My Colorful World

It took 3 weeks before I got my certificate and oath of allegiance for my dual citizenship. We went to pick it up in the immigration office in Manila on the 13th of November. Hubby was impressed how quick the processing of papers here compared to the US. It took forever to wait there when I filed for my green card and citizenship. Having a dual citizenship means I can enjoy the privileges and benefits of both countries and I can stay here for as long as I want to without having to pay for the extension of my visa.

That same day I got my dual citizenship, I filed my petition for the release of hubby’s permanent resident visa. I brought all the required documents, paid the initial fee worth Php2,520. He was scheduled to go back on the 18th of November for the hearing. So we went again to Manila on the scheduled day. Unfortunately, my sister’s van was color coded that day so we had to take the passenger bus. It’s a good thing that the scheduled time for hubby’s hearing was 10:00 AM. The bus had to stop at the bus station twice. That’s what I dislike taking the bus. My sister went with us because she’s more familiar with the ins and outs in Manila.

We arrived at immigration office 35 minutes earlier. Hubby was right when he said that it’s Filipino time here so his schedule of 10:00 AM became 10:20 AM. We had to wait on the lawyer who’s supposed to do the  hearing. The so-called hearing was just like a casual conversation between us and the lawyer with just few questions about us and that was it. We were told to call their office after a week and that’s tomorrow for follow-up. Then if it’s approved, we have to go back there again so they can stamp on my hubby’s passport.

Most coins that are being used in different countries are made of silver. I am fond of collecting coins from different countries and also coins from different states in the US. Right now I have a collection of quarter coins from different states. I’m sure there are lots of people who do the same and have the hobby of collecting coins. If you’re interested in buying rare silver coins, I just bumped into a website that offers rare silver coins to those people who wants to have these. Nowadays, it’s hard to find these certified rare silver coins but you can get these online at Monaco Rare Coin, a part of the family of Monex companies. Monaco Rare Coin is uniquely suited to helping you find the best rare coin value the market has to offer.

Yesterday morning, one of our neighbors who is an elderly lady came to our house. She said she was not able to sleep the previous night because she was thinking of the coming typhoon and a possible earthquake that she heard in the news. She feared that the dam will break and our area will be flooded. She wanted to evacuate now and she even packed some of her clothes already. She was so paranoid. We told her that in case that thing will happen, she’s not alone. She’s afraid to die just like those people who died during the flood. My brother advised her to stop watching the news so she will not get nervous. I’ve been witnessing to her about salvation and putting her trust in Jesus. If you are saved and you know for sure that you will spend eternity in heaven, then there’s nothing to fear. Come what may, you know who holds tomorrow and who’s in control of anything that happens in this world. It’s Jesus Christ, my Savior and my coming King.

I just pray that the typhoon will change its course and will not pass here in our place. I put my trust in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of my faith.

…hubby and I got to go to Manila this morning to file for my dual citizenship. I must admit, I’ve been postponing to go there because I really don’t like to go to Manila because I hate the traffic there and also we  always get a bad experience from the crocodiles in the streets ( mga buwaya sa kalsada na pulis) and MMDA workers. But since we are already here in my homeland for 9 months now, I have to file my application before the expiration of our free stay here or we have to pay huge amount for the extension of our visas. Our free stay here is only good for a year.

I already have the form for Retention/Re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship which I got from the immigration office in Dagupan not long after we got here. I could have filed it there but they don’t accept dual citizenship application here in the province.  So I filled it out and attached all the requirements which are Duly accomplished application form, 2 pieces passport size photo, photocopy of naturalization certificate and US passport, proof as natural born Philippine citizen, the original and a copy of at least one of the following: your Phil. birth certificate, old Phil. passport, Voter’s ID, marriage certificate, 2 legal size self addressed stamp envelopes. All these should be fastened in a legal size folder. The payment for the application is Php3,000.

So early this morning, we drove to the Immigration Office in Intramuros, Manila. I hired a driver to drive my sister’s van. My hubby and my sis went with me. The driver took the NLEX route and the road reminded me of the express way in the US. No traffic and the road was constructed like the roads in the states. When we reached Intamuros, we looked for the Bureau Of Immigration and we didn’t have a hard time looking for it because it’s situated close to the Manila Cathedral. The filing went smoothly, no problem at all. I will just follow up my application thru the phone after a week and if it’s already approved, I’ll go back and pick up my oath of allegiance and I’ll have to file for my hubby’s permanent residency here. It will be my turn to petition him.

We’ll, the story didn’t end there. When we were on the road (still in Manila) going back home, naku, heto na naman po ang mga buwaya sa kalsada. Pinahinto yong driver namin dahil meron daw violation. Ano ba naman yan, kakainis na kayo. Wala namang violation pero ginawan ni buwaya. Nag-change lane kasi driver namin at sinundan lang naman niya yong van na nasa harap niya pero di naman hnuli yong van na yon. Sinabi ba naman na nag-ca-cause daw ng traffic yong ginawa ng driver namin kaya humingi ng lagay, Php500. Alam yata nila pag galing probinsiya yong sasakyan kasi sa plate number. Siyempre pag kukunin yong lisensiya, hassle na kasi uuwi pa ng probinsiya. Alangan namang babalikan pa e ang layo ng biyahe kaya walang option yong driver kundi magbayad, pero galing naman sa akin yong pinambayad. Nakakainis na. Ilang beses na nangyari eto sa amin sa Manila. Last time no’ng sinundo kami galing airport. Ang laki noon ang hiningi, Php3,500. Seventhousand sana pero nakiusap bayaw ko. Kelan kaya matitigil ang mga modus operandi ng mga mga buwaya sa kalsada? Kanino kaya eto irereport para matigil na. Nakakahiya ang mga kapwa ko Pilipino. Kelan kaya kayo magbabago mga pulis na mangungutong???

Dumaan pala kami kanina sa Clark para mag-grocery.

Did I ever dreamed of having a beach wedding? To tell you the truth, it never came into my mind. All I dreamed before was to get married in the church and it came true.  Lately, I’ve seen some photos of couples who got married at the beach and it look so cool. I remember there were 2 famous celebrities in the Philippines who had their wedding at one of the beach resorts many moon years back. Nowadays you can have your Destination Weddings arranged by the Karisma Hotels and Resort at one of their world class resorts at the Riviera Maya in Mexico. You can choose which package you want. Just looking at the photo of that beach wedding in the said website made me want to have our wedding again. Who knows, on our silver wedding anniversary, we could afford to repeat our weddings vows at Azul Beach Resort at the Riviera Maya. I just keep dreaming and wishing.

Hubby and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary last September 11. How time flies! It’s like it’s only been yesterday since we got married. Time flies so fast when you’re having fun. It doesn’t mean though that we didn’t have problems in our married life. Of course like all married couples, we had our ups and downs. There were some minor misunderstandings, trials, health and financial problems but we survived it all with God’s help. Interracial marriage needs a lot of adjustment especially we came from different culture and race. Being married with my hubby for the past 7 years, I got to know him a lot better and vice versa. I can’t thank God enough for giving my hubby to me who love me unconditionally. I pray to the good Lord to give us more years of being together because I want to grow old with him and he with me and together we will serve and worship the Lord all the days of our lives. Read about our wedding anniversary celebration here.

…since the last time I updated this blog. I know I have neglected posting here and the main reason is I just felt lazy updating this blog. I have 6 blogs and it’s time consuming updating all of them. I ran out of topic that I can write and it seems that my brain is not really working if I’m not in the mood to write.

We’ve been here in the Philippines for more than 8 months now and I’m loving it here. I get to eat all the foods that I’ve been craving when I was in the states. Vegetables here are cheap and the fish are fresh. My hubby and I have been enjoying all the foods here and we both gained weight already. This is the part that I don’t like. I hate to say that I’m 9 lbs heavier already. Blame it to the foods that are so yummy!!! No, I’m not the one cooking, it’s my brother Celso. He is such a good cook. My hubby’s favorites here are adobong pusit (squid), fried pusit, grilled pusit… As long as it’s pusit, he will eat it no matter how it’s cooked. Lately, string beans are so abundant here and if the supply is high, the price is low. So we’ve been buying it almost everyday and my brother cook it as dinengdeng mixed with other veggies and fried fish. Sometimes he cooked it as adobong sitaw. My hubby got tired eating it and he said how he wish they will increase the price so we will not buy it no more, he-he!

If you have read any financial news at all, you must realize the price of silver and gold is very strong this year. That’s the reason that the price of gold jewelries soared up too. It’s been a while since the last time I bought gold jewelry and I was surprised to see now how expensive gold is. Buying gold is a very good investment of your money because the price of gold keep going up. It’s a lot better than depositing your money in the bank which draw very little or no interest at all. If you want to invest your money with gold bullion, you can purchase it at a reasonable price at Monex Deposit Company which sells silver, gold or other precious metals and coins. Monex is America’s investment leader of gold, silver and precious metals. You can be rest assured that when you buy a gold bullion from them, you’re buying a real, honest money. Visit the site today and invest your money now.

Get to know me better. Here are some things that’s all about me. Hope you won’t get bored, LOL!

1. I am the oldest in the family of four.

2. I have 1 sister and 2 brothers.

3. Both of my parents had passed away.

4. I was a consistent honor student from elementary grades up to high school.

5. I love gardening, cross-stitching, traveling, sight-seeing and of course blogging.

6. My favorite color is pink.

7. I finished Civil Engineering but never used my profession.

8. I am a licensed secondary school teacher major in Math.

9. I am scared of heights.

10. I get nervous going to the doctor/hospital.

11. I love collecting bags and shoes.

12. I got saved 21 years ago.

13. I love Jesus, my Healer, Savior, Lord and my coming King.

14. I don’t like mustard.

15. I gave up drinking all sodas.

16. I met my hubby in the internet.

17. I have 5 step-kids.

18. I had 2 ex-BFs before I met my hubby.

19. I am a breast cancer survivor.

20. I love to travel and take lots of pictures.

21. I love my hubby and I wanna grow old with him.

22. I love eating veggies, fish and fruits.

23. I got married late, at the age of 40.

24. I dislike liars, boastful, dirty house.

25. If a person lied to me, I would lost confidence in that person and it would be hard for me to believe him/her next time.

I love shopping online because it’s more convenient for me. I don’t drive and besides, I can save money because I don’t have to buy gas to go shopping. I can shop in the comfort of my home. I can search for the products that I want and I can even compare prices with other sites. Right now, I have a niece who is just 8 months old. She is a real cutie and my hubby and I are very fond of her. We want to buy her something that she could really use. I was browsing in the internet and I’ve seen beautiful strollers that would be perfect for the baby. I could take the baby for a walk with me with her stroller.

At ShopWiki.com, I can search the products that I want to buy like full feature strollers and then I can compare prices with other stores that sell this stuff. I can even read reviews of the website and the products from other buyers. I can search brands by price range to help me decide which product to buy. Cool isn’t it? Shopping is that easy nowadays with the use of the internet.

ShopWiki will give a shopper everything. For a shopper, this means they can find anything and everything for sale on the web at ShopWiki.com. More products from more stores means better deals and savings for us shoppers. You don’t have to hop from one website to the other because you find everything at their site like tennis shoes which my hubby needs. Visit ShopWiki now and start your shopping.

This is a late post because it’s been a week since we went to Baguio to watch the Panagbenga 2009. Baguio was so crowded and everywhere I turned there tons of people. The highlight of the event were the street dancing competition and the float parade. The street dancing was done last Saturday. The next day was the float parade. There were more people last Sunday because they wanted to see those celebrities like Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Ogie Alcasid and Alyssa Alano. Hubby and I went to the sports complex and we waited for the floats to arrive because that’s where they all gonna end up. The sun was shining and it was hot especially there were too many people. I even got sunburned so my skin color now is dark brown. Next year I will just watch it in the tv. I just wanted to take my hubby there so he can watch it live too for the first time. He doesn’t like the crowd so next time we’ll just stay at home. As I’ve promised, here are the photos taken during the float parade. You can see the street dancing photos by clicking here.

Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson on the float


Alyssa Alano



singer Ogie Alcasid

We’re preparing to go to Baguio tonight to watch the Panagbenga 2009. The street dancing competition will be tomorrow at 8:00 AM. We’re just waiting on my sister and my bro-in-law to come home from work then off we go. My hubby is excited because this will be his first time to watch the Panagbenga. The float parade will be on Sunday morning. This is the biggest event in Baguio every year and I’m pretty sure that Baguio is crowded now. Lots of people from the lowlands go up to Baguio to watch this event. Me and the whole family will be going except my aunt and my youngest brother. I will be posting here the update in the next few days. Expect to see some photos too. Till then.

My hubby and I wear prescription eyeglasses. Without it, both of us can’t read smaller prints. I ordered my eyeglasses online at Zenni Optical. I really like their eyeglasses and I was so satisfied with my order. The frame looks good and with the price, I got a good deal. Zenni offers Prescription eyeglasses for only $8! Very cheap huh! That’s the reason they were featured in a US popular magazine lately. Zenni Optical in the New York Times?! You heard it right. New York Times mentioned that Zenni offers low cost frames and eyeglasses. Nobody can beat their price. So when my hubby had his eyes checked and was required to change his old eyeglasses, of course I ordered his prescription eyeglasses from Zenni Optical. I ordered the prescription eyeglasses for my hubby together with the magnetic sunglasses that goes with it. So when my hubby is driving on a sunny day, he just put the magnetic sunglasses and presto, he has his eye shades while driving. See the photo of the eyeglasses that I bought from Zenni for my hubby below.

My hubby and I saved a lot of money by ordering our prescription eyeglasses from Zenni. Seeing Straight Without Breaking Bank is really possible with the help of Zenni Optical. So if you want a cheap eyeglasses with classy and stylish frame, visit Zenni Optical and I assure you, you will find what you’re looking for there. I’m sure you would be a happy and returning customer of Zenni just like me.

After more than a year that our house was on the market, it’s finally sold. My hubby and I together with a friend of ours who was our witness went to sign the papers this morning with our buyer. After that they gave us the payment. It’s really an answered prayer. A lot of people wanted to buy our house but the problem was, they have no money to pay cash. We wanted our house to be paid cash because we are planning to go back to the Philippines. With the real estate market situation that everything is not doing well and the price of houses dropped in the market, selling a house nowadays is not that easy, especially we want cash payment for our house. We still owe money from the person whom we bought the house, so we need to pay him off. We just got some of the equity that we paid for our house. It’s better than renting an apartment. You can’t get back anything afterwards.

The Lord is really, really faithful to His promises. We’ve been praying and trusting Him that He will send us a buyer of our house in His perfect time and He did. I got my passport 2 weeks ago, we sold our house and the other blessing that we’re waiting is on the way. Everything that we asked from the Lord, He gave it to us. We can’t thank Him enough. Thank you Lord. Words are not enough to express our deepest and heartfelt thanks for all the things you’ve done for us. Philippines, see you soon…

I received my US passport in the mail today. I applied for it last October 16th and the clerk in the post office told me it will take 4 to 6 weeks before I will receive it. I’m glad that it only took 3 weeks and now I got it. I didn’t find my US naturalization certificate in the envelope with my passport. I told my hubby that they didn’t return my naturalization certificate. He said they will mail it back to me. I still wanted to verify how come they didn’t return it with my passport. So what I did, I called the number I found in the enclosed pamphlet and asked them about my US naturalization certificate. The lady asked my name, SS number and date of birth and then she told me that they gonna mail back to me my US naturalization certificate separately in about 2 to 4 weeks. I told her I just wanted to know because I submitted to them the original copy of my naturalization certificate and I didn’t make any copy because it was stated there that it’s prohibited by law to make any copy of it. So I just have to wait for that to arrive in the mail.

I’m just so happy and excited because I have now my US passport and I can travel outside the country especially to my beloved country Philippines. I miss my family terribly. I hope to see them soon. I thank God for answered prayers. Words are not enough Lord to express my thanks and gratitude to You. You’ve been so good and faithful even though sometimes I think I don’t deserve it. Your love for me is so great. I LOVE YOU LORD and I am thine!!!

If you’re looking for an optical to buy a cheaper prescription eyeglasses, then Zenni Optical is for you. They have Great Eyeglasses For Less and you can order from them online. I already ordered two eyeglasses from them and I am a satisfied customer. Zenni is so popular nowadays. In fact Zenni Optical was on FOX news!. That’s right. Most people had watched Zenni on FOX and they have seen how great this site is. Some of my friends had ordered their eyeglasses from Zenni and they were happy and satisfied.  Why? Because Zenni sell stylish prescription eye glasses online from $8. Nobody can beat that price! Check out this site and you will find Variable Dimension Frames From Zenni. They have a lot of styles and frames to choose from.

What a blessing to be able to go on a weekend vacation with our loved ones! My hubby and I were invited by Wayne and Melissa to spend a couple of nights with them at Tanglewood Resort Hotel in Pottsboro. The place was so great, peaceful and relaxing. Our suite has 2 bedrooms and it’s fully furnished. It’s been 2 years since the last time we’ve seen Wayne and Melissa and they flew from Iowa to spend a week vacation here in Texas. My hubby and I had a great time being with them. Wayne is my hubby’s oldest son and residing in Iowa for 10 years now. He has a very sweet and lovely wife. Last Saturday, Melissa took me to a massage clinic in the resort just beside our hotel to have a tranquility massage. She said it’s their gift to me for becoming a US citizen. I found out that the massage cost $80 an hour. So pricey compared to what I’ve been paying to my former massage therapist. But in fairness, the massage was really, really good, so relaxing and I almost fell asleep there. They call it the Swedish massage. I’m so thankful to Wayne and Melissa for being a blessing to us this weekend.

Later that afternoon, we went to see Lake Texoma. We took some photos there and on the way back we stopped by a pumpkin patch. We just went inside and looked around, took photos and went back to our hotel. Yesterday, we went to look for the miniature golf course in Sherman only to find out that it was already closed and went out of business. Wayne just drove around and we went to see the Wildlife and the lake again. Before heading back home yesterday afternoon, we stopped by to eat at IHop in Sherman. It was a good weekend get away for us. My hubby and I just can’t afford to stay in a fancy and fabulous hotel like that in Tanglewood. Just imagine, they charge $450 a night there. It’s a good thing that Wayne and Melissa were using the time share of her parents in that place or else, it’s hard to afford it. They are still there right now and they gonna fly back to Iowa on Friday. They will have to visit Wayne’s siblings in Alvarado before going back home.

See more photos by clicking HERE.

I have wrote in my other blogs that I finally sworn in as a US citizen last October 2nd in Arlington Convention Center. My church family who had been wanting to attend were not able to go because it was not held here in our city. It was more than 2 hours drive and my hubby and I went to spend the night at Shelly’s house in Cleburne because it’s a closer drive rather than from here in our place.

I told my church family that we will just celebrate after my oath ceremony. So tomorrow, we will have my citizenship party in our church’s dining hall right after our evening service. I made a lot of lumpia already because everybody in our church love it. Ann’s mom-in-law made a cake and she decorated it with US flags. It really looks neat! I just put it in our refrigerator and I’ll bring it to church tomorrow. Ms. Marsha will also make a cake and she said some of our church members will bring food. I’m excited for tomorrow’s celebration.