It’s exactly 4 years today since I first step foot in this land of the free and the home of the brave wherein most people in my country are dying to see. I still remember, my hubby and I left NAIA (the airport in Manila) at about 12:30 midnight. Before boarding the plane I was so excited and I told myself, America here I come, lol! Well, that was my first time to ride a plane and I had mixed feelings, nervous and excited. We had a smooth flight from Manila to Korea and I managed to have a little nap.We took the Korean airlines and we had a 7 hour layover in Korea. Oh my, that was a long wait for me. I was so eager to see USA.

Then finally we boarded the plane that will take us to Texas. It was a very long trip and the flight was not as smooth as the previous one. We encountered a lot of turbulence during the flight. At first I got so nervous, it feels like there was an earthquake inside the plane, lol! But after a while I got used to it and I got to enjoy the trip. The stewardees had served good food and hubby and I enjoyed it. I looked around the other passengers and some of them were sound asleep and some even laid down on the vacant seats. I wonder how they managed to sleep inside the plane. Maybe some of them travel by plane often and they got used to flying. But me, that was my first time and I can’t sleep while flying. Besides I got a lot of things in my head like what will my life be like in the US and I thought of my family that I left in the Philippines. Sure thing I gonna miss them.

Then after long hours of flying we were finally in the US territory. I was so excited to take a glimpse of how the US look like so I asked my hubby to exchange seat with me so I can sit by the window. I took a peek outside and all I’ve seen were trees and buildings. When we finally landed and got our baggage, hubby and I were in the lobby of DFW airport and there we were met by his 2 lovely daughters. I was glad to see them, my new family here. While we were on our way to the house I just kept looking around. I said to myself, so this is it, this is USA…my home for the last 4 years and God’s willing, for more years to come. I thank the Lord for bringing me here.

Tweet

We had a simple celebration of our wedding anniversary tonight. But as early as yesterday, my husband gave me fresh flowers. He said it’s for his beautiful wife and for being married to him for 5 years. He said it was the best 5 years of his life and that I made him happy. I told him the feeling is mutual, he made me happy too and I had no regrets of marrying him and we embraced and kissed each other. So to celebrate the occasion, I cooked foods like meatloaf, potato salad, pancit, lumpia, blueberry muffins and cathedral windows jello. Wow! I was like a supercook cooking all these by myself. The preparation of the ingredients especially for the pancit took most of my time. I made the jello last night, the muffins yesterday and I wrapped the lumpia the other day and just fried them today. The pancit, potato salad, meat loaf and the lumpia I cooked them after lunch.

Anyway, while I was cooking the pancit, Malou came by and she helped me mixed the pancit and the vegetables together. The noodles were so sticky because my husband bought rice noodles made in Thailand. I asked him to buy me rice noodles which is made in the Philippines and I thought he knows how it looks like but when he came home, he bought a different kind. It tasted good though, only it was sticky. In fairness, the foods I cooked were all good according to my husband. He ate a lot. We didn’t even have room for the butter pecan ice cream that he bought. I didn’t invite others because I thought I would not be able to cook much. It’s good Malou came by, she didn’t know that it’s our anniversary today. I just asked her yesterday to come today because I’ll be cooking. We invited James to come for supper and he came after we ate and Malou had already left. He got off late tonight and he came here straight from work in his navy uniform. We had a good time eating and I gave Malou and James foods to take home. George and I give thanks to the Lord for another wedding anniversary that He gave us. Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

salute the navy

Tweet

Tomorrow will be our 5th wedding anniversary. How time flies. Wasn’t it only yesterday when George and I got married? I still remember, we got married in the Philippines. It’s one of the happiest moments in my life. I prayed to God to give me the man He wants me to have. I didn’t pray for a rich man to be my husband. I prayed to God to give me a man who is a christian and who will love me for what and who I am and He gave me George. We had only a short time to prepare our wedding, less than 2 weeks because George had to go back to the US after 3 weeks of staying in the Philippines. So everything was rushed but I thank God that we had a good wedding. Our wedding was well attended especially during the reception. George was surprised to see all the people who came to eat. He said that people were coming out from wood works meaning people were coming from everywhere, lol!

The reception was catered and according to the caterer, almost 500 plates were used in the reception. So that’s the number of people who came to eat in our wedding celebration. Lot’s of people huh! I was really surprised but knowing the people in our town, they come and gatecrash though they’re not invited especially they knew that an American is getting married to a Filipina. George and I really didn’t mind. Maybe some of them, that’s the only time that they got a decent meal. It’s a good thing that despite the fact that many people came, there were still lots of leftover foods so we gave some to my kinfolks and neighbors.

It’s good to reminisce the past, it brought back good memories. Now 5 years had passed by so swiftly. There were ups and downs we encountered along the way, but with God on our side we were able to handle them gracefully. George and I are looking forward to many years to come and spend the rest of our lives together with God in the center of our lives. We’re praying to God to use us to further His kingdom and that we would like to go back in the Philippines. We know that God is faithful and we believe that He shall give us the desires our hearts in His perfect time.

Tweet

The lyrics of the following song really touched me. The first time I heard this song was when we sang it in the church and my tears rolled down my checks while we sing this song. They were tears of joy knowing that someday when I get to see my Savior, that would be a glorious day!

What A Day That Will Be

There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come
No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye.
All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

There’ll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there;
And forever I will be with the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE INDEED! JUST THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES ME EXCITED, TO BE ABLE TO LOOK UPON MY SAVIOR’S FACE AND THANK HIM FOR DYING ON THE CROSS FOR ME! JUST THINK, NO MORE PAIN OR SICKNESS, OR SORROW, NOTHING BUT PEACE. JESUS LOVED US SO MUCH THAT HE DIED JUST FOR US WHO ARE BUT SINNERS AND UNWORTHY OF THAT KIND OF LOVE. HE IS REALLY WORTHY TO BE GIVEN THANKS AND PRAISED AND OUR LOVE.

Tweet

Just been busy these past few days doing chores in the house. Yesterday, Toni and I went to the store to buy some baby stuff for the baby shower of the 2 ladies in our church who will be giving birth soon. The baby shower will be this coming Saturday for Joan and on September 5 for Elizabeth. Another lady, Alicia will be giving birth on January. So there will be three babies to be added in our church soon and that’s a blessing. I’ve been busy cooking today. I cooked banana nut muffins after lunch and then I cooked the veggies from my garden for our supper. Yesterday after I got home from the store, I made some lumpia so I can stock up my freezer with it. I run out of wrappers so I asked my hubby today to buy 3 more packs of lumpia wrappers. I will continue making lumpia later. We were not able to attend midweek service today because hubby’s back is hurting, tired from work. I gonna give him a massage tonight to relieve him of that soreness in his back.

Tweet

I got to harvest my squash this morning and I’m so happy because they’re big ones. I planted 2 kinds of squash, mexican and filipino squash. The Mexican squash are smaller in size and the filipino squash are bigger. I already cooked some of the Mexican squash and they’re good ones. I gathered a bunch of squash flowers everyday and my ref is already full of it now. I already put in the freezer a bunch of it.

My husband said a couple of weeks ago that all he can see are all squash flowers and he asked me when will I harvest squash. So when he got home today from work and saw the 2 big squash in the counter top, he asked me where did I get those. I told him from my garden. He haven’t seen those squash in the garden because they’ve been covered with the leaves. I will have to chop those squash and put some of it in the freezer because I can’t cook all of them for now. I will save some for the winter when there will be no more veggies in my garden. By the way, I made tomato salsa out of those tomatoes from my garden and it turned out good. My hubby love it. View my veggies here.

Tweet

Our Sunday School teacher Bro. Hugh & his wife Ms. Mareta invited us to attend the Balloon Festival in Tahlequah, Oklahoma this past weekend, August 17-19. They rented a vacation cottage house in Cookson Hill, OK, about 12 miles from Tahlequah and a 5 hour drive from Wichita Falls.

The house has 3 bedrooms and all the rooms are clean and bright with large windows. The kitchen was furnished with gas range, ref and all amenities are included in the house such as linens, towels, washer & dryer, flat iron & board, tv, dishes, cookwares and utensils so we were able to cook our breakfast. We really like the house, it’s old but updated, clean and well decorated. It’s so peaceful and quiet in that place and there were a lot of trees in that area so it’s cooler there. It’s like a home away from home. We went to the Balloon Festival Friday evening for the balloon glow. It’s my first time to watch a balloon festival and those ballons are really huge and colorful. I took some photos when they had those balloons lighted up and twinkled. After the balloon glow, they had a fireworks show to wrap up the day’s event.

The next day, Saturday, we went again at the airport in Tahlequah and watched the jeep rock climbing show. The jeeps climbed the pile of rocks and went down a deep hole and then go up and down another deep hole again. Oh my, that’s a scary thing for me, they call it extreme wheelin’. There was also a classic car show. Those cars are old models but I bet they are expensive, maybe the price is the same as a brand new car if not more expensive.

While waiting on the balloons to fly, there was a live concert but I didn’t really care about it because I don’t like those kind of music. It’s good that a group of Gospel singers sang next and we sat down and listened to their songs. The balloons flew later than what was scheduled because there was a shower in the afternoon. It’s good they decided to fly anyway but not a lot of them because of the rain.

Before we headed back home yesterday, we attended the Calvary Baptist Church in Eufaula, the same place where we had the summer camp last June. The preacher preached a good message and we’re really blessed. We had a good time during this weekend getaway and we enjoyed it. We are so grateful to Bro. Hugh and Ms. Mareta for inviting us to the Balloon Festival. George and I

enjoyed it.

Tweet

It was my birthday yesterday and I thank God for another year that He has given me in my life. God is the source of my existence and without Him I am nothing. Every year is such a blessing and I just praise God for all the things that He has done in my life and for all the things that He’s going to do. We were in Cleburne this weekend and we stayed at Robert and Shelly’s house. We spent 2 nights there and it was such a pleasure to be with them.

We went also to visit Stacy and her 2 kids. LA still looks the same but Consuelo has grown and she is a fat baby now at 5 months. She don’t cry now as she used to when she was newly born. I carried her and held her in my arms and she behaved and smiled. I am really fond of babies and I just wished that I have one of my own. George is fond of Consuelo too being his first granddaughter and he put her on his lap and rocked her on the chair. It’s been more than 4 months since the last time we saw all of them. We haven’t seen Sherry though when we went to see her at her work place after church. George got the chance too to assemble a model car with Josh last Friday night. It was a bonding time for the two of them and both of them like to play with cars. I also had the chance to swim or it’s more proper to say soak myself in their swimming pool (since I can’t swim). It made me feel relax and cool on a hot day.

Yesterday after church, Shelly and Robert cooked our lunch. Shelly said it’s in honor of my birthday and she cooked mashed potatoes and beans and Robert cooked beef steak. George bought ice cream and we had a good lunch. Oh, I almost forgot, Robert bought 4 boxes of pizza last Saturday night. Oh my, George and I got full that he went to bed early and both of us had a good night sleep. We are really thankful for the Brownlees for their hospitality and for the good meals. It was such a blessing.

Tweet