Ichi's First Birthday

Dear Family and Friends,

Time flies so fast. Ichi is now one year old! We were very excited and we really wished you were all here to celebrate with us. As it was impossible, we are just happy to share what we did through this posting.

Here is to hope that everyone is doing well.

Love,
Nats & Che

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The Invitation

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The Program

1. Opening Remarks by Papa Nats
2. A 10-minute video presentation of Ichi's 1^st year “highlights”
3. Opening Prayer by Ninong Mario
4. Cake Ceremony
5. Merienda Time
6. Games
7. Merienda time again until 'sawa'

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The Party

Here is what Papa Nats said in his opening remarks:

Good afternoon!

You might notice I am a little bit nervous. It is because this is one of my few tasks in this occasion and I have to do this. Otherwise, I will be outside of the kulambo for the rest of the week. So bear with me for awhile.

Today, Cherry and I are the happiest and proudest parents because our first son, Ichi, is celebrating his first birthday.

Not only that, this day is special because you, our friends, are here to share with us our happiness for Ichi is a God-given gift and more so because he is a testimony to an answered prayer.

For more than 3 years Che was not able to conceive no matter how we tried hard in the Philippines. Fortunately, the climate of autumn here in Kagoshima, particularly at Kaikan, provided the perfect timing for Ichi's unexpected but wanted conception.

So the rest was a story of Nihonggo-challenging encounters especially for Che who had to go through the pregnancy and delivery without guidance from Ichi's grandmas.

One year ago, at about 6 in the morning, we finally saw for the first time God's finest creation. From that day on, our little bundle of joy, had brought smiles to our faces and made our hearts even more grateful and thankful. Our funny experiences as novice and Nihoggo-challenged parents go on and many times just make us laugh. But health-related concerns can be worrisome, as many of you already knew.

But we live each day with a grateful heart for every moment and each milestone in Ichi's growth is an awesome wonder. As you will see in the following 10-minute video presentation of some highlights in his development.

So today, like little children, let us celebrate. Just enjoy the show, the games and the foods!

There were only 3 kids in this baby's birthday party. Ichi's celebration was actually enjoyed most by the grown ups. Below are the child-like games we played during the party:

Ichi is Special
We placed a current photo of Ichi in a sketch paper with a wide margin which we inserted in a frame (without glass). Throughout the party we asked the guests to write a special birthday message for Ichi. After the party we glassed the frame and hanged this special keepsake in our room.

Portrait time
This was done with no artistic pressure. We gave every guest some crayons and a sketch paper in a frame (without glass yet) then held Ichi in the area where everyone can see him. When Che (the one who moderated the game) said "Go" players had 30 seconds to draw Ichi. When the time was up the paper was passed on to the next guest until everyone had drawn Ichi. Roem-chan, one of the kids, served as a judge by pointing the best drawing. After the party we made a collage using all of the sketches and framed it. It is cute! Talk about an original work of art.

Ichi's Firsts Guessing Game
We threw to our guests 3 questions: (1) When did Ichi leave the hospital after birth?, (2) When was Ichi baptized?, and (3) When did Ichi return from his Philippine vacation? Guests who answered all the questions correctly won the prize.

Ichi's Word Puzzle
We asked our guests to form word/s from Ichi's name (first from the word Joshua, then Joshua Ichiro, then Joshua Ichiro Pilapil and finally Joshua Ichiro Pilapil Anasco). The first guest to form the longest word in each category won. The player with most number of wins out of 4 chances, got the prize. We mentioned that in case of a tie, winners will share the prize.
The words formed from Joshua are HAS and ASH. The longest words found in Joshua Ichiro were the 6-letter CHAIRS, CHOIRS and CHORUS while in Joshua Ichiro Pilapil was the 8-letter CORIOLIS
And finally, the 12-letter word SCHOLARSHIPS was formed from Joshua Ichiro Pilapil Anasco.
Wow, we hope that Ichi would really turn out to be a scholar too!

Ichi's Arithmetic
The guests were asked to count the number of letters of Ichi's names. (Joshua - 6, Ichiro - 6, Pilapil-7 and Anasco-6) then to add, multiply, subtract and divide the numbers. Players who had most number of correct answers won.

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The Birthday

On Ichi's birthday, 10 July 2004, we exclusively celebrated again at Don Family Steak House - our current favorite restaurant. We enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of steak for Papa Nats and Mama Che, and yummy corn soup for Ichi. Ichi also got vegies and fruits toys as gift from the staff. Here are pictures we managed to capture on this occasion:

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The Epilogue

Happy Birthday to me...

Seventeen days after his birthday, Ichi wore his birthday hat for the first time. He was very happy to do it!

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