irene carole: 05/01/2008

A goodmorning song for you...

what's your goodmorning song?

Listen: Jenn Chung

Goodnight Moon

This is probably my clearest shot of the moon ... ever!
I love this lens, and I love the moon.

Four stores and seven years ago...

{Before I start this blog ... can I just say: I love my Darla!}

For ate Rachelle's 25th birthday, after a fallen cake and a hardy dinner at Pampanguena a bunch of the girls took ate Rach into DC for one of her first times ever. She may have lived here for years, but she still hasn't seen all of the city properly.

As we made our why downtown, the sun was beginning to set on the Potomac.

Once we got there ...

... Lily made us run, so we made her run after us.

Then finally ate Rach was able to be a DC tourist for once in her life.

Then we began making our way closer.

In tribute to Mr. Lincoln who was (as Em-em put it) "just chillin' there" ate Rachelle gave her own lovely and ever so eloquent rendition of The Gettysburg Address.

"For stores and seven years ago..." - Rachelle Laxa
{Lets just say she had a rough start}

We called it a day when the sky above us started to darken.

I love these girls with all my heart.

Twas one eventful day downtown.

Do you only love the ones who look like you?

I've been addicted to Molly Jenson for a good two weeks now.
This is my favorite song of hers.

Sew Random

I was caffinated quite well the other day on Dunkin Donut's free iced coffee day and decided to sew a little something for myself. I ended up sewing myself a little high waisted skirt..

Happy Sunday to you.

Gadgets and gizmos of plenty

I've been patiently waiting for this week to finally be over, it's been a long very one, and I was only really looking forward to jumping into bed early on a Friday night for once and calling it a day. But I was definitely taken by surprise by the gift giving of the day.

It's been a crazy hectic couple of months, and me and my whole family haven't had much time to catch our breath, so it's only now that my sister has had the time to get me my birthday present. But I've definitely been in no rush what so ever and the wait was totally worth it because my lovely sister bought me not only a lovely and pretty expensive present, but it was a really thoughtful one.

If you know me, I'm never usually without my camera, and photography is one of my many passions. But that passion started somewhere, it began with my sister. She was the one who properly introduced me to photography and showed me how beautiful it was to capture moments, put it on film then put it on paper to share with the world. It was her photographs that truly inspired me to take up photography, and it's become a part of me ever since.

To have my sister continue to bless me with the gift of photography (in the form of a new lens) is another blessing in itself. I love my sister, and I love her for introducing me to something I love so much and can share with her.

... So watch out! I'm armed and dangerous ... and I will shoot!

I've named her Darla by the way, and why that name? no apparent reason,
but she's quite a beauty she's a 18-135mm wide angle mama.

As for other gadgets and gizmos, I got my gorilla from Hong Kong the other day and I'm so excited to test it's limits and go crazy with it. This baby tabletop tripod can climb trees and do cartwheels, I just hope it can carry all of Darla's weight.. hahah ... shes a bit on the heaver side. I've been in need of a little handy dandy tripod, something to keep my baby steady ... so for now it's me my gorilla and Darla.

Happy weekend!

The people sing ... the people sing ...

Just about every Sunday, I am given an opportunity to worship with a small group of beautiful and talented girls who really know how to rock out.

Every opportunity we've been given as a praise team has been a learning experience and blessing, but each has had it's shares of ups and or downs. As a praise team we definitely aren't perfect, and as individuals we aren't as well. But when it comes down to worship, it's the Lord's perfection that inspires each of us to do the very best our hearts can muster.

In the past few days I was beautifully reminded just how contagious passion can be, and how powerful of a force passion really is. Passion can unite, passion can inspire, passion can compel and passion can bring joy. And in serving with my sister's in Christ this weekend, I felt a beautiful passion fill our hearts and our lungs which made for beautiful worship.

Lately I've been excited about the song Hosanna, and it's become a tool of inspiration to me in terms of worship. I couldn't contain myself when I would talk to the girls about how musically ... it was lovely, but lyrically it has moved me. And in sharing that, it's been a song that has inspired them as well, and I can't tell you how much it is a joy to see others become passionate and inspired right before your eyes.

It's a little joke between the six of us girls that we're always lacking something. Like "lets use this time, or the lack there of, to practice" ... haha ... but I find that in everything we do lack, we end up finding it in the Lord. When were are broken or tired, we find the strength in the Lord. When we are direction-less, we find direction from the Lord. When we lack peace, peace of mind, we find peace in serving the Lord, and that's when everything begins to fall into place.

It's a blessing to walk into a space, or run into a chorus where you can feel the Lord moving, moving silently among the people or among the chords, among the beats or through the words.

I am also so blessed and privileged to go into worship ever week with this wonderful and talented group of my sisters.

In this little family of ours ...

Mother's day is one of most important days of the year.

I believe its even more important than both me and my sister's birthdays, because in this little family of ours, besides the Lord who is the firm foundation this family is build on, my mom has been the glue who's strength has kept us together.

Though each heart ache, and each passing trial big or small, she's been the one to kept her brave face on when me and my sister were to broken to. She's been the one who's shown me and my sister, by example, how to live each day with a selfless faith and how to pray without ceasing.

She's shown me what it truly means to be a beautiful woman, and that real strength isn't measured by the lb but by perseverance, love and trust in the Lord. She's the one who delights in the joys of me and my sister, in sacrifice for her own delights, teaching me that to love mean to sacrifice.

She's also the one who makes sure my dad, though he's with the Lord, is still very much a apart of this family and that all three of us are still his girls so we should always strive to do him proud.

In this little family of ours she's been more than just a mother,
but in times shes had to be a father, a sister and a friend.

i love my mom.

17th Anniversary

I've been busy all week so I haven't had much time to properly blog about our church anniversary on saturday. So as I begin to recap the day, I wanted to start with my favorite moment of the day, the end of the day.

Although it was a day set aside to review and give praise for seventeen beautiful years as a church, it was the moment where we were giving praise for the blessings of the day that nearly brought me to tears.

After every church anniversary, when all the events are done and everything is cleaned up we gather as a church and give praise to God through prayer. Normally we'd gather in the church santuary to pray, but instead we gathered in the fellowship hall in the basement of the church and made a big circle to pray as a church, as a family.

It was that very moment that created a complete circle for me.

Although I was very little, I can still recall how our church got started. One thing I have never forgotten is how we'd always come together as a fellowship, or even as a church body and hold hands in a circle at the end of every service or meeting or what have you, because we still do that today. What got me was the place we were standing, it was in the fellowship hall where we use to gather, and it was in that very same room where my dad and pastor would hold a little worship service for a mission group consisting of a handful of Filippinos hungry for the Lord.