Life's a Charm! by Charlotte

Born and raised in the Philippines - true Filipino by heart, and now living in Alabama with my family! I am wife to Michael, mother to Matthew (age-3) and expectant mother to our 2nd baby. I am a giveaway enthusiast, aspiring web designer, an artist and lover of life. Thank you for visiting my site!
‘Photo Gallery’

Papang

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

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Photo: My Father on his early 20's Photo: My Father on his early 20's

Our Wedding Rites

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

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Photo: wedding-flower-logo Photo: <center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center>

<strong>I Can't Help Falling in Love With You</strong>

<blockquote>Wise men say 'Only fools rush in'
But I can't help falling in love with you.
Shall I stay, would it be a sin
If I, I can't help falling in love with you.

Like a river flows, surely to the sea,
Darling so it goes, some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I, I can't help falling in love with you.

Like a river flows, surely to the sea,
Darling so it goes, some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I, I can't help falling in love with you.
No I, I can't help falling in love with you …</blockquote>

<strong>Looking Through the Eyes of Love</strong>


<blockquote>Please, don't let this feeling end,
It's everything I am, It's everything I want to be
I can see what's mine now, finding now what's true
Since I found you - looking through the eyes of love.

And now, I can take the time,
I can see my life as it comes up shining now;
Reaching out to touch you, I can feel so much
Since I found you - looking through the eyes of love.

And now, I do believe
That even in the storm we'll find some light;
Knowing you're beside me, I'm all right!

Please, don't let this feeling end,
It might not come again, and I want to remember
How it feels to touch you, How I feel so much
Since I found you - looking through the eyes of love.</blockquote> Photo: <strong>The Commentator, Susette</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: Bride and Groom with Friends of the Bride

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: Bride and Groom with Friends of the Groom

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: The Wedding Entourage

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: The Wedding Entourage

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>For as much as you, Michael and Charlotte have consented together in Holy Matrimony before friends and loved ones, and have pledged your faith and declared your unity. I now pronounce you, husband and wife.

- <strong>The Officiator, Father M. Blais</strong></em>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>We call upon You, Almighty God. 

Let each of us now ask God, in silence, to bless Michael and Charlotte, His children as they begin their married life.

(From the book of Common Catholic Prayers)

Father, by Your power You have made everything out of nothing. In the beginning You created the universe and made mankind in your own likeness. You gave man the constant help of woman so that man and woman should no longer be two, but one flesh, and You teach us that what You have united may never be divided.

Father, by your plan, man and woman are united, and married life has been established as the one blessing that was no forfeited by original sin or washed away in the flood. Look with love upon this woman, Your daughter, now joined to her husband in marriage. She asks Your blessing. Give her the grace of love and peace. May she always follow the example of the holy women whose praises are sung in the scriptures.
May her husband put his trust in her and recognize that she is his equal and the heir with him to the life of grace. May he always honor her and love her as Christ loves his bride, the Church.

Father, keep them always true to Your commandments. Keep them faithful in marriage and let them be living examples of Christian life. Give them the strength, which comes from the gospel so that they may be witnesses of Christ to others. Bless them with children and help them to be good parents. May they live to see their children's children. And, after a happy old age, grant them fullness of life with the saints in the kingdom of heaven.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

- <strong>The Officiator, Father M. Blais</strong></em>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em><strong>O God our Father, we honor You in thanksgiving
for the joy, the beauty, and the sacredness of this hour
and for the gifts of life and love;
in life and love, for the gift of Matrimony.
We thank You for our lives, which we now pledged
to live for You, and for each other.
Lord, use our married life according to Your will
and make our love strong yet gentle and true.
In all that we are, let us glorify You.
O Lord Jesus Christ, You are the True Light.
We come before You as unique individuals,
but now clothed as one and bound together in unity.
Together we ask You, to bless us and our marriage.
and with Your light, enlighten our path and warm our hearts.
Strengthen us in the trials of life.
O Holy Spirit, be in our midst.
In the joining of our lives, grant us Your gifts.
When selfishness shows itself, grant us generosity;
when mistrust is a temptation, give us moral strength;
when there is misunderstanding,
clear our minds; give us patience and gentleness;
in pain and in sorrow,
grant us compassion to comfort each other,
strong faith and an abiding love.
Grant that we see long and happy days
and be united forever in the kingdom of Your glory.
Amen.

- Bride and Groom</strong></em>


<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong>Veil Ceremony with Friends, Patrick and Lucelle</strong>

<em>The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.' For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
(Gen 2:23,24)</em>



<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures forever. Love never fails.
(1 Cor 13:4-7)</em>

<strong>Cord Ceremony with Friends, Arvin and Grace</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>Then Jesus spoke and said, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.'
(John 8:12)</em>

<strong>Lighting of the Unity Candle by Bride and Groom</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
(John 1:1-4)</em>

<strong>Lighting of the Candle by Mother of the Bride</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
(John 1:1-4)</em>

<strong>Lighting of the Candle by the Best Man, Phil</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <em>The wedding ring is the outward and the visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond, which unites two hearts in endless love. The circle, the emblem of eternity, and gold, the type of what is least tarnished and most enduring, are to show how lasting and imperishable is the faith now pledged. Let the rings, a fit token of that which is unending, be a symbol of the value, the purity, and the constancy of true wedded love; and the seal of the vows in which is pledged in the most solemn and sacred honor.</em>

<strong><em>For we will laugh and cry,
Support and be supported,
Grow and then move forward into a greater world and
Through our love bring more love onto others,
I give you this ring in solemn token and pledge
Of my constant faith and abiding love
And as a seal of my vows to you,
Whom I will love and cherish above all others, forever.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- Bride and Groom</em></strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong><em>I take you to be my lifetime partner
to be none other than yourself,
to have and to hold; for better or for worse;
in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish
both freed and bound by our love
for as long as we both shall live.
-Bride and Groom</em></strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong><em>I will always love you no matter what ...
- Charlotte</em></strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong><em>You will always be my angel ...
- Michael</em></strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong>The Bride, Charlotte</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center> Photo: <strong>The Groom, Michael</strong>

<center><small>Michael and Charlotte's Wedding
March 7, 2004, Okaya Catholic Church
Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan</small></center>

Our Love Story, In His Words (Part 2)

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

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Photo: Our Wedding, March 7, 2004 Photo: First Valentine Together, 2004 Photo: Okaya Yamabiko Park, Japan, Photo taken on  2003 Oct 18 Photo: Yokohama Sea Paradise, Celebrating Hubby's Birthday in 2003, Photo taken 2003 Sept 27

Happy Birthday To Me, Celebration

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

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Photo: Celebrating my birthday with Family. (Me, pregnant at 33-weeks) Photo taken on March 2, 2010 Photo: Celebrating my birthday with Family. (Me, pregnant at 33-weeks) Photo taken on March 2, 2010 Photo: Celebrating my birthday with Family. (Me, pregnant at 33-weeks) Photo taken on March 2, 2010 Photo: Celebrating my birthday with Family. (Me, pregnant at 33-weeks) Photo taken on March 2, 2010

Happy Birthday To Me

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

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Photo: My sister Jessica at age-5 and me at age-7. Photo taken on March 1985.

Our Love Story, In His Words (Part 1)

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

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Photo: Michael and Charlotte in Red, Yokota Airbase, Photo taken on 2003 Nov 01 Photo: Okaya Yamabiko Park, Nagano Japan, Photo taken on 2003 August 23 Photo: Papi and Baby, Malling, Photo taken 2003 Sep 12

Valentine’s Day and a Discovery

Monday, February 15th, 2010

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Photo: Matthew at 16-months old, showing off his Filipino spot. Photo taken on Jan 9, 2008. Photo: Valentine 2010, Matthew at 3-years old. Photo taken on Feb.14, 2010

Alabama’s First Snow This Winter

Friday, February 12th, 2010

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Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010 Photo: Alabama First Snow, Winter 2010, Photo taken February 2, 2010

Men in my Life

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

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Photo: This is me and my brother JC, on his way to the Senior's Ball. Photo taken on 2007 March 25. Photo: Matthew's Star Wars Tent. Thanks to Grandma for this fabulous Starwars Tent. Photo taken on 2010 Jan 6.

Pregnancy Update, Week 28 and the 4D Ultrasound

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

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Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's ... definitely a BOY! Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face, Hands, ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face, Hands, ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Partial Face ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Partial Face, Hands and Foot. Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Face ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Partial Face, Hands, ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Partial Face, Hands, ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound, Baby's Foot and Umbilical Cord, ... Taken on January 26, 2010 Photo: 
Baby#2, 4D Ultrasound. Baby's Hand and Partial Face Taken on January 26, 2010

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