Flyin' home next month

Well, our wedding is less than two months away (46 days away, according to my countdown) and I have booked my flight home so I can be in the Philippines a few weeks before the wedding date to help finalize things. I will fly out from San Francisco on the evening of Friday, 23-Nov-2007 (local time) and arrive in Manila in the early morning of Sunday, 25-Nov-2007 (local time). Here is a little countdown ticker for that:




I am excited to get home as soon as possible so I can be with Mitzi and we can together finalize all the preparations for our wedding.

Here comes the Post Man!

Hiya folks! Things are starting to pick up. The wedding invitations and all its other parts (the RSVP card and whatnot) have arrived and therefore I am in the midst of printing out names onto the inner envelopes and by tomorrow work on the outer envelopes. My goal -- by the 31st I should be mailing out the invitations first of all to those who live far away -- Manila, Cebu, Singapore and Australia. Junby is taking care of sending out the invitations for those who are US based.

While that is going on, other things are being set into motion as well. Junby and I are both finalizing plans for our new homes -- the one here in Bacolod (since he plans to stay here for several months - until March 2008) and the other one in the US, which will become our permanent residence when I get there. Please include that all in your prayers, most especially that my visa applications goes through swiftly without any delays so that I can join Junby in the US by next year.

I'm also slowly working on the other small items on my 'to do' list - the missalette (which is awaiting approval from Junby and Fr Sean), the entourage gowns, Junby's Barong, gifts, finalizing arrangements with our various vendors. Thank you for all your prayers. It is the reason why I can still stay on top of things even when my personal schedule gets derailed by circumstances beyond my control. That's all for now. I am taking it a day at a time. Thank you everyone for your love, support and prayers. They mean a lot to Junby and myself. So, Mr. Postman -- I have work for you!

Applying for dual citizenship

Since I plan to stay for an extended period of time in the Philippines when I next go home (I hope to be able to stay until Mitzi's visa is all sorted out and she can join me in the US, to the readers of our blog please keep this our concern for the timely processing of Mitzi's visa in your prayers) I needed to look into any sticky legal issues that might prevent me from remaining in the Philippines for an extended length of time i.e. several months. What I realized from my research is that citizens from the United States (of which I am a citizen of since I was naturalized in 2005) are allowed to stay in the Philippines for up to 21 days without a visa. For a stay longer than that, I needed to apply for a visa.

But rather than applying for a visa, one alternative for me as someone who was a Philippine citizen by birth (born in Quezon City, Philippines) and by blood (both my parents were Philippine citizens at the time of my birth) is to take advantage of the Republic Act No. 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003 and hence reacquire my Philippine citizenship. There is an FAQ on the subject available at the website of the Consulate General of the Philippines in San Francisco here:

http://www.philippineconsulate-sf.org/dualcitizenship_faq.htm

In particular, the last sub-item in the 6th question, listing the privileges and entitlements associated with re-acquiring Philippine citizenship, is to be issued a Philippine passport and enjoy visa-free entry and stay in the Philippines for an unlimited period.

The process of re-acquiring Philippine citizenship is quite straightforward. I downloaded and filled out an application form (downloadable from the Philippine Consulate website at
http://www.philippineconsulate-sf.org/pdf/dualcitizen07.pdf) and submitted it at the Philippine Consulate in downtown San Francisco along with copies of supporting documents (in my case it was copies of my Philippine birth certificate, my old Philippine passport, my U.S. naturalization certificate and my current U.S. passport but a full list of required supporting documents and the procedures can be found here: http://www.philippineconsulate-sf.org/pdf/08dualreqs.pdf) and a pair of 2" x 2" photos. Once the officials at the consulate reviewed my paperwork, I signed and dated the application and paid the application fee, and was scheduled for an oath taking ceremony (mine will be next Thursday, 25 - October - 2007, at 3:00 pm). The whole process of applying for reacquisition of my Philippine citizenship was quite straightforward and took less than an hour.

Here's hoping all the other preparations for my travel and stay in the Philippines will go equally smoothly.

Just a few more weeks away...am I panicking yet?

As an answer to the question above -- well I'm working hard not to be overwhelmed and Junby is helping by being my sounding board and he simplifies things for me. Little accomplishments keep me hopeful :) Some things that have been ticked off my 'To-do' list:

- started having the dresses made. Most of the cloths are with the sastre na and most of the measurements as well.

- spoke with our caterer and finalized the menu. I'm just waiting for the final contract. I must admit I found myself getting hungry just going through the list of food choices. :P

- started speaking to a manager on the possibility of having several rooms reserved for our out-of-town guests to stay in. It will be easier in terms of transportation concerns if most of the guests stay in one place.

-been in close coordination with an NGO who is taking care of our honeymoon plans. The NGO is Palawan NGO Network, Inc. They were referred to us by Onggie, Junby's brother-in-law. It is ably led by Ms. Offie and she has been most kind in dealing with the itinerary and all that it entails. A few days ago, Ms. Offie confirmed that she will now go ahead and make reservations for our flights and whatnot. :)

- I've been slowly scanning and putting together pictures of Junby and myself for our AVP. I just ran into some difficulties finding my childhood pictures amidst the boxes which contains our stuff from since we moved in with Lola Pen 1991. :P It might end up to be just Junby's cute childhood pics on the AVP :P

- We've more or less discussed the reception flow though we've given it to my cousin J and Junby's sister, Lea for perusal. These two are trained in producing events so our reception would be a no-brainer for these ladies. :)

- I've started to look into our living options as well since Junby plans to stay in the Philippines until March, while we wait for my the approval of my visa application. There's one promising prospect so please keep that in your prayers.

-Invitations! Well, Ani's friend, Med Ramos has been very gracious in lending her artistic help in creating a simple but elegant invitation. I hope to receive the invitations by Friday so I can start addressing them and mailing them to the four corners of the globe :) (naks!) Thanks Ani for being such a patient go-between. I must have driven her up the wall with my questions and following-up.

-Now we are looking into what gifts we can give to our Primary sponsors. Any ideas?

-I'm in the midst of doing the lay out for our missalette. I get confused with the pages :) but I think I've found a way around it now. I hope to finish it soon for Junby to proofread and edit together with Fr Sean Coyle, our officiating priest.

That's it for now. . . I hope to do more in the days to come and I hope I can remain calm and unruffled. Continue to keep us in your prayers.

Ticked off from 'to do' list...

Well this week has been productive in small doses. I was able to confirm that Ani's friend will have the template for the invitations ready for me to approve within this week. Then I've been able to inquire on the monthly rates that Circle Inn offers. Their quoted price was steep by my standards but when I asked Junby about it, he found it reasonable. Well, he does tend to convert from dollars to peso that's why he may find it ok. Will still discuss though other options.

I've also started to scan and compile various pictures that will become part of the AVP to be shown during the reception. Ang cute ni Junby! :P I can't resist but since he might not want me posting pics of him when he was a baby (check out our website for that :P) I'm going to post here a picture of myself na lang. This was taken when I was in fourth year high school with my mom, right after the photo shoot for our yearbook. Hehehe. . .



Also, I was able to purchase the various tela that will be used for the lining of the entourage's dresses and also become petticoats for the flower girls' dresses. I was feeling a little out of my depth while doing so since that isn't quite my forte but its a good thing the seamstress we got is quite patient with my constant calls asking for specifics of this and that.

Now, I'm about to work on the missalette. This is where the lay out skills I've acquired at Misyon will come in handy. Thank you to Anne for patiently answering my questions on how to do this or that. I aim to have the first draft of the missalette ready for Junby and our celebrant, Fr Sean to go over this coming week. Ah details. . . details. I feel there are a thousand and one of them but at least they are slowly getting ticked off my 'To do' list. Hopefully I get tick off more in the coming week. Wish me luck folks and keep us in your prayers. Thank you!