19 minutes until it marks the anniversary of two months and one day since you went ahead of us. We sang this at John's celebration of life, both of you guys are saving a place for me now.

Yeah, I still believe in expecting a miracle. Thank you, God, that life here is beautiful. After life, there is death, and LIFE again--renewed in you, God.

Expect a miracle.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

My mom and dad at their wedding. My mom's wedding dress she also designed and created.


Me, 20 years or so later, in my mom's wedding dress. Taken by Christine Leong at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco CA.

Details were sewn by hand.

The designer and her daughter. (2010)

Her simplistic, classy style.

I successfuly crashed a Textiles course today, and I all I could think of is how much I'd love to hear her advice on apparel construction/design right now. Her primary passion was sewing/fashion design, and ironically, I'm a current Pre-Apparel Design and Merchandising major. She always joked about how I followed after her. :)

Devotional Text from Jeremy Seisa

(photo taken by Gabriel Torneros)

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." ~ Hebrews 11:1

So this devotext is based off of one phrase, which is: Expect A Miracle. This phrase, as some of you may know, has been a big part of my life as of late. Being the rally cry for my Auntie Agnes as she battled cancer, I know there is a solid definition out there for this phrase. But to me, it means two things: have faith in God, and count your blessings. The first one goes hand-in-hand with what I talked about two days ago. I talked about those days or long stretches of time when everything seems to go wrong, when nothing seems to go your way, when giving up seems like the only option. My advice then is to lean on God in those times. That right there is hard enough. We, as human beings, want to take matters into our own hands, want to fix things ourselves. Lifting our problems up to God, at times, is the last thing we do. Keeping our faith in God, to me again, is even harder; especially if things don't get better as soon as I expected. Lifting things up to God, and having nothing happen right away, sucks. It's difficult. It's heart-wrenching. But it's part of faith, it's part of growing in our faith. One pattern I see myself going through when I encounter a long-lasting problem is that my confidence in God seems to rise the longer my problem goes on. It starts off with: "I can fix this." Then to, "Okay, God. I need a little help." Then to, "Okay, I need a lot of help, God." Then, "I can only do so much, can You fix this?" Finally, "Of course you can fix this, God. What was I thinking?"

See, we, or at least I, think we can fix any problem. But when we reach that point when we realize we really can't do anything anymore, our confidence in God skyrockets. Which is what I discourage you guys to do.

When God hits you with the big problems in life that seems to last forever, don't inch towards fully believing with that utmost confidence that God will take care of things. I encourage you guys to, right off the bat, believe that God will take care of you. "Don't just believe in miracles, expect them." (quoted my cousin) And I'm not saying to expect in an arrogant way. But really have the confidence that God has you in His hands. Believe that things will get better in time. Know that God has you on His perfect path, and things are going according to His plan. Have faith in our Father. Expect a Miracle.

Miracles happen every day. Waking up is a miracle. Being alive is a miracle. Living freely is a miracle. Having food to eat and water to drink is a miracle. Having any amount of money is a miracle. All this ties with my second part of my meaning of the phrase: Count your blessings. From the things we see, to the things we don't. From the things we notice, to the things we see as expected now, all are blessings. All are miracles. God can give and take away at any second. You, yes you, are a walking miracle. So is it hard to expect a miracle?

Expect God to carry you in whatever you're going through, but also know that you're not going through it alone. Your struggles are my struggles, your burdens are my burdens in this shared life. You are never alone.

Keep at it. Always look to God. Keep growing in God. Keep praying for each other. Always encourage each other. Always expect a miracle. And continue to show God's love to this world.

My Last Visit...

"Your unfailing LOVE is better than LIFE itself; how I praise You!" ~Psalm 63:3

The month of November was eradicated from my 2011 calendar. And December was not the same. Holidays in all will never be the same. But in spite of the sadness that enveloped the following days/weeks, I found solace and joy knowing that during the Christmas season, we celebrate the reason why the Father sent His only Son. That we may have LIFE. Eternal Life. 

These images were from my last visit with my dear friend at Mercy Hospital with several friends. And the last time I would ever touch her (and I had to wear gloves!) I'm exceedingly sad whenever I think about her and whenever I see photos of her. And it's around January that we would usually get together. But knowing she's in a much better place and that I would see her again brings much comfort. So I'm holding on tight to God's Word, unfailing love & promises while enjoying the gift of Today. 

“You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life." ~Psalm 142:5

“How frail is humanity! How short is life..." ~Job 14:1

"Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your Word." ~Psalm 119:37

"For the life of every living thing is in His hand, and the breath of every human being." ~Job 12:10

You gave me life & showed me Your unfailing love. My life was preserved by Your care. ~Job 10:12

"For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." ~Job 33:4

Dishes

Written after avoiding the dishes for two days then realizing they simply wouldn't go away until I washed them.

When I was little I didn't realize how dishes can just pile up and up and up...Why my Mom would sigh when she looked at the neat but towering stack that we placed one after another thoughtlessly. I remember night after night--many of them late, she would pull on her yellow rubber gloves and begin rinsing and then loading and arranging each dish into the washer. I'd walk right up to her, often catching her during a hushed prayer, give my love and a small hug before heading off to bed.

She once told me that one of her best times to pray was while she did those mundane dishes.

Just the sound of the running water and an occasional chink! of utensils, the rest of the house was usually silent. She'd breathe in peace and now I can understand just a little better why.

It wasn't until my Junior year that I began to take over that job, doing it consistently. Sometimes I'd feel like I was stealing that time of hers to pray by doing it, but now I see that I was just being trained to do the same.

There is a calmness that overtakes me while the dirt of the day is being washed away. I take pleasure in seeing the dish become sparkling and new. At the end of the day, it really is no fun to dread that huge pile, but someone has to do it. And while you do it, you might as well have your mind be active as your hands be productive.

In short, don't waste your time.

Even during the mundane you can still exercise your mind and your faith, how much time do we often waste staring off into space while we wait for the line to end, for the bell to ring, or for something to be done?

It is good to rest (I'm all for it!), but don't get too much--don't get too little either!

Expect a Miracle!

-Liana S.

That's the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.

God holds me head and shoulders
above all who try to pull me down.
I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
that will raise the roof!
Already I'm singing God-songs;
I'm making music to God.

Psalm 27: 5-6 (The Message)

Taken at Agnes Seisa's Viewing at Cypress Lawn, Daly City. Photo Credits to Chris Pangilinan.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I know that many of you could not make it out to my Mom's celebration of life, so I wanted to here the list of blessings (my Mom wrote down for the year 2009) that I shared at the celebration.

From the journal of Agnes Seisa

Blessings 2009:

• Married to my best friend for 20 years
• Opportunities to practice ILD principles
• Being an advisor/mentor to Intersection
• Secretary to Fil-Am Covenant
• Sunday school facilitator
• Sharpening my cooking skills
• Got off Calworks
• Dennis working nearby (City of Sac/East Lawn/Air Force)
• Learning to live by faith and relying on God to supply all of our needs
• Peaceful family
• Unexpected opportunities to receive
• Free from worry: surrendered my life to God.

Count your blessings and may your year be full of living hope and joy through every season!

Expect a miracle, friends!

-Liana S.