A Simple Happy Life

Hi there! This is Joe. Welcome to the Simple Happy Life of Joe, Sheila, and Jake (our little buckaroo). As our title suggests, we want to write about our daily life as well as our lives in general and our pursuit of the American dream. My wife will be doing most of the writing, so I just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself before everyone forgets about me. Okay, I'll turn things over to her now. Take care.



Hello all. Sheila here, I'm from the beautiful island of the Philippines Cebu City when Joe and I met in 2006. I worked as an Elementary school teacher in one of the public school in cebu city. I liked my job, and feeling so secure with all of its benifits. But after 7 years of working i lost the challenge and start feeling the emptiness of my life. Joe at that time just finished graduate school and got a job as a mathemathics professor at a university in pittsburgh. Even though, he didn't have that many of the resources at that time he still managed to bring me here in less than a year. well i guess the sayings" love conquers all" works.I got here may of 2007. It was really hard for me leaving my friends, job, and family in the philippines and be in a big country where in everything is new to you,such as culture, lifestyle, and race and no relatives coz my sister and I didnt have any communication back then yet.. And most of all we didn't have the money to go somewhere else to enjoy besides the 4 corner of our room apartment. I had a hardtime adjusting here but with my hubby next to me, i able to overcome all the loneliness, though a lot of times i feel homesick just cry and emote, it made me feel better.



In June of 2007, I got pregnant with Jake. Life at this moment was so hard, aside from the pregnancy feeling but life in general. We were still living in a single room apartment and didn't have enough money to buy good foods, so, those craving during pregnancy? i just let it go away. We always had green beans for lunch and dinner cooked in a filipino way with a little pieces of pork. We order out sometimes once a month or once in two months.But having each other is all that matters, i wouldnt trade it for the world.by the way, i skip the parts about the fights and bitchiness for sure we had plenty of that. This is how simple our life was.



Then, march of 2008, jake arrived. Life was still basically the same, a little better financially i guess. My sister came over to help me out with jake,(thanks ji) but of course in one bed room apartment she had to sleep on the floor we felt bad for it though. With a new member of the family it means more fun and joy despite of the hardships. I still thankful we are healthy and happy.

Before too long, we found a new apartment(we upgraded a little). Theres a room now for jake to crawl around and soon walk. He brought a lot of joy to our lives. he's our bundle of joy. He's growing healthy and happy. Everyday life still the same, getting up in the morning, hubby goes to work me, take care of the baby, watch tv, take jake outside for a couple of minutes to see those cars running on the streets, he enjoys watching it or take him to the playground across the road in the afternoon.feed him lunch, put him to nap.He used to have 3 naps everyday but as he grows it moved to 2 naps a day. A tuna sandwich for hubby and me, check emails, and watch tv, . At night, have dinner,then play with jake while watching tv. Basically, the same routine everyday. Well sometimes we take a walk around the neighborhood on the weekend. Its not a big neighborhood but its safe, i can't say its quiet coz our building apartment is along the road but compared to our previous place i can consider this place quiet. It triple the fun when you have a baby.

Every family has their own brand of simplicity or complexity. Ours we just enjoy what we have right now, like going to the starbucks and used this gift card my sister and her husband gave for christmas.

Sorry to cut in, Joe here, but what we are saying is that the American dream isn't about how many material possesions that you have; it is about working hard for the good of your family, staying focused, and achieving things, and then maybe having some material possesions that you feel you really earned. Just a thought.