Such a Refreshing Day

Today I woke up for my last formal exam for the year - Leadership in Graduate Practice. I'm pretty confident I'll pass it, wouldn't have gone out last night with the guys and Ate Mon to have dinner had I not been.

Raj lent me a cd to listen to last night, so I put it on first thing when I got into the car, prayed and lifted up the day to God and was on my way to Uni. Stopped by drive thru maccas along the Cumberland Highway to get a bacon & egg breakfast wrap and then was on my way again.

The songs on this cd is just awesome! Really refreshing. Like water...Worship is refreshing! I didn't even revise anymore of my notes before my exam. As soon as I had parked my car at Uni, I just put the seat back, put the volume up and just worshipped with my eyes closed. Just wanted to soak in every ounce of Gods love till I was full! Soo awesome! I walked into that exam feeling so awesome! And was sure I'd be fine for me exam!

When I got to the exam room, our papers weren't even printed out yet.. so our exam got delayed 20mins. But it was fine! Finished that exam!

When I was walking back to the car I saw Adam and some of the other nursing students in my year. Adam gave a me a huge hug and half spun me around.. =) Aww... made me emotional for that moment... cause I won't be seeing him or the rest of them anymore.. SILLY MSN2 made me stay back an extra year! Oh well!

Anyways, so I was walking to the car and I get a text from Mike asking if I was able to pick up the dog at the pound. Feeling just so overwhelmingly loved and blessed for this day, I ventured off to seek this dog. (LONG STORY OF HOW IT GOT TO THE POUND IN THE FIRST PLACE) But yes alas! We got the dog back! Took me forever to get it into the car.. HAHA.. But it is the sweetest Staffy EVER! I'm going to miss it after Mike comes over to pick up his baby (haha). He must've called quite a bit to check up on the dog the last week or so, cause they knew his name. HAHA.

Anyways.. so I walked to the shops to buy it some food... and Roslyn, Lyn & I showered her... =)









I'm gonna miss her! Even my parents like her.. Mum was like "bakit bumili kang aso pepei" ? TRANSLATED (why did you buy a dog that doesn't bark). Before my mum went to work she even checked on the dog like about 3 times and made sure the gate was locked.. I love my mum! She does have a heart for dogs! HAHAHA.. But she doesn't want us to have one cause no one will be able to look after it.



[I full stalked it from my enclosure, it seems like she's marked her territory... found her sleeping outside the doorstep.. how cuteeeee]



I love this day! I feel so refreshed, after Mike picks up the dog I'm going to get back to reading the Word and just spending some solitude time with just me and my Savior! =)

Jelly Cups & OJ

I had no idea what to name this blog entry so I named it after what I'm eating.
I have not blogged in like forever!

Got so much to blog about.. but I can't be bothered.. I want a new layout for inspiration and motivation to blog continually.... HRMMM... *Looks to Vicki Veira*

- Slept for 5 hours when I got home from Church today and have not studied one bit!... Hrmmmmm.... Bring on Leadership in Graduate Practice!!!!!

- I'm almost finished reading "The Wonder Women of the Bible"... I think I have 4 more women to read about! I've learnt so much..

- Are Daisy & Kuya Roy - PARTY IN BORACAY! Congratulations again!

Hrmm.. I kinda feel lethargic....

I'm out.....

NOTE TO SELF: I love my Bible Study Group! =)

Transformers experience gone wrong

So I woke up this morning around 10am with a plan. I was going to go to the Stocklands to buy some face masks for the games tonight for Bible Study. I was going to go to the shops, get the masks and go home. Then I was going to catch up on my bible readind, do some cleaning and try and find my camera that ha been missing for about a month now.

So I had a plan for the day....

On my way to Stocklands I had a car accident... (MY FIRST REAL CAR ACCIDENT) totally not my fault! I was driving behind a blue toyota carolla and then the car in front of me veared to the left (not indicating) and so I continued driving forward. Then next thing I know the car u-turns into the top left side of my car, (I BEEP THE HORN) and then next thing I know the impact of the car causes me to end up on the other side of the road driving over the side walk and kerb. Then I hear these noises coming from the car, I was able to get the car back to the other side of the road but totally damaged.. Thank God I came out of that accident without any injuries, just really shaken up and some chest pains. Can't say the same for my dads car. However I would like to know why the airbags didn't pop out! Hrmm... The other driver gave a totally different story to the other police officer. The lady said she was doing to turn right into the driveway.. but why did she have to veer all the way to the left before turning into the driveway without signalling?? Doesn't make sense. But the police officer I gave my statement to, said it wasn't my fault. So just have to wait to call the police station at 6pm to get the incident number etc. My dad was pretty calm about it, which was good. Before I left to go to shops my dad and I had a talk about potential leaders of the youth to lead certain areas like evangelism, worship etc.. which was nice also shared to him how my bible study group is going and stuff.

I've sorta learnt from this experience that accidents do happen. They can't always be prevented. Even in this traumatic experience for me, God reminded me that I can plan where I'm going to go, I can plan the journey to my destination in life,love, career etc. But it will not always be a smooth ride, there will be obstacles along the way, sometimes they might just come out of the blue, but He will always be there to protect me from harm.

I have a great PROTECTOR!

El Chaiyai (The God of my life) - Psalm 42:8

Twenty Two and One Day

Hi Yan!

I think you're the only one that really reads my blogs here. (I'm so unpopular) HAHA
Thanks for the flowers again! They are my fav!

I'm starting a soup diet for this week hopefully I'll drop a dress size by Saturday for the wedding! =) Which I highly doubt. But I will continue with the soup diet! What brought this about? That suprise bushwalk Joy, Roslyn and Aileen gave me for my birthday. I actually thought they were going to take my horse riding! I was looking forward to it! But hey the bushwalk was fun! Watching Roslyn stack it in the first 5mins, watching joy stack it down a a flowing waterfall/river... HAHA. *Remembers the moment*

BTW! What colour are we wearing? MIDNIGHT BLUE? Still haven't found a dress yet. However I saw a purple one today that was NICE! Really liked it.. but don't really want to wear purple.. but if I don't find a midnight blue one, let's do purple? It's easy for you! You're a guy! BUT hey! If you're my date, you gotta promise that Eugene doesn't make an appearance. But it was nice for Eugene to make a late appearance on my birthday.

Anyways.. okay so Roslyn slept over last night we watched two movies and by the time it finished it was about 3am, so Roslyn slept over! YAY! Then we woke up at 11am.. when I was suppose to wake up at 8am to study for my exam tomorrow.

OH MY!.. My exam... haven't studied one bit! My books are still on the bed from this morning.. What on earth did I do today.. it's 7pm right now..

Meanwhile, I'm quite annoyed that my bestfriend wasn't here for my birthday, didn't even greet me on my birthday and still hasn't greeted me for my birthday. So as a resort I deleted the majority of his pictures with me on my facebook!!!! TAKE THAT!!

Anyways... I should shower... and start studying..

Win- Brian Mcknight

The first time I heard this song was when Ate Daisy sang it at the Christmas party/graduation of the older Yd Leaders back in 2008. It was really encouraging. I love the theme of this song, about the desire not to give up, to never say die even though you've been through the "same old" things over and over again.

The message of this song is so timely for me right now. As there have been several things arising once again that have been oh so familiar. Yet when I reflect back on those times. God has brought me through it. I won't question, I won't doubt that yet again in my present circumstances my God will be there and will see me through.

Many times I often think, it's just so much easier to quit, to give up on certain things, goals, dreams and people. BUT then I realise, where is the challenge in that? How can one grow without any challenges? So I've come to accept that life for me will always present certain challenges I'm meant to overcome together with Him. I've just got to keep my head up and press on toward the goal. I won't pretend that it'll be easy. But at least I know that at the end God won't fail me. He know's the result at the end. Because He has seen the bigger picture.

*SONG LYRICS*

Dark is the night
I can weather the storm
Never say die
I've been down this road before

I'll never quit
I'll never lay down
See I promised myself I would never let me down

(chorus)
So I'll never give up
Never give in
Never let a ray of doubt slip in
And if I fall
I'll never fade
I'll just get up and try again
Never lose hope
Never lose faith
There's much too much at stake
Upon myself I must depend
I'm not looking for a place ashore
I'm gonna win

Won't stop me now
There's still a ways to go
Some way somehow
Whatever it takes I know

I'll never quit
I'll never go down
I'll make sure they remember my name 100 years from now

(chorus)

When it's all said and done
My once in a lifetime won't be back again
Now is the time, for me to stand
Here is my chance, that's why i

(chorus)

Dear Lola

May 01, 2009


Hi. I'm Joyce Ann, my dad is Bernardo the 7th child out of 11 children from my grandmother (lola). I'm the eldest of two and I am turning 22 this year.

The other night I couldn’t sleep I felt like I needed to write what I was feeling on paper. And so I did. I wrote a letter that I want to share with you all and that I’ve asked my dad to either read out or get one of my cousins to read on my behalf at the funeral.

Lola, I want to thank you for raising up such wonderful children and grandchildren. I especially want to thank you for my dad. Without you I wouldn’t have a dad. A dad that I observe as a good man, a good friend, a good husband to my mom, a good father to both my sister and I, a good brother to his siblings and I believe that he was also a good son to you and lolo when you were both alive. I know that a lot of what you’ve taught him and my other aunts and uncles will remain in them forever and will be passed onto us grandchildren. I’m encouraged by my dads love for you and the rest of the family shown by his generosity and eagerness to get everyone from your family here on this day.

I’m sorry that I didn’t get to visit you often. You were the only grandparent that I remember seeing when I was young. I really wish I could have spoken to you more and got to know you more when you were alive. I respect you and my other lola from my moms side for having such big families. I take pride in telling my friends that I come from a really big family. I want to thank you for the happiness, love, disciplines, wisdom and knowledge that you have passed onto your children because I know in many ways they have passed it onto your grandchildren as well.


I love you lola, you will be greatly missed by us all,


From your grand daughter in Australia,

Joyce Ann Balongoy

s m e l l e m s

Curling up into a ball and hiding under the covers works for a few seconds...
Blowing amazing smelling tropical punch bubbles works for a few minutes...
Trying to distract oneself from a particular issue works for a couple of hours...
Avoiding the issue works a couple of days...
Denying the need to fix the issue works a couple of months...
Bitterness and resentment can last years...
But trusting in God especially when it comes down to His timing lasts a lifetime...

IN THE END WAITING ON GOD HAS TO BE WORTH IT....