December Wedding

El Nido

We are this close to booking an El Nido honeymoon for three days and two nights. I am nothing but excited, but Jotham is worried that we are spending money that is disproportionate to the length of time we will be there.

But El Nido is well worth it. I visited Miniloc and Lagen back in 2006 for a Mabuhay magazine feature, and I have not forgotten how wonderful it is. Even if I've been to a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, El Nido wins hands down. Our beaches are just so much better, and our friendly staff are just top-notch.

Jotham had me laughing so hard last night when he said our El Nido stay would just be like my experience at the Learning Resource Center when I was in kindergarten.

You see, in Miriam's Child Study Center where I spent my kinder years, they had the Learning Resource Center or LRC. It was an airconditioned room made up of small play areas. Among the areas I remember are a small chapel with pews, a kitchen, a bedroom, a reading corner, etc.

A trip to the LRC was a much-awaited event. We only very rarely went, and even then, only for maybe 30 minutes. Knowing that there was just too much to do, with such little time, us kids would frantically zip through the different play areas in order to EXPERIENCE IT ALL. We would hurriedly kneel and make the sign of the cross at the chapel, cook in the kitchen, lie on the bed, flip through the books, and so on. It was crazy. We were crazy.

I imagine now, how our teachers must have found us so hilarious.

Anyway, we were laughing so hard last night, imagining our frenetic kayaking, snorkeling, island hopping, buffet lunches, sunrise hikes... 

Ahhh but it's going to be such a wonderful time. I can't wait. 

How Wonderful, How Beautiful

We've been purchasing household things one by one. First was a Philips flat iron we bought at half price at Rustan's. The next is a wifi-capable printer with scanning and photocopying functions. We've been looking at refrigerators, washing machines, water dispensers, blenders... 

I think it was when we were comparing the prices of Samsung refrigerators that he casually mentioned  his targeted house fund  -- which he had been meticulously building -- was almost done. 

It hit me how he'd really planned all of this. Not just the wedding, but more importantly -- the marriage. 

My husband-to-be is not the type who would wine and dine me, shower me with expensive gifts, or splurge on a really fancy vacation for me. Instead, he has been painstakingly saving all his money in order to buy furniture, appliances, and build our whole life together. Our own gas range, our own sofa, our own flat... 

26 years old, and this is his mindset in life. I really, really wonder what I could have done to deserve all this. 

As always, I am humbled, and brought to my knees at God's graciousness in all this.