Goodbye, DAD

yesterday, july 28, 2009 at 7 in the morning (manila time), my dad passed away.
i don't know what else to say...
i will just post more in the coming days.

WEEK 29: 15 july 2009

my good old friend took me out to tagaytay!! i have known this friend of mine since i was 6 years old!! yes...we were classmates from kindergarten to grade 6. and we have been friends since then. he is now a priest and i am really proud of him.
anyway, he took me to tagaytay and to tagaytay highlands. he was the parish priest in tagaytay highlands for (i think...) 7 years and his biggest accomplishment is building a beautiful church there. the church is overlooking taal volcano and taal lake... such a magnificent site if you ask me.
to my dear friend, fr. russel matuloy, thank you very much for being my friend... a very good friend.

WEEK 29: 13 - 14 july 2009

14 july 2009
typical mornings for my mom and dad. my dad can barely walk on his own but he loves walking around the house. he is really getting weaker by the day, but he doesn't want to just sit down and rest. and at night he refuses to sleep! he still walks around! but he closes his eyes every step like he is fallling asleep..but he would say he is not sleepy. i really don't know why he doesn't want to sleep. my mom is trying to keep up but i know she is really tired too.

13 july 2009
since i arrived here, it has been raining almost every afternoon. i missed this season...you can hear the rain pouring and you just sit on a couch and drink hot tea. i find comfort in that. but it is really not nice if you have to go to school or work. by the time you reach the office or school, you are soaking wet! i experienced that. those were the days...

our front gate with the yellow bells (i think..but you can correct me if im wrong!) that my mom planted. i love how it arched over our gate.

sofia trying on my glasses...hahaha!

WEEK 28: 11-12 july 2009

12 july 2009
it was a beautiful sunday. here my kids and my nephews were playing inside my dad's jeepney. this jeepney is (i think...) a couple of months older than me!!! it is still running but the body has been changed 2 times.

this is one of my favorite here in the philippines -- taho!!! it's main ingredient is soya..and it is like yogurt in texture. we eat it with syrup and tapioca!! i love is so much!!

11 july 2009
my dad planted this rambutan tree a long time ago ( i cannot really remember when... maybe 6 year ago) and now it is bearing fruits!! they are really sweet! but not all rambutan are sweet..but luckily this variety my dad planted is a good one.

and this is sofia drinking her juice. i love her expressiosn here. seemed like her juice was sour..hahaha.

WEEK 28: 6 - 10 july 2009

10 july 2009
criscell visited us! i am really happy to see her and her family. it has been almost 5 years since i last saw her, it was during her wedding! now she has 2 kids and still looking pretty.

this is isabelle and david (criscell's eldest).


9 july 2009
My dad is very weak now. We cannot let him walk alone because he quickly falls asleep and looses his balance.

8 july 2009
Somehow my body clock has adjusted. Things accomplished today:
1. Give Dr. Padlan the perfume he asked me to buy.
2. Go to Lafarge to give meg the rest of her pasalubong, and get from her some important documents I needed.
3. Go to Canadian Opportunities to submit the documents needed for our application.
4. Go back to Lafarge. (below is me and norie!! Too bad I didn’t have a picture with the whole marketing team. I came back late, they were finished with their afternoon break and they were already back to work. I just had a quick snack there because my brother called me up and told me I needed to go home immediately because my dad wants me in batangas asap. So just a quick chat with norie, one photo and I went home.

That night my brother drove me and the kids to batangas. My parents were waiting and my dad was glad to see us all…now we are really home.

7 july 2009
Woke up very late – almost lunch time! Ate lunch then started unpacking to get all the ‘pasalubongs’ out. Spent the whole afternoon for that. Right after dinner, Rafael, isabelle and me went to the salon to have our hairs cut. I need a new look before the rest of the world sees me!!!!

6 july 2009
00 :45 paris time and 6 :45 philippines time… currently on the plane still awake and filling out these forms. i have to fill out 3 forms per person and we are 4 persons travelling… 12 forms all in all. Grrrrrr!!!!!!!!! I don’t like this!!!

8:20 local time…landed.
9:16 waiting at the arrival area for my brother to pick us up. Really tired…

so after a couple of minutes my brother arrived and it was a short trip to my sister’s place in makati. It felt so nice to be back in the philippines!!! But the weather wasn’t really that nice because it is too hot!!! Anyway, after resting for a bit, me and my niece jake went to the grocery store some needed stuff for me and the kids. When I got back to my sister’s house, meg came and picked up the stuff I bought for her. It was almost dinner, bing ( a very good friend from college) called and reminded me they were waiting at the restaurant. Gosh!!! I forgot I had a dinner appointment with my college friends! I rushed there. They were done eating when I arrived. I still ate a bit then we had dessert in another restaurant. Then I had to hurry back home to pick up the rest of the kids (only isabelle went with me to meet my friends) to go to my in-laws house. This was already around 10:00 pm. Bing’s driver was kind enough to drive us to my in-laws’ house. Got there around 11:00pm. We ate there (again!). we left around 2am. We had one long day…. We didn’t sleep right away when we got to my sister’s house because it was only 7pm paris time. But a little past 3 am, we were all tired and fell asleep….

LAYOUTS: week 27

i know i have been gone for a long time but i have been really busy the past 2 weeks. last last week (june 29 - july 5) i was busy preparing for our trip (here in the philippines). i needed to prepare the stuff of all of my three kids plus all the 'pasalubong' (just-little-somethings) for friends and relatives and family. during this time we had a guest in our house. sis. noelle (a filipina nun who is assigned in france) came to paris to apply for a uk visa. she had some extra days to see paris because it was her first time. me and the kids showed her around. she did help me shop for my pasalubong.
july 4 sister noelle went back to the monastery. july 5 we flew here!!
it was a 15 hour flight (paris to amsterdam -- 1.5 hours, 1.5 hours stop over in amsterdam, amsterdam to manila-- 12 hours). pretty long flight but it wasn't as difficult as i expected. the kids ate well, and sofia didn't run around that much in the plane. she just liked kicking the sit in front of her (hahahaha!!!). good thing the person in front of her was really nice and understanding. the worst part was i didn't get any sleep.
i will not share the daily photos of last last week, just the layouts. i will just post week 28.
so we are just happy we are safely home and with my dad. more to come in the following days...

LAYOUT: week 26

i cannot believe it is thursday already!! i have been busy thinking of all the things i need to bring to the philippines and just trying the put the house in order before i leave (coz i don't want my dh to worry about the house...). it is already thursday and i haven't posted anything for the week...plus i am just posting my layouts today. gosh.... nonetheles, here are my layouts!! will try to post tom some photos. or rather...will try to post later!!!!