A LITTLE UPDATE

First and foremost, thank you my friends for your concern - my cousin has been finally rescued from the 2nd floor of the house she was trapped in. Thank God! This is how high the water was in the house she was stuck in:





And although I have relief from the concern and worry over family's safety, a majority of my countrymen's plight sits foremost on my mind. It is so heart-wrenching to witness all the destruction and its accompanying despair.

Today, we sit on the cusp of another impending Category 5 storm rushing to seek even more damage than its predecessor. It is said this super typhoon "Parma" is even stronger that Katrina with sustained winds of 195 kph and gusts of up to 230 kph and is expected to make landfall by Saturday noon. This in the midst of relentless and heroic rescue and relief efforts from the ravages of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). The work is unending and yet, to see the resilience of my countrymen and the "bayanihan" spirit makes my heart swell with pride. Truly, I am proud to say I am a Filipino. The country has come together - Filipinos here and abroad giving, going out of their way to make time to volunteer, to send boxes of relief goods. Giving even when sometimes there is nothing to give but time.

I am proud of my family - as usual no calamity is left unnoticed, they have come together once again to do their share. My aunt did a family text brigade to ask pledges for monetary help and time to repack and make care packages to be distributed to areas not reached by those giving the packages. A lot of our own help have been affected and we have made it a priority to help them and their neighbors.






My cousin overheard a woman in the supermarket while buying the goods, "Because we were spared, we now have the responsibility to take care of those who weren't." How true, how right.

We are still humbly soliciting from friends to add to these and create more bags to be given away. And I would like to humbly ask you, my readers if you would like to help our efforts, please do by clicking on the donate button on my sidebar. Your contributions will go to make more care packages for those people in the places where not much help has been given. Or if you wish, you may donate directly to the Red Cross.

After all that is being done and after all that we are still trying to do, we must rely on our God and place our faith in His hands. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference."

Indy