This Rugged JoyFull Home

"Consider it all JOY, brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4 Consider it all JOY, my brethren, when you encounter various trials... such as the tragedy that struck my family last October 3, when two gun-wielding criminals riding a motorbike fired multiple shots at my eldest brother and his 15-year-old son. It happened so fast—in a split second—that both of them died on the spot in broad daylight, right in the driveway of their own home. It was difficult watching the news on national TV and on the internet in the following days. It was a double-murder tragedy. I've seen hundreds of news stories like this before. But this day was different. This was my brother. This was my nephew. You and I both know that a tragedy is a tragedy; it is unthinkable, it cuts so deep, and the shards of glass feel perma...

There is something about the sound of rain that immediately pulls you toward the kitchen. It makes you crave the comfort of home, with the soft music playing from another room, and the familiar aromas of childhood. Trying to frame a perfect view for a windy, rainy morning here on this side of the planet. It's a perfect day to cook a family-favorite ulam , which is none other than the delectable laing . And because I hail from the province of Oriental Mindoro, I also call it pinangat , or pangat for short. The main ingredient of this well-loved Filipino dish is the lowly dahon ng gabi that propagates in your swampy backyard or in your neighborhood's unkempt vacant lot. If you are friends with your neighbor who grows a gabi patch, you can score it for free. The same situation applies to your malunggay and dahon ng saging cooking needs. Gabi , or taro in English, is primarily a starchy root vegetable that has huge green leaves and tuberous stalks. It is loaded with essentia...

Last year, during the same month of July, our family went to a dinosaur museum in Moscow to celebrate our Noah's 10th birthday. It was a dream come true for him; a decade-long wait was over. How time flies around here, and now he turns 21 11! He is our boy from the wild, and below is a poem to prove it, just in case you can't tell. He's been into poems lately. And I guess too much rain in the Philippines lately has been making him write poems to curtail the boredom that's starting to seep in. The Ocean By Noah Isaiah The deep, deep ocean, Dark and blue, Is teeming with life You never knew. Underneath this world, You will hear The call of a Whale That is near. Its scars, visible From the fight with a Squid, And it is gone; In its stomach, it is hid. Millions of plankton Lurking around Is one of the most beautiful things You have ever found. As you ascend, you see a fin— A Shark! Its face, a dreadful grin. As you swim away, you see a fleet; This made the hungry Shark fe...