Let's us all welcome KIMBERLY NICOLE, the new baby girl of Ginah and Jim!

Ginah finallly gave birth to a baby girl (6.4 lbs; 18.9 inches) at around 4 pm today at the malolos provincial hospital. jim was with her during the labor duration which started at 4 am.

last tuesday, i got a the news that our dear cousin manang leonor tumaneng-vino (yes, she is married to manong rey vino who is also our cousin on the mother side; they have a son and a daughter) passed away. she was about to be operated on a heart related illness in manila but the her immediate family decided that she be transferred to santiago city for the operation. she did not survive.

last wednesday, while the country was being battered by the devastating typhoon winnie (it hit the souther luzon provinces including aurora hardest and as of latest count there are about a thousand death toll already), manang leonor's remains could not be trasported to jones since the dalibubon bridge was under muddy water.

and then typhoon yoyong hit luzon again on thursday (at about 7 in the evening i was able to talk to bayaw luvy and he said that the winds are coming then i lost him on the phone; i had text exchanges with nemesio panaligan junior and he confirmed the gusty winds arrived in jones).

We join everyone in saying goodbye to our dear manong NEMESION "NEMY" PANALIGAN who passed away last November 13 in San Jose, California. May his good soul find peace with the Lord the Creator. 

I got the sad news about his sudden death from his Nemesio Jr., who is in Jones, on that day. Junior casually texted "i can't believe Tatang is dead already".  Shocked, I called up Junior to get more details. Manong Nemy was hospitalized earlier and he died, according to Junior, while recuperating after a surgery.

Today is the wedding day of our cousing Venus. The ceremony will be held in Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Venus is the youngest of the three children (Louise is the eldest and followed by Walter) of our dear Auntie Fely, younger sister of my mother. It is noteworthy that Auntie Fely carried the burden of raising her three children since our Uncle Luis Gumpal passed away years back.

Congratulation cousin Venus! All the best! 

"nanganak na si jenny. CS kasi mag 8 months pa lang. naka-incubator ang baby sa phil hospital medical center"

this is the text message of my dear manang esther ancheta-alipio, my cousin on the mother side who used to teach at diarao elementary school. she retired already.

jenny is her third daughter. they have not responded to my texts asking for more information. so i don;t know the name of the baby. and i don't know either the name of jenny's husband. so let's all just welcome the new baby!

dear neneng,

i am so glad that, finally, you will go back to school. the last semester was lost. but you can recover it. i don't understand why you keep on thinking that teaching is a profession that will bring you to nowhere. it is the noblest profession, neneng. you will have the very very rare opportunity to impart your values, learning and wisdom to children, to the young people. our country is in dire need of teachers, of good teachers. you do not have to look that far to realize this.  being a midwife is also a great goal. it has its rewards to you and to the community. but if you ask me, between being a teacher and a midwife at this point in time, i will take the path of being a teacher. the next three years will come fast, it will fly. just concentrate on your studies. think about your mama who is sweating it out in beirut just for your sake, for your future. think about you papa as well who is left behind to take care of you and your brothers.

lastly, i paraphrase to you, as i have told to your cousins in the past, what albert einstein once said: "never take your study as a duty, but as an enviable opportunity to learn, to know the liberating influence of beauty... for the benefit of the community to which your later endeavors belong."

uncle jim

last night i called up my sister melanie (married to lovy raymundo) who is in lebanon. i forgot to ask where in lebanon. she left the country, joined the exodus of job-seeking mothers, in early july this year (at a time when reports about illegal recruiters for lebanon jobs are hounded by police and authorities in manila). she made it after almost two years of preparations. in her voice i fell she was happy. she said her 'amo' (an engineer and a nurse) are good to her though she doesnt have a day-off.  she just see the sunshine when her amo take her in vacation trips (they went to the mountains last august!). lanie is happy that in the last few weeks she met some jones folks (from barangay 2) in lebanon. and that eases the 'home sickness' in her a bit.

of course, she misses her sons and daughters (and her husband, too) a lot. she misses inay and kuya joel too since they are the only ones left in jones now. she went abroad and try her luck so that she can help (more) in sending their children to school. her eldest, queencell took up bs elementary education but stopped adfter year 1. she wanted to take another course. her second child, julius, a bright boy, is currently taking up nursing in santiago city. and the rest of the kids are in jones.

our 14-minute phone conversation was interrupted 3 times because her amo keeps asking who's on the line. everytime lanie receives a phone call, she must tell her amo who is on the other end of the line. i think that's courtesy, especially is the conversation is in the dialect.

her first 3 months of salary was spent for the debts that she incurred for her travel papers. but, finally, she was able to send to her family some few hundred dollars already. keep up, ading. we all have to do some sacrifices. best wishes always...

teresa, the second child of manang jack (ruth corazon) and mang vito passed the licensure exam for high school teachers given last august. she is no. 11718 in the official list of passers.

congratulations, teresa! we are so proud of you, neneng. she studied at the philippine normal university in manila for her first 2 years then she transferred to the pnu branch in alicia, isabela for the next two years. she majored in physical education and immediately after graduation she got a teaching job at the la salette of roxas (isabela).

there are now three teachers in the immediate family. the first, of course, was daddy who graduated in 1950 at the Northeastern College in Santiago (though he first studied at the Central Luzon Agricultural College (now Central Luzon State University) in Munoz, Nueva Ecija. The second is Kathleen, the elder sister of Teresa. Kathleen passed the licensure exam for elementary teachers last year after graduation and she is currently teaching in a private school in Reina Mercedes, Isabela.

okey, boys and girls... ready for the alphabet? go... abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz! good!

[ click here to see a picture of teresa, kathleen and ruth ]

i finally found the digital photo files of manang jack (ruth corazon) when she was crowned queen of diarao in 1968 and lolo florencio (incio) ancheta and lola maria colobong, the parents of my inay.

[ CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PICTURES ]

GOOD NEWS...
just an hour ago, my cousin rey domingo (he is the son of my mother's sister, our late dear auntie nena who was married to a domingo also) sent this text message: "ditas gave birth. it's a baby boy! 7.9 lbs. normal delivery around 1 pm today." to my excitement, i called up rey and congratulated them.

ditas, her better half, is from paniqui, tarlac. and near paniqui, in the town of ramos is where auntie siony, the youngest sister of my inay, is residing. auntie siony left jones in the late 70s to work in ramos and she found a new home and family there. my cousins there are named donna (whose lovely marriage ceremony i got to attend last year), diana... and, nah, nakalimutan ko na... maybe i should do a family tree of my ancheta side also...

NOT SO GOOD NEWS...