To be satisfied is to be grateful.

Can't believe my last post was almost 4 months ago! I totally forgot this part of my world existed. It was a crazy couple of months but it definitely felt like heaven was showering us with so much blessings! It is overwhelming when it involves so much time to prepare but when E taught FHE lesson two weeks ago, all of us - mama, mom, E and I are just so full of thanksgiving to Heavenly Father with all He has blessed us with.

Some of the things that had happened during the previous months:

1. Mexico City trip. We celebrated our 4th year anniversary with a short trip to Mexico City. This wasn't even possible if I didn't become addicted to collecting miles. Haha. We didn't pay a penny for our plane tickets, just taxes! I don't think  I will ever go back to paying cash for my plane tickets. ;) Collecting miles is fun, but it's even better when you reap the rewards of free flights. If you wanna know more about travel hacking, start here. I've read countless blogs about it but I think this one is the easiest to understand.

2. Mothers arrive in SF! It's my mom's first time in the US and Emil's mom's last time here was more than 10 years ago. It was such a great timing to also find a place to move to as they arrived so we will have enough room at home. E's mom's petition has been pending for such a long time. It was a taxing process - both financially and mentally to get her here so we are so glad that it has come to an end and she got to see ate and Ethan after almost 13 years. That's a very long time not to see family!
3. We moved upstairs! House hunting in San Francisco is very difficult especially if you have very limited budget but we sure are glad that by the time moms came, the apartment upstairs became vacant and within the price range we set.

4. Got to visit D.C. for E's training and meet with friends.

5. Attended Kuya Osel's wedding in Spokane WA Temple. Mama's reunion with Tita Nina and Tita Cybel after not seeing the former for almost 3 years and the latter for 17 years! Again, not possible if I didn't have miles! :)

After reading previous blog posts, I remembered President Eyring's thoughts on the importance of keeping a journal. I may not have a paper kind of a journal but this little corner of the www will serve as such. I do feel the Lord's hands in my life more when I read the blessings (and even the trials) that we are fortunate to experience. It is a blessing to have what we need and want, and more importantly, to know where these gifts come from. It brings so much satisfaction especially in this world where we see other people's "things" better than ours through the not-so-helpful (sometimes) social media. When we realize that we are blessed, we become grateful; when we become grateful, we become satisfied.

BACK FROM THE GRAVE!

It's been so long (4.5 months!) since I wrote here. I was kind of giving up on blogging until I opened one of the posts and it made me smile to remember all those memories that's why I've decided to keep this. I want to keep smiling as I remember the things we've done throughout the years.

What happened since I last posted:

1. 2nd Year Anniversary was spent in Las Vegas from May 9-12, 2014.

at Gordon Ramsay's BurGR

being tourists at Gondola ride

Bellagio Lobby

Christmas 2013

One of the best things for me during the Holidays is that we get to spend it not only with family but with my mom's relatives. Ever since I can remember, we have a reunion every year Christmas time and have a Kris Kringle. This does not only include my mom's siblings but even her cousins, her aunts and uncles. Now that I am much older, I realize how special this tradition is no matter the circumstances may be. It makes extended family much closer even when the family gets bigger and bigger. Even though life is tough, everybody still tries to be part of the reunion. I've already missed two Christmases with them when I was in Hawaii but I catch up through photos they post on Facebook and that's how I know that another member of the Omadto Family has been added. Aunts and Uncle marry but we still have this tradition and they bring their spouses to our reunion. This year was extra special because we got to go home and mama's older sister Tita Nina, who lives in Iloilo was able to come as well. I even brought Emil and mom for the first time and Emil even joined our Kris Kringle. He was so happy to be part of it and we've talked about doing the same thing when we will have our kids in the future. This is part of the reason why I love spending Christmas in the Philippines! It's the traditions that we have that makes life happier.

Part of the reunion was of course the food. We had plenty because we spent Christmas day here. After eating, we exchanged gifts which is one of the best part, games and Karaoke. What Filipino party doesn't have Karaoke right? We even have BIG prizes for those who hit certain scores! There was also a pool available so there was also a team swimming competition.

Another tradition has been added to the Kris Kringle. Every year we take a photo of our own families and extended families and see how much we've grown. If I am not mistaken, only a few family was not present at the reunion which is a record! Yay!

Reunion was held at a private resort at Pansol, Calamba, Laguna. Sometimes we travel to different provinces to have our reunion (both Summer and Christmas) but this time, we didn't go far.

Paz Family 2013 (complete!)

Amante Family 2013 (minus ate Rhea and Ethan)

Omadto Family 2013

(pink team: Tito Andy's family, mama's younger brother

blue team: Tita Nina's family, mama's older sister

red team: Paz Family

halo halo team: Tito Legie's family, mama's eldest brother)

1st and 2nd cousins (Omadto 3rd generation)

I am so blessed to have family and extended family like them. My mom and her cousins are close and even us cousins may it be first or second are close too! I am blessed to be part of such a happy family.

Congratulations Botchogers!

Can't believe we're only gonna be in Hawaii for 12 more days! Our time to leave is getting nearer and nearer!

I accompanied Emil to the Accounting graduation banquet tonight and it was quite an emotional experience. I didn't even expect and neither did he, that he was getting a lot of awards. haha. We already knew that he was a summa because he knows his grades, the grade conscious that he was. We were also aware of the SAP Terp10 certificate because it was the dreaded exam everybody knew about. The others were so unexpected! I am very proud of my hard working, driven, patient, and smart husband!

When we got married, I didn't understand why he was so adamant on getting a job even though he still has more than a year until graduation. I didn't understand why he would need to get an A on almost all of his classes. I would even dare him to miss a class or two but he couldn't (until he became trunky during his last semester. *evil laugh*). I didn't understand why he would need to talk to his teachers after classes to ask more about accounting or just about life when  on the other hand, I was the first one out of the classroom because I was very shy to talk to anyone. haha. Little did I know that these were the fruits of his labor. I am speechless as to what he has accomplished! With the Lord's help, he was able to achieve his dreams. He was able to land the job that he wanted even before he graduates and even though he didn't have much connections to begin with. He did all he can to reach his dreams and because of this, he has inspired a lot of people including me not only to be great in what I do but as I reach for it. He is a great example of someone who always strives for excellence and I am very blessed to have his great example eternally with me. (First photo: Emil and I with Sis. Chen and her husband, Emil's Sis. Chen's teaching assistant. Second photo: Emil and Bro. Waite, one of Emil's favorite accounting teachers)

Bro. Tew: MAJOR FIELD TEST. Many thousand of students take the test every year and it has questions with regarding 9 areas of business and which only one of it is accounting. It is a very general test and we've elected to have our accounting students to take it in their final 400 level class. And this time I am very pleased to announce that two people in our graduate class were especially high. 75th percentile is Amo Li. We also have an award for the top 95th percentile, top 5% in the nation. This is very rare. Given that award at this time is Emil Amante. Woohooo! He scored 181/200.

Bro. Nemrow awards graduates with the Student Recognition award and SAP TERP10 certificate.

(for some reason I can't upload this one here so just click the link to see the video :) )

Bro. Watkins awards Emil the summa cum laude certificate.

Sis. Chen awards him the Outstanding Graduate for Fall 2013. 

Some photos from the banquet:

food for the night: pot roast, garlic mashed potato, 

rolls, teriyaki chicken, flan for dessert

as one of the students mentioned, 

he was the most decorated graduate of the night. hahaha

Congrats Botchogers! So proud of you!!! Love you!!!

Laie Filipino Community Haiyan Fundraising

It was such a great experience to help our fellow country men who was affected by Haiyan even we are miles and miles away. I can't even express how grateful I am to everybody who helped out as we prepared, cooked and cleaned during the fundraising. There were a lot of students who sacrificed their time and helped until 2am wrapping lumpia so we will have something to sell the next day. Some of our alumni also took the time out of their busy lives to put some flyer on each TVA and Hale apartment so we can spread the word about the event.

We supported Stand Strong Philippines which was organized by a BYUH alumni, ate Samantha Taylor. She along with her group will be sending out doctors to Tacloban City in December 18, 2013 to attend to the victims of Haiyan. BYU Provo also supported the cause by having a fundraising concert last Nov. 22.

beginning of the day at the Shumways

We on the other hand, had a lunch plate fundraising at the Shumway's residence last Nov. 23. Ate May and Kuya Aaron were very kind to open their home to us so we can prepare and sell the lunch plates from there. On the plates were a piece of huge pork BBQ, 3 lumpia with sweet chili sauce, 2 turon and rice. We started at 10am and I was kinda worried that there weren't so many people that knew about it so I wasn't sure if it will be a success. One customer came after the other and we even had a lot of waves according to Pateet when there will be plenty of people that will come at once. We were so grateful that it was so because it meant that we were getting a lot of orders. We were planning to end around 2pm but we still had more plates so we decided to sell until 4pm. After that, our RM's decided to sell door to door around Laie which they really enjoyed because they said they missed proselyting. haha. We stacked the plates in the car and I followed them as they traveled on foot knocking on neighborhood doors. Some of us even stopped some cars just to sell the plates! hahaha It was really quite an experience! We were holding signs so cars would stop and ask about what we were doing. It was successful! Some of them bought but too bad some didn't have cash on hand.

prep and fundraising day at the Shumways

the sister missionaries even came to help us!

Eugene, our master "ihaw-er" and AJ our grill sponsor

on our way to sell door to door

some of us selling to our friends Yengo from Congo and Kone from Ivory Coast

Emil, Liahnne and Cyril on their way to knock on doors

so proud of my husband who was so excited to 'proselyte' haha
(picture taken from inside our mobile 'stockroom')

Nathan sold a lot by knocking on doors. Good job!

We were able to raise around $2000! I couldn't believe how much we made! The plates were sold for $10 and canned drinks for a dollar and some even asked us to keep the change which was so awesome.

I am so happy to be able to help in our own little ways. I am so grateful for kind hearted people who sacrificed to provide service to our fellow men. So proud of my friends! We did it!

Happy 25th Anniversary to my fayrents!

I was so happy to give something back to my parents after their long suffering while nurturing us. hahaha. Emil and I gave them a trip to Thailand for their 25th anniversary and they came with our lola. It was my mama and lola's first time to be out of the country so the trip was extra special. They also met with their high school classmate Tita Cecil who also accommodated them while they were there (thank you po!). Mama really enjoyed being a tourist and said 'bitin ang shopping.' haha. Alam na natin kanino ako nagmana. Super mega over beyond grateful to have parents like them! Love you mafa! :)

Sending donations for Haiyan victims

Thanks to BYU-Hawaii family and friends who donated clothing and food for the Haiyan victims in the Philippines! We are truly grateful for your kindness and concern for our fellowmen.