The Majesty of God's Works

To Seattle

Visiting Washington is an awesome experience. It was made possible with my niece getting married to Ryan Bean. The challenge before going was enormous but nonetheless a must go. Putting all faith to God, my mom Julie and niece Darlene fresh from Afghanistan embarked on a journey purely on my own faith's perspectives. Everything turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Definitely Washington is a beautiful state. It's like a huge nature reserve. From 30 thousand feet above, Mt. Rainier is enormously humongous topped still with snow and it is summer. The landscape was more conspicuous as the visible view resembles like a painting of circles in different hues of greens and browns. There were enornous spans of rivers and lakes having no ocean front on its own. The vastness was enormous and the mountains were topped with beautiful pine trees and the streets were beautifully sprayed with multi colored blooms of the season. The sun was brilliant but the breeze was cool making the road trip exciting... We got a rental car. It was almost impossible but again by faith we made it and surprisingly removed any hitch or blocks. One story book in itself. We were ready to go to Seattle. The five hour drive was gruelling despite the delightful view both sides of the road. I really have to stop for a ten minute nap as my mind keeps telling my eyes to close. It was scary that I reaslly have to stop and submit to the pleadings of my mind and found a parking by the lake a have a quick nap. A few hours after, the fields was replaced with those majestic pinetrees filling every space along the mountain route. You can smell the freshness of the air enhanced by all those beautiful pine trees. As we near Washington, more lakes, more trees and soon more cars and buildings until we are at the Space Needle by Seattle Center, the Icon of Washington.

Beside the Needle, Chihuly Glass Garden Plaza where dreamworks of blown glass sculpture were on display. The art works were manificient in size and concept. It's mind boggling to even think how they came up with the design and the assembly, display and presentation, the colors and lightings was awesome. The genius of Chihuly is unprecedented. I could just stand in awe in front of such magnificense. The debacle came in as it crept into my mind that there isn't simply enough time to marvel at all those marvelous sights and inspirations made available to us in just a day. It's purely an abundance of beauty everywhere.

Lavenders of Sequimm

We spend a night of restful sleep at Backie's beautiful home, sister of a very good friend Jo Atienza at Lynwood. After a sumptous Filipino breakfast of tocino, longanisa and OE eggs, we proceeded to the City of Edmonds where we boarded a RORO , a ferry boat that will bring us to Sequim and experience a pre Lavender Festival. Sequim(S-quimm) is an island town that looked peaceful and beautiful. It has a laidback feel. Going to the lavender farms was a treat in itself. We went to Graymarsh Berry Farms as was suggested by a lady we chanced upon at one of our stops. The lavender farm was set of a sloping terrain while the berry farms on the other side gave us a chance to pick berries. They have blueberry, strawbery, raspberry, logan berry and black berry farms but we chose blueberries and bought some freshly harvested raspberries. Delightfully, it was fun to harvest blueberries. We chanced upon some strawberries and to my surprise it tasted like sugar water. It tasted so good. There's not much of it to be compared to since there was no tinge of sourness at all. I cut a bunch of lavender stems and enjoyed its refreshing smell. We went to a few farms and the richness of the lavender colors are so enthralling. Lavender is a flower that symbolizes cleansing and true to its name lavar which is to wash. Tired from the whole day of travelling and exploring Sequimm, we are ready to go and eat. This time both Mom and Darlene were craving for rice. There is an Asian restaurant in town and there is also a Filipina staff in this island town. She told us there are at least 5o Filipino families in the area. Well, nice to know, we are in every part of this beautiful world. They suggested us to go Blainbridge going back to Seattle as it is the shortest ferry ride. We are going to meet Ferdie and family. It will be a first meeting of the cousins. Looking at the city of Seattle by the ferry is awesome. It kind of remind me of New York coming from the Statue of Liberty.

We went to a seafood restaurant by the seaside and got ourselves pails and pails of seafood delights. I thought we ordered so much but in the end it was just a little more than enough. Stuffed to the neck. The cousins had a little time getting to know each other as they try to bridge some decades and demographic separation and differences. Then we head back to Spokane as it is getting late and its a 5 hour drive. Smooth drive.

We were billeted at the Red Lion Riverside Hotel courtesy of my sister Edna. Yeah second floor and no elevator and we have to carry the flowers upstairs and be on the water for travelling more than ten hours. The flowers turned out to be still great and straight on to the tub and some shower. The drive was long yet so enjoyable for everywhere you see God's majesty. You see wonderful works only God made possible with the passage of time. Created upon generations of different needs and circumstances yet its beauty was masterfully protected. The infrastracture was so complimenting to the land and seascapes that everywhere offered postcard beauties.

Four days can never be enough but enough to make an impression of how charming the place is.

Getting to the Parallel Universe

After almost two and a half years of incredible challenges as it is now 06/21/2012, comes another reckoning from the past. It is a whirlwind of events aptly described as the roller coaster ride of a lifetime. The wisdom gained prior this period was well used and came in handy during the most trying times of severe losses and gains. Still a period of evolution where every moment is an opportunity to grow and experience the deeper truth of what is. Each moment is a conscious undertaking to go deeper to the recesses of my human nature of expugning my resentments and pains I so unecessarily felt and stored. The voraciousness to acquire wisdom to achieve worthiness of self and valuing my own gift of existence.
At this tip of my own highest point for now, acceptance looms large in my own mental horizon. Gratefulness comes next and finally faith. The kind of thought that you just know that it is. Destiny is God's as He had made everything even before the foundations of the earth was made. The Producer, writer, director of fate has made it all done and all we have to do is act on it. Our choice is to accept or resist. Complain and remain. That is definitely our will. But in acceptance, we leave behind the sting of disappointmenting memories. It actually leads to an opeing, to a new avenue of greater and bigger things. Somehow it is a cleansing process that gets us nearer to a state where we can commune with the spirit.

We evolve. As we evolve we enter to a new dimesion of our existence. It is a continuum where the past, present and the future converge. Everyone has been uniquely placed and have their own universe where we work our way to become more pure. Eventually to achieve this grace allows us to finally enter the Kingdom. This is a time and space of abundance where everybody dreams as it is visible and may be seen or seemed accessible or possible. Yet it tends to be as elusive like a glass wall that separates you from who u dream of urself to be.

Evidently, nothing comes possible without grace. Eph. 2:8...not by might , not by power but thru the grace. As everything is available thru grace, it is by faith that we can access it.
The parallel universe of the haves and have nots, those who have more shall be given more and those who have least all of what they have shall even be taken away distinction. The evolution comes with faith being the currency of the spiritual world. In physical means we both see this parallelism yet no unevolve can Be and enjoy or access or enter that time and space. I tried and saw and know yet I bounced back. Acceptance is the key, gratefulness opens the door and faith allows you in. Just have faith. Just know stubbornly and absolutely and the rest will be God's own way.
It's worthless to compare self to anyone as everyone might be moving on a different time and space. Others can be inspiring and a testimony to the promise yet irrelevant as they are of no effect to our own time and space. What we have is whatever there is in the moment that we can do. Whatever we do is our choice but it is necessary not to get caught copying other people's templates. We have our own gifts. We just need to appreciate and be grateful to enhance it more.

As One

Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano treated Angelenos with one time historical sold concerts that will be long remembered for its timing, relevance and excellence. The songs were incredibly well chosen enough to really put the audience screaming with so much joy and excitement. Martin was at his best not only with the gift of glib but his outstanding vocals that has made him a by word in entertainment in every Filipino household. He was accorded an standing ovation with his Broadway medley that truly mesmerized the audience with that powerful, whole and beautiful mastery only Martin can give. Martin just sang from The Phantom of the Opera and All I ask of You, the immortal Memory from Cats, and that all time favorite Somewhere of the West Side Storyand with a short pause and ovation he finished the number with This is the Moment. Hands down, Martin won the crowd was electrified with such a sterling performance.
Gary V, Mr. Pure Energy Himself lived up to this title and at 45, he can sway those hips and airbound like he is thirty years younger. He never fails to amaze the crowd with his playful voice. Gary is a serious performer who seemed intent on giving a great show. He sang his Sana Maulit Muli and their exchange of songs with the Teleserye themes of TFC really brought the house down. It is not sure which made the Telenovela, is it their songs of the story. Their grip on the audience was awesome as Marin sang Ikaw ang Aking Pangarap of Lobo, Gary sang the all time rating buster Tayong Dalawa to a deafing scream of approval.
The surprises kept coming after the other and hits after hits of which these two gentlemen had awesome collections of it delivered a show that will long remebered. The encored with Earth , Wind and Fire hits that has made the audience dancing and shouting for more. The show ended with everybody smiling and satified Martin and Gary came in As One.

The title and timing of the show was fortuitous with Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng just battered Luzon with untold miseries and loss. The two guys never lost time enjoining everyone to do their share to help which fortunately the entire LA FilAmcommunity is busy doing just that. Every church, every artist, every organization every household had probably did their share in cash or in kind and enjoining even non Filipino friends to do the same. As the title of the concert say, As 1, so is the entire Filipino community are one with their countrymen in keeping the spirit alive amidst the ravages of mother nature.

So I heard, Martin even sold kisses to raise more funds.

Seven Keys to the Kingdom

The Seven Keys to the Kingdom by David Owen Ritz is an eye opener or soul searchers' answer of the many and hows of this mysterious life that got complicated. It should be read by everyone looking for a way to put everything together our soul, dreams, mind and synchronize our life to be in the flow where God exists. Learning how we get out of the way meaning learning how to tame our thoughts or intelligence and should not get in the way of our lives. We must remeber that our thoughts or intelligence is a mere product of our experiences and education which by far very limited to as it is compared to the immensity of the universe where we socialize and to the majesty of the Almighty who had created all that is.

It speaks volumes how our education, experiences and everything we know has misled us to the greater truth we are searching for. The ego actually represents our sum total knowledge. The ego is the proud self of the know it all in us yet as it is is limited to its own exposure.
The seven keys is not something we haven't heard in our life but something we were not able to put together or we never thought that it is actually it is.
The first key speaks of the Commitment to accept that all good things come from God. Willingness to embody a consciousness to abundance. To focus our energy to the achievement of our goals unconditionally. Attain this awaremess that nothing can get in the way. It is the presence of God in our system that should matter here. No doubt no fear and no worries can change our awareness to the state of abundance.
The second key is vision...Holding your highest conscious vision of your highest personality possibility .You can not rise higher than the highest thought that you can think of yourself. You must feel deserving of the person you were meant to be. Listen to your inner guidance to manifest your inner vision. Your vision will direct your steps to achieve your highest possibility.
Truth, the third key is the awareness of the truths and facts of life. And the greatest truth is God is the one and only source acting on every channel. The One that acts on anything and everything in the Universe. Our ignorance of the truth keep us from achieving our fullest possibility. Seek yeah first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Here you find the purse that never go empty and the treasure that will never rot. The universe is achieving all our good.
Circulation is the fourth key. Live in the flow as a giver in life. Add to life because Life is given though us not to us. Whatever you give will be given back. The Law of Circulation will create a vacuum in our physical lives when we give and thru this the Universe will replenish and fill it up back. Make room for the good that you like by releasing stuff you don't need anymore to serve others.
Forgiveness.. The fifth key is the releasing the past reaching the interior level of our life . TReleasing the inner things that kept us from receiving our greatest possibility. These are the pain that we keep from the past. Totally forgiving everthing and everyone and let go.Forgive the self too of all resentments and guilt. Let all baggage go and have an attitude to love urself and others unconditionally Value being free from the past .
The sixth key is Gratitude. An active and emotional way of being grateful. Putting an energy with it. Celebrate through sharing abundance. Everything that comes in our lives are blessing even the negative ones are good teachers that will help us achieve good in our lives. Take time to focus on all the good and praise it.
The seventh key is Being. When we live in the flow, we become part of God's great abundance.
We are made in the image and likeness of God...It is love, joy, abundance, power and everything that is good. Whatever God is , we are. We are here to grow, to evolve and achieve our greatest possibility.

Imelda, Ahead of Her Time

Everything has a reason and a time and purpose under the heavens. We have heard and read much unsavory remarks about the former first lady. But had we really looked harder on how she looked at the world. Ever wondered why she did what she did minus our own judgements?

Everyone loves to be right and it is much sweeter to be holier than thou. But it seems like Imelda was ahead of her time. She had always been espousing beauty, love and abhors ugliness. Well it is her opinion and came from her own resources thru experiences and education. She wanted to show Filipino(s) beauty, arts, culture and everything on the positive side at least in her own terms. But a lot among us just can't see where she's coming from because of the poverty we are in or with the crimes she was wrapped with in our minds. We see the ugly and lack, we notice all kinds of corruption and everything bad and that was somebody's fault.

But a lot of studies coming out now tells us that the state of (y)our mind is the state of (y)our environment. I am sure it is not Imelda who nurtured the culture of filth as what we see it in Manila Bay which to say the least is symptomatic of the Filipino minds or discipline. So many of us are guilty as we throw all kinds of trash in our environment. It speaks much of the kind of mind we nurture. Corruption is not a monopoly prescribed by the Marcoses alone (Perception) as many would have prosecuted them and judged to be. So many of us are demigods that would like to rule among the lowly subjects. So many of us would like to be queens and kings. So many would like to get things done according to their own calls. This is a Philippine reality and actually global but we are one of the worst offenders. And yes this is the state of our minds.

I have thought Imelda was ahead of her time because she tries to instill beauty and love and she had put up a lot beautiful buildings, gave a home to our culture with the Cultural Center of the Philippines as her pet project and during her time, she was the fashion industry's patron saint. The Filipino artistry with the performing arts bloomed during her time. She institutionalized recognizing national artist. The furniture industry (Handicrafts) had a heyday having its biggest break during her time when Philippine products found their way to five star hotels here and abroad. Just as when some people in the world thought of Filipinos still cohabiting with monkeys on the trees in their G strings.

They got very good concepts like the Green Revolution that had it been institutionalized, appreciated and implemented by each one of us, hunger would have not been much of a problem TODAY. But lo and behold, we prefer a culture of buyers than producers and how we like imported goods really. This speaks much of the kind of thinking we have.
The Marcoses are long gone but they are the best escape goats we can have because it is not in our culture to acknowledge our own weaknesses and mistakes so we never moved on.

We are still in the same boat complaining of the same signature poverty we Filipinos love to create and own. Millions of Filipinos had gone OFWs but we still see and hear lack all over. We are never thankful of anything but we are the biggest cell phone users in the world. That's why PLDT loves the Philippines and will continue to gobble up all industries in the country because they have learned how to play on the idiosyncracies of the Pinoys of having different priorities. This country have so much spending money but how much percentage goes to the ailing Philippine industries as we continue to import even the most trivial needs in our homes. Well just how much people are really paying their taxes correctly. Just how much goes to the national coffers and private pockets.

In truth we have a very rich nation with great talents and natural resources but the mind set should be changed. There must be a shift of consciousness. The whole nation should be taught how to see its own blessings because there are so much to be thanked for. Being a Catholic nation has not helped. Remember God had promised abundance. Maybe the church hierarchy should changed its mind set too and help the religious understand their faith better. More on Belief. It should make the faithful understand their faith and relationship with God better because their pardigm is not working. There is just so much fear, doubt, anger and worries in the hearts of men that all they see is poverty and lack. There is so much baggage that we just can't get over with. We just can't seem to forgive and forget as Jesus has been teaching us more 2000 years now.

Why the rich are getting richer and richer and the poor gets poorer? Remember the parable of the Talents....He who have more , more will be given and he who have less will have even only his possessions be taken away. It's a Faith problem that translates to the thought that became words that created actions that produced the state of where we are now.
Imelda is now 80 years old and still talking about beauty and love. She wallows in great wealth and beauty. She refused to look at the ugliness of it all. Lets us not be the judge of what she did we thought were wrong because that will be her own to resolve with her Creator but the wisdom she's telling us all...LOVE. Let's all go back there and restructure our mindsets that we may finally attract the same.

What we all thought was right is very relative. There are more than six billion opinions of right in this globe alone. If we really love ourselves, we should have the humility to acknowledge our weaknesses, accept and appreciate the differences we have and go from there to improve our lives for God had promised His eternal lavish abundance for everyone.
And Imelda is still awesome and fabulously wealthy despite all the negative thoughts, court cases, and sinks thrown at her. This is not an ordinary story. It is one for the fairy tale books. There must be something good we are not seeing here or she must have done something right to be still on top of her game.

An Icon from my Generation Died

Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino succumbed to colon cance after a year of battle. This one she didn't win. But she smothered tanks, power and fortune and an impossible dream. She was the first lady president of the republic and swept to power thru a bloodless and miraculous people power.
That's one for the books and I was a witness to the unfolding of history during that generation of great identity crisis both personal and national. Who would have thought that a housewife would stand up as an unrelenting mom for a nation in crisis.
I got back to that time where change is so thick in the air and so is fear. The economy is crumbling and the powers are in great disarray. Many opted for change and Cory was the only alternative left standing. If not now when? was the cry of the moment and everyone felt it but like half of the nation was uncertain as to what route to be taken. Families, friends, communities, the whole nation was totally divided.
The cloud of uncertainty was changed to a resolved opportunity to make it under a new leader. It wasn't easy. Many didn't made it easy for her. Those years were marred with massive brown outs and donor nation fatigue. But the national problems were montrous. She held her grounds with so much patience and strenegth. She did not give up and gave her best. It was her darn best coming from a housewife and the whole nation was her ward. It was impossible not to complain of the numerous helplessness at that time but it was like a birth pangs of a new nation coming out.
Just how far did the rest of us did. Many were look and see. Many stayed corrupt and new breed of pariahs prospered. Hungrier. But many embraced the change.
I mourn her death for looking back, she was a mother to nation that was so distressed. Her strength towered over the adversaries. The outpouring love and support was there. There can be no other her again. There will never be another opportunity that will touch the nation in such a magnitude in such sponteinity. Yes she was really a gift.

I Am Now In WEHO

By a twist of fate, my floral art pieces are now being given its true attention it deserves. Courtesy of Oliver Tolentino who just opened his boutique at swanky Melrose area. A block to Beverly Hills and a block to the paparazzi laden Robertson Ave.

Who would have thought that a mere simple and single encounter at the Flower Market six years ago would propell me to the fashion capital of the world in a silver platter. I credit it to Oliver's kind heartedness. I also give credit to James Saspa who accompanied me at Oliver's boutique and made sure that I met with Oliver formally and officially.

Am sure the Universe has made it possible as I wished that the right people will come my way to pave the way for the great recognition of my works. Success is synomymous with finacial rewards. For this time like in my works, more is more. My gratitude to the highest heavens for this opportunity is one for the books. It's another magic worth sharing to the world.