Thursday, March 24, 2005

Notes on a Quiet Holy Thursday

Ok, I know, I know. It's been quite a while since I last made a post. February came in a blur as deadlines overwhelmed me. One thing I learned that time was not to take in more work than I should so I can keep the evenings and weekends to myself. :) That was also the time my son and I had a food poisoning incident from eating a slice of egg pie. That was tough. Ewww.

So I'm back and I hope to post something new here at least once a month, whether or not I have readers. hehe

In case you're wondering, this blog is called Quiet Stream because I imagine it to be a place where I can think my thoughts aloud. Sort of like Steve's Thinking Chair in Blue's Clues. It's also inspired by a verse from my favorite Psalm, Psalm 23:2-3: "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul."

Today is Holy Thursday. I'm glad we'll just stay home this Holy Week and just...be quiet. My mom and sister are going to Tokyo tomorrow to be with my brother and my sister (going there from L.A. on the first week of April) so the rest of the family is staying put in Manila. Last year, Good Friday fell on my dad's birthday. We were in Tagaytay when my dad announced we'll be going to Matabungkay Beach and have lunch on a raft on his birthday. That was a different experience--having inihaw na bangus and manggang hilaw with bagoong on the raft with a table and roof while all around us the rest of Batangas--so it seems--swam.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Voracious reader that I am, I always have a book with me. Right now I'm reading The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Quite interesting, as it gives one a peek into prerevolutionary China. I am struck by how industrious the farmer Wang Lung is, and his fortune is so Gulong Ng Palad-like: from poverty to riches, from hunger to excess. This novel won for Buck the Pulitzer Prize back in the '30s, and it made it into Oprah's list. Oprah seems to have a thing for depressing books, no?

VERSE OF THE WEEK: In this blog, I'll share Bible verses that became meaningful to me lately. This week, it's Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Food for thought.