Praying for Ondoy's [Ketsana] victims and for the Filipino people.

For the 250 (and counting) people who lost their lives, for the people who lost lives of their loved ones, for those who are still in search for their loved ones, for the 500,000 families displaced from their homes, for those who are struggling to get back to their feet, for those who are helping in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of the communities, for all the Juans who stepped up and became heroes.

My heart was breaking as I watched the coverage of the typhoon. My boy Kaden watched with me as I followed the news, and he was asking me questions about the flood. He asked me why the people did not build an Ark to save them from the flood just like Noah did in the story of Noah's Ark. Yes, my boy is smart like that. But more than that, he also has a big heart. I didn't realize that he was also affected by what he saw until it was time for him to say his prayers before going to sleep. Without me telling him to, he asked the Lord to bless all the people who "died and lost their houses", he prayed for "the hard rain to stop in Manila" and for it "not to flood in Zamboanga".

Ondoy took the Philippines by storm, and it seems to me that it was all it took to make us Filipinos realize that we are very blessed to be part of a nation of everyday heroes.

Typhoon Peping is coming in a few hours. I pray for everyone's safety.