Singing is Praying Twice

Singing is praying. When one sings one prays twice - so said the great Saint Augustine. While singing in the front of the Lord, we are in touch with the deepest center of our heart. Whatever moves there, comes out before our Creator as a loving offering to Him. The emotions of joy, grief, anger and frustration pour out in the presence of the Lord in loving trust and total self-surrender.

Singing together is praying together - brothers and sisters in deep communion with each other in the overflowing love of God. Praising God in song draws down double graces too.

Singing right doesn't exclude off-tuned singers. It is when you sing with all your heart and soul as an offering to God Almighty. Before, I sing quietly in church because I know that I’m one of the off-tuned people who can’t raise a note. Funny because I do that just not to look stupid, but I realized it does made me look more stupid when there’s a crowd singing then there I am, showing how much shy to sing. It’s different now, if you know that you are singing as a family with the same objective, you’ll not feel any awkwardness. You can shout without anyone noticing you. I found myself singing so loud whenever we give worship and praises to the Lord. Why don’t you try these songs below. Don Moen is one of our favorites.







ADS

ACTS

I didn't know before that there's a structure you can use in prayer. When I'm praying I just talk to Jesus with whatever words that's coming out from my mind, my heart and my mouth. Christian Life Program informed me about this structure. They pointed out that there's nothing wrong if you have a fixed prayer, or you don't have flowery words, the important thing is it's coming from the bottom of your heart. The structure will just give us a guide in our prayer. It's not a requirement to follow but rather just to help us to make our thoughts organized. At the end, you and your prayer will always be the best for you whatever structure you use as long as it's for the good of your household and your neighbors.

One structure for prayer is given by the acronym "ACTS", representing adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (or intercession.) This is one order, where we start off focusing on who God is, and praising him for that. Others find a CATS pattern helpful, beginning by clearing out of the way the things that sadden God in our lives, before we can go onto praise him. Let's look briefly at each in turn :

Adoration is to adore God, to worship him and to fulfil the commandment to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer.

Confession allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between you and God which are displeasing to Him. All of us have sinned. St John writes in his epistle "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I Jn 1:8,9)

Thanksgiving. From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone does something for us, or gives us a gift. Each moment God is blessing us, every minute we can recall the wonderful things that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given. And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings. In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things " I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Tim 2:1.

Supplication or Intercession. Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so we need to choose, and to be specific.

Your Blog Makes Us Smile Award

I felt so special when my friend Dulce gave me this award though I wasn't able to grab it right away. I don't know what to say or how to thank her in a very special way. For me, preparing a very good post entry for this must be done since she included me in her awardees even though there’s a lot of blogs that she can pick. I really appreciate it! Knowing that my blog can put a smile on my readers is totally rewarding in my part. I hope that I can continue touching people’s heart through this blog. And to my friend, Dulce I thank you so much. I’m inviting my readers to check on her blog too, she has a lot to share.



Now, It’s time for me to share this award to those I know who deserves to get it. These are the people who really put smile on my face whenever I drop by on their blogs. And the awardees are:

Sunny for his blog, filthy room

Zeb for his blog, a blog’s life

And Sherlie for her blog, sherliez

And of course Dulce’s blog,

Full Time Mom

which always makes me smile too.

Terrible Two's

It's what you think that made things happen for you. if you were cautioned by people to wait till your child reaches the age of 2 because that’s when the child becomes a headache to parents, or so as they had called it Terrible Two’s, then the choice is really yours. It’s either you expect things to happen as what these people had set in your mind or you believe in to your own capacity as a parent. It’s better to expect good things than bad about our child. You are the only one who knows your child; other people can’t tell what your child really is capable of. I can say that those are the kinds of people who pretend they know everything. I’d rather set my mind that 2 year olds belong to Terrific Two’s than to what they harshly called it as Terrible. It is what you believe that make things possible. This is my son when he 'was' two years old...



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Finding Your Mr./Ms. Right

5 Golden Rules for finding your life partner
by Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A.

A relationships coach lays out his 5 golden rules for evaluating the prospects of long-term marital success. When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50 percent, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Ms.Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love." I believe this is the #1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love. Though this may sound not politically correct, there's a profound truth here.

Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come.

Let me say it again: You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone. You need a lot more. Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION #1: Do we share a common life purpose?

Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage. You can grow together, or you can grow apart. 50 percent of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life bottom line-and marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION #2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust - i.e. trust that I won't get "punished" or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the
person you plan to marry.

QUESTION #3: Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right thing."

So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement. There are essentially two types of people in the world: People who are dedicated to personal growth and people who are dedicated to seeking comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION #4: How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure.

Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self-absorbed? To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as a waiters, bus boy, taxi driver, etc. How do they treat parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them
everything, you cannot expect that they'll have gratitude for you --who can't do nearly as much for them!

Do they gossip and speak badly about others? Someone who gossips cannot be someone who loves others. You can be sure that someone who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION #5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve" them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it, "You can probably expect someone to change after marriage ... for the worse!" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them.

In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating, to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues.

Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself in trouble because you didn't do your homework.

I'm a Houseband

Houseband. There's a big misconception on this term. Always used as a joke since it is depicted from the word Husband. Some used it to mock men who don’t work in the corporate world. Those who are just staying at home. Husbands who are taking care of the household chores and children. Well, that’s how the narrow-minded people think. Houseband has a deeper meaning. After hearing Pastor Joel Osteen said about this term, I can proudly say that I’m definitely a Houseband. Please have time to watch this video about commitment in marriage. I’m 100% sure you will be enlighten to the importance of your role in your spouse and child.


Pastor Joel Osteen on marriage, commitment, relationships, taking care of your family, raising your children, and other wise words.
Whether or not you're Christian, Joel Osteen's on-point with this.
10 minutes for the rest of your life.

Study

I was asked of what from the 5 tools in my catholic Christian life, I haven't fully utilized. Here are the 5 tools; Prayer, Study, Service, Fellowship and Sacraments. I've told them that all has not been fully utilized; maybe I was able to give a portion in each but not in every aspect. I chose “Study” as what I believed I’m lacking out most. Study compromises of reading the Bible daily, spiritual reading through other means and knowing God through preaching and teachings. I told them my 3 reasons. First, I’m lazy, I’m a fan of the words convenience and easy. I’m so lazy that sometimes when I’m searching something from the internet, I used Google Video Search instead of the Google Web Search because I find it easier listening and watching video than reading. I’m so impatient in reading. Second is lack of interest. My mistake is to put the Bible near where our computer is, so when I’m looking at it from afar, the interest in surfing the net becomes more inviting than reading the Bible. It’s also funny that whenever my wife asks me to read even just 1 verse in each day instead of consuming most of my time in the computer, there’s a tendency in me to oppose it more. I told Lorie to wait for the time that I will open it because I like doing it. And third is I’m afraid. The Bible has profound words that I might misunderstood or misinterpreted. I’m afraid that I don’t have the wisdom to know it the right way.

The facilitator said that it’s how the devil works on us. He’s getting all the chances for us to break our faith. And our challenge is to know how to fight it. Actually, as an Algebra instructor before, I know that in every problem, there’s a solution, and finding the solution is knowing the root cause first and the available sources you can use. I know now the causes, and I strongly believe I can solve it easily. I already have the eagerness to learn, the only things I need are the motivation and interest. Since I like the internet more, I used it to read some verses from the Bible. If you’ll notice at the left side of my site, there’s a gadget of “Daily Bible Verse”. I can also go to Bible.com. One of my favorites is joelosteen.com. Before I do anything in my computer, I make sure that I read even just 1 verse and if I don’t understand, my wife is there for me and it will be a great discussion starter. The Holy Spirit will be the one who will work for us to understand it more. I don’t want to give the devil any opportunities to win his game. I’d rather choose God works than evil’s. I hope and pray that we’ll be able to fight all struggles that might come our way in taking the path we chose to live.



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Happy 4th of July!!!

A little trivia. Have you ever wondered what's inscripted in the tablet that the Statue of Liberty is holding?

The Statue of Liberty tablet contains an inscription of a text or series of letters which is actually the date of the United States of America's day of Independence (the year being written in Roman numerals): JULY IV MDCCLXXVI or the July 4, 1776.

Like many other features of the Statue of Liberty, the stone tablet is open to various symbolism and the accompanying interpretations to each. For one, Statue of Liberty tablet is symbol of the importance of commemorating historical events that happen to each nation.

The reason for this is because the date of one of the most important historical events that happened to the United States was inscribed there. Generally, it is a belief that without acknowledging history, a nation can never successfully progress to new levels of enlightenment.

Clarence's Prayer

I know this is kind'a late but i forgot to post a blog about Clarence 3rd birthday last April 18th. When I'm browsing his videos in my computer, I can't help noticing his cute little prayer before we cut his cake and I can't wait to share it with you all. It was a simple celebration but done with so much love and laughter. Some of our friends gave us a visit after his birthday since we cannot accomodate them on the exact date of Clarence's birthday because Lorie has to attend her night duty then, well that's the bit sad part of it. But the important thing is we know Clarence didn't ask for more than we could offer him. We would like him to get the idea of being happy on what he has. To live simple with contentment in his heart. I believe every child has that character, they are so innocent and shallow. Check out his cute little prayer.


(on 18th when clarence bday, his mom has to go to work, so we just had cake, on the 21st we were able to celebrate it with some friends.)

Run, Jump and Make Noise! But do not Sin...

This is what our last speaker advised us to do when things seems going wrong and trying to put us back in our same old negative situation. Well, I think it worked. When I feel mad, I just kind of letting it go by going away first till I calm down. I chose to go to the duck pond near our place and feel the beauty of the nature that God has offered to us. In that way I can feel closer to God and share to Him my pains. After that I feel relieved and realized things I should’ve better known. It’s like an outlet for me in letting go of the stress that I shouldn’t be carrying. A good outlet since it makes my relationship to God stronger. And in these days, it’s better to lift your problems to God rather than to other people as I believed that there are just two whom you can trust; God and Yourself. Other people might listen and show that they care but you will never know if what you shared will be kept confidential, they can tell your life to anybody intentionally or not, either for a good reason or bad. The point here is to divert your attention to something else rather than committing a sin. Don’t let the devil win you and control your actions. If you were to choose what would it be? Peace of mind or guilt, Happiness or loneliness, Love or hatred? Run somewhere else, Jump as high as you can and make noise till it overpowers the chance of committing a sin. This is just my two cents. ;>

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Good News!

Last night was not an ordinary night for me and my family because it was the night we believed God has prepared for us. It was a glorious celebration when we have been baptized once again as Catholics or should I say Christian Catholics, receiving divine gifts from God and the wisdom and knowledge from the Holy Spirit. Many might raise their eyebrows or do their prejudices and might consider us fools, I can’t blame them, they have their own opinions and beliefs but for us, it didn’t bother a thing since we are here to please no one but God. We are willing to be Fools if that will mean serving our Creator. We are all servants of the Lord. You know what? It felt really great, an indescribable feeling. The very first time I, myself can’t believe that it’s all happening to me. I think that’s why there is a name called Heaven when you really felt that you are talking with Jesus alone, one on one with extreme happiness. It’s very uplifting. Everything will stop but your heartbeat. You will see that the world is so little compared to the greatness of God. Being considered and accepted as one important human being not only in our group but in the whole world. I believed that I suddenly found my purpose. They made me enter in one silent room after a long meditation of prayers and praises, the 3 of our Christian leaders reassured to me that I have the power to talk with Jesus in my own will, my own prayer, my own belief and strength, and you know what, I did! While I’m doing it, with all their pray-over’s, I didn’t notice that so much tear drops are rolling down my cheeks, a moment I promised myself that will never happen, that I will have to cry. I didn’t feel any embarrassment or pride. All I know was I felt new and cleansed. This is what I’ve been longing for, a life that is free of guilt, has peace of mind and true happiness. And that all happened when I surrendered myself to Jesus.

Many might be asking, especially to those who really knew me, how did it happen? Well it happened when everything seems falling in their proper places, I did not exert much effort but it just happened right before our own eyes. Even before we got here in US, my wife and I have been looking for our place to be with God. We tried different Christian groups in the Philippines, each one is great but the problem still lied within us. We always find a reason not to maintain it. It’s like a roller coaster ride, one time, we will be there but most times we’re not. Here in US, it took us 2 years before we got to know that there’s a Christian Life Program pillared by Filipinos like us. Our constant problem of not being in the church every Sundays has been solved when we joined this program. Here how it goes. One Sunday, actually it’s an Easter Sunday, I told myself to attend the mass not at the usual church we go to but in Sacred Heart Jesus church with two goals in mind. First to have my catholic obligation be done and second to see the Sacred Heart private school I’m considering for my son’s preschool. As usual, I wasn’t able to finish the mass since Clarence is so impatient inside the church disturbing everybody by screaming and making lots of noises. I decided to go out and just pray a little. I felt a little guilt because I got really mad at my son and thought of making it up on him by going to the nearest play park. When we were in the park, someone asked me to which chapter I belong? I didn’t get it because I have no idea that there will be a group of people having an Easter celebration on that place and on that very instant. I believed God has proven His power once again by bringing us all together in one place and in one time. Everything has really a purpose; my son’s mischief that I thought was unreasonable was actually the way for us to be driven towards Him. The man who approached me introduced us to the group whom I’ve heard a lot of times before, it’s the Couples for Christ or CFC. I asked if they could still fit us in and they are very welcoming in accepting us to be a part of their group without any questions at all. The funny part is, the venue of our meetings are regularly held at Sacred Heart of Jesus church, I didn't need to look for it since I was able to searched for it before in finding a good school for Clarence. Last night was our 9th talk and done with baptism. Who can tell that a shy person like me, who can’t talk in front of many people, is now sharing my life experiences with God to other people in our every session. To God be the Glory! To Jesus we commit ourselves and everything in us.

An Artist in Each of Us

I know that each of us has his own artist in ourself. Hidden or used, it will still stand out when needed. In our own special way we can express more of ourselves by making the little artist in us to work. I took this literally by doing a sketch of my son. I’m so addicted to him that made me spent time in drawing him on a piece of bond paper using a regular and cheap pencil that we got from a birthday give-aways. I don’t care if I really didn’t know how to draw but the thing is, I did it out of love. I want to get all the details in my son’s face; his eyes, his nose, his lips… I believe that I was able to draw him for I knew him very well even if my eyes are closed. I know the feel of his tiny lips because he always gives me kisses. I know how he smiles because we always play together. Whether the drawing is perfect or not, it doesn’t matter as long as the thought of having time in thinking, preparing and doing it for my son was there will be more than enough. The important thing is I enjoyed what I did and I’m proud of it, well, who would mind? I’m not a pro, I’m just a typical father who will give the littlest (if there is) talent I could give for my son. Being an artist is nature in all of us, whether it’s in music, poetry or painting. Why don’t you try being an artist for a moment and share it with your loved ones.

My child can read

We started teaching Clarence to read 3 letter words since he already mastered how each letter of the alphabet sounds. I always put in videos every achievement he has for us to have our own record. Like in this video I intentionally indicated when we started teaching him to read and that was a month before his 3rd birthday. This will keep me on track with his growth development. I enjoy watching all his videos without asking myself how old he was during that time and when was the time he learned those things. At the age of 3 he can now read some of the 3 letter words we introduced to him. Though he’s still struggling on some but I think it’s because of me for being so impatient in teaching him on a regular basis, plus the fact that he sometimes doesn’t cooperate with me. I tried in as hard as I can to make our sessions a fun time for him but sometimes we are ending up either playing or fighting. I’m using some flash cards, cardboard word puzzles and the internet. This website really helps us a lot in making him interested in reading. Check this out > http://www.starfall.com (website recommended by Ms. Peggi Kelly, one of Clarence's wonderful playgroup teachers)

Michael Jackson dead at 50

Michael Jackson had been planning to start a series of comeback concerts in London and had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months. Promoters of the shows said in March that he had passed a lengthy physical examination.

Dneero Survey

Deadliest City in America

Error by Detroit makes Baltimore No. 2 in murders

Revised 2008 total pushes Mich. city into top spot among large metro areas
By Justin Fenton | justin.fenton@baltsun.com
4:04 PM EDT, June 4, 2009

Detroit police have acknowledged an error in their 2008 homicide total submitted to the FBI, a change that pushes Baltimore down from the top spot for homicide rate among large U.S. cities.

Rod Liggons, a Detroit police spokesman, said the city in January reported 339 homicides to the state of Michigan, which submits figures to the federal government. But the number that the FBI distributed this week as part of its annual crime report was 306, a difference of more than 11 percent. Liggons told The Baltimore Sun that figure is wrong.

"Three-thirty-nine is our actual number," Liggons said.

The difference of 33 killings is just enough to push Detroit's homicide rate past Baltimore's to reclaim the No. 1 ranking among cities with a population of 500,000 or more people. Baltimore's rate is 36.9 killings per 100,000 people; Detroit's is now 37.4 per 100,000.

-- This is really scary knowing that we are living in the state where the no.2 deadliest city is located. We are really going to pursue our plan of transferring to a different state. Like what Clarence is always saying when he puts his seatbelt on "Safety First!!!"

Video Source > http://wjz.com/video/?id=28369@wjz.dayport.com


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Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. --Wikipedia

In U.S. we remember those that have fought for our freedom ... we don't take freedom lightly, but sometimes we take those defenders of freedom for granted ... jeez, they were there, it's a job, do your thing, let me do my thing ... not quite that easy ... let's not forget that they also fought alongside our friends in many other nations to preserve a peacefully, free way of life for others, worldwide.

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Spring has Sprung!

We wanted Clarence to know more about spring so we decided to go to Home Depot and bought things for gardening. As usual, as the saying goes, hitting two birds with one stone, we got ourselves vegetable seeds and plants so we'll also benefit from his first 'planting' experience. I think my wife and I enjoyed it more than Clarence since it's been so long when we had our hands in dirt. We did not spend money in buying a trowel but instead we used Clarence's toy shovel :) In the Philippines, you can just get soil anywhere but here you need to buy specific soil/mix for your pots, digging around our premises might need some permits since we don't know what's under the ground. As one of Clarence's teachers advise, we can walk him outside the house to investigate things he can see during spring time like ants and bugs. Truly, he can now identify some insects and bugs by their actual sizes and appearances that he only seen in pictures before. This will help him develop his cognitive skills. When we are going to parks, he always telling me whatever he sees, like purple flowers, bee, ants, fly and the likes and it is important for me not to ignore him because that’s the time he’s learning to remember different things, and also to give immediate correction when what he’s saying is different from what he sees. I hope you find yourself something to enjoy this spring. Simple things could also be fun especially when you do it with your loved ones.



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Have you been summoned to be a jury? What do you think of it?

One 'Nursing' Mom

Happy Nurse's Week to the best nurse we know...
and Happy Mother's Day too!!! We love you!!!



-Daddy and Clarence

Happy Mother's Day to my loving Nanay too.. I Love You 'Nay!!!