Spices of life

and the journey continuous....

It has been more than a year now since we moved out from the community. There were struggles and challenges along the way.Sometimes frustrations especially wt me (Joy) having no adult to share with and being occupied wt child care and household chores....adjusting did not go easy with me. Ray was quite ok and twins as well....but in all those experiences God was with us and i believe in every difficulty that we have overcome we were strengthened and became a better person.Of course there were moments of joys and fun too!!

Soon Raymond will graduate from His course...Time flies!! and twins have started to go to school.

Today, i have adjusted a lot more to our new lifestyle and my life is more balance.I can meet noe people..my co parents and neighborhood as I send Grace & Monique every morning.We also got a helper .Now I got some space for myself..for us as a couple...It feels good.

Growing Grace & Monique

Grace & Monique are very active as usual....thier energy is unbeateble. Sometimes I wish they are already grown-ups but then I paused and ponder.....I think the best thing I can do is to enjoy them while I can...Now they are doing some things by themselves...they can make thier milk drink as you can see ...and soon, they will be independent, having thier own world.

CHEF to be RAYMOND wt the grace of the Lord

I started my 14 months Culinary course on July 21, 2009. So far I am enjoying it though I feel challenged memorizing culinary terminologies in French,who!!Also, most of my classmates are young and Im the only one who cant understand Tagalog. But i really enjoy and feel thrilled whenever we have hands on studies in the kitchen. Now I am the one who goes to the wet market to buy for our family weekly supply and I enjoy discovering different stuff in the market as well as different herbs available.

Last week we had our first monthly exam. I felt quite nervous as I have not taken exams for long time..but I studied hard and I think i did well (result is not yet out) as I managed to answer most of the questions.

I thank the Lord for this experience and I pray that I will be able to serve Him with the new skill that I'm learning.

Reunion wt Friends

After 12 years, I have come to see and meet my friends in Pangasinan. I am amazed how the warmth of our friendship remained even after long years.I believe the reason is that our relationship was founded in Christ.These friends were the ones who introduced me into a personal and living relationship with our Lord Jesus.I'm grateful for the gift of each one of them as intruments of God's love for me.I treasure the pages of my life where they were involved.May God continue to bless each one of them and thier ministries.

Enjoying Each other

At the moment we are enjoying each other's presence(most of the time during the day) as Raymond is still waiting for his school to start on the 21st of July.At some point we are getting bored and missing the community life, but we take this opportunity to enjoy each other as we are aware that when Raymond will start to work we may not be able to spend as much time as it is at the moment.We are alos trying to explore some possibilities of having partial job...hope to find one fitted to Raymond's schedule.

Grace & Monique wt their new hair cut

Its very hot here in Manila so I decided to cut twins'hair for the second time...not so bad I think....(what do you think?)its good to discover hidden gifts and motherhood gives opportunity for it.I'm thinking to explore sewing children's clothes- simple ones...hmmm

Our Visit to our Family in Indonesia

We thank the Lord for the three weeks visit to our family and friends and Indonesia.
We had also had the chance to share our testimonies to few bussinessmen and a group of young professionals.Its always a joy to share the mighty deeds of the Lord in our lives.As we proclaim His goodness we are expressing our gratitude to His faithful love.

Monique and Grace had so much fun meeting the Umah and Upah,Kempo and Kukong,aunties,uncles and cousins.We believe that its a gift that they can be in touch with the family and share moments with them even for short while in thier young age.

Welcoming the Lord to Dwell in our new Home

On June 2,2009, Fr. Mark Grima (MSSP) blessed our new home and the journey that we will travel throughout this phase.Fr.Mark mentioned that when we bless whatever is dear to us we are welcoming God to dwell in it.

Two Bedrooms in the second floor

The Kitchen and Dining Area

New Phase of our Journey

We believe that we are all pilgrims journeying toward our final destination....
As pilgrims, we have stop overs...or different phases in our journey.

It has been two years since we felt as a couple that the Lord is calling us to a new experience or a new phase in our journey.After seven years of being in the ICPE Missionary community, we felt the call to move out to a new territory.To experience how to live in a secular world.

We had a blessed and meaningful phase living in the ICPE community as God was so gracious to us, gifting us with brothers and sisters from different parts fo the world with whom we have shared our lives, formation and beautiful experiences. Our deep thanks to God and to all our brothers and sisters for thier love and thier sharing of life.

At the moment, God has provided for us a new home. We are renting a house wt two bedrooms, receiving room, kitchen and dining and two toilets.We believe that God has chosen this house for us and we look forward on how the Lord will show us His kindness and faithfulness as well as His will in our lives as we start this new phase in our journey.

THE GIFT OF TIME

TIME is indeed a Gift! We thank God for the possibility for us as family to spend one month with our family and relatives in Mountain Province. Another month spent in Baguio where we enjoyed the cool climate and green nature. We also had time to pray and most of all this time we bond closer as family and as a couple.Its also a joy for us to spend some time with the Cornerstone Community.

WELCOME 2009

A year has gone, a new year has come. We thank God for His faithfulness in the past year and we continue to cling to God's faithfulness in this new year.Global Crisis is on the air and its so easy to be fearful of the future but I believe that our faith in the One God will save us.

CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS - THE LOVE OF GOD, THE SALVATION OF YOU AND ME AND OF ALL CREATION

I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament an hour ago and I experienced something. I felt deep sadness in my heart and I started to cry. I wondered what is all about........then I came to understand that I have shared a bit the sadness in God's heart because so many of us mess up Christmas.

During Advent, we are supposed to be preparing our hearts to seek and long for the Messiah like the three wise men. But what do we do? We are busy preparing our list and shopping for gifts and decorations. It’s not bad at all but the sad thing is that we neglect to prepare our hearts which is the most important.

Then we attend Christmas parties here and there, but most of the time the birthday celebrant is not invited. Most of the time we are inviting Santa Clause instead of Jesus. For us Filipinos we attend Simbang Gabi but do we really know what we are attending and the significant of it? Or it’s just like the other routine that we do every year?

I am calling our attention (including myself)…lets make this Christmas different from the past Christmas….lets look back at the Nativity and ask the Holy Spirit to give our mind and heart the understanding of the real beauty and significance of Christmas so that when the day comes we can truly REJOICE because we are thankful and hopeful!!!

Advent

ADVENT....a time of waiting, a time to hope especially with our economic situation this time. To hope in the only One who is forever loving and powerful. Maybe its important for all of us to reflect on what life is really about. Many of us is so busy using our time and energy to grow in achieving things here on earth but we are not mindful of the things that really matters, things that last. As this season is soon to end and we will celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, may our hearts be ready to welcome Him, the birthday celebrant...and to bear Him wherever we go, whatever we do so that when the day comes,...the day when we see Him, we will hear him say, "WELCOME! my good and faithful servant. Come and join me in my Father's House"

Grace & Monique's Bday

Days passes by very quickly...our daughters has already celebrated thier 3rd bdayon the 15th of December.

We were just cuddling them not long ago, now they can run very fast, climb and so on...sometimes we can not match with the energy they have. We thank God for thier good health and joy.

Our Call

Each one of us is called for a mission….in different fields. Some in the medical field, in education, science, etc, and some to the field of evangelization - to spread the Good News of salvation through Christ. We see that our world today is in its spiritual crisis. Men are seeking happiness in the wrong places and worshipping different gods, turning their back to the One True God who can truly bring them to life.

"The sense of sin is lost because we have lost the sense of God".

For this, we who believe are all called to prepare the way of the Lord for His second coming in the way that God has called us. To help others find the meaning of their life in God.

FOLLOWING A CALL

I’m Joy Cea from Philippines. I've heard my call for mission since I was young.Though I graduated as a physical therapist, I decided to follow my heart’s desire to do mission work. In year 2000, I attended a three months School of Mission run by ICPE, a lay missionary community. Since then, I have served in the mission until May 15,2009.

Being in a missionary community for nine years, I've grown a lot in my relationship with the Lord, in knowing Him,others and my self. I thank God for the gift of faith and the gift of Himself to all humanity.

My deepest desire is to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom in the ways that the Lord will call me and my family. One way I pray and hope is to sing songs for the Lord.May God be glorified in my life and in my family.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

I’m Raymond Tedjaindra from Indonesia. I am an ex drug addict for five years and I have experienced how to be in the state of “dead life”. Life for me before was meaningless and no direction. My emotions were numb, I can’t feel sadness nor happiness. Everything is flat. I even did not know how to receive love from my family.

All I wanted is drugs….drugs…it was the only thing that was important to me. My relationships were in a mess, my life was in a mess…I attempted suicide for few times but the Lord has saved me. I thought I can never escape from this state until I came to experience the loving touch of the Lord in year 2001.Since then I decided to seek more of Him although with a lots of hesitations and struggles. I went for the school of evangelization in India and there I received a lot of God’s healing in my life.

I managed to stop taking drugs (with a lot of struggle) and continued to be in ICPE Mission till May 15,2009. I’m still in the process of healing and growing in my relationship with the Lord and I would like to share to others this healing and love that I have experienced and most of all the meaningful life that I’ve found in Jesus.

PREGNANCY, A WAY TO HOLINESS

I (Joy Tedjaindra) think I understand a bit why many women in our modern world does not want to get pregnant. It is because it needs sacrifice and sacrifice is not much welcomed in our generation today. Since I came to know that I’m pregnant I have to give up some food that I like, some activities that I used to do.

My husband has to stretch his patience because my emotion easily goes up and he has to do more household chores that I used to do myself. My body starts changing, stretch marks became evident as my tummy starts growing. My sleeping routine changed and as the month proceeds, even breathing becomes difficult.

For the meantime, I have to slow down in my public ministry which I enjoy so much and have to postpone some plans and dreams if not to be totally given up knowing that the coming of our babies means giving them most of my time as they become now my first ministry.

I say that it is a way to holiness because I experienced more the dying to my self so that these two precious lives may live. Something that is not easy but by God’s grace, my heart was able to understand that pregnancy is an opportunity to become more like Jesus. Aside of course from the fact that I am cooperating with the creating power of God for these two lives that He entrusted to us.