Ben's 3rd Birthday

Well, I am playing a little catch-up today since I have finished my work and Steve is still gone. I never got up any pics of the kids' birthdays so here are some of Ben's. His birthday was March 1, and we had our friends from Legaspi up for a fun party at the house. I love the mischeivous smile in the 1st pic, followed by the frosting around the mouth in the 2nd one...

We all went to the little pool down the street, rented a 2-story cottage, and enjoyed some pizza together. The kids had fun eating upstairs.
Papa and Grandma Jackson sent some $, and this is part of what we got with it. Ben has fun driving around and honking the squeaky horn. Our "baby" is 3 already!

A Progressive Birthday

Well, I never got any pics up from Kayla's 7th birthday so thought I would put some up now. Mikayla's bday is Feb 16 and we moved on the 10th of Feb so she had little small birthdays in stages - a progressive bday! :)

The 1st one was while Papa & Grandma Jackson were still here. We went up to some hot springs in the mountains and had a blast together.

She got some beginners' cross stitch patterns which she loved, and from Papa & Grandma, she got her very own... Bible!

She loves her new Bible, complete with an embroidered case

from Grandpa and Grandma Hagen.

We didn't have any cake at the birthday at the hot springs so Papa and Grandma sprung for a cake for us all to have a little party together with aunts and uncles and cousins before everyone left.
Mikayla loved her silky gold nightgown from Uncle Andy and Aunt Bethany.

She is growing up so fast.Then on the actual day of her bday, we were swamped with moving in, but we went out for dinner at a little local fastfood joint and ordered some cake for dessert - we even put a candle in it, but I guess my camera was not yet unpacked cuz no pics of that one!

The last party was the one we had promised we would do once we got settled in. It was about a week after her bday, and we traveled down to Legaspi (about 2 hours away) to party with the kids new friends here in Bicol - Carly and Caleb Allen. The kids had a blast together putting on a play and just playing; we are so very thankful for these friends God has provided.
So do you think that wins any awards for the most parties ever? She is a very special girl, and we wanted her to feel that even though her birthday fell at some a busy transition time in our lives. I can't believe she is 7!

Random

Ben was dressed up to be in a "play" the kids were putting on. Maybe I should have named this post "blackmail" instead... :)

Watermelon is in season here, and we are all loving every minute of it. Thought you may enjoy these pics of Ben digging in. Crazy kid!It seems that on any given day someone is "soaking" something or other. Since infection is so rampant here, little scratches or splinters need to be attended to carefully to avoid a more serious situation. So you will often find one of us soaking a foot or both feet in warm water with salt to draw out the dirt or infection. The kids love it cuz they often get to watch cartoons while soaking. Here is a pic of both the boys soaking both feet for whatever reason.

Surfs Up!

Ok, this one is just for fun. We were amazed to discover that there is a cable wakeboarding place not too far from us. You can go kneeboarding or wake, but instead of a boat pulling you around, you are hooked into a cable system that pulls you in a giant circle around a little island. Both Mikayla and Steve got in on the action. I was too busy taking pics and watching the boys - I know, lame excuse. :)

Here is Kayla, getting ready to go...then, success on the 1st try! Go, Kayla! All the pros were very impressed. :)Steve and she doubled for several rounds and had some great daddy-daughter time. They did not have any kid-sized helmets the day we went so one of Mikayla's biggest problems was that the helmet kept sliding down and obstructing her view.
I think Steve got bored with going forwards. Steve even tried a few of the jumps intended for wakeboarding (when you are standing instead of kneeling). And he discovered why they are intended for wakeboarding... :) Apparently, landing on your knees is not very pleasant.
Having this fun place not too far away is just one of the many blessings God has showered on us in our new home here in Bicol.

Scary Electricity: Take 2

Just so you don't miss it - be sure to check out my post from yesterday just below this one - The Grand Tour of our new home!

For all our "regulars" out there, you may remember this pic from a post last year. The state of confusion of the electric wires is unbelievable to us. It is also very common to see multiple wires draped all over people's roofs or propped up to allow cars through. The electrical infrastructure here in Bicol is even more exciting, and we are not at all surprised by the 6 brownouts a day (on average). Often they only last a few minutes but many last several hours or longer. We very quickly realized the futility of trying to keep the electrical clocks on the microwave, etc. set to the correct time. Here a few stories about our scary electricity:

1) Last week I reached up to turn on a lamp, and got a terrible shock. Apparently it had been plugged in "backwards" (don't ask me - something about the lack of a grounding wire). The shock was bad enough that it actually left 2 red, sore spots on my hand where my thumb and finger had touched the lamp. It was sore for more than a week!

2) Steve heard some commotion going on out front yesterday. When he checked it out, he was surprised to see our neighbor smacking the electrical wires along the street with a long bamboo pole. After several smacks, the power to his house kicked back on!

3) Mikayla came in the house crying yesterday saying she had been up in the tree when something jolted her body - like she had been shocked real bad. Now, you have the advantage of knowing the topic of this post so you are inclined to believe her. I did not have the same advantage and found it a little hard to believe that she had been shocked while up in a tree. I suggested to her that maybe the wind had blown the branch and startled her and she jumped. But she stood by her guns so Steve went out to check it out. He discovered that, sure enough, she had been shocked by full 220 current. Apparently, there was some wiring inside the wall next to the tree that had never been used. When Steve had mounted a "Welcome" sign to that wall a few weeks ago, he had accidentally put a screw threw the wires inside the wall, making all the bars on top of the wall (and the metal sign) "live" with electricity! Mikayla had bumped one of the bars and gotten the shock of her life. Poor kid.

The Grand Tour

Ok, here is what you have all been asking for - lots of pics of our new house. As you look through these, praise God with us for the way He has abundantly blessed us with this gorgeous home. After we had done a little house hunting down here, we had resigned ourselves to living in a little hovel; o how weak was our faith! God had the perfect place picked out for us, and it exceeds our every expectation. Praise Him with us!

I am going to start with the room we seem to spend the most time in - the office/schoolroom. Kayla's and Zach's little desks are right next to mine just inside the door. Ben's is a actually just a piece of plywood with a hinge on it so that it can be pulled down from the side of the closet to rest on the side of the filing cabinet. He loves his little nook, and it works great for confinement purposes besides! The room is divided by a large whiteboard and bookshelf with a narrow walkway in front of the filing cabinet that leads back to Steve's little office. Below you can see the kids room (a great friend in Manila made their quilts - aren't they great?). I love the big kitchen with the windows. This pic makes it look pretty dark but it is not bad - the 2 walls you can't see are actually a light blue so that helps. The master bedroom is a very relaxing and breezy room. The door at the back leads to the bathroom.

Here are some of the living room. The first one is actually taken from the front door, and you can see past the living room into the dining room as well. The bottom left one shows the dining room with the big doorway leading to the living area and play room and the smaller one leading to the kitchen. If you look through the large doorway you can see our chest freezer (what a help that is since groceries are not readily accessible!). Just to the right of that is the door to the guest room. I didn't get any pics of the guest room since we don't have any guests right now so it is not set up and doesn't look very inviting. :) The lower right pic is also from the front door, and you can almost see the few stairs leading up to the bedrooms to the right.
Here is where the kids spend a lot of their time - the play room, complete with the infamous rock wall. Behind the play room, you can see the bedrooms - ours to the left and the kids' to the right. A little further down the hall up there is the office. Down below, you can see our breakfast nook (and often supper as well). While it gets hot in the middle of the day, this area right in front of our house is beautiful early in the morning and in the evening. We love to have coffee and breakfast out there together nearly every morning.
Our amazing front yard is the highlight of our new home. The kids absolutely love it, and we have been enjoying it as well. Steve rigged this swing between 2 coconut trees, and it has been a favorite pasttime ever since.
Ok, can't forget 2 very important rooms. :) The master bath is the one on the left in blue; the green one is the kids' and guest bath. Notice the lack of a bathtub - that is very normal here. We actually spend a lot of time in these rooms as well - taking several cold showers every day to try to cool down! :)
Well, that does it for now. Hope you enjoyed the little tour and praised Him with us for the way He has blessed us. We would love to have you come see it in person!!! :)

Family Reunion

Before I post some more pics of our new home here in Bicol, I want to put up a few pics from our family reunion we had just before we moved. My parents came over from the States, and both my siblings came from where they are living here in SE Asia. We had a wonderful time re-connecting and enjoying one another. Here are just a few pics of our time together:

One of the highlights was certainly our time at the beach on a nearby island. The kids had a blast playing with Papa.

Here is great shot of the 5 grandkids together. The other 2 belong to my sis and her husband - my bro and his wife don't have any to add into the mix - yet anyway! :)

Ok, we always have pics of just the kids, so here is one of the 2 of us for a change:

We went to a local rockwall climbing place, and the kids (and dads too!) had fun climbing all over. The only problem was that it was FILTHY so the kids ended up looking like vagabonds. This one of Ben and Gabby tells all. Can you believe these 2 are only 3 weeks apart in age???
We were also able to take my parents to our favorite hot spring place for a wonderful day together.
Hanging out with Papa and Grandma.
I will close these spectacular scenery shots we took during our time together. We praise God for such an amazing opportunity to enjoy these views together with our family.We had a great time as a family and will cherish those memories for a lifetime. Right after they left, things got crazy as Zach had his mouth injury the next day and we moved only 4 days after they left!

We are ONLINE!!!

We are so excited to finally have internet at home again. And many of you, I know, are equally excited because you have been begging for pics of our new home - trying to be patient but failing miserably. :) I am so hopelessly behind with pics (a family reunion, a big move, a few injuries, 2 birthdays, several trips) that this will definitely a process, but just wanted to whet your appetite with these few:Aren't these roses amazing? We moved to Bicol on the 10th of February so I honestly wasn't expecting much of a Valentines Day, but my wonderful husband surprised me with these gorgeous rose bushes for our front yard! I love them.
Here is our front yard, a gift straight from heaven. We absolutely love it, it is so peaceful. At least, that is, before the kids get up... :) Then it is grand central play zone.
I will get busy taking some more pics around the house and get them up soon. Can't wait to hear your comments - have missed you all so much in our 2-month absence from phone/internet.