A Week From Hell

So, basically this week has been that - a week from hell. Nothing has gone right. Not much has been enjoyable. There have been many disappointments and setbacks, frustrations, and failures. WAY more lows than highs. Family life isn't so great right now. The weather is crap. My internship this week was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Some of the kids I work with lives really suck, and there's absolutely nothing they can do about it. I've realized how evil people can be. I've realized how dark souls can be are without Christ. Definitely a challenge to see the positives, though I'm forcing myself to think ahrd and find them.


I've also realized I'm terrible at taking care of myself. The whole hot topic social work words of "self care" have been the lowest priority on my list. I have not been able to process my terrible week, I just vent, which either makes me more mad or turns people of. I'm emotional, short on sleep, eating terribly, physically weak, spiritually exhausted, and loosing sight of my vision. I hurt someone very very very dear to me, and I'm scared of the consequences. *I do not want to lose you. I cannot lose you!*


One of the assignments for my "Integration of Christian Theology and Social Work" class is to read through a spiritual disciplines handbook and practice a different discipline each week. This week's theme is "Open Self To God" and one of the categories in it is Rest. Like whoa I need that. The challenge is to discipline myself by taking opportunities to Rest my Body and opportunities to Rest my Soul. The author said "we're human beings not human doings", which was like a 2x4 slap in my face. Maybe once I learn how to just be I'll be a more enjoyable person (enjoying life and opening up to let other's enjoy me). Eek, this is going to be a hard hard hard lesson to learn.

Engagement Pictures

"This is my fiance"

December 26, 2011 was a wonderful, life-changing, forever memorable day =D A great great great day. In fact, one of the best days of my life! That day Aldean Wayne Arciaga Pablo asked me to marry him! I absolutely said yes. So, I am the soon-to-be Mrs. Aldean Wayne Pablo. Ahh I love it! After that day, Aldean began introducing me to his friends as "this is my fiance". That new phrase became one of my favorite things to hear :) When he was in a funny mood (which is almost always), he would sometimes introduce me as his ex-girlfriend. When he got odd looks he would say "she's my fiance so she's no longer my girlfriend" and I would just giggle.

So, for all who are interested, here's the story <3

Wayne woke me up at 6:30am before breakfast to music outside my window. (I love it when he came to my room to wake me up!) Actually I woke up a few seconds before he came in, but was confused by the music. Two of his friends were playing romantic music outside my window - a classical guitar and a violin. They played one of "our" songs - La Via En Rose by Louis Armstrong. The funny thing is I joked and told them "tawad" which is what you say to Christmas carolers to go away. Haha, I only said it loud enough for Wayne to hear :)


After lunch we went to Luneta Park (zero kilometer). It's a historical park and a common dating place. I knew something was up because he was pretty tense. The funny thing is that he got pulled over (which happened the last time we went to that part of town) for something he didn't really do, and the traffic enforcer was a jerk :/ Which made Aldean more tense so then we got lost, haha. We took one lap around the park and then relaxed at the flag pole for a minute before the Magsaysay choir came up to us one-by-one. (Aldean's brother works at Magsaysay and Aldean' has worked with the choir through leadership camps and devotions for four years. We both attended their leadership camp last June. This is also the same choir wherein a taught a few members things about the US before they came and toured here last summer). There were probably 10-12 members and they sang around 10-12 songs. It was a lot of fun and a joy to see them (so talented) again. They sang some romantic songs (You by the Carpenters), some classic love songs, and some funny songs (Mahal Kita Kasi by Nicole Hyala) in both English and Filipino.

Then we went to dinner at a really romantic restaurant - Vieuz Chalet, a swiss restaurant. We had pasta and pizza and a delicious lemon-grass tea. The view was beautiful, the table was candle-lit, and the server was really hospitable. I just loved the quality time sitting with my boy and soaking up the special moment.

After dinner we went to our favorite dating place  - Cloud 9! It's a restaurant and resort at the top of the city. At night the view is gorgeous because you can look down the mountain and see the city lights as far as you can see. We sat on the viewing deck of the resort for over and hour and just talked. Then Aldean had the band from the restaurant come sing to us, which was serenade #3 :) It was funny because they weren't technically allowed to come to where we were, but they did anyways. They were out of breath from carrying their big instruments up the hill to us, but after taking a couple minutes to catch their breath they sang two more wonderful love songs to us. I loved it. It was romantic and its our place.

I was getting tired so it was time to leave. Aldean had other plans, but changed them to accommodate me, aww how sweet ;) On the way to his brother's (where we were spending the night) we came to one of the trees with my favorite Christmas lights. (They are white & blue LED lights in the shape of ice-cycles, and the lights fall down like it's dripping). He pulled over and suggested we go under the tree. So, we parked and walked around it once then he told me I had one more present to open. I said "what" (fully knowing by then what it was), and he pulled out the box and said "Will you marry me?". I was speechless at first, so he said "does that mean yes?". I said "Yes! Of course! Absolutely!" The ring was gorgeous, everything was perfect. I could not have even dreamed he would come up with a plan that was so special! He made makes me the happiest girl in the world! My smile was so big, and still is as I write this blog post :D

A week later we had our engagement pictures taken by a dear friend and fellow district pastor - Stanley Rabago. First we went to Paco Park. Then, we went to MOA (Mall of Asia), which was one of the places where 'it all started' as a group date.

Update on Life

Wow, so much has happened since my last post!

I have one semester of grad school behind me and only one more to go! I finished last semester with awesome grades, if I do say so myself ;) and an overall GPA of 3.92. For those who don't remember/ didn't know, I'm going to Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York for my Masters of Social Work with a Child & Family concentration. I'm only taking five classes this semester (instead of six last semester). So, that's 14 credit hours and a 19 hour/week (unpaid) internship. I'm interning at an elementary school 3 days/week. My caseload is heavy but the staff is supportive. Everything is hectic, but I'm really enjoying it and learning so much!

I went to the Philippines for Christmas, which deserves its own blog post (hopefully coming soon!). I spent 20 days with my sweet fiance Aldean Wayne and his family. Surprise, we were engaged on December 26! It was a wonderful day full of memories. Though the 20 days were short, my heart was warm and I left full of joy. It was just what I needed to 'finish strong' and be patient in looking forward to my future with Wayne. However, I already miss him terribly! Time to begin the visa process. Hopefully Jewel & Titus (my sister and her husband) can help with the process, since they just finished it themselves before getting married in October :)

I was able to spend a few days with my family in Indiana over break (before and after the Philippines). I missed them so much. We played lots of card games, board games, and Dominos. If you like funny board games and you've never heard of Quelf you are missing out. Hilarious game. I think everyone in my family took a dashing run to the bathroom at least once so we didn't pee of pants of hysteria. It's great, haha :) My nieces are growing more and more adorable. I miss them already, but I bought my train ticket to go home for winter break, which is in the middle of February... 5 weeks away (we don't have spring break, lame).

I didn't make New Year's "resolutions" per se, but my goals for 2012 are to:
Graduate with my Masters
Get Married
Grow more Mature in Christ

Because posts are always more fun with pictures:

Titus with Mallory (20 months) at Christmas in Indiana

Christmas Eve with my Pablo family <3

Merry Christmas! (Christmas eve)

Merry Christmas! Christmas morning at church

With the Magsaysay choir. Part of our big Engagement day :)

Picking strawberries in Baguio with JB & Edard (nephews)

Happy New Year *2012*

One of our engagement pictures :)

How to pray for me:
* Pray that I can be a LIGHT FOR CHRIST at my internship, where the kids stories, situations, and struggles break my heart. The teachers also need loving.
* Pray for DISCIPLINE in my studies and that I would continue to LEARN and soak everything up
* Pray for WISDOM, GUIDANCE & PATIENCE for Wayne and I as we put our future in God's hands
* Pray for my FAMILY... my dad needs work and Jesus