Christmas Parties

ASTI's Christmas Party

WOW!!! Ang saya ng Christmas Party ng ASTI last Tuesday. Outdoor kasi eh. Last year, dito lang kami sa office nag-Christmas Party, pero this year, may konting budget kaya sa Daza Park sa loob ng Camp Aguinaldo na kami.

Umalis kami ng ASTI ng around 8:30. Nadyahe nga ako kasi sa kotse ng Division Chief namin ako sumakay. At dun pa ko sa unahan pinaupo. Dyahe talaga.

Pagdating dun, breakfast muna then naggroup na yung 4 teams para sa games. Yellow team ako. Ok naman yung games, yung usual na mga nilalaro sa christmas Party. Nakakalungkot lang kasi after ng first three games, kulelat kami. Eh ang price pa naman ng mananalo dun eh one day offset. Imagine, makakapag-absent ka with pay. Kaya decided talaga lahat na manalo.

After nung first part ng games, may raffle. At nanalo ako. First time ko talaga manalo ng raffle, as in, kaya nga tuwang tuwa ako. Nakuha ko eh steamer. Hahaha, may pang regalo na ako kay Mama. Sayang lang kasi gusto ko sana yung DVD player. Pero thankful na rin ako dun sa steamer, mukhang healthy living ako next year ah. :)

We had lunch after. Daming pagkain. Fish Fillet, barbecue at fried chicken. Tas may salad pa. Busog talaga.

Then division presentation. Ksmi ang first na magprepresent. Alam ko naman na praktisado kami this year unlike last year, na nung araw lang ng Christmas Party kami nagpractice. Tsaka, kinareer talaga namin, halos one week na 6:30 kami umuuwi para magpractice. Tsaka, game din yung mga boys sa presentation nila.



Nung nagpresent kami, tilian yung mga tao. Nag-improve kasi talaga. Naaliw talaga sila dun sa sayaw ng mga boys. Ang astig naman kasi talaga eh. And to think na sila pa yung nag-choreo nun. Galing galing nina Sir Gerwin at IC. Masaya rin yung sayaw namin, although parang wala na kong mukhang ihaharap sa mga tao, dahil puro kembot yung sayaw. Nakakahiya talaga, pero keri lang.

S2E guys performing Michael V.'s "Hindi ako Bakla"

S2E girls dancing Sexbomb's "Wish ko sa Pasko"

Nag-paid off naman lahat ng hirap at kahihiyan dahil nanalo kami. 2nd place. Sabi nga nila dapat kami raw ang first kung nagpresent rin si Boss Jess. OD ang nanalo kasi si Sir Denis, yung director ng ASTI, yung pinakamataas sa company namin, nag-sing and dance ng boom tarat-tarat. Beat that. Ang galing talaga. Tsaka bentang benta. Ang sarap iupload sa Youtube. ehehehe.. :)

Second kami... wohooo...

Sir Denis: Boom tarat tarat

And nanalo din ang yellow team. Dahil ang laki nung points from the last game, nahabol namin yung points. At nanalo kami. First Prize. One Day offset. Came from behind, at nanalo kami. Ang saya talaga. Hahaha...

Nung uwian na, nakisabay ako kay Sir Denis. Imagine, sumakay sa kotse ng director ng ASTI at nagpahatid sa MRT cubao. Wow. Talk about kakapalan ng mukha... May kasam naman ako. Kaya lang that was really something. :)

Ang saya ng Christmas Party. At least, my last Christmas Party at ASTI was memorable.

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S2E Christmas Party

S2E Christmas Party was held the next day sa S2E conference room. Nung lunch, lahat kaming girls pumunta sa Robinson's Metro East para bumili ng food for the Christmas Party. First time ko kayang pumunta dun kaya nung may nakita akong flip flops eh bumili ako para may souvenir. Baka kasi hindi na ako makabalik doon.

S2E - Almost Complete

Nagstart yung party namin around 4pm na. Walang program, nagshare lang kami ng food and then exchange gift afterwards. Ang daming pagkain. Di namin naubos sa sobrang dami.

Ang nagbigay buhay talaga sa Christmas Party ay yung bukuhan at laglagan ng mga crushes. Nakakatuwa kaya yung magpapicture ka kasama yung crush mo. Buti na lang at hindi sila napipikon. At buti na lang hindi nila kilala crush/es ko.

May raffle din pala. Dalawang P500, half day offset at mga little things. Nanalo ako ng suklay at salamin, kelangan ko daw nun kasi lagi na lang magulo buhok ko. Sabi nga nila ang swerte ko daw eh. :) hehehe... Sayang, gusto ko pa naman sana ng 500. :)

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The past 3 Christmas Parties I've attended involved an exchange of gift. You give something and you expect something back. Mamya, together with my college friends, we'll be giving gift pails to people who are not in the position to give something back to us. A simple way of sharing yung blessings na natanggap namin this year. Sana maging masaya sila this Christmas.

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4 days na lang at pasko na. Medyo nafifeel ko na.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

and Happy Birthday Jesus. :)

Childlike Faith

This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa .

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but inspite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.


Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.


Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).


"And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.


"All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can,and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."


The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.


During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed, "Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."


While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"


As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen". I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for
almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.


Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.


By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was
mounting.


Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried.


I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "if God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!"


Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?" Of course, I replied!


That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."


"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)

S U R P R I S E !!!!

Sa mga nakalipas na araw, madalas akong pumupunta ng Robinsons. At may tatlong magandang lugar akong nadiskubre.

1) CD-R King
Sa wakas, hindi ko na kailangang pumunta ng SM Manila pag kelangan ko ng CDs na dalawang sakay pa mula sa amin. At least ngayon, isang sakay lang, asa Robinsons na ako. Nasa third floor, yung wing na papuntang Robinsons Department Store.

2) KARTON
Sa Glorietta ko unang nakita yung store na to. At sa unang pagpunta pa lang, nagustuhan ko talaga sya. Andito kasi yung mga art materials sa paggawa ng scrap books at magagandang scrapbooks na rin... Ang catchy pa nung stall nila. Asa second floor, katabi ng escalator, malapit dun sa mga tiangge.

3) Illustrado
The best yung butterscotch dito. As in, masarap talaga. Tsaka kahit maliit lang, siksik naman at siguradong mabubusog ka. Ok din yung brownies nila. Makikita mo to pagpasok ng Supermarket na yung daan eh sa may Pizza Hut.

------

Nasurprise ako pag pasok ko kanina sa office. Merong cute na pig stuff toy na nakalagay sa table ko. Walang nakalagay kung kanino nanggaling. Maliit lang sya, pero ang cute niya. Mahilig pa naman ako sa "baboy" ngayon. Try kong picturan para mapost ko. :)

Message from ARA

sometimes...

we put too much passion on the biggest dreams and priorities in life...

that we fail to love the smallest pleasures from simple things...

we search so much for the right choices...

for the right paths to walk through...

for the right time...

and for the right reasons...

but life isn't about searching for the things that can be found...

it is about letting the unexpected happen...

and finding things you never searched for..

Bigatin

Eto pictures namin kasama mga bigatin:

Yung sunod na pictures eh kasama namin si Tito Mayor. Sabi na kasing kamag-anak namin yun eh. :)

Peter with Tito Mayor Atienza

with Tito Mayor (wala si B-ann at si Papa)

Eto naman is after nung magspeak si Dolphy Jr sa church. Nakakabless yung testimony nya. Siya yung anak ni Dolphy na nakulong because of arson.

with Dolphy Jr. (Yup, anak siya ng Comedy King)