Lot 97

 Lot 97 was there waiting for an owner.  I didn't play the lottery but I won! I started looking for a house early May or June 2020 with no idea what I was looking for.  I was not expecting to buy a new vehicle last year but my 2010 Honda CRV that I bought in Hawaii after my graduation from the Doctor of Philosophy program decided to give up it's air conditioner. Who can survive the 110+ degrees heat in the desert? Then I was told it will cost me approximately $4K to get it fixed.  Could it be that the dealership service department is brewing a strategy? I ended up trading my vehicle to another Honda, this time with a 2020 Honda Passport Touring.  There I was in the middle of Covid-19 global pandemic signing a car loan in June 2020. Immediately after my vehicle purchase, I didn't know I was buying a new home, one that is being built from the ground up.  My realtor turn friend, Norma Purdue, took me house hunting from Lake Las Vegas condos to Green Valley townhouses to Tuscany Village then the new development, Cadence community.  We went on a tour of three different models (Adonis, Grayling, and Copper) and checked out the empty lots with the map to figure out the models assigned to each lot.  Initially I wanted Lot 97 but it was already taken. The sales staff convinced me to take a Adonis model Lot 184 and I wrote a check for $75 hold.  The night after the contract signing, a voice in my head kept urging me to check the site.  Early the next morning, I drove to Heritage Courtyard and inspected Lot 184, empty lot at the time and imagined how it would be.  I drove to the adjacent lot where the houses were already built. I walked in the private road and imagined how Lot 184 would look like surrounded by the other houses in the pod.  My front porch would have been facing another neighbors front porch with the private road between each houses.  The back yard will be facing the other neighbor's backyard but the left side of the backyard would be facing the mountains.  The voice from the night before told me this is not what I want.  I called my realtor friend and decided to pull out the hold and looked for another Lot.  To my delight, Lot 97 became available but the kitchen cabinets were already ordered so I had to go with white cabinets.  I still get to upgrade the kitchen top, island top, and the backsplash.  The process for a new home buyer was intense, stressful, and nerve racking.  I had to go through many process to get my credit cleared, decision for the type of mortgage loan I will qualify for, and the down payment.  Everything worked out according to plan.  I believe God was in the details during the process.  To make a long story short, closing happened end of October and I picked up my keys to my new home on October 29, 2020 at 6 pm! I was all moved in by November 1st and in time for my 60th birthday.  God is good all the time.  All the time God is good!  

What the Enemy Meant for Evil, God Turned into something Good!

 Everyone's life turned upside down with the global pandemic scare.  Some are scared enough to adhere to the instructions by the government authorities. Some are foolish to standby their convictions and hanging on to what freedom is left to make a choice whether to wear the face mask in public with or without face shield or none at all.  I've seen a video snippet of women making fools of themselves, arguing or even coughing at other people's face without their mask. A woman who was caught not wearing her face mask while shopping decided to throw a tantrum and threw her groceries from the shopping cart one by one on the floor of the supermarket.  An elderly demanded to cancel her Costco card because the store won't let her go beyond the customer service without a face mask.  A lesson to be learned from the pandemic is not happening with those individuals. 

Staying home for me started with a joyful realization that I can do my household chores while holding a virtual class.  I have been cooking filipino dishes while working at home, chicken adobo, pork adobo, pinakbet, sinigang, filipino spaghetti, my version of corn beef and cabbage.  I even picked up a new recipe for eggplant lovers, eggplant rollatini, shrimp alfredo pasta, menudo and even desserts I never thought I could make like tupig! 

Sure we are missing our party gatherings to adhere to physical distancing.  We became creative and started using the advanced technology to continue our socialization as we are created to be around each other.  My family had a virtual Bingo game during Thanksgiving. I didn't win but it was such a pleasure seeing my family from Hawaii, California, and New Mexico on the screen and see my nieces and nephews and their young children peeping in and out of the screen.  

What the enemy meant for evil, God turns into something good!

Welcome Back!

 Life has been good and exciting for the last two years since I've posted on my blog.  Fast forward from year 2018 to 2020!  We're amidst COVID19 global pandemic.  No travels for me since February 2020.  I'm happy to have traveled to South Korea then to the Philippines and back to Las Vegas early February 2020 before the travel restrictions were enforced.  What a scary experience to have our plane diverted from above McCarran Airport to LAX! Three of the passengers from our flight were escorted to the airport quarantine assessment quad. Apparently the passengers were discovered to have traveled to China prior our flight.  We were all stranded on the runway inside the airplane.  Our ETA at McCarran Airport was 3 pm and finally landed at 6 pm.  There were news reporters waiting for us at the airport. I just wanted to go home to lay down and rest so I avoided everyone.

Life has been chaotic for the year 2020.  As I continue to write on my long lost blog, I realized how eventful this year has been for everyone.  I will never forget the year 2020 starting January 3, 2020! We were fast asleep when at around 11:45 pm our fire alarm went off. My teenagers came banging on my bedroom door panicking, "Mom! Mom! Mom!"  Joy and Anthony were terrified.  As I opened the bedroom door, water came gushing from the ceiling, on the walls by the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, everywhere! My purple couch and love seat! Our purple Christmas Tree!  We moved around some furnitures and ran outside, downstairs where two huge fire trucks were already unloading their equipment.  I was looking up for fire and smoke but didn't see or smelled anything.  All the residents at The Well who are from Building 2, 3 & 4 came out. Water rushing down the stairs and onto the private street.  Eventually a fire fighter came by and told us to get some warm clothes and stay in the car.  I was barefooted with my pajamas on and without my eyebrows! Hahaha! 

Going backwards with my post here since we lost two years of my life stories.  

The year 2019 was eventful and productive both in my personal and professional life.  This is the year when my undergraduate nursing students and three nursing faculty colleagues traveled to Uganda, Africa to join me at Uganda Christian University (UCU).  God is good all the time.  The vision and desires he planted in my heart and mind are endless, enormous and everlasting.

Update from my last post traveling to Uganda, Africa with my family in June 2018.  

Thanks be to God!

It’s been awhile since I posted on this blog.  My trips to Uganda, Africa made significant changes and priorities in life.  My first trip to Uganda was in 2012 when I went on a mission trip with my old church, Kailua Community Church in Hawaii.  As you may recall on our last day of our mission trip, I had the privilege to tour Uganda Christian University Mukono Campus.  That’s when I discovered about UCU Department of Nursing as we were passing by the dark purple Nursing Program bus parked on campus.  With prompting from the Holy Spirit, I pursued the opportunity teach at UCU. To my surprise, the Masters of Nursing Science in Nursing Education was looking for a doctorally prepared Christian nurse educator and that’s me!

In my pursuit to teach at UCU, an unforeseen door to a Fulbright Scholarship opened up.  Before I realized what was happening, I became a Fulbright Scholar in November 2013.  I was recommended for the grant project as a visiting professor at UCU and started teaching in June 2014.  I have been traveling to Uganda, Africa since 2014 Teaching for about a month every year in June.

I long for my family to be able to travel with me every year so they will see and experience what I have been doing at UCU everytime I’m away from home for a month.

Prayers are powerful especially if God has great plans and purpose for what you’re praying for.  This year 2018, God made it possible for my family to join me in my adventure to UCU.  I’m not sure what God has in store for us as a family when we get to Uganda, Africa. I know it will be an experience we will always remember.   I trust God that He will protect us from harm, show us how to join Him in his works, to serve and bring Him glory!  The best in yet to come.Thanks be to God!

It has been decided

Have you ever felt that whatever opportunities God laid down in front of you has been decided? And that all you needed to do is yield to the prompting of the holy spirit?  That's exactly how I felt with my Fulbright Journey.  Everything happened so fast and before I knew it, I became a Fulbright scholar and now on my third trip here at Uganda Christian University Mukono campus.  Before I traveled back to UCU this year, I had the privileged to be invited by the Fulbright headquarters staff with Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) in Washington, DC (1400 K Street) on May 27, 2016 during their brown bag lunch session.





Maria de los Angeles Crumpet, Executive Director, CIES and Deputy VP, Scholar Exchanges (pink); Carmel Geraghty, Program Officer, Fulbright Specialist Program (on my right); Danielle Fultz, Program Coordinator, Fulbright Global Program (in neutral/ black skirt). — with Marife Aczon-Armstrongat Institute of International Education.




Paula and Luke at the Institute of International Education (IIE) front desk.

As I've posted earlier about coming back to Motherland, Africa, I have not posted on this blog since 2014.  Actually I'm embarrassed to write that I forgot about this blog.  Now that I discovered it again, here I am. I'm back!

Today is my 7th day since I arrived at Entebbe airport almost midnight on May 29, 2016.  Actually I'm counting today as my 6th day as I travelled over 17 hours from Washington, DC to Amsterdam Tripoli Netherlands connecting to Kigali, Rwanda and finally at Entebbe.  Sunday midnight was a blurr so I'm counting only 6 days of being here.

Yes, it has been decided by our Master Planner that I will be back here to UCU Mukono campus to teach at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing. Masters of Nursing Science.

Back Home to Motherland 2016

Here I am back to Motherland.  A lot had happened since my last blog entry.  After my mission trip with our church (Kailua Community Church) in Hawaii, God orchestrated my return to Uganda, Africa.  It took my obedience to yield to the holy spirit in joining Bless Africa Team 2012-2013.  As I recall, it was during our last day of our mission trip in 2013, Saturday, January 12th that I discover about Uganda Christian University (Mukono) and their nursing program.  Moses Wandera, my good friend Gloria Chapman's Hanai son was near completion of his Law degree at UCU.  He offered to take some of the Bless Africa Team to tour the UCU Mukono campus.  Some of the reasons behind the visit tour was the feedback from the other sponsor adults at Siita Nest.  Apparently some of the UCU students were not happy with their boarding school.  During this tour at UCU I did not expect to find out about the nursing program.  It was my love for the color purple that brought me at UCU.  As the Bless Africa team members tour the campus, I saw in the corner of my eye a dark purple bus parked along our path.  I was so delighted that I asked Dawn Uithol to take a photo with me showcasing the purple bus with the big sign "Nursing Program" in front of it. Little did I know God has a big plan for me from there on.

Our team returned back to Hawaii the following day.  We gave our testimonies on Sunday, January 13, 2013.  When I went home that day, I immediately emailed the UCU Vice Chancellor Dr. John Senyoyi to inquire about their nursing program and the possibility of teaching. At that time I was teaching full-time as an Assistant Professor for University of Hawaii at Manoa Veterans Administration Nursing Academy (VANA).  To my surprise I received an email message within two days from Dr. Karen Drake at Bethel University in Minneapolis, MN.  Bethel U and UCU has this existing partnership. Dr. Drake is the founder and Director of the Masters of Nursing Science at UCU. The school has been soliciting to recruit doctorally prepared nurses to teach in this only functioning MNS programme in all of Uganda.  There is only two doctorally prepared nursing faculty in Uganda.  Little did I know that this opportunity is also an opportunity for a Fulbright Scholarship.  Karen directed me to cies.org website to apply for the Fulbright Program.  I have not heard about Fulbright and when I explored the website I felt that I was not qualified.  Nevertheless, I yielded to the prompting of the holy spirit and began completing my application for the Fulbright Specialist Program which was a rigorous process.  I pondered on every detail of the application process for about three months. Finally I submitted my complete application by July 30, 2013 close to the deadline.  I was not expecting to be chosen since the application process was intense and Fulbright is extremely specific about the requirements for the program.  During the application process the first requirement that struck me was the terminal degree.  At that very moment I realized what God has been preparing me all through the years of my study.  Bible scriptures pertaining to when God call us He has already prepared the path ahead of us.  He will not give you more than you can handle; He will equip you with tools needed to be successful.

Engage in Deeper Relationships

At the surface this Uganda trip appears to focus on my teaching experience.  What coincidence that the  nursing education module I'm assigned to is called "Teaching and Learning Processes for Adults".  My role as the visiting Professor is to impart to my graduate nursing students my knowledge in regards to philosophies of teaching/learning. The uniqueness of this teaching assignment not only lies on the cultural aspects of my experience.  It is also how our Christian World View shapes the way in which we teach.  Almost 10 years of teaching allowed me to develop my people skills and teaching styles. This is the first time in my life that I was able to integrate my faith in God and my teaching career.  Of course this does not discount my family's mission as volunteers for KCC Sunday School.

I thank God for placing specific desires in my heart.  He never seizes to amaze me with blessings, provisions and spiritual gifts all of which I'm fully aware I don't deserve.  I have fallen spiritually many times and yet God the Father almighty just sweeps me off my feet to start all over again.  I've given my parents heartaches for they both have great visions, a great and rich life for me.  My siblings have great expectations and they have unwavering support whenever I fall.

What's this engagement in deeper relations?  Let me expand on my mission trip experience because I find God to have a great sense of humor.  Our God is almighty and no one or nothing can stop His great plans for His children, that's you and me.  My first Africa mission trip was full of challenges, revelations and forgiveness.  God watches over us all the time.  He knows our hearts & thoughts, that is our pure thoughts and true intentions.  Others may make judgments and to me what's more important is my deepest relationship with Jesus. The engagement that has been going on since I was decided to be me.

I believe that God afforded me this "all paid for" blessing in disguise mission trip disguise as teaching assignment. For what reasons I can only think of one thing that remains true - that he loves me, oh how he loves me...