Last year, when the economic meltdown was just a niggling rumor, we bought a 9.3-kilo turkey. It was too big—for the four of us—we had it f...

Merry Christmas!    May our God of grace continue to sustain us in the days ahead.

“The first Christmas was in a lowly manger; it was not luxurious,” was my friend Sonia's yearly reminder to me before she went home to ...

Christmas is almost here. Capiz parols are brightly shining. And one thing is bothering me. Medicants are ringing our doorbell and knocki...

Anything and everything Kris Aquino does make the headlines. So when she chooses to read my book, “No Lipstick for Mother,” to children at ...

“Sister Grace!” chirped a youthful voice on the phone. “Who is this please?” I asked, thinking it might be one of the young people in our ...

I’ve always been proud of the fact that I can sleep at will—anywhere, anytime. My friends who have problems with insomnia say it is a gift. ...

Returning to the scene of the Gifts of Grace Book 3 launching , I am shocked anew. Gone is the beautiful Executive Lounge where about 200 p...

Gifts of Grace Book 3 Launching “When the heart is full, the mouth cannot speak,” the saying goes. My own version is, “When the heart is f...

I was all set to blog about my Gifts of Grace 3 book launching when it suddenly dawned on me that today is my 2nd blogging anniversary. A...

The launching of the third book in the Gifts of Grace Series (published by OMF Literature) happened last night at the Executive Lounge of t...

(In two days, my "Gifts of Grace Book 3" will be formally launched; "Gifts of Grace Books 1 and 2" will be re-launched. ...

Since the death of our last dog Brady (a Labrador), and the death of our dog before him—Gordy (a Dalmatian)—we had no desire to have any oth...

Change has come to this site Avid bloggers like me (that’s how people think I am these days) have the compulsion to celebrate tiny milesto...

What can this tiny phone gadget do? It allows me to talk to my cousin Minna and Auntie Pat in New York—and friends Lucy in California and ...

When I left the workplace and embraced writing, I vowed to spend less. Okay, much, much less. I repeated to moi my frequent admonition to ...

You’ ve sung “Amazing Grace” before, I know. Written by John Newton way back in 1776, it is the world’s most familiar hymn today—partially ...

I was gone for eight days and on those days (above) I had no time to watch television; neither could I read Thai newspapers. It was like bei...

This is going to be my last trip out of the country , I told myself as I packed for my eight-day trip to attend the Asia Christian Writers C...

“I'm breaking out in cold sweat. My hands are trembling. My heart is racing. I am puffing and panting even while doing nothing. And I...

You’re a caricaturist,” my new friend, Sam, said after reading my just re-launched book, Gifts of Grace Book 1. “I am?” I blanched, unsure...

Colors perk me up. They liven up even the bluest of days. But like anything on terra firma, colors are relative. Brown, for instance, look...

“Now I have no excuse to be grumpy, bossy and self-centered,” JR says on the evening of September’s last Sunday. His lids are droopy, his ...

A dog’s name is infinitely harder to find than grace. Grace, which I continue to write about week after week on these e-leaves, is in every...

“Buy it,” Anna Banana said when she spotted A Thousand Splendid Suns on the shelf. “I couldn’t put it down,” she added. A cursory reading...

When you’re sick and you have no energy—or desire—to move, you stare into space. I was sick all right but I didn’t stare into space. This ...

Fever indeed! Literally. Two days after the wonderful book fair, just when the second semester begins, I am down with a fever. Not too hig...

Fan?! Now that’s a word I am not very comfortable in using. It is a bit too presumptuous for someone who went into writing with no illusions...

I'm headed to the Book Fair for the 4th straight day. Can't have any post till after tomorrow when the Book Fair closes.