I was jolted awake as my eldest sister started tugging my arm. Doughnut, the baby Shih Tzu and the recent addition to the family, is feeling under the weather. It took time to sink in (yes, i'm not a morning person) as he's pretty jolly and wagging his tail upon hearing my voice when brought to my room. It was not until he threw up in front of me when I decided to leave sleep to get things ready.

My eldest sister and I started to worry when the vet clinic's (which has a sign of "Open 24 hours") door was not yet open. Every passing minute's slowly killing us both. Earlier this year, we had a baby dog, too (named Keiko).  It caught the Parvovirus and died hours after he came to our home. Keiko cried the entire early morning from the moment he threw up his food around midnight until he drew his last breath at three in the morning. Having that history, we're freaking out, hoping he won't die unlike Keiko.

Good thing, the vet said that he's just having tummy problems, some parasites in his tummy and we're hoping he'll get better soon. And that he needs to go back by Friday. Whew, that's a relief.

Having a queen cat with three kittens is something that I had to learn getting used to. They have to be fed at the right time and you have to check on them every once in a while. It was like taking care of four preschool children, and they meow instead of talk. Then there came along a puppy of two months which was delivered last Friday. It's like adding a baby to my four preschoolers, which is also a jungle as I always have to make sure that they don't quarrel (four cats vs. a puppy) and they run all over the house. Plus the constant checking of the location of the puppy, if he did his business anywhere, and to make sure that he's not eating the cat's food (jolly fellow thinks he could just eat anything). And now that the puppy's sick, it's kind of more challenging to take care of them especially now that Doughnut needs special attention (have to manually feed him because he's not eating or drinking plus the medicines that he has to take).

It's really challenging also with only two hours of sleep in my system. It's testing my patience, my ability to juggle all five of them without anyone left unattended, and my capability of getting other things done before the end of the day. I really hope, Doughnut will finally gain energy by nightfall. And now that the pets are sleeping, I'm hoping I'll be able to take a power nap.

Cheerio!

After my scheduled check-up with my doctor and the lunch date with my mom, I gathered my things and started to head off to the train station. I decided to get on a train as it will be my fastest and most direct mode of transportation going church for Date Talk. And as I wait for the train in Roosevelt station, the gears started to turn. My alone time has started. I began to start my private conversation with God.

As the train approached, I found myself going back to that time when I do random escapades and ride trains going somewhere. That peace you get from traveling alone, along with the sense of new adventure and independence. Another side I learned to love as I add more years in my life, hoping I could do more in the future. My own dose of freedom. My own time with God.

I made myself comfortable in my chosen space near door number 2, I had sudden flashbacks of talking to Him in the stillness of an afternoon overlooking a rice field, under the dome of a billion stars, sitting on big boulders of rocks by the sea as I watch the sun set or the sun greeting the world a good morning, even at the time when I'm just sitting there waiting to get to my destination. This particular instance is not different from it. Looking outside the big window, watching the small houses and buildings, cars moving along in the traffic, I found my voice and the train of my thoughts started chugging through the tracks. It excites me.

I've been into different situations in my life, which varies from life-changing decision-making, faith-testing, patience gauge showing danger signs of emptying, heart-wrenching ones, and also the extremely saddening. Sitting on this corner made me realize, I may haven't made it this far if not by Him standing there beside me, straightening me up when I start to crumble and fall down. He calmed the storms that came in my life, carrying me when all of it weighs me down. He took care of the wild horses in that peaceful field, restoring it to its original state and at the same time made changes to it, improving it, strengthening the fields to be better once wild horses start appearing, again. And I was brought back to my corner seat in that train. I started to see it all, clearly.

The train, on the other hand, reminded me of the wild horses in the fields, too. They run fast, as if chasing time is all that they can do. I also thought that if one thing goes wrong, one wrong placing of the hoof or a simple crack on the track would mean accident. Though scared of the fast driving, if you get to trust the operator of the train, you'll start to calm down and you'll be rejoicing once you realize that you've got to your destination, safely. Again, God made me understand another thing.

Using that analogy, we sometimes get scared to what the future has for us or what the challenges in life would do to us once it is over, thinking if we'll get out of it alive or if we'll be able to surpass it. But the Bible mentions a lot of verses, saying that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) and that you should have no fear for He is with you (Psalms 23:4). God is bigger than all the things that we may go through and all we need is to trust him. Yes, he loves us that much that He won't let us feel alone and sad. Just look around you, even your friends and your family's from God. See?

And as I stood up, readying to alight, I admit that I am smiling like crazy, too much overwhelmed with how He's been there in every single moment of my life. And that I got out alive from these challenges, all new, wounded and healing and stronger, a much better person from that one I've been before the storm, before the wild horses came galloping.

Another quiet moment with him and all I could say is that every single one of them is really worth it.

The Midnight Tea Party lasted longer last night (5 am) with pets keeping me up, always has their own way to wake me up just when I'm about to fall asleep. Extra slow, so much for feeling too sleepy, today.

For the past seven months, my mom and I have been going in and out of the clinic or the hospital for almost every weekend just to attend my appointments with the dermatologist. Actually, this one is my third doctor already and I admit that it's starting to get tiring, returning almost every weekend. And I admit that sometimes, I feel like I've been robbing my mom her rest day.

Oh, I forgot to mention the reason why I've been seeing my doctors.

I started to have rashes way back July of 2012 and from that day, it started to get worst. It spread in the other parts of my body, from the mere spots on my arm, crawling in other areas nearby. It's really alarming because, our family never had a history of my skin condition and I've never had it even before.

After tubs and tubs of creams, tons of tablets to drink, and after several needle encounters for blood and other samples, my current dermatologist has finally come up with words that will help us understand my condition (though still not really 100% sure). It's a type of allergy triggered by mere contact to the allergen and another condition which is actually hard to pronounce. Bottom line other that contact dermatitis is that my genetics has this certain glitch (thus, the title of this blog.) (wow, that made me feel like Vanellope Von Schweetz!) which makes me different from my ancestors and other family members, which also explains why it hasn't occurred within the family history. I have this certain glitch that only started showing in my twenties which adds to another weird fact about me.

Vanellope Von Schweetz aka The Glitch Photo taken from allposters.com through Google

Anyway, our family is deep in prayers for a faster recovery and I would like to ask if you could also join us in praying. We do believe that God is stronger and bigger than this. And I, on the other side of the mountain believes that God will not put us into something that we cannot bear or handle. And that each has a purpose. And when things start to feel heavy, I always turn to Him and I get my strength in him and through my family.

And even though I still believe that I rob my mom's Saturdays just to accompany me to my appointments, I believe that it allowed the two of us to spend more quality Mother-Daughter time with each other. Which is actually good and refreshing.

So, with all the surprise glitch and other things, here something. Here's some silly photos I took while feeling hyper last night. Mustachios and some nerdy girl.

I Mustache You A Question!

                   

What if I let the nerdy side prevail?

Now off to dreamland, early rise tomorrow for another trip to the doctor's. May the Lord keep you safe, tonight. It's time to begin the Midnight Tea Party.

February fourteen. The day your hearts start to get giddy.

When you're a student, you get all too excited to step in your school or even get in your classroom. When you're a working person, you just can't wait to enter your cubicle. You wear your best pressed uniform or the most fashionable ensemble you could manage, planned in the span of the moment you opened your eyes this morning or months ago just for this certain day. You make yourself beautiful, making sure that there's no stray hair in your perfectly made ponytail or fishtail braid or chignon. Spraying the sweetest scented cologne that you have in your collection, you make sure it hits the proper spots. Wrist. Neck. Clothing. Or you felt it's not enough, you also grab your handkerchief for this day and you spray on it as well. You polished your shoe the night before or chosen the best one that will go with your dress.

You just can't wait to get to that place in hopes that:

• you'll find your cubicle/table filled with flowers (long stem or bouquet?), chocolates (from the imported ones to chocnut), cheesy cards (from hallmark or personalized), heart-shaped balloons, soft teddy bears varying in sizes, etc.
• your crush would notice you're extra beautiful today and you prayed hard last night so he'll have the nerves to ask you out for lunch or dinner. For two. Just the two of you.
• people will realize that you're also beautiful that they will rush to the nearest vendor to buy you flowers.