and Ticketing System”