Welcome 2010!

To everyone,

Louder than the firecrackers I can hear outside our house in Lamuan, Marikina, our family welcomes the year 2010 with a bang. This year, instead of just the six of us, we celebrate the New Year with Lola Ave who came back to the Philippines this September 2009 from New Zealand, where Tita Archie and Zach are now living.

Though we are still all pretty much the same, there have been some changes too.

Papa still has the longest hair in our family. He still travels all over the Philippines conducting seminars and workshops. He enjoys playing with his new toy—his big motorcycle which he use more often because typhoon Ondoy disabled our car. His latest involvement is with the HB-ECCD Pilot program (home-based early childhood care and development) which will run till March of this year. The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) and Passionate Community for Christ (PCCi) continue to preoccupy most of 2009 and predictably most of the days of 2010.

Mumsy is still working in Metrobank but is looking forward to study in the University of the Philippines Open University this coming 2010 to take up a degree in Education. She still enjoys blogging, watching foreign films, reading good poetry (for example, Pablo Neruda) and her love for classical music is still as strong as ever.

Chiara is an active high school senior student who has been involved in various extra curricular activities. She hopes to study Business Administration or Visual Arts in UP Diliman and so stay with the rest of the family in Marikina. She still loves to draw anime characters and watch anime shows.

Jayjay gained a lot of weight this year because he stopped his badminton classes but he plans on playing sports again this 2010. He is only eight years old but already very active in the online world (Facebook, computer games, etc.) He is always on the honor roll and recently became a Pupil leader. A Pupil leader is assigned to serve as a “kuya” to younger students.

Bea remains to be the girly and kikay little lady in the family. She is consistent in their class as one of the Best English Speaker awardees. She enjoys drawing and playing computer games as well. She has a very big appetite when it comes to rice, soup and her favorite—tuna.

And finally me, Regina. I am now a junior in college. Aside from being part of the UPLB Devcomsoc and the student council, I also joined a sorority this 2009 and during my second semester, I became an officer. 2009 was also the year I started living in an apartment which is good because it is so near the devcom building. I am planning to extend my stay in college and take up another major—journalism.

And that’s the six of us. Plus Lola Ave, who enjoys spending time with us as she makes her crafts and artworks. 2009 was a year of many blessings despite the calamity that has befallen us.

And so we hope that more blessings will come our way this 2010, even as we continue to be an avenue of His blessings for others.