Last Saturday, a relative of the church members died of old age so we went to their place this afternoon. There weren’t much people there and the church where the old woman was attending isn’t doing a service. I do not know why. Since the funeral will be tomorrow, Donald arranged a schedule of service with the family and he came back there tonight with other members of the church while Ella, Eman and I stayed at home. I am not going there at night time because it is very far from here and there was no other ride than a motorbike.

I am counting the days until Ella’s birthday. Time really flies so fast! I can’t believe it will be in less than a couple of weeks. She was expecting for a small party because she wanted to call all her friends over for a snacks. Since she just had a baby brother, I feel it is necessary for us to make her feel special on her birthday and so Donald and I are planning to throw her a little kiddie party. Not very fancy and big….we are planning to have spaghetti which is her favorite and maybe homemade burger and chicken too. If we can still squeeze in the budget the “dirty” ice cream, the kids will be so happy with that. Donald will let them play games and I will prepare prizes. We will also blow some balloons. As I am planning everything and computing the expenses on my head, I counted how many kids will Ella invite and I am flabbergasted that she has nearly 50 friends around the neighborhood and in the church! I think I am going crazy thinking how can we budget the meager amount intended for this????? Then there is the enrollment which will be next week and of course the school uniforms, school shoes and school supplies. If there is one great lesson that I have learned is to NEVER EVER wish to give birth on the month of June unless you have plenty of moolah to spend for both party and school fees. Since I never expected that she will make an appearance on that month, what I can do with that is to sit down and talk with her to explain clearly that there would be no more party after this one. Wish me luck!

Thanks to my cousin’s daughter, Dimple, for taking this photo. This was taken at their place where we stayed for a couple of nights before going home.

So we’re back from an unplanned trip to my hometown. We left Davao at 4:30pm and arrived here at 9:30pm – the longest trip from Davao that we had. Sorry for the lack of updates. I even didn’t wrote that we are leaving but you sure guessed it from my last post. We were suppose to leave on the 23rd but I got a call early morning of the 22nd that my cousins from Manila will be arriving that afternoon and we could meet them at Davao so we could get a ride to Kabacan. It was so tiring. We left home at 2pm, arrived in Davao at almost 8pm, met them at SM, had dinner at Ram’s and headed to Kabacan. We got there almost midnight and I was sooooo tired. My knees ached like hell for the first time from sitting for so long. I am glad we had no problem with the kids. They slept all the way to Davao but Eman beat Ella by sleeping all the way to Kabacan and that is almost 12 hours! He just wakes up to eat and that is also what he did on our way home.

Like we all say, every wake and funeral is like a reunion too. We got to spend time with our cousins and other relatives whom we seldom see. We had a lot of fun after shedding some tears from the death of Tatang. I hope I could post some pics soon.

We took the kids to the local park this afternoon. We found an improvised patio sets near the skating rink (that turned out to be bicycle rink) so we settled there to be able to watch Ella more closely while she rides her bike. Eman stayed in the stroller which was Ella’s stroller that I kept for years. I packed it inside a garbage bag and although it has some little tears and it faded a little, still in is in good condition. I am glad we finally got it from my sister’s PIL’s place last week because Eman is sure growing big! We will find out his weight tomorrow and I will post some pictures of our day’s adventure at the park. See yah!

I do not know what causes my asthma attack but I am certain of one thing and that is…I wasn’t able to nap. I went out in the kitchen and found myself loading the machine with laundry. I wanted to do something that will keep me busy and not focus on the attack and Donald was very kind to help me. Though it’s not new anymore, but I just wanted to tell the whole world so he will be more inspired to help.

Tonight while I and Donald are having midnight snacks, he said my FIL called while he’s on his way to the market to get something for dinner. He gave Donald some instructions and informed him of the arrangement that he wanted about his funeral. He doesn’t want anyone else but Donald to conduct the nechronological service in memory of him. I am not looking forward for that day to come but If only I have money, I would want him to wear one of the best tuxedos. I was thinking about it but I guess he already has picked his outfit. It was no fun buying a dress for the dead actually because I personally experienced it when my mother died. Unlike my FIL, my mother was not prepared….she didn’t know she has cancer and so I was the one asked to buy a dress when she finally rested. The dress stuck to Ella’s mind. When we happen to pass by the gowns and dresses for formal occassions at the mall last month, she exclaimed “Mommy oh pang-patay!” (Mommy look, it’s for the dead!)

But hey, why am I talking about death and dying? I should be remembering the happy times, don’t I? So I am sharing a photo of my FIL and Ella. This was taken when we visited him in Davao last October 1. Even when he’s already weak, he still carried his only granddaughter which reminded me of my mother who does the same.

Although me and my FIL have some indifferences, I honestly do feel more at home with him than my MIL. He’s been so welcoming when I first met him. I was pregnant then with Ella and he’s talking to Ella in my tummy with a lollipop in his hand. He’s waving it saying, “Dong, Day…kani para sa imo!” (Little Boy, little girl, this lollipop is for you!) When he caught me carrying two water sprinklers on both hands to water his durian trees, he scolded me and firmly said I should not be helping Donald because I am pregnant. I didn’t take no offense because I know he’s just concerned. He is also the first man that I have seen helping his wife do the laundry and I am thankful to him for setting a good example to Donald.

Ella had some special bonding moments with him like spending time walking around the neighborhood to get some fresh air and to cool down their hot heads. So each time Ella feels mad, she would call his Lolo and say, “Maglakad lakad tayo Lo para para mawala high blood ko.” It is just so sad that Ella will have to face another loss when the time comes. She has not yet gotten over the loss of my mother (her Mamang Eling). Last night, I do not know what came in her mind when she said, “Mommy, mag ingat ka sa heaven ha? Para magkita tayo doon pag namatay ako. Antayin mo ako doon ha kasama si Mamang Eling.” (Mommy you take care in heaven, okay? So we will see each other when I die. You wait for me there with Mamang Eling.)

March 24

Yesterday at 3 a.m. Donald found me still infront of my pc getting more and more addicted to this thing. He was annoyed seeing me wide awake and told me to go to bed. I refused thinking that if I’d go to sleep I may not be awake at 6 a.m. to catch the 1st trip to Kabacan. He is much concerned about my weight loss. I had this problem of easily loosing appetite when so much engrossed in something, lack of sleep and stress. For just a couple of week, my weight has gotten from 45kgs down to 42kgs.

At 6 a.m. I started to get dressed then had some things packed that we might be needing there. I woke up Donald and then Ella, get them ready and by 7 a.m. we are off to the terminal. We waited for 2 hours for the puv (public utility van), there is not much people travelling and we should wait for the seats to be filled. Ella is irritated and began fussing around. We are very sleepy since Ella and Donald was up watching a movie until 3 a.m.  Ella had slept on the way, Donald had also took a nap.  When we arrived at Kabacan, we went straight to my cousin’s place and had lunch at past 1p.m. Ella had the drawing she made for my cousin Sherwin and put it in his casket. The picture of it was posted in Ella’s blog. I had a brief talk with Aunt Lenny (Sherwin’s mom). A neighbor found his body with a note on his hand. There was also a note in the calendar saying how much he loved his family and asked for forgiveness of all that he had done. He also encircled the date 17 on the calendar, the day he ended his life.

In the evening, people started pouring in. It was the last night of the wake. I had slept in the afternoon and I thought I could stay awake the whole night until morning. I just thought I could do that…but what I did was sleep again with Ella and other 4 cousins in just a twin bed.

March 25

I woke up still feeling sore. I was feeling this way since yesterday. We started getting ready for the devotional and necrological service which started at 8:30. The cousins were all in the other side and we sang Sherwin’s favorite songs ( a little bit off key because everyone is crying ).

March 26

It’s still dark when I woke up. It was still 3:30 am on my phone’s clock. Ella was also awakened by a dream. She dreamed about my mother and we talked for awhile. She had gone back to sleep in a moment and I started playing on my celphone. Before 6 am I went straight to my mother’s grave beside my grandparent’s lot. The weeds were all over and the plants are barely surviving. I pulled the weeds and fixed the potted plants. Before 9 am I was done. I then went to my Aunt Emy’s house to help prepare for a thanksgiving dinner tonight (two of my cousin’s kids are graduating from elementary today). I am always on call for flower arrangements and hall preparation. I was right again, I made bouquets for the teachers and helped mix the salad for tonight. Before lunch I went back to my grandparents house and laid my back on the floor. It hurts again. My cousin Sherwin always massaged my back and now he’s gone I would miss his magic touch. Donald brought me lunch. I found a reader’s digest magazine and was engrossed on it until I had dozed off to sleep.

It was raining when I woke up by my Aunt Letty’s call ( you see I have 10 pairs of aunts and uncles ), they are looking for me to do final touches of the hall. Donald was there fixing the banner so I just stood there giving orders The rain hadn’t stopped and the visitors started to arrive. It was a busy day indeed but I enjoyed the company of my cousins. Only a few cousins, nephew and nieces are in the photo. If we are all going to pose for a portrait, there will be at least 3 batches or so (we would not fit in the lense *lol).

March 27

Feeling much fatigue from yesterday’s weeding on my mother’s grave. Donald gave me a massage. Everyone was going about their own activites but I still would want to sleep. I did not eat breakfast and lunch. I just laid in bed waiting for my body to gather strength to go to the bathroom and prepare to go back to Davao. It was already past 4 pm when we headed for the terminal. We took a bus instead of puv. I felt very hungry on the way and I could not let Donald buy me something to eat since Ella was spread across our laps. It was 9 pm when we get here in my sister’s place. The dogs waggled their tails upon seeing Ella. I wanted to post for my blog right away but checked other blogs instead.

March 28

I was up until 4am this morning. When I was about to sleep, I felt hungry again so I had an early breakfast before finally going to bed. When I woke up, it was raining and dark, I checked the time and it was already 5pm! Whew! What a lazy day it is…..