QUE SERA SERA

In the blink of an eye, everything's upended.  In the blink of an eye, plans are put on hold, but for how long?  Fear, worry, unsure of what's around the bend gnaws at me constantly but I cannot give in to these uncertainties.  And I hope and pray that you would remain strong also.  Amidst the roller coaster ride of the stock market, the community lock down happening everywhere around the globe, the rising death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic, let us remain strong in our faith in the One who is faithful for "He will never leave us nor forsake us."  Yes, I'm holding on fast to the One who holds our tomorrows.

And then school closed for the year even through there's still 10 weeks left of the school year.  Now what?  Parents are grumbling and panicking.  Relax y'all!  School is not just about worksheets, books and pencil and paper.  There are myriads of ways of teaching at home, most of the time your children won't even know they're doing school - I promise you that.  Just be there and spend time with them doing what you both love to do.

Anyway, yesterday we picked up JJ's device at his school and while we were in line waiting for our turn, I spied these corona virus-like seedpods lying on the ground.  They were everywhere under the big tree on the corner of the school parking lot.  So while we wait for the cars to move along -- PING! an idea came - in the blink of an eye  (can you see my eye blink and a light bulb above my head?)  Hahaha.

Once we got the device I parked my car in the corner and JJ and I each had a grocery bag and we went and filled both of them with the seedpods.  Of course JJ was grumbling about it but I challenged him to find out what tree it is and do a research about it as part of his home school.  It might be hard, of course, because the trees are still bare so we won't even have a clue what the leaves even look like.  (If you know what tree I'm talking about please feel free to comment below).  I mentioned that he can find out whether this kind of tree is endemic to the Midwest only.  He asked what "endemic" means and - BINGO - that's another "word of the day" for him.  He will look up the meaning of the word for me.  So there, parents, one example of teaching your children at home - simple, everyday activities that brings the most impact and will stay with them forever.  But, a tip, don't do it often or they will stop asking for fear that they may be asked to research it...tehehehe.

Back to the corona virus-like seedpods, I will turn these into a beautiful wreath worthy of hanging at my door.  Hey, who knows I might get orders - Hahaha.

And here it is....TAHDAA....tell me what you think.  I will be experimenting with other designs as well.

Well on the serious side of the matter at hand, let me ask you this, dear ones.  When we come out of this pandemic, and this lock down and Stay-at-home-is-safer idea, what will our score card look like?

# of hours slept?
# of hours spent on our phone?
# of movies watched on Netflix or Hulu?
# of hours spent online?
# of hours awake at night worrying?

........you fill the rest.  Or did our pursuits changed to spending more time with the Father, soaking in His Word and communing with the Holy Spirit while we're ordered to stay home with our family?

Let me leave you with this: Psalm 107: 6, 13, 19, 28 ""LORD help!" they cried in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress."

And this:  Psalm 107:43 "Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD."

May we find rest under the Shadow of the Almighty today.  Thank you for following - loving and praying for y'all!  Please feel free to share this with your friends.

A WONDERFUL GOOD PROBLEM, AIN"T SO?

Some of you know that Mike and I started a children's Saturday Feeding and Art Program ministry during our stay in the Philippines.  We left it in the care of our Pastor and his wife with the promise that we will continue to support it financially which we have been faithfully doing.  The attendance has its valleys and peaks and some of the children are now teenagers and they have stopped coming.  Still Pastor Teddy and his wife, Deborah along with the few energetic ladies continued to minister to the children who come every Saturday.

Because the place where we used to meet has not been repaired yet, they started meeting at the church.  Below is the picture that was sent to me last summer.  Here's Pastor Ted giving them the Bible lesson before the feeding starts:

Today, March 2, I received a message from them wondering if it would be possible to up the financial support that we send each month.  I learned that attendance is growing, almost doubled.  They now serve children from 3 different Barangays or District.  We started with children from our neighborhood and children from Barangay Nasa and now I learned that there are children from Barangay Canipaan who regularly attends.  My first reaction was to dance and praise the Lord for bringing more children into the ministry.  Just imagine how many household will eventually hear the Gospel through these children?  How many will come to know the Lord and how many will we meet in heaven at the end of the age?  I am so elated I couldn't keep it to myself so I'm sharing it with you all.

Think of a one room church overflowing with children on Saturdays eager to hear the Word. I can't wait to go back and visit them.  And well, yes, isn't this a wonderful problem to have?  I'm going to make and sell more tocino so I can send them the financial support, hahaha.  I used to send them $50 a month, now I need to send $100 every month for they have multiplied, indeed!  HalleluYah!


Thank you all for following.  YHWH bless us all!