It’s been 8 years since I started my novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I was raised a Catholic and even if I’m surrounded by Born Again Christians (like my parents, some of my relatives and some friends) I will always choose to remain a Catholic until the day I die because of the love and respect I have for Mama Mary. 

My most favorite Marian Apparition story is that of the Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was said on December 9, 1531 an Aztec man named Juan Diego was on his way to Mass. The Blessed Virgin sent him to the bishop to have a church built at the location of the apparition. The bishop doubted Diego’s story. The Virgin appeared a few more times and then she requested that Diego pick roses, which during December should not be in bloom. When Diego went to present the roses to the bishop he pulled them from his cloak and uncovered an image of the Blessed Virgin. The image that was imprinted on the cloak by the dew of the roses portrayed the Virgin as an Aztec princess. Such is how She had appeared to Diego. Although his cloak was made of plant fibers and should be long decayed, it still remains perfectly intact after 480 years. Even upon modern investigation there is no sign of brush stroke to explain the creation of the image. In 1929 and 1951 photographers found a figure reflected in the Virgin’s eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect, commonly found in human eyes. An ophthalmologist, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann, later enlarged an image of the Virgin’s eyes by 2500x and claimed to have found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed before Zumárraga in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, and a group of children, in the center of the Virgin’s eyes, fourteen persons in all. Juan Diego’s cloak can be viewed in Mexico City at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

Happy Feast Day, Holy Mary of Guadalupe!

I love you the most-est, My One True Mother♥ 

12.12.2011

 @YessaZee @j12peach I almost gave up on you but I guess it must be fate! 11.11.11  

Meiji Apollo is one of my most fave chocolate in the entire world! We bought boxes and boxes of it but we never got the ‘special strawberry shaped one’ at least not until 4 weeks ago by Peach and about a week or so ago by Aye.

So, I told my cuzzee Aye that if ever I get my own I’d definitely wish on it! So before I head home today I bought 2 for Peach and 1 for me. When I opened my share, guess what I saw?!! *(^O^)* 

I know it’s so shallow but little surprises is what makes life exciting! ♥♡❤

2 weeks ago @YessaZee, @j12peach and I went to a bazaar at Rockwell Tent and bought a Rainbow Cake that look pretty much like that ^ ^. It was super yummy!:)

Came across this at hawaiikawaii.net ~ i love this site! 

This is for you Mamah @YessaZee!

~

Dear Mamah,

You’re probably thinking WTH happened to me and Peach—- why almost everyone you knew (even those you hardly speak with in real life) greeted you already but both of us have not.

Well here you go —- Surprise!!!

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY our dear Princesa Yessa! 

Of course I didn’t forget your birhday, how could I when we were just together yesterday, almost every weekend and especially most of our lives! 

Gustu ko lang magpahuli-huli dahil nagpapa-importante ako and gustu ko medyo almost magtampo ka sa’min ni Peach. Hihihi! (^o^)y

Why did I chose that photo ^ ^? Well I know it’s your fave, it’s even your profile pic on fezbuk right now so I’ve also decided to change ours with that ^ ^ because it was taken a few minutes after your fave photo was taken. This was taken  a few hours before The Black and White All Hallow’s Eve Party, when we’re running last minute errands for the party. We always have fun whatever it is that we do, even if there are some people who’ve been trying to burst our happy bubble and suck out all the fun we have, sure there were close call at times with those ‘dementors’ but unfortunately for them none have really managed to do so. Thank GOD. I also chose that ^ ^ because the party was one of the best birthday bash we’ve had. What I’m saying is though our birthdays last year and this year weren’t as bongga as that bash, at least we know for sure that we’ll have better birthdays starting next year because it’ll be away from those unnecessary people in our lives whom once in a while we have to deal with because it leaves us no choice. Finally, we’ll be free from all of them!

It will never be I’m there and you’re here, it will always be if I’m there, you’re there as well. If I’m living a good life, you’ll be living a good life also. I can’t imagine my life without you. I’m pretty sure Peach feels the same way because you are and will forever be the Sunshine that warms our heart and lights up our lives. ☼

And it will constantly be “three girls laughing.” \(^o\)\(^o/)(/o^)/

I love you my twinStar.

I love you my Princesa Yessa.

I love you my official +1.

I love you my sea-star-sister.

I love you my BFF.

I love you my kakampi like no other.

Prayer of Thanksgiving to St. Jude Thaddeus

I receive the gifts of God with a grateful spirit. St. Jude, help me to see the blessings that surround me and give me life. I offer you my prayer of thanksgiving. Give me the grace to be ever thankful for the love and mercy of God and the gift of life each day. May this gratitude inspire me to give generously in all ways to others.  Be with me now, St. Jude. Linger with me in gratitude, and let thanks fill my heart, washing away all pain and trouble. May I desire nothing except to be in your presence, walking with you in the world to spread hope, love and thanksgiving among all of God’s children. Amen.

~

St. Jude Thaddeus is the Patron Saint for Lost Causes. I prayed to him before and after I took my IELTS.  I prayed to him for nine days, said the prayer each hour within nine hours and also prayed his novena. I told him that I am establishing a prayer relationship with him that even if don’t have any urgent petition I will continue to pray to him.

Go here to view the site of his National Shrine.

I’m spreading the love for St. Jude Thaddeus

Thank you so much St. Jude for praying for me, praying with me and interceding for me.

This powerful prayer is very effective in examinations. It has to be said before appearing in the examination. There are two variants to this prayer. Both the prayers are equally effective. You can choose any one of these: 

First Prayer:

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ our Lord.

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.

Amen.

Second Prayer:

O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination e.g. IELTS) examination.

In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me

O Holy Ghost enlighten me

Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me

Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me.

After saying one of the two prayers above you have to pray (1) Our Father, (1) Hail Mary and (1) Glory Be.

~

St. Joseph of Cupertino is one of the saints I prayed to before taking the IELTS. I prayed to him for nine days and also said the prayer each hour within nine hours. When I was waiting for my name to be called for the Speaking sub-test. I was silently calling out the names of all the saints I prayed to and for some reason I forgot ‘Cupertino’ because when one would just simply say St. Joseph it’s like automatically referring to Jesus Christ’s foster father but I apologize to him for forgetting it and guess what happened next? => I was asked exactly the things that I already know so I got an 8.0 for Speaking. Not bad for someone who was able to attend 1 out of 10 speaking coaching session.

I’m spreading the love for St. Joseph of Cupertino.

Thank you so much St. Joseph of Cupertino for praying for me, praying with me and interceding for me.

After much delay (because I have to give in to parental request of going on vacation with the whole family and also to attend my grandma’s 84th birthday last July 31), I finally took my IELTS  ’International English Language Testing System’ exam last August 13.Just a brief background, IELTS is an international standardized test of English language proficiency. IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions, over 3,000 academic institutions in the United States, and various professional organization. - Wiki

I have to take the IELTS because of this Work and Study Program that I’ve applied to around April or May of this year. I already finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, the study program is for a Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education while the job is a Preschool Teacher.  

IELTS costs around $300+ or ¥25,000 for the review and the actual exam. So, I have to pass it on the first try because $300+ or ¥25,000 is still a lot of money. Unfortunately, I was able to attend only 13 out of 100+ major and minor lectures, skills enhancement, exercises, mock exams, reading and listening practice tests. 1 out of 10 speaking coaching session and never went to any of the writing coaching session because of time constraint.

The exam has four sub-tests  Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Speaking is usually done a day before the scheduled exam date for Listening, Reading and Writing. The results for the August 13 exam were released as of 12:00 a.m. today and those were my scores ^ ^. I really thought I won’t get an acceptable score for the writing sub-test because I didn’t get to focus on writing the essay. It was during the reading sub-test (2nd part) that I already felt the need to go to the toilet but I tried to hold it in but when we’re finally on the last part of the exam I just have to dash out of the examination room and go look for the nearest toilet. And just so you know the toilet is about 5 minutes walk from where we’re taking the exam. 6.0 for writing is task completion and acceptable English. I’m actually just required to get a total band or overall score of 6.5 but I got 7.0, not that I’m complaining or anything. By the way, the perfect score is 9.0 (^o^)  

Despite not being able to concentrate on my review classes, time constraint and untoward incidents I’m just really glad that I still got a decent score. I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying this forever. GOD is good all the time! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for making all things possible for me! The greatness of YOUR love for me leaves me in awe…

Thank you everyone for the birthday greeting and messages of love.

I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life! (^_^)

~

This photo was sent by Shindy-chan. Apparently, it’s one of the Oguri family birthday cake. Thank you Shindy-chan for not only being a very dear friend to me but also for being my younger sister. (*O*)