RETIRING TO THE PHILIPPINES - IT'S OUR FLIGHT DAY!!!

 WE ARE FLYING BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES TODAY!!

The day has finally come, today is the day we fly to the Philippines.  We have been so extremely busy for the last month I forgot to post something for May, so I really am sorry.

JJ graduated 8th grade on May 21 then went to Washington DC for a History class trip.  He had a fun time touring the historic DC area, exploring the museums and watching the changing of the guards.  They even went to a ghost tour the last night they were there.  We are so glad he got to do that before leaving for the Philippines.

Meanwhile Michael and I were busy emptying (again?) our short lease apartment unit.  We once more donated some more stuff, gave some away, throw some away until nothing was left and the apartment finally was cleared....whew.  Life in America is all about stuff!!

We are staying at Mike's sister's house until we fly out and while we're there it's good to be able to spend time with Mom and Dad and our oldest son, Josh who lives nearby.  We left Zach in Topeka, where he lives and work but we've spent time with him while we can while we were there, although I would have loved to have more time with him.  But work gets in the way all the time so we're just happy to have him once in a while as his time permits.

I have prayed over both Josh and Zach, that the Lord will continue to keep them both in His care.  And I know I serve a faithful Father so I am confident that He will take care of them.  He is our Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner!

Michael thinks our finances should allow us to come and visit every two years so I'm glad we can do that.  Then we will see some of you again in two years.  And until then, may the Lord keeps us all in His care until we see each other again.  We love you all and we thank you for following us.

Please continue to follow us as we journey into the new season of our life in the Philippines.

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:

Thank you for watching.  Please follow us on You Tube by subscribing to our channel.

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!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Episode 8

 Happy Thanksgiving to y'all!!  Time flies when you're having fun - I mean when you're busy.  My camera gave up the holy ghost last month and, after a couple of weeks I finally got a new one.  Well, the thing is, I am slow when it comes to technology so it took me a good couple of weeks before I was comfortable using it.  So I have a love-hate relationship with my new gadget but I managed to put out some contents somehow to which I am glad.

Last month we celebrated our 36th anniversary.  We thank the Lord for blessings beyond measure both now and in the past and we sure are looking towards the future and can't wait to see what He has for us.  I had a friend (when we lived in San Diego 35 years ago), who said this when Mike and I were ready to return to Wichita, Kansas: "Treat everyday as if it is gift that you open every morning.  God always has something special for you."  Since then I make it a point that everyday I thank God for the gift of a new day and wait with anticipation what He has in store for me.  I know that whatever comes our way - good or bad - it's all good, because God's in it.

So somehow we managed to slip out of town, to South Dakota to visit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument as our wedding anniversary celebration.  This might be our last trip to US National Parks so I chose Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse before we move back to the Philippines.  This will also be our last Thanksgiving and Christmas here in America.  Just between you and me - I don't think I'd want to come back here during the cold season - I have enough of the cold weather.  We might come and visit family but it will be during the summer months.

Anyway, I'd like to share with you our travel to South Dakota.  You can watch it here:

While we were there we explored Fossil Forest Park, the Military Cemetery and we drove up to Sturgis and visited the Harley Davidson Museum.  It was a long drive from Kansas to South Dakota and along the way we saw cows, cornfields, cows...and cornfields :)  I will miss this country but I can't wait to move out of here too considering what's going on all over....well I'll leave it at that.  Thank you all for following.  SHALOM and God bless!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Epi. 7

PLAN WELL WHEN YOU PLAN TO RETIRE TO THE PHILIPPINES

 Hi y'all!!  Things are getting hectic in the Smith's household with JJ involved in Upward Soccer this season.  On top of that my camera quit on me so I need to procure a new one and of course with that comes the "learning" the new gadget period.  I don't like the learning process - it's a hit and miss - but it is what it is.   Yet today I still haven't figured out some of the new features of the camera so I decided to film using my phone this time.

So I have been keeping abreast of what's going on in the immigration aspect in the Philippines as that is what everyone should do if one plans to travel anywhere abroad.  The Philippine government has lifted the Covid 19 travel restrictions in July of this year.  Meaning, no more Covid testing required, no more registering to OneHealthPass, no more vaccination cards required, no more 7 or 10 days quarantine not even travel insurance.

What is new though is the eTravel registration and here's the link to that: https://etravel.gov.ph/ the Philippine One-Stop Electronic Travel Declaration System.  You are required to register within 72 hours of your departure.  I imagine you can print out something to bring with you just like the OneHealthPass once you finish registering.  If you are like me I will print that out and have it handy along with my tickets and passport.  Immigration might or might not ask you for it but better to have it just in case.

Another thing that's new for travelers whose plane lands on terminal 1 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is the online registration of Declaration Form before your flight.  Again just do it for a smooth immigration exit.  Here's the link: https://customs.gov.ph/customs-declaration-form/

Travel insurance is not required anymore but if you are a foreigner who will travel to the Philippines for a short visit, I would recommend getting one for peace of mind but of course that is totally up to you.  When JJ and I travelled back to the Philippines JJ was required to have travel insurance coverage so I got him one from Safety Wing which was not expensive.  Here's the link if you want to get a coverage; https://safetywing.com/

So far, that's all I know regarding what Philippine immigration requires of every traveler planning to enter the Philippines but of course I will keep monitoring changes and new laws as our travel date gets closer.  

I appreciate you following us along on this new journey.  May God bless and keep us in our comings and goings for in Him alone do we live and breath.  Until next time....SHALOM!!!

 

Because of who you are // LIVE // Josue Avila // Calvary Orlando

I learned the other day that my cousin in the Philippines had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.  Today she messaged me that the cancer has metastasized to the ribs.  She's on her 5th round of chemo therapy and in October will have surgery then radiation treatment after.  My heart aches for her and her husband and their two young kiddos.  And as always I turn to God, Jehovah Rapha!!

Then I found this song "Because of Who You Are" where the message speaks volume to me personally.  I pray that today, whoever you are, whatever you're going through, you turn to the One who loves you.

Be blessed today and be a blessing to everyone you meet.  SHALOM!!!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Episode 6

 OUR OLDEST SON WANTS TO BECOME A DUAL CITIZEN (US/PHILIPPINES)

Good morning dear people.  I pray you all had a great August and survived the heat wave that swept across America.  Today we turn another page of our calendar - can you believe it's September already?  I tell myself that this month will go fast just by looking at our calendar which is already full.  And we like it that way because it will speed up the days as we check off whatever it is we have for September.  Today also I tell Michael, "Four months to go and we will begin another season of our lives under God's amazing plan for us in our retirement years.  Hang in there darling, before you know it it will be here."

Now the reason I tell him that is because he tells me almost everyday that the closer he is to retirement, the more he realize that he really didn't care much for people at work who don't have the initiative to get things done nor have the critical thinking to perform their jobs.  I think a person tends to feel that way once you hit a certain age - you lost your patience along the way, and you just have to teach yourself to "let it go."  And it must be getting worse every day because when I ask him how his day been when he gets home, he will just tell me "I don't want to talk about it."  Ohhh...so okay then :)

On a different note, our oldest son expressed interest in applying for a dual citizenship.  He has plans to do some mission work in the Philippines in the near future.   So he thinks having a dual citizenship will allow him to come and go anytime.  And being a dual citizen allows him the opportunity to buy a property in the Philippines as well.  He needs a home base while there, preferably close to the airports to allow him to travel to different places/islands.  He loves the urban vibes that's why he's looking at living in Tagig City in Manila.  He had been looking at condos in McKinley Park West in #BGC Taguig.  

So here I am gathering all the paper works needed for him to become a dual citizen.  He was born before I became a naturalized citizen of the USA so technically he is automatically a dual citizen.  Except for one thing: I didn't report his birth with the Philippine Embassy (I didn't know I had to until recently).  So I need to file a Delayed Report of Birth with the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago.  Well since he is now of age, he will file it for himself but I have to get all the documentations for him.  I made a video about this and published it in our You Tube channel.  You can watch it below if you want and while you're at it, would you hit the subscribe and like button?  Please?

We are four months away from retirement and these last four months will go fast because we will be busy with all kinds of JJ's school activities, sports and church events, not to mention the holidays just around the corner.  JJ is doing well with his Rosetta Stone lessons in Pilipino and Michael is doing well with his practice in speaking the Visayan language.  He found two books on Visayan language and he said that it helps a lot to be able to read the words instead of just listening and repeating them.

Me?  I'm still working on getting rid of my eBay "stuff" in the basement.  I'm making progress though.  We're just doing what we can slowly but consistently and then I will be painting the basement once I clear things out.  I did found out we need to replace 2 panels in the basement because of water damage from 2 years ago.  Mike was able to fix the problem and we didn't have any leakage since then but the walls on the far corner of the basement has some water damage.  That's the only issue I've found so far.

So...off to more clearing I go.  I thank you all for watching and following our journey.  May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your comings and goings...for in Him alone do we live and breath.  SHALOM!!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Epi. 5

 Hello y'all!  We're in the middle of summer and if you are in the Midwest you know how hot it gets, but I can't complain.  We have had really nice temperatures for the past weeks and cooler temps during the night.  I chuckle when Evergy messaged me 3 weeks ago telling me we were poised to have a 64% increase in our electric usage.  But last week I received another message from them congratulating me for using less energy the week before.  Well, that's because of the nicer temps we have had up until last week.  But this week's forecast looks like it's going to be a scorcher and I felt it yesterday and today. It's like being in the hot oven getting out of church and into the parking lot.  Whew!  Oh well, this is Kansas, after all.  So the order of the day this week would be stay indoors if possible.

Before school started JJ and I have been doing our morning walks up and down the hilly part of our neighborhood and I noticed two houses with for sale signs.  One was only in the market for 3 days and it got sold, the other was only on the market for a week and it too got sold.  I thought I must work on getting our house ready for the market but then Mike and I decided we'll hold off and wait until the end of the year before we put our house up for sale.

Well just this last week, I noticed another house just four houses down from our street had a for sale sign up and it had a sold sign on it.  I didn't even notice that this house had a for sale sign in it and when I checked it out it was only listed for a couple of days and it got sold already.  Another house on the same street further down on the corner had a contract pending on its sign.  I know this house had been on the market for more than a month because JJ and I walk past it during our morning walks. I told Mike I'll go ahead and get our house ready for the market by October/November and he agrees.  I believe we should do it before the Feds increase the interest rate again and besides that, the prices of housing have really almost doubled up which means we get more money for our house.

So since the forecast for the coming week is high temps, I'll work on the basement and get it ready for painting and also I have to gather the necessary documents for Mike and JJ's 13a visa applications.  I have lots of copying to do and sorting these documents.  I've printed the checklist of paperwork that needs to be submitted to the Philippine Consulate Office and found out I'd better start working on these now instead of later.  Oh by the way, I do have a video where I talked about 13A visa for Mike and JJ and you can watch it here if you like:

Well, that's it for now my beautiful people.  Y'all stay away from the heat, drink plenty of water, make sure you have water with you when you are out and about.  May the Lord keep us in our comings and goings for in Him alone we live and breath.  SHALOM!!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT Epi. 4

Hello lovely people!  Well, JJ has started school this week and can you believe almost two weeks have come and gone for the month of August already?  Have you noticed the days zip by so fast these days and before we know it Fall will be here.

In preparation for our move to the Philippines, we have to figure out what kind of visas Mike and JJ need for them to be able to move and live, and in JJ's case study, in the Philippines.  In my research I found two options for them:

A.  The SRRV (Special Resident Retiree's Visa) is a special non-immigrant visa for foreign nationals who would like to make the Philippines their home and the benefits are:

1.Indefinite stay with multiple entry/exit privileges;

2. Exemption from:

    - Bureau of Immigration ACR-I Card (annual reporting);

    - Custom duties and taxes for one time importation of household goods and personal 

       effects worth up to $7,000.00;

    - Tax from pension and annuities;

    - Travel tax if retiree has not stayed for more than one year from last date of entry;

    - Student Visa/Study Permit.

3. Access to the greet and assist program at selected Philippine airport;

4. Free subscription to the PRA newsletter;

5. Discount privileges from PRA accredited merchant partners;

6.Free assistance in transacting with other government agencies;

7. Entitlement to PHILHEALTH benefits and privileges.

There are 5 options offered in this kind of Visa program and we are interested in Option #5 but upon further investigation we decided not to do the SRRV program.  I just made a video about this and the reason why.  You can watch it below:

Well it looks like we are going to start gathering paperwork for 13A visa instead.  We've done this before so it should not be hard.  I know it entails going to the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, which I am not so excited about considering what is going on around Chicago but it needs to be done. 

And that's it for now my dearest friends.  Have a great weekend and I will see you on our next episode.  May the Lord keep us in our comings and goings for in Him alone we live and breath.  To Him be the glory!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT - Epi. 3

 Hi y'all!!  We turn another page of our calendar and it's August which means we are at the end of summer.  And for us it means we are 5 months or 23 weeks away from when Michael says goodbye to his work to retire.  Actually he keeps pointing out to me that he is not retiring in 5 months but he is quitting his job in 5 months.  And he is right.  He doesn't turn 62 (his target date to retire) until next year but it really doesn't make any difference.  Quitting, retiring, they both means you stop working, right?  So having mentioned that, we will be working on our house to get it ready for the market then, so we would still be working although not for someone else.

Well, I've been dreaming of building a "payag" next to our house in the Philippines.  I wanted to have it built last year when JJ and I were there but since I wasn't sure then when we might be back, I decided against it.  A "payag" by the way is a Filipino term for gazebo, except a "payag" has a place to cook and a place to take naps and it's even used as a place to sleep at night if you have family or friends visiting.  It's also a good place to lounge and hang out during the hot season.  We decided that in our "payag" we will have a sink, a place for cooking/grilling and a place for our "pugon" or earth oven.  The other part of the structure will be open with counter the length of the open space with bar stools so we have a place to eat or enjoy halo-halo on a warm afternoon weekend.

Speaking of halo-halo, we are having one every other night.  If you are curious what it is I made a video while I was making it.  It's so good and very refreshing.  You can watch it below:

  

So there you go lovely people.  I know I'm just rambling here but if you want halo-halo, message me and I will be more than happy to prepare one for you.  Until next time may the Lord keeps us all in His care for in Him alone we live and breath....SHALOM!!!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT Ep. 2

Hi y'all!  July is almost over, school is almost here and JJ will be starting his 8th grade, which would be his last year in the school system here.  With what's going on in the public school these days, I worry about him a lot and sometimes I'm even toying the possibility of homeschooling him just like I did with Josh and Zach.  But the boy loves to socialize (we call him the social butterfly of the family), and he is involved in band and sports.  So I will just wrap him daily in prayer before I send him out among the wolves, so to speak.  I claim daily God's promise of protection in Psalm 91 and my heart is at rest.

On a different note, Michael and I have been, (for months now) exploring and planning to build an earth oven when we return to the Philippines.  We have a gas range/oven there but it would be more practical to have an earth oven since we both love to bake and wood is abundant year round.  Besides, nothing beats baking on a wood fired oven.  It just feels different and very natural when you cook or bake with wood.  I grew up using wood to cook our food so I know what it's like.

Right now we have been experimenting with sourdough bread and also the sourdough discards we've accumulated while maintaining a sourdough starter.  The reason why we started turning to sourdough is two-fold: one - we found out that regular bread that you buy at the store no matter how the labels claim them to be healthy, is loaded with first of all, an enormous amount of sodium AND preservatives.  And two- sourdough goes through a fermentation process and therefore, is good for your gut health.  But it has to be home made because store-bought sourdough breads are also loaded with sodium and preservatives.  And also the process to make sourdough helps break down the gluten in the flour to make it very easy to digest which is actually good for me since I had a tummy problem myself.  And because we've started to watch our sodium and sugar intake we want to make our own bread and pastries when we get back to the Philippines.

Yesterday I made whole wheat roti out of the sourdough discard and we love it as a wrap or tear it and eat it dipped in olive oil.  Oh it was so good I'm making another batch today.  We've also baked decadent brownies out of the sourdough discard, it was so moist you'll have to lick your fingers :)  I decided to film my sourdough experiment yesterday so you can watch it below.

There's so many you can do with a sourdough and sourdough discard and we continue to experiment while we are still here.  Then when we get to go back to the Philippines we would have enough know-how to do it there.  That's it for now lovely people.  I'm going to try another recipe called "Rosemary and Olive Oil Fougasse" which is a flat bread and apparently is best dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  This one I will use the sourdough starter so I best take it out of the fridge to revive it so I can feed it.

We hope you enjoy today's blog and thank you for following.  May the Lord keeps us all in our comings and goings, for in Him we live and breath.  Until next time.....SHALOM!

CHRONICLES OF OUR PRE-RETIREMENT

 Hello y'all!!  I decided to come back to writing/blogging, which is my original favorite past time.  Good thing too, because starting today, I want to publish for posterity's sake our journey to retirement.  When Mike and I started Midlife Wanderings blogs we were heading to the Philippines to be with my aging mom.  Then we came home to the USA in 2018 after she passed on.  

Back then, JJ was a cute 8-year old boy who captured the hearts of everyone in our place and neighboring towns.  This time JJ will be a 15-year old teenage boy who will definitely tower everyone there.  He will be finishing his 8th grade education here and then next year he will be attending high school in the Philippines and possibly college.

Last year JJ and I were back in the Philippines to fix our house after typhoon Odette.  We accomplished a lot in our 5 months stint there, making improvements to our house, helping others rebuild and strengthening relations with neighbors and families.  I was even able to make it to our mountain property to see the damage to our coconuts that Odette left. 

Mike stayed behind to keep working and sending us money for the rebuilding and improvements.  When it was time to go, I thought it would be years (at least 5-6 years) before I could see my beloved town again so I decided to record one of my favorite places so I could revisit it any time I feel homesick.  I'm sharing it below if you want to see it.

Then when we came home Michael informed me that he plans to retire at 62.  He's not waiting for full retirement age.  He wants to enjoy life earlier than he should which is music to my ears.  My heart leaped with joy!  Yes, he said we are retiring to the Philippines!  Isn't it wonderful?

We are 6 months to retirement - and today is the start of our pre-retirement chronicles which I will update and publish consistently until we leave for the Philippines and then it will be another chapter when that day comes.  

May the Lord bless us all in our daily comings and goings for in Him alone we live and breath.  I hope you join us once again on this journey.  I love you all...SHALOM!

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This is our first step to getting ready to return to the Philippines.  Please follow us as we prepare to fly back to the Philippines during this pandemic season.

I hope to have you along this journey with us.  I pray you are all staying safe.  Thank you for following.

#ChalkPainting a Mid Century Modern Sewing Table