Hello again...

...from hot and humid Bicol! We are gradually settling in here, and our new house is becoming a home. We got pictures and curtains hung a few days ago, and that really helped. Our kitchen cabinets are supposed to be put in today so that will help a lot (hard to feel very settled when the pots, pans, dishes, and food is stacked on the floor!) I will post pics on the blog as soon as I am able. We have been taking some banana bread to our neighbors and have had a wonderful time beginning to get to know them. We are so thankful for how friendly and kind they have been to us - one family even sent us some food over one evening! Another is interested in helping us connect with an Agta guide to help us get up into the mountains to teach the Word in the more remote areas! God is so good!

Please continue to pray for the phone/internet situation. We are currently checking into other possibilities since the big company here does not seem to have a game plan or a care in the world about getting a new line to replace the stolen one in our area. Everything moves incredibly slowly here so when they are saying they "hope" to have one in March but don't have a plan for making that happen, March does not seem very probable to us. In the meantime, if you need to contact us, you can still email us; we try to head into an internet cafe about once a week to take care of emails. Or, feel free to call us on our cell phones - we would love to hear from you. Just keep in mind the time difference please - we are 14 hours ahead of CST (for example, if it is 9pm CST, it is 11am the next morning here). Once Daylight Savings starts, we will be 13 hours ahead.

I will write the number exactly as you should dial it from the States:

Steve - 011.63921.660.5374 Jen - 011.63906.228.0917

Also, we now have a PO box down here in our little town.

Here is our new address:

Steve and Jen Hagen

PO Box 5572

Iriga City, Bicol

Philippines
Please contact us before you send a package to this new address so that we can check to see if there are any restrictions/fees we should be aware of 1st.

Thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes to Mikayla. We found a nice little pool just down the street (God definitely provides abundantly more than we can ask or think!), and we went swimming as a family in the afternoon then to a little restaurant in town for supper - complete with chocolate cake! Then tomorrow we are headed down to a city a couple hours away for her to see a friend (remember the family whose home was flooded in the typhoon in December?) and celebrate with her as well.

On Monday the 26th, Mikayla and I (Jen) will fly up to Manila to attend a Home Schooling Conference there. We are looking forward to it immensely - it is so good to get a chance to connect with other MKs and moms. Mikayla will be doing IOWA testing all week, and I will be in meetings. We come home to the boys on the 4th of March. Thanks for praying for safety and health as we travel and that Steve and the boys will have a good week while we are away.

Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support. This has been a very difficult move, but God continues to provide our every need; and we praise Him for it. Please pray with us that we would learn what we need to through the tough times. Praise Him with us for the ways He continues to show Himself to us in the midst of it all.

(I will try to get some new pics up soon!)

Hello from Bicol!

Hello from an internet cafe in the Bicol province in the Philippines! We arrived safely with all our belongings (only a few things broken despite the long bumpy journey!) on Saturday the 10th and have been busy ever since with unpacking and setting up the house. The "To Do" list has been overwhelming, but we keep whittling away at it and are making headway - though at times it does feel like we are losing ground. :)

In addition to unpacking, we have been doing things like changing locks, putting door knobs and handles on doors, fixing leaks, making shelves, extending the fence around our house, installing curtain rods and blinds, having some furniture made, and patching holes in the screens. We have also been busy trying get air conditioners installed (it is unbelievably hot down here - it was 95 this morning in the school room with 100% humidity, and this is the cold season so we would like to have the option of cool air once hot season hits!). Oh - and Steve and the kids have all been quite sick with cough/cold/fever thing. This week has been nuts!

When we first checked out this house back in November, we were told we could have DSL connected to our home no problem. We have stayed on top of it, even applying for phone and internet weeks before arriving down here. And the report last week before we arrived was that we would have it hooked up the day after we moved in. However, we were just told that the line to our neighborhood was stolen in December so it will be at least March before we have internet at home! That was tough news as we so enjoy staying so closely connected with loved ones in the States. Please pray that we would be patient during the wait and stay encouraged. And please keep sending encouraging little notes that we can get when we do get a chance to log on at an internet cafe.

We really like our little neighborhood here though, and we think we will really like our home once we get it set up. Please continue to pray for us as we get settled and begin to develop relationships with our new neighbors and then as we venture into the mountains to begin to develop relationships with the Agta as well. Our primary need right now is strength and peace in the midst of chaos.

Thank you once again to all of you who have sent us encouraging emails and posted comments on our blog - we so needed to see those. PLEASE keep them coming. Oh - and tomorrow Mikayla turns 7! Please pray for a happy birthday despite life being upside down and no friends here yet.

Miss you all!

The Adventure Continues

Ok, this post is not for the faint-of-heart. We said goodbye to my family on Sunday then drove home late Sunday night. Monday morning we got busy with packing (we move on FRIDAY!!!). Zach had a Dr. appt scheduled to check out his leg to be sure it is healing ok in Manila at 4 pm. While we were getting ready to leave, he was playing in the living room and managed to bash his face into the coffee table. Blood started pouring from his nose and mouth. Once we could get a little closer look, it was clear that he needed stitches. He was bleeding from just above his upper teeth as well as from a jagged, gaping cut that went clear through his lower lip. We jumped in the car to head to the ER, leaving the other 2 kids with the helpers. On the way there, the bleeding slowed down so we decided to go ahead and run up to Manila to the better hospital (coincidentally the same one where his appt with the orthopedist was scheduled). He was in a lot of pain, and it was a noisy drive, but we made it to the ER safely by 3 pm. After the Dr looked at him, he immediately called the plastic surgeon and scheduled Zach to have reconstructive surgery at 7 pm. Since we had some time to wait, we decided to keep our appt with the ortho and went upstairs to his office. Thankfully, his report was encouraging and he is quite certain that Zach will be back to normal in a few months. Long story short, Zach was in surgery for more than 2 hours. The plastic surgeon said it looked like his lip had exploded from the inside. Apparently, the cut you can see from the top (check out the pics) is nothing compared to the damage that was lower on his lower lip. The cut went clear through his lip so he got 3 stitches on the outside of his lip, and the Dr. said he lost track of how many inside - he measured it in the number of hours it took to reconstruct the mess. Zach had a very difficult time coming out from anesthesia and it was a long night, but we are all home now, and he is doing ok.

Meanwhile, we are crazily trying to continue packing and getting ready for our move. Mikayla and Steve are at the dentist now for a final check up on her teeth. Then tomorrow (Wed), we drive up to Manila to see my parents one last time as they stop through Manila on their way home. We will stay overnight as Zach has a check up with the plastic surgeon on Thursday morning. At that time, we will find out if he found anyone in Bicol qualified to take the stitches out. If not, then Zach and I may end up going to Bicol a few days after the rest of the family. Then we will get home Thursday afternoon and the movers arrive Friday morning at 8. We will supervise the loading for a couple hours then start driving to meet the crew down there the next morning after we get a little sleep.

As you can see, we definitely need your prayers during this crazy week. Praise God with us that there were no fractures in his face, that the plastic surgeon was able to put him back together, and that he is doing well today. Pray that it would heal quickly with no infection and that there would be someone in Bicol who can take the stitches out. Pray for our whole family in the chaos of this week for endurance and peace in the midst of turmoil.

Here are a few pics - if you can stomach them:

Like I said, the visible cuts here are apparently not nearly as bad as the gash down lower, but this gives you an idea. Poor kid! We have sure been taking advantage of our medical insurance this past year - a whole lot more effectively than I would like!

Appreciate your prayers!