Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! I wish you all more Blessing throughout the year and Happy Valentines 2009! Thank God for the wonderful holidays spent together, as our multi-located family members went back to their respective places – my daughter Sarah and Max left for New Jersey midnight of Jan. 2, while my husband Gerry left for Pinas on Jan 17, allowing us more time to enjoy the sights and friends.

Aside from our routine of going to our clubhouse for physical fitness, church for masses, shopping, we spent time as follows: dinner at their homes: with Mert & Edna Tanegra, then with Russell & Tes Gerosola; driving for a day to enjoy the picture-perfect scenery with snow at Lake Tahoe, appreciating Nature with its snow-capped mountains and snow-covered roof of houses and roads along the way; a night playing with luck at Thunder Valley Casino with my brod-in-law Dr. Tony (I could not stand the smoky ambience, though we enjoyed the buffet dinner); a day visiting the scenic grape vineyards as far as your eyes can see and winery at Napa Valley (visited 5 wineries, like Mondavi); capturing the beautiful memories in sights and sounds by DVD which Gerry will enjoy when he is back in Pinas. As despedida, a 2nd dinner at the Tanegras’ was held where Gerry demonstrated his ‘cooking/preparing seafood skills’ like sinigang, Japanese sushi, kinilaw, and others, complete with saki and ‘presentation’. The audience was impressed and thankful to learn how to prepare these healthy foods. With his cooking talent recognized, Gerry is considering the idea of living it up here. Gerry left us marinated food in the freezer which could be good for 5-months supply!

Gerry had his personal satisfactions: he stuck to his History and Military TV channels most of the time, bought his collections of ‘wars and battles’ DVDs from Frys and Costco, even phone-ordering from TV ads; these DVDs will fill his time in Pinas. Likewise, his passion for battles was satiated when I accompanied him to watch opening day showing of movies like T. Cruise’ ‘Valkyrie” and D. Craig’s ‘Defiance’.

On our Catholic Breakfast Club meetings, the format (timeand venue) was changed to lunchtime starting January, held last Friday, Jan 23, at the Radisson Hotel Sacra6mento, with the intention of attracting more attendees. The move was highly successful since the attendance was doubled, also due to the very popular speaker - Stephen Ray – who poke on ‘Salvation: Abraham to Augustine’ and how we must live our lives to get there. About the speaker: A convert to the Catholic Church, and author of the best-selling books Crossing the Tiber, Upon this Rock, and St. John’s Gospel, Steve speaks at conferences around the world and is a regular guest on Catholic Anwer Live, The Journey Home, and has appeared on many other radio and TV programs. Hi enthusiasm for the Catholic Faith is infectious, as he brings the breadth of hi knowledge and experience on the mysteries and traditions of our Church. He and his wife Janet are currently producing a 10-video series called The Footprints of God; The Story of Salvation from Abraham to Augustine on location in the Holy Land and surrounding countries. Since 1995, they visited the Holy Land more than 60 times, leading pilgrimages; spend heir time researching, writing and teaching about the Catholic Church; defending Catholicism. I got an autographed copy of his book ‘St. John’s Gospel’.

Sean and I are now back to our regular schedule: he started his school Spring term on Jan. 26, and being lead player in his Volleyball varsity team; while I have a schedule to teach MNS 407 Management Science starting this week at the Roseville offsite campus and to our Bible Study class of St. John’s Gospel, which will be finished before the Holy Week. Meantime, we reminisce fondly the beautiful memories and family jokes that we shared, like Max’s singing ‘Gagambino and his aping Dennis Trillo’s actions; Sean often recalls his Dad’s idiosyncrasies: Gerry chose to wake him up from his deep slumber to ask for trivial things like cotton buds when he could have asked the rest of us who are all awake (favorite daw kasi niya si Sean; now, every time we enter our home or he enters my room, Sean would always yell: ‘Mom, kape kape, kape’ imitating/ mimicking his father. Sometimes I would react: ‘I’m already resting/tired’, forgetting the joke. (Sean is so good at mimicking people - it’s a talent). Oh well, realities come hard and slow: ‘All good things come to end and everything on earth is temporary, so just enjoy the ‘magic moments, detachment, move forward, and see you later.’

Attached are photos of: 1) group hug at Lake Tahoe; 2), 3) & 4) holiday family photos. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG