A LIFE FULL OF CHRISTMAS

I can still remember the lyrics of the song "And the Gift goes on" and I quote:

"When your life is full of Christmas then your life is full of love
You can give away the present that began with God above
Just like ripples in the water the circles of our love extend
What was started with the Father is a Gift that has no end,"

When I think of how my Ate May extends her love even in her wheelchair bound body, I know she understands very well the meaning of the the life which is full of Christmas.

Every Christmas, since she became the bread winner in the family, she would prepare the new peso bills from the bank to give away to children who would come to our house on Christmas day. She does not want the idea of hiding, even if times were hard. (Hiding from inaanaks (godchildren) is sometimes done to avoid spending too much on Christmas day.)

When she was diagnosed in June of 2007 with ALS, I supposed she can now retire from the Christmas tradition as she is now on disability and receives a very minimal monthly disability fund from the government.

However, because she understood the grace that came to us on the first Christmas, she could not help but again, this year to prepare for the coming of the children. Yes, she still gave out those new peso bills to visiting children this morning...and I could feel the love emanating from her frail body.

Eating and drinking has been harder for her lately, but she still keeps on giving...

Sitting Pretty

It has been 19 months since Ate May posted on her blog. Days after she wrote her last blog titled "House Arrest", she had a very bad fall my mom was almost sure she hit her head on the cement step. The Lord cushioned her fall and she hit her shoulder instead. It took three persons to move her from where she fell to her bed. That was the last you all heard from her.

That event signaled that ALS is advancing. She completely stopped using the computer and she had to be fed by my mother. I had to listen so carefully when I talk to her on the phone, I was in San Diego until October 2nd of 2008. Pictures of her 50th birthday organized by my cousins were depressing as her body continue to atrophy.
I went home on October 2nd, 2008 and witnessed for myself how my Ate’s condition progressed. Though I chatted with her and saw her several times in YM, it is still different to see her in that condition in person. But I am surely glad the Lord brought me and my husband back home to be with her at this time.
These days, she sits most of the day on her wheelchair, but a few visitors commented how she retains her beauty, both in and out despite ALS. Her quiet and peaceful spirit endures the pain and the limitations brought by ALS on her.
For many of you who will not be able to see her in person, I am posting her most recent picture with our one and only nephew, Ian.