OK na Ok in OKC

Monday, January 1, 2024

Thanksgiving week! It's my first Thanksgiving day. I was looking forward to it. One week break for our Thanksgiving day here in our place. A break we all deserve!

It took us 6 to 7 hours to reach Oklahama City. It was long yet fun and exciting drive. We visited a lot of beautiful, historic, and artsy places around the city.

A two-day trip from Texas to Oklahama was something we can afford from the one week Thanksgiving break. We weren't able to visit places with entrance fee. We tried to limit our expenses on this trip.

Oklahama is the second state I got to visit among the fifty in the United States of America. It's still feel surreal sometimes that I am already here. It wasn't an easy journey and I am grateful to God for sustaining me every single day, every hour, every minute, and every second of every moment.

Okay na okay sa Oklahama City!

Book Giveaway: The Guy with a Tatt on His Leg

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Book giveaway!

It has been a while since I had a giveaway on my blog. I decided to be generous this year 2023. The first book to be giveaway is a book by moi entitled The Guy with a Tatt on His Leg. It is a portion of the story about Cristina and Lius. Below is a blurb of the story to give you a perspective of what to expect from the book.

Cristina always believes that love will find its way to her. But being a teacher who has never been in a romantic relationship instigates panic among her closest family and friends reminding her to get a boyfriend the soonest. Despite the pressure and annoyance, she keeps cool about it, believing that the right guy will come. What she really wants to do right now is to visit all the beautiful beaches one at a time and start an adventure.

That’s what she says so.

When she meets a shirtless hot guy with tattoos, it brings fire to her inexperienced heart. She’s not into bad boy looking type of guys but somehow his tattoos and his long, silky black hair bring second thoughts and shake the standards she sets for herself.

Tattoo artist Lius Gevarra, finally grants himself a Sabbatical leave after years of hard work in establishing his own brand of tattooing. Entrusting his shops to his friends-slash-business partners, he embarks in a journey, and Cagbalete island as his first stop is a feast for the eye as he spends peaceful time at the shore except for the woman who rants non-stop at him for such a petty reason—and what’s the best way to shut the mouth of an untamed woman?

...kiss her, kiss her until she can no longer utter a word.

Here are the mechanics of the giveaway:

Rafflecopter Giveaway Link accepts entries starting on January 30, 2023 (12:00AM), and ends on February 28, 2023 (12:00AM).
Prizes are one (1) printed copy for the PH winner and one (1) e-book copy for a winner abroad.
The ages of the participants should be eighteen (18) and above since the book contains explicit scenes.
The announcement of winners is on March 4, 2023. Please visit my blog and other social media handles on that day to know if you are one of the winners.
Winners will be contacted with utmost effort and in any way that I can. Prizes can be claimed until December 31, 2023, 11:59PM.

BOOK LINK

More entries, more chances of winning!

How to earn entries on the Rafflecopter giveaway?

Visit and like my Facebook page.
Follow my Twitter and Instagram handles.
Leave a comment on this post.
Subscribe to my Youtube channel.

You can earn up to twenty-five (25) raffle entries. Make sure you are logged in first on the Rafflecopter Giveaway installed at the bottom of this post so your entries are credited to your account. You may use your Facebook or e-mail to log in.

Let the giveaway begin!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Book Alert: Undeserved Grace by Moi

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

In case you missed it.

I have a new book. For those who know me and wonder if I still do this kind of thing, the answer is yes, aside from teaching, I still write and try my best to come up with a collection or story every year. My prayer is to continue doing this for years to come since it is one of my dreams to be a writer. I am not a famous writer or one who receives royalties every month, I am not. Now, I write hoping it can help or inspire someone to keep moving forward all by His grace. My objective in writing evolved as I moved on with God in life before I wanted to write because I had a lot in my mind, heart, and soul; I must let them all out, I needed to, or else it would be the end of me. But that was before. I am beyond grateful and thankful to God for giving and blessing me with this medium to empower and encourage individuals, especially the young ones.

Here we are, another book from me all through His grace, the Undeserved Grace, my thirteenth (13th) published book. I offer it in digital format. Interested individuals may avail of a copy from this website, in the FreedomJoyFaithShop section. For only 100 Philippine pesos you will have an e-book copy of my latest work. I published it last December 2022. It is in the English language and only has 21 pages.

I still wonder did you ever feel sorry when you said you are sorry.
You appeared on and off in my space and time.
I knew there was something odd but I brushed it off.
Told myself, to be content at least he replied or sent you letters.
Settle for that because you've got nothing else.
I even forgot for a moment I have everything I need, everything I love, of course, minus you in my life.
I was blinded for a moment.
Pained and hurt for a moment.
But God shed the light once again like he always did.
He showed me the truth.
My prayers were never in vain.
He answered them faithfully.
I was kept in the darkness for a moment thinking about why I wasn't enough.
He revealed the truth and freed me from your lies.
You tried to cancel me. Were you scared? I wonder.
I still forgive you even if you don't ask for it.
And I'm still glad I met you even if the feelings were never mutual.
Wander

Undeserved Grace is about a girl who pursued a guy who ended up hating her, and how she found God's grace again in that experience as she wondered what went wrong. Written in verses and stanzas, I tried to arrange the poems coherently, all by myself. I hope this book will inspire you to keep on holding on and never give up in life. Whenever you are tired, you can always rest in His presence. There is assurance in His presence. There is clarity in His presence. Even though there are uncertainties that surround us, our God is the assurance and clarity that we all need. God is overflowing with grace. He abounds in grace for we are saved by grace alone.

BOOK LINK

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"
Ephesians 2:8

Not So Out of Place in Calatagan, Batangas

Friday, June 3, 2022

Have you been so out of place to the point of not knowing where to put yourself in the puzzle? Like you are lost and don't know where to go or what to do. As if you are looking for something or someone you don't even know as if you are so out of place on your own. Like there is that missing piece and you keep searching for it, but until now you haven't found it.

I have good news for you. You are exactly where you needed to be.

Well, our trip to Calatagan, Batangas seemed to help me solve that same puzzling thought in my head. Though I consider myself now a Christian, there are moments when I just couldn't be spirit-filled as I wanted to be. I think, do, or say things that are not really glorifying and pleasing to the Lord. In short, I feel not good enough sometimes, and there is lacking.

5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
2 Corinthians 3:5

The fellowship was a trip with the community of Singles in our church. At first, I was hesitant to join the group since the other ladies of the small group I belonged to were not able to participate due to a conflict of schedule. Anyway, I just did. I did join. hehe

It was a fun and spirit-filled experience. Though, I was not really familiar with most of the people who joined the fellowship. I took the opportunity to meet them, and I am glad I did. God showed me his amazing grace through little things during those two-day and 1-night fellowship trips.

There were moments in the whole fellowship experience that brought me to some realizations as reminders of what God has been showing me always.

1. God is in control.

Do not worry, instead pray. Taal Volcano had its fit during our travel to Calatagan. The alert text from NDRMMC gave us a heads up of what’s happening to Taal. We were alarmed. But instead of worrying, I decided to pray. I was positive all chose to pray rather than worry. What’s more powerful than any natural phenomenon, it’s none other than prayer.

Thank God, Taal Volcano calmed down and all was well. It is just a simple reminder that He is always in control, that if we surrender everything to Him, He knows exactly where and when it needed to be. He is, always and forever.

2. Spirit-filled men are attractive. Periodt.

No matter what the color, height, fashion sense, or career; pursuing Christ is the way to look attractive. I thought men who prioritize their relationship with God were less of a man than those who follow the worldly standards of being attractive. I had this notion that spiritually inclined men were less attractive than those men I could find on the internet, especially on the dating site or apps. I was proven wrong, my worldly thoughts of attractive men had always been wrong. There is humor in that realization and it is fulfilling. So whether your status is single or married, be attractive and there is only one way to do it, and you already know what I mean. *wink*

3. Washing the dishes is fun.

This might sound shallow to some, but I never thought that a household chore could be that fun! Not until I enjoyed washing the dishes alone and with the others as well. To be honest, it was also an escape from the thought of being out of place in that fellowship. I mean at least I had a task to do, I was not useless. I imposed it upon myself. haha. Perhaps, God made me do it. I felt like a homemaker while washing the dishes. hehe. Oh my, oh my... I could see hope while washing the dishes and realizing, I could do it, I could be a homemaker. Chariz... Thy will be done, still...

We played a lot of games and they were all hilarious. I also learned how to play UNO cards which I thought was a difficult game to learn, and the best part was I got to play it with my fellow singles. Well, I have to be honest again, this blog post is two months late but better late than never.

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

arlene manocot

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