February 18, 2025 – House Turnover and Beef Bulalo

    The next morning I woke up and my head was still pounding. I found the Tylenol in my luggage and took a couple of them. Thank you, Jesus, my headache subsided in a couple hours. Marvin came to pick me up around 7:30am and we went back to Johanna's home in Taguig. We parked at the Jollibee and walked the packed, tight streets back to the home. I was introduced to a family that lives in a suite beside Johanna's home (it is part of the Binuya homestead). The family is Ruel, Jueynn, and their two children, Yaiir, and Jokonon. Mr. Joe let me tour the bottom floor of their homestead as well. There is a huge room that has been converted to a storage room, two bathrooms, and Joe and Cora's room. I saw Johanna's bicycle and a bicycle that Johanna bought for her dad. Also, in the storage room, Mr. Joe and Mrs. Cora store the excess supplies and products for their school supply/photography/printing shop. Mr. Joe showed me the automatic washer that Johanna bought for the family a few weeks ago, and he showed me the main laundry room. Then, we all went up to the second floor for breakfast. Two women were in the living room, sitting on the couch. Mr. Joe introduced me to them: Rowena and Sheila. They both work with Joe and Cora in the family business. Mr. Joe gave them the keys to go open the shop, and then we talked a while longer before Mrs. Cora served breakfast for us. Mr. Joe told me the story of J.J., their second oldest son who has passed away from meningitis. He was paralyzed his whole life and they had to take care of him for 21 years. He was unable to move at all for the duration of his life. This experience tested Mrs. Cora's and Mr. Joe's faith, but they learned to put their full faith and trust into God during this time. This tribulation made them grow stronger as a family, more disciplined, more grateful, and more reliant upon God. Jonathan and Jayson also walked into the home. These are Johanna's two other brothers. I gave each one of them a gift and greeted them with a handshake and a smile. Right at breakfast time, Mr.s Irene came into the second floor area. She is a relative of the Binuya family. She is also a long time mentor of Johanna. She is a real estate agent, and she has helped Johanna purchase a home in Naic, Cavite, Philippines. We all sat down and ate breakfast together. Johanna was still in her room with her door closed doing the work from home with CBN Asia. Mrs. Cora made a great breakfast of tapas (fried beef), hot dogs, bread, eggs fried over medium, white rice, and bananas. It was a delicious Filipino -style meal, and it was the first time I've eaten hotdog for breakfast.

    After the most excellent meal, we all departed their home and walked to Marvin's car at Jollibee fast food restaurant. When walking to the car, Mr. Joe introduced me to another family (man, wife, and young boy) and two brothers who are their neighbors. On of the brother's was working on his auto...he is one of the trike drivers in the city. We got into the car and journeyed through Taguig and the provinces of Manila to Cavite. I was fascinated by all the sights, smells, and sounds. There were side-liners, meat stands, corn stands, banana stands, street vendors selling all types of Filipino dishes, bakeries, automotive stores, tons of motorcycle repair shops, sari-sari (convenient) stores, markets, malls, churches, residential areas, and so so much more. All the buildings and people were packed in tightly like a can of yams. It was absolutely fascinating.

    The drive from their home in Taguig to Naic, Cavite takes about two and a half to three hours of driving, even though the city is only about 31 miles away. That kind of shows you how bad the traffic is here in Manila and the surrounding metropolitan area. We drove through the province of Manila and arrived in Naic, Cavite. We went to Johanna's new home that she bought a couple years ago, through Irene's aid. The house is a two story duplex/townhouse that is 50 square meters (this equates to about 834 square feet). It is a small home, but she bought it for only 1,000,000 pesos which equates to about $17,500. Now the property is worth about 2,300,000 pesos, so she has more than doubled her money in this investment. This was to be the day that the house deed would be turned over to Johanna. This is the day the house would be hers, even though she will be paying a 30-year mortgage on the home. We did a final inspection of the home. There was still more work to be done. The solar panels and inverter was not hooked up. Main power was not hooked up. Temporary power was hooked up. There was no finished floor—tile, carpet, LVT. There were no cabinets installed in the kitchens and the plumbing fixtures need to be installed as well. The engineer went over everything with Johanna, and the house was signed over to her in her name! She was so happy and jubilant. We all congratulated her on her investment and shared in her excitement and joy.

    To celebrate the house turnover, we drove to Tagaytay by the western shore of Taal Lake and Taal volcano crater. We ate a wonderful meal of beef bulalo and halo-halo by the lake at a wonderful island-themed restaurant. The floors of the restaurant reminded Johanna of Morocco, and I told Johanna that I had just watched the Humphrey Bogart film called Casablanca when flying from San Francisco to Manila. This was a divine coincidence as Casablanca is in Morocco. I thoroughly enjoyed the bulalo while a local Filipino folk band played songs from table to table. When they got to our table they played “My Girl,” and Johanna and I were so giddy with joy, gladness...truly growing in love.

    After the meal, we drove back home to Taguig. We stopped at a local bakery to pick up three pies, and then we went to 'Love at the Park,” which was so romantic. It was an assortment of love-themed exhibits through a very large park by Laguna de bay. We had a most romantic evening walking through the exhibits, holding each other's hand, praising God, and talking with one another. It was a most special time, and we took several photos. I will never forget out time here at 'Love at the Park.' Johanna and I are not falling in love, we are growing in love. Our love is so special and unique. We truly bonded throughout the day and night, and we have experienced things together that will be lifelong memories.

    After leaving 'Love at the Park,' Marvin dropped me off at the Grace Residences condominium, I went up to my room, cleaned up, jumped in bed, and I fell fast asleep. I had a weird dream in the middle of the night where my dad was killing service-wire cutters with a grenade launcher. Absolutely strange dream. I'll catch up with other entries later on. I've got to meet Johanna for another day of adventure shortly. God bless you guys!