Bye, Sixteen; Hello, Seventeen!!!

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Yes, 2016 has been a year of wonderful experiences for me. And I have to say thank you for all the humbling lessons, the unforgettable memories it has gifted me with.

2016 was a year of expansions. With Habitat, we opened up a new frontier in oh-so-distant Culion, in northern Palawan at the start of the year. The expansion would turn eastward, with the inclusion of Eastern Visayas, with the many projects in Leyte and Samar as a result of Haiyan; plus my beloved home province of Bohol, which was also devastated by a killer quake a month before the Super Typhoon. This was on top of the projects in Central and Western Visayas which we have been working on all along.

The expansion would bless me with new adventures, new ideas, and new friends. This year, I was fortunate to have travelled to rapidly-expanding Macau and Hongkong, to Korea, and to Australia; aside from the many beautiful local sights in Malapascua, Bantayan, Oslob, Dumaguete, Tacloban, Culion, etc. God is truly great!

And I would like to express my gratitude to my Habitat family for helping me grow in this new chapter in my life; to my mistahs and friends in the service, for even as I have retired, the unflinching support remains; to new and old friends: Greg, ninang Alice, Tony, Pons, Boy, Mr Shooli, Sir Dan, Harlie and the rest – you know who you are – for the laughs, the thrills and the great opportunities to learn and to continue serving.

My resolution for 2017: to make myself a better person from all those experiences.

I will make a stronger and more vigorous effort to watch my diet, to make progress with my physical well-being, and to grow spiritually. I will also be more mindful of my finances. I will help the kids as they start their own new worlds. Finally, I will work on the many opportunities to support the advocacies close to my heart: in the Habitat communities we are growing, in developing sports nation-wide, and in giving back and supporting the Armed Forces for everything it has given me.

Now, may I invite you to help me track down how I fare at the end of the year? 🙂

Here’s our last big bash for the year 2016. Let it be a token of things to come. Happy new year, everyone!!

The year’s memories in pics.