Be A Safe And Beautiful Preggy Mama

Expecting a baby is both wonderful and challenging experience that not anybody could have. I say wonderful, because you are carrying a life in your tummy. And I say challenging and fragile, because of some limitations. Although I have not been preggy myself, but I know it because I used to lived with my married sister with five kids for a long time. Everything she used from her hair styling products, beauty products and down to her nail polish, she have to make sure that it don’t do harm both to her and to her baby inside of her tummy.
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But I got good news. Expectant mothers need not worry anymore about those limitations. Science had conquered it again. Beaute de Maman is a unique line of health and beauty products developed by a board-certified obstetrician to treat problems specifically related to the physiological and hormonal changes experienced by women during pregnancy. Hollywood celebrity moms-to-be including Penelope Ann Miller, Jennifer Blanc, Jane Hadjuk and many more well-known TV personalities had enjoyed this latest discovery safe and natural beauty product in their pregnancy stage. To learn more about this and their herbal based natural beauty products, visit their website. Think safety for yourself and your baby inside you. Place your order now and find out how to avail free shipping.

Take A Break And Spend Moment With God.

It is really amazing how God communicate to us in various ways. This morning, before I started with my devotional reading, I offered Him a song of worship. The lyrics of the song was primarily from Psalm 23rd. When I started with my bible reading, I was just so amazed because the text was Psalm 23rd. I smiled and thought, "There is something good that God has in store for me on this day."
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But contrary to what I thought, I spent my whole day nursing a tooth ache. Actually, I don't understand if it is my tooth or my ear. I want to believe it is some infection because there is no visible decay. So, I was just on bed for the whole day. His word in Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God," comforted me. There was a silent communication between God and me. What I mean to say is, there was a sweet companionship. No words needed. In Mark 6:31, Jesus told his disciples to "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Sometimes God wants us to refocus our attention towards Him. Quiet moments with God is very important to us. It restores our soul. Amidst the busy-ness, let's take a break and spend moment with God.

Restore Your Hair

My friend’s husband is only 33 years old and one of his major inferiority is his baldness. You can’t just guess how old he is because of that. What I mean is, he looks older than he actually is. He used to tell everybody, “It’s the genes.” He had been trying several kinds of hair growing solutions, but none of them resulted as how he would like it to. He doesn’t mind that too much and my friend loves him for what he is, but the only thing that matter is, it affects his career since he is in the field of public relation.
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Talking about Hair Loss problem, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery is a non-profit medical association of over 700 physicians specializing in Alopecia and hair loss. They provide education regarding hair transplant and surgery. According to this website, it is estimated that 35 million men in the USA are affected by Male hair loss and most of them are genetic. But the good news is they have different kind of solutions that suits your preferences. They even have a “do-it-yourself-products” Hair loss treatmentsuch as creams, ointments, nutrition supplements and other very effective cures that promise to stop hair loss and start them to regrow. Visit their website and learn more about these things.

Review Before Treatment

A friend is complaining of having a lot of pimples few days after she arrived here in USA. She had tried a lot of good brand of facial cleansing system but to no avail. I really feel sad for her. I have been there, too. I know the feeling of loaded with acne on the face. It was so difficult to talk to somebody without anticipating that the one I was talking to was distracted by the sight of my face. My doctor gave me an acne treatment that really works. I’m just so happy that I was over it.
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AcneTreatmentsReviews.net is a service to help people find perfect Acne Treatments that brings excellent results without side effects. Through their complete and unbiased list of acne treatment reviews, they help you research what kind of acne treatment will work best for you, differing to the individual acne problems. You can compare prices without compromising its effectiveness from the best acne solutions available. And they recommend which product would work best for you according to the kind of acne problem you have. Their acne treatment products are all natural ingredients that really help eliminate your acne and produce clear skin that you wanted. Their products are 100% money back guarantee and with as less as $10 you can get a full one month’s supply.

Corn Flakes and Fresh Strawberries

This is one of my favorite breakfast. Corn Flakes and Fresh Strawberries in a bowl of fresh milk.
STRAWBERRY NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Serving Size: 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries (166 grams)
Calories 50
Protein 1 gram
Carbohydrates 11.65 grams
Dietary Fiber 3.81 grams
Calcium 23.24 mgIron 0.63 mg
Magnesium 16.60 mg
Phosphorus 31.54 mg
Potassium 44.82 mg
Selenium 1.16 mg
Vitamin C 94.12 mg
Folate 29.38 mcg
Vitamin A 44.82 IU

It's Never Too Late To Learn Ballroom Dancing

My hubby used to be a dancer when he was younger. He had some videos of his great performances during some contest. I enjoyed watching them. He keeps telling me that he wants me to enroll in ballroom dance school. Well, I think it is not too late to learn some dance though. His favorite dance is swing.
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Talking about dance school, StartDancing.com promotes dance schools in Australia. They’ve got content about popular dance styles such as hip hop, bachat, salsa, etc. I’m curious about salsa dancing and what is behind that dance that made it so dramatic. That is the kind of dance style I want to learn. However, I just learned after reviewing their site that there are different types of salsa styles. Are you a dance diva? Check it out.

Big Tomato

This tomato was from our garden last spring. Can you imagine how big it is with a regular spoon placed on the right side? I have never seen any tomatoes as big this.
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Our family loves eating tomatoes. It is always present in the table on every meal. We had bunches of them during summer that aside from preserving most of them into tomato juice and salsa, there are still plenty of them left that Dad had decided to sell some of them. Iwas amazed at how they sell it. This is how:
They put a table along side on the road with the poster that tells the tomatoes are for sale, at $1 a bucket. What amazed was, people just dropped by, picked up the tomatoes and left the money in the empty bucket, no attending needed. I asked one time, '' What if they pick up the tomato and don't pay?'' My dad-in-law answered, ''Well, if they like to have the tomatoes and don't have the money, they can have it.'' God bless my very kind dad-in-law.

Keep You Warm Outside

Oh, I am not over with my “Moving Fever” yet. In fact, I was so happy on what I saw online, it was some fabulous outdoor furniture . They’re so elegant and would look good in the place that we will be moving to. Hmm, I’ll show this to my husband and we’ll talk about getting these. I want to get two sets; one will be at the front of the house while the other one will be at the pool side. It fires up my excitement to move to Florida soon. How I wish it will be sooner than we had planned.
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Then, I found this Fire Pits . Oh so awesome! It will keep us warm outside. I never had seen this before. This will be perfect by the pool side. The good thing is that they are on Winter Sale up to 75% off. Wow! This is exactly what I want. I love buying stuff on sale. It is not too soon to buy springtime outdoor furniture. Anyway, we can hold the delivery and have them deliver to Florida then. Fashionable wicker patio furniture is also available. Check on it and avail their clearance sale on some items while the stocks are available. Plus some of their items are free shipping.

Thankful Thursday- Praise His Glorious Name

It is Thankful Thursday once again and I am so excited to write down the things that I am so thankful for. But before that, I would like to highlight this verse;

"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." 1 Chronicles 29:13 NIV

.....*I thank God for the good health of the entire household.
.....*I thank God that I was able to send my mom some money that I really earned.
.....*I thank God for all the blogger friends He gave to me and shared my thoughts with.
.....*I thank God for all the sponsored post I got on the past seven days.
.....*I thank God for the letter from my mama that arrived here yesterday.
.....*I thank God for the medical assistance I received and for the thoughtful doctors that attended me.
.....*I thank God that winter is almost over.
.....*I thank God for all the food that we eat.
.....*I thank God for all those who take time to visit and comments on my posts.
And many, many more. Giving thanks to God is one form of worship to Him. To God be the glory always!

Love All The Time

Valentine’s Day was two weeks ago, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to find somebody to be attached with anymore. I mean if you want to meet somebody, the best time to start looking for a special friend is when there is no special event coming up soon, in that way, you got a chance to know each other without pressures. As the quote goes, “Love grows from the soil of friendship.” In other words, there should be a period of time of being friends before deciding to take another step onward.
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There has been a lot of dating sites that comes up in the world of internet and sad to say that many of those are either scammers or just playing around. Unlike most of the popular dating sites, Passionsearch.com is scammers-free and they guarantee no rudeness is allowed in their site. They make it easier for you to find somebody according to your own criteria and whims. They will ask you some specific questions in order to help you find the kind of person you really want to meet, to make your passion search easier. We all need a friend to be with. Why don’t you give this a try, after all, signing up is free.

No Work On Sundays

Most of you knows that I write some sponsored post here but I am also trying my best to maintain the balance of the contents on my blog. There is one thing that I practice since I started acceptind post and that is by not grabbing or writing any sponsored post on Sunday. Never. This is how I honor my God on my blog.
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In creation, God established a pattern of work and rest, which is model for believers. For 6 days God worked to bring order to our world. But on the seventh day, after He had finished all His creative activity, God rested. God demonstrated that rest is appropriate and right.
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After all, my main reason for blogging is to tell the world how amazing our God is. To God be the glory!

"God...rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had done." Genesis 2:2 NKJV

Gift Hints

Do you like these stuffs as I do? Very pretty, isn’t it? I love giving and receiving inspirational items. Actually, it has double impact on us. First is it reminds us of God’s goodness and the second impact is that it made us so grateful to the one who send. I received several of them that I had to leave in the Philippines. When giving gifts, there is only one place that I want to go and that is on a Christian and Religious Gifts stall. GreatIsTheLord.net has a huge selection of these items, good for your home décor and for gifts. Most of their products are Amish made. Start collecting now.

Wordless Wednesday- All The Christmas Card We Received

Art Enthusiasts

The things that I look forward every time I went to a museum are the paintings. They are just so fascinating. I had read a lot of articles concerning paintings and how the treasure it. Some even would bid a huge amount of money just to acquire the paintings they fell in love.
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Talking about art, Pino Daeni’s works are very excellent. He is one of the very popular artist in the world of art painting. His work appeared in several major exhibitions throughout Italy and Europe. Paragon Fine Art’s gallery includes painting from these fabulous artist such as; Pino, Tomasz Rut, Peter Max, Pamela Sukhum Tina Palmer and many, many more. They have been in the fine art business for over 15 years and pride themselves in their customer service and quality. For more information, visit ParagonFineArts.com.

Bible Verses- The Air That I Breath

Giant Aquarium

This picture was taken in one of the big mall in Merritt Island, Florida, during our two weeks’ vacation there. All items there are anything that has to do with swimming, diving or surfing. That is obviously the city’s main business. This giant aquarium is located inside that mall. Actually, there is a man with oxygen inside that aquarium for the maintenance. There were hundreds of saltwater fish of different kind in it. It was really awesome to look at.
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Talking about aquarium, collecting different kind of saltwater fish was used to be my hobby when I was about 10 years old. Keeping them alive was a challenge. Here is a great site that has a daily updated wide selection of high quality marine fish sale . Throughout their years of experiences in this marine business, they ensure to deliver healthy saltwater fish from their tanks to yours. They also have different kind of exotic and rare live coral for sale . They import live corals direct from the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans. Add to that is their quality live rock, an essential aspect to your saltwater aquarium needs. They are imported live from Fiji and Tonga. Shipping is via UPS overnight air service. They offer free shipping and a 14 day live guarantee.

FOLLOWING Issues

Are you having problems with your "Followers" corner? When I wake this morning, I was happy to see that I had 2 new followers. Then, 2 hours after, I was wondering why I lost 2, then another 1, another 1 and another 1. All in all, I lost 5 followers this morning. I was thinking maybe some had decided to stop following my blog. Actually, this is not the first time that happened to me. Somehow, it was frustrating.

A moment later, Maria has a message on my chatbox, complaining that my name disappeared on her follower's list. Then, I realized, there must be something wrong with the Blogger system.

Then I happened to visit Annie Kelleher's blog and I was so relieved with her post;

"...to answer the questions of several gentle readers...apparently a glitch in the blogger system as it attempted to integrate with another system has caused some followers to be inadvertently switched to anonymous. they are still there; you just can't see them. go to dashboard, go down to blogs i follow, click on manage and check to see that all the blogs you follow are set to public, not anonymous. i checked, and all the blogs i follow are set to public, so for all the people i read regularly... you should be able to see me!"

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Then, I looked for an explanation from the Blogger system, this is what I found;

motherofdomi: I had 118 followers this morning and when I checked this afternoon, I was down to 99. I've never seen anyone stop following let alone have 19 disappear at once. Is this a bug? What happened? Is there anyway to check. Please advise. This is really concerning. There's no way to know who is gone either...
Thanks for any info.

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Hey folks,
You may have noticed the number of your public Followers has decreased over the last few hours. We are in the process of integrating with Friend Connect.
There is small set of users that already use both Blogger Following and Friend Connect. To avoid linking the profiles of Blogger and Friend Connect users without their permission, we have set these users to "anonymous". They are still following privately and will able to make themselves public again.
With the official launch of the Friend Connect integration, we will communicate with the affected users to encourage them to reset their relationship to public. To reiterate, the number of Followers has not changed, and we believe that the launch will improve the visibility of your blog and community. We will post more details on Blogger Buzz and here as the launch approaches.
Thanks for your patience,
Gatsby The Blogger Team

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Did this happened to yours, too?

My Friend Wants To Lose Weight Faster

A Filipino friend of mine who lives about 15 miles away is set to visit Philippines next month. She was able to buy a good deal of airline ticket. She asked me if I wanted to visit Philippines, too. Oh, how I wish I could, but not that soon. As part of her big preparation for that, she is on diet. She gained winter weight and she is now trying almost everything just to have her regular body back.
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I told her that she need to be careful in what she is taking because out of thousands of diet pills that can be find anywhere only few of them are effective and safe. She has to know and be aware of the formula of it. I told her about fastweightloss.net. It is a resource for those who want to lose weight faster. They care enough to provide reviews of the best weight loss products . They give tips, recommendations and they have some easy to follow weight loss programs for free. I wanted here to research and study about such things before deciding what kind of weight loss products to take. Three important things to consider in choosing the right weight loss pill; safety, quality and effectiveness.

I Miss My Filipino Foods Very Much!

For those who are like myself, that have moved here for good from the Philippines, one of the things that is really difficult for us to overcome is the craving of our own Filipino foods. Lately, I lost my appetite in eating. I really miss my kind of food. Although I can still make some of those here, but it is still different. Although my stomach accepted and liked all the foods here in Michigan, but of course, I am still craving for those foods that I have been eating for thirty years. This is one of the reason that strengthen my decision to plan for my visit to the Philippines on this coming summer. I hope and pray that God will allow me to do so.
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Here are some of the foods that I really miss so much. I know some of these looks like exotic, but believe me, they are really very special to us, especially if it has been awhile to be away with these kind of foods.
<----- Tinolang Manok
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.....Kinilaw na Tanigue ----->
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. <----- Tuyo at Kamatis
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....Sinigang na Baboy ----->

Extra Moment

Every time the our phone bill arrives, I can’t help but worry how much was the cost of my previous few calls to my family in the Philippines. Although my husband keep telling me not to worry about the cost, but still I would worry. I wish there is another way to make my phone calls cost be minimize. I can’t cut on calling because I want to know how they are doing especially my mother. I realized, why don’t I try using Prepaid Phone Card ?
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Browsing online I found a different Phone Cards services that really cost cheap. All international prepaid Calling cards and international prepaid phone cards are available in their site. The good thing is that some of their prepaid calling card can be recharge, too. That means that you can keep your PIN and don’t have to use a different one every time you call. They give 40% extra balance plus $10 worth of talk time for the first time user. And the rate is unbelievably very low. Check out their features and benefits for more very interesting bonus and such.
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Wow! I can’ t wait for my next schedule to call my family in the Philippines. Probably, I will be spending few more extra minutes because of this good deal that they have.

Femin Susan's Vegetable Art

It is Monday once again. I can't believe how time passed by so quickly. I had not decided yet on which blog I'm gonna recommend today until few minutes ago. I happened to be in her blog and I knew all at once that today's award goes to:

Femin Susan's Vegetable Art is a very interesting blog to those who loves art. Actually, I have already been on her blog many times before, and she has been to my blog, too. Somehow, we both lost each other's connection. And that was why, when I happened to be on her blog again just a few minutes ago, it was like a switching of a bulb. Do you know what I mean? I knew at once that it is her blog that I want to recommend today.

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Her arts are just so fascinating and awesome. You can just wonder how amazing her hands are. These are not flattering words, and I believe you just have to visit her blog to see what I mean. After that, I want to hear anybody say that I am right.

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Have a wonderful morning to all.

Successful Marriage (part 9)

It is Sunday once again, the day for my "Sermon Series Sunday". I am down to the last 2 series of our "Successful Marriage".

God's intention in marriage is to make it the closest human relationship of all interpersonal relationship as seen in Genesis 2:24. While this is God's intention, the sad reality is that many couples have turned out to be the bitterest of enemies, who may not be in speaking terms. Where lies the failure? To be sure, there are many factors. but one of the weightiest factors would be poor communication.

A lot of people fail to consider the vital role that communication plays in a good marriage. A couple cannot effectively walk, work and live together without a good communication system in place. This is the reason that today's series will be devoting to this aspect of marriage.

1. Scriptural Foundation: Amos 3:3

.....*One can say that there is a good marriage when there is agreement.

.......Agreement takes place in at least 4 vital areas:

..........a. There is a striving towards the same goals.

..........b. The couple is living according to the same standards.

..........c. There is mutual assistance.

..........d. There is sweet fellowship.

.....*It would be impossible for these things to happen without good and meaningful communication and this is what is implied in Amos 3:3 when it says; "...they have agreed to do so."

.....*Where we find failure in marriage, we can be sure that there has been a serious breakdown in communication.

.....*The health of the marriage in communication measured by the health of the communication system.

.....*Is it possible to know God if He did not communicate to us by way of revelation? The answer is a big NO and that is the reason why God has chosen to communicate to us in various ways.

2. How do we develop good communication in marriage?

.....*Mutual openess or honesty.

.......NOTE: We cannot second guess our spouses unless we open and be honest with each others. What we think is not enough. Proverbs 23:7 says;"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." What this means is what we think in our hearts is what we are. But nobody will know who we are unless we speak out.

.....*Having self-control

..........a. Good communication cannot take place if our passions cause us to speak out our mind in an unloving and angry way.

..........b. Certain questions need to be asked before we speak out:

................-Is what I'm going to say constructive or destructive?

................""Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29 NIV
................-Is this the proper time to speak?
................ "A man finds joy in giving an apt reply, and how good is a timely word!" Proverbs 15:23 NIV

................-Do I speak from facts or hearsay?

................"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." Ephesians 4:31 NIV

................-Am I using the best possible language in this situation?

................"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1 NIV

CONCLUSION: Having seen the importance of good communication in oneness in marriage, let us apply the principles in our own unions.

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Successful Marriage (part eight) can be found at my February 15th post. For advance study, listen to audio-sermon at Living Word Christian Ministries.

My Sponsors

I am sure that most of you are aware that some of my posts are sponsored. It doesn't mean that those words were not mine, they were all originally mine, but have to use their subject to talk about.
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Anyway, I would like to take the chance to thank them and I am introducing to you as well, my sponsors and their services;

PayPerPost is an incredible new self-service marketplace that allows you to get paid to blog about the products, services and websites you love. Most of my sponsored post were from them. What I like in this site are that they always have a lot of opportunities, my post are auto-approved and above all, they pay on time. And what I don't like is that lately, they got a lot of very low price opportunity. Well, it is up to you if you take them.

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My second sponsored post that I got was from Blogsvertise. What I like from them is that they just e-mail to you the task and they have good price, too. But their task are not as much as the first one that I mentioned. Posting of Banner Links is one good way that monetize my blog. The banner is not at all offensive and did not messed up with my wholesome blog.

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It was just few weeks ago that I had started taking sponsored post from Smorty , although it has been awhile that they approved my blog. The reason why was that my blog then didn't have PR yet. And by the time I got PR on my blog, that is then that they started to give me opportunities to write about. They got good price, but you have to checked in as often as you can to be able to catch an opportunity. They pay you one week after. Isn't that great?

I got a lot of good priced sponsored post from Social Spark , too. As with most of them, you have to checked in as often as you can to be able to catch an opportunity. They are very particular in grammar. They pay on time, too.

Loud Launch only accepts blogs preferably with PR 2. They have a very fair price that made me look after it always. They pay on time, too. They don't have too much task because they have just started in this business. And just like most of them, you have to checked in as often as you can to be able to catch an opportunity. I found most of their opportunities very interesting to write with. They are calling all premium bloggers to join them.

Buy Blog Reviews was where I got my very first sponsored post. Lately, they are improving their services and a new user interface is being designed with better functionality. They are making sure that their new system is able to process all the payments on 1st and 15th of every month as they had issues on this matter in the past couple of months.

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Here are some other networks like these but I did not like because I did not really benefit from them. Here are the reasons why;

*Snap Bomb- I am so sure they are the lowest in pay-out rate. It is not worth the labor.

*Paying Post- Their network seems not working good, or is it just an excuse because there was really no opportunities be found there.

*Sponsored Reviews- I don't know. It has been a while that I was approved in this network but I don't get any opportunities to write about.

*Blog To Profit, Blogger's Review, Review Me, Bloggerwave, Bloggertizer, Blogitive, Paid Post, etc... etc... etc... blah... blah... blah

Sharing Marriage Life

When Yahoo Messenger just got started on the web, I was one of those who were hooked up. But sad to say, Yahoo Messenger chat room is now too loaded with scammers. It was so cool meeting people from different countries and getting to know them, too. Few of those I was chatting to have the chance to visit me in the Philippines. One of them was my very dear deceased friend, Beth. I am one of those who are very grateful that technology like this was made possible.
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But here’s the latest chatroom, MarriedChatCity.com. This is exclusively for married person, sharing their joys and problems in married life. I think this can be helpful especially to someone like me who had just married not so long ago. Maybe it is good to share to someone what I have learned and to learn from someone who were married for a period of time already. Base on my experiences, there are things that I wish I know about married life but not sure where to get information. Or is it that I feel awkward asking around? But I think this Married Chat Room would be very helpful. Sharing how you spend your free or extra time could help somebody who gets bored being a plain housewife, too.

The Pain Of Falling

I was in my late teens when I learned to drive a bicycle. I love the feeling of being on it as I strolled around the small city to where I used to live. I do that a lot of times in a whole day. I just love the feeling of soaring. But at one time, the rear wheels just wobble and a second later, I was down on the asphalt road with wounds on both of my knees and some scratches on my arms.
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That was almost 2 decades ago, but the scars on my knees are still visible. The pain of falling is still in my heart making me more cautious each time I get on the bicycle. Having fallen once, I don't want that to happen to me again.
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Falling is not good and is painful. But for anyone who has stumbled in life, something positive can result- the falling leads to a more careful way of living. Paul admonished, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV We do fall, but when we do, our goal must be to learn from our error and to avoid a second fall. If we stumbled along the course of life's journey, there's hope. First, ask God for guidance. Next, study and learn from the Holy Bible. Start to live carefully by following God's instructions.

Jerrie Still Drums At 91 Years Old

Who says that old age will stop you from being productive especially in the world of entertainment? Jerrie Thill is a 91 years old female drummer/vocalist and she still rocks! Isn’t it amazing? Along with her oxygen tank, you can see the fiery and enthusiasm in her performance. Jerri has played with countless bands over the years starting in the 1940’s. Through the years she has attracted many fans but few realize what a remarkable musical career she has experienced during her lifetime. Her newest music video “Hey Jerri”, featuring with Allee Willis , outbursted on YouTube and became the 79th most viewed video in the world on its first day of release.

The music video “Hey Jerrie” is full of fun and is dedicated to Jerrie Thill herself. It shows that Jerrie Thill, 91 years old, still drumming after all these years. It is a collection of her past performances from early 40’s to the present time. This semi-animated music video stated how many years she has been in the world of entertainment and how she gradually changed physically. But one thing that didn’t change, it is her love in music, especially in drumming. If you feel down right now, watch this music video. It guarantees to bring smile both on your face and heart.

A Helper In Building Your Dream House

My father-in-law was talking about a ranch house since my father-in-law has long been retired from his work and soon, my mother-in-law will retire from her work, too. Most of the house they had was build customized according to my father-in-law’s taste and design. I think the best house they had was in Tennessee, it was a very beautiful country house, but they had to sell it because they decided to move here in Michigan to be closer to both their son and daughter. Personally, if I got a chance, I prefer building a house, because in that way, I can be creative as much as I would. Looking for a house that really meets your fantasy can sometimes be discouraging task.
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Talking about building a house, HousePlansAndMore.com offers a wide variety of home building resources to make your dream house search simple and easy. They help you find your dream house plans that meets the kind of lifestyle you have. They offer pre-drawn house floor plans ready for purchase, it includes amenities that you need such as garage plans, shed plans and backyard project plans. All about home plans, resources and house building needs can be found in their website. Check out their website and you will surely love their featured dream ranch house plan and country house plans . They also have several hundreds of “Do-It-Yourself” House Projects. Hmm, I think I like this one, this sure is the most enjoyable part of building the house.

How Many Dogs You See?

Here are our pet dogs in the house. Can you tell me how many dogs you can see on the picture?

Valentine's Day Gifts

This is not to boast about what I got on Valentine's Day, but in showing appreciation, I want to post here the gifts that I received from my huckleberry.
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He gave me a muscial Valentine's Card, the song is "Just To See You Smile" by Tony Martin and Mark Nesier. The message of the song is very wonderful.
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The front of the card says, "Anything, That's What I'd Do For You". Though it is not his own words, but I know it is what his heart exactly does to me. He would really do anything for me.
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The bracelet is a tri-tone gold. I love it very much. He knows how much I love bracelets. It always turn my head on. I can't count anymore how many bracelets he gave me. And they are all so beautiful and meaningful.
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We had a romantic dinner at J.J. Jamokes Restaurant. I had Grilled Lobster and my hubby had Au-Juice Prime Rib . He was so sweet. Oh well, he is always so sweet, but particularly on that evening. We had a very wonderful evening. It is as if there are no other people around us, just the two of us. I love you, my huckleberry.

Thankful Thursday- Praise God With Songs

It is Thankful Thursday once again and as children of God, we are very eager to share to the world the things that we received and happened to us, in honor to God our provider. But before I go on, allow me to highlight my today's verse on this post.

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"Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song." Psalm 95:2 NIV

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.....*I thank God that I have more and more friends through blogging, and not just any casual friends, we share help and tips to each other. And to some; they became my prayer partner, too.

.....*I thank God that through blogging, I was able to share my thoughts, burdens, experiences, blessings, victories and problems.

.....*I thank God for the good health of my mama.

.....*I thank God that my dad-in-law was fine after he slipped on the snowy road.

.....*I thank God for the big blessing that I got on this week, and that is the free Siemens hearing aid, sponsored by Lion's Club and HearUSA. It is really a big blessing because it is worth almost $4,000.

.....*I thank God for the love of my husband that took care of me while I was sick of tooth ache.

.....*I thank God for the good health and He keep us safe in our everyday activities.

.....*I thank God for the daily bread He has provided us.

.....*I thank God for my sponsored opportunities that I received within the past seven days.

.....*I thank God for the first book that I had ever purchased since I come here.

.....*I thank God for my blogger friends who regularly visit my blog and comments on my posts.

And many, many more. Words alone are not enough to thank God. And if we are to put all of them into words, I can never come to an end. Being thankful to God is like the air that we breath. It is there every single second of our lives.

MAMA

My brother-in-law got home from his work in Amsterdam and one of the things he brought home is an Olympus digital camera. I get so excited because that would mean that from now on they can share to me their latest activities and photos. I was talking to my niece this morning, the first thing I asked was, "Did you take some picture of Mama?" and she said, "Yes, I did," and this is it.
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This was taken from my sister's house in Surigao City, Philippines. It is in their patio. Oh, I miss that place and above all, I miss my mama. I get envious because it is so obvious that they had a very nice warm sunshiny day there. My mama is 78 years old last month. She is diabetic but she is very careful on what she eat. I miss my mama very much and I am working on ways to visit her this summer.

Mystery or Plain Coincidence?

Here is another post about our dear friend, Beth. This post was originally from September 17, 2008, but prior to her death anniversary, I had decided to move this on today so that my blogger friend can read this.

Beth & Kakai

October 15, 2007, Inday, our cross-bred Labrador, gave us seven cute puppies. Ruby, my best friend, was there helping her while delivering those puppies, right in the doorway of our boarding house in the middle of the night. Left to herself, some puppies would have been died, but we were able to rescue them right away. We're just so glad that she won't go anywhere else. (By the way, the dog were both ours.)

The first-timer mother was very thoughtful and loving to her puppies, but we have to assist her on some things , too. We were giving importance in taking care to the puppies. Every early morning Ruby cleaned their little house while I prepared their food. We feed them three times a day. We enjoyed watching them fighting for food. We took them out from their little house every early morning and every late afternoon to have a good run for their exercise. It was really a fulfillment watching them grow healthy.

One month after, Beth, our friend from Ohio came to Philippines for her second visit to us. It mean, we will be busy travelling with her to wherever she wants to go. And it did. We were just so thankful for a concerned neighbor, Marlyn, who were very willing to feed the puppies while we were travelling with Beth. Though there would be some sacrifices because Marlyn can only feed them, twice in a day. And she can't clean their little house and can't take them down for a good run because she was working, too. We don't have a choice and feeding is the necessary thing to do though. And anyway, it will only be a week.

We left the puppies in the care of Marlyn for a week while all three of us went to Surigao. And while we're there, we regularly call her on cellphone for an update and for some instructions. There was thypoon then, and we were worried about their little house. Of course, we missed our puppies.

Beth was sick during her second visit in the Philippines. But she don't want to ruin her vacation. She still did what was planned and was enjoying. She was making fun out of it. We found her just standing under the rain. She loves water. She don't want to be rebuked about anything she does.

Beth was getting worse during her second week stay in the Philippines. There were times she was just in our place. She witnessed how we took care of the puppies. She enjoyed watching After her two weeks stay in the Philippines, she returned home to Ohio. As usual it was a heart-breaking good-bye and tight hugs in between us. The three of us agreed to believe that we will be seeing each other again some time next year.

Three months after, out of seven puppies, five of them we give away, while the two of them we kept. We named the black one, Kulot, (means curly) because he got curly hair on his back. And we named the other one, Kakai (name copied from the Philippine's famous "from-out-of-space-being"), because her skin color was gray.

Beth was not getting better after she leave Philippines. She was confined to the hospital on the following day that she arrived home. And the depressing part was, three weeks after, her friend Lynn, broke to us the sad news, her doctor said that she only have six months to live. We were stunned. That whole night, Ruby and I were talking about her between tears. We don't want her to go. She is our sister. We became a family.

Occasionally, if she got the chance, she still sent us emails and text message on our cellphones. She was trying to appear getting better. Until emails and text messages became dull and infrequent.

Kulot and Kakai grow up to be healthy and amusing. The funny thing was, they seem to understand and remember thier daily routine. They were watching the time. Kulot was the adventurist while Kakai was the loving one. Kakai love to just stay near us. Kulot was the big-eater. Kakai loved water. She loved to play in the basin with water.

February 12, 2008, Kakay was not feeling good. She don't want to eat and had a bad bowel movement. We didn't understand what was wrong with her. From a distance, we've found her staring at nothing. When we approached her, she pretended to be fine, she wiggled her tail as usual. She still played around. We seen her just standing under the rain, staring at us. All of a sudden it alarmed us. We remember our friend Beth. She acted exactly like her.

About the same time, Lynn e-mailed Ruby, told her that Beth was getting worse.

February 14, 2008, Kakay was getting worse. She still wiggle her tail when we talked to her. The bad bowel movement and the vomiting was an unpleasant sign. I cried. We don't want to lose her. But it crossed our mind about our friend Beth, too. Then, we decided, we were willing to give up Kakai in exchange for Beth's recovery.

4:35 p.m. I went to check Kakai. My heart broke. She just passed away. I went back to my room and cried. I thanked God for the four months that she was with us, making us happy and the love that we got back from her, too. We loved her so much to the point of sacrificing something just for her. She has become part of us. She was taken away from us.

6:40 p.m. Scott, Beth's husband sent us a text message. He wanted to talk with us. We hurried to the nearby internet cafe. There he broke to us the bad news, Beth passed away two hours ago. It shattered us. We were aware that she would soon pass away, but we were not yet ready for that. Too soon.

If you noticed, Beth and Kakai died on the same time and same day. And if you noticed that Kakai was acting like how Beth acted when she was sick. Some of our friends assumed that Beth visited us because she wanted to be with us even for just a short time, that her spirit penetrated into Kakai's body. It left us and all of our family and friends asking the same question, Mystery or Plain Coincidence?

Why Do We Give?

The closer you look at charitable giving, the less charitable it appears to be. Why? Because most of those who gave for charity wanted an acknowledgement in return for what they were doing. Do you know that fund raising campaigners, found that they earned far more by selling lottery tickets than by asking for donations? Some people prefer for "something-for-me/something-for-you" approach to giving.

What does Jesus mean when he said; "When you do charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing;" in Matthew 6:3 ? He was telling that our motives for giving should be unconditional. I have a little illustration for this. Most of us grab money from the pocket using the right hand. If something is being handed to us, we received it using the right hand and turn it over to the left hand voluntarily. Why is this? The right hand is eager to give while the left hand is itching on what it can get. Of course, that was just a state of mind. Our mind is sick. That was why Jesus said not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, he means to say when you give, do not expect something in return.

Beth And I On Their Local Paper

I will be talking about our deceased dear friend Beth again in memory of her death anniversary. There was a chance that she was interviewed by one of their local news reporter. This is the paper, but the information was not accurate. But being on the paper was exciting enough, not to mention, it was on the front page.

Local woman brings high-flying fun to children in the Philippines

July 29, 2007

By ANGELA WESTRICK
cnlife@crescent-news.com

Back in her 20s when Defiance native Beth (Wichman) Lirot would travel to the Far East she did so for the love of adventure.
"Asia has always struck me as an exotic place," says the former waitress-dancer who first took off on her own at age 19 for Japan and ended up staying there for six months.
"I liked the food, the culture, the people and just felt right at home."
Lirot didn't stop there. She ventured onto Taiwan, Hong Kong and made several return trips to Japan where she says she met and made friends easily but lost touch with them over time.
Then a couple years ago while she was surfing the Internet to play dominoes she met 34-year-old Grace Closas, who introduced herself as being from Mactan Cebu, the Philippines.
"She just happened to pop on the screen one night. We started talking and began meeting to play dominoes. Over the years we became real good friends." read more...

A Eulogy For My Friend

This post was from September 9, 2008, but I have decided to move it on today, in remembrance of our dear friend Beth who left us. She died a year ago.
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This picture was taken during her first visit in the Philippines, at Porto Fino Beach, Lapu-lapu City, Cebu, Philippines, June 2006. (From left to right; Me, Beth and Ruby) And this is the Eulogy I sent to her husband to be read on her funeral. I know this is a bit too long to spend time reading, but I hope you will read from start to the end so that you will know better who she is.

February 17, 2008
Funeral Day
Defiance, Ohio

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! From Grace and Ruby of the Philippines, to everybody that are here today, especially to the bereaved family and friends of our very dear Beth.

Some of you know us personally, such as Scott, Kevin, Lynn and Kris. Some of you may have heard about us... while some of you may have read about us. Yes, we are the dear friends of Beth, the ones whom she really spent money and time just to visit and see us personally. Not just once, but twice. And if given chance, I believe, Beth would not stop there. There will be more visit that she will be doing. Beth love the Philippines so much. She care for the people here, most especially to the children of my poor country.

For the benefit of those who do not know us, i will briefly introduce ourselves.

Back in November 30, 2005 , Beth was happened to be my opponent over Yahoo! domino table. As we were playing, we don't really mind so much who will win, because we found ourselves talking to each other as if we have been friends for so long. In fact, though it was just our first acquaintance, but some of our conversation were about our personal lives. I was asking her birth date, and when i found out that it will be on the next few weeks, i decided to send my handmade greeting card. I then asked for her postal address, and that's where we started...

One of those times that we were playing online, I happened to share to her that I was grieving over the big tragedy that was happening to our neighbor province, the Guinsaogan. The poor little town was covered by the mudslide. After few days of heavy rain, in just the twinkling of an eye, the whole poor little town was covered by the mudslide, giving no chance to everybody to run away for their lives. "How deep?" , you may ask. You can just imagine, a tall coconut tree, 30-40 feet, after the tragedy, you can no longer see their trunks, only their leaves and fruits. That's how deep the mudslide was.

Amidst that little poor town was a public kindergarten and grade school. It was a regular school days, teachers and pupils were so concentrated on their class lectures when all of the sudden, they were being trapped inside. And slowly, there were being eaten up by the mud. There were retrieval team from all over the world that was going on in that site. Some were blessed to be found still alive, while some were found dead already. But it was believed that more than a half was helplessly buried alive underneath. The mayor of that province said that there are at least 3,000 population in that area. After 2 weeks of desperate retrieving, and due to non-stop raining, too, it was decided to stop the operation, because after all, it was believed that nobody will still be alive then.

Add to my misery was that, my TV set wasn't working anymore at that time. i had to go to my neighbor's house every night to watch the local TV news.

Few days after that, Beth excitingly announced to me that she had a gift to me and that she decided to personally give it to me. She then arranged for that trip. It was June 9, 2006 , she arrived here in Cebu, Philippines.

I was so surprised of a very huge Christmas-wrapped box she handed to me. She told me that it was her belated Christmas gift for me. I opened it up, and i was more surprised to see a brand new television set. I was crying. Who would think that somebody would carry a big television all the way from USA to the Philippines. That's how thoughtful Beth was. She really touched my heart.

On her 18-days stay here in Cebu, Ruby and I learned to love her more and more because of her natural traits she was showing us and to others. She has a very kind soft heart. She is the kind of person that don't think of herself just to be able to do something to others.

Not just that, Beth is a jolly person, too. She met my family and Ruby's family, too, and get along with them very well. She sing with us. Laugh with us. Eat with us. Dance with us. She didn't mind what we eat, she was very willing to try everything. She was trying to live like one of us. Ride a jeepney with us, though we found her becoming pale and afraid because of the rush driving experience she had here in my country. We call it "bumper to bumper". Every time we ride a jeepney, we make sure that we sit her in between me and Ruby to make her comfortable. We treated her like a princess. We always slept late, her stories seems to be non-stop to us, and they are all interesting. We really love to hear everything from her. We had a very good time together.

It was very hard for Beth to leave us on the day of her flight going back home. We were all crying at the airport. And she promised to come back the following year. And she did.

November 15th of that following year, she did came back here. She brought more stuffs for give aways than she did the last time. She aimed for more children to meet and more family to touch their lives with. She aimed for more good deeds.

Her second visit here was obviously not the same as before. She was more sickly on her second time. She admitted to us that she already knew that she was not feeling good few days before she left Ohio. She knew there was something wrong with her. She was trying her best not to burden us about her health. That's who Beth is. She was trying her best not to waste every single moment that she was here. She was trying her best to accomplish everything that she has planned to do here. And she did. In spite of what she was feeling, she did.
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We went to the island of Bohol as what planned before she came. It was really her dream to be able to hold in her hands the smallest monkey in the world. Tarsier. She was able to overcome her fear of heights by climbing up the long stairs going up just to be able to see the splendor of the Chocolate Hills. The three of us (Beth, Ruby and I) had a wonderful time then. It was a treasure to us.
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Beth has become a new member of our family. We treated her as our sister. She felt for us every time we had problems. She cries for us every time we were into troubles. She showed us how much she loves us. She is so abundant in good works.

I hope that Beth's life has become an inspiration to many. And i hope it serves as a challenge to reach out... to step down from your comfort zone and touch the life of those who are less fortunate people. Its about time that you make your own story, too.

Beth's life will not only be a memory to us. But it will become a history, too. Her one act of nobility, leads to bring happiness to thousands of children here in my country. We miss her so much and our photos together will aide us from that. We love her so much and we are sharing to the whole world the kind of love we received from her.

In behalf of my family and Ruby's family, we grieve with you. We lost a dear sister. May she rest in peace.