While I’m still terrified at the thought of doing Project 365 (which I tried once, but failed), committing myself to a more manageable creative project excites me for all the reasons I mentioned above.

So I’m doing this starting today.

Inspired by Stephanie and Mav’s A Year of Sundays, this new creative project I’m imposing upon myself will run from February 2012 to February 2013. I will take photographs and let you in on how my Saturdays go; you can keep coming back to this post to monitor my progress. Hopefully, as I go about one week after another, I will also be challenged to do something extraordinary out of my Saturdays and make the most out of it.

52 Saturdays starting today, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I know I will. :)

I take a lot of photos (you know that already), and sometime ages ago, I got hooked with digital scrapbooking too. But lately I enjoy doing traditional scrapbooking again. There’s something about putting together patterned papers, instant photographs, and library sticker labels that make me fall in love, in the same way I love keeping and writing on journals.

Here’s something I did last December. I wish I have more time doing non-digital stuff like these.

I love browsing through a completed scrapbook project, but the process is long and can be really frustrating (because it takes time, something I don’t exactly have so much of.) You know what I’d really like to have in the Philippines right now? I want Project Life to be available in local art stores and specialty stores here. Is that even possible, Becky Higgins? I could really use a hassle-free way of preserving photographs. Project Life would have been a breeze. :)

Oh well, in the meantime, I make use of whatever we have in this side of the world. Here’s what’s inside my little scrapbook project:

Sometimes I wish I could live inside these pretty things.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to know that for busy people like us, we don’t have to go far to have some rest and recreation after all! Last week, during the Chinese New Year holiday, my husband and I decided to check-in at The Malayan Plaza Hotel at Ortigas Center. His cousin from New York was visiting Manila, so I was secretly happy to have found an excuse to finally try out this hotel.

Swimming in the rooftop pool was pretty much the highlight of the day for my husband and his cousin. The two of them spent the whole afternoon taking laps, enjoying the cool water and the warm afternoon sun.

I took a swim in the pool, too. But mostly I just lounged around and enjoyed my grande Caramel Macchiato. I love love looove that there’s Starbucks right beside the hotel. I watched the two boys,  held on to their towels, and took photos of them, yes, like a Mommy.

When we got back to our suite, a bag of cookies was waiting for us courtesy of the Malayan Plaza crew. I know it’s just a simple thing, but getting something more than what you paid for is always a treat, even if it’s just a bag of snacks.

We spent the rest of the night watching movies, and enjoying the free wifi. Yes friends, Malayan Plaza Hotel has free wifi. THEY HAVE FREE WIFI! In this age and time, a hotel without free wifi should consider closing down, really. I’m glad Malayan Plaza is a wifi zone, you just have to inquire in the front desk and they will generate a user access for you.

Husband wants to go back for the swim.

I want to go back for the quiet.

I think we found our happy place.

2. Google SkyMap & Betelgeuse. Back when we were laptop-less, the husband and I learned to be more creative with our time. One November evening, we thought of spending the night “out”. Dinner and some stargazing was the agenda of the night, on our very spacious veranda, and the experience was made more awesome with this Google SkyMap android app that my husband downloaded on his phone. (I highly recommend it!)

The highlight of the Google SkyMap experience for me was locating where the stars Betelgeuse and Canis Majoris are, and seeing them in the sky with my bare eyes. In that note, you have to watch Louie Giglio’s How Great is Our God video! It’s 40 minutes long but you should take time to watch it, really.

Betelgeuse, Louie Giglio says, is twice the size, not of the Sun, but of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. He says, if the Earth was the size of a golf ball, Betelgeuse would stand the height of six Empire State Buildings on top of each other. It’s that huuge! Go locate yourself in a golf ball-size earth, and imagine how huge the Betelgeuse star is.

The first time we watched this video in church, I was moved in such a huge way I was crying half-way through until the end. And it’s not only because I was/am a crybaby. It’s that, when you begin to realize how huge this universe is, and how small you are in this vast space, you start to wonder why a huge God who created all of these would even look at tiny little you with so much love. I don’t know about you, but that just blows my mind away.

Now I know where Betelgeuse is in the sky. It’s a mere spec of light from where we are, I know, but everytime I look up, I become filled with so much awe at how ginormous our God is, and how much He loves us.

3. Flying lanterns. On January 13, Friday the 13th, our dear friends, Rovy and Jeni gave us a wish lantern. These girls are the sweetest! It’s a real blessing to be surrounded by such loving and thoughtful people. Whoever said that Friday the 13th means bad luck?

We thought of flying lanterns on our wedding but we had to scratch it off the plan because of the risks. But last Friday the 13th, I finally had my little Tangled wish granted. Just one lantern, one wish. That’s all we needed for a perfect night.

No, it wasn’t my wedding day, life-changing as it had been. Today I’m thinking of a day that’s quite similar to a wedding, because it also involves a life-long covenant, a bold decision, and a leap of faith.

June 11, 1994. I was 11 years old. I went with my Mom to their office, which also happens to be our church. My Mom works in the church, have I ever mentioned that? My Dad was a Pastor and my Mom partnered with him in that ministry for 33 years. Until now, even after Dad passed away, my Mom still works in SBCC. So I grew up there, attending (later on, teaching) Sunday schools, youth camps, Bible studies, fellowship groups, and tagging along wherever my parents went.

But it was in June 11, 1994 when it all became clear to me that being a Christian is not exactly inheritable. When your parents are Christians, that doesn’t make you one by default. Sure, parents can raise you up in a Christian environment, but their belief does not automatically become your belief. It’s a decision only YOU can make for yourself. And it’s a decision that God will call you to do.

And so I surrendered my life to Jesus that day in 1994. I remember praying with my Mom and shedding lots of tears. I remember understanding for the first time that Jesus Christ suffered and died in the cross because it’s the only way to save us from our sins.

“He loves us that much?”, I remember my 11-year-old self asking my Mom, wiping my tears away. Even until now, whenever I think about God’s goodness, I would find myself saying variations of that very sentence: Really, Lord? You love me that much?

What does an 11 year old girl know about making decisions anyway, you ask. I’m not sure how to answer that question either, being 11 felt too long ago. All I know is, I remember June 11, 1994 vividly, and that day was the start of this amazing ride. And although at times I find myself falling or bruising myself along the way, it’s God’s love for me that kept me going and moving forward in this journey of faith.

My faith story is not like Rica Paralejo‘s or Manny Pacquiao‘s (Go ahead, click those links, watch their stories and be blessed!). Theirs was a drastic decision to turn away from their old lives, while I grew up in church and didn’t have to adjust so much. But the Spirit that changed them is the same that worked in my life, and is continuously working in our lives. Truly, Jesus’ act of love 2,000 years ago, His death on the cross, has the power to redeem us from our self-destructive, sinful nature and give us eternal life.

If only we would let Him.

How? Just believe.

Believe that you need a Saviour, that you need Jesus Christ in your life. Believe that no amount of good works is enough to earn you eternal life, after all, heaven does not have a point system. All sins fall in the same category, and sin comes with a price. As it’s been said in Romans 6:23:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Not by works, just Jesus.

Believe. Surrender. Accept His gift of eternal life. That’s all it takes.

Is there one day in your life when you made a decision that changed your life forever?

This could be that day.

That’s how it felt like last Sunday. Like Christmas morning and the dawn of New Year all in one day.

The worship tent was overflowing with both familiar faces and strangers. Seeing new faces in church is a real joy; to me that means our church is growing, and God’s Word is being widely spread in the community. I looked around the church I grew up in, thankful that God kept me here at such a time as this and grateful for the opportunity to witness such growth, such revival.

Listening to the sermon, I wrote on my journal profusely—notes about seeing each situation with eyes of faith; of giving your all and not holding back; of rejoicing about things that are still unseen. It still blows my mind how God knows exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Do you feel that too?

And now, as I read the notes I wrote on my journal last Sunday, this sentence zoomed in on me:

Sometimes, God operates in ways that don’t make sense.

I read it once, twice, thrice. I read it many times over. I thought of the things in my life that don’t make sense to me, enumerating them like a mental checklist—frustrating things, impossible things, unfair things. It’s easy to feel dejected thinking about things that don’t make sense, no? Humans that we are, we long to understand what’s happening, to get a glimpse of what’s going to happen next or when the torture is going to end, to find answers to questions quick.

But it seems that these are God’s best working conditions. He operates in the realm of the impossible, that’s why when life finally reveals what He’s been up to, we often find ourselves surprised, in awe, amazed.

Sampaloc Bible Christian Community is a testament to that.

My life is a testament to that. Last year, most especially.

So if you’re going through something that seems impossible and does not make sense, I say, instead of feeling frustrated, be crazy excited! It only means that God is silently at work, getting you ready for something truly amazing.

This is how I know that 2012 will be even more. mind. blowing. ;)

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

Cute no?

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

i.e. (1) Last year, on my husband’s birthday, we were saying good bye; this year, we woke up next to each other and ate pancakes for breakfast. (2) Last year, on New Year’s Eve, we were shouting our greetings to each other over long distance phone calls, twice, because of the time difference; this year, we’re in Manila Hotel with David’s extended family, we watched the last sunset of the year together, and we welcomed the new year in the same continent and timezone. And then we had a beautiful quality time, just the two of us, at home, before work and classes resumed.

Behold the last sunset of 2011.

I had quite a number of milestones in 2011.

I encountered God like I never did before, after which, answered prayers and miracles happened one after the other I can never stop praising and thanking God.

And then LifeXtreme happened in this life of mine. It’s a humbling experience to be part of the committee that frontlines our church’s Youth Worship. This coming March marks LifeXtreme’s anniversary and I’m so blessed to have witnessed God’s work in our church’s youth ministry up front and center.

I turned 28, and celebrated what turned out to be my last birthday as a single person.

I let go of  a comfortable work-from-home set-up to make room for a more stable, more organized office job in Makati. I never thought I’d go back to the work force again after 2 years of being an SEO nomad, but stability is more important to me now than adventure, and I love how I can separate work from home and home from work this time around. Someone’s getting old.

I got married, which opened up a floodgate of big changes, like the change of address, and a hyphenated name, among many others.

It’s heartwarming, looking back and seeing what God has done and how far He has brought us in such a short period of time. Before 2011 started, our game plan was quite different. As the year ended, God proved once again that He’s a God of sweet surprises, and that we can never out-plan Him.

Which brings me back to our game. Try it. What were you doing exactly this time last year? How much has changed since? Are you doing something you planned and worked hard for, or something totally unexpected?

A warning, be careful to not dwell too much on the past. It’s one thing to look back and be stuck in what-ifs and what-should-have-beens, another thing to look back for the purpose of moving forward and being thankful for what you have now.

New Years are for clean slates and new beginnings. I pray that you find yourself counting blessings this 2012. :)

It’s our first Christmas as husband and wife, and I love that we get to start our own Christmas traditions. Last year, I had some instax photographs up on my Christmas tree, and this year, we thought we’d do the same. We picked some of our favorite photographs from the wedding and the honeymoon and printed them out with our Polaroid Pogo. It’s a cute little project, something we hope we can keep on doing for years to come.

On another note, I know it has been a challenge for our country to celebrate Christmas this year when Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City are still under the state of calamity. We don’t have a television at home, and quite honestly, my husband and I have only seen and heard so much. I know we’ll never really have a clear picture of what’s happening out there, but our family feels somehow involved. My eldest brother is there since last week; as part of his job, he’s with the ABS-CBN Engineering Crew which covers the relief operations there. It’s our first Christmas Day without him, probably even New Year too. Ergo, we had to let go of certain Christmas traditions this year to make way for my brother to be where he’s needed more.

I look at Ate Imy (my sister-in-law) and Isaac and I imagine how difficult it must be for them to celebrate Christmas without Kuya. But then I think about the thousands of families in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan who lost their loved ones and friends over the flash flood, and how devastating Christmas and New Year must be like for them. As I stare at our Christmas tree here at home, my heart goes out to the victims of Sendong who lost their homes and didn’t get the chance to put up their trees this year. At the time of this writing, the death toll has reached about 1,500. This is even more tragic than Ondoy.

Suddenly, no personal issues or problems are too big.

It’s easy to question the goodness of God at a time like this, but words from the Bible pop up like bright stars in the dark sky: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) God sees everything in a bigger perspective, and as far as His grand scheme of things is concerned, everything happens for a reason and for our own good. His ways are higher, we only have to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10)—and believe that with all our hearts.

For the rest of us who are not in the center of this tragedy and are watching this from a distance, it’s our chance to help and make a difference. I’m not directly connected with any relief efforts for Sendong, but I think the surest way for our donations to reach Cagayan de Oro and Iligan is through Red Cross. We have 2 more days left before 2011 ends, let’s make it count.

That’s how we spent his 27th birthday.

This year was a perfect contrast. :)

This year, we were not in a rush. We waited for the clock to strike 12 (same timezone, yes!), spent the first minutes on Skype with my father-in-law, and he opened his gifts like he couldn’t wait. We had a long uninterrupted sleep, we woke up next to each other, and I cooked breakfast like I never did before. (Well, we never eat breakfast.) And then we spent the day doing whatever the birthday boy thought of doing.

We’ve had parties here and there the whole month of December, we even hosted some at home; so for his birthday, he specially requested to have the day just to ourselves. We played some sets of bowling, watched a movie, had a full-body massage and spa, and a late night Taco party with the Velardos.

It was a beautiful, serene, quality time together, accentuated by lots of laughter, hugs and kisses, tears of joy, and moments we would stop in our tracks and marvel at God’s grand scheme of things. Oh how things didn’t seem to make sense before! And oh how He unraveled His great master plan and brought us where we are in His own sweet time.

I’ve been blogging relentlessly about our story, mostly because the daily dose of inspiration is too overwhelming to contain and I need a place to share them all; partly because I have a feeling that someone somewhere is going through similar valleys and roads, and I thought, if only I could encourage at least one person to keep the faith and never tire on chasing his/her dreams, then this blog has served beyond its purpose. Although it’s not really a self-help blog with how-tos and 101s to long distance relationships and chasing dreams (well, not yet), I’m happy to be sharing my life here as a case study. Lest you need to pick up a lesson or two.

God has made many of my dreams come true, and replaced the good ones with the best; and while the journey is not a walk in the park and we have to hurdle through difficult situations and people along the way, God is faithful, and well, we’re living our lives together now aren’t we? :)

So to you who’s going through your own roller-coaster ride of a life and wondering when the chase will end, take it from us: God has your best interest in mind, always. He will see you through. Just as He did with us.