Canada - Our First Destination for 2017

Start to kick-off the year with an adventure! This is a late post actually but I still want to share to you where we spent our New Year.

Originally we were planning to spend the new year with a bang at Time Square since we live now in New York and it wont gonna be authenticated if we will not experience it. The weather was fine, cold as usual but I think it was tolerable. However, doing the research on what to expect, I found out that it wont be enjoyable to us so I backed out. People over the net are saying that you have to be in Time Square at 3:00pm to reserve the spot and wait there until midnight. You should not be leaving your spot otherwise somebody else will take it from you. No public restrooms available in place and food carts are not allowed in the vicinity during New Years eve. Meaning you will spend around $300+ for food and drinks in those fancy restaurants in the City. 

That is not my kind. I am not a city girl so never mind, I am not ready to ruin my New Year just to experience it in NYC. What my husband and I did is we drove to Upstate NY and decided to go to Niagara Falls in New Year. Yes in a cold snowy season we decided to do the road trip and visit the water falls. Unexpectedly, it was sunny weather that time. There are blocks of snow along the way but the road was clear so not bad at all.

One Fine Weather in New York

We rented a place in Airbnb for 2 days and 2 nights for a total of $129.  I think that price is not bad for last minute booking. It is a little bit further to Niagara Falls but that place is cozy and can accommodate at least 6 persons.

I noticed that Tim Hortons coffee is more popular here than Starbucks. Well, it makes sense they are close to the boarder and Tim Hortons is a Canadian brand. In fairness, they have a very good hot chocolate drinks :) the taste is just right, not too rich, not too sweet but perfect!

Yummy!

We are not really a party people, lol we are old I know. We had an early New Years Eve celebration at The Mug and Musket Tavern located at Youngstown New York. It is a  cozy restaurant, operated by a family in a down to earth gathering spot that offer typical bar and draft beer. They really have a good food and it is the owner's son who made it for us and served by the owner's daughter. Cool isn't. That is the thing that I like here in New York. They love to support family owned small businesses. 

We visited the Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown New York before we headed to Canada on New Years day. The owner of the Mug and Musket Tavern said that it is also a nice place to visit since we are already in the vicinity. Apparently, the place is close because it was a holiday. We were able to see the Lighthouse and got to know some historical facts about the place. 

Behind us is the Light House at Old Fort Niagara

My husband said that Canada is better than New York in sight seeing the waterfalls and he was definitely right. 

Scenic View in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Dazzling Water of Niagara Falls

Whoo those pictures explain everything. Niagara Falls is really pretty. I was speechless and I can't thank God enough for creating this beautiful water falls. 

We went down to the tunnel to have a closer look of the water and you will be amazed with the pressure of water falling down from the crater. 

The sound of waterfalls made me to feel the storm. It seems like I was in Noah's Ark listening to the anger of the wind and pouring water. It was not fun right but look at the end of the storm there is a rainbow :) remember that is God's promise to Noah after the storm. 

Alright, alright enough of that. After Niagara Water Falls we headed to Toronto.

Toronto, Canada

Tim Horton it is!

CN tower in Toronto Ontario Canada

But then again, we didn't spend too much time in the city. Our GPS brought us to the beautiful beach in the area. 

Yeah seems like we are beach and water magnet huh. My husband and I love to spend more time together with the nature. It is nice to see the calm water at the beach, lake or ocean and the trees swaying with the wind. Those are soothing and relaxing to us, our way to relieve our stress from the busy life in the city. 

The Inner Voice in My Silence

There are so many things and questions that pop up in our mind when we are alone and contemplating about life. Maybe something that we desire or aspirations, some dreams that ended up being just a dream because of inaction. Maybe some situations in our life that are unfathomable or questions that we can't find the answer at all.  

I think being alone once in  a while, searching what is inside our heart, meditating on what is going on in our life, praying and reading the bible are needed to a have a healthy balance life. I understand that it is easy to be caught by our busy life but we need to slow down and stop for a while. We need to do it to be able to figure out who we are and what we want to become.

I once was in a crossroad and did not know what to do in my life. It seems that everything was not accord to what I was trying to accomplish. I was so devastated and lost. I decided to stop and figure out what was going on. On silence, there was an inner voice that whispering within me. That whisper become so loud that brought me to tears and freedom. All my aspirations flash back to my mind. Those things that are so meaningful to me. Those desires that drive and motivate me. 

On my silence, I retrieve back my following aspirations but come up with new questions that only God can answer. 

How to help my fellow Filipinos to uplift their spirit and increase their productivity that will bring income in the table?

I kept going back and forth with this idea. I don’t know but there is always a part of me that wants to contribute and help my fellas to be responsible. Hoping to give them the rod to catch the fish that can sustain their daily needs.

How can I help my relatives to learn to manage their money?

My aunties and uncles are trapped in the cycle of borrowing money from the “bumbay” (an Indian lender that lends money with high interest) to cope up with their needs and their lavish life. They don’t live within their means.  They are not responsible in handling their money so with the future of their children.  They tolerate their children to be lazy and do not value education that well. 

How can I boost the pride of the Filipino with their craftsmanship?

I believe that Filipinos are hard-workers and they have so much talents to offer. Most of them have just not given the opportunity to show it in the world and take advantage of their gifts. I also believed that Philippines is rich in cultures and natural resources that can help them to bring livelihood to the community.

How can I help my fellow Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) to reunite with their family and with that to decrease the case of divorce and separation among family members?

Adultery is prone for the Overseas Filipino Workers because of homesickness and being afar from their family. I knew it because I witnessed some when I was working in United Arab Emirates. When I first learned about that system, I got shocked with our culture in another country. It’s a devastating fact that needed to stop to keep the family intact. Family is the smallest part of the community and yet it has a big role in molding the character of the children, the new generations and the generations to come.

How can I maximize my opportunity to be here in United States in carrying out those desires?

I don’t know how actually. All I want is to put up an e-commerce business that will be used as a tool in delivering the unique products from the Philippines or other neighboring countries that will generate income not only to me but to the local community of the 3^rd world country.

How can I contribute in shaping the character of the children to have a purposeful life especially here in US?

I want to start a business that will also benefit the people here in United States. Something that will uplift their spirit, encourage resourcefulness and creativity, and will be used to give meaning and purpose in their life.

How can I share the gospel and share Jesus in their life?

I desire that the answers to those hows will lead people to accept Jesus Christ in their life. 

Our Vision Board for the year 2017

Before 2016 ends, I made my Vision board for the year 2017, and I feel good about it. It is a fresh start for me and for my husband too. I am praying to the Lord almighty that He will bless our desire for this coming year. 

My Vision Board shows our aspirations for our Personal and Married Life, our Health, our Business and Education and our Spiritual Calling. I will try my best to elaborate everything here.

Personal and Married Life

Healthy Living is the key for a happy married life. We are not young anymore and we need to take care of our body. Our body is the temple of the holy spirit so we need to be a good steward of it.

Eat Better. We need to be cautious with the food that we are eating. We need to remove all the junks and replace it with vegetables, fruits and herbs. I started to make our own dip (from herbs like basil and tomatoes) and use it for my husband's sandwich instead of Mayonnaise.  We also count our calories and use the My Fitness Pal apps to track what we are eating. It is hard for me at first because I didn’t measure anything when I cook food. That’s why my husband always tease me that I cannot replicate the food that I made. I am proud of it though because I can cook good food even without following any recipe. I didn’t follow any cookbook because I always use the ingredients that are available in the fridge, plus I love experimenting and cooking food from scratch. I am just blessed that my husband is not picky and eat anything I put in the table.

Positive Thinking and Feel Good.  This is my mantra for this year, always be positive no matter how tough life’s going. Norman Vincent Peale mentioned in his The Power of the Positive Thinking book that before we get up from bed, let us feed our mind with positive outlook in life. Imagine things that we want to accomplish in life and mention this verse at least three times, “This is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it!” and everything else will follow.  It is effective for me so why not give it a try and see for yourself the result. We also commit to magnify God’s love in everything and Start each day with Hope and Trust to the Lord!

Regular Exercise. Honestly, I can count in my fingers the time that I intentionally did exercise. I don’t know but I am so lazy doing it. However, I need to force myself and be more optimistic about it until it becomes my habit. I just need to do it diligently until it becomes part of my daily routine. I need to set a plan and start it by just walking around no matter what the weather condition is.  Without exercising, my body is sluggish and so with my mind. I noticed it when I was running out of breath by just walking from the parking lot to the apartment. I need to become active and breath fresh air outside at least 30 minutes once a day. I have to do it with my husband and do it as our Quality Time together.

She Desires Love, He Needs Respect. This is no brainer but hard to do especially when we are being shaded with our own desires, pride and selfishness. Gladly, Paul gave us the guidelines in his letter to the Ephesians on how to achieve the happy and fulfilling married life.

Ephesians 5:22-33

 ²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washingwith water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wivesas their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body.³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesian 5:22-33

Travel and Explore at least 1 place once a Month Together. It is nice to build good memories together. We decided to explore the culture of at least 1 place once a month. It is not necessarily be done by visiting other country but by just exploring the neighboring cities within New York or other States within USA will give us the glimpse of each culture. Yes, every place has their own culture and we have differences in any means. It is also great to learn the history of each place and be fascinated with the beauty of the nature that each place can offer.  I will try to share all of those places that we will visit in this blog (yay something to look forward!). 

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION

My husband to earn His Bachelor’s Degree and 1 Master’s Degree. We value the essence of education in our life. This is the treasure that nobody can take away from us. Knowledge. So we are hoping that my husband can get his Bachelor’s Degree early this year and continue with His Master’s Degree. I might get one too for Entrepreneurship but that could be later this year. I want to dedicate my time with our business first and have it stable before venturing to another thing.

E-Commerce Business  to Earn minimum Profit of $xxxxx. Other people can do it so can I. At this point, my business is just a name and no product yet but I am working on it. I don’t lose hope with this as I don’t even start selling. I might not be selling the original product that we were thinking of but there are so many products out there to sell. We realized that there is opportunity to grow financially in doing eCommerce because American loves to buy anything online. Thanks God for my very supportive husband. I will forever be grateful for this.

SPIRITUAL CALLING

We are all called to share the gospel to everyone. It’s been a long time since we didn’t involve in any church ministries or did mission trips together. We don’t want to be like a Dead Sea that secrete all the minerals of the sea and contain it in one place that makes it dead. It should be flowing like the Jordan River. All the spiritual nourishments that we got from church and mid-week study should be shared to other people so it will bear fruit. We decided to commit to attend at least one Samaritan’s Purse Mission Trip together and conduct Bible Study in our weekly life group at church. We are praying that the holy spirit will give us wisdom and knowledge to share to others and that the God Almighty will use us to bring more people to Christ. We strongly believe that everybody needs Christ for our salvation, and also for our direction in life. With this, we are committed to help others in achieving their dreams by  sharing Christ in their life and walk with them until they achieve their dreams.

I have confidence to the Lord that my husband and I can achieve all these goals in His perfect time. We just have to press on and run the race to win.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) 

My Emotional Inventory

I have learned that no man is an island. It always takes a village to do something meaningful. We need fellowship. We need a sense of purpose. It was year 2016 when I intentionally isolated myself to others. I decided not to look for job but instead start my own company since eCommerce is at its peak in US. I became a hermit, stayed at home and did research after research over the internet most of the times. I thought my life was doing great. I was afar from people, nobody bugged me (except my husband :-P ). I only talked or chat to my friends whenever I want to. I pray, read the bible, attend the weekly life group every Wednesday and attend the church service every Sunday but I know that deep in my heart there is something missing.  That is fellowship to other people and with what I did there was no relationship formed, just acquaintanceship.

That is sad. I was always upset, I've been down, not motivated to do something or sometimes depressed. I sit back and assessed myself and realized that this is not me. Where is the old me that has a cheerful smile in her face, that is compassionate, that is full of love and patience, what happened to her?

That was my fault, I allowed myself to be consumed with the world. I allowed myself to be consumed with hatred, jealousy, distrustful to other people, fear, worries and tied myself to the shadow of the past heartaches.

That affect my marriage too. My relationship to my husband was like a roller coaster ride. It was a bumpy road. We were fighting most of the times, I easily got triggered with a simple mistake or I just got mad at him for no reason. Poor guy! But I honor him for His patience and for helping me to figure things out and pick up my broken pieces. I thank him for his support, love and for being there in this lowest season of my life.

It is hard if your enemy is yourself. It is hard to move forward if ourselves have so much setbacks. Thanks God he showed it to me and I’m sure He tried many times but I was just stubborn. Thanks God for melting my heart. I finally got it!

Now, the real me is back from my long vacation in the wilderness. The improve one. More hope, more love, more dream, still have faith like a mustard seed but that’s good enough to take a big leap of Change. 

I am really hungry and thirsty to share God’s love, and I want it to start to my family, my friends, my neighbors, my countrymen and my community in preparation to my citizenship in Heaven.

I'm a Filipino so RICE it is!!!!

I was so inspired to think about business. I bumped to Tata in FB, one of my previous colleague in the Philippines. She is always nice and I trust her since our friendship has a strong foundation way back in the Philippines. She was my go to person in the Production and I worked closely with her in order to shipped out the 200,000 yields when the Production Manager left the company. I mentioned to her that I am looking for business adventure. She happened to have a rice dealership business and in need of finances to increase her supply. She supplies in their Company’s Cooperative and the demand is too high that she cannot sustain hence additional capital is needed. I feel that it is a good business opportunity since it has captured market already and all it needs to take is to manage it wisely. It needs strong coordination with the Wholesaler and the Coop Management to keep it going.   

Looking in the cost analysis and the ROI is not bad considering there is a chance to find supplier with lower wholesale price. The business has a chance of 100% ROI in a year or 8.5% to 10% ROI (Return of Investment) per month for me since I will just finance and somebody else will manage it. Not bad for a money that will just be sitting in the bank. The bank will give us 1% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) if we are lucky but that 1% interest rate will be taxed too so as a result we will be getting lesser than that. So in context, this business is sweet, it is a winning battle $$$$ :) 

All businesses have pros and cons, and the downside of this endeavor is trust issue but as I said I don't have any problem with that so we will see. The other downside is it has no assurance that the set analysis will accurately achieve since it depends on what will happen with the factory where the Co-Op exist. It also depends on the cost of the rice and how she will manage it. 

Oh well, everything is a gamble so nothing to lose if I will try it, if it doesn’t work then charge it to experience and try another one.

With the Cost and ROI analysis, I’ve realized that there is money in Rice Dealership business in the Philippines. Eventhough there are so many existing dealers already, but come on, Filipinos love rice, we ate rice at least 3 times a day or even more than that. It is a commodity that every Filipino will buy no matter what. 

I am Ready, I am Back to the Maze!!!

Alright so I am back to the maze and ready to find my cheese NOW! I’m glad I was able to browse my external disc yesterday. It’s always my plan to clean up my hard disc and delete the files that are not needed anymore. I consume my whole day doing it but still I’m not yet finish. I was easily get distracted with browsing my files and reminiscing looking on the old pictures, old memories that are so sweets and worth to keep.  I’m glad I bumped with the short movie that I used in one of my leadership training. It’s called “Who Moved My Cheese” movie from the book written by Spencer Johnson. 

This book shows the ways on how we deal with change in our life.  This book was written in the style of parable with four characters, two mice, Sniff and Scurry; and two little people, Hem and Haw. All of them enjoy the Cheese in Station C. Cheese is an analogy of anything that brings us happiness or success. The two mice and two little people have different ways and mindset while they are enjoying their cheese in Station C. The two Mice, Sniff and Scurry, always go to Station C with their shoes hanged in their neck so they are ready anytime the cheese are gone since they always inspect the cheese and know that it will happen anytime. However, the two people, Hem and Haw became complacent, they removed their shoes thinking that the cheese will always be there in Station C. One day the cheese is gone. Sniff and Scurry didn’t get surprised since they inspect the cheese every day. They immediately put on their shoes and get back to the maze to look for the new cheese, and they never failed they found the cheese in Station N. Meanwhile, Hem and Haw went back to station C and got furious when they didn’t find any cheese. They keep whining and asking “Who Moved my Cheese”? They wait and hope that their cheese will be back. They dig the wall and thinking that the cheese is hidden somewhere in station C. Haw give up and encourage Hem to get back to the maze and look for another Cheese. Hem is hesitant and fearful to look for cheese at the maze. He wants his old cheese and keep on blaming others for moving their cheese. Haw is fearful too but when He comes to His senses, He manage to conquer it and run back to the maze. While looking for the cheese, he keeps imagining himself enjoying the cheese and he realized that the more he thinks about it, the more he gets excited. He constantly writing his thoughts in the wall to guide his friend Hem whenever Hem decides to change and follow him. Eventually Haw, found the cheese in station N. He changed his habit and learned to inspect the cheese everyday. Below are the quotes that He wrote and worth to ponder.

 “If you Do Not Change, You Become Extinct”

“What Would You Do if You Weren’t Afraid?”

“They Kept Moving The Cheese”

“Get Ready For The Cheese To Move”

“Smell the  Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old”

“The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese”

“Move With The Cheese”

“Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese”

It blows my mind when I realized that I am like Hem, scared to change, fearful to face challenges, keep blaming the situation and allow myself to be stagnant. This book always hits me whenever I need it the most. I promise to change and be like Haw. It may takes time for me to find my Cheese but the important thing is, I am back to the Maze and ready to find it!!! 

  

InspiredByProverbs

I am a Christian girl who is now lost and find myself in a limbo that do not know what to do next but to write. I’ve been blessed by God to worked in different countries and ended up being stuck in the first world country of United States of America. I will be honest with you this is the country that I didn’t like to stay at before. It is because most of the people who live in our village have relatives in US and I knew that most of them have more than one job in order to cope up with the high cost of living. I found it horrible because I feel that it is tiring to work most of your life and ending up having no social life at all. But apparently here I am, experiencing the real life in America.

Most of us have a great connotation about United States. Being grown up in a village in the Philippines, with neighbors whose relatives are frequently sending them “balikbayan” boxes, gave me the impression that people in US are all rich. Balikbayan box means cargo box full of imported goods from other country and of course, Spam, Corned Beef, Chocolates, Levi’s jeans, Hanes shirts are always present. I feel bad that I was carried away with that thought and I completely forgot the fact that they have to work hard to be able to afford to buy those stuffs.

When I first visited US in 2013, I can’t believe with what I’ve seen. Poverty is rampant. Homelessness exist. I was speechless and all I said to my ex-boyfriend who is now my husband was the struggle of Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness movie is real!

It’s a wake-up call to me. I have realized that no matter where we are at, it is our self who are solely responsible for what we are right now and where our cash flow is leading us. There is nothing wrong to enjoy life to the fullest, there is nothing wrong to pamper ourselves and get massage once in a while, there is nothing wrong to eat out, there is nothing wrong to have a vacation somewhere else, nor buy luxurious stuffs to pacify ourselves, but the big question is, are we WISE enough to do it?