Diandra Zach our BEAUTIFUL Daughter is GRADUATING!

Congratulations to our gorgeous Diandra Zach!!!

To our Darling Diandra:

Oh, sweet little baby grrrrl, what can we say?

Except that the day you walk that stage will be a tough one for us! Because it will mean that you are TRULY ending childhood and entering a new season of “lady-hood”.

You will be making decisions with less and less help from Mommy and Daddy…  then you’ll stop calling us that and it’ll be Mom and Dad instead…  and sooner or later we will drop to Number 2 on your list of prioritized people, if we haven’t yet.

And though we are sad about that, we are still excited to see you fly off into this big beautiful world and show them who’s the big beautiful boss!  There is SO much for you out there but ONLY one thing God built you for and I know you will find it, if you haven’t yet.

So there is JUST one thing we just want to tell you before you walk that stage: super-bongga ang make-up mo dito! Congratulations, it was worth getting a zero on that one exam just to look uber-gorgeous in this grad pic!  With smarts like that, we KNOW you’ll get FAR in this crazy world!

Exams can never truly measure a person but grad pics last FOREVER! LOLOLOLOL!!!

We sooooo loooove our fashionista baby because HER LIFE IS A FASHION SHOW!!!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Birthday BOYS!!!

This week I am celebrating the two men in my life: Ron and Wolf.

Wolfs' grad pic

Wolf came into my life first. He literally burst into the scene – I clearly remember how he popped out like a champagne cork and how he screamed bloody murder when he realized he was not safely tucked inside mama’s belly anymore. That was 22 years ago in the delivery room of the Clark Airbase Military Hospital.

I was wide awake when Wolf arrived, thanks to my choice to give birth ‘Lamaze’ style and my uncanny ability to sit through 9 hours of labor pain without asking for anaesthetics. First thing I remember doing was memorizing his face and his toes.

I’ve read that Zebra moms do the same except in their case, they memorize the stripes of their calf. This mental imprint is so clear in their heads that even if their calf gets ‘lost’ in a herd, they’d know by just looking whom their baby is.

Wolf’s ‘stripes’ for me were his ‘matangos na ilong’ (high-bridged nose), his long big toe and the hair all over the tops of his ears and on his back. The hair is all but gone now while the nose and the toes remain the same, albeit much bigger. LOL!

Happy Birthday to my wild Wolf, I am sad that this is your first birthday away from your family but I’m praying that next year, we’ll be together somehow.

Ron's Graduation Photo

Ron did not have such a dramatic entrance into my life. His was more ‘hum-dee-dum’. In fact, it was so ‘hum-dee-dum’ that I never thought that he would one day be my husband.

However, I do remember clearly our first few words to each other before we fell into a long conversation. We were actually at the birthday party of singer Viktoria who was just embarking on her career. I was seated next to him and they introduce him to me – Ron Titular they said he was.

I noticed at once that his hair was up in the air like Einstein’s or Don King’s. Then I heard him speak. What a mellifluous voice! I asked him if he was a DJ and he said yes. Voices are a weakness of mine and so I spent the rest of the evening chatting with him so I could hear more of his dipthongs, LOL!!!

I wonder what my reaction would’ve been if God had whispered in my ear that one day this DJ would be my knight in shining armor and that I would marry him in a Hawaiian wedding. I think I would’ve run away like a mad rabbit – marriage was the farthest thing on my mind at the time, great dipthongs or not!

So I’m glad God let me be Ron’s friend for a long season before we started getting close. The Lord’s timing is always perfect 🙂

Happy Birthday Ronster! Your dipthongs STILL drive me wild!

New Blog!

Ron:

I’ve been stuck at home over a week due to gout!!! ouch…  Blame it on not keeping careful check on one of our favorite things…

FOOD!!!!  I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen when i have time, Joyce does too but is more into baking, the kids love doing both!  But most of all, we love… EATING!!!

So, since i’ve been stuck here i decided to work on a new blog. This is where we’ll keep our food trip adventures!!! Food we make, food we find, and food we eat!!!  Check it out! Just click on the link here BUFF FOOD FOR FOOD BUFFS.

Joyce:  It’s been 8 days stuck at home for the two of us. But rest assured that we have been sneaking out and hanging in SM Marikina where we can rent wheelchairs. We are so grateful for the service, although I find it slightly pricey – P60 an hour!  But you can opt to rent a wheelchair all day for a flat rate of P180. Still pricey but worth it.

I enjoy pushing Ron around as it is my wifely prerogative to be pushy (LOL) but I have to control myself from racing around the mall!

So far, we’ve snuck out twice to shop for cherries, cherry juice, organic apple cider vinegar, pineapple and watermelon which are all considered GOOD for gouty patients. Oh! Movies are also REALLY good for gout.  They keep Ron’s mind off his toe!!!

Yesterday, we bought a DVD of Mel Gibson’s Apocalyp-toe (HOHOHO!) and actually enjoyed it A LOT inspite of the yucky reviews about it.  If you hate to read then you might not like all the work of reading subtitles from beginning to end. Family warning: Lots of boobs, butt and gore. Overall score – 4 out of 5 Stars. Grrrrreat storytelling!

Goodbye Mariel, Our Furry Friend…

Mariel of Redwall, circa August 2007 - August 9, 2009, R.I.P.

JOYCE:

I do not know how it is possible for humans to fall madly in love with furry little creatures but that’s how it was for Ron and me.

Sweet Mariel with Joyce

We got Mariel, the object of our affection, all by accident; she was a birthday gift to our son Wolf  two years ago. I was initially flummoxed as I had already retired from my hamster-rearing years AND I had 8 cats and 5 dogs in the family. I did not need ANOTHER family member, no matter how small.

But, all that was thrown out the window when Mariel started displaying signs of diarrhea two days after she arrived in our household. My mother-instinct kicked in and that was the end of all my protesting.

After several desperate texts to animal-friendly friends, Josie from CARA  (Compassion and Responsibility toward Animals) responded and gave me the number of Vets In Practice which is the only vet clinic in Tiendesitas.  Here in the Philippines, your typical vet graduates with very little practical experience in dealing with creatures that are not cats or dogs. Or horses. At least this was the explanation given to me by one vet I called asking if he would take Mariel in as a patient.

So I rushed her to Vets in Practice and ended up meeting some of the finest vets in Manila! The attending vet at the time

Joyce with Mariel

was Dr. Neil Donato and he said Mariel was suffering from a simple syndrome called Wet-Tail: a killer if not medicated. Wet-tail is triggered by stress when hammies are separated too early from their mothers.

After a shot and some oral meds, we ran off to a pet shop to buy a mansion for Mariel – it was a two-level orange cage with tubes for her to crawl through, a sandbox, a “cave” and a wheel for her to run on.

Eventually, I had to buy her a bigger wheel because she was getting too big. Hamsters need to run like you and I need to breathe. So I was extremely relieved to have found a big wheel that I could attach to her orange mansion because most of the wheels they sell in Manila petstores these days are wheels for the dwarf-ish Siberian and Rovorovski Hamsters. Mariel was a Syrian Hamster – they grow to about 6 or 7 inches long!

And thus, Mariel became a part of our family.

RON:  … I’ve never really been into rodents as pets… not even growing up… not hamsters, not mice, not guinea pigs, not even rabbits… rabbits are really just rats in bunny outfits! HAHAHA!  No offense to all rodent lovers and your pets! ya, Johnny? (our friend Johnny Besa had the kewlest rat! She used to just perch and run around on his shoulder playing hide-and-go-seek under Johnny’s long hair while they roamed the streets and malls of Manila)  But Mariel was sweet and made us laugh alot and has changed my mind at least about hamsters!   When she had been with us just a couple of months, we got her one of those plastic balls to run around in.  One of the kids left her alone in our room to “run free” for awhile.  Somehow she managed to break out… when i got home i saw an empty cage, an open ball, put one and one together and wondered whether or not our cats could add faster then me!  apparently not… i spotted her ducking in and out  beneath one of the cabinets in the room and wondered, “how am i ever gonna catch this creature!!!!”  The only thing i could think of was to crawl up to the cabinet, hold out my hand and call her name.  Amazingly, she popped out, sniffed at my hand, and jumped onto it.  Like i said, sweet.

Problogging Mariel!

Best Memories of Mariel:

– Mariel’s full name is Mariel of Redwall. She was named after the warrior girl mouse in the novel “Mariel of Redwall” by Brian Jacques. I know it’s kind of sacreligious to name your hammie after a mouse but I was pressured to call her something when we took her to the vet the first time. Mariel of Redwall was such a heroic mouse girl and both creatures fall under the classification of rodentia anyway…  so there…

Mariel of Redwall book cover

– Mariel running around in her plastic see-through ball. She was  just like that hamster in the movie BOLT!

Joyce playing with Mariel

– She was our breakfast and dinnermate. We’d put her orange mansion on the table and feed her scraps. Her all-time favorite was scrambled eggs. But she also enjoyed Sourdough Bread, nuts, chicken, cheese and grapes. Yogurt was another of her favorites.

– Discovering a lump in her groin. I was so upset that day because I thought it was cancer but Dr. De Villa at Vets in Practice quickly pronounced it an abcess and proceeded to pop the lump. She was fine after that.

Mariel would eat ANYTHING!

– The Great ESCAPE! Mariel escaped one day – hammies are known to be the Houdinis of the furry world so she was just being true to her species. Thankfully, we keep her in our room where the cats are off-limits. Ron was her rescuer!

– Mariel NEVER EVER bit anyone because all she knew was love, patience and gentleness from us. But there was one time when she got so frightened that she nipped my hand hard (thankfully it didn’t draw blood) and tried to scramble off. Ron was blowing his nose in the bathroom and he was blaring away like a blinking trombone at the time. Hmmm…. could THAT have freaked her out? LOLOL!

Mariel SUDDENLY freezes!!!

– Mariel would never stop for photos. So all the pics here you see are miracle shots. But there was one time a couple months before she passed on when we had her on the bed. She suddenly froze flat on the blanket. Ears down, body low and as still as a rock. It lasted for more than 30 seconds! Ron, Diandra and I were totally freaked out.

– Rock climbing on the bed was Mariel’s favorite sport. I’d take her out the cage and she would be tooooo frisky for my sensibilities. But I loved spending time with her so I would put her on the bed and I would build mountains of blankets and  pillows to keep her busy. Falls are bad for hamsters – and thankfully Mariel had never ever fallen in her entire time with us. For those of you who are turning green at the thought of a mouse-like creature scurrying all over my bed, don’t worry;

Mariel on the BED!

hamsters are VERY clean and spend several hours a day grooming themselves. Her cage was washed and re-bedded every week with imported wood shavings and special scented hamster dust.

– Monkey Mariel. Ah… she was such a monkey! She would cling to the bars of her orange mansion and chew at the metal. She would catch our attention that way to tell us she wanted a treat.

– Running alllll night. Mercifully for us, we had gotten her one of those “soundless” wheels. It wasn’t exactly 100% quiet but it was muted enough for us not to be bothered at night.

– Cobra Mariel. So funny! She would stuff her cheeks with tidbits and goodies and then she’d walk around looking like a hairy cobra getting ready to strike.

Cobra Mariel, getting ready to pounce on a Sunflower Seed!

– Zombie Mariel. She started getting wrinkly 6 months ago. And she began to “grow old” little by litte, day by day. The past month was a difficult one for us because Mariel had already lost so much weight and was looking just like a Franken-hamster. Zombie-like, really. And she was walking like the living dead  too! It reached a point where I would wake up in the morning and ask her, “Mariel, you’re still alive?”

But we couldn’t put her down because she had the appetite of a horse! And she still kept trying to groom herself. But of course, all that ended today…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My last photo with Mariel... 😦

Oh Mariel, how could it be that we loved you with a love that was beyond your size? And how could it be that you gave a joy that was so much greater than yourself? And how could it be that you are forever still, lying cold in Ron’s Pei Pak Wa box…  😦

I am hoping that I will see you in heaven one day with all my other long-gone furry friends. But if it’s true that there are not pets in heaven, then I can trust that my God will make sure that I won’t feel bad about it when i get there.

But I would like to think that if God has inanimate objects such as streets of gold and bejewelled gates in heaven, then He’d be gracious enough to include our pets. Besides, what else are the gates there for except to make sure our kitties, doggies and hammies don’t escape?

See you in heaven Mariel!

Thanks to the wonderful doctors at Vets in Practice – Dr. Raymond de Villa, Dra. Siday and Dr. Neil Donato for doing the best they could for Mariel when she was ill and when she started getting old.

Yuuumy Hamstah!!! Photo by Diandra Requiestas

See You Soon, Ric and Arlene Titular!!!

JOYCE:

Ron’s brother Ric is leaving for America together with his entire family this Tuesday, August 4, 2009 (two days from now) so we spent the afternoon with him and his ballerina wife Arlene and their three bubbly girls Rikki, Mikko and Robyn. I did my best not to be too sad because I can be quite the wet towel when I let my sad feelings run wild. Ron and I love them all so much and we will surely miss them at Thanksgiving and Christmastime. Sniff…

Okay, I said I wouldn’t be sad. Hmph.

In front - Mikko, Robyn and Rikki. Behind - Arlene, Ric, Pastor Ariel Marquez, Ron and Joyce

So we went to church, all of us at the Victory Christian Fellowship in Alabang and we ran into our super-duper favorite pastor – Pastor Ariel Marquez who said a wonderful farewell prayer for Ric and family. Pastor Ariel Marquez is close to us all – he officiated at my and Ron’s baptism and he also officiated at our wedding!

Lunch was at Pancake House and we did a good job at extending our time there. I really didn’t want to say goodbye just yet but… Ron and I had a party to attend (my bff Jomar Hilario’s son’s first bday) and the clock just wouldn’t stop. So after we wiped out our milkshakes, icecream and waffles (yeah, that was LUNCH for all of US!) we went into one of the toyshops to buy some travel games and puzzles the kids could busy themselves with during the flight.

Sigh… I will REALLY miss seeing them this Christmas… one of our highlights is watching them open our gifts to them.  😦

But at the same time, I’m bursting at the seams because this is ONE BIG ADVENTURE for all of them. Well, maybe not for Ric (LOLOL!) but I’m sure Arlene and the three bubbly ones feel that way. Arlene is all geared up for an interview with a ballet school and the girls will be able to enjoy thier first summer in America. In LA to be specific. I just know in my heart that Arlene is going to nail that job and Ric will be successful even in the midst of the recession.

Rick and Radar

And what’s even cooooooooler is that Radar their Shitzu won’t be left behind as originally planned; he is coming along!!!  Poor little Radar is so attached to Arlene that he suffers from separation anxiety and refuses to eat when she’s not around. But knowing that he can come along REALLY warms my heart. Thanks to Eva Air – they don’t charge too much for bringing pets along!

So, Ron and I say “see you soon” to Ric, Arlene, Rikki, Mikko, Robyn and Radar Titular!!!

50 Things You Didn’t Know About Our Wedding

Ron and Joyce Titular

JOYCE:

Ron made an honest woman of me on July 23, 2000 -that means we are celebrating our 9th anniversary this week!

We have been together for 18 years, half of that time in the sanctity of marriage. His hair is a little grayer and a little thinner much like mine. And the lines of time are starting to creep up around his eyes as well as mine. And we’re both starting to make funny anatomical sounds which I’d rather really not talk about.

So this is what they meant by “growing old together”…

But we are far from old. Ron’s got killer trapezoids which make him look like a Pinoy Incredible Hulk. And his chest is mighty poofy like Johnny Bravo’s. And he’s got a set of pipes that make me think: VIN DIESEL! Furthermore, his one-pack makes for the best pillow on stressful nights!!! Oh, his trouble spots are his legs – they remain slim and spidery. But they will surely come in handy for that day when he has to run for his wife… oh, I mean his LIFE!!! LOLOL!!!

He IS my husband, but that’s really just secondary, maybe even tertiary. First and foremost, Ron is my “bestest” friend. Had to invent the term because BEST just wasn’t enough. He is also my “alone-person” – the only one whom I can be with when I want to be alone.  And he’s my partner in crime (crimes of the culinary kind) and…  I think this is the best part – he’s my playmate. Not in the Hugh Hefner kind of way, ha! Although that CAN be fun. But we are playmates of the innocent little-girl and little-boy kind.

So, my State of the Marriage Report is this:

EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR ANNIVERSARY #10 !!!!

RON:

Joyce and I have been married 9 years… but we’ve been together for 18 years… (that’s a lot of monthsaries by today’s culture!) …and we’ve been friends for almost 20 years… In those years we’ve seen communication go from telephones to pagers, through cell phones and now laptops… (what’s next?!) all to help us cope with the way the world is changing… all to help us “keep in touch” no matter the distance.  It’s amazing, and thank God for that!  But I’ll tell you what… nothing beats an actual touch… and nothing beats being able to wake up and say “good morning I love you” and really mean it…  even after all these years.  Thank God for that!  Thank God for our years to come.  Thank God for my wife.  Thank God for my “Beauty Queen”, my “bestest” friend… “Thank you, God, for bringing her and keeping her in my life.”

Here’s the list of 50 Thing You Didn’t Know About Our Wedding:

1) We organized our wedding in 2 weeks !!!

2) Joyce went to work, delivering the news updates at ANC on the morning of our wedding day.

3) Michael Turner of Battery and Joey of NU107 both sang at the wedding.

4) The cake was a simple affair from Goldilock’s – Joyce eventually voiced a Goldilock’s TV ad and our son Wolf (together with his 2nd year college teammates) won 3rd place in the first Goldilock’s cake decorating competition.

Love is sweeeet...

5) Ron’s collection of Hawaiian Shirts inspired the theme of the wedding.

6) No invitations were printed; we just texted people, LOLOLOL!!!

7) We had 30 to 40 guests. All in Hawaiian outfits. Even the kids were not exempt.

Diandra (kid), Wolf (kid), Tabitha (not a kid), Zane (kid), Kyra (kid) and Rikki (kid)...

8) We brought Ron’s extra Hawaiian shirts and bought a couple more for guests who arrived out of theme.

9) Ron wore a Maroon Hawaiian shirt (from Hawaii) with a yellow flower design, light tan shorts and hiking boots.

10) Joyce wore a blue floral gown(from Robinson’s Galleria, LOL!) and a crown and bracelet of yellow flowers.

Who would ever get married in their SHORTS??? Only RON!!!

11) The wedding and reception was at Chateau 1771 in El Pueblo, Ortigas. Unfortunately, the restaurant is not there anymore but our love still is!!! Chateau 1771 is not entirely gone though; they have a gorgeous resto at the posh GB5 which we occassionally visit.

Our Wedding and Reception Venue...

12) We wanted nice expensive rings but money was low. After lots of praying, Joyce got a phonecall – a talent agent friend told her she saw a check for Joyce at one of the ad agencies. The amount was just a little more than the price of the platinum rings we wanted!

13) The lady at the ring store warned us not to get fat – platinum isn’t malleable so the rings couldn’t be stretched or expanded if our fingers got fat in the future. So far, we’re proud to report that our fingers are still skinny.

14) Our ring-bearer was Zane Turner, the son of Michael and Janet Turner – he was only 3 years old.

15) Janet almost had a heart attack when Zane almost lost the rings. We can still hear Janet’s half-growling, half-panicking voice saying, “WHERE ARE THE RINGS? WHERE ARE THE RINGS?”

Look closely at the center... Janet is RING hunting!!! But not to worry, she found them 🙂

16) We were the first wedding ever held at that Chateau 1771 branch.

17) We were supposed to get married at The Rock (Victory Christian Fellowship) near Valle Verde Country Club. But one of the VCF visiting pastors had passed away and they needed to use the place for his funeral.

18) The lady who owned Chateau 1771 got very excited when I asked if we could do both the wedding and reception at her restaurant. She got the place all fixed up and even bought floral decorations without charging us extra!!!

19) Our flower girls were Diandra (our daughter) and Kyra Legaspi, the daughter of NU107’s Joey.

A very solemn Diandra. Ok, maybe our flower girl's bored...

20) We had rockstars at our wedding!! Aside from rock offspring Kyra, we had Myrene Academia (Sandwich, Imago) Zach Lucero (Imago), Aia de Leon (Imago), Raymund Marasigan (Eraserheads, Sandwich), Michael Turner (Battery) and Quark Henares (Ciudad) and rock djs Tabitha and Joey (who was my Maid of Honor).

Raymund, Myrene, Joey (aka Thelma) Zach and Aia, Tabitha, Joyce and Quark

Another shot of the ROCKSTARS with the bride and groooom...

21) Pastor Ariel Marquez, who officiated at our baptism, was our pre-marital counselor and the GUY WHO MARRIED US!!!

22) Pastor Ariel’s message to us was this: Joyce submit to Ron, Ron love Joyce. Now why does Ron have it easier?!!!

23) Joyce’s son Wolf walked her down the aisle and gave her away to Ron.

Wolf, me and Nana Bibing who was Wolf's yaya since birth

24) The wedding was actually between 4 people. Ron got married to Joyce and her two children Wolf and Diandra. So his vows included them.

25) Our wedding souvenirs were pastel colored candles in different shapes. We had circles, hearts, crescent moons and suns. We bought them in some novelty shop.

26) Ron dated by hand, the bottom of each candle while Joyce was doing the news at ANC on the morning of wedding day.

27) Our flowers were ordered from one of the flower stores in front of the Markina City Hall. Flowers are amazingly cheap there! Our venue flowers were courtesy of the owner of Chateau 1771.

28) Joyce’s Mom attended the wedding in a red floral gown.

29) Joyce’s Dad could not attend as he was going through a medical crisis and was udergoing a series of check-ups in a US military hospital in Japan.

30) Ron’s Dad (whom we fondly refer to as PAPA LOU) was wearing an aqua blue Hawaiian shirt with white flower designs. He was not able to attend any of the weddings of his children except for Ron’s, so this was very special indeed.

Joyce, Joyce's Mom, Ron, Arlene (our sister-in-law) Ron's Dad and Ric (Ron's bro, married to Arlene)

31) Searching for the dresses for the flower girls (Diandra and Kyra) turned out to be easy. We stumbled upon two purple and white Hawaiian dresses in a surplus shop in SM Megamall. They were gorgeous but slightly big so we had them taken in at a quick sew place also in SM Megamall.

32) The honeymoon was the day after the wedding at Coco Beach, Mindoro.

On a bangka...

33) We had no budget to hire a photographer but our NU107 staffer Paul, who was a hobbyist said he would gladly act as photographer. His wedding gift? All the photos printed on film!!!

34) Ron’s office assistant Emy together with Paul enlarged the first photo in this blog and framed it as a wedding gift. 🙂

Emy and Paul (both from our NU staff) Kyra (our flower girl) and Wolf

35) Ric (the brother of Ron) and his wife Arlene took video footage of the wedding.

36) Elvis Presley’s Blue Hawaii album was playing in the background while people were arriving.

37) One of the funkiest wedding gifts we got was a Yellow Toaster that looked like a Volkswagen. It was a gift from Myrene Academia, bassist of Sandwich and Imago.

38) We decided to extend our Mindoro honeymoon by two days.

39) We thought we lost a $100 bill that was a wedding gift. But we found it on the floor of our car when we got back from our Mindoro honeymoon. So we used that to check in to Legend Hotel for one more night!!!!

40) Our VCF family in attendance at the wedding – Pastor Julius Fabregas and Arnel and Rolla Vismonte.

Pastor Ariel, Pastor Julius, Mom, Dad, Arnel and Michael praying for us

41) Dino Ponti Orig, one of the reporters for the ABS-CBN News Channel arrived in funky Muslim pants and a white Hawaiian shirt with coconut tree designs.

Mom, Dino, Pastor Ariel, Pastor Julius, Ric Titular and Dad

42) Joyce almost kissed Ron in the middle of the ceremony way before the part where the Pastor says, now you may kiss the bride. Thankfully, she realized it in mid-flight and backed out of the kiss. Everybody saw it and LAUGHED!!!

Hahahaha! She almost kissed HIM!!!

43) Joyce promised herself not to cry. And she didn’t!!! Well, almost; she did get teary-eyed a couple times, but ONLY THAT!

I'm NOT going to cry... I'm NOT going to cry... I'M NOT GOING TO CRY!!!

44) Our coin-bearer was little Rikki Titular, our neice. She was so well-behaved and DID NOT lose the coins. LOLOL!!!

Our pretty little coin-bearer Rikki Titular

45)  Joyce handwrote our vows and mounted them on colorful Hawaiian-themed cardboard. There was no time to memorize them but there was time to write them down, cut the paper, glue it all to the cardboard and wrap it in protective covering.

Wedding Vows on Hawaiian Themed Cardboard... oh, check out Ron's hair...

46) Ron’s big poofy lei was borrowed last minute, right before the ceremony, from our small group leader Arnel Vizmonte.

47) Joyce’s bouquet was a dried flower creation. Because it was dried, it is perfectly preserved to this day in our wedding display cabinet which also holds our candle, veil, cord, sign pen etc.

Nice nice dried flowers...

48) Ron had a big red blemish on his forehead. Joyce is just so thankful that it was on him and not her. Ron is so thankful for photoshop.

49) We had a cake-fight after slicing the cake. But it was not a super-cake fight. We wanted to preserve the sanctity of our reception.

Zane attends to a wounded Ron after the Cake Fight as Wolf the Warrior Looks On...

50) Joyce wrote a song for Ron which is pretty amazing becuase she doesn’t write songs. In fact, all she could write were the lyrics. Thankfully, Michael Turner supplied the tune and performed it during the wedding.

And they lived happily ever after... 🙂

Our Baptism at The Rock!!!

JOYCE WRITES…

How perfect!

Pictures and memories of our baptism make up our first blog-ticle on our family blog.

When Ron and I joined God’s family through Victory Christian Fellowship, our dear dear friends made this little album for us – Ed Villacorta took the photos and Lynne Sotto put it all together in a folder, complete with the perfect verses to celebrate our “rebirth”. Our small group leader Michael Turner was there together with his lovely wife Janet  and adorable son Zane to witness our afternoon bath.

Oooooo, I remember being very thankful that the girls went first then the guys followed. We were over 50 people baptized that afternoon on October 10, 1998 at The Rock in Pasig and by the time the girls were done, the water in the big blue sarcophagus-like tub (hahaha) was murky. It was like the Manila Bay after a thunderstorm.

But, the dark water was not enough to dampen our spirits!!! We were so full of joy and excitement, thanks to the festive Praise and Worship songs from Pastor Joel (yipes, what was his last name?) and his ever faithful guitar. All our good friends were in attendance and my Mom was there too

RON WRITES…

i am such a radio person… as i look through these pictures i imagine hearing the possible sound tracks… from the mush of Anka with strains of Croce to the victorious romp of throwing up my rawkfist in celebration, the wailing conviction of POD for the source of the strength of my life playing over the past 10 years and the groove of group1crew to keep me movin’… movin’… movin’

look at us!  hey, i miss that beard… come to think of it, i’m missing alot of my hair!!! hahaha!

our friend Lynne wrote this verse down and all the other verses below...

joyce is next in line... look closely behind her...

"excuse me... i don't have to hold my nose to do this..."

"hey joel... make sure they don't hold me down too long, ok?... or else nuj behind me won't wanna get baptized!"

pastor ariel and michael turner... dunkin' me like a donut in the coffee colored water... ew

group hug of two!!!!!

thanks michael!!! hi ed!!!

... who wants a wet hug? aw come on guys!

cow and chicken!!!!

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