It would be interesting to see, through pictures, how life turned out for those of us who have moved here in the US. Please post bits and pieces of your slice of the American pie. I'll start.

my sweet parents-in-law, couldn't ask for better in-laws.

our beloved white shepherd, Spirit, went to dog heaven on March 3, 2009. he was supposed to turn 14 yrs. old tomorrow, April 13. Spirit is sorely missed.

my son is attending Washington State University and is moving out of the house in the fall. not sure if I should be happy or sad

my workplace, the kitchen. please ignore the dirty dishes

Life in the US has been good so far.

WOW, How I wish we will be granted with VISA also so that we will know how it feels to be there but I know that it will be good because I am with the man I love much

God bless

aaawwww.......i wish I have something to share....soon Ate!

Condolences for your dog too.....

and i soooo LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the kitchen!!!

I think you are enjoying the good life there in The Evergreen State. And you look too young to be having a son who is already in college. By the way, what is he studying in Pullman?

nice pics Your son looks like your younger brother lucky to have son at that age:thumbs:

hoping I can post mine soooooooon I'm still waiting my visa

Hi shang. Payong kapatid, I suggest that while waiting for your visa, take advantage of the time that you still have in the Philippines. Spend quality time with your family, especially your parents, because once you get here, sila naman ang mami-miss mo ~ hindi na ang fiance mo, baligtad naman. My one regret is not seeing my nephews and nieces grow and missing all the family happenings like graduations, birthdays, christmases, new years, binyagan, kasalan, swimming parties, etc.


Thank you for your condolences. Below is the memorial we made for Spirit dito sa kitchen namin.

I took an impression of Spirit's paw print before he was put to "sleep". His ashes is in the wooden box. We cried for weeks when he died. Para rin kaming namatayan ng anak.

It's nice to know that you like my kitchen, Mariel. Magaganda lahat ng nakikita kong kitchen dito. Wala pa akong nakitang pangit atsaka wala silang ipis dito, nakaka-miss din ang ipis, wala akong mahampas ng tsinelas


Thank you, Tito AJ. I gave birth to my son when I was 9 years old hahahaha... joke! My son plans to take up Electrical Engineering and might move on to Renewable Energy Engineering later.

We really enjoy the mild winter and mild summer here in WA state. The beaches, the mountains, the snow, are all an hour and a half drive away only.


Salamat pero magagalit na naman ang anak ko nyan pag sinabi ko sa kanya ang sinabi mo na mukha lang kaming magkapatid. Violent reaction kaagad yan hahaha.

Time for me to say good night. Gigising pa ng maaga bukas para ipaghanda ng baon at almusal si Mister. Nighty-nite!

Beautiful pictures!!! Glad your life is going well for you!!!

We live in Washington state too and are liking it (except for the long winter and rain this year!!!!).

Best wishes to your son at WSU!!!

PW thanks for starting this thread... hehehe... ako din mag share din ako... ano bang dapat ipakita? lol... joke!
here's some of the activities we've done


renewing our vows on top of the hill and snowboarding down the hill after the ceremony...


segway tour in Fl...


fishing sa lake hehe


eto lng muna... babanat mamaya! good night all!!! God bless!!!

nice pics ronmay and pinay wife, thanks for sharing it with us.

how i wish i could post my own pics soon. nice to know youre enjoying life there, wishing you all the best!

S**T!!!!!!!! I SO ENVY YOU! YAN KAYA GUSTO....WEDDING DURING WINTER SEASON.......
BUTI NALANG LMATAGAL SNOW SA MINNESOTA....I CAN HAVE MY DREAM WEDDING!!!! NEXT YEAR (HOPEFULLY) GUYS!!!! PUNTA KAYO HA?HEHEHEHE

ATE PINAY WIFE MUKHANG MAGEENJOY NA TLGA AKONG MAGLUTO DYAN....KASI WALANG IPIS...SUPER TAKOT AKO DUN..LALO NA SA LUMILIPAD...LUMABAS NGA AKO NG BANYO NA NAKAHUBAD DAHIL SA IPIS NA YAN E...

Enjoying the summer

- FALL -- me & my friends and ducks

- NC State Fair with Friends d ksali ung with kid

WINTER is seldom here in NC

- Bowling with friends

- SPRING - with cute Baka

LOL. I am trying to post couple pics here but couldnt make it. said: The pictures is bigger than the space.

host it first... like in FS or photobucket or flicker

Funny, we white people are often accused of clinging to white people (we are the evil racist so they say)..... seems brown people also cling to each other too. NC isn't so brown, but looks like you found them. LOL!

Very nice photos especially the kitchen. Life is good indeed. My husband and I managed to survived the winter for now. I hope we will make it again next winter. We live in a wine country in the bay area 70 miles from the Golden Gate.

just a couple of pics. syempre dapat may pic sa snow. hehehe.

pinaywife san ka uli sa wa?

I like the pic of catching snow with the tongue. When Meryll arrived last year it snowed in April. I was teaching her to catch snowflakes with her tongue. Suddenly she asked, "Is it safe?" I replied, "Yes, as long as the snow is not yellow."

It took her awhile to find out what yellow snow was!!

i was actually afraid to roll around the snow because of that.

Thank you for the good wishes, Rayma! I'm excited to be a Cougar mom

May, katuwa naman na naka-wedding attire ka habang nag-ski. How cool is that? (literally and figuratively hehehe). Doug wants to take me skiing, but I don’t know how to ski and I’m afraid to learn. Nakakahiya pag sumemplang ako. Ice-skating nga lang hindi ko magawa, skiing pa kaya?

Takot din ako sa ipis, pero mas takot ang anak ko, tumatakbo talaga kaya ako ang taga-hampas. We need to see that Banyo queen photo of yours Post it in the "Dare to Bare" thread. That thread took a naughty turn hehe. N

I luvmychaparral, ang dami nyo palang Pinay diyan sa NC. Thanks for the nice photos.

Felb, I'll PM you my location in WA.

WOW.. ate Pinay Wife u had beautiful photos.. thanks for sharing it with us. I can't wait to post mine too when i get there.. Wala ba gyd Ipis dha te coz i really do hate those flying ones.. EWwwwwww... well, God bless you and your family..

TC.. mwah..

PW = nice kitchen

I luv my chappara = WB! It is nice seeing you posting here again on VJ!

Ron May = Napakasporty mo naman kakainggit lol!

There ain't no bowling shoes to SPARE for the other girls? Anyhow, reckon ya belles are going hog wild here in Dixie!

Thanks for posting your pics guys and gals. Keep it coming...

I'd like to show what I've been keeping myself busy with. Towards the end of March, hubby left for a business trip (was gone for a week) and I took that opportunity to do a make-over of his study. He was pleasantly surprised, of course (OR ELSE!!! hehe). There are still lots of things to do for the room like buy a sofa, coffee table, frames etc. and I'm getting there... slowly but surely. Here are the before and after shots: (hope you like it)

- his desk "before" - his desk "after"

- the closet "before" - the closet "after"

Wow organized galore hahahaha....good job day ...

wow! i love the organization! great job pinaywife.

Nice job ate PW!

Thank you, ladies. Tuwa nga si hubby. Pati in-laws ko tuwang-tuwa sa akin kasi inaalagaan ko daw ang anak nila

ate PW, are you working? i'm job hunting dito sa oak harbor pero there's very few opportunities dito. and i'm getting frustrated. seattle, on the other hand, has a lot of openings na i like. pero it would mean i'll be relocating far from my hubby. any advice?

Hi everyone,

It's been ages since I was last here. Sumilip lang ako ulit because I just sent my I-751 yesterday and wanted to make sure I covered everything. It's nice to see my batchmates PW and Ron May. Pero teka lang......

PW nice pics and oh my gosh what happened you didn't gain a bit weight while I gained 25 lbs in two yrs waaaaaa life is not fair...
Ron May kaw naman nag gain probably mga 2lbs.... stilll life is unfairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Well life been so good to me too. Couldn't ask for anything more... I'll post my pics later maglalaba luto muna ako hehehhe

We forgot to put the captions But those pics were taken during the 2009 Annual Lahman reunion in our second home Bonifay FL

JOM

Ate Cora join ako here, hehe...

This one was taken during our second at our dear friends Ruchie and Danny's home with some other Pinays.



This one was when we attended some reunion...



Taken during our camping and fishing trip in SD... (pardon the mess)



At the county fair here in the Ozarks



We had to fix something from our country for the church gathering so I made pancit... (pardon the mess in our kitchen, we're running late so no time to clean up)





My 3_th birthday - LOL...



Thanksgiving '08 with David's kids and grandkids





To be Continued...

Christmas '08 celebration with our dearest friends at their house





David's Aunt Irene (she's 96) and his stepmom... love these ladies!



New Year's celebration with David's kids and grandkids (we look drunk but we're not... we're sleepy - LOL!)



Few days before our trip to the Philippines, our dear friends came down to see us over the weekend.




So there you have it... some of the highlights... More to come!


---Mae

Woman of leisure ako ngayon, working as "maid" of honor dito sa bahay. Like in Oak Harbor, there are few opportunities here, except for nursing and caregiving jobs ~ super daming naka-advertise, but I don't have the training for that. Unemployment is at a high of 15% in our county.

I saw nga lots of job openings in Seattle but Doug does not want me to apply there because it would mean that I would relocate then go home during the weekend and he does not like the idea. Pareho pala tayo ng situation. The advice that I received is to look for volunteer work to establish a network system and for reference. Sometimes a volunteer work can lead to a paid job.


Hi fish, good hear from you.

I gained 5 pounds since I arrived two years ago huhuhu. Hala, you better go to the gym to get those extra pounds off. Doug enrolled me at the YMCA but I only went a few months then I stopped going. Kakatamad. I prefer ballroom dancing as my exercise but Doug prefers the gym which I find boring hehehe.

Glad to know that you are happy. Post pictures ng iyong labada-dami and pagluluto.


Wow, one big happy family, jom! Thanks for posting. Sarap naman, may swimming ang bahay nyo. The boys are cute, are they your children? Uyy, and you've got nice legs.

Hi, Mae. Ang sweet -sweet nyo naman palagi ni David. Did you notice, parang tayong magkapatid? Magkamukha tayo.

Keep those pictures coming!!!

My memory card is incompatible with my laptop. For now, I use my digicam's memory to take pictures of my daughter.

Not much different for her than on Mindanao, really...

















Except of course it's a lot more crowded, and polluted and traffic and noise here...

Wow, I think its very cold outhere hehehe but nice pics thanks for sharing!You looked so sweet!

That's pretty cold. I like your dog.

Thanks for posting rlogan. Your wife is cute, but her dog and her gun are BIG!!! Now, that's scary. That And that snow, WOW!!!

- The most snow I've seen in my area here in WA is just about a foot and I was complaining haha.

- I helped shovel some of that snow out of the driveway and it was not fun

Thank you pinay wife, rheanick, and bituin

I'm of course thrilled to have her. Filipinas are the most beautiful girls on earth. Inside and out.

You should be wearing a coat in that picture pinay wife!

It IS cold.

So we stay under the covers a lot.


It's warming to see how happy everyone is in your photos. We understand! So are we!

love the photos jom!!! seems like you guys had fun and what a great pic for the family...

PW: seriously! lol... at first shoveling snow was fun, but 15 minutes later, i thought you gota be kidding me!!! so tired and cant lift the shovel anymore hehehe...

Mea: you guys are one of the sweetest couple ive seen on VJ...

Rlogan... cute dog!!! i always wanted to have that kind of breed ehehehe

great pics you guys!!! thanks for sahring

Addendum : Our recent family rendezvous - April 18, 2009 : My stepson's ( Trever )7th pool birthday party in our home

before we move to New Orleans, Lousiana ( from Bay Area, SFO ) with my father and my younger sister Leah..

MY FATHER, AND MY YOUNGER SISTER LEAH

"Papa and Mario"
---> Moving to New Orleans

rlogan, I was only out without the coat for a minute, just enough time to pose for some pictures to show my family back in the Philippines that I brought enough sunshine with me to melt the snow in WA hahahaha

May, at first I was excited to shovel the snow but after a few minutes, ayayay!!! Pareho pala tayo, surrender agad.

Jom, very obvious that you had a great day celebrating your stepson's b-day. One big happy family.

Beautiful pictures, Lostgurl. You and your sister are like twins. Your daughter naman is the carbon copy of your husband. Cute! Hindi maipagkakaila.

Keep posting those beautiful, happy pictures. I'll look for more pictures in my "baul"".

maraming salamat: extension
( family side ko kc my parents are already divorce papa and my younger sister stays in bay area in San Francisco ), my 2nd sister after me pagraduate na ng nursing by next 2 years so si mama and her are in Manila with Sophia Mae. Tpos si Mario naman his parents both sides may sarili naren family. Tpos ito si sophie nadeny for the 3rd time ng CERTIFICATE BIRTH ABROAD SO IR2 NLNG. =(






** Buti nagmana sa tatay hindi sa nanay, pangit ang nanay haha

If you don't mind my asking, why was your daughter denied the CRBA? This is the first time I've heard of a baby denied a CRBA. How sad naman.

By the way, you and your mom are look-alikes, too. Katuwa naman your family, parang carbon copy. Your mom, your sister and you magkakamukha and then Mario and Sophia din.

Domicile records :
1. Because Mario was not able to provide enough proof of his residence in the U.S. after the age of 14, Sophia Mae’s passport application could not be approved at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
* after providing all proofs they said just tax returns from parents since he is a minor, and medical records. ( naghanap parin ng mga butas ang mga loko nung nagresearch ako about qualification ng dependents for taxes nagemail ulit ung USEM VP. lahat na tinawagan ko Senator, OIC general at USEM general. and so far ito ung last request nila.
We have reviewed your file and request additional proof to establish two years physical presence after your fourteenth birthday. Please submit your parents’ tax returns from 2000-2004 listing you as a dependent.
* kulang nlang ako ng 2003 and 2004..since wala pko makita rather than pending. at least may plan B na which is IR2. If you check my previous post we started applying her before I left which was Apr 2007. Kasi during my adjudication she was not conceived yet kaya nde sya nasama ng lawyer sa petition kung baga nung patapos na sa NVC. don naman naconceived si sophie. I asked my younger sister to moved here with me New Orleans para mas masaya
( Haha, they said that my younger sister is like my twin. Si mama kamukha naman sobra ng bunso. buti nagmana si sophie kay mario hnde sa nanay )

Ay sorry at late na yung mga pics ko pero bumalik talaga ako to post them after 2 days ng paglalaba hehehehe

Anyway here ya go...

Ay eto pa