SEVEN WEEKS AWAY FROM OUR TRIP BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES

 Hello everybody.  It's been a month since my last entry.  We are seven weeks out and then we are flying to the Philippines to retire, live a simple quiet life in a small town in Southern Leyte.  Oh we have so many plans once we get back.  We have to redo our small house that served as a sari-sari store back when we live there for three years.  Nowadays, it is our storage area but we are thinking of making an improvement to it so that we can convert it into an Airbnb or Homestay.  We will rent it out and at the same time it can serve as a guest house when friends come to visit.  We also plan to extend the backside of the house so that we can have a tandem garage.  We have other plans and improvements to make....how we wish we are there already so we can start.

But here we are eagerly waiting for June and in the meantime we have other important matters to attend to to get us ready for our flight, like setting up a US address that we can use when we move to the Philippines or finding a phone carrier that allows us to use a US number in the Philippines, visiting our local Social Security office, our bank, our financial advisor, gathering paperwork for the immigration, securing JJ's transcript, registering for eTravel and other things.

JJ has three and a half weeks to go and school will be out.  The only school activities left for the school year is his school band concert, 8th grade dance and graduation on the 21st.  Then he's off to DC for his much awaited school trip in June.  Hopefully May will fly by fast.  We are already tired of living in this apartment specially when you can't open your patio door without being assaulted with a strong odor from a marijuana smoke.  Our suspect is the guy who lives downstairs who happens to be also very loud, ugh!

On a lighter note, Mike and I keep busy practicing our musical instruments of choice.  He, a harmonica and me a ukelele.  We plan to have a uke/harmonica concert on our porch swing when we get back to the Philippines.  Our audience? probably some stray dogs and some bull frogs, tehehehe.  Anyway, thanks lovely people for following us.  

Here's our latest You Tube content should you want to watch it:

Thank you again for following us.  Have a blessed end of the month y'all!  May the Lord keeps us all in our comings and goings.  To Him be all the glory forever!

RETIRED AND MOVING TO THE PHILIPPINES - APARTMENT LIFE

OUR APARTMENT LIFE FOR THE NEXT 2 1/2 MONTHS

There is so much to talk about the goodness of God!  Michael and I are still in awe of how - when we look back - God works in ways we could not comprehend.  How in His infinite wisdom and love towards His children He plans and orchestrates our lives and our future to bring Him glory and honor, and yes, praise!

We are now living in an apartment close to JJ's school.  He can just walk to school and right now after tennis practice, he walks home.  The place is likewise very convenient as we can walk to the grocery and is close to Shunga Trails where we can ride our bikes or enjoy a leisurely walk.  The weather had been nice, (unseasonably warm) so I can go with JJ after dinner to the school's basketball court so he can practice his shooting and dribbling skills.

Apartment life is a different lifestyle - we both don't like it hehehe.  When you're wired to always want to have something to do inside or outside you feel like you are trapped when you live in an apartment.  This week the weather turned cold and wintry so no walking today or tomorrow.  But we manage to pretend to be busy :-)  Today we went to renew our driver's license and change of address at the same time.  That didn't take long - we were in and out of the DMV in under 30 minutes.  Yesterday we shipped 3 more balikbayan boxes and got two more empty boxes to fill.  We think these 2 should be our last (fingers crossed).  We already have 13 boxes waiting for us in the Philippines, 3 are supposed to arrive this week.

Anyways, the waiting is the hardest specially when my cousin who takes care of our house in the Philippines keeps sending me pictures of my plants on the porch and pictures of the pineapple plants and bananas bearing fruits.  Tomorrow, she said is when the rice harvest is going to take place.  These things make me want to fly back home now :-)  But in the meantime, we'll try to be busy here while waiting for June.

Thank you all for following our journey.  We love you all!

OUR HOUSE GOT SOLD IN UNDER 24 HOURS - NOW WHAT??

 Hello beloved.  Whew!  February comes to an end and I didn't even notice where the month went.  After we put the house on the market Thursday evening, we had an offer the next morning.  Michael and I looked at each other speechless - that quick?... and for the asking price?  I knew right then that God is on the move and we thanked Him with all our hearts.  Well then since He is on the move we might as well get ready to move.  We accepted the offer and got on the roll, closing will be on the 29th so that means we have to be out of the house by the 28th.  We have roughly 3 weeks to do all that.

First thing we did was getting ready for garage sale and luckily I had most of the little stuff in the basement priced already.  All appliances stay even the freezer in the basement plus we offered our furnishings to the buyer and they said yes.  That meant we don't have to move the big stuff like the desk, the double recliner and the hide-a-bed and rugs in the basement.  We even left the big screen TV and the surround sound.  They also said yes to the couch and the rocker and the rugs in the living room.  All in all we just need to get rid of the big stuff outside like the trailer and Michael's canning stove and tools, etc.., etc..  We left the lawn mower for the buyer as well.  

It was a very cold and wintry two days when we did our sale but we got rid of some.   The next week we had gorgeous warm weather so we did it on Tuesday and Wednesday for the last time and we really got rid of most of the stuff.  What was left we boxed up to take to Goodwill but a friend came by and took all of them so we didn't even have to do that.  We took some leftovers to the curb and the next day they were gone.  Michael and I kept saying to each other it has to be a God thing.

In between all these we had to find a place to live, box up all our stuff and move them to our new place.  It's a one-bedroom apartment so Michael and I will be camping on the living room until we leave for the Philippines.

 

Up to now we are still in awe of how great our God is.  He made all these happen beyond our expectations.  From the preparations, to the listing, to the clearing of everything and providing a temporary place for us to stay while we wait for the school year to end, He truly is making all things possible for us and we praise Him for his faithfulness!

We thank you for following us and walking with us along this exciting adventure called retirement.  We love you all!

RETIRED AND MOVING TO THE PHILIPPINES - OUR HOUSE IS FINALLY READY FOR THE MARKET

 Hi y'all lovely fellow wanderers.  This week had been fantastic, what with the weather being sunny, warm and just beautiful as it will ever be considering that it is still January.  Now these are my types of days - blue, sunshiny skies and warm temps, perfect for a swing on the porch.

 

We are finally done with the house prepping, we've met with our realtor and today his company photographer is in the house taking pictures and videos in and outside the house.  Tomorrow we are meeting with our realtor again to sign some papers.  We will definitely know then what day our house will be live and on the market.  Part of me is excited but I'm also scared mainly because I worry if the house gets sold in a short time we will need to find a place to rent until June.  But then again I know God's timing is always perfect and He will make a way for us as He always does.  He had carried us through in the past and I trust that He will be with us in this journey.

I remember my dad's artwork at my grandparents' church in the Philippines.  He painted an open scroll across the worship center's wall and in it is the verse from Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."  That is how I memorized that verse at a tender age of 7 because every time we go to church that's what I see.  When I married Michael and moved to the States, I always repeat that verse.  One year I went back to the Philippines for a visit with our two boys.  My grandparents have been gone a long time by then so I didn't go to visit that old church anymore.  But when we went to my folks' church, I saw that same verse plastered across the wall of the worship center of this new church where my parents attended.  Yes, things and circumstances may change but one thing is certain, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  I know when the house gets sold we will become homeless, LOL.  But hey, God will have a place prepared for us by then for certain because that's just the way He is.  He has provided in the past and he will provide for us presently and in the future.

We give you a tour of our house after the photographer leaves and might as well listen to me and Michael banter at the front porch while waiting for the photographer to finish what he needs to do.  You may watch it here: 

Thank you all for following us in this journey.  We love you and hope you enjoy today's content.  May God keep us and bless us in His care

Midlife Wanderings now Retirees - From Kansas to the Philippines - No place like home

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A RETIREE.....

 Hello fellow wanderers.  I pray all is well with you and your family despite the very, very cold weather we are having this year.  If you are from the tropics, count it a blessing to be where you are.  We have frigid weather here, schools are cancelled for three days now and it's very tricky to drive in the snow.  Michael and I just realized that we are thankful JJ didn't ask to go sledding - yikes!  Back then we were the ones asking if he wanted to go sledding and we would gladly take him, even sled down the hill ourselves a couple of times.  Well, those were the days.

Mike has been enjoying not getting up early and work outside in this kind of weather.  And we are all glad he's no longer working in this kind of weather too.  He told me the other day that his body has relaxed, not stressed out and he'd been sleeping through the night peacefully.  When he was still working he always tells me that his dreams were weird and it always involved him working - even in his dreams he IS working.  Well not anymore, thank goodness.

We are still working on the basement, Mike tackling the storage room in the basement while I am tackling the family/recreation room on the other part of the basement.  As of today, we are all done with the painting.  I will work on the stairs tomorrow after we take some small furniture up to the garage to store for the moving sale then I will call Chen, our realtor tomorrow.

This is our You Tube video about our day in the life as we get ready for the big move to the Philippines:

We hope you enjoy watching our video.  Please hit the subscribe and like buttons to support our channel.  We appreciate you all.  Blessings!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY RETIRED - Episode 10

 Hi y'all Happy New Year!!  As we turn the page to the year 2024, I pray that El Elyon, God Most High, be with you in everything you do and everything you hope for in this new year.

So we are officially retired - now what?  We have waited with great expectation and anticipation for this day to come and now that it's here, we went straight to work even harder to prepare the house for the market.  We have three full balikbayan boxes all ready to ship to the Philippines and we still have some stuff that we need to pack and ship.  We have slowly cleared some of our stuff out of the house, some are in my booth at Owl's Nest hoping to sell them, some are donated to Goodwill, some are in the trash bin ready for the landfill, some are priced ready for the "moving sale" that we plan once we sell the house.  We invited a friend (a single mom) over, who is moving to her own place to see if there is anything she need, so there are small furniture that we will deliver to her place toward the end of this month.

We have made huge progress in the last two weeks.  We will paint part of the basement and install new blinds on the windows then we will meet with our realtor.  This funny de-ja-vu feeling of being homeless again when the house gets sold is surreal.  We have done this before in 2015 when we sold everything and moved to the Philippines so I could be with my mother - and now here we are doing the same thing all over again.  But this time to retire to the Philippines, and this time we have a house of our own waiting for us when we get there.

Anyway, in all these life journeys, God is, was and will be there with us.  Some nights before I fall asleep and before I rise up in the morning I always begin my prayer with "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home.  Before the mountains were created, before you made the earth and the world, you are God, without beginning or end." (Psalm 90:1-2 NLT)  No matter where we may go, to live, to settle or whatever, the Lord Most High, El Elyon will always be our home.  I pray you will make Him your home too in 2024.  Blessings to y'all!

If you want to watch my content on You Tube you can watch it here:

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CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Episode 9

 Hi y'all!!  I have fallen behind on my update to our pre-retirement journey, life happens all the time here in the Smiths household specially with Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

We have had some pretty warmer weather in November and even the early part of December.  I figured I'd better take care of the leaves all over our front and back yards if I want the house to show nicely when we list it for sale so that's what I did one day.  The next day was so windy that the neighbors' leaves blew over to our yard so I had to do it all over again.  Luckily, I only had to do it to our front yard as there wasn't any blow-over on our back yard.

I was able to sort our stuff in the basement and hauled a lot of them to Goodwill.  We will slowly sell some of our furniture (desks/dressers/chest of drawers/occasional and side tables and other little fixtures).  I have a couple of them displayed in my booth at an antique store here in town and will bring in another one once something is sold.  Hopefully we will slowly get rid of most of them as we work on the house to get it ready for the market.  Mike seems to not care about having another garage sale and I hope he will agree with me to have a moving sale in late January.

Mike has disassembled the lawn mover, got all the parts cleaned and I have packed it in the balikbayan box and it's ready for shipment to the Philippines.  We need the mower in the Philippines as we have a large yard and a push mower just won't do the job as quickly as a motorized lawn mower.  Next he disassembled the tiller as we will be doing a lot of gardening.  We are not sure how good the tillers are that are available for purchase in the Philippines so we decided to bring our own.  It's waiting for me to box it up in a balikbayan box.  I might need to pack it in 2 balikbayan boxes though, we'll see.

Mike has unused paid vacation and floating holidays that he will lose if not used. So his last work date is December 21 and the rest of December is his vacation.  Then he will go back to his employer to sign the necessary paperwork and turn over keys and other stuff on January 4.  He's so looking forward to that day.

Well that's it for now lovely people.  I pray you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a blessed Christmas!  We thank you for following and God bless us everyone!