Father

Magnolia - The Heart of Love Photo by Mei

Your gift of love
Your gift of light
In truth you guide
The path to life.

The sun in the morning
The moon at night
Those stars on the sky
It is peace that I find.

Your heart of love
Your Word of light
In you I trust
With my whole life.

Here is on earth
And Heaven above
Only love that can lift
Me up back to you!


Writer's Notes
Written during the week leading to Pentecost Sunday while the last verse was inspired by Father Wayne's (final children Mass) homily.
The photo was edited using Instagram filter.

To the Father above
And here is on earth
Thank you for the love
So blessed, yet so true!

Happy Father's Day 2013

Spring Garden

Our Lady of Fátima Photo by Mei

A spring day in May
In the peaceful garden where the Blessed Mother stays
Flowering dogwood bloom under the mid-afternoon sun

Morning Dewdrops

Morning Dewdrops on Bitter Melon Leaf Photo by Mei

Notes:
The above picture of morning dewdrops on bitter melon leaf is the result of my first attempt in making the best out of using Picasa Web Albums' Creative Kit since it officially became the replacement for Picnik.

The original photo was taken with (4th generation) iPod touch camera. It was then soften, refocused using the focal B&W effect and finally... gotten Polaroid framed!

Autumn Comes Autumn Goes

Words by: Mei
The melody is... yet to decide on o_O

Autumn comes Autumn goes
Autumn is reminding me of you...

Autumn breezes passed by
Falling leaves float'n the air ~

The colors of Fall when leaves turned
As beautiful as you, yeah... yeah... you!

The Colors of Fall Photo by Mei

The smile on your face
The love from your heart
As warm as they can be, to keep the winter days at bay.

Summer is gone
Winter is not yet here
Autumn is now
So, let's smile!

Autumn comes Autumn goes
Autumn is staying here with me to think of you...

In the Summertime

Wild Daisies Photo by Mei

Prince of Peace

An Imprint of Peace Photo by Mei

Thanks be unto God for His gifts.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:15

Mến chúc tất cả một mùa Giáng Sinh vui vẻ.

Merry Christmas & Joyeux Noël!

Peaceful Notre-Dame

Tượng Nữ Vương Hòa Bình
tại
Vương Cung Thánh Đường Chánh Tòa Đức Bà Sài Gòn

Peaceful Notre-Dame statue at Saigon's Notre-Dame Cathedral
(Photo by Mei)

Even though I’m not being able to recall the exact date, I remember that summer day in August well. It was damp and cloudy. My camera refused to take the picture due to low light and off focus problems. It was then that I prayed really hard to the Peaceful Notre-Dame asking her for allowing me to take the photo.

In the end, the camera shuttle finally went off and the above picture is the result of how it turned out. Surprisingly beautiful, isn’t it?

At first, I have thought of presenting the edited black and white version of the Peaceful Notre-Dame statue picture for simplicity with a sense of nostalgia. But, I have decided to present the original instead. Although the sky was not as clear blue, the rawness of dark gray clouds covered blue sky seemed to be more fitting.

As violence and the injustices occur daily around the world, the hope for peace seems to be fading away. One would be living in despair. Yet, behind those dark gray clouds of the moment is the blue-colored sky of peaceful hope. Thus, let’s pray for the blessing of peace for the upcoming year and many years to come!

Happinest

“Cá biết nguồn về thăm nghĩa cội.
Chim dầu xa tổ nhớ ơn cây.”

Happinest - Tổ Ấm
Photo by Mei

To my extended family, thank you for being a part of my life. I love you all. And I believe that if we all be able to give and forgive, we will find the utmost happiness in life.

Writer's Notes
This picture was taken in my backyard back in mid-August of 2006, right after I was back from my trip to Viet Nam. The photo helps me to reflect on the purpose of my trip and realize the blessing of having a family to come back to.

Given name "Happinest" is the concatenation of the word “happy” and the word “nest”. In its concatenate form, it is spelled and pronounced like the word “happiness”, which truly describes my feeling at the time when I looked deeply at the picture to find myself surrounded by the love, support and understanding from everyone of my extended family.