Morning Prayer

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A Leap Of Faith

I am reblogging this here for all its worth.  Thank you for reading 🙂

You might wonder how are family has been since my brother was diagnosed with rectal cancer which has metastasised in his liver.

Allow me first to thank you all for  your prayers and words of comfort. It is helping us a lot that there are friends who also hope for a longer life for my brother.

Since he left the hospital, I call them everyday. He needs that moral support that we can give even in our small way. He has let go and let God do the rest for his healing. He decided not to undergo that much dreaded operation and even chemotherapy later on. Just to give you an idea, we are four siblings in all and my eldest brother underwent surgical operation with chemotherapy when he was diagnosed with the same ailment back in 2003. I had mine in July 2009 with six cycles of chemotherapy. I had doubts that this must be hereditary. There might be something in our genes  causing the three of us to have the same ailment. I remember what my medical oncologist said though years ago that genes/heredity  comprises only 10%  when you are diagnosed with colon cancer.

I was listening to my favorite  radio program the other week when they had this one-hour segment called Kaibigan sa Kalusugan  and their topic was about cancer and initial cure. They are a group of doctors who believe in alternative medicine. I left a message in their program which was also broadcasted on their Facebook page. One of their personnel texted me and gave me the details of their clinic near our place here in Manila. I texted back that my brother is in the province and Manila is too far for travel. They have a clinic in Pampanga  (more than seventy km. from our  place in the province)  so last Monday, my brother,  sis-in-law and a cousin who temporarily drives for them went for consultation. I googled their way of treating patients with different illnesses and I was impressed. Even my brother was all praises for them. They are doctors too. I was even more in awe when I read that they are known worldwide and that the medicines they prescribe to their patients are BFAD (Bureau of Food and Drugs) approved here in the Philippines.  My brother was prescribed three medications and they have to come back on Monday and bring new laboratory tests that they have requested. They even told him to continue with his previous medications prescribed by his doctors at the hospital.

This is a leap of faith. Hoping  for a better health for my brother.I always remember that God does not give us crosses that we can’t bear. He will always be there guiding our paths. Going through such challenges is quite heavy both for my brother and the family but we remain faithful and hopeful  of God’s wisdom and mercy.  There is a place where He wants us to be and we are truly grateful for that.

May God bless us all. 

Lato, Anyone?

Gosh, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year now since I posted something here. I am always updated with my main blog though, a link of which is attached here.

Sharing this photo I took yesterday, we locally call it Lato salad, a appetizer. I love seaweeds and I buy them once in a while fresh from the wet market.

 

He Is A Big Boy Now

Nonna’s joy. I think this is the second  time I posted a picture of my grandson here.

 

He is turning six this coming November. Time flies.  Happy Grandparents’ Day to all proud grandparents like I am.

My Gardenia Blooms

 

These flowers used to be permanent fixtures in my small garden. I had the lone shrub for years and it produces such lovely white flowers  every year. Some months ago, the leaves slowly turned yellow then they dried up to brittle brown ones. This afternoon, my son and I decided to finally put it to rest so what is left now is a small stump  of the trunk.

My gardenia is gone. All I have left are random photos  of its flowers. Funny but I still could smell their heady scents from here.

 

Blog Update

It’s been a while since I last posted something here. Been updating my main blog though  Dreams and Escapes regularly now. You can see it at the right corner of this blog.

I’ve been busy for a while and just forgot to update this site.  Hopefully, by the time I am done with my free limit at Dreams and Escapes, I would be able to update this blog regularly.  Here is something that I’ve tried experimenting with yellow  and white chrysanthemums on a plate of glass emerged in water. It’s not your usual flower arrangement  but they last longer.

Flowers are the nicest things to see aside from my small garden. I usually buy a bunch when we go to the wet market. It is cheaper that way.

Do you grow flowering plants too? What do you have in your garden?

When Friends Meet, Hearts Warm

Gosh, I’ve practically neglected this site. HAPPY 2017  to all.

Last Sunday, a few friends and I went to visit a member of our Catholic page at Facebook who is presently undergoing treatment for lupus. She was an OFW in Hongkong until more than a year ago.  Since she is  staying with his brother for a while, we went to visit her at her brother’s condo in  Pasig last Sunday.  It was my first time to see her although she has been a member of our   Apostles Filipino Catholic Community  (AFCC) for more than five years now.  It was a happy celebration of friendship – lots of laughter, exchanging stories about life and reminiscing about the early years of AFCC.

We took pictures of course and I am posting some of them here. My main blog Dreams and Escapes is almost full so I don’t want to post high-res photos there anymore.

We had breakfast together at the condo and Apol (the one in red) prepared it for us. She is still under medication but she looks okay now.

 

Taking shots at the corridor 🙂

 

Endless chats….

 

The pool outside looks inviting.

 

And we had our shots taken at the balcony too.

 

The last shot….

 

Yeay, we can’t get enough 🙂

It is so nice to be with friends again catching up – the joy of meeting and celebrating friendship, the endless  and non-stop chatter and laughter all around. This is my first time to go out with friends since the start of the new year.

Hopefully, our next gathering for  close members of the page will be pushed through this year. I am looking forward to it.

One Moment In Time

Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.  ~Ansel Adams

Can a camera truly capture a moment in time? I just could not resist WordPress’ topic for today because I love photography. I maybe an amateur in the field but one does not need to be that good behind a camera if you have a nice subject to freeze forever. You need a good eye though in capturing the essence of something as simple as a leaf or a bloom. In fact, I have another blog here which I called Colors, a collection of my earlier shots in various places on different subjects. I love to dabble in macro photography. There is something so wonderful about capturing minute details of a flower (my favorite subject) and seeing it as one perfect bloom, unblemished by the elements of nature.

And didn’t I say that it is an ongoing love affair for me? A few clicks here and there, knowing that in a spur of the moment, some scenes may change and you wish you had captured those cotton candy clouds or if you are lucky, a bird in solo flight. And what you have caught on film becomes a memory to treasure. Have you ever had that feeling of oneness with the whole world while looking at some photographs you took a few years back? Do you remember how the moment was?  Sometimes, it makes you smile. Yes, a camera can capture a moment in time.

If you are reading this, you can also visit my Colors blog, just click the above link I posted here. Thanks.

Another Day In Paradise

Go ahead –

Find some quiet place and listen

to the silence

Feel the sun on your face

Savour the sound of the wind

See the distant roar of the sea

Absorb the beauty of another day.

The Solitary Man

He walks –

And his feet lead to the green door

He sees familiar sites

The rose arbor, the trellis he made before

He knocks –

And waits patiently

He asks himself

When did I  come here last?

He feels that sudden knot of fear

Regrets come late

Remorse is  an even bitter pill to swallow

Am I late, he asks?

The door opens

And he sees a stranger.

I am…..he says

Come in, the stranger answers.

The decor has changed

And the pictures are gone

Is this…..he could not go on

She died a year ago.

The stranger says.

She could have waited.

If you said you were coming back.

She could have told you.

She has never forgotten.

A decade –

Days and months of waiting

Even a loving heart

Sometimes feel tired

Even a  happy soul

Slowly dies….

And love, long after it’s neglected

Dies a natural death too.

He retraces his steps

And becomes

A solitary man

Once more.