Silent Sunday #37

07 September 2014

silent sunday

Silent Sunday #37

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Neighbourly Love

05 September 2014

Faith

Neighbourly Love

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Today's post reading: Leviticus 19:1-37

Today is the 3rd day of the 16 day plan in my journey of reading, reflection and responding to what the bible says about love. If you'd like to follow alone, join HERE and perhaps start your own journey! Ready to go on this journey with me? Well then, let's get started!

Have I told y'all about the time I was betrayed? Until this day, I firmly believe it was a form of betrayal from a cousin... something I won't forget but can definitely let go... if that even makes sense. But, long story short: I grew up with a culture that strongly believes in education comes first waaay before relationships - so yes, that mean absolutely no boyfriends/girlfriends until it is time to get married. Add that with a protective father; that's who I grew up. I was someone never able to go out, hang out with friends, especially boys, and I was definitely not allowed to have a boyfriend. Luckily (I think), I had my sister and all my other cousins who had to endure the same overbearing rules, so at least I had people who could actually relate to me. But, being kids, of course there are gonna be time when we disobey our parents or even lie to them.

My cousins and I used to be very close. We would tell each other everything, show pictures.. literally just share every thing in our lives with each other since we trusted each other. Like I said, long story short... this of course did not last very long.

One day, two of my cousin (whom shall not be named) decided to share intimate photos of my cousin Neisha, and I (and some of my sister) to their mother; who in turn decided to "anonymously" send it to EVERY SINGLE FAMILY living here in Toronto. What a shocker to come home and see pictures in a yellow envelope with Neisha's pictures of her and her bf. And it was shocker how my pictures of me and bunch of other guys were sent to her house. Luckily for me, my pictures were only sent to her place (that I know of). Neisha wasn't lucky as her pictures were sent to OTHER family members in another city, and worst our families in other countries.. just dreadful and horrible.

It was a time where Neisha blamed me for doing all of this; and it was a horrible time where I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything out of embarrassment of the family. I don't think you'll understand how embarrassed I could feel whenever family members, uncles and aunts, started to look at us differently, and looked down upon us whenever Neisha and I were together.

So much for a short story... I know. But, I could say Neisha ended up doing some investigating and found out that it was our other cousins who did this; mainly their mom (our blood aunt). It didn't make sense as to why. In fact, I still don't know why they would ever do that to family - especially us... our families were nothing but nice and caring to them... I just still don't get it.

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord. - Leviticus 19:18

I can't lie... I was really angry at them - I wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. I didn't want to be near them nor talk to them and I just didn't want anything to do with them. When Neisha and I finally patched things through and found out who've done this us, our first instinct was to get our revenge... send photos of them. But, we couldn't... we are not those kind of people. Instead.. we decided to just be civil with them and just try and be friends with them.. In all honestly, I still haven't forgotten what they've done.

The verse above says it all beautifully - Love and treat others the way you would treat yourself. It is obviously easier said and done; which is exactly why I shared my personal story with you all. It wasn't easy for "forgive" my cousins for they've done to me. It took me years to learn to love them again - although not the same extent as I used to; but I definitely took the words of God and started to love them again.

So, how is this done? Loving someone as you love yourself? It is spoken clearly through the other verses:

1. Loving others with our possessions (Leviticus 19:9-10): Not only do we need to learn to plan our lives for ourselves, we need to learn to share with others. Need an example? We all work hard for money, I get it. We save our money and we are saving it for something big. Giving at least a dollar to a homeless person will go a long way in their life than you think. 
2. Loving others with our words (Leviticus 19:11-12): The things we say to each other either hurt or encourage one another. Would you rather receive hurtful words from strangers and people you love? Or words of encouragement. Think about it. 
3. Loving others by our actions (Leviticus 19:13-14): The way we treat others speaks volumes about who we are and our values. We must bring people down but lift them up. Think about yourself again in this situations.. how would you like to be treated whenever you are sad and down?
4. Loving others in our judgements (Leviticus 19:15-16): Why is it okay for one person to judge others differently from others? Who gave them that authority? Who gave you that authority to judge and continue to judge others for what they think, believe and do... It's never fun when we are judged for liking a band (like One Direction), so why do the same to others? 
5. Loving others in our attitude (Leviticus 19:17-18): Doesn't matter what people have done to us. It is out of control of what "should happen" to them. Why not just take the high road and treat others the way you want to be treated? 

Moreover, if you read the readings for today's post, you would have noticed that each phrase ended with the phrase, "I am the Lord". Why does God remind us of who He is at the end of each verse? Our actions, thoughts and words are a reflection of Him. What we say or do is a mere reflection of who and where we come from. It is also a reminder that the way we treat other, is the way we are treating Him... We hurt our brothers and sisters, we are hurting God. 

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Let's Go On An Adventure!

04 September 2014

lifestyle

Let's Go On An Adventure!

Let's face it, summer is over. The weather knows it, all the children who play on the streets from morning til night know it, oh, and lets not forget about those back-to-school t.v. commercials... summer is over and it is time to get ready to get back to school. I'm not exactly sure how I'm exactly feeling, but I think it will hit me after the first week of school. My sister already moved all her things to Hamilton where she will be staying on campus for the duration of the school year as she is attending University up there. It's crazy to me, the whole picking up and leaving and starting somewhere (far away) fresh and without the parent. Kind of scary, but  al too exciting at the same time. So, before we moved her in, she wanted to just spend one last time hanging out with the cousins for the summer. Remember how I told you she recently just returned from Turkey? Well, of course she missed out on all the cousin time, and wanted to create her own memories. And so we did. Thursday night, my sister and I slept over at Neisha's place. The original plan was for my sister, Neisha, Nivesh, and I to hang out in the city, and do whatever we can. Unfortunately, my cousin Neisha and I had work that same day, and so by the time it was time for us to hang out, we were just completely exhausted... but we didn't want to ruin my sister's wishes of just hanging out. So we sucked it up, and hanging out is what we did. 

First we decided to take Rocco (their dog) for a walk. It was already starting to get dark, and as children were still playing outside, we had to take him in the dog park just so Rocco wouldn't scare the children there. Afterwards, we decided to walk to my other cousins' apartment to give him something before we started out adventure From there, we walked all the way towards Eaton Centre where we found starbucks, and enjoyed some fraps! I got myself Vanilla Bean with a shot of Raspberry! mmmmm It was absolutely delicious! 

From there, we walked into Eaton Centre, and because it was late; all the store were closed but the mall wasn't. We walked inside the mall so that it would easier for us to reach the other side of the mall which led us to another street (that's how big this mall was). From there we just walked. We were talking and joking around so much we didn't even realize where we were going. We passed by City Hall, and just kept walking further into the city. We later found this cute street with just restaurants and bars with little patios out front and cute chairs along the street. This little area was cute, I just wished I took more pictures to share! 

At this point, we were all hungry and were debating on what to eat before we headed home. We all for sure didn't want pizza, and decided to keep walking until we found a place we liked. As we kept walking, we started to noticed that we were getting closer and closer to the CN Tower and just decided, what the heck, to go there and take a picture! We wanted to take a picture like how my cousin Nivesh did, like mocking him. But it turns out that he deleted that picture off his instragram, so we really didn't know had far/close and how he took the picture. All we remember was that he took a seflie with it, and so that is what we did as well! 

From here we decided that perhaps it was slowly time to head home. But on the way there, my cousin was begging for us to go on a Ferry. If you don't know what a ferry is, it is a boat that takes you to a little island off of Toronto. It is not too far, and we call it Centre Island. Centre Island has cute rides for kids, but moreover it is just a place to relax away from the city. People have picnics there, bike rides, and just hang out with their family. It is a relaxing place. But, because it was late, and we were too old for the rides, we were kind of hesitant to walk and find where the Ferry Dock would be. We knew for sure that Centre Island would probably be closed, but that didn't stop us. Instead we just wanted to go on a boat ride just to end of the night in a relaxing note. Unfortunately we didn't know the exact location of the Ferry Dock. All I knew what that we had to keep walking towards the street the water and we would eventually find it. We just didn't know whether to go east or west. Anyways, we just kept walking and asking a bunch of directions from different people. We quickly went on google to see when the next ferry would leave, and apparently the last ferry ride was at 10:45pm. It was 10:25pm and we decided to just run. And When I say run, we literally RAN down the street looking for the Ferry Dock! 

When we ran, we rand past a bunch of guys who were just walking to wherever. We had to stop running as we were behind them, until they moved aside and allowed us to run. They made funny comments, but we didn't care too much about it; instead we just laughed. We had to stop a bunch of times - we even went to Tim Hortans just to use the washroom. We encountered a hobo who was trying to talk to us, and instead we just ran again because we noticed that this man just didn't want to talk. Anyways, when we were running, we passed but the SAME guys we previously passed. We stopped at a distance laughing at the fact that they are going to think that we are some slow ass runners. But we didnt care, time was quickly approaching and we decided to just run. When we passed by they were laughing and saying things like, "Hey its you guys again!", "Let's run with them", "Where on earth are they going", "Are they running after us?" It was just hilarious. We finally found it at around 10:40pm. We made it just in time and were so excited that we ran and walked all the way down here to actually get on the Ferry. If we didn't, then we'd be pretty upset that we ran for nothing - especially since we were wearing jeans and its never fun running in jeans. We paid and waited for the ferry! 

Then when we finally boarded and starting (I'm not sure the right word...) gliding (?) along the shore towards Centre Island, we had the most amazing view of our city. It was crazy. I was actually one of the haters to just come on the Ferry for no reason - but I guess that was because I took for granted at how beautiful my city can actually be. The ride was soo relaxing, and the night just ended well for us. A beautiful scene with people I love. Nothing could top cousin bonding like this night. 

Any wild adventure you went with your friends/family that were in the spur of the moment? Let me know in the comments! If you made a post about it, share it with me, I'd love to read about them! Hope you all enjoyed summer 2014! #summerforever!

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I Can Never Say "No"

03 September 2014

Confessions

I Can Never Say "No"

"Vanessa can you do something for me?", "Can you take my shift?", "Can you work tomorrow?", "Can you buy that for me?", "Wanna go and do this?" My answer? It's usually "yes" every single time. It is like people just know that I could never say no. I feels like people literally just take advantage of this fact and just constantly ask me to do things without every asking for anything in return. 

It kind of sucks, being a person unable to say no. But, let's not over exaggerate here. I know the difference between right and wrong. If someone asks me to do something illegal for them, like stealing a toy from whatever store, of course I have the courage to say "no". So why can't I ever say no when someone asks me to take their shift even when I just don't want to? 

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it is something I am definitely trying to work on. For example, the other day my friend asked me to take her shift at work for Monday. Although I would have been able to work that day, I realized that it would just be very stressful travelling all the way from school to work within a specific amount of time. Rather than putting myself in any position, I had the courage to say "No." It was weird, I was actually nervous that she would get mad at me, but she was actually really understanding. 

My first "no" in a long time went really well! Hopefully I can keep this up! I definitely do not want to be one of those people others take advantage of just because I have a hard time saying no!

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Need A Blogging Challenge?

02 September 2014

Blogging

Need A Blogging Challenge?

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Before you get excited, no I am not hosting a blog challenge this fact; in fact I won't be hosting one until I know I have larger and more participating readers. Nevertheless, I know what it is like to wake up feeling like you need to blog about something but not know exactly what to blog about. I also know what it is like going on google and typing in, "What to blog about today?" Lame? I know. 

But, I do know that participating in blog challenges are not only helpful about blog prompts, especially for those who want to blog daily; but is also fun meeting new bloggers and getting new  and more traffic on your blog. So why not help you guys out for the month? 

I actually found, not one, but TWO different blogs hosting two completely different blogging challenge for the month! So, it is up to you whether you'd like to participate in either, both or both here and there!

Blog Everyday in September hosted by The Observant Turtle

Click here to view the prompts for the month!

The Blog-Tember Challenge hosted by Brave Love

Click here to view the prompts for the month!

Rather than participating daily in any of these challenges, I have chosen to participate on selected days! So, I'll be looking forward to reading some of your posts along the way!

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My Most Prized Possession

blog challenge

My Most Prized Possession

I have a bunch of things to choose from that could be considered my prize possession. Truthfully, not only do I value every gift that has ever been given to me but I value all those that I've bought for myself. I can easily choose something sentimental that was given to me from my mom, or an object given to me by my dad. Or the tangible object from Jay (click HERE to read about that). There are many things to choose from. But, I really sat down and thought about it - I looked around my room to see if there is one object I really take care of - consciously or subconsciously... then it hit me.

This is actually one of the earliest photos I have of Jayshaun. It was a spontaneous gift to me from Jay during our cadet trip to Washington, D.C back 2011. Wow... that's actually a long time ago now that I think about it. This was a first trip that Jay and I went together, but don't get too excited or shocked. This was an organized trip with my squadron (Air Cadets) and so it wasn't like a honeymoon or anything. Common... we were like 16 at the time. Nevertheless, this gift is actually extremely special to me. 

Why? Well, it isn't the first gift Jay got for me - beautiful blue earrings were. One of the days when we were in Washington, the other cadets and I had shopping time at one of the malls. For some reason we decided to split up - he go with his boys, and I go with my girls around the mall. Nothing too big or anything. But, as we were approaching the time that we were suppose to meet back on the tour bus, both our groups randomly met up and talked. 

He and his friend Jahleel were talking about how they went to the build-a-bear place and got a bear for Christina (Jahleel's girlfriend at the time). I kind of got jealous - but then again I didn't. I knew that Jay didn't bring a lot of money to begin with on the trip, and I was in no position to expect a gift from him. I was just happy we sat with each other on the bus talking and getting to know sooo much more about each other! 

Then my group of friends came on the bus first and a few minutes later, Jay's group of friends did as well. When he came to sit beside me, he gave me a build-a-bear box and asked me to hold it. At first I thought it was Christina's, which at the time I had no idea why I had to hold it... but then when he sat beside me (he had the window seat) he told me to open it. I opened it, and the first thing I see is a build-a-bear birth certificate with the name Jayshaun on it. I looked deeper into the box and saw the most beautiful bear ever! Ever since then, he became ours - our first ours. 

I know it may seem kind of cheesy, but I've never had a guy ever give me a stuffed animal before... something meaningful and so thoughtful. It was just an absolutely beautiful gift and you could tell that he had good intention and he definitely wanted to buy me something to make me happy just out of no where. Til this stay, I still have Jayshaun hanging out close to my bed side on my dresser, sitting on its own little chair with it's basketball jersey, shorts, running shoes and sweat bands for the forehead and arms! OH, and to make him more ours, we pierced his ears!

Is your prize possession a stuffed animal from a significant other? I would love to know, just leave it in the comments below!

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Weekly Wishes #31

01 September 2014

Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes #31

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Happy Monday bloggers! Today is labour day and I am very excited to just stay home and relax. But even then, it is that time of the week to be linking up with Melyssa for Weekly Wishes. This is a great linkup to share weekly goal and receive some encouragement from others who also have wishes/goals for the week!

Last Week's Wishes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last week was a busy week for me. I thought being done with summer school I'd be able to relax - but that clearly wasn't the case. Last week I wished to be with my family and friends more, and being with them literally everyday is what I got. I was hanging out with everyone on a daily basis doing different things. Who knew I could be this social? aha, kidding. Uhm, there's nothing really much left. Because I was with friends and family, I didn't really get a chance to sleep in and relax like I wanted to, but I am very happy I got the time to spend with them before school starts!

This Week's Wishes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Save money to buy Penelope a bigger cage! I love my bunny and I just love to spoil her. Its time for her to relax in a new and bigger cage. All I have to do is save my money for my little rabbit. I have so far saved up $90 in cash.. hoping to save up a little bit more! I went back to the pet store with the cage I was planning on purchasing, I noticed they raised the price to $115, soooo I still have a little more saving to do! 
2. Sleep. School starts next Monday for me (yikes!)  So I really gotta sleep as much as I can, because who knows if I'd be able to sleep. 
3. Plan blog prompts. I would not only like to plan blog prompts ahead of time and also begin to write most of them! I would like to have my blog in use as much as I can before school starts!
4. Clean my room/ Reorganize. My sister is slowly moving her stuff out as she is preparing to move into the resident life at her new university! I gotta make sure she doesn't take any of my cloths/shoes/makeup - everything. Time to clean up and take ownership of what is really mine!
5. Plan to meet up with people. I'm not talking about my friends here. I'm selling my textbooks and so this week, I need to plan out a day to meet up with those who want to buy my books - preferably on the same day so that I don't waste my gas going there. But, I'm thinking of meeting up with them when school starts next week... hmm... 
6. School Errands. Not only do I have to sell my books, I have to plan to pick up my book that I am purchasing from others. That also means I need money in cash to pay them. I also need to pick up my UPass and my Parking Pass very soon. 
7. Plan out new workout routine. Because I have an entirely new schedule for school, I need to plan out what days and time I will be available to stop by the gym. With that, I need a new workout schedule. I am more serious than ever to lose weight that I am planning to designate a day solely to one part of my body, i.e., Monday could be arms day!

These are my wishes for the week.  If you're participating and happened to hop onto my blog, leave your link so I can leave some encouragement as well! Have a great Monday, xo

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