Lalaine and Paul's Wedding, Photo Compilation

Photos compiled from various Facebook buddies, friends of Lalaine and Paul.



[ Picasa Web Album Photos ]

All Emma

[ Picasa Album Photos ]

The pathway to heaven begins at the foot of the cross

September 11, 2007

Lead Them To The Cross

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READ: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. —Galatians 6:14

About this cover

Many heart-touching stories were circulated after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. None seems more spiritually significant than that of ironworker Frank Silecchia. As he was helping to recover bodies, Frank noticed two steel beams in the shape of a cross standing upright in the middle of all the debris.

Appointing himself as the curator of that striking symbol of God’s love, he often took heartbroken visitors to see it. Many of them were comforted by the silent testimony to the divine Presence in the worst of tragedies. One day when journalist Barbara Walters came with tearful friends who had lost a son in the catastrophe, Frank simply led them to the cross.

The answer to the world’s terrible pain and evil is not a philosophical argument or a theological treatise. The all-sufficient answer is Calvary’s cross, where in fathomless grace Jesus, the incarnate God, took upon Himself the burden of our sins and bore them “in His own body on the tree, that we . . . might live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).

If you have not been led to Calvary’s cross, let me take you there. He died for you and then rose again. Believe in Him and you will be saved (1 Cor. 1:21). —Vernon C Grounds

They are nailed to the cross, they are nailed to the cross!
O how much He was willing to bear.
With what anguish and loss, Jesus went to the cross,
But He carried my sins with Him there. —Breck

The pathway to heaven begins at the foot of the cross.

Bike Ride, September 9,2007

Bike Ride, September 9,2007, our threesome of Uncle Pilo, Uncle Marv, and myself. Departure time, early Sunday morning, 7:30am, round trip arrival time was 9:45am. Destination, St. Anne De Bellevue, via Senneville Rd, return via Chemin St. Marie, to Kirkland, DDO, and finally Pierrefonds

[Picasa Album Link for the rest of the photos]

Happy riding!!

Tito Lits

Follow up post re: Canon SD1000

I've used a number cameras over the years ever since my interest in photography developed (pun not intended) back in my high school days in the Philippines.

Cameras were very expensive then and a good SLR would set one back a few thousand pesos.

I've been meaning to buy a small compact camera that would also have very good photographic qualities and features. I settled with the Canon SD1000, purchased from Best Buy for $299 CAD. It had to be small and light enough to fit in the back pocket of my cycling jersey and at the same time take better quality pictures than my Palm Treo 700wx.


size comparison of some of the cameras I have - a manual Vivitar SLR, Sony DSC-S75, SD1000, Palm Treo 700wx

A Touch of Class

the newly weds and their best man raise their glasses to you


The Venue - Le Belvedere at the Old Port, Old Montreal, part of the Montreal Science Center complex


The great hall ;-)


the spacious hall awaiting the arrival of the newly married couple and their guests


table setting - menu and bonbourniere (cute Quebec Honey jar)


table setting


table setting - candle holders beautifully trimmed with orchids


beautiful, elegant orchid center piece


men's room was trimmed for the occasion ;-)


and so was the ladies' room

Photos from Myra's Facebook Album - Thanks Myra and Jose


Jose Arenos Jr. and Myra-Baysa Arenos - Paul and Lalaine are so blessed to count you as two amongst many of their many faithful, caring, loving friends (so many indeed).

From Myra's Facebook Album

Paul, Mom, Dad (Tito Lits), Lalaine


Paul, Dad, and Lalaine


Lalaine sampling the sweet and fruit table


Paul and Dad- sweeeet ;-)

Slideshow, Lalaine and Paul's Wedding

Given the limited opportunity to hang on to my camera and take pictures, nevertheless, here are the photos I was able to take.



[ The Picasa Album Link ]

Lalaine and Pauly's Wedding

Lalaine and Paul, photo taken by Grace Wong Lun Cheong


Tito Lits photo, taken by Grace Wong Lun Cheong

Check this link for some of the photos - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3824&l=425a9&id=500934655

Two Ferries Ride - 2007

For the first time, this year (we rode it twice last year) , we rode the Two Ferries Tour, a total of 75 kms, round trip.

Our group was composed of our trio of Paul, Pilo and myself.

Departure time was around 9:00am. Arrival time was around noontime, possibly around 1pm.

Why 'Two Ferries'? Ferry # 1, from Ile Bizard to Laval side, across Riviere des Prairie and Ferry #2, from Oka to the Hudson side, across Lake of Two Mountains.

Municipalities that we passed along the way: Pierrefonds, St. Genevieve, Ile Bizard, Laval, Deux Montagnes, Oka, Hudson, Vaudreuil, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Pincourt, Ile Perrot, St.Anne de Bellevue, Senneville, back to St. Genevieve and finally back to Pierrefonds. Wheeewww!!

It's a beautiful route, beautiful scenery along the way, always bring your camera, and also the route offers a few thrills along the way- two hills to climb in Oka (and of course, when you go up you must come down, and come down super fast) and let's not forget the #12 grade hill of Senneville.

A couple years ago, between Two Mountains and Oka, along the Route Verte, we had to slow down to a stop to allow a good size turtle to cross over to the other side of the swamp.

Today, we narrowly missed running over a snake trying to clear the bike path, crawling so fast for its life ;-)

We've got more photos to share and some videos too. Check back later, will you?

Thanks!

Tito Litsto

[ Photos at Picasa Photo Album Site ]

A Pure Heart

A Pure Heart
by Jon Walker

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 NIV)

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that won’t run with lust after physical pleasure,
* A heart that obediently refuses what you’ve rightly and wisely fenced away as sin,
* A heart of love that never insists on its own way (1 John 2:16).

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that knows no greed when it looks upon worldly treasures,
* A heart that thinks of others, and not itself,
* A heart that argues for love instead of fairness.

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that never boasts about what it has or what its done,
* A heart that walks humbly, not trying to appear more important than it is,
* A heart that takes no pride in the flesh.

Oh God, create in me a pure heart ...

* A heart that chases after you,
* A heart that looks to you for its provision,
* A heart that trusts that you are at work in others,
* A heart that does not manipulate people or circumstances,
* A heart that looks upon the things above and not the things below.

Heavenly Father, renew a steadfast spirit within me ...

* A spirit committed completely to you,
* A spirit that is not double-minded,
* A spirit that is focused, and single minded on your purposes,
* A spirit resolved to know Christ and Christ alone.

So what?

* Start from the top of the devotional, and work your way down.

Today's Devotional- International Friendships

August 5, 2007

International Friendship

READ: Colossians 1:3-12

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. —Colossians 1:3

About this cover

In 1947, Nadia from Bulgaria and Millicent from the United States became pen pals. For years they swapped photos, school experiences, and dreams. Then their letters stopped when government policy banned personal contact with the West.

After many years of political upheaval and change, Millicent, on a whim, sent a letter to the last address she had for Nadia. To their delight, the letter got through. Before long, they discovered that both had married doctors and both collected seashells. Forty-eight years after their first letter, the two friends finally met at Miami International Airport, where Millicent exclaimed, “Nadia! I would know you anywhere!’’

The letters of the apostle Paul overflow with affection and gratitude for his friends. In his letter to the Colossians, he wrote: “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you” (1:3). His letters also encouraged their walk with Christ (v.10).

Any friendship can be a gift from God. But nothing runs deeper than the relationships of those who share a bond in Christ. In fact, Jesus commanded His disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). In Him, friendships are treasures that will last forever. —Mart De Haan

Of all the many blessings
That our gracious Father sends,
I thank Him most of all today
For loyal-hearted friends. —Halse

A true friend is a gift from God.

Day 2 - Manhattan, NYC

Our second day visiting Manhattan, NYC

View the photo album

Captions to follow

Tito Lits

Day 1 - Manhattan - NYC

New York, New York

View the photo album

GPS Notes

GPS navigation systems, like most programmable tools, i.e. PCs, alarm clock radios, VCRs, PVRs, etc., usually work well and does what it's programmed to do. I would say, other than a hardware failure, they hardly fail to do what you programmed them to do. GIGO ;-)

My Garmin c330 Street Pilot has been a blessing to me since I received it as a Christmas gift from my children, Paul, Pam, and Trish.

It was a big help to us as when we navigated our way to Disney Wolrd, Orlando, Florida last summer. It's also been a big blessing to us as we navigated our way to NJ, which will be our home base for the next few days as we plan to visit and see as much as we can, New York City / Manhattan.

Glitch

Some confusion, leading to fear of getting sucked into the Lincoln Tunnel, came about as the GPS took as almost all the way to the final destination, until we were sort of left to ourselves to navigate ;-), that's when it stopped to navigate since it claims we have reached our destination when in fact we were still on Highway 3 moving towards signs pointing us to the Lincoln Tunnel.

Human Error

We made it to our hotel, by the grace of God. The data that I entered, specifically the address coordinates of the destination, our hotel, was incorrect. Even as I checked with Google Maps (wi-fi internet in our hotel), I found out that Google maps were pointing, plotting, to a wrong address / coordinate. I referred to Google Maps to locate the address coordinates I used with the GPS. Even Marv committed the same mistake. And when I checked the POI (points of interest) programmed and stored in the GPS memory, I found that the address was not complete either.

Lesson learned

Always double check your address coordinates, cross reference it with an actual map.

Nevertheless, I thank my God for keeping as safe and secure all the way. He is good all the time.

Romans 8:28 says:

"28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose."

Amen!

Another Blow to the Tour De France, Rasmussen's Yellow Jersey's Been Pulled Out from the TDF

Rasmussen Pulled From Race

By Phil Liggett
July 25, 2007

So, the Tour de France is punishing into chaos tonight after both, the French Team and the Dutch Rabobank has packed their bags and headed home. The seal of 189 riders in London are now down to 135 to final days into Paris. Just what the millions of spectators will make of this, remains to be seen. They certainly will not see the race leader for the past 9 nine days and today’s stage winner, Michael Rasmussen. He was sacked by hi Rabobank Team for lying about his whereabouts when he failed to make himself available for the now well documented out of competition drug test.

His team manager, Theo de Rooy, said that Rasmussen had told him he had been in Mexico with his wife. We all know now that Rasmussen has been seen training in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. The team then withdrew because of the Code of Ethics, which is now agreed within professional teams.

Earlier in the evening, I had also dreaded to go home for the same principles after former Italian Champion, Christian Moreni, had tested positive during a spot check on Stage 11 for synthetic testosterone. Moreni finished this afternoon and was then taken away by handcuffs by French police.

The new leader of the race will be young Spaniard, Alberto Contador by 1:53 ahead of Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer who is +56 seconds in third.

Thank heavens none of these three riders have ever been remotely suspected in dealing with drugs and could now turn out to be the race’s saviors.

Tomorrow is going to be a strange day.

[ Versus Web Site ]

LE TOUR DE FRANCE OBTAINS THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE ASTANA TEAM

Another sad chapter in the Tour De France history.

The organisers of the Tour de France have been informed by Marc Biver, the manager of the Astana team, about the positive test of Alexandre Vinokourov on the day of the time trial stage in Albi. At the request of Patrice Clerc, President of A.S.O., the Astana team has agreed to leave the 2007 Tour de France:

Christian Prudhomme, the Director of the Tour de France, and Patrice Clerc, wanted to reaffirm in Pau their stance in the fight against doping and to assure the public of their determination to insist with the battle. “The start in London was a formidable occasion to re-conquer. It has failed. The riders have to understand that they are playing a game of Russian roulette if they are doping. They have to realize that we will never give up the war against doping in which we are involved. Doping ruins our childhood dreams. Vinokourov has cheated and the only possible answer was: leave! It’s an absolute failure of the system. It has to change now. The re-conquering of cycling has to be done with the Tour de France. I started this job believing that we could change this system but it’s not enough: there has to be a revolution!”

Alexandre Vinokourov – “I’ll never give up…!”

Yesterday, I admit, was a terrible day. It really affected my mind and that’s one of the reason I finished so far behind the peloton at Plateau de Beille. ...

[ Tour De France Page ]

Sunday Morning Bike Ride To Hogs Back

Just slightly confused I think, but wasn't there a movie, a novel, made, written, about the Hogs Back of Ottawa? ;-)

While the rest of the household were asleep and the Manotick Inn was moving and swaying to the beat of the household guests' snoring, Uncle Marvin, Uncle Pilo and I snuck out for a bike ride.

Other than the fact that we love and enjoy riding, we also wanted to escape the chores associated with breakfast preparation for 20 or more people. ;-)

The route of this morning's ride was decided just as we mounted our bikes - ride to Hogs Back Rd. or Ave. or St. via Prince of Wales.

Undulating roads (TDF inspired word) of Manotick and some wind made the ride even more interesting to our knees. Oh, let's not forget the flat tire Uncle Marv had, but thanks to our speedy roadie, Speedy Felino, a spare tube was put back in place of the punctured one, air pumped into it, in no time flat ;-)

It was a beautiful sunny and warm morning perfect for a bike ride for the tres amigos bisiklistas.

From Hogs Back we rode through the 'Experimental Farm'; we're still not sure what kind of experiments they do over there. On one stretch of the bike path I noticed this sorry looking creature up ahead which I thought was a dog, all alone by itself, no one walking along side it- it turned out to be a cat. Then there's this person on a bike who we could not figure out whether it was male or female, LOL ;-) I just hope that we did not breath too much of the air around the farm, hehehehe.

On the way back we stopped by a Timothy coffee shop for some caffeine transfusion, some sugar as well through a single raspberry muffin the three of us shared. We also stopped by a Filipino owned and operated store on the way back to the Manotick Inn where, among other things, advertised on the store window, was "cow foot'. The heat and the undulating roads were starting to zap our energy so we decided to go inside and pick up a couple of pop soft drinks and we were pleasantly surprise to find out they had Sarsi (root beer like drink from the Philippines) in their cooler. So that was a treat in itself. We were burping as we rode back home ;-), must be highly carbonated that Sarsi, but it was goooood.

In all, we rode for 45 kilometers and some on this beautiful Sunday morning.

We did escape preparing, cooking breakfast but breakfast almost escaped from us, there were a few pieces of breakfast sausages, scrambled eggs, and rice left for the weary bisiklistas, but, lots of coffee, it wasn't so bad after all.


by the restrooms at Hogs Back park, my hair soaking wet from sweat


Uncle Mrvin showing off his new cycling jersey and knicker 'capri' bib ;-)


Kodak (kodakan) moments


caffeine and sugar transfusion stop at Timothy's Coffee Shop along Woodroffe Rd.


Tito Lits


bright sunshine reflecting off the coffee shop's chair

and finally


loyal cycling fans that we took on a shopping spree at the Bayshore Mall's 'Dollar Store" ;-)

Alexander Vinokourov finally wins a TDF stage this 2007

He led at every time check and proved that he’s back in dominant form. Alexandre Vinokourov won the 54km time trial in Alby by over a minute and... [ more ]