Kairos

- means "Happy New Year" in Chinese. Today is the first day of the lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year. New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese people. The celebrations usually lasts for 15-days complete with colorful traditions and lots of food symbolic of prosperity, abundance and good fortune for the year. Chinese culture is indeed one of the richest in the world – it is full of traditions and superstitions all rolled in one. The Chinese lunar calendar is pretty unique in that each year is marked by one of the 12 zodiac animal. Legend has it that lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth, and that only 12 came. So they were rewarded by having to rule a year, in the order that they arrived. It is believed that the animal ruling the year in which a person is born will have a profound influence on his/her personality because “ it is the animal that hides in his/her heart.” In the same manner, the animal and its personality...

Here's one of the many traditions that we have at home growing up in the Philippines. For as long as I can remember, my mother had always made it a point to have a fruit basket/tray for the New Year. This basket would contain the very select of fruits that she's able to find in the market. Soon after Christmas, she would start preparing this basket with a lot of TLC (tender loving care). Her goal is to have 12 different kinds of fruits which are to be ripe when the New Year comes along. These 12 fruits were to represent each month of the incoming year, reason why it is important for each fruit to be perfect and sweet. It is a wish for our family to have each month of the year be blessed -- and sweet. I call this my Mom's basketful of blessings. I made one this year, in memory of my mother. So with this basketful of blessings, Joe and I would like to wish you a very Happy , Jesus-blessed New Year. May 2009 indeed be a year of expansion, new levels/heights and divine favors f...

Year 2007 is soon to be officially over in a couple of days. As I bid adieu to this year, I know that 2007 will definitely leave an indelible mark in my spirit. This year I have battled and fought, overcome and conquered the many obstacles that life brought my way. It all began in October 2006 when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, an invasive ductal carcinoma stage 4 which at that time had already metastasized to her bones, lymph nodes and skin. But even this horrible news did little, if anything, to put me down. I knew there would be an uphill battle ahead of me, but I prepared myself. I put on God's full armor and held on to God's promises in His word as tight as I could. So as the year 2007 came rolling in, I was ready. My heart was expectant of the Lord's miracles to take place in my life and in my family. I even went as far as boldly declaring 2007, being a year ending with the perfect number 7, as the year of PERFECTION - a year when everything in my life w...