How do you know that God loves you?

I know I’ve been yakking about how Buboy and I want so much to be parents and how I’ve been going through the challenges of infertility. I may sound frustrated and sometimes even desperate, and I do feel that way too sometimes. But generally, I feel blessed. I have a great, loving and supportive husband and an extended family that cares for us. I have a big network of friends from every angle of my life. I have work. And I am happy. I guess I’m contented enough that sometimes, if not often, I forget to pray.

But there are situations that automatically prompt me to call on God and HE never fails to make HIS presence felt. And it comforts me. I don’t know really how it works. I just call on HIM to send the Holy Spirit to help me get out whatever mess I’m in and HE’s there!

Here's the prayer I always sing inside my head when my heart starts to beat so fast I can hardly think. I learned this from school a long time ago that I’m not even sure if I have the words right. Nevertheless, this prayer has never let me down. Not even once.

“Come Holy Spirit I need You.
Come Holy Spirit I pray.
Come in Your own special power.
Come in Your own special way.”

Sometimes I like to think that God sends me little troubles to remind me of HIM. But then again, I also believe that God is there to help us get through the bumps we (stupidly) set on our life. These are the little everyday miracles that prove of God's love for us.

-chebong

Family outing '08

First weekend of April, my family and I went to Ilocos. It was a return for Buboy and me since it was one of the places we visited during our two-week tour of northern Philippines early this year. Pagudpud was one of the highlights of our trip then and since it is summer, we decided to go back and bring my family along. Pagudpud is also a great venue for the pre-nuptial pictorial of Juvie and Benny so we brought Gene, the photographer, to the trip too. Of course the Higop Gang won’t be complete without Mox so she left her precious little bubbles (her dog) to the care of someone else during our 3-day trip.

Buboy was the only driver of the trip and I’m his ever efficient co-pilot. I swear I have improved my map reading skills since our January escapade (of which I’ll write about too… soon). Pagudpud is roughly an eleven hour drive from Manila, that’s exclusive of stop-over for some stretching. We left Pasig around 10pm on Thursday and arrived at Laoag in time for breakfast and some last minute grocery purchase the following day. Pagudpud greeted us with its midday sun. The place is wonderful! It’s definitely a breather because you can see more beach than people unlike Galera and Boracay on summer. The rest of what remains of the day was spent for the pre-nup pictorial at the beach and the windmills.

Saturday was beach day! Even though Buboy was dead-tired the previous day, we actually woke up early to enjoy the beach with the rest of the gang. Even Nanay and Tatay had fun waddling on the sand and sea.

Sunday is again a hectic day for everyone as we prepared early to leave Pagudpud and visit other parts of Ilocos. My parents are big Marcos fans so we just had to bring them to Batac to see the Marcos Museum.

We also went to see the majestic Paoay Church.

And of course Vigan. Nanay and Tatay actually celebrated the mass at the Vigan Cathedral… in Ilocano. I don’t think they understood anything. Then we strolled down the historic cobbled street of Calle Crisologo and did some shopping.

It was after dinner already when we started out for Manila. We arrived in Pasig almost 6:00am. Naturally, we were all tired and sleepy by then, especially Buboy and me who had to stay awake during the long drive back.


It was a fun trip. I was especially happy to see that my parents were able to endure the long drive and actually had fun. For me, the hero of the trip is Buboy. He made the trip enjoyable. He was awake more than 24 hours of our first day and more than 24 hours again of our last day. He never complained and he never frowned. He kept his cool and had fun with the rest of us. Now that defines a vacation hero in my dictionary! Thanks so much love. Iloveyousomuch!

-chebong