Heart Check

Hi Dear Ones! How are y'all today? Praying that everyone's in good state. I'm working from home today because I am scheduled for a 24 hour heart monitoring. Couple of weeks ago I was sent to Changi General Hospital @ 3 am due to heart palpitations. I woke up fluttering and I had difficulty in breathing so I decided to wake tito and tita up to accompany me at the emergency [hospital]. I've had an ECG 3 times and the results showed that there are some extra beats so the doctor referred me to a specialist for a series of laboratory tests. 3 weeks ago I've had my blood taken for a complete blood count,  magnesium, potassium, thyroid (??? - sorry, im not so familiar with medical terms x: ) level tests. The nurses (yes, I needed 2 nurses) had some troubles in taking blood from me because according to them my veins are so fine. I had to fill those 4 small blood bottles, imagine how my tiny little veins have been tortured! Kidding! :) The pain is tolerable, I just had to close my eyes so I wouldn't see those blood and injections.

My left hand after blood taking

Today I have electrodes stuck all over my chest. I was also told to record all my activities while wearing the gadget. I'll be returning it tomorrow, which is also my schedule for echocardiogram (test in which ultrasound is used to examine the heart).

But don't worry about me, I've got the best doctor in the whole wide world, who had shed His blood at the cross just to get me well. I can't fathom God's wisdom, but maybe He has to let this thing happen so I could learn, so my faith will be even more strengthened, so I could grow closer to Him -I'm not sure, but I know He always have His best plans for me, and I just got to trust Him =)

Matthew 8:17 - This happened so that what Isaiah the prophet said would be fulfilled: He is the one who took our illnesses and carried away our diseases.^[a] 

One More Month :)

Hi dearies! Im at the MRT heading to Punggol while writing this. We'll be painting the rooms of the newly acquired house of tito Robert and Tita Grace and we're moving in there in few days, yey!! Still crossing my fingers that I'd make a good painter, wouldn't want to be scolded :p

Anyhoo today starts the one month countdown mark. Time really flies so fast! We still have several unchecked items on our list but i'm quite positive that we'll be able to beat the red line.

As always, i want to thank the Lord for everything - He'd shown us how much He love us through those people who had been so happy for us and so willing to extend their help and support since the first day of the preps. May He be glorified throughout our married life.

Poems

Four years ago, we agreed to make each other a poem. Can't stop smiling whenever I read them :)

The Best You Are
By Kate

Taters, sushi, cake and ice cream
If on this piece they are not seen,
I’m sorry bes, be forgiving,
Perhaps writing about them,
I really didn’t know where to begin…


I’ve known you to be so noisy
In HSP and boothcamp training you’ve been too lazy
We used to be seatmates
You always submit your works very late

I didn’t know where it started
One time you called be your bestfriend
But still I was irritated with your noise
The hell, you’d even imitated my voice

When the training came to end,
I wished we’d still be on the same floor
So when your program had an abend,
I could hear you say:
“If this doesn’t work, I don’t think so anymore”

Maybe you’re just a natural brat
Or probably the way you act has been caused by your frat
But no matter what the reason behind is,
How you behave, surely I will always miss…

You had never let me down
Though when we chat you always make me frown
You always call me ‘norm’
Which make me say:
“Bes you’re so stubborn!”

But beyond those crazy things you do,
I still want to say ‘thank you’
You may not have an idea of what I mean,
But you will still be the best kind of friend
I’ll ever win…

I want to thank you
For the phone calls when I am sick
And for those cheerful words
When I feel weak…

I want to thank you
For protecting me from ****
And for singing me
Those I can’t understand songs…

I want to thank you
For those hands that hold
And for lending me your jacket
When I am feeling cold…

When I am afraid
And I say “no”,
Thank you for giving me courage
And pushing me to go…

The way you tease me
Makes my day tragic
But the way you make me laugh,
It will always be your magic…

I’m out of words
To tell you that I’m so glad,
I never thought
You’ll be the bestest friend I’ll ever have…

And when it’s time for me to leave,
Don’t get lonely nor feel blue
Coz in my heart I’ll always treasure you
And whatever happens,

Kate will always be here for you… (=’;’=)

To my Bestest Best Bes.
By Jay

 To a friend I once met
The bes that I also consider to be my pet

To the person I'll always consider my bes,          
Who out of pure luck defeated me in Chess.

To the person I almost drown
Though she doesn’t know I treat like a queen w/out a crown

To the person that stood by beside me,
Hope she'll be there no matter who ill be.

To my batch mate who greets me good morning,
She even greets me even when I’m sleeping.

A friend that likes to meet me in Mega mall
Not to mention she's always there when I call

The friend who reminds me to lessen the pork i eat.
Somehow ill heed, although I like eating meat.

Our relationship is genius and a norm
So much to compare that I’m the butterfly and she is the worm.

But all in all i want to say thanks for everything you’ve done
I also wanted you to know you've acted so much like my mom.

A friend that I could never hate,
a bes and her name is Kate.

48 Days to Go Updates

WEDDING SUPPLIERS

• Ceremony and Reception Venue:  La Castellana - Package Fully Paid.  Emailed Christian about the electricity fee for Lights and Sound.
• Caterer: Hizon's Catering -Final detailing done. Payment for additional waiters and scoopers to be settled by first week of November. Wedding ceremony set up already sent to Majo. Will hand them over the cocktail drinks on the wedding day.
• Hotel for Preparations: G-Hotel - Fully paid. To inquire if they allow late check out
• Photographer: Atty. Raymond Fortun - 50% Paid. Prenup done. Selection of pictures for the guestbook done.
• Videographer: Kris Matanguihan - Fully paid. Sent a message in FB about the crew meal. Waiting for his reply.
• Wedding On The Day Coordinator - CSM Events. Will E-mail Cecille about the changes of the program flow.
• String Quartet: Velvet Mood Musicale - E-mailed Ms. Mercy the selected songs.
• Lights and Sound : Rejectrew - Reservation paid. Remaining balance to be paid on the wedding day. To email Kuya Elmer the list of the songs.
• Couturier: Disenyo Pandi - Reservation Paid.Measurement of all entous have been taken. Will go to divi for my first fitting on the 22nd.
• Florist: Mang Boy Mahusay of Dangwa - 50% paid. Will communicate with him about the additional head dress and flower basket for the flower girl.
• Hair and Make Up Artist: Tin Galolo - Paid 3,500. Remaining balance (5,500) to be settled on the wedding day. Trial make up done. Will email her the hair style i am currently looking at.
• Emcee: Ellen Celis-Timbol - reservation paid.

 WEDDING FAVORS

• For Parents - Beauty kit for moms. Perfume for fathers.
• For Primary Sponsors - Body shop products  (lotion for women and bath kit for men)
• Secondary Sponsors, Groomsmen and Bridesmaids - Body shop products 
• Flower Girls and Bearers - Piggy Bank

  MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS

• Cenomars -check
• NSO Authenticated Birth Certificate - check
• Marriage License - On hand
• Notarized letter stating that we'll be getting married in La Castellana - not  yet notarized

  DIY PROJECTS

• Growing up AVP - To be done by 1st week of November
• Invitation - Done. Some already distributed.
• Map/Direction Cards -Done
• Monogram -Done
• Place Cards -To be done by last week of October
• Save the Date Cards -Done. Already distributed.
• Save the date video 
• Table Numbers - To be done by last week of October
• Thank you card - To be done by last week of October
• Wedding cord -Done
• Wedding Program Printout - Program flow to be finalized with Ellen
• WYB Cards - Done. Already distributed.
• Coins - One more coin to collect

  BRIDE and GROOM's ACCESSORIES

• Shoes - checked 
• Perfume - checked

  PENDING ITEMS

• RTW barong for kids
• Bridal Car
• Body form
• Screen projector?
• Accommodation for my relatives from the province
• Crew Meals
• Bridal Jewelries
• Preps dress for me and Jay
• Underwears. Haha! 
• Unity Candle
• Hair Accessories
• Wrappers for the entou give aways

New Member of Jay and Kate Team: Ellen Celis-Timbol

Since our OTD coordinator, Ms. Cecille Maglalang also does hosting, we initially decided to get her for our emcee as well. But last month we (90% of the decision came from me and 10% from Jay. LOL) decided to replace her as an emcee so she could fully supervise the whole wedding. I'm glad that when I emailed her she was okay with the changes.

Upon getting Jay's approval I immediately pinged Ellen and asked her if she's still available on the 20th of November. I felt relieved when she nodded, honestly she's the only emcee I had in mind since she has the most affordable rate among those hosts who are getting high recommendations in w@w. Plus I really wanted to meet her in person because she also happened to be ate Sarj's (my spiritual shepherd here in SG) close friend and according to her we have a lot of things in common.

But on the onset I was actually in touch with her since she is also a former w@wie, I would randomly ping her asking for some advice about the wedding preps and on the wedding day itself.  She is so accessible, she sees to it that she would reply to my queries no matter how busy her day is. I'm sooo excited to sip a cup of coffee while sharing ideas with her. Ayy, bawal pala sa akin ang kape. haha!

And btw, she can be a wedding singer too! :)

Wedding Planner on Iphone

Hi Dears! You might already know this but I just found it out last night :) There are various applications on iphone that cater wedding planning. I tried to download about 10 countdown timers and checklists but i found these 2 applications most useful among others:

1. my OK! Wedding

Aside from the checklist, countdown timer is also embedded from here.

You can finalize your guest list while at the MRT or while enjoying a cup of cappuccino at starbucks. Plus you can also arrange the seat plan and put their addresses for organization and ease of reference. Cool!

For ease of contact, you can also enter your wedding suppliers

 2. iBRIDE

Seductive bride :)))

I guess you could fully utilize this if you happen to get married either of the countries stated above

Here's a wedding checklist to monitor the movement of your preps, making it sure that you're still on track

We are still thinking if we'll be getting another projector. Also we still haven't reserved the accomodation of my relatives from Quirino province, hence the unchecked boxes.

You may want to put notes, like schedules for your meeting with the suppliers, etc..

A Testimony of God's Faithfulness

Photo grabbed from google images

Indeed, God once again has shown that His faithfulness with His words proves true.

Few months ago the whole team [at work] received an 'Applause Award' for our performance in the recently concluded project that is based in UK. The award came with a certificate and a cash prize. I was thankful and happy about the thought of  adding it up to our wedding budget.

I never knew at that time that my faith is about to be tested. The following Sunday the pastor has mentioned about raising funds for purchase of the new church location. It was challenging to let go of the money-especially that the wedding cost keeps on puffing out, while our wedding fund is getting drained but I decided to give my cash prize, thinking that God's church deserves it more.

Then a week later my lead told me during our performance discussion that I am promoted to Senior Application Developer from being an Application Developer. I couldn't contain my happiness, especially when I received my salary letter. The money I gave to the church has been tripled (plus 67 SGD na butal..hehe..)! And I'll be receiving the threefold increase monthly by just blessing the Lord once, take that! Really, i never expected that I'll be promoted this soon because I knew that I still have so much stuff to learn, but it was the Lord who made it happen. To thank Him for the blessing, I gave the church the first fruit of my increase. After a month, I was surprised with Jay's news that he also got promoted! What a blissful year for both of us! =)

This has taught me to trust God more. The bible said in Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Oh and by the way, Jay is also pretty much happy with his increase *wink*

Truly, when you bless the Lord, He will bless you even more. I give Him all the glory.