Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Ctizenship

I just found out yesterday when I checked their website that USCIS had raised the application fee for US citizenship. Would you believe that they raised it from $300 dollars to $675. That’s more than a 100% increased! Oh my! No wonder there’s a bunch of illegal aliens here, they can hardly afford the fee. How much more now? CIS will really make a lot of money just for those fees alone and it takes them a long time to process the papers too. I am planning to file for my citizenship next month but the fee really make me sick. Can hardly afford it.

Since I began filing my papers to become a lawful permanent resident in this country, it already cost us a lot of money. This is the prize to acquire a US citizenship, money! It’s all about the money! I got disgusted in my own country about the graft and corruption in the government and now I’m disgusted with the way they do it here too. Wala na bang matinong gobyerno sa mundo? My only consolation now is I know that I’m just passing through in this world. My citizenship is in heaven. My name was written in the Book of Life the day I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Praise God for that!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Songfest and Preachfest

We had a songfest and preachfest yesterday in our church. We do it every 5th Sunday of the month. We listened to songs rendered by the participants and messages delivered by the preachers. There were 5 preachers who participated and that includes my hubby George. He was the 3rd one who preached. All the songs and preaching were such a blessing and I really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in our church yesterday. For the last 2 months, our church faced a crisis since Bro. Bill retired as our pastor. We’ve been praying for God’s will to send us a pastor that He wants us to have. God has answered our prayers and He sent us a new pastor in the person of Bro. Jim Turner. He is a good preacher and his messages greatly blesses me. He and his wife Ms. Marsha officially joined our church yesterday and we’re thankful to God for that. We are looking forward to serving God with him for many years to come.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Cooking Time

I was busy this morning hand-washing some of my clothes and I had no time to cook. George got hungry so he cooked our lunch. He likes to experiment in cooking and he cooked potato stew (my first time to eat this) and macaroni with cream of chicken. I was surprised his recipes turned out good. Hmm… yummy. This afternoon, I cooked pinto beans and George baked Mexican corn bread. While I was cooking the pinto beans I checked my e-mail and my friendster page. I forgot all about the beans and it’s good George was there or else my beans could have been burned. I did that a few times before, shhh… As I get older, my forgetter is getter better, LOL! Anyways, the mexican corn bread of George was the best corn bread that he has ever made. It really taste so good! And yes, my beans was superb too. George said I cooked good pinto beans. We’re a good cooking team. Hurray!!!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Harvest Time

I’ve been harvesting my veggies and I even shared to my Filipina friends tomatoes, string beans, okra, lettuce, green beans and squash flowers. This morning, I harvested again more of my veggies. In fact I cooked "dinengdeng" today and I really love it. All my veggies are organic, no pesticides, herbicides and no fertilizers. Hmm, I save money because organic vegetables are so expensive. I can hardly afford it so it’s best to grow my own vegetable garden. My garden provides me fresh veggies everyday and I’m lovin’ it.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Summer Fun At Six Flags

Last Monday we went to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington together with the teenagers, kids and some adults in our church. My husband was not able to go because he has to work. We left at 7:00 AM and it was a two and half hour drive from Wichita Falls to Arlington. The park opens at 10:00 AM. I thought that there will not be a lot of people there because it’s not a weekend but I was wrong. There were lots of people there. There were different kinds of rides there but I just chose to ride the smooth rides. I’m chicken when it comes to riding those thrilling and adventurous rides like the Superman, Coobrila and the roller coaster rides. Oh my! Just looking at those rides makes me feel dizzy and weak. I just rode the train rides and the boat ride. I enjoyed riding the Boomtown Depot train because I was able to have sight-seeing around some parts of the park.

It was hot and humid at noon and in the afternoon (maybe the highest was mid 90’s)but it’s a good thing that they have those fans with mists all around the park and I like to stay near them when I feel hot. It made me feel better. After roaming around the park and had picture taking my feet became sore in the afternoon. So my friends and I just sat down across the Superman ride and watch the riders there. We left Six Flags at 9:30 PM and I got home about past 12 midnight. I really got tired because of too much walking and my husband said that I look darker now because of too much exposure in the sun. I really don’t mind if my skin become darker as long as I have fun fun.

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Monday, July 9, 2007

The Beauty of Nature in Colorado Springs

Last Thursday, George and I together with my friend Sofia and her 2 kids Heather and Josh traveled by car to Colorado Springs, Colorado. George drove and it took us 12 longs hours on the road before we got to Colorado Springs with all those stop overs in the gas station, rest areas and picture taking on the road. Also one time we got out of the way. Just getting out of Texas took us a long time because it is such a large state. When finally we got to Colorado, we were amazed by the scenic views and also the cool weather. We checked in to our hotel but then there was a problem because we reserved a family room for 2 nights but the receptionist told us that we just reserved 1 night and the next night day we have to transfer to another room because the family room are all taken the next day. We really got irritated maybe because we’re so tired and we told the receptionist that we came all the way from Texas, 12 hours on the road and we don’t want to transfer to another room the next day because it’s a lot of hassle. So she finally gave us the key to our room and give it to us for 2 nights. Whew! there was a misunderstanding there. It so happened that there were a bunch of tourists who checked in and almost all the rooms were full. Early that evening Sofia’s friend Miriam and her family came in our hotel and we went to Seven Falls but George was so tired driving so he decided to stay in the hotel. Seven Falls is so beautiful at night because of the computerized lighting. The water changed into different colors. It’s so cool! There were a bunch of people there and there was a cultural show but we were so busy taking pictures of the water falls that I didn’t have time to watch them. We rode the mountain elevator and went to Eagle’s Nest. At the top we could see the falls. What a view! Miriam took us to Denny’s for supper that night but I was so tired and sleepy that I didn’t have the appetite to eat my food.

The next day we went to Garden of the Gods. Oh my! the view is spectacular. I felt so amazed seeing the rocky mountains so high. Only God can make those magnificent views. I feasted my eyes seeing the beauty of nature while we were hiking in the Garden of the Gods. I’m a nature lover and I really love sight-seeing. We can only say "Wow! What a view!" We spent half day there and after we ate our lunch, off we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I have seen all the photos of Ashley that she posted in her page here in Friendster so I really wanted to see all those beautiful spots in Colorado Springs. We spent the whole day just hiking and walking. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo lives up to its name. The zoo is really in the mountainous area and this is America’s only mountain zoo. So we have to walk up and down the mountain zoo just to see those animals. This zoo has the the world-famous giraffe herd, the largest of any zoo. On top of the mountain zoo, you can see the breathtaking mountain scenery of the zoo and also Colorado Springs. At the end of the day my feet got tired. Then Ashley called and she decided to meet us personally the next day before we leave. She and her hubby Scott came to our hotel and then took us to breakfast at IHop restaurant. I was so glad to see Ashley and her hubby. They are nice and good-looking couple and we enjoyed talking with them. My only regret is we only had a short time to be with each other because we have to leave early and also Ashley had to work at 11:00 AM that day. After we ate our breakfast, Scott and Ashley took us to a scenic overlook view in Colorado Springs wherein we could see the Pikes Peak, Cheyenne Mountain and the US Airforce Academy. We took some souvenir photos with them and after that we said goodbye to each other and we headed back home. We really enjoyed our short stay there and we had fun. Thank God we got home safe and sound.

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