Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! We thank God for the wonderful blessings – good health, peace, joy, wisdom, happiness, among others! The month was a series of celebrations for the gift of life.

First was the birthday of my daughter Sarah on Sept. 7 – offered special prayers for her; then followed by the birthday of our Mother Mary on Sept. 8, which was also the 29^th death anniversary of my father. 2^nd Wednesday of the month is our Catholic Breakfast Club meeting, where the speaker was the Dean of the University of Sacramento on the topic ‘Emotional Intelligence in the Global Workplace’. This group is actually the Catholic Professional and Business Breakfast Club (CPBBC) of Sacramento, which meets regularly on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month at the Hilton Hotel, starting with a Mass at 6:15 AM, followed by breakfast at 7:00, then a presentation by the invited speaker - all activities finishing by 8:30 am. My membership in this group is part of my life learning goal of maximizing information and culture, with the diverse topics / speakers, and community networking.

The following Friday, Sean’s high school classmate in Claret School, Red B. (who is entering the Nursing program at CSU Hayward-Oakland with a grade of 4.0 from a community college); driving his newly-acquired car, spent the week-end with us. We watched the 1^st day showing of the comedy ‘Burn after Reading’ starring Brad Pitt / George Clooney at Folsom, shopped at the outlet stores/ Naturalizer, then had dinner at Teriyaki station. I was impressed by the amazing talents of Pinoy youth as Red played ABBA music on our organ. Oh well, Sean and Red are among the Pinoy youths who are so blessed with talents and opportunities in their young lives and, I hope they realize and cultivate those blessings to help others. They played Rockband till the wee hours – it is good that our neighborhood tolerates such occasional noise, in the same manner that we tolerate their week-end party noises – mutual peaceful co-existence, leaving everybody happy!

On the 2^nd Saturday (which is my Opus Dei day), I was so glad that my sister-physician joined us for our Recollection, confession, talk, then Benediction. We intend to participate in the Retreat for OD members scheduled next year. OD attract new members by the friendships shown by its members and I hope to continue getting more. By noontime, we had buffet lunch, where Sean and Red joined us later. We enjoyed our chit-chat so much, unmindful of the time running, that we had to part just in time for us to attend our anticipated mass at 4:30 pm. My Ate and I discussed so many topics ranging from family issues, politics, life values, and many, many more.

Sept. 20 was a special day of Thanksgiving for the gift of wonderful life with God’s Blessings – balance, harmony, and the freedom to enjoy it all! I started the day with the 8:30a Mass at St. Mel’s (after the Mass, the Rosary was prayed led by Fr. McSweeney and Fr. George for some special intentions and Blessings), then spent an hour at the Adoration Chapel, went window shopping at the mall, had lunch with Sean at an Italian buffet, then back to St. Mel’s for our regular anticipated 4:30p Mass, receiving phone greetings in-between these activities. Later that evening, we were treated to Chinese dinner by my sister and her husband – quite a hectic and memorable birthday celebration! By the way, the night before, I also attended the birthday party dinner of Tess, our neighbor, where Sean also joined us, together with his Fil-Am schoolmates Aiza and Tom. It was a typical Pinoy party with lots of food and fun. Just imagine the additional calories taken in during this month of celebrations - I have to double my time at the gym since my body metabolism is such that I can gain 3 lbs easily in two days, but could lose 2 lbs in 1 month with much effort. Moreover, yesterday, I went for my semi-annual health medical exams, including blood, cervical/colon cancer screening tests. The OB-gyn initially said that everything appeared to be normal since results will come after 2 weeks yet. While I detest having to undergo the physical exams, as Sean said, it’s always good to know that one is in tip-top shape. Oh well, we should always be responsible for consequences of our actions!

Attached is photo of Sean and Red at home, Sarah and Max. 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!!!