from our family to yours
merry   c h r i s t m a s

Dec. 22, 2007.
This is my second time conducting the SJBCI Christmas Cantata, with this year’s songs from Unspeakable Joy. 

Joyfully, I was happy to see the church building packed w/ new visitors, as well as new members of the choir that I had not yet been honored to lead.  Also, Perze served as the narrator this year, so it was a partnership that I enjoyed this cantata. 

It’s always a blessing to conduct for the choir, seeing as they perform passionately during the night of the event, and I was very much encouraged and humbled by the pleasant things the audience had to say.  Praise God for being the head director of the evening.

for the complete album of the cantata weekend, click here.

finally! our twelvesixteen site has been built AND tweaked.

with perze fixing the rooms while i decorate, i also wanted to thank my Ate for helping me continually tweak this site.  i’m not much of a css person, but little by little my eyes are starting to see patterned codes w/ the help of my sister.  she’s really good at coding (check out her samuanie site).

our theme changed, from red to chocolate brown and old rose/pastel pink (my favorite combo).

there’s still a lot we want to add, esp. a page dedicated to our twelvesixteen projects.  but for now, it’s all just fun stuff. also, we totally destroyed our old guestbook because the flash was too flashy and didn’t seem to mesh well with our page.  nevertheless, we built a new one, a cleaner look, with more writing space and options. please visit our guestbook and leave an entry.

we celebrated this year’s thanksgiving at South Jersey with Marchesa’s whole family, including the Ng’s.

as a Fabila tradition, we order Lobsters from Maine instead of the typical turkey. then we have tons of side dishes and desserts, so we cook the whole day and eat leftovers the rest of the weekend. but it’s always a great time to spend w/ each other, esp. now that the two toddlers are getting older and enjoy playing together now.

there’s a lot to be thankful for, so we extend our greetings and thanks for our loved ones- of course to Perze’s family who we miss, and our friends who are scattered all throughout…we appreciate all of you who enter our lives and make kalat to show us your presence!

for pictures of the Thanksgiving Weekend, click on this album.

we’re really proud of the Young Believers as they hosted their annual Thanksgiving Dinner. With aproximately 50-60 attendants, people from Delaware, Maryland, Philly, & Voorhees came to gather for a night of worship, the Word, and a feast!

This year, they also honored Pstr. Justin for his past services to the YB and continued support, through a short presentation and gifts. Also being the guest speaker, he spoke on the need to be thankful for God’s faithfulness, even in the things He didn’t allow for us to have, because truly in the end, He knows what we need.

Again, congratulations to the participats. God bless all your efforts and continue to have more visions for God’s glory!

for pictures, click on This Album.

we’re back from our phils. trip oct 13-28, 2007.

we visited cities in Mindanao like Cagayan DeOro, Marawi, and Iligan.  we were able to visit Mindanao State University where Perze grew up and graduated.  Emma also finally met her Lola and Lolo, Titas & Titos, and baby Isabel.  She had such a fun time w/ them and made many memories that will last until we visit again.

we even got to visit the farm that Lolo Perl established, which gave us a great opportunity to really see a lot of God’s beautiful creation.

Overall, we were very blessed w/ the trip, having had spent quality time w/ everyone in the family. We are already anticipating our next visit!

for more pictures, please visit our gallery to the Philippines album HERE.
for my blog on the trip, click HERE.

Praise God!

Despite the lack of sufficient study time, I’m really thankful and excited to say that I passed the Praxis II Test for English Language Literature Composition and Content Knowledge.  Out of 200, I earned the passing score of 179, which was more than expected.  The Praxis II is necessary to earn a teaching license in NJ to teach secondary education english.  This also entitles my matriculation for the alt. route program for teaching english.  This marks the beginning of another phase in our lives, so we’re just very excited for the new opportunities.

Glory to God!