Partnership

We are so excited about the partnership with Global Empowerment that God has dropped in our laps. Global exists to "strengthen the church where the church is, to send the church where the church is not". We are partnering with them to strengthen the church in the Ilongot tribe (where Jen's parents worked) and empower them to send out some their own to impact other people groups - people like the Agta tribe we are working with. So we have been splitting our time lately between working directly with the Agta and also mobilizing, equipping and training the Ilongot tribe to send some people down to partner with us to reach the Agta.

Doors have been flinging wide open everywhere we turn, and we stand in awe of what God is doing through this partnership.

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Last week, Steve and my dad (who started Global Empowerment) took a team of Christian businessmen from Manila up to Ilongot-land. These businessmen are incredibly excited about starting some businesses up there to enable the Ilongot to send some people down to partner with us.

The businessmen spent time evaluating the resources that the Ilongot have to work with.

They were astounded by the beauty of the location...
and enjoyed getting to know the people.

They also spent some time discussing with the Ilongot the possible business options.

They also got to witness a presentation by the Ilongot of their native dress, dance, and music.

The Ilongot love to have fun, and after the presentation, one of the guys approached Steve like this, trying to get him to dance too. Thankfully he got out of donning a loincloth, but he did try his hand (feet?) at their native dance.

Here is a shot of my dad with some of his close friends.

This guy was one of my friends growing up, and he is now one of the church leaders. He has spoken about possibly being one of the ones to "go" when the time comes - one of the ones to come down and work alongside us to reach the Agta.

We are so thankful for this partnership with Global Empowerment to empower the Ilongot tribe to send some people down to partner with us to reach the Agta. Gives me goosebumps to think about what God is doing.

Please pray with us August 12-20 as a team of Ilongot leaders comes down to visit the Agta on a Vision Trip to see how God wants to use their people group to impact others.

Last Hurrah of Summer

My sis and her family came to visit us for their vacay in July, and we had a blast together just hanging out.

As if that wasn't enough, God blessed our socks off by making it possible for our dad to join us for a couple days during that time! Neither the kids nor my sis knew he was coming, so it was super fun to surprise them. Here is a pic of my dad with all 6 of his grands.
On one of the days, we went for a picnic hotdog roast to celebrate cousin Eli's birthday. However, we discovered that the heat of the day in the tropics is NOT the best time for a hotdog roast. Who knew? I don't think we actually even needed the fire to cook the food - could have just held it to the sun for a few mins. We also did s'mores and made a great discovery when our hershey bars melted to liquid in the package: it actually works better that way! Just snip the corner of the wrapper and squeeze out the chocolatey goodness onto your marshmallow.

the guy cousins - ages 4, 6, and 8

One of my fav quotes from the time was when they were headed outside, arms around each others shoulders,

"We mans are gonna go talk cuz that's what mans do"

and the girl cousins had some girly time too

playing with makeup

and painting nails

Baby Zoe was still a little too small for this girly time, but it won't be long!

Ben got to feed Zoe her bottle - a first for him!

The kids all crammed into the back fold-out bench seat

just goofing off

We spent a lot of our time at the cable wakeboarding park nearby.

Steve and Zach do this fist bump every time they go out doubles together. I love it.

Cousins Gabby and Eli got in on the action too!

They either rode with Steve or one of the kids on their boards. They tried both wakeboarding and kneeboarding and had a ball.

Love this pic of Steve with baby Zoe.

One of the days, we drove down to Legaspi to play at a playplace and ride the zipline at the base of Mt. Mayon, the most perfect cone volcano in the world.

Here is a shot of Ben on the zipline - it's a beautiful place!

Can you see Mikayla way down there?

The mountain was gorgeous that day and very cooperative (often it is covered by clouds) so we got lots of great photo opps.

All the cousins together - ages 10, 8, 6, 6, 4, and 6 months. We don't get to see each as much as we would like since we live in different countries, but so thankful that we all live in SE Asia so at least our paths cross from time to time!

Our family

Mikayla and Zoe

Ben kept posing for me. "Here, Mom, how about like this?"

Growing up way too fast!

love this shot of the cousins playing on the rock walls of the monestary ruins with the volcano in the background.

and one more shot of all the cousins together

Thank you, Father, for blessing us with this time together!

Three Cheers for Ben!

During the summer between kindergarten and 1st grade, our kids do a "summer reading program" which consists of a bunch of little books. When they finish checking off all the books, they get a prize. Now we are talking a LOT of books so it's a big prize. We have been doing a ton of reading around here, and Ben just read the last book today - book #185 on the list: The Cat in the Hat. Ben is now the very proud owner of a little camera - and an increased reading level too!

We are gearing up for the start of our next school year; our 1st day will be August 3. Pls pray as we prepare to start up 5th, 3rd and 1st grades this year!

Jesus Loves the Little Children

We had some visitors come through this past week - a young couple who is hoping to come out with our company and serve overseas so they wanted to get a glimpse of the work up close. They are a neat couple, and we are excited to see what God will do in and through them in the years to come. While they were here, we spent 2 days in a couple different villages, and they took some good pics. There are kids everywhere you look in the village, and they captured some great moments. As I was looking through these, I was reminded of the song about how much Jesus loves the little children of the world - regardless of what color they are. I am not going to re-arrange these pics - I think you can tell which ones are village kids and which ones are our kids in the village. :)

Ben kept "stealing" their little camera and taking pics - he took this one of this little girl who was following us down the trail.

He also took this one of his daddy visiting with this older man who was making a roof out of abaca bark.
He also took this one of this cute little boy. I cropped it otherwise it would be obvious to the world that he is definitely a boy.

LOVE this precious little one

Ok, so she's not a cute kid, but it was a great pic so I had to include it.

The local version of Wal-mart - everything from soap to sardines available here. Well, maybe not everything. But the cashier is sure cute!

Love the curly hair and those beautiful eyes

Just hanging out on the piles of coconuts. They were busy making copra - drying out the coconut meat and separating it from the shells.

Steve helping Ben get a drink from one of the coconuts. Everyone got a good laugh out of him trying it on his own first - and getting drenched in coconut juice.

precious

Another little tribal boy?

He has the squat down, holding his walking stick and eating a piece of coconut.

those eyes...

This girl is 10 yrs old just like Mikayla. But instead of going to school, she spends her days babysitting her 4 younger siblings so her parents can gather food in the mountains.

coconuts are everywhere here in our area so it is a common food and drink for the kids in the village

his eyes capture my heart too :)

the view never fails to take our breath away - granted by the time you get up to this height, you are already pretty breathless :)

the local bath tub and laundromat

This volcano blew its top about 400 yrs ago and left a massive crater. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain blocked off a stream and flooded the town so the old town center is under that lake. Actually, several of the locals have told us that the water actually "came out of the volcano - that is how you know the volcano is dead now - the water came out." Hmm. Any volcanologists want to weigh in?

Cresting the mountain. What a view.

Pls be in prayer for all these little children whom Jesus loves dearly. Pray that their parents would have ears to hear and soft hearts to accept the Good News that will transform their lives - and the lives of their little children for generations to come.