Humble Beginnings

Yesterday I went to the airport to visit a newborn baby girl. Wait…the airport? Construction has been going on at the government airport next to our center for a while, with the workers living on the property. In order for the families not to be separated, temporary shanty-type housing has been set up, where they can live together. The little baby, as yet unnamed, was tiny, but ruddy, perfectly formed and nursing contentedly. Her surroundings made me think that she and baby Jesus had a lot in common – a cardboard floor and walls, dogs and chickens just feet away, flies, and an adoring mother. I was able to give the family some baby clothes, a few blankets and some interlocking foam pieces to make a floor and a soft place for the baby to lie.

My life on the center here as a stay-at-home mom can be very sheltered. I thank God for reminding me how blessed I am and how very little some people have. And yet, He loves each of us equally and lavishly. How best to show that love to this family? That’s what I’m praying.

Bagabag Pond

We have fun here in Bagabag Philippines. Austin sure seems older than three, jumping from block to block with confidence as Maren looks on with envy. It is hot these days. We had about four hours of spring and then full blown summer.

We're back in the Philippines

Having flown out late in the evening of Dec. 31, we arrived Manila on January 2, totally missing New Year's day. But we were trying to sleep so no New Year's Day was fine with us.

Our bodies are adjusting to the time difference and we are spending this week going to the doctor and renewing our Philippines driver's licenses which expired during our fulough.

There is a Nestle ice cream factory close to the center that has a restaurant with good food and Austin always likes to go there and play. He actually chooses to play over eating ice cream. As you can see, he is also back to wearing no shoes. And of course he is always fascinated with the airplanes when we travel.

In the Carolinas now

We are now in North Carolina and living in the parsonage of Joy's father's church (he is the senior pastor). Rodney is currently making a desk for his study. The church/house is in the country and our closest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away. There is a lot of room on the property for the kids to play.

We have really enjoyed being here for the turning of the leaves. One night after a church cookout we got a nice shot of Jupiter, the moon, and Venus with the church steeple in foreground. During the cookout I 'launched' two of my hot air balloons, but for some reason both of them crashed and burned. I was disappointed they didn't fly, but the kids loved seeing them burn, so it was still a good show.

We recently returned from a trip to Alabama to see Rodney's grandmother who just turned 91. She is the last of 8 siblings. This was her first time meeting Maren, so it was a special time for us.

During the Taylorsville Apple Festival we found this old fire truck and took some photos. As I was sitting in the driver's seat I realized the key was in the ignition and I thought, 'I bet this thing really runs'. And sure enough it is a running (but not working) 'engine', and Austin found the horn too.

We return to Calif. on Dec. 16 and fly to the Philippines on the 31st.

We are "home"

We made it safely to the US and our body clocks are adjusting. Before we left we were able to get Austin a hair cut where he sits in a car and watches "Cars", the movie. I got a hair cut too but the car chair was too small for me.

Austin loves airplanes and was over-the-top fascinated with the jets at the airport. The kids did great on the plane and got more sleep than we did.

Austin loves feeding my mom's tortoise, the biggest 'turtle' he has seen.

We are especially grateful to have been able to celebrate Maren's birthday here with grandparents, on the actual day even.

We are living in a small three bedroom house in the wood-streets in Riverside. It's a nice little house built in 1933-34, with new air conditioning. Thank you for your prayers for our travels and settling in. Folks here have been very generous and provided a care package with food and grocery store gift certificates; what a blessing. We look forward to seeing you on our furlough.

GO!!!

We are on our way to the airport, leaving Manila 12:45 PM, from there to Taipei and then on to LAX. We have an estimated travel time of 18 hours.

We arrived Taipei safely after a short 2 hour flight. Now comes the marathon flight. I am having quite a time with the Internet service here in the airport since everything is in Mandarin.

Joy and I were not able to get seats together, but perhaps the kids will sleep better if they are apart and Maren can use the bassinet at the bulkhead.

It is nice to be back in the land of clean toilets, paper provided, soap for your hands even. We are not sure what the flip down device is for, but it seems when we left the States they were calling them toilet seats. Yes, that is it, my memory is coming back to me now:-)

The computer itself cannot be accessed so I cannot upload any pics of our trip so far...tomorrow I guess.

Get set...

We made it safely to Manila. Today we saw the dentist and pediatrician, tomorrow we finish packing and then Wednesday afternoon we fly to LAX.

On your mark...

By being good stewards of our money, we will save so much by not having to buy tickets for our kids!

Getting ready to leave

We leave Manila in two weeks and it seems too short a time with all that has to be done before we leave. We are cleaning/repairing our house (getting it ready for renters), working at my regular job, preparing the center for our biennial conference and squeezing in time to catch this monitor lizard.

We chased it around the shop wall for ten minutes before catching it. It is about 15 feet long. Oh wait, I forgot the decimal, 1.5 feet long, a baby. Last year the guards on center caught one over 4 feet long, now that is a big honkin' monitor. The guys tell me they are delicious, but it is endangered so we let it go.

Please pray that we will have wisdom on what we realistically can and cannot accomplish during this time. Although very tired with all that has gone on, we are very excited to come home in time for Maren's first birthday party, with grandparents this time!!!

NY here we come, the USS one that is!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go with a few friends and dive the USS New York. This WWI cruiser was built in 1891 and scuttled in 1941 and now lies on it's port side in 27m of water. The 8" guns are still in position and intact.

She began her life as the USS New York in Dec. of 1891 (launched) and commissioned in '93. In 1911 she was renamed the USS Saratoga and then named again in 1917 (to allow her name to go to a new vessel) the USS Rochester. In 1941 she was scuttled to prevent her capture by the Japanese.

The jelly fish is about the size of a pencil eraser. The lion fish was being a perfect subject and was not terribly bothered by my insistent close up photography. The stingray was about a foot in diameter. The strange bug eyed creature posing next to the gun didn't mind having his photo taken either.

I am always in awe of God's creation when diving. The vibrant colors, different shapes and diversity of animal life...it truly is a different world under the sea.