Going Places

It's good to be home once again... even if it is just for a short while. I may have gone places but there is still no place like home. I am very fortunate and blessed to have experienced different cultures and peoples but home always beckons... calling me and whispering that there is more than meets the eye. That is why although we are home, we still made it a point that we are able to visit a place we have never been to yet. 

One of the highlights of our homecoming is our little getaway to Boracay (separate post coming soon!), our choice of the never-been-to-yet place. It was just paradise and we fell in love with the place! Would love to come back again one of these days and stay longer... Hopefully, next time it will be a real honeymoon. ;-)

Why Boracay? It was actually just pure chance. I was checking online for cheap airfares on our preferred dates and the Kalibo flights proved to be the cheapest. We were even hesitant since the weather forecast told of strong winds, rains, and threats of typhoon. Thankfully, the weather cooperated when we were there. Thanks also to the Internet, it was possible to find great accommodations at cheaper rates - may it be a hotel, a vacation home, a youth hostel, etc.  I know that should the chance come to visit other parts of the globe, I can rely on the internet to help me find, for example rental homes in fayetteville nc and get the chance to live in the US. Or I could just plan another getaway to another destination on my "places to visit" bucket list. I guess this year, I will be going places... with the family of course! And my happy feet are as happy as can be! :-)

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An Innocent Heart Needs Our Help

This is a repost from a fellow mommy, blogger, and friend intended for another mommy, blogger and friend. I hope that your hearts will be moved with our plea and with Alphonse's condition and help us in any way you can. God bless us all!

Can you remember how you felt when you first learned you will be having another child? A new member of the family! Another bundle, another baby that will complete your family. Mye, though her pregnancy was unexpected, was filled with joy and excitement,specially that they will be having a baby boy! A prince, her two princess  have long wished for…

Last December 27, the prince arrived! To say Mye’s family was overjoyed is an understatement! But their joy soon turned into worries when they learned about Alphonse's heart condition:

Early morning, I got a visit from my anesthesiologist, my OB-Gyne and the Pediatrician. They went straight to inform me about the bad news. My baby has a hole in his heart chambers and that it needs to be checked by a Pedia Cardiologist. It was such a devastating news. What did my baby do to deserve such an illness? He is so tiny and fragile and he had just arrived in our lives. I kept on crying and I can’t bring myself to stop. It is so heartbreaking.

The next doctor who came into my room was the Pedia Cardiologist and he confirmed the illness of my son. He has Tetralogy of Fallot. He further explained that there is a hole between his bottom heart chambers causing him to lack enough oxygen supply to his lungs. It was the reason why he wasn’t crying. It was as if my son understands that the further he cries, the more stressful it will be for his heart.

The doctor was very kind and told us that even though it happened to him at this stage, this illness is curable by surgery. Yes, my little boy will have to undergo an open heart surgery to survive this illness. He needs to have it at 6 weeks old, the earliest but no more than 3 months or he will not make it. He told us how much the surgery will cost and what do we need to prepare. We will need roughly $12,500 for the surgery alone. It was another shocking news but deep in our hearts, we knew there is hope. We are not wealthy and we need to get that amount in a month so we can schedule our baby’s surgery and free him from this very stressful and scary condition.

Alphonse is fighting and as a family, we want to fight with him.

Let us help Alphonse and his family fight... I know that with your big heart, this little boy’s heart will be saved!

We can help them in so many ways: 

Mye has a digital scrapbook store at Pixels & Company. Yuo can purchase her digital products to help her raise the money needed for the operation.

Mye is also a blog designer. You can avail of her blog design services to help her. Check out My Creative Zone for all the graphic services she is offering as well as the rates. If you are interested, you may place your order through HERE.

You can also donate directly to Mye (paypal address is admin@myedeleon.com)

Purchase a link from us ($5 for every link, will be posted in a PR2 blog, together with a 50 word description of your site, personal blogs only, commercial blogs will be charged higher). If interested, kindly fill up this form:

You can also help by spreading the word about this, just copy this blog post or create a new post about Alphonse and ways how people can help his family.

Originally posted by Pehpot.

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Coin Collection and Gold Bullions

One of my friends is an avid coin collector. She would travel far and wide and would see to it that she gets to bring home coins from that country. She even asked me if I had Japanese coins to spare to add to her collection, which I gladly gave her when we met up a few years ago. I think she also collected old coins. She would sometimes come to Stuttgart if there are coin collector exhibits. I wonder if she also collects gold coins and if she knows about where to get best silver eagle coins and gold bullions. I also know of others who collected 1 and 2 euro coins which came from different EU nations. 

My daughter has a gold collection herself, but its virtual. Are you familiar with Jake and the Neverland Pirates (Jake und die Nimmerland Piraten)? On the internet, there is this online game where you can  collect gold bullions after completing a task and which you can use later on to purchase some things in their store.

I don't have an inkling for such a collection although it could be interesting. What I am more interested is crafting. I have a scrapbook project coming up and I hope I get to accomplish it while we are here and I have all the time in the world.

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Home for the Holidays

After almost 6 years of not being able to spend the Christmas holidays in my home country, we were finally able to this year! The previous events that took place before our flight and the last two weeks since we arrived has been a whirlwind of activities so that explains the absence and inactivity in this blog. We landed safe and sound and was met with warm hugs and an even warmer and humid weather at 31°C. It felt so good to set foot on Philippine soil again, although the landing was quite scary since we weren't able to land on the first attempt.

Our little girl was finally able to meet her cousins and play with them. Although language is still a problem, they were able to understand one another through gestures and play. It really felt good to be home again, to see familiar and old faces, hang out at restos serving our favorite Pinoy fares, go to the beach, or just stay home to talk with family. I still have lots of things that I want to do while here and I am savoring every minute of it!

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