Beautiful May

The month of May is hot and humid here in the Philippines, more so here in Cotabato, but we love the month of May for many things:
1. It is vacation time. Parents sigh with relief and children play without care. The sophisticated goes abroad, but there are more fun with beach and sun and sand here in our islands.
2. May is the month of our Blessed Mother, hence there are also plenty of fiestas in her honor. My parish the Queen of Peace Church will have its festivities on the last Sunday of May. There are on-going catechism classes for neighboring kids. First Communion and Confirmation will be held during the fiesta mass. There will be the customary brunch fare also for the community after the mass.
3. Tomorrow May 13 is the 100 year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. I plan to attend the early morning mass and a celebratory breakfast afterwards. I will be sharing 2 rolls of Red Ribbon cakes. There will be pancit, bread and coffee, etal, as per voluntary contribution of some members. 
4. There are weddings. My husband Lucas will act as one of the primary sponsors during the wedding of the son of our employee Nestor this coming May 18.
5. Birthday celebrations too - I just attended the 91st birthday celebration of Cherry Lao this May 10th. My daughter-in-law Angel also celebrated her 38th birthday that same day in Cebu. Today is the birthday of my uncle Fernando Go in Manila. Good health, long life and a happy disposition are my best wishes for him. The most popular May birthday celebrant though is our parish grand dame Lily Uy (everybody calls her Mother Lily). She is well known for her big and varied and generous gala spread. Her birthday theme this year is Hawaiian. Lily has hired a party coordinator to teach Hawaiian dance numbers to the MMLC for her birthday programme. She also offered to pay for their costumes too. Everybody is now in a competition to be the best hawaiian dancer I suppose. I will not be joining this party though for I plan to go to Manila to continue with repainting my house before the on set of the rainy season this June. I am happy to get out of the way. I pray for the party to be a big success, only the best for this generous and kindhearted lady who is the pillar of the ladies organization of our parish. And here I also have another invitation from Juliet Tsang for the birthday celebration of her father in Davao on May 30, but which I will not be attending since I may still be in Manila. Wishing all the birthday celebrants the best of everything.
6. And by the way, this coming May 19, my daughter Marion is going to Paris for a ph.d conference from New Zealand. It is going to be a long tiring trip but may our Lady keep her safe always. I pray for her to have a safe, happy and successful journey most specially because she is doing this on this beautiful month of May which synonymously belongs to our lovely Lady.
Here's wishing everybody a happy and beautiful month of May, with blessings from the Lord.