4 Years

Alan and I reached our 4th year wedding anniversary today. Being a wife to my husband each year is wonderful but this year it is even more so. Now that we're blessed to live happily together, I'm getting to know him on a much deeper level and there is so much more of him to love. 

My family, especially my mom, would tell me how lucky I am to meet such a good man like Alan. To me he is a unicorn, surreal, one of a kind. And I have God to thank for that. It can only be God who could adeptly orchestrate uniting two distinct people, who lived oceans apart to be together. When Alan was younger, he discerned to be a priest. Good for me, it was not his calling. On the other hand, when I migrated to the US, I thought I would marry a blonde-hair blue-eyed man. However, our plans are not God's plans. And God's plans are always absolute best. I couldn't be more joyful that I married Alan, a beautiful man, with a heart. My one and only man in the world, the universe rather (O diba feeling Miss Universe haha)

Looking back at the 4 years we've been married, we hardly get into fights. No dramatic, screaming scenes so far. I guess because Alan has the softest and calmest voice in the world, it is close to a whisper so to yell is alien to him. And I like to take my chill pill once a day regularly. LOL. Kidding aside, we are pretty much a great team. We have each other's backs covered. Such that problems turn into sweet little adventures when we deal with them together. 

 

At the end of the day, when he snuggles at my back, and my body pressed against his, I could not help but feel like I'm over the moon. This warm feeling of blessedness is still surreal...even after 4 years.

Thank you to our dear friend AP, for the photos below taken at Savannah.

 

 

 

xoxo,

Joselle

The bug was back

December is here, and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. In the front door, there is a wreath hanging filled with lush red poinsettias that seem almost real. In the living room, a cute pink tree pops in, filled with ornaments glistening in every angle. Yes, our first tree is pink and unapologetically so, always what I have dreamed of. In the dining area, another wreath sits in the middle of the table albeit much more special than the one outside the door. It's an Advent Wreath filled with various evergreen, pine, holly, mistletoe and candles. In our family, we feel that it is the most significant decoration of all. More than a decoration, it's a spiritual symbol that has been part of our family tradition every Christmas time. Beginning on the first Sunday of Advent or first Sunday after Thanksgiving, the family gathers around the table before dinner. We light the wreath, we pray and sing together to remind and prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

There are boxes stacked in the corner of my room waiting to be wrapped in pretty papers. I know I will have a lovely time wrapping them up one by one, if only I can find the time. I remember happy stories of my Lola Remy when she used to work at the wrapping section of Bloomingdale's. Each item she would delicately and beautifully wrap and in return she would receive generous gratuities from her gracious customers. It's sad that they stopped doing that now in the malls. Anyway, I don't really mind wrapping. It will always be a sweet remembrance of my Lola Remy.

Christmas parties have begun here and there. I gaze in to my calendar and my weekends are all blocked! I have one this weekend and another one on the next. Both are potlucks. I know the oven will make a great companion through the course of this holiday season. 

Food food food. Holidays are always a good excuse to mingle and overeat. Except in Alan's case. Over the weekend, we attended various holiday get-togethers and from one of those, he developed a stomach flu. It's draining and it's painful but it's not as bad as his previous flu back in July. My poor hubby got the bug back. He stayed home on Monday and rested. I also took a day off to take care of him. 

I ponder on today's gospel, Come to me … and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28). Perhaps God wanted us to take a break from the restlessness this holiday brings. Although it wasn't the kind of break we wanted, God knew it was the only way that could allow us to receive his rest and rely in his comfort.. Even for one day. All day, my attention and care was all for and consumed by looking after my husband, holding on to God's mercy and grace and not by the holiday frenzy.

Time runs fast. But I hope December will be kind and will run slowly so I could enjoy and spend time with all the people that truly matters. 

It makes my heart swell with so much gratefulness that Alan and I are together this Christmas. Yesterday, he asked me what I wanted to get for Christmas and I couldn't think of anything else. Maybe the reason is I have already received that one thing on top of my Christmas wish list for the past few years, that he and I would finally reunite. Thank you Santa, thank you Lord!

 

xoxo,

Joselle

The Beauty of A Christian Marriage

It's one thing to marry your spouse for the first time and another thing to marry your spouse all over again. There's something romantic in saying "I do" for the second time after being through every difficult situations. Choosing to marry the same person, accepting all their imperfections and forgiving them for all their shortcomings has never been sweeter.

Over the weekend, Alan and I attended the CFC's Marriage Enrichment Retreat 1. (There are 3 series I believe). We were tremendously blessed to have been invited to this kind of retreat as we were profoundly enlightened on our roles as husband and wife, on how to communicate effectively, on how we could build our homes for God and on how we could pastor our future children as a team and with the grace of God.  Unfortunately, our household leader has limited us on sharing the details so we don't spill out all the exciting things that are in stored to the future candidates. But basically, it was such an awesome experience. Really a priceless investment of our time and money.

My decision to marry Alan was the best I have ever did in my life. We are married for almost 4 years now and there's not a single day that I have regretted marrying him. Even when he forgets to throw his dirty clothes in the hamper, even when he forgets to flush the toilet sometimes haha. Especially that we live together now, our relationship is a lot vulnerable to quarrels, misunderstandings, and disappointments. But at the end of the day, we choose love. And by loving each other, we honor the Lord. The God that brought the two of us together for his glory. This is a marriage that is saved by God. Without him and without his humble teachings, this is not possible at all. We couldn't do it on our own strength. It is easy to take each other for granted. It is easy to become selfish. It is easy to judge and irk each other. It is easy to surrender when the going gets tough. But because the Lord is our core, we have a marriage that is enriched with love, understanding, grace, respect, and forgiveness. Our marriage is not perfect, but by God's grace it is perfect in every way that matters.

In the world we live in now, marriages are being constantly attacked by the evil one. And that's why I'm grateful to be part of a community that makes us thrive to have a holy marriage. I'm grateful that we have shared this event with our friends who also have the same goal in their marriages. I'm thankful to all those people whom God used mightily to make this event so much memorable for us and a success.

xoxo,

Joselle

Birthday Prayer

Dear Lord, I give You glory and honor for You are GOOD. Your loving kindness is everlasting. Your generosity abounds and you give great gifts to your children. I could never be grateful enough to You for blessing me with another year. Thank you for satisfying the deepest desires of my heart. No one else but You can supply my needs dear Lord. Thank you for answering my prayers. Thank you for your everyday love validated through my spouse, my family, my friends, and my community. 

Dear Lord, thank you for Your amazing grace and mercy. Although I may be unworthy of Your love, you still love me anyway. That is how forgiving and compassionate You are. Your love is unconditional. How blessed I am to be loved by You. Day by day, I live by your grace. My life is not always happy happy joy joy, but You are my saving grace. You give sense to all life's trials and adversities. You reveal to me the power of prayer. You teach me to hope and to trust relentlessly. You teach me how to be patient and kind. In Your holy words I find comfort. Through your holy words, I am purified. 

Dear Lord, I look forward as I age gracefully to know you more.  I'm thankful for the 29 years worth of love and wisdom You have given me. My heart is full and I couldn't ask for anything more than You to bless all the people reading this blog. May they too experience Your everlasting love! 

xoxo,
Joselle

October rambling

This month has always been special to me. Besides of my birth month, what is there to not love October? The mornings are crisp, the leaves are too. The afternoons are warm but not too hot. The evenings are cool but not freezing. We could go days without turning the AC/heater on. What an energy and wallet friendly month! haha.

This month is also kind of sucking me in a whirlwind of activities. Thus explains the sporadic writing. I decided to gift myself a day off today to rest. But because the weekdays and weekends were hectic, I had no time left to do the house chores. Instead of taking the day easy, I caved in to cleaning the apartment and cooking. Sometimes I wonder if I have developed an OCD in me.   

Although I enjoy them, sometimes I still dream of a perfect, chill day. A perfect day would be waking up without an alarm clock, going out for a walk along a trail covered in crisp autumn leaves, stopping in a cafe and grabbing a cup of tea while I sit for an hour to read my bible and meditate. Then I go back home and watch episodes of my favorite tv series. Invite my favorite people over for pizza, lemon pepper chicken wings, and board games. Nothing fancy, just chill.

Going back to the cooking, today I cooked Arroz Ala Cubana. It's a family recipe and a great comfort food. It's made of stir fried ground beef/pork, bananas, eggs (I like mine over easy), and rice. All of my favorite food in one dish. I enjoy cooking. So much so when Alan eats more than I expect. Most of the time I encourage him to eat in moderation which he does so well, but when I cook, that rule doesn't apply any longer.

Other than cleaning and cooking, today has been really a good day! Besides my hour long nap, I got some good news in the mail! Alan's green card finally arrived! Long story short, his initial green card that was supposed to arrive after a month of his arrival unfortunately got lost in the mail. So we had to re-apply, mail another application form, go to the whole bio-metric she bang and pay another ridiculously high fee. What a pain. After 8 months, he finally got his green card. America, you know I love you but this is not a good way to welcome immigrants who strive to come to your country in good order.

Anyway, that's about it for October. Life has been good. Busy but good! 

xoxo,

Joselle

Moving in

It was a cloudy morning and the sun imposed not to show up. I was worried that the gloomy weather would cripple our plans to move out. Alan and I headed out to the apartment and tackled the final inspection, put down the required fee, and got the keys. It was drizzling a tiny bit. While we were in the car, I kept on singing these words from my mouth: "Push the clouds away and let the sun come our way" in a tune of my own making. Magically, the fat dark clouds suddenly vanished and the sun gloriously revealed itself. Thank the Lord!

Upon stepping my foot inside the apartment, I took some time to soak up the moment. I stared at the white walls (1 free accent wall; Icelandic blue), smelled the new paint, felt the new carpet and hardwood floors. The room was blank like a canvass waiting to be filled with colors, waiting to be showered with life. While the place was impeccably bare and pristine, I gave myself a moment, took pictures and happily  marveled at it's emptiness before chaos took over. 

Then we stepped out and went to the U-haul store. Alan initially reserved a 17 ft. truck. However, we found it unavailable at that day and so they replaced it with a 20 ft. truck free of charge. Puzzled, Alan and I looked at each other as we asked ourselves, can we possibly drive this? Left with no choice and time constraint, Alan got in the driver's seat, said a prayer and carefully drove the truck and ourselves safely home.

When we got home around noon, we found our gracious friends waiting for us. My heart leaped for joy. To say they are our friends is an understatement. They are our brothers and sisters in our Christian faith and therefore, they feel like family! :)

At first, I thought we wouldn't be moving a lot of stuff. We weren't owning any furniture aside from our beds. But as people knew about our move, our boxes started to accumulate. My aunt Ida gave us a set of pretty dinner plates, salad plates and bowls that my Lola Meding bought when she worked in Bloomingdale's. My Lola bought all of her three daughters one set each. A pamana (heritage) we will forever treasure. My aunt also handed us utensils, serving dishes, baking dishes, and other glassware she would no longer need. My other grandmother, Lola Lou, who also moved in to a new place, handed us pots and pans. My mom also inherited my Lola and Lolo's beds and dressers. Lastly and the biggest piece we had to move was a glass dining table set given by my former manager's close friend, Cindy. I can never thank these people enough for their kindness and generosity towards us.

The following day, after church, we took some holy water to use in our simple house blessing in the evening. We invited our Ninong Butch and Ninang Ida to join us for dinner.  Our Ninang Clair and Ninong Vic gifted us prayers and blessings to protect every corner of the apartment from every evil. We sprinkled every nook and cranny with holy water as we said our prayers. 

We're glad that the weekend move went pretty well. 

Day by day, like puzzle pieces, furniture, mirrors, paintings, lamps, rugs and all other bits and bobs seem to fit. As I am sitting in our white Ikea Ektorp couch (which by the way I got for a good deal from a garage sale!) I am still left in the surreal sense that this is now home. 

PS: Thank you once again to my small group, especially to the Tonidos, Dilags, Abellanosas, Masons, and Ton-Leah. Thank you also to the Grutas, Ninong Butch, his brother Ronnie and my cousin Chris for all your help! We deeply appreciate the time and energy you put in on our move. And for all your best wishes and prayers, thank you so much! God bless you all! 

xoxo,

Joselle

To our long time host family

Dear Ninang Ida and Ninong Butch,

No words could ever express how grateful we are to you both in opening up your home to us for the past 7 years. We have never felt more blessed to have such a generous and thoughtful family like you. Without your help and guidance, we would not have made it this far. I don’t think we’ll ever forget every good thing you have done for us. 

Ninang Ida- thank you for:

• Teaching us how to be clean and organized. 
• The good meals you have cooked for us.
•  Inspiring us to be responsible and dependable sisters and daughters.

Ninong Butch- thank you for:

• Preparing our tax returns.
• Helping us fix our cars and other broken things in the house. 
• Teaching us how to save money and live better (Walmart?) lol

There are tons of things we are grateful for but most of all, we are greatly thankful for leading us to the community, CFC and inspiring us on how to be good servants and followers of God. 

Inevitably, we do have our shares of misunderstandings and disappointments as well. That's why we would like to take this chance to apologize if there were times we have caused you problems unintentionally. Not all families are designed perfectly but we are perfectly designed by God to relentlessly love and forgive one another. The great thing is we love and serve one God who unites us all and helps us overlook our imperfections. I guess that's the key in keeping a peaceful, gracious, loving and tight family bond.

Also, we wish you well on selling the house and finding a new home. 

As you know, we are just a few minutes away. Please drop in whenever you like, our door is always open. 

Thank you both so much! We love you!

xoxo,  

Joselle and family