God's second gift...Josephine Mary R Saguisag

Born on February 26, 2011 at 5 lbs 9.4 oz.

After a quick labor at home and on the drive to the hospital (in contrast to her Manang), delivered naturally without any epidural and with just two or three pushes...

I'm finally here!

Caught you by surprise, huh?

proud manang...

Time does fly by quickly. As of this writing, Josie is now seven months old. She's quite laid back and low maintenance, which is a godsend for me as Therese is such an inquisitive toddler.  She's a pretty happy baby and only cries when I've ignored her for too long.  Her smiles really makes my day.  Even if I'm in the midst of trying to get Therese to understand the limits I set, Josie's smiles just helps me take myself less seriously. God truly knows what he is doing blessing us with these two precious souls.

God's first gift...Thérèse Marie R Saguisag

Born September 23, 2008 at 4:58 am weighing 6 lbs 9.3 ozs.

After 25 hours of labor...

Papa looks smitten...

So this is what's outside Mama! Wow!

Look! I'm one and I can stand...

....and walk.

Definitely Papa's girl! At 2, she knows just ho to get Papa to smile even in the midst of trying to discipline her.

This year, our first princess turned 3. Three already! She has and is such a treasure!

Her particular way of smiling for the camera nowadays...

She has a kind heart and she frequently tells us how much she loves us -- at times declaring it out of the blue. She is quick to apologize when she realizes she has hurt other people's feelings. She is quite observant and needs only to hear something once or twice before it finds it's way in her monologues as she plays with her dolls and stuffed toys. She loves her little sister, though at times she forgets that Josie is not a doll but a real live baby. She asks the hardest questions and at this point in time favors the question "why" and is excited to learn how to read. She already knows her alphabets and their phonetic equivalent. She definitely keeps me on my toes. Life is never dull when she's around. Thank God for this little angel -- one whose smile is a constant reminder of God's smiles for us.

Almost Four years later...

It's been a while since Junby or I have blogged here. A long while. Four years to be exact. I guess, I can say one major reason for not doing so was simply because we got a little busy.

Since we last checked in, some major events in our life as a married couple are as follows:

- setting up a our own little piece of heaven (our little home) in good ol' US of A
- welcoming our first gift from the Lord, Therese Marie Ramos Saguisag, born September 23, 2008 at 6 lbs 9.3 oz
- dealing with a newborn, keeping house and learning my way around while Junby works hard to provide for us (all without the household help I had back in Bacolod)
- welcoming our second gift from the Lord, Josephine Mary Ramos Saguisag, born February 26, 2011 at 5 lbs 9.4 oz
- dealing with a toddler and an infant, while still trying to keep house and learning to be a better spouse and mother/father

Whew! Never realized how much major changes we have weathered in the first years alone. I'm not complaining though. I'm more in awe of how much grace God has and is pouring out on us as we continue to live out this vocation we have chosen to answer. I'll post tomorrow some photos that will highlight some of the major stuff we've lived through the past years. Besides, it's an opportunity for a proud mama to show off :)

Photos from Junby and Mitzi's farewell get-together

Members of both sides of the family (Saguisag and Ramos) were present at a farewell get-together for us on Sunday afternoon of 25-May-2008. The get-together was held at the Saguisag residence at Marcelo Green Village, Parañaque. Here are a few photos of the people who gathered together to share a meal, celebrate the joy of being a family, and to wish us well on our journey. The full set of photos is available on Junby's Multiply site and Junby's Facebook site.

A truly blessed Holy Week for us

It has been a long while since either Mitzi or I blogged here. All I can say is that we have been busy with many various concerns.

The biggest blessing we have received these past days is the fact that we are able to spend this Holy Week together as a family. I was originally scheduled to start with VMware by this past Monday but they graciously gave me a few more days here in the Philippines to sort out a few pressing issues and to allow me to spend the Holy Week, the holiest of days in the Roman Catholic church year, with my wife and our unborn child.

Big thanks to Melissa and Sam from VMware from both me, Mitzi and our unborn child for giving us a few more days together to sort out those issues and most especially for allowing our family to celebrate together the Holy Week.

Incidentally, this also allowed us to together celebrate our three month anniversary as a married couple last March 15th!

Yesterday, Holy Thursday, March 20th, we were able do the visita iglesia along with my mother-in-law and it was truly such a blessed time of prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

Though I was not able to accomplish or sort out all of the various concerns and issues I was hoping to sort out this past week, I am truly grateful to be given this opportunity to pray and spend the Holy Week here in the Philippines with my family.

Thank God.

Junby's 30th birthday, Mitzi's gift

Photos from our wedding ceremony at church

Hi again everyone!

Finally, here are some photos from the wedding ceremony itself, which took place at Barangay Sang Virhen Chapel in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. The mass began at 2 pm.

More photos are available on my Multiply site, in this album: http://leonidessaguisagjr.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Wedding_day_-_church

One month anniversary!

Just wanted to mention that today, January 15, 2008, is our one-month anniversary as a married couple. We have not finalized yet how we will celebrate this milestone in our married life but for now we just wanted to give thanks to God, our families and all our friends who have supported us through thick and thin throughout our lives together. Suffice it to say that we would not be the couple that we are now if not for the love and support that we have received from everyone. So, thanks to everyone who has touched our lives over the years.

We will share some more about how we celebrated our one month anniversary in a later blog entry. We also hope to upload some more pics from our wedding soon so stay tuned!

Wedding details photos

Hi everyone!

Here are some more photos from our wedding. These focus on some of the details surrounding our wedding i.e. the rings, arrhae, bible, flower arrangements, etc. More photos are available on Multiply here: http://leonidessaguisagjr.multiply.com/photos/album/5/Wedding_preparations_-_details

More wedding preparations photos

Hi everyone! Here are some more photos from just before our wedding. These are also from our official photographer (who took a staggering 1,900+ photos overall) and we hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we do.

(More photos are available on Multiply here: http://leonidessaguisagjr.multiply.com/photos/album/4/More_wedding_preparations)

Photos of the wedding preparations

Well people, here is the first set of photos we want to share. These were taken by our official photographer. This first set is from the preparations the morning of our wedding day.

(More photos are available on Multiply here: http://leonidessaguisagjr.multiply.com/photos/album/3/Wedding_preparations)