Saturday, July 25, 2009

Disappointment Caused By Bitterness = BAD Attitude!

This post should have been done earlier, but due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to do it. It was still fresh on my mind few days after we arrived from our Philippine trip, and the fact that it was only relayed to me when we arrived here in the US was a difficult thing to give my own side of the story. I just couldn’t let it out of my mind until I could post and share my sentiments as well.

By the way, I love all my family! That includes all the entire relatives of both my parent’s mother and father sides. Although families are not created to be 100% perfect, the LOVE will always be there. No matter how we have conflicts and petty quarrels, the harmonious love is still there. There might be some pain and struggles, but the love remains. There are serious wrongdoings that has been done, you feel so much upset, but in the end, you still love them. That’s the way I was raised.I am not sure how many families of my relatives still believe and maintain the harmonious, and unconditional love and should be on their priority list. (Of course, God will be on top J).

Well, I am not perfect either. I have been stubborn and “crazy” but I chose to walk on the right side. Thank God, He gave me a husband who is leading me to the right way of life.

There is always an important reason every time we go to the Philippines for a vacation...to visit our families. Of course, it’s always the direct/close family members that seem to come first...I can’t deny that.We have been always wanting to see every member of my BIG family (as my hubby would say), but there has been always a challenge beating the limited time we have. 

Our last visit to the Philippines was not exclusively to visit family but to attend to some important matters over family legality issues. In that case, it was one top priority! We were lucky enough to visit my cousin Senia’s family since our nephew and niece (yen and waky) wanted to see their “lola mins” (they call her that way). Their “lola mins” took care of them while they were still small. Thank God, they have decided to come back to Iloilo for good...so, the “reunion” happened. And speaking of the kids staying in Iloilo, we are still continuously praying for a heavenly wisdom for the jury that the kids’ wishes will be granted by court.This is a sensitive case to tackle, so I won’t be sharing it online. In one way or the other, we thought, their “lola mins” has the right to know what is really happening. She has been an “auntie-mom” to the kids for a while. (until now, I guess).

For those other relatives that we weren’t able to visit, we are sorry. There will always be a time for all ofus to gather. It will be in God’s perfect timing! So, please don’t cast out your disappointments but instead be open-minded enough to understand.I wonder why this should be a “big issue” to some other relatives L. Before you condemn us, perhaps, you should try “paying a visit” to my mom and she can give you updates.

There have been several members of our family who have been blessed enough to work abroad. I have heard and saw them visit Philippines, back and forth, but we were not “disappointed” to say “they didn’t pay us a visit”.We hear (and see) relatives who celebrate “fiestas” , birthdays, weddings, etc. and we are not invited (perhaps, forgotten on their list), and did you hear any word??? Did you see and hear us being disappointed? We still include you in our prayers! Before my mother went to Cavite to take care of the kids, she would always wish at least a niece or a nephew would come by the house to see and “visit” her. NOT even a niece or a nephew who is just close to her would bother dropping by. She wasn’t disappointed.But all these, we understood, because we all have our priorities on the list.

By the way, when we visit our families, we don’t give money! We are not rich. Just to clear things out. We don’t want anybody thinking about money when we pay for a visit. I know there are those (not all) who think that way. All we want is to be with families and strengthen the bond of love. If somebody would only think of money, then I will tell you, for sure, you don’t deserve to be part of the family! Sorry for being blunt!...but it makes sense, don’t you think? 

To all our families, you are all cordially invited to my house warming on 2011! ALL will be invited...as long as you’re a relative. Just bring you birth certificate to prove you are one. LOL!!!! (just kidding.)

Try to overcome envy. It would only make you bitter. Envy + bitterness lead you to disappointment. And that means “BAD ATTITUDE”. We don’t tolerate bad attitudes in the family. Not even a “crab mentality” attitude because it’s a bad attitude!

Hope you’ve said your prayer today! God bless!


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Fun in the Sun!

We just arrived from our Rhode Island trip the other day, and I can say we really had fun! It really put "smiles" on our face because lately, I and my hubby had been teasing each other with the words "Lady Ging" and "Duke Craig". LOL!

Well, the fact that we visited 7 mansions, it's a no wonder why those words seemed to just be spoken out of nowhere, hehehe...

The mansion tours inside are incredible!!! The only downside of that is NO photography inside! :(.  If ever allowed, I should have at least more than hundreds of photos stored in my camera already. Well, it's part of the National Historic Preservation rule, so visitors can keep coming :). I was really tempted to attempt to click my camera, but...NO WAY! Video cams inside the mansions are everywhere! Any person caught taking photos will be prosecuted. Well, I don't want to ruin my vacation spending the rest of my days in jail. So, behave na lang me, hehehe...

There are mansions that allow photography inside such as the Astor's Beechwood Mansion. It's kinda a private mansion, and I guess we were able to get 4-5 photos in there. It's not as fancy as the other mansions are, but it can give someone a glimpse on what is inside.

The Marble House (which is a mansion, by the way) is so far the most beautiful to me. Inside are all marbles, full of gold architectural designs on all ceilings and walls. The designs are inspired during America's Gilded age as they call it. Of course, mostly are like castle designs, and many are like Victorian designs. These were built in the 18th century, so just imagine the designs you'll see like that one in ancient Rome! :).

But of course, we spent most of our time outside, the longest one when we did the "Cliff Walk". This is a long walk (3.5 miles), and we didn't even finished it. Too bad! It was tiring, and you can't find any refreshing stand at all. Our drink was all gone, and we still had to walk more than a mile away,  and the heat was scorching, and I was super thirsty! If you love to walk or jog, this is the best place to do it. You get an exercise and an excellent view of the ocean! Just be sure to bring at least few bottles of water or soda with you. You'll be mostly along the cliff side, so refreshment stands are far, far away!

More soon! :)

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