Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! Summer is here with daytime temperatures ring to the 80s/ 90s, flowers all abloom, cool breeze in the early mornings and early evenings; unlike Pinas summer days with its high humidity.

On the 1^st week of May, our St. Mel’s Catholic school was put on national (even global) attention as the 1^st reported case of AH1N1 (swine flu virus) in California. Media attention focused on our parish school when a 7th grade boy who returned from a spring break vacation in Mexico tested positive, and the swift action and effective response of school authorities in cooperation with government health officials, prevented promptly its spread. After 10 days of suspension, classes were resumed. The boy was quarantined and treated effectively, while health measures to prevent its spread were followed by the entire community, especially among churchgoers, who went on with regular activities, even with all the multi-media coverage around the vicinity. Thank God, everything is now back to normal!

Thus, the special celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, marked with floral offerings, coronation, candle-lit procession, Benediction, also served as Thanksgiving for overcoming the H1N1 trial with flying colors, that the school went through; with special participation by the school children, under the usual direction of Pinoy Fr. George. The school principal and staff were lauded and given standing ovation for the well-done job - immediate control and proper management of the crisis at hand.

On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held May 29 at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Roy Schoeman, a Jewish convert to Catholicism whose topic was Salvation is from the Jews. He is also a frequent guest on EWTN, author of many books and Catholic evangelist. He spoke on Judaism both as a religion and as a central element of Christian salvation, namely, the role that Jews and Judaism play in God’s plan for all mankind revealed in the light of the Catholic faith. He demonstrated there is one theological issue on which both Jews and Christians should agree, and that is “salvation is from the Jews.” He delivered the message from a Jewish perspective within the catholic faith, reflecting that most biblical characters, including the New Testament are Jews. The turning point in his conversion at age 32 while serving as professor at MIT and Harvard was his recognition of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God and his desire to be closer to her. That time, he wanted to go to Confession so he can receive Holy Communion, pray the Hail Mary, ‘O Mary conceived without sin, Pray for us who have recourse to thee.’ The presentation was highly provocative, engaging, and fascinating!

On Memorial Day, we attended the Jazz Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in downtown Sac. This is part of the 36^th annual Jazz Festival Week celebration, featuring jazz bands from all over the world converging and playing at various hotels and parks in the state capital; enjoying beautiful jazz music the entire week! With summer break, Sean had been busy attending graduation ceremonies and parties of his friends, outings at our clubhouse. He is at life phase when socializing is peaking up and I am just awed by current culture here where it’s okay for girls visiting boys at their home. On week-end evenings, 5 lady friends would often come to visit him, spend time playing Rockband, watch TV movies, singing, etc. It is good that Sean respects my private time / space, so he ensures that his visitors arrive when I am done with my TV watching to go to my upstairs bedroom for my Sudoku and reading.

Global links: Coming to America meant being separated temporarily from close family and friends, like our triumvirate of Agnes, Margie and myself, which was formed during our NPC days (over 20 years). Agnes (the social worker) is with our office as Gerry’s guardian, while Margie migrated with her family to New Zealand. In God’s wonderful ways, she met and got close to my UST classmates Sonia and Pancho who also migrated there. S and P are in the loop of our UST Eng yahoo group, and they were very helpful to Marge’s family when they first arrived in NZ; so how amazing and awesome that our lives are always intertwined and connected wherever part of the globe we go, Margie and I concluded! We are looking forward to our reunion, either in Pinas or N.Z. or U.S., sometime next year.

Last week-end, my cousin Ate Celia (from SFO and now settled in La Union, Pinas enjoying dual citizenship idyllic life) visited and had dinner at home with my Ate and Nong Nonie. We stayed until 2:00AM, updating on our life stories.

Attached are 3 photos: family gathering, solo picture, State Capitol. 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

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! Flowers are all abloom with the advent of spring and glorious are our feelings with Christ’s Resurrection! Sean and I participated in our parish activities, consistent with all the traditional rituals observed in Pinas.

On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held last Friday April 24, at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Fr. Jonathan Morris, who I watch often on FOX TV as news analyst, EWTN – his opinions are always consistent with my values – so his talk was highly anticipated. When I arrived at the venue, the queue was already long, box-office hit, very large audience of more than 250. I got a copy of his book ‘The Promise’, right away for his autograph to avoid the ‘after lunch queue’. About Fr. Jonathan: Ordained to the priesthood in 2002, he has served as theological advisor to Mel Gibson in the making of the film “Passion of the Christ’. In 2005, with the sickness of Pope John Paul II, Fr. Jon began his work as religious news analyst and commentator for several domestic and international channels including CNN, Sky News, and BBC. He now serves as regular news contributor for the FOX News Channel (which I always watch), where he offers ethical and moral commentary to news items. Fr. Jon’s engaging presentation offered insights on suffering, in its many forms. I truly enjoyed reading his book ‘The Promise’: God’s Purpose and Plan for when Life Hurts; it was like journeying through life, which confirmed all my learnings on Philosophies I studied (St. Thomas’, Values, Human Person), especially those on Truth: Faith and Reason.

On the professional front, I was kept busy with preparing for my next class in May: re-training for the new on-line computer system being used by National University (NU). We are migrating from the iLinc to the new Class Live Pro (CLP) system, so the faculty has to be fully prepared to teach with the new system – learning CLP – attending as many training sessions on-line until the comfort level to teach is attained, doing actual teaching demo. One has to be open-minded and flexible to learn new technology, ever-open to upgrade one’s skills, knowledge, attitude (SKA)! Likewise, seminars on Best Practices on Teaching for faculty were conducted – with very attractive incentives!

In these times of massive employment lay-offs, Americans are highly encouraged to go back to school to re-train and upgrade their skills, or to get college degrees, so there is huge demand for education; consequently, the upsurge of enrollment in universities. As a result, teaching schedules are planned way ahead of time – my teaching schedule for up to May 2010 (a year from now) had been given to me – what amazing job security! For practical reasons, there is increased demand for on-line courses to obtain college degrees. Currently, only 20% of citizens have college degrees, while only 5% have post-graduate degrees, unlike in Pinas, where most people we know have college and post-graduate degrees. The high American out-of-college mortality is a result of their culture ‘of children over 18 years old leaving their parental homes to live on their own, getting jobs in retail, seeking early independence – hence, being content with receiving minimum ‘McDonald’s salary to pay for their bills, leaving their college education as optional; anyway, they are already earning to survive. A specific example is the son of my Sr. Vice-President who himself has a Masters in Engineering degree and used to be a Public Works Director in Folsom City. His son Derek, at 19, lives in his own apartment, after high school has not entered college, enjoying his job mixing paints at Home Depot. This is a downside of democracy / independence in American culture. In our culture, we parents consider our children’s education our responsibility – it’s our best legacy to them!

Likewise, here is my personal observation. Despite the economic downturn, or as a result of efforts for turn-around economic programs, there seems to be a great demand for personnel in the infra-structure projects industry, particularly in CA. The past weeks, I had been receiving calls from professional recruiters for resume updates or interviews for top-level managerial positions, apparently due to my attractive qualifications and experience. However, reality-checking my circumstances, long-term project commitments are not in my 2-5 year planning horizon, so I have to politely decline such offers. Better to give those big-time employment slots to others, who may be more in need of livelihood for their survival. I am just so happy with my teaching opportunities at NU – sticking to my passion and less-stressful life – affording me more time for health maintenance programs, and for my spiritual enrichment activities, praying for family, friends, and communities!

Attached are 3 more photos of: family gathering. 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

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! We are now enjoying the nice spring weather with cool air, mid-day sunshine, occasional rains in the evenings, and flowers coming to bloom, and looking forward to Easter Sunday!

This month had been sprinkled with activities in preparation for the most glorious feast of our Catholic faith. After my regular Friday hour at the Adoration chapel, our church has the Stations of the Cross at 11:00a, attended by the students of St. Mel’s. On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held last Friday March 20, at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Ms. Katrina Zeno, who talked on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: Christ the Bridegroom. Ms. Zeno, foundress of Women of the 3d Millennium, also co-hosted EWTN’s series on Pope John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body’, author of Every Woman’s Journey: Answering Who am I?, For the Feminine Heart, and The Body Reveals God. She has spoken across the U.S. and throughout the world, especially in this year devoted to St. Paul. She took us through Paul’s journey from merit to mercy to marriage and its application for all of us; she was truly an inspiring and engaging speaker. As usual, I got autographed copies of her books.

Then last week-end, I attended the 3-day live-in Opus Dei retreat in Novato, CA. As my 1st U.S. retreat, I am not familiar with the venue so I needed to carpool. Ms. Libby was so kind to share me a ride on her SUV to and from the venue, which allowed bonding to develop. At the venue, of the 12 attendees, 4 were Filipinas or 30%, so I am really proud of our faith and culture. While I always had my OD retreat in Pinas before Holy Week since 2000 for 5 years, they were not live-in, so this time - it was more wonderful and meaningful – as it afforded more focus and reflective ambience. Fr. Jim Kelly was our leader. Jobs were farmed out to participants so I led in various activities like Spiritual reading, Stations of the Cross, Rosaries, reading at Masses. The meditations, talks, reflections were so inspiring, the amenities, food, venue were all so great – overall, it was like experiencing heaven on earth!

Sean celebrated his 22nd birthday on March 25. During mass (also the feast of the Annunciation), Fr. George offered ‘special intentions for Sean’s birthday’. We had dinner (spaghetti, lumpia, dinuguan, shrimps, humba, salads, cake, ice cream, etc.) at home with guests, including my sister and hubby, Gene and Lik, Eve, Russel and Tess, Fr. George (he just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land so he gave Sean a beautiful souvenir from his trip) and 10 of Sean’s friends from school. Our guests left before midnight, but his friends stayed on, enjoying the food, drinks (vodka, margarita, etc.), playing Rockband, poker, tongits, and other card games. Sean said they left past 3:00 am because some had to go to work. Best wishes for good health, wisdom, success in your studies and career, and may you achieve all your goals – keep up the good work!!!

By the way, through our bonding on our way to the retreat, I learned that Ms. Libby (who used to work in the Philippines and Thailand) was with the F.B.I. so she worked closely with our NBI and knew details about our country Pinas. She is an amazing, multi-tasking high-energy type of person, which I imagined myself partly, 20 years ago. From our retreat, we went straight to Libby’s home where she hosted our monthly Faith enhancement studies, so Sean fetched me from there. Since working with the FBI is the target job of my Sean, he is glad to be connected to this cool, tough FBI lady who is giving him tips on how to get there. Libby’s husband, whom she met while they were on FBI training, is with the State Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA – the Mexican problem/issue). With Sean’s connection as parallel to Jamal’s destiny, how wonderful God puts pieces on the puzzle of His creations!

Attached are 2 more photos of: family gathering during Sean’s birthday celebrations, Sean's group of friends. 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

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! We just had ash on our forehead to remind us of our mortality and the start of Lenten season so I wish you all meaningful fasting and abstinence days ahead!

February is the coldest month here in SAC made more so with the heavy rains, especially in the evenings when driving is more tedious with thick fog and traffic. Since my teaching class was held off-campus at the Roseville Electric yard (about 30 minutes drive from home), I have to exercise more caution to ensure safety and prevent peril. I thank God the course will be completed soon. However, we do welcome the rains for the water supply of the region and neighboring areas.

On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held last Friday Feb. 20, at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Fr. Derek LaBranch (a classmate of Pinoy Fr. George who were ordained together 3 years ago, so he is also a friend). Fr. Derek spoke about the many ways ‘God shows us His calling in our life’ – that we have to pray for discernment on our vocation. I was happy that he often quoted St. Jose Maria Escriva and how the people of Opus Dei are seeking ‘holiness’ in the midst of their profession and daily work routine’, fulfilling God’s call to personal holiness and sanctification here on earth’. He shared that he found his vocation while at the Adoration Chapel where he spent time regularly. Discerning our vocation is a continuous process while we are alive.

Sean is busy with school and sports activities during week-ends going out of town overnight staying in hotels, to Sta. Barbara, CA., Humbolt, Chico, really making the most of opportunities coming along. Sarah called up excitedly how the Jamal character in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is so like her brother’s personality, so now we fondly call him ‘Jamal’. While Sean is enjoying his magic moments, I am also pre-occupied with my spiritual, together with my physical and intellectual enhancement activities. Our Bible Study group just completed the Gospel and letters of John, which was capped with lunch at the home of our leader Claude. Our next class will resume after Easter. I am looking forward to my 3-day Opus Dei Retreat scheduled before Lent, which will be held at the Women’s Center in Novato, CA. Since 2000, I always had my annual OD Retreat just before Holy Week.

Wisdom Nuggets (consistent with the month of Love and Lent season): The promise to ‘wipe out’ offenses, even when the offenders do not deserve forgiveness, is a promise almost beyond our understanding. So often, we ourselves would rather extract ‘justice’ rather than offer forgiveness for wrongdoing. It seems almost a part of our nature. Did hat person cause suffering? Then he or she must suffer equally. “An eye for an eye.” By “justice”, we often mean balancing the scales. But what if the word’s scales were really balanced? What about he few of us who use up – in fact, throw away – more food and tuff than hundreds of millions of our sisters and brothers ever see? Do we truly want the worlds scales balanced?

At any rate, first God says: “You burdened me with your sins, and wearied me with your crimes. And then God says: It is I who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses. Not for what we do, nor because we can “even things out with God”, but simply out of God’s goodness, we are forgiven.

: We cannot actually earn God’s forgiveness, any more than we have earned any of the other blessings we have received. We easily convince ourselves that we have ‘earned’ our health, education, job opportunities, and style. “But did we earn” being born in a certain place and time? What if our gifts are taken away and given to others who lacked such gifts from the moment they were born - and even before birth? Then they would have far more than we. Would that even things out? Would that be justice? The distribution of blessings is a great mystery (count and appreciate your blessings always!).

Part of the mystery is this: In the face of our arrogance and selfishness, our refusal to forgive – “after we have burdened and wearied God with our crimes” – God keeps on responding with forgiveness!

Attached are 4 photos: Max and Mama Sue, Sean, Max and Mama Sue, Party with Liklik and Gene's new home, and Last Night in California for Sarah and Max. 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

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

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! Merry Christmas and a more Blessed New Year 2009 to everyone; as we Praise and Thank God for His Love and Generosity during the year and ask for more Blessings for 2009 - Peace, Joy, Good Health, Love, Happiness – among others, provision for all our needs and the rest of the world, especially the children!

On our Catholic Breakfast Club meeting for December, the invited speaker was Mr. Tarek Saab, who spoke on ‘Gut Checking: young men confronting the Big issues like Love, Work and Manhood’, offering a fresh perspective on being a ‘twenty-something’ male and Catholic, in today’s world! A candidate on NBC’s The Apprentice 5, he is president of T. Saab Media, and founder of Lionheart Apparel, a men’s clothing line he launched after his TV debut. He has been named Kipling’s “Who’s Who among Executives and Business Executives for 2008. He is a popular Catholic speaker and author of ‘Gut Checking’ which I got a signed copy with dedication for my children Sean and Sarah. An insight as guide for young: Choose a ‘favorite saint’ to become a model for your life who will serve as your guide, like St. Augustine, St. Thomas, St. Theresa, and always think of death as the greatest equalizing factor to keep you grounded - for humility!

We celebrated a very meaningful and memorable Christmas season with much joy and happiness in the family as we were all together, after 3 years of being multi-located. My hubby Gerry joined us at home in Sacramento during the 1^st week, so we were able to complete the 9-days ‘Misa de Gallo‘ masses starting on Dec. 16, culminating with the Christmas evening Mass at St. Mel’s church. Our daughter Sarah and her 6-years old son Max, who are based in New Jersey, joined us Dec. 23 – Jan. 2. so we all enjoyed our magic moments together for the holidays – thanks be to God!

On Christmas day, we had lunch/dinner with my sister’s family at their residence in Roseville, with the traditional exchanging of gifts and updates on life events. The following days were spent on family bonding – driving around Sac area, shopping, eating out on various restaurants, keeping fit at our clubhouse – father/son bonding playing billiards, visiting/meeting up with friends, trips to Max’s ‘toy farm’, highlighted by studio sitting for family photos which will be coming out soon.

For our traditional family ‘last Saturday of the year-end diner at home’, we invited close family and friends as we served Filipno lechon, shrimp with quail eggs, dinuguan, sotanghon, lumpiang shanghai, sinigang, several salads and desserts, drinks, culminated with ‘magic sing’ concert by all attendees. Guests included my sister and hubby; Dr. Connie Fajardo (a surprise as she sang like an Opera singer) and hubby with their friend Sylvia, daughter and her son; Mert (my husband’s ship Radio Operator 30 years ago who is also residing in our Anatolia) and wife Dr. Edna with their daughter Carolyne; Russel and Tess; Sean’s friends: Red, Jason and Michelle. They enjoyed singing till 2:00 am. When the guests were leaving my hubby Gerry said he would go up to the bedroom to sleep. I reminded him that we still had a lot of work to do – fixing up all the food left, cleaning up and everything – the realities of American living, with no help to clean after you, so we all had a big laugh – reality check!!!

While we wanted to spend New Year’s day at home, we squeezed the Schroeder’s invitation to be at their home in Roseville due to Sarah’s limited time; we had good time on ‘magic sing’; we realized we were a karaoke family as Gerry always opened with his ’My Way’ , Sarah with her ‘Till I Met You’, Sean with his “Creep’, then with my ‘Dancing Queen’; likewise, Max always grabs the mike and joins his lolo in ‘My Way’.

Attached are photos of: 1) at home with our guests; 2)at my sister’s home ; and 3) with Sarah, Max and lechon. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. We thank God for a meaningful Christmas with the entire family in Sacramento. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! We praise and thank God for the wonderful blessings – safe travel to Pinas and back, reuniting with loved ones, cooler climate, campaign for election advocacies, wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving in Pinas, joyful anticipation of the Christmas season, among others!

On our Catholic Breakfast Club meeting for November, the invited speaker was Ms. Barbara Nicolosi, founding director of Act One Inc., which train youg people for careers as Hollywood writers and executives. She spoke on the topic ‘Why Hollywood Matters’ – the profound influence on the value formation of its wide audience, especially the children; thus, the need to be concerned on the types of movies being churned out from the industry which are composed mostly of pagans. She strongly admonished the audience to be actively vigilant and suggested ideas on ways to influence the industry: PRAY for the conversion of people in the industry, especially the activists like Sean Penn, Spielberg, etc. A former nun of St. Paul’s order for 9 years, Ms. Nicolosi is now working on the project on the Virgin Mary, ‘The Mother of the Christ’ set for release early 2010, so she asked for more prayers on the success of this project.

Dateline Pinas: I am in Pinas Nov 17- 30, 2008. I arrived via NW 27/001 in Manila at 11:00p. The 1^st two days was spent on pre-appointed meetings with clients, officers and staff in the Q.C. area. Thursday was my 1^st day at the office to update on office staff concerns and review of overall employee performance, then I had lunch with Ms. CORA I at D’Block SM North EDSA which we had to squeeze in since she was leaving for Bangladesh the following day to observe election activities there. She is a key officer of NAMFREL (the Pinas election watchdog) and seemed to have focused on her role as election professional being an expert on election matters, traveling around Asian countries on election time.

The following day Friday, I had more meetings and business updates and in the evening, we had dinner with Fr. Art, O.P., now having more responsibilities at U.S.T. – in the hospital, education, admin – doing oversight work, maximizing the learnings he got from his graduate studies at AIM. Saturday dinner was with my CFC couples – Gammy and Grace, Jack and Maritess at Abe’s (Trinoma, QC) enjoying family updates and life stories, Pinas politics and environment.

The 2^nd week was spent catching up on household matters – packing and moving essential things from our Fairview household to our El Jardin condo unit, especially my valuable collection of mini ships – I am always in a journey so my vessels take me from place to places. This is in preparation for our Fairview nest to be turned over to a potential buyer soon. Wednesday was spent visiting with Msgr. Fidelis Limcaco and his Emmanuel Servants seminarians at his convent, where we reiterated our monthly commitment of support to their studies. It was good to see that Monsi was still looking fine and healthy. On Thursday, I had lunch with my good friend and kumare Tess S. at the Via Mare (Trinoma) where we binged on all the native food they had from dinuguan, palabok, lumpia, salabat, puto maya with mangoes, with updates on many developments. We share similar experiences on relationships (children, husbands, work, friends, etc.) since our friendship spans 30 years since during our NPC days. It was nice to get in phone touch with classmate Sally V. and Dr. T. T. De Lara, due to time constraint face-to-face meeting was not feasible. The must do appointments of every Pinas visit were accomplished – dental check-up and my lawyer!

The culmination of my visit was Saturday pm for the wedding of my loyal assistant Jessica Antiquera and C/O Clark Cris Corpus at the San Felipe Church in Mandaluyong, with reception at the Phil. Stock Exchange Tektite Tower auditorium with 200 guests. Officiating priest was Fr. Bobot Clemen, parish priest of Lagro and a neighbor in Panglao, so he fetched us from our Fairview home and back with his car - also served as our driver. The entire wedding and reception was so impressive – well organized, ceremonies, the food, program, etc, - fabulous, as Filipinos can do! Both Gerry and I were principal sponsors, gave speeches – highlighting Jess’ excellent 11 years service with our company, while Clark also started as crew in our shipping where they met; we empathized and shared with heir happiness, achievement and success!.

Nov. 30: It’s wonderful to be back in Sacramento with it’s nice foggy weather – the flight back was smooth, we arrived 1 hour ahead of the scheduled 7:40a time so I had to wait for my Sean and Russel who came past 9:00a. I have to rest for several days to recuperate from severe cough and colds due to hectic activities in Pinas.

Attached are photos of: 1) at FSAC office with Agnes; 2) with CFC couples; and 3) at Jessica’s wedding. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. We look forward to Christmas with the entire family in Sacramento. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG

Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! We praise and thank God for the wonderful blessings of new season of hope – fall, cooler climate, campaign for election advocacies, joyful anticipation of travel to Pinas and Christmas season, among others!

The sudden change of weather with the fall season means cooler wind in the mornings, hence bringing out jackets and sweaters from the closet and changing to appropriate attire. On our Catholic Breakfast Club meeting, the invited speaker was Mr. Tom Peterson, president & founder of Catholics Coming Home.org, on the topic ‘Love Somebody to Heaven’. He is an award-winning advertising executive, regularly appearing on EWTN, who has been following his true vocation: to evangelize souls using the power of media, producing TV commercials like ‘my father, my hero’, ‘the movie’, etc. which encourages others to seek God’s plan for their lives, to help change our world for the better. Statistics show that of the 25% Catholics in America, only 1/3 are actually going to church, thus the need for programs to entice people to become active Catholics (returning/coming home); you can visit the website. During his presentation, he narrated how his efficient Filipina assistant Aurora Sarmiento served as effective sounding board giving final approval to their commercials; pointing out to me being the only Asian in the audience of 100. Naturally, I stood up as they applauded, and felt proud of our Filipino catholic faith/service which is globally recognized, for which I truly thank God always!

On Oct. 13, we (my Ate, her husband and I) participated in the festivities (recitation of the Rosary by schoolchildren offering flowers after each bead, candle-lit procession, then Benediction) in honor of our Lady of Fatima attended by the biggest crowd gathered at St. Mel’s church, organized by ever-active Pinoy Fr. George. Parishioners’ faith are really energized and inspired to serve in God’s church.

It’s almost election day and whatever the outcome, I can say that I made a stand on a vital issue on hand – campaigning for the ‘YES to Prop 8’ – to decide to restore traditional marriage to become permanent in CA; to favor NO means to allow for ‘gay marriage’. As part of our ‘Yes to Prop 8’ advocacy, my participation include sending out campaign materials, flyers and bumper stickers; phone call reminding, especially for prayers; distributing and putting up yard signs and flyers. The flyers came in 10 languages, one in Tagalog. Following is the flyer text in Pilipino:

􀀻 OO sa Proposisyon 8

Ito ang buong laman ng Proposisyon 8. Walang “fine print” o itinatagong kahulugan.

“Ang kasal sa pagitan ng isang lalake at isang babae ang tanging may bisa o kinikilala sa California.”

Ano ang kahulugan ng Proposisyon 8:

Ang “OO” na boto = ang kasal ay sa pagitan lamang ng lalake at ng babae

Ang “Hindi” na boto = ang kasal ng magkatulad na kasarian ay pinapayagan

OO ang iboto sa Proposisyon 8 sa November 4.

Paid for by ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, a project of California Renewal. Major funding by Knights of Columbus, National Organization for Marriage California Committee and Focus on the Family.

BTW, the results of my annual medical screening and lab tests conducted this month all indicated ‘negative’ and ‘within normal limits’, which means I am successful in my health management program earning a remark of ‘excellent’ from my primary health care physician, thanks God!.

Attached are photos of: 1) myself with yard sign ‘Yes on 8’; 2) during my birthday; and 3) getting colder at home. Let us continue to pray for our country and people and for America – guidance for the elections. I will be in Pinas Nov. 16 – 30, 2008, so see you there. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG

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!!!

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!!!