Chuvaness has this awesome blog post about Fabella Hospital and she is raising money to help the hospital be able to meet the needs of their thousands of patients.

About the photos
By SHEILA JUAN-CATILO

I've always loved photographing children. It's such a joy to be able to capture them whether they're in their most innocent or most mischievous moments. But this experience was different, and definitely one I would never forget.

Last Tuesday, Jorem and I went to the Dr. Jose Fabella Hospital with Rea Gomez-Harrow to shoot some pictures to post on the Moms for Moms site. It was probably the hardest shoot I've ever been through in all my years of being a photographer.

"Are you ready?" She asked, as we walked across the entrance of the ER right after a woman was brought out of the ambulance in a stretcher, her legs stained with blood, ready to give birth. There were pregnant women everywhere - in the hallways, sitting on the steps, walking around just waiting for their turn. I knew I had to brace myself for this.

The scent was familiar. It's only been 6 months since I got out of the hospital after giving birth to our first baby. Had I been there a couple of years ago, it would have been different. But as we walk into what was 4 rooms full of maybe a hundred bassinets or more, I felt my knees weaken and my heart crumble. I look through the viewfinder and get ready to shoot, but all I see is a blur as tears start to well up. My heart was pounding to the rhythm of infants crying in chorus. I turn my head, three babies are sharing one bassinet while the other had two. One baby's face is already pushed against the other's knee. Can he still breathe? I look the other way and one baby's arm is as thin as my finger. There are tubes and needles, bottles of fluids running through their tiny bodies. Due to the lack of linens, three newly delivered babies share what looked like an old hand towel to keep them warm. Each was labeled with a medicine box cutout attached to their wrists with a string like a piece of evidence. It was hard to believe all of it was real. I knew there were going to be a lot of babies, but not like this. It was beyond what I expected. To say it was heartbreaking would be an understatement.

I've never seen so many babies all in one place at the same time, and seeing them in this condition just didn't feel right. But this is how it's always been in Fabella. Everyday, mothers flock to this place to give birth because it's the only place they can go to. Due to the sheer volume of women giving birth each day, some have to go home a few hours after delivery while others who can't share a tandem bed with 2-3 others to be able to rest. According to a social worker we talked to, some of them don't even want to leave. To them, it's a roof over their heads, a soft bed and regular meals. For their children, it's a far better environment to survive in for their first few days of life.

One day, a young husband came up to me and said, “Bo, I wish my marriage will be as great as yours ten years from now…”

I only had one word for him: “Don’t wish. Decide.”

In that one line, I gave my secret to success.

That’s what separates great marriages and not-so-great marriages.

That’s what separates successful people from unsuccessful people.

Unsuccessful people wish, want, hope, desire for their dreams.

That’s not enough.

Successful people decide to make their dreams happen. Period.

That means they’ll do whatever it takes.

Nothing will stop them.

Failure is not an option.

Let me ask you: Will you do whatever it takes?

For me as a husband, it means…

o practicing “mental” monogamy

o overlooking her faults

o going out of my way to express my love

o prioritizing our dates

o leading my family to God

Note: Just in case you’re in the delusion that I’m a perfect husband, let me make this record straight. I’m far from it. Just ask my wife!

But the important thing is that I’ve decided to become a great husband. And I make that decision everyday. (I struggle towards this dream everyday!)

I’ve realized that this power of decision works in every other area in life…

For the rest of the article click here.

I have a childhood friend who, even when we were young, always wanted to fix hair and apply make-up. Our favorite playtime was "salon time" where we would all pretend we were having our manicures and getting a nice haircut. Of course, she would be one wielding the scissors! So it wasn't any surprise to me when I learned she studied in one of the best cosmotology schools in the US and now works for a high-end salon. Considering the high end prices of hair cuts in the US, I am sure she is earning a decent amount. Plus, she has turned to her passion - teaching. She teaches the latest hairstyle techniques and the basics of make-up application twice a week.

Howell is really the adventurous type. Would you believe, on his first two days in Germany he was already able to explore the city. He already visited several museums, old churches, local festivals and he already knows how the complicated train system of Germany works.

So after his first two days in Frankfurt – he already met two Filipinos (one worked in Mc Donald’s and Howell was so happy since the Filipino upgrade his soda for free. LOL. The other one was a son of a German national and he taught hubby how the train system works), he was able to take 1000 pictures and he said he already knows his way and eh can tour me when I arrive on Friday.

He sent me some of his favorite shots via Yahoo Messenger and I was impressed. Hubby really has the talent and the eye for photography since his pictures are really post card perfect. After seeing the pictures, I told him that Frankfurt has a really nice architecture but according to him, he is still not that impress. He is still looking forward for our trip to Prague and then he will judge which city has the best architecture.

Here are some of his shots:

Day 1:
Day 2:

You can view his Day 1 Pictures here.

One of our friends from LA will be coming home for a vacation this Halloween and so the whole gang decided to throw a Halloween Sleep Over party as our welcome party for her. I took charge of the planning as they know that it is one of my favorite thing to do.

I am still a bit busy with work and my trip and with school but I manage to check out invitations party Halloween from http://www.invitations-shoppe.com. They have a lot of nice party invitations Halloween designs and they can even make a new design for us and we can even insert our group picture in the invitations Halloween.

I know I still have a lot of planning to do but thank goodness I found the site of invitations-shoppe so I know that our Halloween Invitations for our party is already taken cared of.