our grandfather's death

The title of this entry, actually it's a situation that gave me a lot of mixed emotions, fears and uncertaties. It's not the death of my grandfather that concerned us most but its implication that our relatives and friends should meet and unite to mourn for our grandfather's death.

By the way, my grandfather spend his last days in my parent's house where we, Zhel and I, are currently staying. So it is where the wake was also done.

Our aunts and uncles including our cousins will surely come which will definitely put us in a "hot-seat" situation, therefore, I convinced myself to be courageous and i told myself "I will face them all!" Fortunately, no "hot-seat" situation arose untill my grandpa was brought to his last destination. Only when after my grandpa's burial when I was put to a "hot-seat" when my youngest uncle came asking money for my grandpa's headstone because he invited my closest male cousin to drink. The three of us drink. My uncle said that, "What happened to us, Zhel & I, was not right and it degraded our clan's reputation and even more to my parent's. But they said, it already happened and there's nothing we can do to reverse it, so let it be. Just promise not to let it happen again." Then I said, "Thank you for accepting it and we had a deal not to let it happen again in any other generations to come..." A big relief!!!

Anyway, Zhel has just gave birth to a healthy baby girl with no abnormalities so far, last September 29, 2007. Her name is Sophi. In addition, our grandpa, on my father's side, died last October 9, 2007.

fact number 1

Marcelo H. del Pilar, a very famous, with the ranks of Jose P. Rizal, propagandist during Spanish occupation in the Philippines, late 1800s.

"In 1878, he married his first cousin, Marciana del Pilar, by whom he had several children with only Anita and Sofia surviving."

(p. 135, History of the Filipino People by Teodoro A. Agoncillo)

we are going to be a family!

First of all we would like to ask an apology for not updating this blog for almost 6 months due to the lack of significant events that happened in our life from the time of our last entry to May 27, 2007.

We are still currently living with my parent's house, Zhel's uncle and auntie. the situation with respect to our relationship with my parents have improved significantly. My mother seemed to already accept us 99%, I could say although my father is still a bit indifferent but fairly enough to make us feel welcome in the house. My younger sister is still a monster. Silent but if a little potential conflict will arise, she transforms into a wild animal, so we just ignore her as much as we can. I feel pitty of her since she has two child, separated to their father. A single mother, I would say.

Anyway, we have a good news. This May28, we go to a doctor and have Zhel checked-up for pregnancy and the test result is positive. We are going to have a baby. We are going to be a family in three months. The feelings are mixed with happiness, fear and uncertainty. I know that this will be the start of a new challenge that we will be facing.

Right now, I'm working (trainee) in a company that sells computer parts and accessories. I'm currently earning Php 225.00 (training allowance) and expecting to increased by at least Php 125.00 after my training. I admit I'm not that proud of my job considering I'm a graduate of B.S. in Computer Science in one of the top computer universities in the country. I guess that only reflects how hard to land a good job here in the Philippines in the present time.

I'm still calling to fellow Filipino couples with similar situation like ours. Please give us at least your email address for me to know if our number are increasing. Thank you...

welcome home

We're home! To my (Nath's) home today. Actually, we've been staying home for almost 2 weeks now which means we're in peace now with my parents, I'm just not sure with my sister. I'm still assessing her. Hopefully good...

God help us...

I'm very very glad and almost totally feel relieve upon finally going back home. It was a brave move that we made during the discovery and I thought that time that me and Zhel will sleep on the street but I guess God just guide me in last minutes-decisions I made during that time. I'm glad that at least all decisions I made produced good results. Our current status now proves it.

My mother is in full support on our relationship but my father is half, I think. But I can't blame my father since Zhel's blood is on his side. I'm hoping and praying, and ready to do all I can to make our relationship go up to the ultimate goals and dreams of lovers, wedding.

Hmm, a first-cousin wedding here in the Philippines? Huge challenge and as of now, an impossible dream, but I'm calling to all my fellow Filipino who are on the same situation like ours, please unite with us and let us make our dreams come true... In God's help, I know it will come true.