A Book for Grieving Children

I knew loss as a very young girl when my father died of a heart attack when I was 16 years old. In 1981, an adolescent like myself could not make heads or tails of what the whole grief experience was all about. Drawing from my own personal experience and that of my child's, a little over a year ago, I set out to write a children's story with Pia as my subject. It was the story of how she coped in the first year after we lost Migi. Back in 1998, she was all of seven years old.

"Heaven's Butterfly" is a story about how to help children deal with the loss of a loved one through death. Pia and I pray that the book will be able to help many other children and their parents who have experienced the death of a loved one. In the book is a small section on how parents and teachers can help children grieve well.

It's not always easy to share your story with the world. It was very healing for the two of us to write this. When we saw the illustrations the first time, we really cried. In putting our grief into words, for Pia, especially, our lives have finally come full circle after ten years.

The illustrations were made by the very talented Panch Alcaraz whose amazing gift made our story come alive. Panch was able to capture the essence of Migi and Pia in the photographs, and how we were as a family 10 years ago. An interesting side note is that while working together, I discovered that Panch's father, Pat, was my former boss at Philippine Airlines in the late 1980s. Again, it never ceases to amaze me how God brings people together for a purpose.



"Heaven's Butterfly" was written to honor the memory of our little boy blue who taught us the meaning of love and selflessness. It was also written for all the other children who walk the delicate journey from healing to hope. Published by Anvil, it is due for release very soon.

Has Justice Been Served?

Seventeen years ago. On a cold, dark evening. A sixteen year old girl begs for her life. Deaf to her pleas, for some unfathomable reason, she is shot, in cold blood.

Seventeen years later, in the dead of the night, while the whole world sleeps, the man who shot the 16 year old in cold blood, is set free.

I wonder what thoughts must be going through Hultman's hearts right now? What would I do, if I were in their shoes? I suppose, forgiveness comes, eventually, at some point in the road. But isn't it also true that one must pay for the consequences of one's sin?

What is the basis for clemency? For pardon? Can someone please explain this to me? If you were the Hultman's how would you feel? Is 17 years behind bars enough penalty? Maybe it is. Did Mr.Teehankee find God in jail?

I would be very interested in a story, in an interview with him. How was your life changed by the experience? What did you discover while you were in jail?

Are you planning to seek the Hultman's forgiveness?

If the Jewish concentration camp prisoner was able to forgive the Nazi who massacred his entire family...If the Amish whose daughters were mercilessly shot by the man who took them hostage were able to forgive...

No one is beyond redemption. There is earthly justice and Divine justice. I suppose the story does not end here. It would be interesting to listen to the opinion and the sentiments of both sides and see how the story will unravel from hereon.

Holiday Travel and Travel Tips For Kids (ages 3-10)

Paul Newman's Greatest Legacy

The Hole In The Wall Camps will be one, if not the most lasting, the most memorable of Paul Newman's legacies. More than his films, and his other philanthropic works, this is the advocacy that perhaps will leave it's mark on thousands of lives. Paul Newman will live on in each every child that has come through this camp.

Watch this beautiful video...

Paul Newman, 83 Goes Home

I just read the sad news. One of my childhood idols has passed away.

Paul Newman, 83 died in his Connecticut home after a long battle with cancer. He will be a great loss not only to Holl

ywood, but to the world, which he made a little better by his presence. Not only was he a brilliant actor but he was a wonderful human being.

An Associated Press report says --

"Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so f

amously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say."

I loved all of Pual Newman's movies. I first saw him in the movie "The Sting" with Robert Redford, when I was all of eight years old and since then I have become such a huge fun. My admiration for him was further heightened by his humanitarian work, especially in helping children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Like me, he also lost a child too. His only Scott (from his first wife), passed away in 1978 from an accidental overdose of alcohol and valium.

In his memory, Newman set up the Scott Newman Center which produces anti-drug abuse films for kids.

He shared a long, enviable marriage to the actress Joanne Woodward by whom he had three daughters, and three others from his first wife, Jacqueline Witte.

Sally Field once said of Paul Newman "Sometimes God makes perfect people, and Paul Newman was one of them."

AP Movie Critic Cristy Lemire in her article, said it best -- His passion came shining through in his love of, and talent for, auto racing. But it's through his philanthropy — the Newman's Own Foundation, which has raised more than $250 million for charities worldwide, and the Hole in the Wall Camps for children with life-threatening diseases — that he showed his true heart.

He will be missed very much. Read the full story here.