i believe in love

i BELIEVE in the sun
even when it's not shining;
i BELIEVE in love
even when i don't feel it;
i BELIEVE in God
even when He is silent.

[from BarlowGirl's "I Believe in Love"]

how beautiful

since i woke up this morning, i have been lavishing in music. you know, just browsing through endless music that mike and i can possibly use for our praise&worship line-ups. then, i stumbled upon how beautiful... the song that i used for my bridal march. i remember how many were puzzled or even weirded out that i picked this song for my bridal march because it talks about "the body of Christ," and although it's a popular song for weddings, it's usually used for the communion part of the wedding ceremony.

anyhoo, i haven't heard this song since literally on the wedding day. i hate-hate to be mushy or anything, but i couldn't help but feel tears damping my eyes. in all honesty, it's almost as if i almost forgot how truly, how truly beautiful is Christ... i almost forgot that He was the reason why i was able to walk down that aisle without shame or humiliation and instead, with humility and grace - His grace.

i'm not going to hide that mike and i are not living happily ever after. we have innumerable differences that we get frustrated with each other about three times a day :)... but of this i'm certain: i can never thank God enough for His undying love and neverending grace for me and my husband... i can never thank Him enough, not only for bringing mike into my life, but for giving mike to me as my partner in life and for life.

How Beautiful

How beautiful
The hands that served
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hills to the cross.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead.
How beautiful the tender eyes
That chose to forgive and never despise.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

And as He laid down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price, willing to pay the price.

How beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her groom with His light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives
So that others may live.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King.
How beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

[special thank you to Ezra for the voice & Evan for the music for making my bridal march as close as possible to how i dreamed for it to be.]

wedding hangover

hi.

i am having a serious wedding hangover. it feels like every fl. oz. of me has been drained dry.

after getting back from cancun for our mini honeymoon - or must i say, after getting back to reality - i find myself not feeling like doing anything. i don't wanna think or do. too bad the holidays happened to fall after the wedding that i seriously slacked off on christmas shopping. are you kidding me? i was so sick of the mall or any retail stores for that matter. i seriously couldn't even go within three mile radius of any mall. oh, and walmart? i must've spent every single night at walmart (and michael's) during the last three weeks before the wedding. At 9pm on the night before the wedding, i was still at walmart looking for last minute stuff. until now, walmart makes me nauseous. gah, i guess, i just got so tired of running around and racing with time.

i also blame my wedding hangover for not updating my blog as soon as you'd expect. i don't think i'm ready to reflect on the big day as of yet. part of me doesn't even know what just had happened. that's how seriously hung over i am! hehehe...

as of now, the wedding photos are about the only thing that keeps me from going into full hiatus! the past four months have been extremely crazy, chaotic, and insane for me (and mike) that i am not exaggerating when i say i almost lost hold of reality. (only the few closest ones to us know the real behind-the-scene of the wedding.) the photos are my only tangible proof that the wedding indeed go through... after all!

thank God that i did not just have any photographer cover the wedding. again, i would like to give special credits to Kuya Rene Gaviola's team (assisted by the fabulous Ellen Tuyay and the passionate Marco Ingco) for the extra effort they had to put in our wedding - especially during the church ceremony when flash photography was not allowed. i also gave Kuya Rene a heads up that we wouldn't have a professional videographer, so it was an even extra challenge for them to document the event in still images in a way that the reality of the event will be, nonetheless, accurately reflected without the dimensions of sound and movement.

speaking of which... we would like to express our long overdue congratulations to our wedding photojournalist Rene Gaviola for being included in the top10 of [ag]wpja Q3 2007 contest. a couple months back, he also won as a finalist in a competition jointly sponsored by Brides Magazine & WPJA, and his award-winning photo was featured on Brides website.

(little background info: there are currently only two Philippines-based wedding photographers in the highly-selective, prestigious, world-renowned Wedding Photojournalist Association. "Membership in the WPJA depends entirely on photographers meeting our high standards for inclusion. One CANNOT simply pay his/her way into the WPJA. We emphasize this is NOT another ad-driven wedding web site.")

wooot-wooot!!! can you believe we actually had an international-award-winning photographer cover our wedding? :) me neither. we've said it like a million times, but we consider Kuya Rene a God-send blessing to us, and it's true: when God blesses you, it's never an "average" blessing.

and of course... thanks again to everyone who made our wedding day possible and beautiful. you know who you all are. we still owe you a thank-you after-party! mike and i have not forgotten! just give us time! we love you, guys!

oh, and we hope everyone had a wonderful CHRISTmas season and a happy new year!