Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: "How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right?

When can I see him?"

The surgeon said, "I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it."

Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer? Doesn't God care anymore? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?"

The surgeon asked, "Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the University."

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said goodbye to her son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.

"Would you like a lock of his hair?" the nurse asked. Sally nodded yes.  The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.

The mother said, "It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study. He said it might help somebody else. "I said no at first, but Jimmy said, "Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom." She went on, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else.  Always wanting to help others if he could."

Sally walked out of Children's mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house.

She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things, back in his room exactly where he had always kept them.

She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Lying beside her on the bed was a folded letter.. The letter said: Dear Mom, I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say I LOVE YOU.

I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room, and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, y'know.

Don't be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him.

Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important.  That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you goodbye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed.

Well, y'know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions 'Where was He when I  needed him?'

God said, He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you.  To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool?

I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life.

Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I don't hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore ... and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either.  That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was Special Delivery! How about that?

Signed with Love from:

God, Jesus & Me

If you ever thought of getting your NBI Clearance, I recommend you go to NBI Tagum. Why? First, it's faster to process the clearance there. And second, it's really faster. Hahaha.

I know it's quite weird that someone from Davao would go all the way to another city for that but I guarantee you, it's worth traveling for.

Who among you experienced waking up early in the morning (like about 4am) to go and line up at NBI in JP Laurel Avenue? Lining up and waiting for hours and hours just for you have the clearance. Long hours of waiting, warm weather, crowded waiting area...

I tell you. You wake up at 8am, take a Metro Shuttle coaster at Abreeza terminal (P120 regular fare, P100 discounted).  Travel time is 1-1.5 hours.

Metro Shuttle Tickets (got the students' price on the way back. haha)

The NBI office is just along the National Highway so you could just tell the driver. When you get there, just follow the steps:

Step 1: Present 1 valid ID for you to get a form, fill it out and have it validated back at Step 1. The person in-charge will give you a priority number to be called in Step 2.

Step 2: Cashier. You will pay the same amount you pay here in Davao. The only thing I can recall is for Local Employment P105, travel abroad and for visa is P115. After paying, wait for your name to be called for Step 3.

Step 3: Validate the information you wrote in your form, This is to ensure that they were able to encode your information with the correct spelling and details.

Step 4: Biometrics. The person in-charge will ask for your fingerprints for their record. I like their method now since it's not the messy type compared to the stick-your-finger-in-the-stamp pad method.

Step 5: Picture taking. It's the same web cam thing where you will remove your eye wear, look at the camera and you are not allowed to smile. Haha. Wacky pose not allowed.

Releasing-- your most awaited part! Tadaaa! Then you're good to go. I finished everything for about 10-15 mins.

Here is it! :)

It may be away from Davao but I would rather travel a couple of kilometers to Tagum than to wake up so early and line up at the Davao office. The travel time you have is much lesser compared to your waiting time. Less hassle and saves your energy.

Hope this helps :)

The Missing Piece tells the story of a circle that was missing a piece. A large triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole with nothing missing, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away. The lesson of the story was that in some strange sense we are more WHOLE when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted and never had. There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, who can lose someone and still feel like a complete person. When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciating it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us - not "Be perfect," not "Don't ever make a mistake," but "Be whole." And at the end, if we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.

Got this message via email and it struck me. Everyone of us wants to be perfect. Everyone of us wants to have all the things that we dream of, all the things that we desire to have. But human as we are, we are never satisfied. All the more, if we ever get everything we ever wanted, what more is left for us to have. Will we ever get to aim for anything else? I don't think so.

It is indeed true that God never asked us to be perfect nor to not do anything wrong. He just asks of us that we, as imperfect ones, be the people that are always willing to follow His commandments, have faith in Him, walk in His ways, preach His word --- just BE WHOLE. Because with God in our lives, everything is more than enough. :)

When You FALL IN LOVE 
(Debunking the Myths That Are Driving You Crazy) 
By: Bo Sanchez 

This article isn't for teenagers only.

Falling in love happens to the young and the not-so-young. (Did you see 42-year-old Tom Cruise jump up and down Oprah's couch because of Katie?)
It happens to everyone. Fat, thin, tall, short, intelligent, uneducated, holy, not so holy, dark, transparent, yellow, green... it doesn't really matter.
All of us fall in love.
And we get stuck in myths that drive us absolutely crazy.
My goal is to debunk these myths and convince you not to believe in them.
Let's begin....... ... 


MYTH 1: LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL 

Let me qualify.
This is such a tricky myth. Because love ----- as defined by the Bible ------ will conquer all. But love ------ as defined by glazed-eyed lovers ----- will not.

If you believe in this myth, you might do the following:

You overlook major obstacles in your relationship. 

Everyone you know is wondering why you chose that creature from outer space as your boyfriend. Your bestfriends are telling you to get rid of him. Your family is telling you to throw him out of a running vehicle. Aling Rosa of the sari-sari store across the street is telling you to lace his drink with poison.
But you won't --------- because you're in love. That's why there are songs entitled, "you and me against the world"
Your bestbuds comment, 'but he's been jobless for the past three years!"
And you say, "He's free-spirited. He feels boxed in when he's in the office. '(in other words, he's undisciplined, lazy bum.)
Your officemates say, 'He flirts with other women constantly!' and you say, 'No, he's just friendly.' (in other words, he's a pervert)
Your cousins say, 'He's taking drugs, He's got needle marks all over his arm. And you say, 'No, he's into cross stitching.' 

You overstay in toxic relationships, believing that your love will change him. 

The wedding doesn't transform anyone.
Even if three Popes officiate the wedding. 
The person you'll march with into the church will be the same person you'll march with out of the church. He doesn't change one bit.
In fact, the marriage makes the hidden more obvious.
If he was selfish before he got married, he will be even more selfish after the wedding. If he was hypercritical before he got married, he'll even be more vile and prolific with his criticisms after wedding. 
Here's the truth : You need more than feelings of love to make a relationship work. You need mature character, total commitment and a minimum level of compatibility. 
Especially compatibility in the area of values and mission in life. I hear people say, 'We're compatible. Our names begin with the same letter J. My name is Julie and his name is Julio. We're both born in July."
Wow. That's so deep, I want to cry. 

MYTH 2 : WHEN IT"S TRUE LOVE YOU WILL KNOW THE MOMENT YOU MEET THE OTHER PERSON 
I'm sure you've had this experience before.
You are in a crowded room. You're surrounded by boring, noisy chatter when, suddenly, this gorgeous guy enters the door.
Your eyes meet. 
Instantly, time stands still. The universe grinds to a halt. Except for this attractive man in front of you, everything in your vision becomes a giant blur. The hubbub of the crowd becomes a soft muffle and, from out of nowhere, you here gentle violin music from the background.
One week later, he's your boyfriend. 
A few weeks later, you discover that your boyfriend's a pathological liar, buried in credit card debt, borrows money from all his girlfriends (you're his eight in six months).
Your mind says, 'Dump him' 
Your heart says, 'But it was love at first sight!'
Here are the consequences ... 

You become so focused on the magical first moment, you become blind to the dark side of the relationship.
Six out of seven days, you're fighting with your boyfriend. 
But you can't give him up because you met each other in such a magical moment. Your car keys fell and he picked it up, and then your eyes met, you smelled his deodorant, and you dropped your keys again ......How can you not be meant for each other?

You become a love-at-first- sight junkie that you could miss out on the 'real thing'.
One intelligent woman told me, 'Bo, there's this guy who's courting me. He's okay. He's kind, he's responsible, he has a good job.......'
"I could hear a 'but' coming ," I said. 
'but there are no sparks!" she bit her lip.
"No violin music playing in the background huh" 
"none. When I see him, the background music I hear is lululalu-lalulalula lei..." 
"listen. You don't need a magical first moment to meet our potential husband. The important things are mature character, financial responsibility, ability for commitment, compatible mission and values..."
I actually met this girl again on her wedding, and before she marched down the aisle, she whispered to me, "Do you hear the violin music, Bo? It's loud and clear."
It doesn't have to be love at first sight.
In fact, marriages with the least adjustments are those between friends who've known each other for years before they realize that they're good marriage material.
What is love at first sight? 
Many times, it's lust at first sight. Or infatuation at first sight.
Don't give it too much weight. 
Here's the truth: it takes a moment to experience infatuation but true love takes a lifetime. 


MYTH 3 : IF IT IS TRUE LOVE YOU WILL FEEL THIS WAY FOR EACH OTHER FOREVER 
No, you won't. Here are the consequences for believing this myth :

You panic when the feelings wane, and wonder whether the marriage is over and whether you really loved one another in the first place.
Imagine the night of your honeymoon.
Your new bride is sleeping. The cotton curtains are gently swaying in the cool breeze. You gaze at her lovely face. You study her soft cheeks. Her long eyelashes. Her beautiful nose, her parted red lips.
And all of a sudden, she snores. 
"Ngggggggooork" 
How do you react? Because it's your honeymoon, you say, 'How cute.' 
Six months down the road, the same scene transpires. Your wife is sleeping. And the same cotton curtains are gently swaying in the cool breeze.
And you hear her snore. 
"Ngggggoork." 
What do you say?
"Ssssssheeeesh, Honey! You sound like a boat!'
What has happened? The feelings have gone. Let me say this: 'That's normal. It happens to everyone. But it doesn't mean your love is gone so don't panic!
You can make a decision to love the snoring boat.

You start blaming your partner for the loss of love 
This is nutty. 
But many people do it: when we don't feel in love, we think it's the fault of the other person. And so we fight him.
Again, we fall out of love because we're human beings.
It's nobody's fault. 
The moment you fall out of love , the real work begins .
Let me explain. 
This is the most important point I'm going to make. (I got this from Scott Peck in his bestseller book, The Road Less traveled)

Falling in love isn't love
Here's why. When you fall in love..... 
a. No decision is required. Falling in love just happens.
b. No effort is required. Falling in love is like.... Well, falling. 
c. No hard work is required. Falling in love is being bitten by the love bug.

On the other hand, true love requires all three : Decision, effort and lots of hard work. In the Bible, love is a command. You make it happen.
Sure true love can only happen after you've fallen out of love.
When you begin choosing to love, even if you don't feel like doing it ---- that's true love.