First New Year in Thailand

We've been living here in Thailand for 5 years now and this is the first time that my family spent our New Year here.

To make the welcoming of the New Year more special, we invited some friends over to our house. When we asked some of our friends what they did in the past year/s for New Year's eve, some of them said, they just slept and didn't do anything at all. So, that's why, we thought of inviting some Pinoys. So, we had New Year Celebration Filipino style :). I think it's not really common for all the Thai's to celebrate and wait on the New Year. Last night, our neighborhood was sooo quiet the whole night. There were fireworks at 12 oclock from the other areas but it didn't even last long. Or maybe, their way of celebrating the New Year is just different from ours. Oh how I miss the amount of food and noise we make in the Philippines when it's already New Year. All the stereos will be blasting, cars will be honking, children blowing horns/trumpets, the men lighing up the firecrackers and etc. And I remember when we were kids, we would be jumping up and down so we would grow taller. Hahaha!!

Anyways, back to Thailand, New Year's eve : We had a great time of fellowship together. We started with food, then worship, testimony and prayer for 2008. For a complete and more detailed entry, check out Ate Litlit's blog. She's one of the guest-host and did an excellent blog about party. :) She even advertised my lasagna. hahaha! Hmm..I wonder how much I need to pay for that blogvertise huh?

Anyways, all in all, I'm glad we decided to spend our New Year here in Thailand. There is indeed a purpose for everything and I'm glad that this party has been used to be a blessing for others. We have been tremendously blessed too through the presence of our friends.

I'm looking forward for next year's Christmas and New Year celebration, as we're planning to be in the Philippines that time!! WOOHOOO!!!

Christmas On The Street

With Thailand only having 2 % Christians (not sure of the current statistics), Christmas is not such a big deal here like back home. Christmas celebrations are limited in the churches and a few homes. December 25th is even a working day. So, when we heard that there'll be a Christmas Program at the city center, our family was happy, took the opportunity and went. It felt so good to hear Christmas carols, see all the presentations and even the street was very well decorated.

These girls are soo cute and they dance so well.

All these decorations are in the middle of the street. They purposely closed down the street for this event.

Everybody loves weekend, it is the time for leisure, recreation and other religious activities. And when everyone is having a grand time, you want to capture it and share it with others. That’s why Weekend Snapshot is here for you. Come and join the fun here.

Birthday Surprise

It was my Hubby's 32nd birthday yesterday! It was such a blessed and special day for us.

In the morning, Tricia and I surprised him with his birthday cake and gift. Good thing that Tricia woke up early and was not moody but cooperated well on my plan. So, I told her of our plan to go to the room and sing songs for her Appa. With a smile on her face, she sleepily nodded so, I lighted the birthday candles and we went slowly inside the room. And when we were going in, tada! we were the one who got surprised as my Hubby was already awake and going out of the room ( I thought he was still asleep).

So, with me bringing the cake and Tricia clutching the gift, we immediately sang, Here I am to worship ( it's the only worship song that she knows how to sing from beginning to the end). Tricia looked so cute singing and looking at her teary eyed Appa. Then, we sang Happy birthday and Appa blew the candles on the cake. I bought the magic candles (the type of candles that lights up again and again even after several puffs) and our li'l girl was laughing and giggling everytime the candle lights up again. Then after all the thank you's, hugs and kisses, Tricia prayed for Appa.

My Hubby was indeed surprised and he also didn't expect to receive a gift from me as I already apologized to him earlier for not giving him a gift ( drama lang gud :) ). But it really is a challenge to buy a gift secretly for someone who's always with you. Need to plan everything well and even do some acting sometimes..hehehe!

Anyways, and then for his birthday treat, I already arranged beforehand our "date". The last time we went out just the two of us was last October when family was around but that was only for a short time since it was too late at night. Back to the birthday date, thank God for friends who are so ever willing to take care of the kids just for us to spend time alone together. Thank God that Tricia agreed (after so much of convincing and bribing) to go out with her Ninong Junjun to go to Diana, Tesco and Carrefour ( yes, mallhopping to buy us a lot of time for our date) while Baby Lyle is with his Ninang Litlit. Praise God for Ninangs and Ninongs. Thanks Jun! Thanks Ate Lit!

My Hubby and I indeed had a great time together. We went to Lee Gardens and had dinner at Sizzler's. We felt like boyfriend and girlfriend again. Imagine, going out without kids tagging along. We enjoyed talking and eating leisurely without having to reprimand someone, " Tricia, sit down please.", "Chew and swallow your food" or think about the baby, "do you think he needs milk?", " I think he needs to change diapers" and etc. It was actually quite awkward and new...hahaha!! We also enjoyed the "unlimited" HHWW (Holding Hands While Walking) and HHWWPSP( Holding Hands While Walking and Pa Sway-sway Pa) because with kids our hands will be usually full and less chance to HHWW. It was indeed a good time for us and we just extremely enjoyed it and looking forward for the next 'date'.

So, that was my Hubby's birthday suprise and I'm glad that he was so happy and kept thanking me for making his birthday special.

* Sorry, no photos. I really forgot to bring the camera. Sayang! Maybe I was just too excited like a school girl on her first date. heheh!

My Delayed Christmas Blog

Finally, I have the time to sit down and write my Christmas entry. A lot of things happened first before Christmas like our Overstay-Border run Experience, Village party and etc. but for now, I'll just have to write about our Christmas Eve (Filipino style) first.

Aside from our family and our Anneh's family, we only invited two couples who're very close to us, since we'll be hosting another Christmas dinner on the following night.

So, our friends started coming at 7:30 and we started out with dinner at 8:00 pm. We had Indian and Filipino/American dishes for dinner. I didn't cook the Indian dishes as it might turn out to be a Pindian Dish. So, our Akka, a real Indian cooked the Indian dish and indeed it had that authentic taste. Yum! I just made lasagna, brownies and roasted chicken while my cousin made eschabeche (sweet and sour fish).

After dinner, we had worship and sang songs to Jesus, the Reason for the Season. We had a good time of worship. Then we asked each one to take turns in sharing one of the many things that we are thankful to God for the year 2007. Guess what I was thankful for the year 2007...hmmm...of course, the birth of our precious baby boy. Others shared about how God protected them, provided for them, or giving them the desires of their hearts.

Rajah Anneh thanking God for protection during the car accident they had

Sak thanking God for His continuous provision

Then we had gift giving. We're supposed to have 'exchanging of gifts’ but since almost everyone has a present for everybody, then we decided to cancel it and call it gift giving instead. Or I think, that's what we did is the REAL exchanging of gifts. Anyways, we made it in such a way that whoever is going to give the gift for must describe the receiver in two words first before giving it...so, there were descriptions like Miss Universe, Miss SS (secret!), Joker Sak, smiling buddha, 10 years younger (oh, that’s more than two words) and etc. :)

Then, the most exciting part of the program came, and that is the opening of gifts! There was this one girl who was the happiest of all because she got her wishes fulfilled. She's non other than my Li'l girl. She got a pair of rabbits from her Ninong Junjun and an electronic keyboard from..guess who? :) wow! she was just so happy when she saw her rabbits. She ended up praying " Lord, thank you for my rabbits. I'm so happy Lord. I like it so much!" I just hope her rabbits will survive this time. I think they will since they are bigger rabbits now.

Tada!!! Two cutee rabbits!!

Tricia praying and thanking God for her rabbits.

Everyone agreeing in her cute prayer.

Careful with the rabbit, please..

All of us got so much of presents and we all were just saying ... wow! ..wow! ..wow! .. everytime we opened the gifts. :)

Then, after all the excitement, we had coffee break and just waited for 12midnight to strike and talked, talked, talked ..and at 12 midnight..this is what happened....




Well..we had indeed had a blessed and FUN Christmas Eve! Hope you all had a blessed Christmas and wishing you all a fruitful new year!!

Weekend Snapshot

My li'l girl attended her 1st Christmas Party at the church. It was fun but as usual she couldn't join the games because of the language barrier. She kept asking me what the MC was saying. Pity her! But anyways, overall she had fun and I could see the excitement in her face.

So, here is my first entry for the weekend snaphot.

Tricia in the midst of the Thai kids.

Tricia with her church buddies!

The 2 boys are 'luuk krung' (Thai ) which in English literally means Half Child (heheh! funny!) . Their mom is a Thai and Dad is a New Zealander. They're great buddies since Tricia is a 'luuk krung' too ( half Filipino and half Malaysian-indian)

Tricia with Jaime. Isn't she cute? She's only 4 months older than Tricia but she's big and tall.

Is this a Christmas Party or a Masquerade Party? :)

Baking, gifts and the GIFT

Started my day with baking lessons with our Korean friends' kids. I taught them how to bake brownies and they really enjoyed it. We'll have another baking session the following Saturday. :)

Lunch! After the baking session...:)

Forgot to take pictures during baking..and I thought I'm already a certified blogger!

And since, I already started baking, I thought why not go on with it and bake for our Christmas goodies give aways. So, I managed to make a few boxes for my give aways and we immediately delivered to some of our friends this evening. It's really a joy to give. Even if it's just a simple gift for friends but it's a nice feeling to see their appreciation for being remembered.

The Christmas goodies!!

It's nice to have Christmas. It gives us a chance to give just like what God did for us. He gave. He gave is only SON for us to have eternal life. Wow! It's just the best gift we have ever received. We just couldn't outgive God. Writing about this now reminds me of my favorite "Christmas Song". Nope, it's not Joy to the world not Silent night but the song entitled, We are the Reason.

Anyways, watch this and be blessed just as how I'm touched everytime I hear the song. During this Christmas Season, may our HEarts and minds be for our Lord Jesus alone.

Christmas Lists

Finally, I had the time (and mood) to sit down this evening and made my Christmas lists and things-to-do-list. It was just today that I realized that we don't have much time to do our Christmas stuffs since family from Malaysia will be coming over next week!! On top of that we'll be organizing the party for the kids at the village. We must finish everything we have to do before guests arrive so, we'll just relax and enjoy the time spent with them. So, this afternoon, my mind was swirling because it seems we're running out of time and 1) our second batch of Christmas cards to be sent are not yet done. 2)I don't have a specific list yet of who to give what for Christmas 3) I still don't know what food to prepare for that day (especially we'll be the one hosting the dinner for the whole family), and last but most importantly, I don't have any idea how much we'll spend for everything or if we even have a budget for it...hahahah!

So as a natural born planner, the only time I would feel peaceful or at ease is when I sit down and take time to write things out; names, gift items, menus, program, time and yes, COSTS. And after writing down all these, I indeed felt better. I felt more accomplished and very organized after a very long time of not holding a pen and planner (and not to mention thinking!) . So like a professional event coordinator, I laid down all the plans, lists and schedules to my Manager/Boss (hahaah! no other than my dear husband). He was nodding and was just saying yes, yes, and yes! to all the lists and plans. Hmmm..I should have added my Christmas wish list too. But surprisingly after all Christmas plans and lists are settled and finalized, he asked me what are my top 3 Christmas wish list? "Wow, so you're going to give me all 3 gifts for Christmas?", I jokingly asked. I already know what our Christmas budget is like so, even if he will say yes to all my top 3 wish list, I would still insist on 1 gift...hahaha! that's me, I'm the very practical (a.k.a thrifty) wife. Anyway, I told him of my wish list and of course wish no. 1 is granted...hahaha!! Sorry, I can't tell what that my No. 1 wish is. Secret!

So anyway, back to our Christmas plans. For our gift giving to our friends here, I still stick to giving homemade edible stuffs just like what I've been doing for the past 2 years. It saves time and energy cracking our heads what to give to this friend, whether he/she will like it or not, whether he/she will use it not and etc. Just as what Flylady advices, give gifts that are clutter-free, so the edible stuffs fall in that category. Two years ago, I made some homemade cookies, packaged it nicely and gave to neighbors and friends. Last year, I made some brownies. And maybe this year, I'll stick to brownies since I've had friends who really loved it and even requested me to give them more! hehehe! For our Christmas Eve plan, we're going to have a Filipino Noche Buena even if I'll be the only Filipino around in the family (oh, I have a cousin here so that makes two of us). Our theme color will be Green/Red so everyone must wear that color. We'll be exchanging gifts too!yehey!

Haaay, writing about this now just made me reminisce of our Christmases with my family in the Philippines. I find our Christmases really special and memorable (Senti time...huhuhuh!) In our family, we usually have a theme for our Christmas party and once there was a time that our theme was Formal Dinner. So all of the ladies (including our guests) wore evening gowns with make up and the guys wore Barong Tagalog or suit. Then we turned off all the lights and had candle light dinner. We were all laughing and teasing how each one looked. Some wore their prom dress, wedding gowns and Wedding Barong..hhahhaha! You could just imagine that our neighbors must be wondering why everyone who goes into our small house wear gown and barong tagalog. That was really memorable and fun! Not to mention I also had a blooper that time but it's too embarrassing for me to write. If my sister is reading this, I'm sure she'll burst out laughing coz she'll remember what that was.

Anyways, before I recall and write all my past Christmases, I have to stop now and start doing what I'm supposed to do...what am i supposed to do now? let me check my planner first..hehehe! (feeling organized lang na) ..but wait, it's already 1:30 am so, I better sleep first and continue with the card writing tomorrow. Good nyt!

Everday surprises..

Earlier, I planned to hang Christmas stockings for my little girl and give her small gifts each day. But after I read about the Advent Calendar from Janet and her friend's blogs, I liked it's concept and decided to use it instead. It's a unique kind of Calendar where in there'll be small surprises attached in each date until Christmas Day. I found it a great idea so that Tricia will have some idea when is the 'real' Christmas Day because ever since we put up the Christmas Tree, she's always been asking, " Is it Christmas already?Is Debo Ate coming now?". She's also looking forward for that day because we told her favorite Ates are coming for Christmas.

Anyway, Last night I made my own Advent Calendar too..hehehe! it's kinda primitive since it was already the 5th of December so, I just have to make whatever I have at home. It's a good thing I found something a green and red bag from Myanmar with strings. Since it's green/red (Christmas colors) then I decided to use it. Then I realized the strings are convenient since I could just hanged the gifts with it.

This morning when Tricia woke up, I read to her the The Birth of Jesus (Christmas Story).I'm sure she was surprised why I'm reading to her a story after she woke up ( I only read to her before she sleeps) but I guess she was still too groggy to ask. Oh but before that,I asked her, "Why do we celebrate Christmas, Trish?, and she said, " Because we have a Christmas tree!"..hehehe! Ok, so I thought, I really have to explain to her the real reason for Christmas. So, I started out with the Birth of Jesus and why it's very important and significant to us. Of course I used words that she can understand but somehow I'm not so sure up to what extent a three and half year old kid can understand (about sin, Jesus taking our place for our sins and etc.) but anyways, I continued my explanation and she was listening intently. Then I ended my story that God gave us a GIft and that is Jesus and because God gave us a gift, so we must give gifts too! Then, I showed her the Advent Calendar with all the gifts hanging. Her sleepy eyes suddenly widened and asked, " Is that all for me?"

Tricia with the primitive Advent Calendar ( looks like a sari-sari store)..hahaah!

See her eyes??? so BIG ...excited!

She was so happy to see all the gifts and I told her that she can only open one gift everytime she wakes up in the morning. With this explanation, I got in trouble later in the evening because she was begging me to open another gift. Then I told her again "Only when you wake up tomorrow". Then she retorted, " Amma, I'll sleep and then wake up, and then sleep and wake up again ....so I can open ALLLLL of them!!" (with expression pa gyd na ang ALLLL) TOINK!!

Anyways,I think I'll make this kind of a ritual everyday to start with a story about the birth of Jesus ( different versions/ aspects of course so she won't get bored) first before she opens her surprises. Because as a parent, there is no greater joy for me than to know that my children will learn to trust in Jesus as their Saviour when they're in the age of accountabilty. I don't want it to be just something in their 'minds' and retort the 'correct' answers to every questions when it comes to spirituality, but I want them to really EXPERIENCE the life changing power that Jesus gives. That's my prayer and my hearts desire. :)

Weekend with Friends...

Eversince our little boy was born, more friends either comes by to our house for a visit or invite us out which is really good. :) Two days ago, 2 couples ( 1 Thai couple and Thai-American couple) came by for Lyle's 1 month bday..:) Of course we didn't have any celebration but these sweet couples remembered Lyle's 1 'monthsary' and came, brought some snacks and we had fun chatting with them.

( Baby Lyle with Lung Sak and Na Nok....but who's that at the back with a messy hair??)

( Baby Lyle with Uncle Rob and Na Nui who's also 4 1/2 months preggy)

( Eye to eye with Uncle Rob)

Then just this evening, some more friends ( 8 of them!) came and we had dinner together. Then, next week, we're already booked with the same group to go to one of our friends' house and have a Filipino "Fiesta". Yes! and we are all excited. Over dinner we discussed what should be our 'potahe" and at the end of the 'meeting' we came up with : The ever-present Adobo, Eschabeche, Bistek, Menudo and Crabs ..with Mango float as our dessert and of course, COKE as our drink!! Hmmm...sounds great huh! I'm excited for next Saturday! :) Wanna join us?

It's really great to spend time with friends and praise God for the friends all around us. I'm looking forward for more weekends spent with friends.

Post Birthday blog

Yes, I just turned a year older last week. The day itself was special but somehow we couldn't really celebrate it in a very special way since I got sick on that day, my daughter was just recovering from her sickness too and my Jesu was showing symptoms of getting our sickness ( tonsilitis)!



But still I praise God for that day...it's indeed the day that the Lord has made! Family and friends didn't fail to forget my birthday. Thanks to email, sms, phonecalls and friendster, they still made my DAY beautiful.



SO, on my special day, Aug. 2...we were just at home, rested, took medication and I didn't even have the appetite to eat anything. But a memory that will always linger in my mind is when I woke up with my daughter, Tricia. Jesu slept in that day because he was starting to get feverish too. Anyway, Tricia and I were just downstairs and I told her that it's my birthday! Immediately, she sang "happy birthday' and prayed for me too. Oh, her song and prayer was the sweetest thing that I've heard. It almost made me teary eyed. So, I was just reading my Bible and coughing real hard that time. THen, she put her arms around me and with "pity" in her eyes, she said, " Amma, I'll take care of you Amma!". Wow! I never expected that from my 3 year old. I'm not really sure if she knows how it is to take care of someone. But just her gesture and words of assurance brought me at the brink of tears. I realized how blessed I am!



Then, before lunchtime, Jesu and Tricia went out to buy some food. It took them quite some time to get back. But when they came back, I had surprise gifts from both of them. Jesu bought for me a beautiful pink dress while Tricia especially chose to buy a cute pink Bunny stuff toy. Tricia was so excited to give me her gift! She just loves rabbits...and so, when she gave me her gift with such joy, she didn't fail to remind me that , "appa said you can share your pink bunny with me!"...hahahahah!

So, my birthday wasn't bad after all even if I got sick. I shared that very special day with people most precious to me..:)