TOPAZ HORIZON

Lots of people are buying baby bunnies this Easter for their kids. Instead, parents should be telling their kids that rabbits or colored eggs have nothing to do with the season. This is the perfect time to tell them about God's love for us--how God sent His only Son to die for our sins, and how this Son, Jesus, overcame sin and death so that we may be saved.

It's the greatest story ever told and yet we choose to tell them silly stories about egg hunts and rabbits. Worse, we buy them rabbits which, by the way, make the most horrible pets for kids. Yes! I'm a rabbit owner and it took me quite some time (and a bit of shock) to learn how to live with these animals. 

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and today is my husband's birthday. Needless to say, I get very excited this time of the year. This Valentine's, we surprised each other with secret gifts. It's so much fun to be in love! Oh, but it's so much better when you're in love with the same person for a long time now.

I met Vince when I was just 22. Now I'm 31. I love him more now, more than I ever thought I am capable. Nine years ago, I was a different girl. Even one year ago, I was different. Every day I become a better person because of Vince's love for me. His love envelopes me, covers me, calms me, strengthens me, guides me, inspires me... Though I have always felt complete (God is the one who ultimately overflows from my soul), having Vince in my life is incredible joy.

Of course, not every relationship is perfect. But I'm glad that we're both writers. We are excellent communicators so nothing is ever left unresolved. We know exactly how to express our feelings and hurts and hopes and disappointments and expectations. We know how to talk to each other. I am grateful for such a huge blessing--that he and I are talkers! Now, the listening part, well, that always needs work (haha) but we do end up listening to each other and then a new day for Vince and me begins. A new Vince. A new me. A new love.
So now here's a little secret. Use it and your love will grow and be incredible! In our relationship, this chapter from the Bible has always helped. It's been used so often at weddings (it was read in mine) but never fully explained and perhaps understood. But it isn't corny; in fact, it holds the secret and the power to any relationship--be it marriage, friendship or family. Just replace the word "love" with your name and then feel your love transformed as you strive to be the embodiment of love.

"Frances is patient, Frances is kind.
Frances does not envy, Frances does not boast, Frances is not proud.
Frances is not rude, Frances is not self-seeking, Frances is not easily angered, Frances keeps no record of wrongs.
Frances does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Frances always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Frances never fails."
(a modified version of I Corinthians 13:4-8)

Yep, sounds impossible! And me?! Oh, how hard it is for me to be patient and kind, to be humble and meek, to be considerate, to be selfless and generous, to be tolerant, to forgive! But this truly is the secret to any happy relationship. Whenever I feel like giving up, I just remember this chapter. I remember that if I love this person, I must not fail him or her. That's what love ultimately means.

Happy love day, everybody! And may you all love and be loved!

"There was so much ignorance and so much ego and so much disdain for living a principled life, and now I realize that there is so much power in those principles about just being humble, just being honest, just having real faith."

I've changed my template yet again. It's now black. And dreary.

I read yesterday that a white screen consumes a lot more energy, and a black one saves the most energy. So, since I am trying to be more environmentally aware (I've been using a bayong and canvas bags for my shopping since last year, for example) and so that my readers, too, are consuming less energy when they're on my page, I hereby present the black Topaz Horizon.

I saw this video on YouTube today.



It's about the Free Hugs Campaign by Juan Mann. He turned something so simple - hugging - into a most marvelous magical thing.

I read somewhere before that hugging is good for the heart. Literally. Hugs slow down the heart rate and decrease blood pressure. So it's the best free heart and blood pressure medicine there is! Plus, it's such a joy to give and receive.

Go hug somebody today. It's my New Year's resolution, to hug at least one person every single day. Oh, and one fat rabbit, too!

Happy New Year everybody! I wish you love, joy, peace and all of God's wonderful blessings! Hugs to you!

This holiday was a good holiday for selfish little me. Under the tree, I found...

... yummy delights:
Nigella Lawson's special fruit cake, food for the gods, chocolates from the Manila Peninsula's chocolate shop, a fruit cake made by my ninang sa kasal's favorite nun, a box of Pepsi Deluxe drinks, homemade cheese pimiento (and yes, Sis D, it truly is the best pimiento spread I've ever had!), brownies, food baskets, a gigantic box of oranges

... kikay stuff:
a silver bag filled with L'Oreal goodies, Body Shop's Rich Plum bath and lotion set, a cute makeup bag stuffed with Maybelline makeup, a Lancome Miracle Forever perfume gift set, Revlon Professional hair products, my favorite Kerastase products, Belo whitening range (which smells like Eternity perfume), Revlon nail polish in Christmas red, Burt's Bees lip gloss set, an Urban Spa massage gift certificate

... things for the house:
fragrant Fruits & Passion hand soaps, fluffy Bayo towels (which my bunny Alice all claimed for herself with even one small towel going with her to her grave *sniff*), room and linen sprays, a fluffy bathrobe, DVDs and CDs, DVD of first season of HBO's Rome, a huge striped coffee mug, a beautiful lacquered Japanese box from Tokyo, a mini stone fountain, huge wine goblets

... odds and ends:
hardbound journal, 2008 date books, a Rolodex, a super duper nice hardbound travel journal, a leather bill holder, desk stationery, various USB sticks, umbrellas, tickets to Barney the Purple Dinosaur show, a pink bunny stuffed toy

... closet fillers:
a funky Bayo bag, a Proudly Pinay shirt, cute red Crocs in style Alice *sniff*, a Guess pique shirt, a lovely silk scarf, Guess shades, a black Zara top, a pretty peasant blouse, an extremely well-designed many-pocketed bag organizer, a pa-cute pair of black-and-white ballet flats, and...


This last - and my most favorite gift this year - is from Vince, of course. I didn't expect it at all. I knew he was going to get me a new wallet (my current one is tattered at the seams) but he told me that the yellow Samsonite wallet I wanted was sold out so he got me the Fino bag instead. Hahaha, I was never so happy to find out something I wanted was gone forever because I got something way better instead!

My Christmas gift to myself was my black Nine West pumps. They look frikkin' good. They're also just as painful. Argh. If I must suffer for vanity, I don't need to pay for the suffering, right? Next time I'll buy something just as painful but at a lesser price.

Oh, and baby bunny Alice was also my Christmas gift to me, Vince and Galady. Alas, she died before Christmas. Sad. So we've been extra loving to Galady, our dear old bunny. She's almost six years old, and that's quite old in bunny years. We'll get her a companion bunny again in a few weeks.

This was truly a good Christmas. Because people were so generous, Vince and I were in a giving mood, too. Well, in the beginning it was just Vince who was feeling generous. I was feeling very Scrooge (because Alice had died and I didn't feel the Christmas spirit) but as the presents came in and the people around us were so loving and sweet, I finally got into the whole spirit of the season and had to panic-shop! Good thing I'm a very good panic-shopper - everybody LOVED our gifts!

To all my generous family and friends, THANK YOU for the lovely gifts! More than your darling presents, I am grateful I have you in my life. Merry Christmas everyone!

I grew up listening to country songs. Though I never really liked country music, my life seemed to have been made for country music. Today I heard a country song that made me think of how complete my life is and made me think of the two people in my life who I wish were still here to share my happiness.

I grew up with my grandparents and I love love love them so much. Lolo Manong, a policeman, was the first man I went to for love advice and Lola Auring, a housewife, was the first woman I went to for... well, everything. They encouraged me to pursue my passions, they cooked and cleaned for me so that I'd have all the time to do my homework and write my stories, they loved my friends and advised me on the "friends" I should get rid of. They also carefully guided me on matters of the heart and, though the guys I dated never met their expectations (Lola: "He's all right, but you can do better."), they loved them anyway.

So when they died nine years ago, my world just never felt the same. Not long after they were buried, I met Vince. I wish they'd met Vince--the realization of everything they wanted for me.

Lolo and Lola, I know you're looking down from heaven and I know you're very happy for me, and I know you love Vince the way you always always loved me. I also know you're proud that I've fulfilled all my dreams and more! But most of all, I know you're proud that above all these, I've learned to treasure what you always taught me to treasure: four walls, three words, two hearts, one love.


FOUR WALLS
by Randy Travis

My Grandpa farmed for a livin',
Content to live the simpler kind of life.
My Grandma worked in the kitchen,
Awfully proud to be that farmer's wife.
They used to say that they'd got everything that they need,
Each mornin' they wake up:
Four walls, three words, two hearts, one love.

Here I am, ring on my finger:
Grandpa's little grandson, all grown up.
I found my rock and I plan to keep her.
I wish they were here to see the two of us.
They'd be proud to know we've got everything that we need,
Each mornin' we wake up:
Four walls, three words, two hearts, one love.

With the highway twice as wide,
And the farmland sub-divided.
It's good to know that some things never change.
I'm still lovin' an I'm still livin',
By those simple words of wisdom:
Life an' love come down to just four things.

My Grandpa, Lord knows, I miss him,
An' the way that he and Grandma looked at life.
And each day, I count my blessings,
To have that kind of love here by my side.
No matter what, we know we've got everything that we need,
Each mornin' we wake up:
Four walls, three words, two hearts, one love.

Yeah, we've got everything that we need,
Between the two of us:
Four walls, three words, two hearts, one love.

As some of you may know, I was raised by strict Roman Catholic grandparents and zealous Baptist parents (more like mother actually). So I like praying a lot and I do enjoy reading my Bible except when I come across verses that shatter my marrow and pierce my heart. Like this one:

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Timothy 3:2-5.

Oh, that sounds like a description of me. Well, not all of it (I'm a very grateful person, and loving and generous, a believer of the good in man, and extremely loyal and faithful), but there's enough there to make me bristle.

Of all the faults, the one that stabs me most is the "truce breakers". I made a vow once to God--I wouldn't have a boyfriend for two years--which I broke eight months in. I know it sounds so silly and it does seem like a stupid promise made by an empty-headed girl; but I was young and heartbroken and in my distress, I dropped down on my knees and offered the next two years of my life in God's exclusive service. I was okay in the beginning but love--my one weakness--found me once more and I succumbed.

My broken vow still plagues me to this day because of these verses:

"When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you." Deuteronomy 23:21

"It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay." Ecclesiastes 5:5

I'm a good promise-keeper but that one I couldn't keep, and I ask God to forgive me. All the time. I know God forgives but sometimes I wonder if in His forgiveness, He spares you from the consequences. I don't really think so.

That's one of the reasons I delayed marriage actually. Marriage is one huge promise made with your spouse, before society and government, and to God Himself. Because in my mind I hadn't kept a simple vow a few years ago, I was afraid that I may not be able to keep my marriage vows, and I was tormented by this fear. I wonder if that was God's punishment for me. I hope it was because Vince and I suffered enough over my indecision. But if that wasn't God's requirement, then I shudder in my skin fearing what it is.