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1. Being questioned when you yourself don’t understand.

2. Pretending to be innocent of what you know about.

3. Trying to forget something you know you never will.

4. Admitting you were wrong after you have been so insistent that you were right.

5. Debating with yourself.

6. Accepting the fact that some things are not meant to be.

7. Trying to understand when you just can’t.

8. Realizing that you have been tricked after you have given your whole trust.

9. Parting ang letting go of someone you’ve loved all your life.

Once upon a time I put the word "little" before their name. Now they're not qualified in the category anymore. It makes me sad how fast time flies and how they've grown at a blink of an eye.

Here are my girls sporting their Chucks just before movie night. *sigh*

Now on our last stop, Miag-ao Church.

I'm not sure if it's really the time of the year when churches do their renovation, or is it just us in such a bad time. Anyways, this has been hailed by UNESCO unfortunately, each brick is also a memory of our ancestors hard or forced labor.

We had a blast appreciating the detail of this wonderful church, at the same time, we paid homage to those who helped build this church.

Now we're in Guimbal Church. We loved that right across it was their nice plaza where we got to hang out in.

It was a rather small church compared to the others we've been  in. And I've just noticed that I have no pictures of the interior of the church.

This was a rather short stop, I guess we're all looking forward to head to the next.

We were supposed to stop by Molo Church, but there was a wedding so we headed straight to Tigbauan Church.

This has been quite a surprise for me, I've never seen a church with this much mosaic in one particular church as theirs. I was really stunned with the images, it's just a proof of Filipino's talent and ingenuity even back in the days.

Besides the mosaic, the interior was just as expected from any other church. I just can't stop talking about the mosaics, it really sets it apart from all other churches I've been in.

We had a photo op on this door, which we have no idea where it leads to, seems like a door to a secret garden or something.

We went around the place, I'm glad that they had a mini garden.

OK, off to the next.

Whenever we're in Iloilo, we're either just in the shop, at home or hanging out with friends. What's more to do in Iloilo? My siblings and I decided to do a "Church Tour". First stop, Jaro Cathedral.

The time we arrived, it seemed to be doing some minor restoration in the church. But nonetheless, we had the chance to go around.

I love history, but I can't explain to my daughter why the bell tower of Jaro Cathedral is a few meters away from the church itself. There was no one to ask around, so we just left the question unanswered.

Now off to the next.

I can't believe it's almost been 2 months! I feel life it's just been a couple of weeks.

If not for family, I'm not sure if I'll find myself home at any time. Every little moment spent with family is always an endearing memory.

It has been 9 years since mom left, but every holidays it always seems like she was just in a tour somewhere and that she'll be back soon. I give my dad credit for doing his best to raise our family. Thank you dad for giving us all the love that you can, eventhough sometimes there's nothing more to give.

The best thing about having kids around is their love for crazy ideas. I would like to think that the kids got the better of us. They made us jump around with these things, just for them to beat us in their own game.

Love, love, love from my family to yours.

Geez, I'm so backlogged. As proof, I'm just posting now pictures from two months ago! Anyway, Everytime I look into the pictures I can't help but miss my hometown. Sometimes it's not really so much of the place you're in, it's the people you're with. We were in the city that day and we saw the infamous Mel Carreon, which at every election hopes to be the next mayor of the city. We took a picture with him for the heck of it, when we were done, he got back to his chair, I was still staring at him and I swear for a minute I saw him talk to himself!

I don't know if I've mentioned how much I love walking around. When I'm in the city, it's easier to get around, so I usually do that and I don't mind if I'm alone. This time though, we agreed to walk around and dropped by Deco's to get some of the city's popular batchoy.

I've been trying so hard to eat healthy, but I find this rare occasion as a lame excuse to put my health at risk.

I walked out so full, I've never been that full for so long. But after 30 minutes, I was so thirsty, I finished one liter of water in one sitting. Probably the effects of too much MSG.

Though you might think that I've totally abandoned this blog, but on the contrary, I've been itching to post updates here. It feels like it's been decades since this blog gets any movement.

Anyway, Kiara and I still do spend much of our time together, but when a book comes our way, it's hello silence. Plus we LOVE anything Japanese, the food, the technology, and there's anime and manga. We have this weird obsession with anime and manga which we couldn't even explain why. With anime, we are well aware that everything is far from what's real. But I guess it's the human factors -- ideas and emotions which were magnified that probably draws as more to it.

But because I encourage more reading than watching, that's when manga comes in. And we love the thrill of reading a book backwards. Yeah, backwards. It was weird at the start, but we got the hang of it.

Janiz: What's with the sad face? Did anything happen to Najika?

Kiara: No, it's not that. While reading, I figured I want to be a manga artist.

Janiz: Oooh-kay. Seriously?

Kiara: Probably not to make it a career, but to draw as good as these guys do would be enough.

Janiz: You can baby! First thing tomorrow I'll buy you this "how to draw manga" kit.

Kiara: There is?

Janiz: Yeah, I've checked on it before at the bookstore.

Kiara: Thanks mom. *sigh* But knowing myself, I probably can't.

Janiz: Don't say that! Everything can be learned.

Kiara: Not this time mom. I'm "art-lousy" and "drawing-dumb".

Janiz: No, you can't be that bad.

Kiara: Believe me mom, I can't even draw to save my life.

Kiara's just a sweetheart, and it breaks my heart to see her so frustrated over wanting to draw so well. I bought her the "how to draw manga" kit as promised and she's been sketching thereon, and I must say that her drawing skills have improved a milestone away.

Out of the many things that we've learned from anime and manga, one lesson stands out, and that's to never give up on anything -- and to Kiara, not even to drawing.