Finally Blessed....

Home Sweet Home, Finally Blessed...
After several months of waiting for the right moment (probably a euphemism for saving up/looking for the right priest/waiting for good weather), we finally got our home blessed. It's been five months now that we've stayed in our new home and we realized the more we delayed it, the more we will never get around to do it-- so we finally set a date. Finding a priest was a challenge - we wanted it to be on Labour Day but it turned out all the priests were attending a gathering or seminar of some sort. So we had to postpone again but finally finally, we found a priest, and he was perfect. We invited some of our friends at work who have never attended a house blessing before and Fr. Mario took the time to explain what a house blessing was and why it was done. It was also a refresher course for us and our Filipino friends who joined us to celebrate the house blessing and Keith's 9th birthday (yes, it was a double celebration!).

We're glad that our guests enjoyed the food -- it was a team effort. Doyeth and I had our menus and yes, even the guys had their own special tasks. We had the Pinoy version of Bbq (Keith's classmates were insisting they were kebabs), Doyeth had her famous sotanghon and shrimp meatballs (special mentioned by Fr. Redd). No, I didn't make carbonara but I did have my Bicol Express which was a hit with David (our previous landlord in our first Kiwi apartment).

It was a great day of gathering for the people who are closest to our hearts here in New Zealand. It gives us so much comfort to know that in spite of being here in the country for only a year for us and just five months for Arnel and his family, we found people whom we call friends.

Now, Christmas is coming up. It's summer here but as always, Wellington's weather is still unpredictable. Monday was a bit rainy and cold but yesterday was really sunny. I hope Christmas weather would be better-- yup, we have things planned for Christmas but I wont say anything just yet. Hint: beach time!