Dear loved ones,

            Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA, USA! August always bring surprises: the summer heat, parties and fiesta celebration, vacations, and many more. Normally, I would have been on my mid-year Pinas visit, but my daughter Sarah requested me to postpone my trip as she requested me to spend time with them in NJ this September. Thus, I have scheduled my Pinas trip to October – November instead, GOD wills!

Since many families are on out-of-town vacations, there were no big events happening on our area, except for the regular routine. In our monthly BCBP, we had as sharer our couple classmates in CLP10 who experience a wonderful transformation in their married life; after the storm, they are now back as a happy coupe – glad that a miracle was happening during our CLP! After our Denny’s breakfast, we had our Action Group meeting at Raley’s planning for our 1^st Family outing set on Sept. 16 to be held at Mather Regional Park, potluck.

My early morning walks along RC Parkway was made more exciting with the Site development project of the extension of our home site. I am amazed and awed at the abundance of resources: equipment, manpower used in the project, which result to speedy accomplishment of objectives and goals – a Project Manager’s Dream. On site are a dozen moving equipment: Excavators, Graders, Tampers, Planers, Water Sprinklers, Dampers, running after one another to accomplish the tasks at hand. America is truly the greatest in in resources and can accomplish all their Projects as planned. This fascinating Project inspires me to go about my daily 1-hour walk as I watch the swift progress of Work on the Development.

I am also focused on my health maintenance as I had my quarterly blood tests; the results prompted my doctor to make some adjustments on the dose of my medications. I am continuously working hard on the discipline of my diet, exercises, and medication. It is always a struggle to maintain a balanced life: physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and by the Grace of GOD, I trust that we can achieve this; Much Thanks!!!

Other highlights for the month:

·      Continuous Two-way Communications with all family members; Gerry, Sarah and Sean always checks up on me;

·      I attended the monthly meeting and apostolate for the St. Mel Vocations Ministry. I continue my lifelong apostolate to support the vocation of Priesthood: 3 seminaries in Pinas; Fr. Robert Barron’s Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, and the St. Mel Vocations Ministry;

·      I am glad of the announcement that Fr. Cormac Lacre (from Bohol) is assigned as 2^nd priest at St. Mel Church effective September 1. It is an answered prayer for me;

·      Movies watched for relaxation were: The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds and S. Jackson – comedy / violent action thriller, with some family redeeming values; with the lack of interesting movies, this was the only movie watched for the month, and also with Sean always out-of-town;

·      Tragedies and natural disasters happened around the world, like terrorist attacks in Europe and strong typhoon in America, like the Harvey in Texas and Louisiana; It is amazing how people reacted to help the victims – physical assistance, donations, Prayers, and any form of Support kept pouring in immediately! It is wonderful how GOD moves in His mysterious Ways to touch people’s lives!  Truly, GOD is GREAT!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA, USA! The summer month of July brought 3-digit temperatures to the high of 110s, so came out the Capri pants, short sleeves and light clothing, and relaxing days at the gym and walks on the parks.

We’re all excited to celebrate the 4^th of July: started with morning Mass at St. Mel to thanks GOD for all the Blessings for America, sing GOD Bless America, breakfast at Black Bear Diner; visited Fr. George Snyder at his new parish as Pastor  of S

t. Claire Church in Roseville (from Redding, CA). Fr. George toured Sean and me around his 15-acre sprawling Romanesque beautiful church. Definitely, he will be kept busy by the parishioners of 7,000 families. After taking photos around which I shared on FB, we went for lunch at Golden Koi Japanese/Chinese buffet Fr. George specified. Then, Sean and I went shopping at Galleria; after short rest, we proceeded to Hagan Park in Rancho to watch the colorful fireworks; took midnight snacks at Denny’s, before heading home. It was a thoroughly busy day, and worth the fun and excitement, especially since Sean just got the good news of his promotion at work! We maximized our time as Sean is always out of State work assignments, especially on week-ends.

My regular activities with Opus Dei went on smoothly; our monthly BCBP gathering came with the usual group photos, followed by our Action Group meeting at Raley’s Natomas to discuss plans and programs for implementation. Likewise, we held a going away/ despedida party for Jojo I. who decided an early retirement from his IT position for a leisurely life in Pinas – how exciting and admirable!

The month was highlighted by the Bruno Mars Concert at Golden 1 Center, called 24K Magic World Tour 2017. Sean managed to get VIP tickets which afforded us VIP entrance, freebies, reception amenities of food, drinks, shopping; the big surprise was our seats – we got middle aisle seats, 5^th row from the stage giving good view and room for dancing the entire show; we got to appreciate the colorful pyrotechnics feature and good recording of the entertaining performances. The front act was the Jabawockeez (male group with some Pinoys) wonderful choreography with their songs; Bruno Mars was a Total Entertainer with his amazing voice and the choreography of his entire band – Entertaining Performance for 4 hours, and all the Dancing!!!

 

Other highlights for the month:

·      Continuous Two-way Communications with all family members; Gerry, Sarah and Sean always checks up on me;

·      I attended the monthly meeting and apostolate for the St. Mel Vocations Ministry giving 3 checks starting June 2017; It had been my lifelong apostolate to support the vocation of Priesthood; I support 3 seminaries in Pinas; Fr. Robert Barron’s Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, and now the St. Mel Vocations Ministry;

·      Movies watched for relaxation were: Spiderman – Homecoming; With Sean being out of town most week-ends, our bonding time had been minimized;

·      On my grocery shopping at our nearby Raley’s, I dropped my black wallet and thought that I had lost it. When I returned to Raley’s the following morning, the supervisor retrieved it from their Lost and Found section, and I got the wallet back and all the contents inside. I truly have Faith in the American culture and system – so GREAT!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

Dear Loved Ones,

            Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA, USA! Days of June were a series of adventures, renewals, and celebrations. First off, my husband Gerry and I celebrated our 43^rd wedding anniversary! Much Thanks GOD for your Love, Kindness, and Generosity; for the blissful life!

Coincidentally, I attended the Christian Life Program (CLP) No. 10 offered by the BCBP held at Vallombrosa Retreat Center at Menlo Park, CA on June 2 – 4, 2017 aimed to enhance Spirituality. Actually, it was my 5^th CLP program, the previous 4 were always with my husband in Pinas (CLP with PREX, with CLSS, with Marriage Enhancement, then with Couples for Christ). Since the BCBP officers were insisting BCLP10 to be new, I acceded to go for renewal and celebrate my anniversary. I had a meaningful face to face Confession and Conversation with Fr. Patrick, O.P, Director of the Center; there are various ways how GOD move our lives, we just discern well!

My grandson Max celebrated two occasions: his graduation from middle-school on June 20, and his 15^th birthday on July 3. Congratulations MAX on the double milestones in your life! We are so proud of you – he got an Outstanding Academic Achievement Certificate signed by President Trump, he is so tall at 5’5”, such a good boy and so handsome! I truly admire how my daughter Sarah takes good care of him; she really means to give the best for her son!

We had Mass and potluck gathering on June 9 at St. Mel’s to celebrate the Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei; nice crowd of OD families, new Faces / members; I brought Turkey Roulade to share; On our Tuesday Bible Study, I was actively engaged as our leader Frank always pointed to me for clarifications and get my insights on questions raised by the diverse attendees, some were 1^st timers, so we always had lively discussions!

Other highlights for the month:

·      Two-way Communications with all family members had been greatly enhanced since my hospitalization; Gerry calls me daily at 3:30 PM SAC time, 6:30 AM Pinas time, as soon as he wakes up before going to Mass; Sarah and Sean always checks up on me;

·      On Father’s Day, Sean treated me for dinner at the 5-star Ruth’s Chris Steak House, in honor of his Dad!

·      Movies watched for relaxation were: Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, The Mummy featuring Tom Cruise, Transformers, the Last Knight; Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Men Tell No Tales;

·      Attended the B CBP Breakfast gathering at Denny’s meeting 3^rd Saturday of June; as new CLP graduates the energy / enthusiasm was high; we had as sharers couple Jay and Ruby Dejaresco from Pinas; also had BCBP President Abellana and wife as guests;

·      Our neighborhood was excited on the opening of the Raley’s Grocery, part of a new commercial complex called Sunridge Plaza in our area; I attended the inauguration on June28 with large crowd and city officials, and enjoyed the freebies handed out;

·      Fr. Wade Menezes celebrated Mass at EWTN for two weeks, and I always like his inspirational sharing. I am always enlightened by his new insights;

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG

Dear Loved Ones,

            Pleasant Greetings at from Sacramento, CA, USA! The month entailed many adjustments from the hectic activities in Pinas to the more relaxed pace in the USA that it took a toll on my personal health. It was a life-changing experience to spend 3 days in hospital for the first time in my life (except on baby deliveries); now, everything is back to normal! Much Thanks GOD!

            May 3 was the fiesta in my hometown for Santa Cruz, so I went shopping at SF for some eats; Among others, I bought halo-halo at Jollibee, palabok, menudo, fried chicken; I indulged myself, sort of. The following days, while I was working out at the gym, I felt dizzy. Since Sean was on fieldwork in San Diego, and I was alone at home, I decided to dial 911 for emergency. The EMT crew of 5 arrived soon, took my blood pressure, and tested my blood sugar, which were at elevated level. They then recommended to bring me to Mercy Folsom Hospital where I would be attended readily. True enough, upon arrival at hospital, the ER team readily brought me to a room, examined and conducted tests, took good care of me, actually!

The doctors, nurses, and other technicians assured to care for me. My family (Gerry, Sean, and Sarah) were worried and kept on calling. Likewise, my friends (Rose Davies, Odette, Robert who offered to bring me to hospital, Janice) wanted to visit me at hospital, but I declined them, since the hospital crew were truly taking good care of me! Even Sean, I told him not to change his return schedule, to follow his original work plan, since I was responding well to treatments. The following day, I was given meals to eat, the blood test results numbers were responding well to medicines given. The following night, I was transferred to a regular room in the Progressive Care Unit, which means I was on the road to recovery. The doctor recommended me to take the Lexi-Scan, a stress test for the heart – a state of the art procedure under the Nuclear department, where instead of the patient running on treadmill, the patient lie down with several meds injected; 5 doctors were attending. While the actual stress test took 15 minutes, the pre and post evaluation took a total of 5 hours.

 

Pre evaluation consist of taking photographs of your heart and body (30 mins.), waiting time to relax for the test; After the test, you get the weird feeling, so tired and hungry, given time to have breakfast, relax, go to the restroom where you clean out your stomach; then go to the post-test photographs, same procedure with the pre-test photography – to compare your heart conditions. With God’s blessing, the results were all clear/ clean! With the good results of the Flex-Scan, I was cleared to go home!

I am so thankful for my hospital experience, first time in America, under insurance, where no money came out of my wallet! Unlike in Pinas, where one has to prepare, to pay for deposit, pay for the total billing, before one is cleared to go home. Here, no one is denied treatment. Care is given promptly, before bills are settled later, after being discharged!

Other highlights for the month:

·      After my hospital stay (May 10-12), I attended the Mass for dedication of our parish to our Lady of Fatima on May 13, followed by breakfast at the parish hall;

·      On our Opus Dei, we had confessions, Meditation, Benediction;

·      Sean treated me to a Paint Party, fulfillment of a lifetime dream to paint, under guidance by a professional – we kept our painting!

·      On Mother’s Day, Sean treated me for lunch at the 5-star Ruth’s Chris Steak House, while Sarah and Max sent me a flower plant by FEDEX! My family showed me LOVE ever since. Gerry calls me every day ever since!

·      Movies watched for relaxation were: The Fate of the Furious 7; Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, starring Chris Pratt;

·      Attended the BCBP Breakfast gathering at Denny’s meeting 3^rd Saturday of May; met new friends, as they invited me to the CLP retreat on June 2-4 at Menlo, CA. Looking forward to join Odette and husband Robert

·      Sean and I attended the Graduation dinner of Hanna Romanos, daughter of Art and Rose, head of our CBCP group. Hanna graduated from SAC State, Cum Laude!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG