Mateo Lands on Front Page

A front page item on July 12 (encircled above) was an early Sunday morning grace. It also made me flush like an over-ripe tomato.

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), one of the biggest daily broadsheet newspapers in Manila introduced Mateo, the main character in my book series “Oh, Mateo!” to some 100 children at the Inquirer Read-along session. The affair, which was an advance celebration of National Children’s Book Day on July 21, featured television news personalities Pinky Webb, Winnie Cordero, and Anthony Taberna.

The first book that was read in the program was “The Money Mystery” (Oh, Mateo! Book 4 in the series) by guests. The story is about Teo who solves the town’s money mystery by being brave. In the process, he also learns about honesty, especially when it comes to money.

Webb, Cordero and Taberna, hosts of the popular morning show “Umagang Kay Ganda,” also read “Teo’s Trash Can” (Oh, Mateo! Book 8). It’s about hard-working Teo discovering antique artifacts in an old, rundown shack. These turn out to be valuable historical treasures.

Webb acted as the narrator, while Taberna read role of Teo’s father. Cordero, a familiar voice on radio and TV children’s shows, voiced Teo! (Photo shows Teo, the character, on the left; the two books read, on the right, all illustrated by Beth Parrocha-Doctolero.)

Nine-year-old Andrea Nicole Valerio, a Grade 4 student, said, “I really enjoyed it, especially Tita Winnie [Cordero]’s segment! She’s really good, especially with her voice. I learned how important it is to work hard,” she added.

A news item in PDI a few weeks ago reads: “Launched in May 2007, the Inquirer Read-along project received an award for excellence this year from the Philippine Quill, the country’s most prestigious award-giving body for business communicators, for spreading the passion for reading to more than 4,000 children.”

More than landing on the front page, I am happy that my books are partnering with Inquirer Read-Along in igniting passion among children to read.

The Sunrise I Couldn't Watch

A road trip to Baler, Aurora is a treat that doesn’t come every day. Tony and JR packed their bags and were determined to have a grand weekend.

Sadly, first son JC was busy, and so was I. We were separately deep into commitments we couldn’t postpone. And so we reluctantly wished father and third son, “Enjoy yourselves!”

Properly tanned and fed, they came home brimming with stories and photos. Among all the spectacular shots they took, the minute-by-minute image of the sun rising (I am sharing a few of them here) took my breath away.

As my eyes feasted on every frame, imagining and vicariously experiencing each rising movement, I sang (silently of course, until I could muster the courage to impose my non-voice on others), Sunrise:

Then I shall come to the end of my way,
When I shall rest at the close of life’s day,
When “Welcome Home” I shall hear Jesus say,
Oh, that will be sunrise for me . . .
Sunrise tomorrow, sunrise tomorrow,
Sunrise in glory is waiting for me;
Sunrise tomorrow,
Sunrise tomorrow,
Sunrise tomorrow,
Sunrise with Jesus for eternity.

I might have missed watching the awe-inspiring Baler sunrise, but the promise of sunrise tomorrow is grace beyond imagination.

Enormous Wonder

As soon as Adrian got back to Grand Rapids, Michigan, after an 18-day vacation in the Philippines, his mom whisked him to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park so he could quickly get back to the familiar, the feel of home base.

I always feel vicarious excitement when I see a photo of this enormous “DaVinci's Horse,” by Nina Akamu. It is the largest horse sculpture in the Western Hemisphere—a tribute to Leonardo DaVinci, who was commissioned by the Duke of Milan to make a similar sculpture, but failed to complete it. At 24-feet tall, this bronze sculpture dwarfs those who come to admire it.

Once again, this horse demonstrates how enamored man is of extremes—the largest, the smallest. It is particularly interesting to me as I continue to read my Chronological Bible, which narrates and details how God created the biggest planet and the smallest quark—and all the details and sizes of nature in between—for man.

He covers the heavens with clouds; He prepares rain for the earth; He makes grass grow on the hills. Psalm 147:8

It baffles me no end . . . despite all these enormous proofs, man continues to doubt God's existence, or spurn His sovereignty, and miss to discover His enormous grace.

Middle Pages

It's July. We’re into the second half of 2009. This tells me that I should have read half of the Chronological Bible which I promised myself I'd read every day. It was my New Year's resolution.

Well, my bookmark is now right smack in the middle and my Bible date says, July 14. This means, I have read all the way up to that day—ten days ahead of schedule!

The old testament is an extremely melodramatic read. It beats all the epic movies I have watched in my lifetime. It also beats all the scandal sheets I have read both on the printed page and the internet. Greed, betrayal, deceit, idolatry, crime and all the scourge of this earth are detailed from chapter to chapter.

All those, despite the miracles that God endlessly performed right before their eyes, plus the power of His presence, and the depth of His patience.

" . . . what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:4

Out of the dozens and dozens of kings, generation after generation, I could count with my fingers those who obeyed God's commands and honored him with their deeds. And the sequel or cycle goes on.

Most of our leaders today, as reported on media, "Do evil in God's sight," also wallowing in greed, betrayal, deceit, idolatry, and crime.

All those, despite the promise of eternal life to those who believe in and follow Him.

From the beginning of time to the middle of my Bible, I have learned that this book mirrors our ephemeral life and God's everlasting sovereignty.

It gives me only two choices: to waste my 5-foot mound of flesh away to the lure of things that will wither and disappear with the twinkling of an eye (Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”; or to use this petite mound of flesh to give glory to Him, whose saving grace—will take me to where the real treasures are.

P.S. Ecclesiastes ends with: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."

First Day of School

For six months, I was into everything but teaching at the university where I have been a lecturer, once a week, for the past eight years.

All too soon, my one-semester leave expires. Rested and revved up, I throw away my jeans and flip-flops for skirts and high heels.

A stickler for promptness, I am in school one hour before my 8’o’clock class. At this time, students are still yawning their way into their uniforms at home.

I expect to be greeted by the ice cream man in the lobby. It has been a tradition for students and faculty to be treated to as much ice cream as you can lick on the first day of school. He greets me all right, offering a three-scoop cone which would have sent my blood sugar soaring.


But early in the morning my defenses are still up. Like a mouse from a cat, I scampered.

However, two strange scenes stop me: a sanitizer by the door, and a masked nurse waiting to take my temperature.


Signs of troubled times indeed! The A(H1N1) virus scare keeps us all leery and weary. I am grateful to the school officers for taking steps to contain it (like postponing the opening of classes), but sights like this jolt us into staring at the precariousness of life.

Fortunately, these days, believers are hanging by an unbreakable thread called grace. Otherwise, we’d all be racing each other down to the pit of hopelessness.

Farrah Fawcett's Jill Munroe

Farrah Fawcett’s death on the same day as Michael Jackson’s is getting much less column inches in periodicals and airtime on broadcast media. But it gets 100% space on this cyber page because Farrah meant a lot to the young bride and mother that I was in the 70’s.

Busy with an exacting job in advertising at daytime and occupied with my baby boys at nighttime, I de-stressed once a week by watching Charlie’s Angels, which might have been produced for the likes of me. Farrah represented the opposite of who I was. As Jill Munroe, she was the sporty and athletic angel playing various sports on the show. I was not into sports (and never will be) but those who are never cease to fascinate me.

I was not alone in my enchantment of her. The world felt as I did. Those of you who are familiar with the 70’s will remember the poster (above) of Farrah. It was first published in Life magazine in 1976, and it is the best-selling pin-up poster of all time.

These days I don’t watch much TV except when American Idol is on. Because now that I am soaking in the joy of writing about grace, I have declared TV (Tony, JR, and the rest of the TV fanatics out there will pulverize me for saying this) to be the greatest time-waster of all.

Farrah’s demise at age 62 makes me look back at my TV-viewing days when a Jill Munroe’s spark and spunk gave my stifling week a space in which to breathe.

Thank you, Farrah, a.k.a. Jill Munroe.

Tiny Red Dots

The time has come for my ClustrMaps to be archived:

I am surprised and delighted at how many cyber friends visited my site in 365 days. My cyber list of guests says 125 countries in all! That number never figured in my imagination when I started out blogging. Oh, the wonders of the internet.

On the first day after this one-year-old map was taken down, my new map was bald, naturally, except for one spot on Philippine shore where a teeny red dot seemed to pulse with life.

And now, four days later, I see many new dots. I marvel at how they trickle in and surprise me each time. My son JC, a techie, laughed when he heard me gushing over this ordinary occurrence (to him), but extraordinary phenomenon (to me).

I guess that’s how I see grace. It comes in every little dot—in red, or any color, and as I write, even in black and white.