Nuninuninuninu...

I woke up to the sound of the wind blowing against the glass doors to our balcony. Scary sound. I woke up our nanny and with her, brought in our gigantic aluminum sampayan. The wind was so strong (and freezing!), I thought it would break the glass. I remember our neighbor's story on her glass door breaking during Typhoon Milenyo a few years ago. Scary thought.

The kids are sick. Both A and the baby have colds. So the baby is extra clingy and refuses to take milk from his bottle. Instead, he throws a fit until I give in to nursing him. Extra comfort to ease his discomfort. I don't mind. In a few years, he'll eventually forget about it. Right now, I will cherish each moment.

The hubby came over to give A a personalized name band he had purchased for her. Upon opening her surprise package, A exclaims "But I already have this!" Then she shows it to me. R retorts with "Sorry, I didn't know." And A answers with "That's because you aren't in my life. That's why you don't know." Ouch. Did she just hit the jackpot there with that statement?

Snooze Time

The house is finally quiet. The kids are pooped. It was our annual Halloween Event here at our place. As usual, the kids had too much sweets to even feel like sleeping early. But yes, they are finally asleep; Hello, peace and quiet!

I need to catch up on sleep. I will be yaya-less over the holidays, so I need to get my energy level up. Was able to book our annual Hong Kong trip for next year - thanks to 5J and their Piso Fare Promo. :) God must love me so much! I didn't have problems booking and buying the tickets. Spent less than 10 minutes on the site. Whereas, my friends have been trying all night just to get their promo tickets, but to no avail. I am blessed. :)

So now, while all of my friends stay up to get their flights, I shall get some much-needed snooze. Good night, world! Another typhoon on the way. Stay safe, everyone!

Contest! Win a Fireproof DVD!

Hello readers! Would you want to win your very own Fireproof DVD? Well, I have a contest for you!

There are two ways to join this contest, the mechanics are as follows:

OPTION 1: I LOVE FIREPROOF Category
Write a review about the movie Fireproof on your blog and post a link to your blog entry on the comments section of THIS post.

Edit: If you do not own a blog, you may write a review directly on the comments section of THIS post.

OPTION 2: I FIREPROOFED MY MARRIAGE Category
Haven't watched Fireproof, but would like to own the video? Blog about how far you've gone to save your marriage, and post a link to your blog entry on the comments section of THIS post.

Edit: If you do not own a blog, you may tell us how far you've gone to save your marriage by posting directly on the comments section of THIS post.

There will be two winners for this contest - one from each Category. Best blog entry from each category will win an original Fireproof DVD from House of Praise.

Contest Duration: From 12:01 am, Friday, 30 October 2009 'til 11:59 pm, Thursday, 12 November 2009. Winners will be announced on Monday, 16 November 2009. Contest is open to all Philippine residents. Readers not residing in the Philippines may still join the contest, provided that they have a relative in the Philippines who may claim the prize. NO ANONYMOUS ENTRIES PLEASE. YOU MAY USE A NICKNAME OR A USER ID, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO PROVIDE A VALID NAME AND ID WHEN CLAIMING THE PRIZE.

D

Our good friend D is celebrating his birthday today. D used to be like R. I say used to be because he is now a pastor. Yes, after years and years of womanizing, D turned his back on the world. He found true happiness in Christ and has since been serving the Lord. Almost 4 years ago, he surprised his wife with a wedding. Below is their wedding story as retold in a digest I wrote on 9 February 2006:

SURPRISE WEDDING
The last Thursday of January was unforgettable. I attended a wedding so unlike others. I have written about my d-group (bible study/ couples group) several times, and remember our d-group leaders, D and DM? To refresh you a bit, D used to be a womanizer. He cheated on his wife several times, with his wife's friends, kumare, cousin even! He also got involved in various crimes and was once charged with attempted murder (charges have been dropped). Anyway, his wife, DM, didn't lose hope, instead she was a godly wife to D. Until one day, God finally heard her prayer. D started going to church with the family; he started praying, reading the bible, attending small groups, etc. This is the shortened version of how it all happened. But let me tell you, it was a journey. Eventually, after years of getting to know God, D made a commitment to be a youth pastor (note: he is now full-time pastor for a church in Taytay).

So anyway, fast forward to last November (2005)... D came up to some of the women in our D-group and said he wanted to surprise DM on their wedding anniversary. His idea was to stage a surprise wedding. Their anniversary was on the 27th of January. The surprise wedding happened on the 26th.

DM had no idea that D actually had something up his sleeve. As far as she knew, they were gonna watch a concert at The Penn. A friend of theirs supposedly had two dinner tickets and couldn't use them so she decided to give these to the couple as a gift. She also warned DM that she should wear something formal, because it was a dinner concert at a hotel.

So because it was their anniv, DM's mom also gave them overnight accomodations at an Ortigas Hotel. DM was clueless on the preps. Everyone was actually working on it.

Thursday night at 7pm, the sanctuary at CCF St. Francis was filled with wedding guests. Everyone was anticipating her arrival. At half past 7, D and DM arrived at St. Francis. D asked DM to wait for him at the ground floor while he goes up to the 4th Floor office to get the tickets. 10 minutes later, someone goes down to get DM because D's supposedly still talking to someone in the office. As the elevator door opens, DM is shocked to see her mom (a devout Catholic who once vowed never to set foot in CCF). When it dawns on her that there was actually a wedding and it was actually HER wedding (they were once wed, so this is a renewal of sorts after all the painful years), DM cries.

Anyway, I won't go into other details. I just wanted all you women to put yourself in her shoes. Imagine 10 years of pain. 10 years of trying to obey God's will. 10 years of tears. 10 years of thinking that your husband could possibly leave you for good, worse, even kill you (because D almost did). 10 years of NOT GIVING UP. Then imagine God rewarding you for your labor. A wedding. A surprise wedding, planned in detail by the person who hurt you the most for 10 whole years. Sigh. A great and worthwhile reward, don't you think?

Truly, one does not labor in vain, especially if you labor for God's glory!