posted by Jennie on Dec 20
We know the announcement of Marriage and Beyond’s Christmas Giveaway is way overdue. We have been really busy with Christmas outreach and church fellowship this past week. The winner of our Christmas giveaway will receive Boardwalk His & Hers Timepieces and to add to that, a P500 donation will be placed under his or her name to help the victims of Typhoon Sendong. We will be sending the donation to Operation Blessing Philippines. We chose Operation Blessing because it is the the humanitarian arm of The 700 Club Asia. With all the previous controversies surrounding previous calamity fund raising efforts, we really should take care to give to entities that have integrity. Corruption is so prevalent in our country that no tragedy is left untouched for greedy people in our society.
Contest Mechanics:
1. You have to be a “liker” of Marriage and Beyond on Facebook and Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines.
2. Share this contest on your Facebook wall. To share, click on the Share button located at the bottom of this post. Then post on your Facebook Status: “Marriage and Beyond is giving away Boardwalk His & Hers Timepieces for Christmas and a P500 donation to Operation Blessing Foundation Phils for Typhoon Sendong victims under the winner’s name. Join now!” (To tag, type the “@” symbol then follow by “Marriage and Beyond,” then type in the rest of the required phrase )
3. When you’re done with the Facebook status wall update, go to the comments section of this post and paste the link of your Facebook entry with your name and email address. (To get the link, hover to the time of your shared post (e.g. 4 minutes ago) and copy link address. Paste this to your comment to make your entry count.)
4. Contest is open to everyone who has a local address. Free Shipping.
5. One entry per person.
*As with our previous giveaways, we will be requiring the drawn winner to send us a scanned ID for verification.
6. Deadline for entries is on January 1, 2012.
We encourage those who are able, to donate to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities with whatever you can. No amount is too small. We don’t have to wait for this giveaway to wrap up to give them a portion of our Christmas blessing.
The winner of Marriage and Beyond’s Christmas Giveaway will be raffled via random.org. And as proof that the donation was placed under the winner’s name, we will be posting the scanned copy of the deposit slip or confirmation screencap. Have a blessed Christmas, everyone! Let’s continue to pray for the Typhoon Sendong victims while we do our share as we move towards addressing their current felt needs.
posted by Jennie on Dec 15
We booked our stay at West Hotel in Kowloon, Hongkong via Agoda.com a few months after we booked our plane tickets. With all our previous bookings with Agoda, I can pretty much vouch to this day that all were hassle free. A week before we flew to Hongkong, I emailed West Hotel to confirm our booking. I would usually call overseas to confirm but tried emailing this time around. They were pretty prompt with their correspondence. I got a reply within 24 hours with our hotel confirmation number.
West Hotel has courteous and accommodating staff. We have no complaints. We were hoping to book a room in Disneyland Hotel but unfortunately, there was no available room for our travel dates. It took quite a while before we settled with West Hotel. There were a few reviews of West Hotel that mentioned that rooms were too small even for Hongkong standard. But I’ll get to that shortly.
We arrived a little too early for West Hotel’s usual check in time, which is 2:00 P.M. When we got there around 10 in the morning, the staff offered to keep our bags as we wait for our room to be available. We had the bags deposited and they placed them behind the reception counter. I asked if there’s anything I need to show to claim the bags, hoping she’d hand me a claim tag or something. But I was just told that all I need to show is my passport to claim our bags later.
We left it at that, but I did hope somehow that they at least give us a piece of paper that proves that we left this number of bags with them. I guess that’s more of Filipino mentality in me. Since we know for a fact that it’s generally not safe to do that back home. Happy to report that we claimed our bags hassle free. There are hotels aplenty all over Kowloon, I’d say West Hotel is in middle of the pack. I think one of the best things about West Hotel are the handful of good restaurants around it.
Dimsum place at Wai Ching Corner Jordan Streets
While waiting, we figured we’ll have our brunch at this dimsum place around the corner. It was the first dimsum place we saw and checked out. It also was the cheapest that we’ve been to during our stay in Kowloon, Hongkong. I love their Rice Sheet Roll w/ Shrimp the best! I’ve had it in other restaurants during our stay with pricier tags but theirs is the best, by my tastebud’s standards. I can only wish I know what that restaurant is called.
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posted by Jennie on Dec 14
I figured I might as well post on our Hongkong getaway before the novelty wears off. We flew back a few days ago and I know if I put off blogging about this travel, I might just end up scratching it off like I did our previous Davao and Bohol trips.
Because I booked this Hongkong trip exactly a year ago, I totally forgot that we failed to have our intended date of coming back, which was originally set on Dec.9. It turned out, the only available date during that time was December 8.
It was only when we have boarded the plane and I was filling out these Hongkong Immigration forms which were handed out by the flight attendant that I saw the e-ticket and it reads December 8. Imagine my dismay! I immediately confessed as I showed the e-ticket to my dear hubby and he solved the problem in an instant. If it were not for December 8 being our official anniversary date, then it would have been okay for us to head back home to Manila. But husband sweetly solved the problem by assuring us that we can head on over to a hotel in Subic where we can extend our 10th anniversary celebration when we arrive DMIA on December 8. How can I not feel so blessed to have such a sweet husband?
My son and I at the plush Hongkong International Airport
Since it was my responsibility to take care of our flights and travel itineraries, I have somehow expected a slight show of disappointment on the husband’s face. He spared me that and instead assured me that this “unexpected” early flight back should not make our 10th anniversary less fun. I knew right there that it was going to be a a lovely 10th anniversary celebration! 
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posted by Jennie on Dec 11
First off, thanks to all who joined Marriage and Beyond’s 4th Anniversary Giveaway. As promised, here are the winners! Congratulations to all four of you! 
Winner #1 is Ma. Kristina Rodriguez
Winner #2 is Mys Laguitao
Winner #3 is Divine Caraecle
Winner #4 is Dinah Ladao
Kindly email us via jenaspacio@facebook.com your scanned ID, Full Name, Shipping Address and Mobile Number. Please email us soon so I can send your prizes within the week. As for Winner #3, please include your PayPal ID so I can send your $50 the soonest. Congratulations to you all! Our prayer is that all your respective prize will be a blessing to you one way or another. We have another giveaway coming up just in time for Christmas.
posted by Jennie on Dec 3
The Malacañang Palace has recently released Proclamation No. 295 declaring the regular, non-working, and special holidays in the Philippines for the year 2012. As homeschoolers, we are essentially unaffected by this list. But we do have to take note of them anyway, for practical and obvious reasons.
A. Regular Holidays
New Year’s Day – January 1 (Sunday)
Maundy Thursday – April 5
Good Friday – April 6
Araw ng Kagitingan - April 9 (Monday)
Labor Day – May 1 (Tuesday)
Independence Day – June 12 (Tuesday)
National Heroes Day – August 27 (Last Monday of August)
Bonifacio Day – November 30 (Friday)
Christmas Day – December 25 (Tuesday)
Rizal Day – December 30 (Sunday)
B. Special (Non-Working) Days
Chinese New Year – January 23 (Monday)
Ninoy Aquino Day – August 21 (Tuesday)
All Saints Day – November 1 (Thursday)
Additional special (non-working) day- November 2 (Friday)
Last Day of the Year – December 31 (Monday
C. Special Holiday (for all schools)
EDSA Revolution Anniversary – February 25 (Saturday)
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posted by Jennie on Dec 1
My boys and I went to check out Promil Preschool’s i-Shine at Singing last Monday. It was held at Center for Pop in Cubao, Quezon City. Our son thoroughly enjoyed himself during the i-Shine at Acting conducted by The Trumpets Playshop last month, so we thought we might as well check this one out.
At first, I was not too sure if the hubby will approve when he finds out that the i-Shine at Singing workshop will be held at Center for Pop. While I know for a fact that Center for Pop has quite a handful of products who have made names for themselves, we really are leaning towards the classical way of singing, where you just don’t open your mouth and try to produce a melodious sound without much consideration on its dynamics. We have learned for sometime now, even as we are essentially a singing family, that sing the wrong way and you are bound to hurt your throat one way or another. This is precisely why we trust the services of Teacher Pau (our son’s voice coach and Music teacher). She hails from my reputable Alma Mater, UST. She’s from Conservatory of Music. But that’s another blog post altogether.
Coach Weng instructs Jed to do some vocal exercise
We always knew that our son has a knack for singing. He has been humming tunes since he can barely talk and even up to now, he’d either sing or hum first thing in the morning. This is also how we know he’s already awake. This is also why we would love for him to nurture his gift in singing. He has always been in tune since he was an infant and now he is already able to do second voice on his own. His Papa sure is thrilled to be driving as he listens to his son singing second voice to the one playing on radio. I can’t even, for the life of me, get myself to even listen to a second voice. Much less sing to one. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Dec 1
A week until our 10th anniversary celebration! It’s crazy how quickly time seem to pass us by. While 10 years might not be a huge number for some people, the double number makes us look back and ask ourselves, “has it really been that long already?”
While we are happily married, we are far from being a perfect married couple just yet. Our clashes make for the very ingredients that would want us to put our foot forward in effort to be a better person for each other. A pile of things to thank God for this marriage. We recently read and finished a book together – Couples Who Pray, which we both vouch for and highly recommend for married couples to read and apply.
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posted by Jennie on Dec 1
It sure is going to be an eventful two weeks for our family. Aside from the LA Galaxy Football Clinic that our son is going to attend this coming Friday and the friendly game of The Philippine Azkals vs. LA Galaxy, we are flying to Hongkong for our 10th anniversary celebration!
For those who have joined Marriage and Beyond’s 4th Anniversary Giveaway, please expect the winners to be announced a week after the contest. You have until 11:59PM, December 8, 2011 to join.
Meanwhile, we’ve been told that there is a sudden dip of temperature in Hongkong.
Weather Forecast via Accuweather
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