roof-top – Chasing Dreams

28/52: Post-typhoon Blackout

July 25, 2014July 21, 2020 RhizaLeave a comment

Photographs of my daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014.

It was Wednesday, dusk, post-Glenda, when I took these photographs. There was a Metro Manila-wide power outage, and for us, the blackout started at 6AM and lasted til 9PM. It was getting dark, and, unsure of what to do next or where to evacuate, we took the twins to the rooftop to see the situation in the neighborhood (which can be seen from up there).

I could have processed the blue tint out of these photographs but chose not to. These frames captured exactly what the mood was that moment, with whatever remaining day light our camera could catch. The emotions were just so raw, the gloominess a diversion from the usual happy happy joy joy moments I try to capture as much as possible for Project 52.

My husband was getting a little impatient and frustrated around this time, but he remained calm and collected just as we needed him to be. Dawn & Rain would get a little cranky once in a while, but they remained innocently happy in spite of the situation. I’m so proud of them for not giving us a lot of headache and stress, at least not more than the blackout was already giving us.

Shortly after these photographs were taken, God sent angels in the form of our friends, Normi and Daniel, who surprised us by appearing right on our doorstep! And so we spent the night somewhere with electricity and good food and yummy ice cream, with four little ones (3 toddlers and a 3-month old) in tow.

By the time they took us back home, the electricity was back on, and we’re just grateful for the gift of friendship, and for a God who knows exactly what we need and who to send us when we need them.

I don’t think I need to blog in detail how our electricity got cut off again the next day, leaving our area power-less the whole weekend, which caused us to evacuate to our house in Caloocan for 3 days. Let’s just say, these photographs pretty much sum up how the week looked like in our side of the world, and I’m just truly grateful for the people the Lord sent our way to make our situation easier to bear.

Ultimately, I’m so thankful that the whole family is safe; that however good or bad a day (or week!) can be, as long as we’re together, we’ll find a way to survive.

More about Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.

Project 52 Update and “Dawn & Rain’s Website”

In other news, I’m finally back on track with my 52 Week Project! Hooray. I’ve been playing catch up for what seemed like forever, and now I finally caught up with the other Mommies around the world who are doing it too. This week is Week 29.

Fact: I made a vow to myself that I won’t blog about anything else but Project 52 until I’m done catching up. Which explains why I haven’t been, well, blogging about anything else! No regrets, because it seems that Dawn & Rain have grown a following that’s even bigger than this blog’s readership, LOL, so yay for the traffic I’ve collected during this Dawn & Rain marathon.

A friend of mine shared my site on Facebook with the caption, “Check out Dawn & Rain’s website!”, and okaaayy, I guess this space is really becoming their website already! Thing is, I don’t really mind. After all, this blog has always been about my life, and right now, these two are my life.

It reminded me of this tweet:

“Where you go, I will go. Your pretzels with be my pretzels. Your blog will be my blog.”- Ruth, Age 2 <– Bible

— Honest Toddler (@HonestToddler) May 12, 2014

LOL.

So yes, feel free to call this “Dawn & Rain’s Website”. It is what it is! :)

However, to Dawn & Rain’s fans, I hope you don’t mind that I also share a thing or two about my profession here. Haha. (Am I seriously asking permission?). Chasing Dreams, of course, is still largely about the other thing, which is my passion, and my professional mission to help others make their dreams happen. So I’m going to try to do a little more of that, now that I’m finally on track with Project 52.

It’s the end of another week, and I have piles of projects, work stuff, and other things lined up for the weekend. But before I dive again into my ever-growing, never-ending to-do list, I think I’m going to take a little break tonight. It’s Friday night, after all, and Friday nights are supposed to be spent wisely. Preferably, away from the internet. :)

Have a great weekend!

21/52: Home is Wherever I’m With You

July 7, 2014July 21, 2020 Rhiza3 Comments

Photographs of my daughters, once a week, every week, this 2014. Week 21.

Once upon a time, my husband and I lived in a roof top apartment. It was our first home, with just enough living space for two and a huge outdoor area that held some of our most memorable experiences as a newly married couple. We had a lot of memories in that rooftop, until we got pregnant and had to move to a bigger space on a lower floor.

Visiting the roof top apartment now, this time with our two little girls, makes me feel a little nostalgic. It wasn’t long ago when it was just the two of us, and now, we’re four, and wow there’s really no stopping time from moving forward.

As someone who’s moved from one place to another far too many times in the past decade, I’ve come to terms with the fact that houses are temporary, and “home” is that which you bring with you wherever in the world you go. Home can be a place, and it can also be a person, or a group of people, or a collection of memories. But home is not confined to a place, I guess that’s why a new house or a new city or a new country doesn’t instantly make you feel “at home”.

That’s kind of what’s going through my mind every time we go back to the roof top. It doesn’t feel like home anymore. The vines have grown unkempt, some of the plants have dried up, the walls are dirty, the windows are dusty. And yet, in the midst of the strangeness of what used to be a familiar place, I hear Dawn & Rain scream and laugh and run around while their Daddy chase them, and suddenly, there it is. My home, right there with me.

Today as I post this, Ivy is on her one-way flight to New York to join her husband there for good. And maybe I’ll rant a handful about that in a separate post, but in a nutshell, her departure is making me think about how temporary most things are in this life. Babies grow, children get older, people leave and move and start a new life elsewhere.

I once wrote about saying goodbye, and the realization remains true:

Change involves pain, and pain forces us to grow. It causes us to see situations with eternal eyes, and teaches us the art of letting God do His thing. It helps us loosen our grip off tangible things—people, places, routines; and causes us to embrace the more important things, the ones that last forever—friendships, memories, lessons learned, love that transcends space and time.

I’ve struggled about moving my whole life, mostly because I’ve become a little too attached to places, to people, or to the memories associated with them. I hate saying good bye. I don’t like packing. Moving scares me and I wondered many times why I kept doing it.

But something about my best friend leaving, and now having David, Dawn and Rain in my life, that gives me this new-found courage, this quiet assurance. The assurance that wherever in the world the Lord takes us, whether we stay or move, whether friends leave or we leave.. we’ll be okay. As long as we’re together, home is wherever we go.

More about Project 52 here. View all posts in this blog series here.

That Fleeting Moment Before it Rains

April 4, 2012November 14, 2021 Rhiza15 Comments

Saturday, March 24. Just before the rain poured, my husband and I thought it was a great day to spend some time “out” (and by “out” we meant, by our spacious roof top). So I cooked macaroni for lunch and we spent some quality time outside—him, by the laptop, and me, with the guitar. I know Perry Noble said it’s not romantic for a husband to tinker on his gadget while his wife sits beside him, but I guess we consider ourselves an exception. Once in a while when one of us has to work on the computer, we find it romantic actually to just sit next to each other while the other does his thing. :P

The cool wind is the added perk that day, I could almost feel the rain about to pour.

Edit. Apparently, my husband tweeted that moment too:

So.. he had a preaching assignment for our Youth Worship again, two Sundays in a row, and you already know how happy that makes me. On that same Sunday, I was leading Praise and Worship too, so while the husband studied, I was having my own quiet time strumming some chords and meditating on the songs in my line-up. I couldn’t stop thinking, I certainly wouldn’t mind.. a lifetime like this, serving the Lord in ministry together.

And then I found myself reading Leviticus 26 again, and these verses popped from the pages of my Bible,

³ If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

⁶ I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

⁹ I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. ¹¹ I will put my dwelling placeamong you, and I will not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

~Leviticus 26:3-4

I know these words may sound a little bit ancient and out of this world to some of you, but for me, every word, every line, cut deep into my heart until I felt tears on my cheeks. God is going to pour in rain to our life. There will be abundance, and blessings, an increase. There will be a great harvest! God will walk with us and never forsake us. There will be peace and quiet, and we will no longer be slaves to people who cause us pain. One by one I claimed each promise enclosed in that short chapter.

Soon, the rain literally poured and my husband and I had to retreat back inside our house.

Later that day, we found out I’m pregnant.

But that, is a story for another time. :)

Living on the rooftop, Google SkyMap, and flying lanterns

January 30, 2012November 14, 2021 Rhiza3 Comments

Ready for a special edition of 3 Beautiful Things??

1. Living on the roof.

God has blessed us with a beautiful home for two, with a spacious rooftop veranda, and an amazing view of the sky. When we’re home, we feel like we’re on top of the world, literally and figuratively. It’s our own little place away from everything. There’s not a lot of buildings around us, so when we open our door in the morning, bright blue skies and puffy white clouds greet us back. In the evenings, we would switch on the twinkle lights, and dance under the stars. I lost track of the number of parties and get-togethers we hosted since we moved in last August. Our home is not big, but I thank God that He’s filling it up with lots of happy memories.

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.

Meanwhile I’m Putting Up More Twinkly Lights

December 5, 2011December 23, 2021 Rhiza4 Comments

I like quoting from movies, even if no one gets it. And sometimes I like explaining them too, when no one gets it. :p

In You’ve Got Mail, when Kathleen Kelly’s book shop was starting to lose sales after Fox Books opened within the block, she confidently shrugged off the concerns of her worried employees and simply said, “They’re new, it’s a novelty. It’ll all shake out. Meanwhile, I’m putting up more twinkle lights.”

I love that scene. I love how Kathleen said that line as if putting up those lights was more important than worrying about her business. We all could use some of that attitude, don’t you think? (:

Last week, I woke up from a quick nap to the sight of this beauty *points to the picture*. We were supposed to do this together, but the husband thought he’d surprise me so he went ahead putting the Christmas lights up while I was sleeping. A word to husbands out there: big or small gestures like this are very much appreciated. Never get tired surprising your wives with kindness, rest assured, your act of love will be returned tenfolds. ♥

x o x o

Here’s some linkworthy stuff to start the week:

+ Interesting thoughts on making disciples by Laura Hamilton. I agree with her, Christianity does involve a bold, unashamed declaration of faith, rather than a quiet commitment you keep to yourself.

+ I cried like a loser, watching this Coca-Cola OFW Project. Good job, Coca-Cola! You make me want to buy boxes of Coke and give them away for Christmas.

+ Alie Edward’s December Daily hybrid journal project makes me wish I have time and skills to do one of my own. Paislee Press and Paper Relics are doing it too. I started scrapbooking (again) lately, I just don’t think I can do it with the same passion and commitment as these ladies here. At least not yet. Maybe someday. (;

+ Pentatonix won the Sing Off last week. I love this video I found in Youtube, a montage of all their performances this season. We still watch them at home until now.

+ I love how Seth Godin’s blogs transcend both business and life. He may be using marketing terms like “products” and “customers” and “services” or may be directly referring to entrepreneurial principles in his posts, but for all we know, he’s actually imparting to us important life lessons on achieving real-life breakthrough one step at a time. Oh, and he’s got some interesting thoughts about Christmas lights, too! This guy thinks about everything! LOL.

+ I’ve been thinking about this SEO and Online Marketing industry I happened to have been exposed to for the past 6-7 years, and I thought, even though I don’t really see myself doing this forever, perhaps I shouldn’t give up on it just yet.

+ Lastly, you might want to help Wikipedia, since, you know, we’ve all somehow benefited from it at one point or another.

Here’s to starting, and ending, the week right! (:

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

November 28, 2011May 13, 2019 Rhiza3 Comments

It’s December in 2 days and I bet you’re wondering too where on earth November went! Time flies fast, no?

Last night, we put up the Christmas tree at home. We started putting up Christmas lights at the veranda, too, last week, getting the place ready for some Christmas parties and get-togethers. It’s our first ever Christmas together since we met 12 years ago, and I’m kinda giddy about celebrating it with him! I used to think that Christmas is the saddest of all holidays (I had my share of depressing blog posts, IKR), but this year is bound to be so much different from all the other Christmasses we’ve had apart. Sweeter, and happier, for sure.

So I had my brother deliver to me the old tree I’ve had since 2009. We deliberated on buying a bigger tree this year, but we thought we’d save the money for a much-needed, much-awaited Christmas present we want to give ourselves instead. Besides, this little Christmas tree is perfect for our little home, for now. The idea of using Instax photographs as ornaments came about last year, and we thought we’d do it again this year.

This could be the start of our very own Christmas tree tradition or something, putting up photos on the tree like a timeline, representing milestones and beautiful memories of the year that was. I’m all for traditions these days, especially now that I’m starting new ones with Bud.

I’m excited to post more photos, for some reason. I think Christmas looks really pretty in photographs because of the Christmas lights. (: