Dad, you would have turned 71 today and we [your kids and grandkids] would have planned a little surprise celebration with a candle-lit cake like we did last year and the years before. You would have acted to be surprised but genuinely showed appreciation.

Making you happy was easy. All you wished to have was us around you on your special day or any given day. I just wish that I had spent more times with you. I just wish I could make you happier and prouder of me.

Today, with tears running down my cheeks, I sent you a long prayer wishing you not to be so lonely there. I know you can hear me, Dad. You are not physically here, but I sense your presence. So I want you to know that I love you more than you had ever known. I love you 'til the end of time. Just wait for me there, Dad. Until then, I send you my love through prayers. Happy Birthday to you in heaven.

***

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THE HISTORY

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on July 4^th, also known as Independence Day, Americans celebrate this historic event.

Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Lee's words were the impetus for the drafting of a formal Declaration of Independence, although the resolution was not followed up on immediately. On June 11, consideration of the resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. However, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. Members of the Committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The task of drafting the actual document fell on Jefferson. On July 1, 1776, the Continental Congress reconvened, and on the following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting.

Discussions of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence resulted in some minor changes, but the spirit of the document was unchanged. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two -- Pennsylvania and South Carolina -- voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock's signed his name "with a great flourish" so England's "King George can read that without spectacles!"

Today, the original copy of the Declaration is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and July 4 has been designated a national holiday to commemorate the day the United States laid down its claim to be a free and independent nation.

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Happy United States Marine Corps Birthday!!! I am proud to be a Marine's Wife!!!Semper Fi!!!

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Wishing you all a very happy valentine's day!!
If you missed telling your loved ones how much you love them in daily basis,
then today is the special day to tell them so.
If you can't tell them everyday,
at least tell them once a year.
So, today is the day.


Lucky for me, my husband of 12 years always tell me how much he loves me a thousand times a day making valentine's day no more special than any other days. But what's so wrong about celebrating love?

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Flood engulfed Jakarta... again. I remember the last flood I had back in 2002, just before I left for California. We had like a week off work because all access roads were covered by flood, the water was so high that we couldn't even spot the traffic light poles anymore. From the air (I just happened to fly to Singapore at that time), Jakarta looked like a gigantic brown-colored lake. No one could imagine that there were actually houses on the bottom of that 'lake'. It saddened me that I had tears flowing down my cheeks without me realizing it.

This year, I experienced the same thing: big flood. It was NOT as bad as what happened in 2002 and, fortunately, I was NOT the victim (I never had been actually), but it still saddened me to see those people affected by this tragedy.

Since all access roads were covered by flood, our office was shut down for like about a week or so. And due to power outage, we stayed at the hotel downtown. During this stay-at-home (or hotel) time, husband and I went to visit the flood victims at the nearest reachable location to lend our hands. We brought them food, clothes and most importantly: vitamins and medicines.

My husband examining a kid affected by the flood

Since the doctors and/or paramedics had not visited this location yet, my husband gave them first aids. We visited them several times until it was safe for them to return to their homes.

The flood victims at the evacuation center

* * *

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A ray of sunshine, a balmy breeze are gift from God above, and He also gives us faithful friends to warm our hearts with love.

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Self abandoned, relaxed and effortless;
I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river;
I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, I felt the torrent come;
to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength.
~ Charlotte Bronte ~

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And if you walk away
You know that I will follow
To steal back your broken heart
At least until tomorrow
~ Nothing but love | Mr. Big ~

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Confession is always weakness. The grave soul keeps its own secrets, and takes its own punishment in silence ~ Dorothea L. Dix

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Serenity is when I was away from the city, walking on a lonely beach waiting for the sun to set, only the sound of the waves and flying pelicans that I could hear.

Pin It

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Despite a lot of deaths in the family this year, I still have a lot of things to be thankful for. Have a blessed thanksgiving everyone!

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This is what the sky looked like today. Dark clouds hung over Jakarta, lightnings stroke and thunders roared. Just the way I love it.

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I saw this man from a distance. A quite distance actually (I used 200mm lens to take this picture, mind you). Nothing special about him. Nothing extraordinary, but yet he drew my attention. He, on the other hand, did not even realize that someone, on a so-called tourist boat, was paying a great attention to him.

It might be the irony that drew my attention to him. I was there [at the same place as he was], with those I love, eating fancy foods (as locals call it), carrying fancy stuffs and, of course, spending a few bucks to have a good time. He, in contrary, was there to make a few bucks (which I believe much lesser than I spent there), to make a living.

Every so often he checked his fishing net just to find NOTHING was there. The heat from the sun made my head throbbing, the humidity made it even worse. How could this man 'survive' this?

By the time I left (the sun almost set), he was still there, frequently checking his fishing net, just to find... NOTHING in it. Did he go home empty handed? I don't know, but I hope not.

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Happy Birthday, Gaby!!

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