Category Archives: Art

For The Love of Social Media and Technology

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I praise God that everything is easily accessible via technology and over the internet. Personally, it is a big help for me to have an e-diary where I can store my thoughts and not worry of them getting lost if ever my laptop bugs down. Thoughts in my head go as fast as they come. My family would even tell me I suffer from short term amnesia in some cases. *seriously*

I believe in photography we can see such a big leap when it comes to advancements from films to dark rooms to now instant everything. Like this photo I have taken and edited using different apps in my android phone:

Tin Ginete

Original photo of Flicka my guitar.

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Edited photo to b & w using vsco cam app.

Edited the photo via Instagram.

Edited the photo via Instagram.

But my phone comes really handy every time I am in the middle of doing something and that action spurred an idea, a question or a thought in mind which is always related to my faith. I stop in the middle of my task, open my phone and type the words down before my mind goes blank after a couple of seconds. Sometimes thoughts pour in in bulk connecting one thought with the other and bible verses start popping up too – yes, my head will be a chaos if I don’t have a phone to help me sort those thoughts out.

But I see one problem with it – technology is an arena wherein the battle of the good and evil is being showcased. Evil means porn, scam, hate posts, prostitution, violence, fraud, etc. Good means informative, advancements, convenience, accessibility, etc.

If I am right, every modern innovation gives way to something new and yet it also gives way to foster something bad. There are so many things we could learn from the internet and modern technology paves way to those discoveries. But it also requires us this kind of discipline – knowing which ones are beneficial to us and which ones are harmful. I have been lingering so much on social media sites nowadays and discovered that sharing enhances creativity and learning – you learn new ideas from what other people share by introducing yourself to a whole lot of different perspectives. Given that, we now have these questions which, I am sure, all of us are asking:

1. Is it possible to introduce something new with the possibility of maintaining its good objective and only that?

2. The negative effects are getting rampant – is there a way to stop it?

3. If a total shutdown of the world wide web affecting thousands of technologies associated with it happened just like in the movie Transcendence, how will things end up?

4. Can man function well without all the modernization now?

5. Which is better – the modern times or the primitive days?

And having these questions in mind, verses from Ecclesiastes 3 came gushing in – there is a time for everything. It has always been like this here in this world even in the earlier times in the bible – always a battle of good and evil.

For I believe it is in this arena that God trains His people to be able to join His ranks. Now which side are you on – God’s army or the enemy’s?

I choose LIFE not in this world but in eternity that is why I am more than willing to be trained as His warrior. 🙂

10 Songs To Strengthen Your Marriage

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I stumbled across this article in my Facebook news feed and I thought it best to share it here as it is a compilation of some of the uplifting videos I have watched regarding Christian marriages. May it also uplift you one way or the other, married or not. 🙂

Here is the link to the article: http://www.hearitfirst.com/news/10-songs-to-strengthen-your-marriage

DIY Project: Memories In A Bottle

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Now here it is. 🙂

I have decided to come up with this project of filling in empty bottles with memorabilia from certain special events. I posted just recently regarding flowers from my brother’s wedding last April and been contemplating what to do with them. I have been staring at them for quite some time now whether to throw them away or not as they are still beautiful and lovely to look at though they’ve been dried for almost a month already. I finally decided to do the latter.

So to make this project materialize, I gathered an empty bottle which was an old Hennessy bottle from Dad’s collection and my hair spray. Sprayed each flower one by one even the tiniest and I let them dry for a couple of minutes before putting them inside the bottle. Then for a finishing touch, put a ribbon, a straw or any piece of string that you have around the neck of the bottle near the rim.

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Preserving dried flowers essentials.

And this is the final output:

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Brother’s Wedding Memorabilia

It is now my second bottle of another memory as my first preserved rose in a bottle was the first Valentine’s Day rose given to me by my bf last year and who is now my fiance. 😉

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Memories In A Bottle

So, how far will your sentimentality take you? 🙂

Tin Ginete

I Love BICOL (Part 2): Siama Hotel

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(Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.)

My family and I visited the city of Sorsogon due to an urgent matter last June 2, 2015. Having read about Siama Hotel in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, my sister, my Dad and I thought it best if we could drop by the hotel and check it out since we will pass it by going home.

Tin Ginete Siama Hotel

When we’re done, we headed off towards Brgy. Bibincahan which is just a few miles away from the city proper along the diversion road. Thank God for Google maps, we need not ask around for specific directions, and we found ourselves looking at the gates of the Siama Hotel.

Tin Ginete Hotel lobby.
Tin Ginete Long wooden table and chairs.

If you are in need of a breather away from city life and looking into enjoying the bounty that nature has to offer, this might just be the best escape you’ve been needing. The hotel is situated in a secluded estate, which is also being cultivated as a coconut plantation. We already had an idea how the place looks like seeing the pictures in the local newspaper, but as they say, to see is to believe.

Tin Ginete Reception area.

We arrived after lunch time, and my first impression when I saw the minimalist exteriors of the hotel lobby is that they wanted to enhance the interior decorations and furniture which were designed by one of the owners, Mr. Milo Naval, a well-acclaimed interior designer.

Indeed, the interiors of the hotel lobby from the chairs, tables, lamps, to the cabinets are all an exquisite display of creative art and truly a masterpiece. What is interesting about it is that Mr. Naval came up with the idea of using indigenous raw materials, such as rattan, bamboos, native coconut products as well as wood from local trees representing Bicol region’s indigenous products.

Tin Ginete Wicker chairs.

Their very modern pool is the highlight of the hotel. It is a striking fusion of this beautiful modern pool nestled at the center and surrounded by giant ferns and tall coconut trees in contrast to the minimalist, native design of the hotel’s exteriors.

Tin Ginete Siama Hotel’s swimming pool.
Tin Ginete The pool and the hotel rooms in the background.

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They also have a hall for events, which is the perfect venue for wedding receptions, conferences, birthdays, and other special occasions. Once again, the interiors, as well as the exteriors of the hall, did not fall short in evoking that subtle and yet sophisticated style – definitely no grandeur, shining, and shimmering designs everywhere. But if you will ask me about elegance, Siama Hotel nailed it.

17 Event hall exteriors.

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Tin Ginete The event hall.
Tin Ginete Cabinets with antique bric-a-brac.
Tin Ginete More native-inspired chairs.
Tin Ginete Food/bar lounge.
Tin Ginete The event hall.
Tin Ginete Hanging capiz shells as a curtain.
Tin Ginete The function room.

They are currently constructing an outdoor spa which is one of the things I am looking forward to when they are done with it. I must say it is going to be a one-of-a-kind outdoor spa uniquely designed using local materials such as bamboo.

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The outdoor massage cabanas are the cluster of bamboos behind the coconut trees, and there are 3 of them being constructed as of writing.

This is going to be one of the best and state-of-the-art hotels in Bicol, especially if you are in the city of Sorsogon. Don’t forget to include this in your itinerary if you plan to spend your vacation in the province in class and in style. At Siama Hotel, you can be sure that your vacation not only brings you closer to nature, but even closer to the heart of Sorsoganons. 🙂

If you want to know more about the place, you can check out their website at http://www.siamahotel.com/.

P.S.

Don’t forget to take a photo of this “eco-padyak” where you’ll see ingenuity and creativity combined to create an extraordinary form of art.

Pedi

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I Love BICOL (Part 1): Masacrot Spring

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I was born in Bicol, a region located in Southern Luzon, and I’m a Bicolana, which is the term commonly used to refer to local women. For local men and locals in general, we use the term Bicolano. I only transferred to the metro when I took my bachelor’s degree in UP Diliman, but I guess I will always be a nature lover wherever life takes me. I grew up loving nature so much because of this – Bicol offers a vast expanse of luscious flora and fauna, and its rich local biodiversity makes it one of the famous places to visit here in the Philippines for ecotourism.

You can also find the majestic Mt. Mayon volcano in Bicol, which is known all over the world for its perfect cone. Though we are located in the ring of fire housing two active volcanoes, they are actually the few things that made our region a tourist spot. Other must-visit places in our region are the hot and cold springs, which can be found at the foot of the volcanoes such as the ones found near Mt. Bulusan volcano.

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Mt. Mayon Volcano in Albay

Hot springs are very common, but I am not sure if you have heard of cold springs in a tropical country – and I mean, ice cold spring.

In this article, I will be featuring one of the cold springs in the province of Sorsogon in Bicol that my family and I visited last May 31, 2015 – the Masacrot Spring.

So, why the name? “Masacrot” is a Bicol term which means “astringent.”

Astringency

Some foods, such as unripe fruits, contain tannins or calcium oxalate that cause an astringent or puckering sensation of the mucous membrane of the mouth. Examples include tea, red wine, rhubarb, and unripe persimmons and bananas.

Less exact terms for the astringent sensation are “dry”, “rough”, “harsh” (especially for wine), “tart” (normally referring to sourness), “rubbery”, “hard” or “styptic”.[73]

When referring to wine, dry is the opposite of sweet, and does not refer to astringency. Wines that contain tannins and so cause an astringent sensation are not necessarily classified as “dry,” and “dry” wines are not necessarily astringent.

In the Indian Ayurvedic tradition, one of the six tastes is astringency (kasaaya).[74]

– WIKIPEDIA

They say that the water in Masacrot Spring contains some minerals, which make the water astringent. But it is potable and considered as safe to drink.

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Masacrot Spring

The blue-green waters of the pool will captivate you enough to make you want to dive right away regardless if you’re a pro swimmer or not. The pool was hand-carved, and the natural environment surrounding it offers an ambiance perfect for communing with nature. This was the second time we visited Masacrot Spring. I could barely remember anything during our first visit because I was only 5 years old back then. All I could remember was that there’s a very cold pool that exists in this world. 😉

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Pristine, crystal blue-green waters.

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Hand-carved pool.

Taking a plunge in this cold spring can only be described in one perfect word – invigorating. YES, that is a definite. You literally will get the chill the moment the cold water touches your skin. Though I wouldn’t advise taking a dip in the pool without moving for a long time because it is REALLY that freezing cold.

Locals visit the place during the peak of the summer season when weather temperature rises to as high as 39 degrees Celsius. But let me assure you that nothing is as refreshing as a cold spring dip during the hottest months here in the Philippines.

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Masacrot Spring pool.

The bottom of the pool isn’t cemented, and the clay–like soil tends to get slippery so take extra caution when walking around the resort. Some parts of the pool go as deep as 6 feet. So if you are not a swimmer, better rent or bring your own floaters just to be safe.

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Don’t forget your swimming floaters. 😉

The cold water is free-flowing too so the water stays clean even if the place is jampacked with visitors during the peak season. They also have a lot of cottages where you and your family can relax, and there are grill stations for cooking barbecues and fish. Now, that makes me hungry. 😀

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The perfect summer snack: unripe, sour mangoes with shrimp paste.

Masacrot Spring is located in Bulusan, Sorsogon and if you will be coming from the airport in Legazpi, Albay, it will be a 2-hour drive. There are a lot of options when commuting via public transportation going to the resort, but I suggest renting a van or a jeepney that will take you there and pick you up for a hassle-free vacay for you, your family, and your friends. 🙂

Project Memories

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Something to spearhead my next project. I guess you already guessed what it is. Stay tuned my beloved readers! 😉

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Dried flowers from my brother’s wedding last April 25, 2015.

The Seed

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Tin Ginete

Calamansi Seed

A commitment is like a seed.

When a gardener plants a seed, he waters and cares for it so it’ll grow. And then when it becomes a plant, the gardener still tends for it.

But like any plant, it will go through certain seasons of storm and drought. And just like a commitment, you will do everything to protect that plant. You will not allow a storm to uproot it. Nor you let the drought take away its life.

The gardener protects it – lovingly, carefully and joyfully. Regardless if a storm or a drought passes by.

The gardener wants only one thing – that when he plants the seed in the soil, it’ll grow steady and strong that even if the mightiest of storms and the longest of droughts come, it’ll survive. He wants it to lay grounded, both striving and thriving.

A commitment is like a relationship. God is like the gardener. The seed is like a husband and the soil is like a wife. God knows what kind of seed thrives in what kind of soil and vice versa.

And just like a seed planted in the ground that cannot survive well for a long period of time without a gardener, so is a relationship without God. 🙂

April Full

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Tin Ginete

An escape away from the city.

Yup, it was so full. Not about April Fool’s Day though. 😉

If you have noticed, I don’t have an entry for the entire month of April. That is because I was swamped with a lot of activities last month, I only got to “breathe” and check my blog now. I still am a bit busy but not as hectic as compared with the sched last month.

So first things first.

My sister arrived from Norway and decided we have a family outing and relaxation this summer. But before that, we met one of our titos, my Dad’s brother, Tito Cesar and my cousin Arra for a get together/ lunch at Escolta then the day after it was followed by a family dinner with the family of my brother’s wife.

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Lunch with Tito Cesar and Arra at Escolta. 🙂

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Dinner with the Silvestre family at Pinac restaurant. 🙂

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Pinac Family Day

For our family summer outing this year, my eldest sister chose Luljetta Hanging Gardens located at Antipolo as she personally knows the owner and it is just an hour away from the busy metro.

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My eldest sister, Ate Faye. 🙂

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One of their infinity pools. This one is the biggest.

When we got to the place, I fell in love with it. The scenery may not be as spectacular as I have expected but if you opt for a quiet place where you could commune with nature and be rejuvenated, this is exactly the place to be.

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He is…errr…uhmm….contemplating? Perhaps. 😀

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Side of the infinity pool.

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Restaurant that caters local and international cuisines.

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The Zen lounge.

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A place to sit and relax.

I recommend this if you, your friends or families intend to have a retreat. There are quotations and phrases that uplift the heart and soul as you pass by the trail.

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The garden.

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Love is….

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Uplifting quotations everywhere.

Guessing by its name, the spa and hanging gardens were carved and placed right on the side of a mountain. It was the architecture of the place that, for me, made it awesome.

But there is one restriction though that this place may posit – there are trails that are far too steep, it will not be convenient to those who are old enough to climb a hundred stairs.

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Steep stairs, by the cliff.

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Reading nook.

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Cabana

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The jacuzzi.

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Sauna and jacuzzi.

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The other infinity pool. This is perfect for kids.

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Inside the Buddha’s lounge.

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Intricate interiors made from raw local materials.

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The way to the lounge.

But the good thing is that if you wish to use the spa only, it is easily accessible by anyone. Only the infinity pools, the sauna, the hydromassage pool and the Dr. Fish are situated right down below the hotel. Their restaurant is also located at the terrace of the hotel.

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One of the Dr. Fish pools.

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Hydromassage Pool

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Hydromassage Pool

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There goes the heavy downpour! 🙂

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Hydromassage pool.

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Bubbles are everywhere. 😉

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Perfect for back aches.

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Lunch time.

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Adobo.

The hydromassage pool and Dr. Fish are new to me so it was the first thing that we tried when we got there. It was a very funny experience for us so I took a video of all the fun. 😉

The hydromassage pool can be compared to a big jacuzzi and there are two bars that have rainshowers-like splatters pouring out. I wasn’t able to experience getting drenched under a heavy downpour, not even when I was a kid, so this experience was one of the most memorable I must say. 😉

The place is perfect for couples as well on a honeymoon as geographically, you won’t be able to see other visitors coming here and going there except perhaps during the peak season.

We were able to have our spa session a few minutes before the sunset. So we chose the outdoor massage and they usually conduct the session in a nipa hut of your choice beside the cliff overlooking the cityscape. It is just the perfect time to relax before dinner time or in the case of my parents, they scheduled a session a couple of hours before bedtime.

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Our merienda, one of Antipolo’s delicacies paired with lemon grass iced tea before the spa session.

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Goodbye city life for now.

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It is spa time. 🙂

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The outdoor massage nipa huts.

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Flowery

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The restaurant at Taktak Hall.

Another first-time experience that I had is being in a seat that goes up and makes a full 360 rotation. It is called Dream Twister and one of the newest attractions at SM Mall of Asia.

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Sunset walk before trying the Dream Twister. 🙂

My fiance and I are always up for challenging activities and so I asked him if we could try it together. And of course, how could he say no? 😉

So up we went and it was the most exhilirating experience I have had. I think it is even challenging than doing bungee jumping or sky diving because the seats rotate then goes up and down, fast and slow. Imagine being held by a giant while he is walking and he is swaying his arms – that is the exact feeling. It was so fun I definitely will try it again. 🙂

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Let the FUN BEGIN!!! 😀

And of course, the highlight for the month of April was my brother’s military wedding. I have been one of their witnesses how their union as a couple started. They met through the singles’ getaway in one of our churches, Victory Fort, and as they say, the rest is history.

My sister-in-law is my brother’s first girlfriend and I have so much admiration for my brother for he stayed true to his commitment when he told me that his first girlfriend will also be his last as she will be the one he is going to marry.

Here are some photos during one of the best milestones of their lives together as a couple:

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Me and my sisters, Ate Ayn and Ate Abeden. 🙂

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The princesses of the Ginete family. 🙂

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All the ladies in the house. 😉

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The Ginete fam bam. 🙂

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My mom. 🙂

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The Casis family missing the owner of the uniform. 😉

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Me and my ever goofy fiance. 😀

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The retired civil engineer and retired grade school teacher – my parents. 😉

I believe that it is also God who fulfilled that commitment for him until come that day wherein my brother is now in front of God making one of his greatest commitments – the Holy Matrimony.

I just feel blessed and grateful that I now look up to them as the couple who may not have the perfect relationship but persevered to keep it in reverence to the Lord and His beautiful promises for both of them.

Having said that, I will leave you with this video which captured their most special moment that no words could describe. 🙂

It Was His Birthday

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I only had the opportunity to share this special moment here just now and my reason for sharing is that this blog of mine might be the only e-memory I have of moments I make and will be making. I might have amnesia, short term memory loss or I might get into a car accident and lose all memories I have, etc….. well, we can never tell. 🙂

His birthday was last May 4th and last year, I made a pencil sketch of him as a birthday gift.

Brian Rome

“Mi Amor” (9″ x 12″ Pencil Sketch)

Tin Ginete

May 4, 2014

And for this year, I thought about doing something different. I just used the poem I made for him and gave him when we first met.

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Blanket of Love by Tin Ginete

This is the link of the poem which is the acronym of his name:

https://thejourneymansmoments.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/blanket-of-love/ 

And here’s the finished output for his birthday surprise this year and biblical quotations about love from 1 Corinthians 13. Let the love begin…. 😉

Love Is the Greatest

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

God of Wonders

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Have you ever wondered why we have pebbles and not just big rocks?

Tin Ginete

Pebbles

How about flowers made from all sorts of sizes, shapes and colors and not just one?

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Bromiliad

Why is it that a tiny creature such as a bug, has such a beautiful, golden green color as its shell?

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Golden Bug

Colossians 1:16 NLT

“…for through Him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see–such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him.”

“He works in mysterious ways.”

How often do we hear this phrase? Very often to most of us and maybe to some this will be the first time you will read about this. In this article, allow me to let you delve deeper how God works and the amazing things that He has done not just to me but to the people around me. As much as I want to keep all things private in my personal life, I believe God wanted me to share some of them as a testimony of His Grace and His Love.

If you are to read my previous articles, it’ll give you an idea what are the current struggles that I am going through. And yes, I was on the point of hopelessly giving up. I am engaged and my fiance and I were planning to tie the knot next year. The quicker the time passes by, the more conflicts arise, the more challenging the trials become.

One of them is saving for the wedding. We both wanted a simple and intimate wedding for two reasons – it wouldn’t be costly and we wanted to share it with those who know us really well. But I am in this situation wherein I could not contribute anything to the expenses with the meager allowance I am getting out of my sister’s generosity to help me finish my graduate study in UP. I am in my last part of my graduate study finishing my thesis and I was advised by my thesis adviser that finishing it will require me to go full time in my master’s degree meaning I cannot get married this year or get a job.

I can only hope for my fiance’s savings at work which are not enough. We attended the Marriage Preparation seminar and it was discussed there that leaving your spouse to work abroad and earn enough to provide for your family is not the solution. You have to be with your spouse always because that is the commitment you have made when you got married – only death can do both of you part. My fiance considered about this option of working abroad. It became one of the conflicts we had to deal with. He was determined, I tried talking him out of it but to no avail. Until I came up with the decision that we would have to cancel the engagement for the meantime then pursue me again when we are both financially ready.

He doesn’t want to sacrifice the relationship over a career abroad. And yet both of us have no clues how to get married without having to borrow any single cent from anyone. We both agreed to just take things just as they are, leave them be and trust God for provisions. But sometimes it doesn’t come as easy as it sounds – pressure from friends and families asking about the wedding can sometimes be the cause of again facing that conflict wherein temper gets loose, impatience creeps in and negativity overtakes our thoughts.

Every night I would pray and I can’t help but cry out my pleas for help to the Lord. I waited but no answer came, we are still both in the same situation. But it was during those times that I did nothing but pray every morning and every night, devote more time to bible reading and gathering all devotion I could get. I know it is only through His Word that I will get my strength and courage and not give up. I always keep in mind that this relationship is different than my previous relationship because God gave me this when I was already a Christian – this was not a mistake. I will use my free will to honor God by honoring the commitment and by holding on to the beautiful promise that He wanted for both me and my fiance – to fulfill the Holy Matrimony.

Then came more conflicts which involves the families, attitudes, habits, relations with other people, priorities, the past mistakes, temptations, goals – every weakness we both have, God brought them all out into the open. The relationship was like a battle ship attacked from all sides by canyons, tossed to and fro in the sea.

But there is a God.

And I was grateful I was saved. One time when we broke up, someone from my past (an ex boyfriend), contacted me after 2 years of no communication. 4 years ago, we broke up violently to the point that I attempted to commit suicide, never had the chance to apologize to each other and yet I thank him for he is the reason why I got saved and I am where I am now. Exactly the time that my fiance and I decided to call things off, my ex boyfriend called me past midnight and told me he was dared by his best friend. I can tell that he was a bit drunk and this is what he told me,

“Tin, I am leaving for Australia for good. I just want to tell you that if you haven’t been too possessive on me, I would’ve married you.”

His best friend, in the background, shouted this, “You rocked his world!”

Well, I don’t know if I should be happy with what I heard but I took it as our formal closure. I could not remember if I got the chance to apologize because I was tongue-tied – he was telling the truth. Because exactly at that moment when my fiance and I broke up, it was for that very same reason, AGAIN. After he said his goodbyes, I can’t help but cry.

God, at that moment, was telling me that I need to learn from my mistake or I will end up losing another person I love and a precious relationship that could have been lived out beautifully. It was a sign to save the current relationship I have before it is too late – a reminder. It was my being possessive to the point that I was jealous of everyone around him that ruined the relationship and I could not enjoy my moments with him anymore. God does not want me to go through the same mistake because He has saved me from that already.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

I know I am being put to a test right now – to prove that indeed I am new in Christ and the old has gone. It is through my fiance that God was finishing the work that He began in me – how to learn to trust someone who has a past as dark as mine and yet is not yet devoted in his faith. But I know too that through the tests, God will always be with me to make sure that I overcome the greatest weakness I have – my insecurities. I was just amazed that God reminded me of what I wrote in the placard during my Foundations for Victory class’ last day presentation.

Foundations for Victory is a month-long class after your water and holy baptism which we call in church, the Victory Weekend. Its purpose is to equip you in your spiritual journey by establishing your faith with the biblical foundations. And last night, I took a photo of what I wrote in the placard which was the old me before salvation versus the new me after salvation:

Tin Ginete

Only God can make you feel secure. 🙂

Philippians 1:6 NLT

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

I can tell for certain that this relationship was given to me not to see me fail again but God wanted to help me overcome them consequences now that I am already saved. But my question was always this, “Father, my fiance is not a devoted Christian, how can we make our relationship work if You are not the center of his life?”

Again, I was basing everything on what I see and hear, not trusting God and His plans. I always rely on my own understanding and yet again, I was reminded:

Proverbs 3:5 NLT

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”

During the Marriage Preparation seminar, we had a workshop wherein the couples have to answer a set of questions and these are the questions.

 1. Is it God’s plan for me to marry? Why? How do I know this?

2. Is it God’s plan for me to marry the person I am with? Why? How did God reveal this to you?

After answering, I told my fiance that I am not going to read his answers at that moment, I’ll just read them during our wedding. But after the several conflicts we have had and on the verge of losing hope for the relationship, I re-read our Marriage Preparation booklet and I stumbled upon our answers – I read my fiance’s. I got another confirmation from the Lord – we both have similar answers. And his was even more beautiful:

1. “Yes. God wanted me to experience His blessings (having children and a happy family) because I am His child.”

I cried, I was humbled. I was so wrong. How could I even doubt his faith when faith is a personal relationship with the Lord? It is between you and Him. How could I be so doubtful, so assuming, not trusting the Lord and His plans? How could I judge him so wrongly?

But then, there came the enemy filling me again with doubts: Are you sure your fiance wrote it sincerely? Or he was just playing along with the questions and he knows what answer he is expected to write to please you?

Doubts. Enough with the doubts. Enough with the deception that the enemy has been trying to lure me ever since. Enough with my insecurities. I know my God. My God is the greatest God and He will do anything to keep me and my faith. I may have fallen at times but right now He requires me to stand and fight for Him until my last breath – put into practice what He has taught and trust in the Spirit’s leading. It is not for me to know what happens in the future, He just wants me to trust and obey.

And God stayed faithful and just. For His wonders never stopped there. It was at this point that my fiance and I had the biggest miracle we could ever imagine. I was on the point of sacrificing my master’s degree so I could follow him when he works abroad just so we would not sacrifice the relationship, or he works abroad, I stay here and finish my master’s degree but sacrifice the relationship. Tough decisions to make they are, and yet God gave the answer – better opportunities at his workplace. It was our only hope.

My fiance was reluctant at first if he will get it, but I told him to take the chance. Told him God will give it to you if it His will for you and if you sincerely pray in your heart that you want it because we both need it – not for ourselves but for Him because we wanted to honor the commitment, we are willing to make sacrifices to uphold that commitment. I told him that prayers are so powerful if you believe in every single word that you have uttered in that prayer and believe in God. So there we were praying for each other, encouraging one another when making choices prove to become so difficult.

John 16: 24

“You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

And then….YES, it was given. At that moment, I cried with joy. How faithful indeed is the Lord! My fiance gets to stay with me, I get to finish my master’s degree, we both can be secure with our future. He indeed deserves all the honor and glory and I will forever be thankful to my Lord, my Savior.

Doubts may creep in that it is not meant to be but I will continue hoping and I will continue praying. I always pray that God would protect both of us from the attacks of the enemy for I know there are forces in this world that contest that which is good and pleasing which came from the Lord. As it is written:

1 Peter 5:8 NLT

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

The kind of salvation that I am praying for my fiance may not be what is happening now. But it is only for God to know what happens in the future. All I know is that both of us are being transformed every single day to become the persons that He wanted us to be teaching us the essence of what it really means to be a Christian – to have patience, to have peace, to be faithful, to love selflessly, to sacrifice, to endure, to forgive, to be prayerful and most of all to know God personally and deeply through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I could still remember the early times in our relationship and after the first few conflicts, I shared to my sister in Christ whom I admire deeply on how she handled her relationship and is now happily married, that my fiance is not yet devoted in his faith. And her answer was, “Be patient, Tin and pray.” After all this and what is to come, I can only be so very grateful that I have a God who is this:

Revelation 1:8 NLT

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

And with that, I know I am secure. 🙂