GRATITUDE JOURNAL

- by Junnie , my brother, guest-blogging This is my second trip to Boston since the event that happened last April 15. In fact, it has only been two visits more than in the last 5 years when I first set foot in this great historic city. But just like any trip to a place, the itch to walk and give the city a whirl with several hours of foot trekking was an inevitable one to scratch. So we did. With Linnor and Jerry, we moved out of the hotel during rush hour and visited Copley Square where a unique monument for victims and at the same time support for Boston was temporary in place. It was somber and poignant at the same time to see sneakers and running shoes hung as a wall of support to the families of the victims. It was also a show of solidarity for most of those who left a part of themselves - a flag, a candle, flowers, - to give to those who gave a lot of themselves - a bad experience, a limb more so - losing 3 innocent lives. Boston - not Sob! Be Strong!

This is just a piece of heaven which we experienced while in Siargao, May 2012. by Junnie

by Junnie

Glory to God for Spring is Here Toronto, Canada "Glory To God In The Highest" Glory to God in the highest, Glory to God in the highest, And peace to His people on earth Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father We worship You We give You thanks We praise You for Your glory Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father Lord God, Lamb of God You take away the sins of the world Lord, have mercy on us You are seated at the right hand of the Father Receive our prayer For You alone are the Holy One For You alone are the Lord For You alone are the Most High Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit In the glory of God the Father Amen Gabby is now officially 3 ft tall! His full winter has allowed him to grow bigger but at the same time become more lovable in his mischievous ways. Since September, he bade goodbye to his 2 sets of lolos and lolas who left for the Philippines before the onset of the cold-er season. Although Winter wasn't harsh this year, we still had enou...

by Junnie Talk about Lady Gaga coming to the Grammy's inside an egg made me recall this pic. She wasn't original at all. But beneath those pa-weirdo facade and outrageous make over and 'do is a sensitive person. She just tweeted today how she felt happy seeing this video and how it made her realize why she is in this business. Well guys, welcome the latest Pinoy You Tube sensation. Here was Lady Gaga's tweet entry: and here's the reason for her tears...not as special as Charice or as compelling as the Cebu inmates...but really, to capture the attention of 1 million 2 Million 9.9 Million 36 MILLION You Tube viewers after Gaga tweeted, that is SPECIAL. Great song. Great rendition. We are all born this way, hatched, given by God, or in my case, someone who can't sleep for 5 hrs straight....back to bed for me. UPDATE: here's an update video of Maria Aragon from Canada speaking with Lady Gaga: who invites Maria to go onstage and do a duet on Ma...

by Junnie Google the term "Blood bloggers", or "Sibling bloggers". Done? Oh, after clicking that blog on mental illness you'd know that wasn't part of what I wanted you to do. We wanted to know if there have been a lot of collaborative projects between siblings who have decided to put up a blog about the goings-on in their lives. Well here's one from Cebu, Singapore and Mississauga. The effort has led to a community that all 3 siblings brought in from their respective blogs and when combined was strong enough to have a great following. Lately though, with so much blogs, status updates, twitter entries to follow and read, the numbers have plateaued. Good thing this Gratitude Journal was kept afloat by eldest sister, Linnor . "It was a memorable year for the Arreza's! We had additions to the family, achievements in school, moving from one apartment to another, graduating to university and a lot of travels in between.", recalls M...

by Junnie March 12, March 17 and March 18 - 3 celebrations yet the same wonderful blessed blissful feeling. Indeed, we are all gifts to each other and no matter how we celebrated it, the gift was indeed given in advance! Turning 41 was the same as turning another year, but of course this was made more special when you have another one blowing the cake with you! :P Here are the 2 Videos of our Birthday cake blowing, sharing to those who should've been there, blowing with us too: YOU ! March 12 - Junnie's Birthday March 17 - Michele's Birthday and March 18 - Gabriel's 20th Month

  We still continue to pray for you and your good health! 6 years ago, you looked so frail but look at you now! Happy Birthday Jake!

by Junnie It's Winter! And for anyone who would have a first taste of winter, there is no better way to do it but to do it literally - opening up your mouth and catching some flurries. And so Gabe is doing the same and we are helping him create memories at least one for every season. Despite the mild winter, we were blessed with torrential snowstorms last week and we got our first taste of winter. Gab enjoyed it. While we enjoyed it more seeing him this happy.

by Junnie It is peaceful and quiet now. Had it been this time 3 weeks ago, we'd probably hear incessant dogs barking as if not able to eat for days, the roaring sound of airplane every 10 minutes and maybe an animated discussion between my Mom-in-law and Tita Lola discussing things in the dining table. It was always filled with sound and a lot of energy. And from the recollection of my mom when we had an hour's call for the first time in 2 weeks, it was never the same after we left. Meals were quiet now. There were no pitter patter sound of footsteps running around the marbled floor nor the ruckus of flying plastic bricks from the play room to the living room. Yes, we left the Philippines last January 20, arrived in Canada on the same day. Thus, this day became the longest day of our life as a family. Settling down, a week has passed, I could barely recall how our lives would have been different had the lil master of the house wasn't here with us. Now our routi...

by Junnie "The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis" From our family to yours, here's wishing you "A Merry Merry Christmas to you and your family!"

by Junnie We just finished watching CNN Heroes and feel the awe and inspiration that these men and women have done to impact the world they are in. Their stories leave us a nugget of wisdom and a question to answer - "What does God want me to do in my life?" At a tender age of 40, I sometimes feel I'm in halftime (who can say if I can reach 80 years old) but really and honestly what else can I do to repay the Lord all the blessings He has provided me and my family. Really, outside of the Lord, our real Hero for dying for all our sins, today, November 27 is a great day to remember our Heroes! ********* Today too, I'd like to honor and greet a "Happy Birthday" to Ninoy Aquino and to my mom-in-law. Not only are they heroes in my eyes, but are inspirations for their commitment to serve and help humanity. ********* The words of Efren Penaflorida’s acceptance speech during the CNN Heroes celebrations: “Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, r...

by Junnie My name is a combination of 2 Lolos. Mar or Lolo Mayong is my mama's dad, while Lu or Lolo Luz is from Dad's side. Put together, my second name, Marlu was conceived. I never have much recollection about my time spent with my 2 lolos. (Lolas are different. I spent practically my whole pre-teen years with Lola Meding.) I remember the drawing sessions we had with Lolo Mayong, replete with the stick drawings of people on a ship, we agreed to call Sweet Faith. I was 3 then and I knew that my drawing skills never came from him. Lol. Lolo Luz was maybe old enough or never really was the lolo-carrying-apo kind that I never remembered anytime spent in his arms. Yes, I remember him to smile at me and that deep-set eyes telling me that I look more like my Lola Unang than my sister Linnor who took to his pair of eyes. So I promised myself that Gabriel will spend a lot of times in his lolo's arms. For him and his Lolo, these are memories that Gabriel will remember well...

by Junnie The best part of my day is the time between waking up and having breakfast. To think that I was never a morning person. I realized that even if my eyes were half shut-half open, and my contact lenses are as hard as a broken glass, I long to smell that sweet scent and carry those small arms that cling to me like a tarsier to a tree. Yes! I wake up to this every morning and God only knows why I was blessed this much, sometimes I feel I don't deserve all His blessings. But yes, you can never outdo a giving God. But God has His mysterious ways and our stay in the Philippines has been more than a mystery to us, it is drama and comedy combined with a lot of children stories on the side. I hope to tell them to all of you - personally. When? you may ask. Maybe, while walking down the path to a coffee shop or our regular morning walks to the park? Sama ka?

by Junnie My wife collected angel figurines prior to our engagement in 1994. It made my gifts on visits and special occasions a little easier since I know what to give and add to her collection. This went to as far as having almost a third of her room filled with Angels. In fact our wedding cake was adorned by blowing angels and our tokens to our lil flower girls were seraphs and cherubs. Fast forward to 2009, and the good news came and the angel is here with us.

by Junnie These days provide some time for me to take stock and set my priorities straight. No, its not the dreary dark skies enveloping Ortigas Centre as I write this but really, it is maybe the current state of mind that I have. You see for some reason, God played a big joke when He sent us over the Philippines for a major assignment and in an apparent stroke of usual Divine blessing, He gave us more. I sometimes remember, more often forget that one can never outdo God with His provisions. I always wanted to make an impact in an organization and see it through excellence in operations, profitability and with the employees never working a single day, enjoying every minute at work. God just gave me that and more. I almost have a magic wand and can set the pace of the company in Manila we set up 8 years ago, a day before 9/11. So now I have twin assignments, twin blessings. So how can you say "no" to what He has given you. So I work and play in one day. I pray that I c...

by Junnie Metro Manila is still wet. Some parts are still with knee-deep waters. One thing we have going for us is that we have strong faith that this too shall pass, and that the Filipino will rise above. It is October already and it seemed that no one noticed that we arrived Manila last Monday at the heels of the weekend Typhoon Ondoy visited the country. This week we celebrated the feast of the Archangels - Raphael, Michael and Gabriel, and last Thursday, we celebrated the feast of our Guardian Angels. What a whole week of heroic deeds from Pinoys helping their kababayans, and for all the angels in our lives. :)

by Junnie Ch-ch-changes. We can't get enough of David Bowie singing that 70s tunes. That could well be what we are singing these days. There are so many things happening in the domestic front. Autumn has started and that means that colder days are here again. Mama has turned a year older. Zia will have her turn next week. And for the 4th time this year, I will be in Manila... Can you sing the Pointer Sisters' hot tune? "I'm so excited....." Here's a great video of how things look from the same perspective in 1 year. Beautiful to see but we don't want to happen in our lives...all things changing while you remain static in one point :

by Junnie There is no other treasure I consider my own. Except my 2 sisters. Naks. But seriously I am as happy for them for their families and their children's achievements. You see we only spent 22 years together in one house, for May it was even less. I feel bitin about those number of years. Despite all the ruckus and the disagreements, those moments were fun. Nowadays, we cherish the moments we are together and the times that we can be all free for a webcam or a skype conversation. Here's looking forward to more sibling revelry this year and for the years to come. (Picture above was taken from Picture City at Market Market. We were all smiles despite the weird setting, and the potential of a flaky dinner) :) Remember this day?

by Junnie Six Years After. We still enjoy, (should I put the word enjoy in quotes?), each other's company. Yes, be it the French Alps or the Merlion at the background, the 3 Arreza siblings take time out to enjoy special bonding moments together, sans Paparazzi and Mama. :) We may have added more weight, more white hair, more wrinkles, but alongside those additional things were added maturity and wisdom. Although we still enjoy talking about the past, we enjoy this time talking about the present and the future and what lies ahead. This blog is going to be a channel for all those banterings, minus the hair pulling and shouting. Pramis.