About Michael and Marianne

Marianne and I met on-line, in February of 2004, and by March of 2004 we were chatting on a regular basis. Well guess what, We soon fell deeply in love. I was told by several people that falling in love over the internet was impossible, well I can tell you it is definitely possible because we did it. In April of 2004 I decided to take a trip to the Philippines to meet her in person. I arrived March 29 and stayed only 10 days because I needed to get back for some family business.  I wanted to spend as much quality time as I could with her to see how we got along together. She definitely had a good personality, easy going, not easily angered, the perfect girl. She had all the good qualities and none of the bad ones. The first time I saw her, it was at the Cebu City International Airport just after my arrival in the Philippines. I was quite surprised, because she certainly is a very small framed girl, only 5' tall weighing only 76 lbs and as you can see from the photo at the left, does not look skinny. She has very tiny bones, her hands are only half of mine. Well I fell in love with her all over again. The Ten day trip ended far too fast, I had to return  to Texas to attend a family function.  I made a second trip, only seven days later, arriving on April 28th. I have been here ever since. On average, only spending about two weeks in the United States a year. Well I can tell you she is everything I thought she was and more. We are having a great time together, perfect relationship except for our age difference and I have gotten past that long ago. She is a wonderful girl and I love her very much. She is not prone to arguments, does not nag, and is very loving. Takes great care of me also. We have now been together for more than two years and nothing has changed. Once in a while, I love to pick her up and carry her, well she only weighs 76 pounds so that's pretty easy. This past two years has been the most wonderful experience for me. It is so refreshing to have someone who loves you so much. 
We were married September 21st, 2004 by the Mayor of the City of Bogo, Philippines, and are planning a church wedding for near the end of 2006. We spent our honeymoon on an island called Bantayan Island located at the tip of Cebu Island where we live. We made the two hour trip by way of a small boat, barely twenty feet long, and six feet wide. Once out in the open sea we experienced 30 foot waves due to a recent typhoon, which we did not know about. I think we prayed all the way there. I kept wondering if this tiny wooden boat was going to break apart at any mmoment. Well, We are very thankful to God because he help us to make it through, i know he is there watching for us and to all the people that need him, i know he is will always be there for everyone of us. In God's help we arrived safely on solid ground at a beach resort called Sta. Fe Beach Club, and had a wonderful honeymoon. The total stay for five days including all food was only 9,000 pesos or about $160.00, and we ate all our meals right there at their wonderful restaurant.  We built a home here, which was finished in 2005. The house sits near the top of a small mountain overlooking Alpine subdivision of which we are a part of. This house cost us about $60,000.00 total to build. The township we live in is called Dakit which is also part of the larger city of Bogo. We had a total of 20 workers at the start of the building process, some of them came from the island of Negros which is next to Cebu and some are from our own neighborhood. The average payroll for these workers was about 8,000 pesos for a week which is around $140.00 for all workers.
We are also half owners of a business in downtown Bogo called "The Cool Zone Internet Cafe", this business has been successful and profitable the past five years. The other owner and founder of the 'Cool Zone' also Michael, is married to Marianne's sister, Michelle, and has a baby boy. This is where Marianne chatted with me from, back in those early days.  The store is air conditioned so makes a nice place to come and do your computer business. We have sixteen computers connected to a central hub and  a DSL connection to the internet. Except for brownouts and occasional line problems the internet is fairly stable and pretty fast here. Here in the Philippines most people do not own their own computers, even most businesses do not own one which makes the Cool Zone a successful business here in the Philippines. On August 19th 2005 Marianne gave birth to a healthy baby boy named, Matthew John Harman who was born in a private hospital in the town of Medellin. Marianne bounced back very quickly to her original weight and size. It doesn't look like she ever had a baby. Marianne is currently in the process of immigrating to the United States. I believe we are in the final stages of this process now and should be in the US by the end of this year (2006). We are planning to live in Arlington Texas. As to the house over here, it is our plan to keep it as a vacation home.