"Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth." - Menachem Begin
This is long overdue. These photos were taken almost three months ago. My slowpoke pace of posting about stuff is terrible. The flow of ideas doesn't really come easy sometimes, no matter how I try. I end up staring at the computer screen and then leave because this tiny nugget of a brain of mine does not work! However, when I get lucky, I can post like 5 articles in a day but that is very seldom. I can remember when I was just starting to blog, I am always excited to write different things everyday to the point that I would ran out of things to write. These days however, I have so many pending stuff to write but my brain does not cooperate.
Anyway, our Easter celebration was awesome. We just went to church and attended a mass then came home and eat. Ever since my FIL went to a home and then passed away, our holidays are spent just the four of us at home. I miss the family gathering when my FIL was still alive and we are all on the same page and got along so well. We still get invited to family gatherings, it's just that it feels so different without my husband's Dad so most of the times we chose not to go. I wish that my side of the family is near, I'd probably have my Mom over everyday or I'll visit her often. It sucks to be so far away.
For Father's day's celebration, we visited my brother-in-law whom we haven't seen since my FIL's funeral. It was so nice catching up with him and his wife. They live quite far from us but it was worth the drive.
"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored." - Earl Nightingale
This post has been sitting in my draft folder since August but I did not have the courage to post it but since Veteran's day is coming up, I am now publishing it. After my father-in-law died in March, we lost another beloved veteran in our family.
We might not be related by blood but he certainly was a huge part of my little family. Don and his wife Ruth were there for us especially my kids ever since we bought our first home in Park Avenue. Don died of brain cancer. He was diagnosed earlier this year and passed away in August. He was a great man, he was like a true grandpa to my kids and a father to me. We loved him dearly. He was a Vietnam veteran
The Fancher's have always been there celebrating especial events and milestones of our kids. Halloween, Christmas, Birthdays, and even on ordinary days, they were always around. He was our constant companion in our regular walks during the summer. It was a huge shocked to us because he was the most active guy we knew around the neighborhood. A very social man who was a friend to everybody.
We had so many great memories with him and his wife. There are two families that we are so close with when we still live in Park Avenue, we were always together every time, my kids have events or special occasion. He taught my kids so many things like doing handstand, climbing up on their shed roof, eating edible grass, biking, and so on and so forth. I can write a book if I list everything but yes, he will be surely missed.
This was the last time we all got together. These were taken in January of this year. We hosted a little birthday celebration for our son at our new home.
The song below is dedicated to all the men and women in uniform who are currently serving and for all of those who sacrificed a lot to serve our country.
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This post is dedicated to all the veterans, my husband included, his late Dad and Uncle (WW2 veterans), our late neighbor Don, and to all who served. Thank you for your services and your sacrifices.
As I have mentioned in my last post, we visited my FIL on President's Day and we noticed that he was very skinny already and he didn't really want to talk. He didn't even want to do anything. By then, we knew that something was wrong. A week after that, he was rushed to the emergency at Trinity hospital. The doctor said that he had a flu then a a sepsis, a life-threatening complication of an infection. . Sepsis occurs when chemicals released in the bloodstream to fight an infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This can cause a cascade of changes that damage multiple organ systems, leading them to fail. He stayed there for over a week, he got better, he even got up one time and said " Get me out of here". I think that was his way of saying that he is ready to go because after that, his internal organs started to shut down.
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On March 10th, I was attending a school mass at church and I had this feeling of uneasiness. When the mass was over, I was very surprised to see my husband outside the church. He said that he got a message from his niece that Dad's condition turned for the worse. He was transferred to the hospice. He passed away the next day (March 11th). It was hard saying goodbye to him because he was a great father to his kids, a great grandpa to his grand kids, and a great FIL. However it was a relief that his sufferings has finally ended. He lived a long but wonderful life.
My FIL, Jennings worked for Weirton Steel for 35 years. He proudly served in the United States Army, where he received a bronze star. World War 2 veterans is slowly thinning out. Not many of them are still alive. He was honored with a 21-gun salute during his burial.
I have never seen my husband get so emotional with anything so it was humbling to see him grieved for his Dad. Even though we kind of expected my FIL's passing, it was still very hard for all of us. I guess, when a person that dies have touched so many lives during his lifetime, it's hard to let go.
The funeral services was done by Greco-Hertnick. The viewing was March 14th and he was laid to rest on March 15th at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens.
Relatives and friends from nearby states came to give their last respect to him. Funerals is always a sad time but most of the times, you get to see family and friends that you haven't seen for a long time.
Dad's younger sister sister from Ohio was really heartbroken. They were very close.
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I am so glad that before my PC crashed, I was able to upload these photos because now, I can't access my documents. This computer won't even read my camera chip anymore. I was able to fix some issue and able to use it to post but I still can't access my documents. I am not a very techy person so I don't like when this happens. I have to figure out how to access my documents again because I have so many photos and videos that I need to back up and save to a portable drive. I should have not put it aside but that's what happens when you exercise mañana habit.
Yesterday, after we attended the mass at church, the kids asked if we can go to Wendy's to grab a bite and that's what we did. After we ate, I asked my husband if we can go for a drive in the Colliers area since it was raining hard and I wanted to find the house for sale that we saw online. Right in the middle of our drive, we heard an awfukl sound, my husband said that it sounded like a flat tire.
It was raining very hard so he looked for a safe roadside where we could pull over and check. As soon as my husband came out, the rain miraculously stopped, thank you God! Upon assesment, he told me that the tire was indeed flat. So glad we did not have an accident.
He took out the spare tire from our car and removed the flat one. He was worried that he damaged the rim which would cost extra if it is. After changing the tire, we went ahead and started looking for our way home, we don't know where we at at this time (that's us, we have terrible sense of direction but that's part of the adventure). Anyway, we found ourselves in Pennsylvania, lol.
When we finally found our way home, I told my husband to check if Walmart's car parts is open and was relieved that they are. So we bought two new tires. OUR Adventure ended up costing us $179.14, ouch. I told my husband to just look at the bright side, it's good that it happen already and not when he is going to work. This way, we had the time to fix the problem. OK, bad luck comes in threes and here are the three, hopefully, this is it and no more.
Our garage s door's spring got broken which cost us $169.60 for repair.
One of the tires blew up and it cost us $169 to buy two tires. The other one has to be replaced too so both rear tires are even.
Then the metakl shield protecting the exhaust system of our Honda Accord broke free and started dragging on the road when my husband was driving to work, sigh. That would be another hundred bucks or morem ayayay unending expnse! Lol, life is expensive I tell you!
It is so hot right now so I thought of digging some of the winter photos to cool me down (weird huh), lol. Anyway, I for got to post this anyway. These photos were taken in January after they got out from school. Kids don't mind if it's freezing, they just want to have fun playing in the snow.
See how much snow is pouring? Yep, we walk to school, rain or shine. It's a five minute walk so why bother to burn gas for a short distance like that. Besiddes, it's a great exercise for me and the kids especially on Winter that we seldom go for a long walk.
IJ is very tough on cold weather, he can take cold more than Rylie. Me and my daughter is the same, our bodies are always cold so Winter is not for us.
So yeah, it must be weird wreading this post containing Winter photos but this really cools me down now that it is too hot!
We went to Church at 4:30 even though the mass doesn't start at 6. The kids had to practice for the Christmas Pageant that would occur before the evening mass.
The church was well decorated for Christmas.
The fourth graders are part of the bell choir this year, their first time participating as bell choirs.
They were at the back so you can hardly see them. I recorded some videos but I haven't download it yet.
I think that they did great considering that it wasd their first time.
The first grade wasn't involve in the pageant this year but hopefully they would be included next year.
Photo opp after the mass.
We went straight to my Father-in-law-s house after the mass. He was resting when we arrived. My sister-in-law said that EMT's came to the house earlier and checked on him as he wasn't feeling well. Glad he was okay.
After an hour or so, we came home and had fun at home. The kids went to bed early so Santa could come by and bring them surprise in the morning.
Happy new year to all of you, thank you for being part of our fun 2014 journey!
In behalf of my family, I want to thank the following generous friends who have extended their help to my sister Roselda:
Ate Bet Chai,
Sis Princess Pierre,
Sis Dhemz,
Sis Mar Yannie,
Sis Mhie Lee,
Sis Eileen L,
Sis Tingting,
Sis Ria
Sis Jhady,
Jess Benoit,
Sis Lainy,
Ate Liza C,
and to all who included my sister in their prayer. With your help, she is now recovering from the surgery. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts!
My sister sent me these photos of her kids with a Thank You note to let you know how appreciative they are with your help. MY sister cried when I told her that a lot of people have extended help for her surgery. Thank you all for helping to save my sister's life. Words can't express how much I appreciate you all because even though some of you just know me online, you did not hesitate to help my family. This is one of the biggest things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. I thank God for connecting me to friends with a huge hearts, great compassion and kindness for others. May God always bless you all! ABC Wednesday
One of the houses in our neighborhood was put up for sale. I asked my husband if we could look at it as I like the look of it from the outside. MY husband didn't like how the house was designed but we went anyway. Neighbors said that this was built by a priest and it was pretty solid inside.
This is a four bedroom house with three full baths which impressed my husband a lot. Although the rooms are smaller but it would have accommodated the need of our growing family plus it is in our neighborhood so transition would have been a lot easier.
Hubby also liked the fact that it has a double car garage which our current house lacks.
The downsides of this house was the yard and the smaller kitchen and living room. There is no yard at all which would have been so difficult because we have pets. Nevertheless, we made an offer and prayed that it if it meant for us, we will get it but if not, our offer will be turned down.
Our bid lost to a higher bidder which hubby and I thought that the house is not really meant for us.
The kids did not really want to put the dogs for adoption. I I am kind of relieved that our offer did not go through because I would surely miss gardening. I won't have a space there to put my flower and vegetables.
Our pets are a big part of the family so it is also a deciding factor whenever we are looking for a house. It would be nice to have a bigger house with bedrooms that would accommodate each of us.
For now, we are planning to just expand our house. Put some money to it and fix it sop that the kids will have their own room. Shadow Shots
My whole family was nominated to do the ICE Bucket Challenge. My kids were very excited to do it but before we let them do it, we explained to them the importance of this challenge. This challenge is being done by so many people to help raise awareness about the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease". ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. I have seen few videos of people that are affected of this disease and it is heartbreaking.
Here is the video of my daughter's challenge. Hubby and EJ were posted on Facebook as well. Both of the kids don't feel really good when they did the challenge so we let the ice melt first before dumping it it on them. If you have seen my son's video, I did not like how my husband dumped it on him but my son liked it, he think it was cool.
As part of the challenge, you have to make a monetary donation to ALS Foundation. You can donate as low as $5. If everyone who does the challenge will donate, ALS will have the help they need to do research and extend help to people who are battling with ALS.
I hope that you can help too even if you don't do the challenge, you can make a donation here.
