Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! In Pinas, the BER months means the start of the Christmas season, so let me be the first to greet you Happy Christmas and a more Blessed year 2009 – which means we can start preparing to share more our love and blessings with our fellowmen, especially to the children!

As reward for constructing our website ‘Fairviewshipping.com’ and to maximize utilization of his PS3, Sean bought a ‘RockBand’ which kept us busy for our leisure time during the month, aside from watching the Olympics TV coverage. While he does mostly the drums, I alternate doing the guitar or vocals, as we participate in on-line band-playing, how amazing! Now, we share the same leisure time as 8-gold medalist Michael Phelps, who plays rock guitar on-line for his leisure – who knows we might be playing on-line with him in the future.

I had my periodic health maintenance check-up (blood tests and all) recently and I am happy to share that results showed, as confirmed

by my doctor – that my health maintenance program was ‘excellent’ – I got the good mix of exercise, diet and medication – achieved with a lot of discipline – hours in the gym daily, swimming, outdoor walks and enjoying the summer Pinas-like weather!

August was ‘re-connecting month’ as we had visits and get-togethers with various family members and friends. We gathered at the Divine Savior church for the 40-day death Mass of the brother (long-time mayor of Corella, Bohol) of my sister’s husband, after which we had lunch at Mizu Japanese buffet in Roseville. Later, my lawyer-niece Maria Daquipa, who is based in SANFO (she met us at the airport and brought us to Sacramento 3 years ago) joined us at home for more updates and pleasantries.

Per appointment, my 35-yr old nephew Tony Daquipa (my sister’s son who is based in Oakland, CA), with wife Stephanie and 14-mos. old son Paolo, came to visit Aug. 29 at 3:30p. Serendipitously, my 37-yr old nephew Rigel (my brother’s nurse-son who is based in Arizona) also arrived 3 mins. later (the timing was unplanned – we were scheduled to have dinner with him somewhere in the evening; then he suddenly called to say that his group were looking at houses near our area, and since they were already in our neighborhood, he decided to come by earlier).
Thus, we had so much fun updating on our lives, over teramisu cake, coffee and fruits. It has been over 20 years since these cousins last saw each other, so just imagine the coincidence – enjoy the magic moments, another of God’s wonderful work in our lives’ puzzle! When the Daquipas left at 7:00p, Rigel treated us to dinner at Romano’s macaroni grill, after which we drove him to re-join his friends at Elk Grove. Their group of nurses are scouting around for hospitals/houses intending to move here in Sacramento, having learned that it is on the top 10 ‘nicest place to live in America’. Indeed, I affirm that where I live in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento is my ideal retirement place, after 3 years in residence.

That day was also Steph’s 34^th birthday so she was glad that we had cake, as we sang HB to her! Incidentally, she is just 9 days older than my daughter Sarah who is celebrating her 34^th on Sept. 7. Our best wishes – Good Health, Peace, Joy, Serenity, Love, Happiness always, among others, to you dear Sarah! Tony and I are also celebrating our birthdays this September. May God continuously bless us with His wonderful graces!

The air is filled with political issues since national election day is around the corner. For whatever its worth, I would go by the guidance of the morals set by the Christian standards on pro-life issues. I hope Catholics will adhere to these standards and vote accordingly.

Attached are photos: 1) with my niece Maria at our clubhouse; 2) at home with my nephews; 3) Sean on the drums in his Rock band. Let us continue to pray for our country and people and for America – guidance for the elections. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!