The much-anticipated wedding (at least, in our families) finally happened last Friday, January 5, 2006.The ceremony was held at Santuario de San Jose in Greenhills, and the reception at one of the ballrooms in Edsa Shangri-la Hotel. We really won’t be able to say that everything went without a hitch (pardon the pun), because that’s really not what happened. Ask my sister, and she’ll probably tell you that everything that could go wrong went wrong in her wedding, even before the actual ceremony took place. Not only did the gowns come out not as planned (we had mutated obis in place of the real mccoy, my gown became magenta, for crying out loud!), most of these were also delayed in making. The band that was scheduled to perform almost broke up prior to the wedding, ultimately having one of the singers leave the group, threatening their date with us. The bridal car that was supposed to bring my sister and my parents disappeared off into some other dimension, making their arrival in the church late by almost an hour (at least I could say it was truly my sister’s wedding: it was late). The hotel rooms’ reservation also got somehow screwed up. Of course, I won’t forget my personal disaster – Lani the Klutz strikes again, tripping at the side of the hotel on my way from an errand. I’ve still got huge wounds on my left foot and my right knee as souvenirs). Everything was just really messed up, but it all turned out well in the end (at least, I think so. My sister’s mom-in-law, wedding planner, hotel coordinator, etc. would beg to differ). We got to see our cousins, uncles, aunts, and other relatives after quite some time, since a lot of them live outside the country. I also loved the sermon given during Mass. It goes something like, make sure your wedding day will be the happiest day in your significant other’s life. After that, however, you must ensure that the following days will be happier than the last. He (I’d really rather not name names) also said that your spouse will be the Cross that you will be carrying for the rest of your lives, and it got me thinking: Jesus bore His Cross as an act of love, and that is how married people should treat their union as. It should be seen not so much as a burden but as an act of love that you will renew, refill, refresh each day. Another thing would be that there is no other person who would be right for you than the one that the Lord gave to you, and that person is a testament of His love for you. He reiterated “right,” in that that person is really your GB (in not so many words), but s/he is not perfect. I guess that struck me also, because we’re always looking for the perfect person that we could be with (no matter what kind of relationship), and we end up forgetting that there is only one perfect being in the universe, and He is God.
It was sad that our other sister wasn’t able to attend (she’s had a few days’ break after she graduated from boot camp, but not enough so that she could fly here for the wedding). All of us pretty much missed her, especially since she’s the most psycho one among us all.:p A comedic thing that happened to me during the wedding was that during the single ladies’ game during the reception, I ended up literally running for the door when they were looking for participants. I told my sister beforehand that I didn’t want to join the game, but who can tell with a bunch of lunatic cousins present?
All in all, the wedding was great fun. I wasn’t able to take pictures because I got separated from P (my camera) for a, huge part of the evening (sniff, sniff). I’ll be able to upload more once my sister gives me a copy of the pics from the photographer. We’ve got some looney shots there.:p
Oh yeah, sorry for the rambling flow of this entry. I didn’t really have an organized mind right now.:p
My parting shots: The wedding ended, and let the marriage begin. May the Lord bless the couple’s union.
Also for the singles out there waiting for their GBs (God’s Bests): As what was said in the sermon, there is that person that the Lord has planned for each of us meant to live that kind of life, and that s/he would be a testament of His love for us. Let His glory be done in this part of our lives, as well as the others.
Click here for pictures. I'll be adding more as soon as I get the others.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Call-Out Over?
Hmmm… Owing to the huge number of responses I got in my last post (read: nada), I’ll just assume that you guys are too shy to introduce yourselves by commenting on a post specifically addressed to you.:P Again, I am not prohibiting you in any way in reading and/or commenting on my entries, but I just want to make a request that you do leave your name and where you’re from too (ex. Hi, I’m Joan from Timbuktu, and I just want to say that…), so I’ll have a rough idea on just how powerful the Internet really is.:p The only restriction is, no spam please!
Anyway, I realized that I haven’t really made a short write-up about what my blog will be about, so I decided to make one here.
First, the URL: jarletofclay. For those who are Jars of Clay fans, obviously, I count myself as one of you.:P Didn’t want to get the band’s actual name for the following reasons: (1) It probably is copyrighted; (2) I would be insulting the band if I say something that is contrary to what they’re saying; (3) and anyway, I’m too tiny (read: a few centimeters shy of five feet – the world is cruel, I tell you) to call myself a jar; and finally, (4) A friend of mine (calling out Nades :D) gave us little vessels when we first became Christians as a symbol of our faith, and it’s really due her why I chose the name. Again, an explanation of “jars of clay” would probably be helpful, and I got the verse from the band itself, as was written in their self-named, first album. In 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, it says,
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (NIV)
All of us are jars of clay, fragile, delicate, easily broken, but we are God’s instruments to reach out to other people. We are His beloved children, and He will never allow us to be destroyed; chipped, maybe, or even broken, but not crushed and completely ruined. He is the Potter, after all, and we are but clay that He can fix and make new all over again.
Now, why Worlds Apart? Here, it gets a little bit more personal. I’ve chosen the name for a variety of reasons also. Firstly, “Worlds Apart” is one of my favorite songs by Jars of Clay, simply because it is raw and honest, a prayer of a sinner to the Lord. Anyway, my favorite lines from the song are:
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride/I flew too high/ and like Icarus I collide/ in a world I tried so hard to leave behind/the rid myself of all but love/to give and die/to turn away and not become/Another nail to pierce the One who’d loved/More deeply than the oceans/More abundant than the tears/Of a world embracing every heartache.
Those lyrics are incredibly powerful, and listening and reading these again just strike me at just how much God loves us. It makes me wonder just how many scourges He had to receive to save me, how many wounds that bled to wash me clean, how much insult and scorn He had to endure to even make me lift my head up. That’s how much was paid so that we could be purchased, the currency of which was blood and life. His blood and His life for ours.
Another reason, definitely less serious, is that I think I’m pretty much worlds apart from other people. I would call myself, in Filipino, as someone na may sariling mundo, ergo… Seriously, I’m really quite a bit of a nutter. I mean, if there was someone who’s exactly like me in this world, I would seriously pity that person. Even people who actually do know me get disturbed by what I do or what spouts from my mouth, be it doughnut conversations or vacuum-cleaning partehs (again, don’t ask, if you wish to keep your sanity). I’m really different from most people, and if some go and try to make themselves be “normal” (whatever that means), I really go and embrace my uniqueness (putting it politely). I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: all people are unique individuals, and instead of trying to hide it and pretend to be someone that they’re not, they should go all out and shout to the world who they are (within reason, of course, and hopefully not literally). Why should they want to be someone they’re not when they’re perfectly fine the way they are? God created you the way you are right now. Love it. Love yourself. You cannot even attempt to love someone if you don’t love yourself, and that’s an honest truth.
Anyway, regarding the contents: as I’ve said earlier, I’m really Worlds Apart, and that includes my blog style of posting. While some people choose to have multiple blog accounts so that they can create a new one for their hobbies, another for their relationships, and some for their pets (further segregated into the kind and breed, of course), I would much rather have just one single journal. It’s really quite practical: less time-consuming, easier uploading, and all that. The downside is, everything’s jumbled together, but that’s just the way I like it. I call it my organized chaos (as I like to describe my room as well.) Nothing’s really consistent, like I’d post so-and-so entry on whatever-day and all that. Everything’s just bunched together. Before, I made it a point to post an entry every Thursday, but that changed because I changed my schedule. Now, I just post when I feel like writing, when I feel I need to write something (urgings of the Spirit?), or when I have something to put up. In the end, I have poetry, photos, entries, rants, raves, book reviews, movie reviews, reflections of what I’ve learned, stories of how my day went, thoughts, opinions, etc. all jumbled together in a hodge-podge of stuff that could only be identified as Lani.
You might ask, why the heck is she writing all these down? Is she some vain idiot who thinks that the world revolves around her? My answer to that would be a hopeful no. Like most, if not all bloggers, I created mine to share my thoughts to the world, and the funny thing is that it is quite a lot, owing to the fact that I have a lot of interests and am quite opinionated. The main reason why I made a blog, however, is that I hope to reach out to other people through this, and hopefully share to them what my belief and my faith are. Admittedly, not all the entries here are pleasing to the Lord. I can think of some that I know are pretty secular, if you know what I mean. But these are landmarks of the person I was, I am, and hopefully, will also lead me to what I will be in the future. These make me who I am, including the nonsense posts I put up such as me being a total klutz, my teenybopper kilig (how is this translated, anyway? Butterflies in the stomach does not even begin to describe it), my political views, etc. In truth, I didn’t really want to have a blog a few years back. I actually hated the thought of online journals, because I thought that this is just a way for people to show just how shallow (sorry about that) they have become. Yet the Lord convicted me, and told me that this is one way for me to share Him to others, and just let me get some outlet for all the stuff that’s in my head. In essence, this is really me. I’m not a bot, not a fake. I am Melanie “Lani” Sison. This is who I am, and I pray that you continue to be with me in my faith walk.
For all those that my blog has even in some small way ministered to, I praise God for that. Let Him be glorified, and continue seeking Him everywhere, especially in the small miracles in your life. For those who disagree to what I have said, you can still leave your comments, but please do so in a nice way. Don’t lambaste other people just because you think you can. For those who’ve used my blog for “information,” (as it was called by someone who commented), I have no idea what that means.:O Sorry, but I really don’t. If you mean the text, then praise God if my writings have ministered to you. If the poems have touched you in a way, thank you too. If you liked the pictures, thank you again. But for those who might get too aliw (rough translation: amused) with the stuff here and decided to copy-paste it, especially the text, please don’t plagiarize my work. I’ve already had a bad experience in that in high school, and I don’t want to go through that again – ever.
Anyway, that’s about it for now. God bless y’all (and please don’t forget my request about leaving comments).
Yours truly,
The King’s servant but God’s first,
St. Thomas Aquinas
Oops! I meant, Melanie Sison.:D Cheers!
Anyway, I realized that I haven’t really made a short write-up about what my blog will be about, so I decided to make one here.
First, the URL: jarletofclay. For those who are Jars of Clay fans, obviously, I count myself as one of you.:P Didn’t want to get the band’s actual name for the following reasons: (1) It probably is copyrighted; (2) I would be insulting the band if I say something that is contrary to what they’re saying; (3) and anyway, I’m too tiny (read: a few centimeters shy of five feet – the world is cruel, I tell you) to call myself a jar; and finally, (4) A friend of mine (calling out Nades :D) gave us little vessels when we first became Christians as a symbol of our faith, and it’s really due her why I chose the name. Again, an explanation of “jars of clay” would probably be helpful, and I got the verse from the band itself, as was written in their self-named, first album. In 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, it says,
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (NIV)
All of us are jars of clay, fragile, delicate, easily broken, but we are God’s instruments to reach out to other people. We are His beloved children, and He will never allow us to be destroyed; chipped, maybe, or even broken, but not crushed and completely ruined. He is the Potter, after all, and we are but clay that He can fix and make new all over again.
Now, why Worlds Apart? Here, it gets a little bit more personal. I’ve chosen the name for a variety of reasons also. Firstly, “Worlds Apart” is one of my favorite songs by Jars of Clay, simply because it is raw and honest, a prayer of a sinner to the Lord. Anyway, my favorite lines from the song are:
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride/I flew too high/ and like Icarus I collide/ in a world I tried so hard to leave behind/the rid myself of all but love/to give and die/to turn away and not become/Another nail to pierce the One who’d loved/More deeply than the oceans/More abundant than the tears/Of a world embracing every heartache.
Those lyrics are incredibly powerful, and listening and reading these again just strike me at just how much God loves us. It makes me wonder just how many scourges He had to receive to save me, how many wounds that bled to wash me clean, how much insult and scorn He had to endure to even make me lift my head up. That’s how much was paid so that we could be purchased, the currency of which was blood and life. His blood and His life for ours.
Another reason, definitely less serious, is that I think I’m pretty much worlds apart from other people. I would call myself, in Filipino, as someone na may sariling mundo, ergo… Seriously, I’m really quite a bit of a nutter. I mean, if there was someone who’s exactly like me in this world, I would seriously pity that person. Even people who actually do know me get disturbed by what I do or what spouts from my mouth, be it doughnut conversations or vacuum-cleaning partehs (again, don’t ask, if you wish to keep your sanity). I’m really different from most people, and if some go and try to make themselves be “normal” (whatever that means), I really go and embrace my uniqueness (putting it politely). I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: all people are unique individuals, and instead of trying to hide it and pretend to be someone that they’re not, they should go all out and shout to the world who they are (within reason, of course, and hopefully not literally). Why should they want to be someone they’re not when they’re perfectly fine the way they are? God created you the way you are right now. Love it. Love yourself. You cannot even attempt to love someone if you don’t love yourself, and that’s an honest truth.
Anyway, regarding the contents: as I’ve said earlier, I’m really Worlds Apart, and that includes my blog style of posting. While some people choose to have multiple blog accounts so that they can create a new one for their hobbies, another for their relationships, and some for their pets (further segregated into the kind and breed, of course), I would much rather have just one single journal. It’s really quite practical: less time-consuming, easier uploading, and all that. The downside is, everything’s jumbled together, but that’s just the way I like it. I call it my organized chaos (as I like to describe my room as well.) Nothing’s really consistent, like I’d post so-and-so entry on whatever-day and all that. Everything’s just bunched together. Before, I made it a point to post an entry every Thursday, but that changed because I changed my schedule. Now, I just post when I feel like writing, when I feel I need to write something (urgings of the Spirit?), or when I have something to put up. In the end, I have poetry, photos, entries, rants, raves, book reviews, movie reviews, reflections of what I’ve learned, stories of how my day went, thoughts, opinions, etc. all jumbled together in a hodge-podge of stuff that could only be identified as Lani.
You might ask, why the heck is she writing all these down? Is she some vain idiot who thinks that the world revolves around her? My answer to that would be a hopeful no. Like most, if not all bloggers, I created mine to share my thoughts to the world, and the funny thing is that it is quite a lot, owing to the fact that I have a lot of interests and am quite opinionated. The main reason why I made a blog, however, is that I hope to reach out to other people through this, and hopefully share to them what my belief and my faith are. Admittedly, not all the entries here are pleasing to the Lord. I can think of some that I know are pretty secular, if you know what I mean. But these are landmarks of the person I was, I am, and hopefully, will also lead me to what I will be in the future. These make me who I am, including the nonsense posts I put up such as me being a total klutz, my teenybopper kilig (how is this translated, anyway? Butterflies in the stomach does not even begin to describe it), my political views, etc. In truth, I didn’t really want to have a blog a few years back. I actually hated the thought of online journals, because I thought that this is just a way for people to show just how shallow (sorry about that) they have become. Yet the Lord convicted me, and told me that this is one way for me to share Him to others, and just let me get some outlet for all the stuff that’s in my head. In essence, this is really me. I’m not a bot, not a fake. I am Melanie “Lani” Sison. This is who I am, and I pray that you continue to be with me in my faith walk.
For all those that my blog has even in some small way ministered to, I praise God for that. Let Him be glorified, and continue seeking Him everywhere, especially in the small miracles in your life. For those who disagree to what I have said, you can still leave your comments, but please do so in a nice way. Don’t lambaste other people just because you think you can. For those who’ve used my blog for “information,” (as it was called by someone who commented), I have no idea what that means.:O Sorry, but I really don’t. If you mean the text, then praise God if my writings have ministered to you. If the poems have touched you in a way, thank you too. If you liked the pictures, thank you again. But for those who might get too aliw (rough translation: amused) with the stuff here and decided to copy-paste it, especially the text, please don’t plagiarize my work. I’ve already had a bad experience in that in high school, and I don’t want to go through that again – ever.
Anyway, that’s about it for now. God bless y’all (and please don’t forget my request about leaving comments).
Yours truly,
The King’s servant but God’s first,
St. Thomas Aquinas
Oops! I meant, Melanie Sison.:D Cheers!
Monday, December 04, 2006
"Post-ers"
Hi everyone,
It's not that I'm annoyed or anything, but for the people I don't know who read and/orcomment on my entries, please do introduce yourselves. I kinda get confused when I get a message saying I got a comment from "Anonymous." Unless your name really is Anonymous, please do give me your name so I can reply to you properly.
Thanks!:) God bless!
It's not that I'm annoyed or anything, but for the people I don't know who read and/orcomment on my entries, please do introduce yourselves. I kinda get confused when I get a message saying I got a comment from "Anonymous." Unless your name really is Anonymous, please do give me your name so I can reply to you properly.
Thanks!:) God bless!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Close Pa Rin Kami Kay Jesus!
It's been four years since I came to know the Lord. Four years since I discovered that there is still hope in this world, and that, maybe, it's not as dark and as evil as I thought it was.
Seeing at least some of them who made this possible is like coming around in a full circle. I owe these people a lot, and I'm not ashamed to say that I love these people so much. If not for them, I would not have known Jesus. If not for them, I might even be dead by now - or worse (what a dark entry this is turning out to be :p). These are the people who saw me take my baby steps in faith and who guided me (some of whom are still helping me walk until today!), and they would always be special people in my life. We've gone to different directions after Ateneo, but it's always great to see them again - like we've only parted for a few moments.
To our Bible Study group, I love you guys so much! You've been my friends, brothers, and sisters. This is really cheesy, but you guys are incomparable. Thank you for the faith, for the laughter (dolphins are never going to be the same, as well as the geography of the US of A), for the songs (really fowerpul ones, dey are :p), for the craziness (I would never have believed an umbrella to be futuristic), for everything. Above all, thanks for giving me hope and faith again. You guys are completely amazing. See you all in heaven, if not here on earth.:D
To my D Group, Wow. I can't believe just how far we've come along. A lot of things have happened. One has already married, one is just on the verge of, and the rest of us are... happily single. Haha! It's been such an amazing journey, and I pray we still continue to walk together. All I can say is... Close pa rin tayo kay Jesus!
Seeing at least some of them who made this possible is like coming around in a full circle. I owe these people a lot, and I'm not ashamed to say that I love these people so much. If not for them, I would not have known Jesus. If not for them, I might even be dead by now - or worse (what a dark entry this is turning out to be :p). These are the people who saw me take my baby steps in faith and who guided me (some of whom are still helping me walk until today!), and they would always be special people in my life. We've gone to different directions after Ateneo, but it's always great to see them again - like we've only parted for a few moments.
To our Bible Study group, I love you guys so much! You've been my friends, brothers, and sisters. This is really cheesy, but you guys are incomparable. Thank you for the faith, for the laughter (dolphins are never going to be the same, as well as the geography of the US of A), for the songs (really fowerpul ones, dey are :p), for the craziness (I would never have believed an umbrella to be futuristic), for everything. Above all, thanks for giving me hope and faith again. You guys are completely amazing. See you all in heaven, if not here on earth.:D
To my D Group, Wow. I can't believe just how far we've come along. A lot of things have happened. One has already married, one is just on the verge of, and the rest of us are... happily single. Haha! It's been such an amazing journey, and I pray we still continue to walk together. All I can say is... Close pa rin tayo kay Jesus!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Our House
Here are some photos I took of our house in the province. You can view more at my Photobucket account. I'll try to add more photos in the account, but if I didn't, it means I got lazy.:P Uploading photos with a dial-up account is certainly not the quickest thing in the world.:p
I didn't put in a lot of pictures from inside the house, especially the rooms.
Anyway, I forgot to put in the labels in the pictures, so I'll just put 'em here:
*We did not post for our family portrait. My parents said that they gave a casual family picture to the painter, and from there, he let his imagination soar.:p Can you tell which one's me?:p Doesn't really look like me, does it?:p As a side note, most of the people who've dropped by the house get creeped up by it. It's not as if it's haunted or anything, I mean, we're still alive, ya know.:p But anyhow...
*This is actually just a wall decoration beside the family portrait. Got amused by it, so I took a picture of it.:p
*The rocking chair is mine. When I was younger, I couldn't fit in the regularly-sized ones, and I loved rocking chairs, so they got me my own instead.
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house at the back.
*Most of the outside shots are from the front yard, except for this and this, which are taken from the backyard.
*My mom's the one who fixed all of the landscaping, layout of the trees, flowers, etc.! Pretty good, eh?:D
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house, which is literally by our backyard.
*This dining area isn't actually where we eat. The table is usually reserved for when we have guests over. We usually eat near the kitchen, which is actually separate from this area of the house. Forgot to take pictures of it, though.:(
Some other trivia about the house:
They finished building it a year after I was born, so it's about 18-19 years old already.
There was an error in the design or the construction of the house, so the lot wasn't really maximized.
Until the storms of 1998-1999, my mom had a lot of orchids all over the front yard. It came to the point that even people we didn't know would drop by to by some from her. However, the orchids got destroyed by the winds, the rains (our area in Pangasinan being the entry/exit points of most storms), as well as some other factors that I very well do not want to mention here. Anyhow, in so saying, here they are.
I didn't put in a lot of pictures from inside the house, especially the rooms.
Anyway, I forgot to put in the labels in the pictures, so I'll just put 'em here:
*We did not post for our family portrait. My parents said that they gave a casual family picture to the painter, and from there, he let his imagination soar.:p Can you tell which one's me?:p Doesn't really look like me, does it?:p As a side note, most of the people who've dropped by the house get creeped up by it. It's not as if it's haunted or anything, I mean, we're still alive, ya know.:p But anyhow...
*This is actually just a wall decoration beside the family portrait. Got amused by it, so I took a picture of it.:p
*The rocking chair is mine. When I was younger, I couldn't fit in the regularly-sized ones, and I loved rocking chairs, so they got me my own instead.
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house at the back.
*Most of the outside shots are from the front yard, except for this and this, which are taken from the backyard.
*My mom's the one who fixed all of the landscaping, layout of the trees, flowers, etc.! Pretty good, eh?:D
*In this picture, you can see a bit of my lola's house, which is literally by our backyard.
*This dining area isn't actually where we eat. The table is usually reserved for when we have guests over. We usually eat near the kitchen, which is actually separate from this area of the house. Forgot to take pictures of it, though.:(
Some other trivia about the house:
They finished building it a year after I was born, so it's about 18-19 years old already.
There was an error in the design or the construction of the house, so the lot wasn't really maximized.
Until the storms of 1998-1999, my mom had a lot of orchids all over the front yard. It came to the point that even people we didn't know would drop by to by some from her. However, the orchids got destroyed by the winds, the rains (our area in Pangasinan being the entry/exit points of most storms), as well as some other factors that I very well do not want to mention here. Anyhow, in so saying, here they are.
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