God's Grace

"If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love..."

ROUGH ONE: I cant even begin to describe how rough this week has been for me. Not that Im sitting here trying to say, 'woe is me, life sucks.' It really is through the grace of God that allows me to continue to keep on keepin' on. I was taken back by the picture on banne's bog where it had the picture of leliani holding a rock that said 'pray.' Ahh yes, it was such a simple picture but with such a strong conviction that captured me. It was the perfect reminder God was pushing me to do. Pray. I gotta get back on prayer mode track again. I've been to caught up in frustration and impatience, that I'm forgetting to let God's will be done, and not my own. I read on fred's blog that last week during mass the priest at Our Lady of Refuge said, 'You can better see God, if you have an active prayer life.' Rob offered me a deal to try and not complain for juss one day. Talk bout offering errthang up! Maan...that's something I'm going to try and work on. Yesterday at work I was talking to one of my coworkers and we were talking bout St. Therese on how she had a rough life yet did and offered errthang she had with a smile. Praise God for the Saints who teach us how to become better people.

SUNRISES: I went back to listening to that song God's with us and it means so much in so many ways. The lyrics of the song juss soothes my soul, helping me to realize God really is with us. Going back to the passing of my lolo when the first thing father said in his homily was, 'God never abandons us.' Through each difficult moment in my life, big or small God was there. Tuesday was comforting after some time resting in front of the Blessed Sacrament during Adoration. It was as if God's hand was touching my shoulder letting me know things were going to be alright. Catching up w/Allen was great, even though we may not talk as much as last year, I'm still grateful that we can talk. He cracks me up. The funny thing about this week is that all the crazy stuff had nothing to do w/work ha. God bless that broken road...



It's time for a change!

"Those who aren't afraid to show what their souls expose..."im done, im out God bless!

The Sweet Escape

"Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions..."

62 YEARS GOING: I forgot to mention in my last entry last week would've been my grandparent's 62nd wedding anniversary. Thinking bout it was happy yet sad at the same time. My grandparent took care of each other, with errthang they had. I remember when we celebrated their 60th anniversary my lola wore the same exact wedding dress that she wore on her wedding. I know he's taking good care of her from where he is. I praise God for the grace that He's given to my family most of all my lola. She's probably one of the strongest people that I know of. My prayer is that God will continue to shower her with more love and blessings. Growing older is a scary thought, but when Im sure when you have someone else by your side to grow old with, it's not that scary anymore. Happy 62nd Anniversary lolo and lola!


PRODUCTIVE: Monday was productive one, I was able to get errthang I wanted to taken care of done. Woke up this morning and did a little jogging around my block to get the body moving and going. As I was running past the mc donalds on western, it brought back memories of when Id use to run cross country. Errtime we would run corners and Id pass by mc donalds I could smell the aroma of food from the restaurant. It was so tempting to go inside and pick up something to eat. Then had lunch and met up w/jennif. I love that kid ethan, he's so chill he doesnt cry or anything. He's such a happy little baby too. Came home and decided to put up a shelf in my room for all my catholic books. I have this little altar in my room and underneath there's my collection of books Ive bought over the years. ANyway, so it was overflowing so I decided to put them all up on a shelf. It didnt take too long and in fact it looks so much neater and cleaner too. Finished the evening off at holy fam with youf min. meeting.

HAPPY BIRFDAY: Tuesday I took carl out for his birfday before he had to get his wisdom teeth pulled out. Dang that kid is 18 now, maan I cant believe how fast they grow up ha. So went to the brea mall and active, then had lunch at the rock and roll sushi place. They dont give you big portions for the price you pay over there it sucks. Good times hanging out though, it's been a while since I've talked to the kid so it was great way to catch up and see wha was going on with him. He's got a lot going for him and I know he's going to go long way in life, he juss continues to follow the path he's on now. I feel its important to continue to keep track of those kids who helped in my journey and walk.

3RD STREET: Tuesday evening, being there was no confirmation(woo!)took a trip to Santa Monica with chentel. Back in the days we use to chill like errweekend, it was kinda cool. Anyway, so we kinda got sidetracked cuz she missed the on ramp to the 10w (oh why?!). Well we got there most of the stores were closing when we got there, but it was coo. There was shirt I saw at urban that I was almost tempted to buy. It was a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows on it and it said below the picture 'something sacred.' The shirt was like $40, so I figured it wasn't worth it and on top of that I didnt really like the 'something sacred' below it. Had dinner at this place called 'The Deli' it was kinda pricey but the food was good. I had grilled cheese with a glass of red wine ha what a combo. I was so sleepy on the way home that I was juss ready to crash already. Later I realized I should've taken a picture of each day to post on the blog...oh well.

GWEN SONGS: You know how there are juss some songs that are catchy and the beat is pretty d0pe that it keeps swaying back and forth. Yeah those are gwen songs, ha for some reason I cant help to get out of my head the 'sweet escape' song. I always find myself singing it during random times of the day. The lyrics are so damn catchy I think thas why I find myself humming to it. I wanna get away, to our sweet escape woOo hoOo woOoo hoOo yeeaoOo. This song is such a hit and she's performed already twice once on american idol and then on the nicklodean kids choice awards. Fun song it really is.

LUNCH DATES: Spring break has been fun being able to do lunch dates w/different people errday juss doing the whole catch up thing. Wednesday, Rob and I hate lunch at rubios, the first time we've done lunch in a long time. Normally, I eat lunch at 1130am, so by the time 1pm comes around Im not really hungry anymore on top of that 1) I'm juss ready to go home and nap before going back to work again then 2) driving to the block is agh! Anyway, so we finally did lunch after trying to plan something for the longest time. Back in the days we'd have lunch almost errday. We'd do our baon days those were fun, :sigh: the good ol days! It was juss coo that we finally were able to do our lunch date, even though he was pissed that I was late. Agh thanks friend for lunch, lets do it again sometime! The evening followed by HFYA prayer meeting, then rushing home to watch lost.

STANTON CREW: Thursday was coo, I ate so much though. Yeah sad thing is that Im sure I gained so much weight with all this eating I've been doing during spring break. Had lunch with a couple of my ol coworkers from stanton. Apparently they fired another rec leader, I dont know the reasons but I heard it was pretty bad. ALmost as bad as what I had done ha! We had that golden steer, which I hadn't had in geez how many years? They really good steak there, so the place isnt all that bad. The city has changed so much since I've left, but the changes have been good ones. I gotta give props to the director of parks and rec who's really transformed the city around. The community is more involved and they seem to have really responded to the changes. Errtime I go back it makes me kinda miss working for the city. Those were the good ol days.

OCTOBER ROAD: I think I must the only person who watches this show, but it's so good. Im sure I mentioned it in a previous entry. The show starts off kinda slow and there's not anythign real dramatic that happens well except for last episode, I dont know there's juss something bout that show that's got me hooked. Oh yeah I also got addicted to this winterbells game you have to step on the bells and not be able to fall. Its one of those addicting games and the music that goes with the game, wow its like one of those soft lullabies that juss makes you want to lay down, sometimes I juss like to leave the game on w/o even playing it juss for the music.

SWEETY THAI: Thursday nite, went to celebrate Nariza's birfday, they created this artesia city plaza across from the church. There's a couple of new eatery places there to check out. So we went to sweety thai to celebrate nariza's birfday, good food there. I really like their calamari its good stuff. Afterwards hung out for some more at the tea station right next door. They have some small side dishes you can order but most of it drinks like boba and tea. We all shared this non caffeine lemon with honey tea. A nice warm drink on a cold spring evening ha. The weather has been real cold lately. Sometimes it feels like there's going to be a hurricane coming with harsh winds and the bizarre rain.

VANGUARD: Friday nite Micah had joey get us into the Vanguard in hollywood. Fred and I met up the rest of the crew over there. We got hungry waiting so we hit up this whole in the wall burger joint, they make a mean BLT sandwich, it kept the stomach nice and warm while we waited. The club was pretty interesting being it wasnt your typical 'filipino' club. There were mostly chinese, koreans, and other asian ethnicities up in the club ha. When errone finally got there it got crackin real fast. However, there were some weird asian guys over there that like touch you while passing by. Yeaaah, that happened twice in one nite over there. I dont know if Id ever go back there again though, the bar tab gets expensive. They wont let you use your card unless its $30 minimum. So yeah, go figure I guess cuz it's hollywood. In the end though it was fun times. While they were swiping my ID to see if it was legit, I got a little paranoid cuz they swiped it at least 3-4 times. Geez I was getting nervous thinking I may not be able to get inside ha even though I knew my ID was legit.

DOWNTOWN FULLERTON: The celebration continued Saturday evening at rockin' taco for jaycee's birfday. Actually that was my first time at rockin' taco I think we were the only non-white people in the restaurant. Those guys playing piano and singing cover songs start to get real annoying after a while. I was ready to leave within the first 30 min. I was there ha I think it was combination of me being tired, the people there, and the entertainment. So we left that place and hit up florentines afterwards. That place right next to it, has some good drinks for a good price. The place was crackin, the music was alright, but I wasn't really feelin' it too much for various reason. After leaving that place I was bout ready to go to bed already.

NEW ASSISTANT: This past saturday was coy's last day working w/me. He's the second person that I've gone through in the past year that I've been there. Despite my frustrations w/him and the countless times I had to ask the Lord for patience, its been a great 6 months. The messing around, buying take out, the many texts and time off requests I signed off. He did alright for his first job, it's all apart of the learning and growing process. Ha they called us in the beginning, 'coy-fish.' ha Now its all bout the transition from one person to the next. The qualifications of the new guy, well he has it, and he seems to know church stuff pretty well. However...well Ill juss say this, you know how when you start to see/spend time w/someone all the time you start to get irritated and frustrated w/them. Yes, I can see this happening already w/the new guy. Oh why?!


WYD: Last weekend the youf min. started to officially kick off and promote World Youf Day at all the masses. I did the presentation at the Saturday 7pm mass it was exciting getting up there and sharing w/the parish community, the goals and plans, also asking them to help participate as well as pray. A part of me is excited to go, yet a little uneasy at the same time. I think its juss the whole being away from home. Sometimes when Im out of my comfort zone for too long, I get real tired and home sick. The trip is suppose to last for 2 weeks, one week in sydney and the last in new zealand, however I dont think I want to stay for the 2nd week though. I remember about 5 years ago when SH had their youf and young adult LSS and the guys from oxnard came down they had juss came back from world youf day in canada, and all the stories they had came back with...it sounded so exciting real as if you were actually there. Im hoping to get a lot of people who'll help support and sponsor me to go.

FIRST WEEK BACK: The first week back to work is always the hardest especially after a long break. It went by pretty fast but what a intense dramatic week it was. Not juss at work but across the whole nation. Monday that whole VA Tech tragedy, gosh its crazy all the sad things taht took place over there. When I first heard bout it, I didn't really pay too much attention to it, but the more I seen/heard bout it, the more it sunk it. I remember back when I was a jr. in high skool, the whole columbine incident that happened. Ha I made this really big and nice banner to send over there saying something to the affect of 'Our thoughts and prayers are with you.' Then displayed it outside for the whole skool to write on it during lunch. Well there was this one big kid who thought he'd be funny and write something like 'eff you' on it or whatever. Yeah, he got his ass suspended for a good week for the inappropriate remark.


2 more months left!

"I have a dream, that we're going to work it out..."im done, im out God bless

Spring Break!

"There is no love that does not pierce the hands and feet..."

ITS OVER: So the lenten season finally draws to a close. It felt like forever this year for some reason, I dont know why. I have to admit I horribly failed at keeping my lenten promises. However, I did give up eating my snack ems for the whole lenten season, even though it wasn't exactly what I gave up. Lent also provided a lot of growth in my own spirituality. Congress helped me juss to focus on certain things goign on in my own life. Then reading and doing reflecting on some of the books that I purchased during congress. Last week I had juss finished reading, 'Blessed are the Bores in Spirit.' Really great book that covered a lot of errthang from participating in the liturgy of the mass to purity and so much more. I can only imagine how certain people after sacrificing certain things like meat or myspace AIM etc. now errone can go back to their normal routine.

PERFECT LITURGY: Holy Family has such a exciting liturgy in all the masses. Besides the Eucharist, its the liturgy of the mass that really helps you focus on juss what the mass is all about. Ever since I switched over to Holy Family for mass, I've gotten use to the 11am mass. I like the 5:30pm too but its juss too late in the day for me. Anyway, so I've been looking for to the Easter liturgy ever since lent began. Well at least for the 11am mass, and wow it was really good. The singing, the clapping, it was like errone is alive again. When you start participating in the liturgies it helps make mass even better. I really love how things work there, its such an awesome parish. I thank God errday for being able to be placed where I am now.

HOLY WEEK: This year I was given the opportunity to participate in the various holy week liturgies, which was real cool. Thursday was the mass of the Lord's Supper, which is also the washing of the feet. So I got to get my feet washed, and also process out holding candles bringing the blessed sacrament into the hall. Lawerence and i were talking bout you can see/feel the sense of community as people processed into the hall on Thursday. This past week I felt so in awe of all the different events happening. Friday the living stations, even though I didnt participate in it, the music that makes the stations come so alive and so real. Saturday Easter Vigil mass, I was really debating whether to go cuz the mass is so looong. Yet I felt obligated to go and support lawerence and John as well as some of the other couples preparing to get married in the church this year. During the baptism and seeing them get errthang washed away it was so moving. I can only imagine the sensation they were feeling, finally after all these years to become apart of the church officially. Then on thinking as the catholic church as a whole all over the world celebrates this momentous occasion. Christ definitely is alive all over! Then coming back for Easter Sunday 11am mass even more moving. We truly are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!

SPRING BREAK: Finally spring break is here! These past couple of weeks of work juss dragged on. Errday Id wake up thinking when is spring break coming! Alas its finally here and there's no doubt that I'm ready for a break. I wish I could juss hop on a plane and travel to new york or hawaii ahh then come back relaxed and ready to go again. At least I'll be able to sleep in and catch up with friends. Hopefully I can get back on the work out train again, the goal would be to loose some weight before confirmation next month. There's that jump rope in my garage that I bought a couple years ago I think I'll start to use that too...I love jumping rope haha With this week off I'll have more time for myself. Maybe I caan even start running around the block first thing in the morning! Ha

EASTER: Easter was cool, at least it was better than Christmas. The whole family came and it was great to see errone again. My little cousins are so freakin cute. I'll have to post some pictures up when I get them. Kai is the total trendy little boy with all the clothes he wears. He's juss like his dad. Saturday, I went to la for my godson's birfday party. I cant believe how big he's getting as well, which means I'm getting old. I remember I was only a sophomore in hs when he was baptized. Little kids are really cute juss wha they say and do, its so fun watching them. Thursday I was at marc's house and his sister makes me laugh. She's only 6 and with her little accent with the things that comes out of her mouth cracks me up. Anyway, so spent time with fam bam, remillia came over which was cool. She's a cool kat to be around. Then went over to lawerence's easter/sacrament's bash. Kicked it w/errone there in the little room he rented out. It was funny cuz he bought this little ceramic box that says prayer requests on it. So he was telling his friend he had to write one to put in the box. His friend was like are you going to read these? Lawerence was like, 'Naw God does.' His friend was a little confused or didnt know what to do. Then he was like im going to need a whole page for that. Then lawerence said its a prayer request not a confession ha! Well it looked like the guy felt uncomfortable writing something was like Ill juss do this later.

WIRELESS: Thursday, I broke my wireless internet card while bring my laptop to work. Stupid me shouldve pulled it out before putting in the bag. Anyway, so when I took out my laptop from my bag I saw it was broken or at least the cover part. Oh why?! Ive been having the worst luck with electronic stuff this week. Maybe its God's way of telling me to detach myself or something. Friday I went to go pick a new one up and it wasn't as expensive as I was expecting it to be, like $40 which isnt all that bad. So far so good it works and it connects me to the internet, hopefully it juss stays like that. Then on Tuesday my printer was jamming up ti was saying there was a stupid paper jam and there wasnt. Took it to best buy and well they looked up to see if there was a warranty, I knew there wasnt but I thought Id check and see anyway. Well the chick found one and was like yeah you got one last year it for it so they printed it out and away went my printer. Now I'm hoping they didn't catch the mistake and they'll clean it up and fix it. It sucks not having a printer, it sucks even more without wireless connection from my laptop!


Happy Easter!

"He's Alive, He's Alive!"im done, im out God bless!

This is why

"Sometimes the more we prevent our hearts from loving, we end up loving more than we ever did..."

ALMOST VACATION: Im so glad spring break is almost here! Maan Im ready to juss chill, I wish I had the money to go on a nice week long vacation. Anyway, it's juss going to be nice to not worry about having to work till later on. March seemed like forever, but it did go by pretty quick. Im glad spring break is after easter, and not before. The last thing Id want to do is worry bout having to go back to work after a holiday. Thas one of the perks working for the skool are the vacations, having the days off when the kids are off. Its been such a stressful skool year that Im glad that were over the hill and almost to the finish line.

DRAMATIC WEEK: Last week was such a dramatic week at work(skool). Wednesday we had a sub, and normally I get along really well with the sub. BEing that I'm the aide the subs trusts that I know the normal routine etc. Part of the routine is that during morning recess and lunch recess I have detention duty in the classroom. So the kids who didn't finish their work or need to practice their fast math are in the classroom w/me. Anyway so during lunch time, the stupid sub decided to eat lunch in the classroom instead of in the lounge. Well then since she was in there I decided to run a few errands, use the restroom, drop some stuff at another classroom. Apparently she didnt like that so she complained to the office and wrote a nasty note about me. Whaaaaaaaaack! Luckily, I didn't really get into trouble. Then there's stupid BIA who doesnt like to share the classroom with me. That day I was almost bout ready to go off on her and I know one of these days I will. That's a whole other story though.

SAD NEWS: THe sad new out of the work week is that the principal is leaving at the end of the year. Juss how they do it with priests and errthang else in life, they have to switch administrators. So in september were getting a whole new principal from a different skool. My mom says he's nice since he had hired her when she first started working for the district. Yeah its juss not the same though. Despite wha other people thought of her, I still loved her. Cmon after all she was my 5th grade teacher. Its jsus going to be different next year cuz I wont be able to juss walk into her office to chit chat or complain. The AP might be leaving too at the end of this year, so that's kinda cool. She's a little on the weird side and well she's the type of person where she goes by the books.

TRAINED: LASt tuesday I was commissioned along with some other people in ministry to be a eucharistic minister at holy fam. I get a three year term to serve so thas pretty cool. Ive done it before in the past, but was never officially trained to do it now I am. My first trial run was today at Palm Sunday mass, I was real nervous too I dont knwo why. Anyway, so I had to distribute communion in the waaay back of the church. The whole experience was pretty cool, sharing the body of Christ w/those in need. I think the more I get use it, the more I'll start to feel relaxed at doing it. I felt so rushed today though, maybe cuz there was so many people. As I was walking back up the asile to the altar I ended up having to distribute there too cuz there was juss too many people. ALl in all though it feels good to be actually and officially trained, now I can serve at conferences and errwhurr else woOo!

GOOD BOOK: Over at congress I ended up buying 3 of matthew kelly's books. I started reading the first one perfectly yourself or something like that. ANyway, I stopped in the middle cuz I ended up buying this other book I ordered from congress called, 'Blessed are the bored and spirit.' Wow really inspirational book to get you going bout your faith all over again. The analogies used in the book were things you can really relate to. I love good books like that where in the end you cant believe there's no more! WEll now its off to finish the first matthew kelly book.

MOVIES AND MORE: I finally saw the movie '300' today, my uncle had it on dvd so we watched it. It was really good I didnt like the ending part but the action kept you moving. There was a good balance between dialog and action. 300 is one of those movies where you have to watch it from the beginning and understand otherwise you'll be lost. Last Friday I watched TMNT with fred and that was alright. I dont know but there was juss too much talking and not enough action. I was expecting there to be a lot of fight scenes and errthang but there wasnt. Maybe the movie was juss hyped up too much that it wasnt all that great. So besides lost and the office, I got myself watching this new show on abc called 'October road.' About this guy who lived in a small town and left to start a career, wrote a book bout his old town and became famous for it. Then he goes back to his old town to talk to college students and faces all the people he left behind. Good show!

LENT: So the season of lent is almost over, it did go by pretty fast. I have to admit I didnt keep up with my lenten promises this year. I started too but then I got caught up with laziness and fell apart. Yeah, I know I feel bad that I couldn't make that sacrifice. However though, the more I think bout giving up something I did give up these snacks that I usually errday for work. So I guess something is better than nothing. Next year I need to be more disciplined and make it happen. We're entering into holy week now and Im going to try extra hard to be more patient and loving this week. Trying to be more charitable in what I say and do. Hopefully this work week goes by fast and I dont have any drama. I started to realize that these people who I have trouble wiht are my crosses, the ones who I really need to ask God to allow me the grace to help carry them.



Let this week go by fast!

"Here we go, here we go again, going through the same thing..."im done, im out God bless!