Valentine's Day in America, China & Israel

As a woman Valentine's Day is important to be recognized from her husband or boyfriend on this special day. The day of love to me is not celebrating with my boyfriend only but with my family, my friends, the people I love in my life. If you hate Valentine's Day, I was once like you. I hated roses and loving couples on this day but I have learned to accept and show my love to my friends, family and my two young nieces. I am woman who is loved by her family. My family is number one in my life and this year I will celebrate with my mom (who lost her husband to cancer last year), my sister ( A single mom), my guy and my two nieces.

This summer, I got to see Valentine's Day in China and I had experienced Valentine's day in Israel 2001. The holidays are no different from other countries because it celebrating the day of love. What is the difference from American Valentine's Day compare to others countries? China & Israel is the focus in this blog. Get ready for history lesson because it will be interesting. Forgive me if my blog is long but I had to do some research online. So, Enjoy! :)

Chinese Valentine's Day

“中国情人节(Zhōngguó qíngrénjié) Chinese Valentine’s Day" will be on the 6th of August. Nowadays, Chinese people celebrate this special day in various ways.

Many young lovers in China go for a special Chinese Valentine's Day candlelit dinner. People often float red, pink, and white helium-filled balloons or hang fresh flowers above their dining table. In addition, they like to create a romantic atmosphere with music wafting through the room.

"情人节电影(qíngrénjié diànyǐng) Valentine's Day movies" are also very popular in China. Lovers go to cinema together to see a moving love story. Moreover, a lot of young Chinese people like to go to Karaoke to enjoy a romantic "情人节(qíngrénjié) Valentine's Day."

Most young people in China are also keen of Chinese Valentine's Day. Actually, in China we have a similar holiday dedicated for love, as in the west. In Chinese, it's called "七夕节(qīxī jié) The Seventh Eve."It is also known as "中国情人节(zhōngguó qíngrén jié) Chinese Valentine's Day"and "女儿节(nǚér jié) The Daughter's Day." It occurs on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar. This day was originated from a beautiful love story. The seventh daughter of the Goddess of Heaven, 织女(zhīnǚ) Zhi Nv, fell in love with a cowherd called 牛郎(niúláng) Niu Lang. Regardless of the taboo that an immortal could not marry a mortal, she decided to marry Niu Lang. They lived happily for several years. Eventually, however, the Goddess of Heaven became fed up with her daughter's absence, and ordered her to return to heaven. However, the mother took pity on the couple and allowed them to reunite once a year. Legend has it that on the seventh night of the seventh moon, magpies form a bridge with their wings for Zhi Nv to cross to meet her husband.

In ancient times, various activities were held to celebrate the festival in different places, but young people nowadays like to release the "孔明灯(kŏngmíngdēng) Hung Ming lanterns"on the Chinese Valentine's Day, which was invented by Zhuge Kongming at the time of Three Kingdoms. In the evening, lovers make good wishes together and light Hung Ming lanterns with full blessings of faithful love between them, just like the love between Niu Lang and Zhi Nv.

In Chinese Valentine's Day, you can hear all kinds of Valentine's Day greetings, such as "情人节快乐(Qíngrénjié kuàilè) Happy Valentine's Day!" "情(qíng)"represents all kinds of emotion such as "爱情(àiqíng) love," "亲情(qīnqíng) the feelings between family members," but here, it means love. "人(rén)" means person or people. So "情人(qíngrén)" means lovers and is the same as another Chinese word "情侣(qínglǚ)." The character "节(jié)" means festival, which comes from the Chinese word "节日(jiérì)." So "情人节(qíngrénjié)" means the lovers' festival, namely, Valentine's Day. "快(kuài)" means fast and "乐(lè)" means happiness.
At such a romantic festival, it is a great chance to express yourself to your loved one.

Here we offer you some classic Chinese expressions on this special day:

好希望陪着你一直到老，让你做我手心里的宝。我爱你！ 
Hăo xīwàng péizhe nǐ yìzhí dào lăo, ràng nǐ zuò wŏ shŏuxīn lǐ de băo. Wŏ ài nǐ!
I hope to accompany you until we are old, and let you become a treasure in my palm. I love you!

每一天都为你心跳，每一刻都被你感动，每一秒都为你担心。有你的感觉真好！ 
Měi yì tiān dōu wèi nǐ xīntiào, měi yí kè dōu bèi nǐ găndòng, měi yì miăo dōu wèi nǐ dānxīn. Yŏu nǐ de gănjué zhēn hăo!
 Every day my heart beats for you; every moment I am moved by you; every second I am concerned about you. I feel so good to be with you! ( Read more about Chinese Valentine's Day Here)

Israel Valentine's Day

(August 15^th) I was told the holiday occurs by looking at the moon during summertime. Tu B'Av, the 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the second Temple period (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.). Tu B'Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel. In its modern incarnation it is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, slightly resembling Valentine's Day in English-speaking countries.

There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B'Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying, "There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)?"(Ta'anit, Chapter 4).

Origins of the Date

The Gemara (the later, interpretive layer of the Talmud) attempts to find the origin of this date as a special joyous day, and offers several explanations. One of them is that on this day the Biblical "tribes of Israel were permitted to mingle with each other," namely: to marry women from other tribes (Talmud, Ta'anit 30b). This explanation is somewhat surprising, since nowhere in the Bible is there a prohibition on "intermarriage" among the 12 tribes of Israel. This Talmudic source probably is alluding to a story in the book of Judges (chapter 21): After a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and other Israelite tribes, the tribes vowed not to intermarry with men of the tribe of Benjamin.

It should be noted that Tu B'Av, like several Jewish holidays (Passover, Sukkot, Tu Bishvat) begins on the night between the 14th and 15th day of the Hebrew month, since this is the night of a full moon in our lunar calendar. Linking the night of a full moon with romance, love, and fertility is not uncommon in ancient cultures.

For almost 19 centuries--between the destruction of Jerusalem and the re-establishment of Jewish independence in the state of Israel in 1948--the only commemoration of Tu B'Av was that the morning prayer service did not include the penitence prayer (Tahanun).

In recent decades Israeli civil culture promotes festivals of singing and dancing on the night of Tu B'Av. The entertainment and beauty industries work overtime on this date. It has no formal legal status as a holiday-- it is a regular workday--nor has the Israeli rabbinate initiated any addition to the liturgy or called for the introduction of any ancient religious practices. The cultural gap between Israeli secular society and the Orthodox rabbinate makes it unlikely that these two will find a common denominator in the celebration of this ancient/modern holiday in the foreseeable future.”

(See more information about Israel Valentine's Day Here)

Isleen

100th Blog Posting!!!

100 blog posting ago, I started this blog in 2008. I have learned a lot about myself and about life. I wanted to write this blog to capture my words on the net instead of on paper. I have noticed that this blog turned into a blog not for me but for other women.There was a season when I went through some grieving moments but I turned this blog to be positive. To show the world a woman can live by faith if she has enough faith in father in heaven.

This blog posting is not about shoe ideas, style ideas, and crafts, to cook, about church, cancer, places to visit or talk about art. I will give some insight of the purpose of this blog……

I am woman with a dream…. A woman who goes into many nations to reach other women from the darkness places. A woman who is willing to share her make up tips or hair tips to help open hearts of other women. I have seen so many women in the dark places saying that I am not beautiful and not loved. I tell them that you are loved. You can’t find that deep love from any man but the father in heaven. This is what I am called to do. I am woman who has a vision to help women to come to the light. Women can be mothers, widowers, divorced, single, married, upper class, lower class, and middle class, from America, Mexico, Texas, China, Middle East, New York, and California or rest of the world. I am here to help and serve you for the rest of my life. I may use make up tips, cooking ideas, style ideas, exercise ideas…. But this is who I am.This is why I write this blog… for you. To help you make your life a little easier, to help you escape for just a second online.

1^st Blog Entry in 2008

Isleen

Vintage Headbands

This week, our eyes were on the Golden Globes on the latest fashion. To my surprise we saw two actresses wearing vintage lookimg headbands with their beautiful evening dresses.

I have a feeling that vintage headbands will be on the rise when it comes to special occasions. You can pick up vintage looking headbands at your local Target, hair accessories store or just make your vintage headbands for fun.

 you can go to Esty.com website to help those who are creating these vintage headbands for you.

Here are some styles from Esty.com

Overcome Death, Disease and Despair (3D’s) By Dan Rodriguez

My dad wrote this on 03.12.2000. I was missing my dad this afternoon. I turned to his writings to help me and to be encouraged with his words. His writings will also encourage you to turn the Lord in trouble times.

Matt 10:1

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

In my earlier years, I remember my parents traveled wherever they could find work. The traveling pattern I remembered was going from Texas, to Oklahoma, and on to California returning back to Texas towards the end of the year. I heard much talk about earlier years on how they would travel from Texas, Illinois and to Florida. I know it may sound like my parents had money to travel, but the real traveling reason was they were migrant workers desperately looking to support the family in any word of work they heard or overheard. Many things happened in this time frame to my family. Some good, but a lot of mishaps where disease, death, and many desperate unwelcome situations occurred as the result of traveling. You would think my family would have stop the traveling as a result, the reason they continued to travel as a result, but the reason they continued was survival. My family finally settled in California when my dad was forced to stop working because of his bad back and age has slowly crept up on both of my parents.

The words death, disease and despair all seem to relate strongly to destruction and doom which comes from the pit of the devil. Jesus knew that in order for the gospel to continue, his disciples would have to overcome adversities such as unclean spirits (demon in people) sickness, and disease. It is funny how the Lord broke out sickness from disease. You would think they are in the same, but in reality one is the progression of the other. Managers in all corporations, partnerships and small proprietary business give power to deal all the areas of business. Here, Jesus gives power to his disciples in these three main areas of business of the gospel.

Was this authority only to the twelve or was it to include you and me? Many have missed the mark of the gospel because they failed to include the authority of Jesus. Thousands followed Jesus everywhere not because they failed to include the authority of Jesus. Thousands followed Jesus everywhere not because of they needed consultation to put their corporate leaders in the right course or to inspire managers to produce higher sales, less expenses, greater gains with less efforts but these masses of folks followed Jesus because they needed to witness these miracles for themselves or needed a healing miracle for them or a loved one.

T.L. Osborn talks about how he went to India in his first missionary trip only to find that he was well regarded just like any other powerless religion. He and his wife returned home feeling somewhat disappointed regarding their trip because their Jesus was not regarded as the messiah he knew and had accepted. His vision totally changed when they witnessed a minister holding a revival where the people with sickness, diseases, and with unclean spirits were delivered and both he and his wife re-read all the New Testament with a whole new light where God was speaking to the Osborns as well as the disciples. After this, their ministry in India flourished because they started putting their faith in action by praying for the sick, diseased and with spirits believing for their healing with signs and wonders just like it says in Mark 16:2- “And they went fourth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, death, disease, despair hit my family when we did not know the power of God through the authority of Jesus words. Do not only know God’s word gives you authority over any adversary where it death, disease, or despair, but put this authority into action in your life as well as everyone around you! We overcome death when we accept and serve Jesus in our hearts guaranteeing a place in heaven FOREVER! Multiple the gospel by knowing and applying God’s delegated authority over destruction from the devil which comes at us seeking to devour and destroy us through any mean he has previously doctrine us to accept.

BE READY! As My father signed ( Dan Rodriguez)

Mark 16:16-18

New International Version (NIV)

“16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Review in 2011 & Goals for 2012

Looking back 2011 was not easy year for me. I had to reflect many of my photos to be picked for 2011. At the beginning of the year, I was laid off in January, 2011. I did my best to keep my mind positive for many months and trusted in the Lord for the direction in my life. I found myself working through school with my master degree, selling Avon as hobby, volunteered for community college on a project, hung out with my dad & family often, adventured with my family to many family events including Padre Island, in South Texas- April 2011, celebrated my 91^st Grandfather’s birthday, getting a makeover with Bobbi Brown with my close cousin, going on motorcycle journey with my boyfriend in South Texas for a week, meeting my cousin 1st time in San Antonio, TX  and hung out with Clifford’s close friends in Blanco, TX, I received a call to go to China-April 2011, watched Dallas Mavs, Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys had an amazing year in sports, worked with my Hilton family again, watched the crazy weather in May and June come through Texas, celebrated my dad’s last birthday when he turned 57 years old in June, I had amazing time with my family on Fourth of July, taught English in Beijing, China, explored places that I thought I wouldn’t ever gone in my lifetime in China, I met new friends in China and also in the states with my University, watched my dad being diagnosed with cancer 2^nd time in August, had emotion pains with my dad go through hospice care and had a funeral for my dad in Sept., I had celebrated my 31^st birthday and my niece’s 8^th birthday two weeks after my dad passed away- which we made the best of it with friends & family, my family went away to Kemah, Houston for vacation at the end of Sept., I went through a new season with my family and my mom at home, walked at Susan G Komen race in Oct. with good friends, ran for colon cancer with my family in Oct. 2011, my family had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family from South Texas and 91 year old grandfather, celebrated 5 years with the love of my life Clifford, continued to finished my studies on campus for my master, I had 1 great mentor pray for my family and me, I graduated with my master in Dec. 2011, I went to Virginia and New York city to see friends & family, and spend Christmas & New Years with my family.

Life is not perfect and it has its ups and downs. At times you can't control your life because “LIFE HAPPENS”. You are not in control and I really believe the Father in Heaven is in control of your life with the choices you make in life. I did my best to stay positive and be strong for my family this year because I did not want to fall into deep depression with the crazy season that I was had in 2011.

What is ahead in 2012…. many are saying the world will end Dec. 2012. I don’t know what is ahead after Dec. 2012 but I will say that I will make the best of this year after going through 2011. 2012, it will be a year when my writings will be published online or maybe in a book, I will do my best to get my dad’s book published for my family, I will finally find that dream job in teaching, in marketing field or the hospitality industry, I hoped to start my life with the love of my life and plan a wedding this year, & I hoped to vacation in Florida this summer with my mom and my family. I don’t know what else to write as my goals but we will see what to expect in my life. I will need some of the prayer warriors to pray for my family and I. Please pray for my family to be stronger in our faith and not fall. It has been difficult season because our father was leader when it came to things of the Lord. I am doing the best to be a leader as woman of the Lord because it has not been easy. I am trusting in the Lord for the next steps in my family’s life.

Until next week blog, I will see you online.

Isleen