Mountain Adventure

A couple weeks ago, we traveled up into the mountains in northern Luzon (from where our tribal partners were sent out).  We went with some good friends (Matt & Erin) who will be partnering with us, focusing on that area/aspect of the work.  While Matt had been up there several times, this was the first trip for Erin and the kids, and I wanted to go with them to introduce her to the ladies up there and share what I've learned with her about making home/family life work in a village in the mountains.  That way she can avoid the mistakes I made and make some of her own, brand-new ones instead. :)  Unfortunately, I got really sick while we were up there (as did a few others), so we weren't able to accomplish all that we had hoped, but she has a good jump on it and feels comfortable tackling it again on her own - she'll do great! 

Erin just completed 3 great posts about our adventure up there (anytime getting to church entails a half hour drive, then an hour+ hike, followed by a river crossing - WITH a toddler and a baby, it definitely classifies as an adventure :) ).  I am just going to link her posts so that you can see our adventure through her eyes.  Make sure you flip through the pics in the two "slideshows" in the 2nd post - lots of great pics in there.  Click HERE to go to their blog, then scroll down to read all 3 posts about our trip.  If she has posted something else by the time you try this link, then just scroll down to the posts starting Dec 27. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

May you have a blessed day celebrating our Savior's birth.

Here are a couple pics from our celebration.
Steve was feeling sick, so Zach read us the Christmas story.

 Ready to open presents!  You like Zach's wrapping job on Ben's present?

 Ben LOVED the pocket knife his brother gave to him - hand-me-down or no, it is still pretty cool.

 Both boys got something to build - Zach's has lots of tiny bolts and screws and complicated instructions, but he did great and had a blast assembling the airplane.  Ben's is a little simpler but the same basic idea, and you can make 6 different solar-powered creations.

 Love this look. :)

 Can't believe she is almost 13!

 The kids also got "bop-it" and love it.

Here the kids are helping Dad open his last present - a game for the family.

We have all been pretty sick here in our house, but we still had a nice day as a family.  Hope you all had a wonderful day too!

Prayers appreciated

My "Nanny's" funeral will be this Friday (see post below for more info); appreciate your prayers as we are far away at this time. Also on Friday, we have an important meeting in Manila; pls pray for wisdom, ability to express our hearts clearly, and unified hearts. In addition, our family will be going north this week to visit the Bugkalot churches, the ones who have sent out the ones who are partnering with us in the work down here. Some friends with little kids will be going with us, and we are in for a 5-day camping, hiking, river-crossing adventure with a baby and a toddler. Prayers appreciated for that as well. :)

I leave you with a pic Steve took at sunrise that I thought you might enjoy.



Playing Catch-up

We have definitely been feeling like we have been playing catch up for the last couple weeks - catching up in school (6 days/wk+), catching up on paper work, and now I am making a small attempt to catch up on the blog.

First, a very special woman went to be with Jesus yesterday.  Jen's dad's mom passed away peacefully and is now rejoicing in the throne room. We are rejoicing with her, but it is still hard to say goodbye.  My dad was here in the Philippines when she passed, so he changed his ticket and will return early to the States to perform the funeral.  As a result, he won't be able to come down here next week like he had planned; we had all been very much looking forward to his visit so that makes it doubly hard.  Appreciate all your prayers during this time.  This pic was taken on our last furlough in 2009. 

In the midst of playing catch-up, we have been pressing ahead with several trainings with our Bugkalot tribal partners.  We have a couple different "venues" for our trainings, and this is one of the most peaceful.

 This is the "new" group that just arrived in May and are still in language and culture study time.  They are progressing well, and they will have their language exams this month as well as their "story exams" to see how well they know the Bible stories they will be teaching.  Pls continue to pray for this group as they prepare to begin teaching as soon as possible (for some it will likely be in January if they pass all their exams!).

 This is a common sight around here - these little "tricycles" (tiny motor scooter with a side car) haul several bamboo sala sets at a time.  It is amazing what they can fit on that little vehicle!  Coincidentally, we have been feeling a little over-loaded our ownselves these past weeks, so my heart goes out to the poor little scooter. :)

 The kids had a ball decorating for Christmas last weekend.  They are getting so big!  Steve and I mostly just sat and watched them do it all.

 Our newest teammate arrived safely!  Thanks for praying!  Little Kadesh (boy) was born 2 weeks ago after a tough labor and delivery so we are super thankful for his safe arrival.

 The kids are still wakeboarding from time to time.  Our schedule is crazier now, so we don't get out there that often, but we enjoy it when we do.  I put together a few recent pics in case anyone is interested.  I think you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge it if you want to see the pics better.  Ben is riding now as well, but he doesn't really do any tricks or hit any obstacles so I didn't take any recent pics of him.

Really would appreciate additional prayers right now as we are feeling a little overwhelmed at all that is going on at once.  Pray that we would place our burdens at His feet and rest in His perfect peace.

Quick Manila Trip

We just got back from a quick trip to Manila for some meetings, and the kids had a soccer tournament over the weekend.  My to-do list has me so pinned down right now that I don't have any time to create a post about it, but my friend Erin just did one about the time they spent with us, so I thought I would share it with you so that you can at least see some pics of our time.  Click here to go to Erin's post.  Thanks, Erin!

Please Pray

I just sent out an update but realized I forgot to include a key request... we have been having some serious mechanical challenges with our ministry vehicles.  Because of the non-stop issues with one of them (the one for up north), we decided to sell it and buy something more reliable.  Well, the old one still hasn't sold, but the "new" one is unexpectedly in the shop for a complete (and expensive) overhaul.  To top it off, our ministry vehicle down south is in the shop with a very shaky prognosis.  PLEASE PRAY WITH US that the old vehicle will sell (to help pay for the maintenance on the others!), for wisdom in each decision, and that these most recent visits to the mechanic would be the last for a very long while.  Of course, maybe Filipino mechanics should be our next target people group - Steve has met virtually every small-shop mechanic up and down both sides of the highway throughout Luzon. :) 

7 Years!

7 years ago today, we arrived in the Philippines.  Here is our family, getting ready to embark on the adventure to which God was calling us.

 Can't believe how little the kids were!

 7 years later - what a crazy ride it has been!  But we are so blessed and privileged to be here, right in the midst of the amazing things that God is doing amongst tribal people in the Philippines for HIS glory.

A little love

Wow, this past month has flown by!  Steve has been doing a lot of traveling, and he has also been laid up with a serious burn (he bumped into a parked motorcycle that had a very hot muffler) that got badly infected.  Appreciate prayer as he is actually gone right now on a wk-long trip into the mountains where he is the speaker at a couple of tribal believers' conferences.  Pray also for protection from infection as his wound is much better but still some risk, especially considering the river crossings and not-so-sanitary conditions he is living in right now.

The kids & I have been just pressing on with school, trying to get as much cranked out as we can before we some traveling we have coming up next month.  Since I really didn't think most of you would like to see pics of Steve's nasty wound, here are some pics of a little love we received from home recently.  Not just one but TWO of our dear friends in the States - one in Kansas, and one in Missouri - sent us care packages this month (I won't embarrass them by saying their names here).  Look at all this love they sent us!

 It was my first taste of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms...definitely a fan!

 So very thankful for friends like these who are standing behind us and loving on us, even from the other side of the world.

And I will leave you with a very random pic - one of our favorite treats here: a ripe mango shake.  Come for a visit and try one for yourself!

Party Time

Ok, this may surprise some of you, but we don't spend every waking moment in a village in the mountains.  And here is proof, courtesy of our very good friend Carlo Buenaflor.  He took these pics of our family at his mom's bday party recently.  He got some great shots, so I thought I would share them with you.

Slice of Life

These are just a bunch of random shots that give you a glimpse of our lives here.  Many of them were taken by recent visitors.  I love to see the things our visitors catch on camera; they often take pictures of things that have become so common-place to me that it would never occur to me to point my camera that direction.  I enjoy seeing our lives through someone else's lens, and I hope this post gives you a little better idea of what life is like for us.  So, in random order...

*****

Right now, our focus is on training the tribal partners that God has sent our way.  We do this through periodic trainings at a central location as well as frequent visits to the villages where they are stationed so that we can work with them on-site.  This pic is of Jun; he is the team leader for some of the 1st group that arrived down here and he has been a HUGE help to us in supervising and training the newer teams.  A big prayer request for Jun is for his toes - he has terrible recurring ingrown nails on both sides of both his toes.  The pain and swelling is so severe that he has been having trouble walking the last couple months.  We are trying to figure out how best to help him get the medical attention he needs.

 This shot of us on the trail came out a little blurry...but that is often how I feel on the trail in the tropical heat so I felt it was appropriate. :)

 Ben is helping some of our friends haul water using a tribal-style backpack.

 The kids enjoy climbing trees everywhere we go.

 Our little girl is growing up so fast, but she still has fun in the trees with the rest of the kids.

 The kids also love to "help" with the fire.  Not sure how much help they actually are, but they sure have fun, and no one seems to mind when they get in the way.

 Grabbing some snuggle time while we wait on dinner to cook during one of the training times.

 These guys are so pretty...but NOT my favorite animal to have nearby during the night.  A common misconception is that roosters only crow at dawn, but anyone who has slept in the vicinity of one knows that they repeatedly warm up for the dawn performance by practicing throughout the night.  Especially fun when the house you are staying is on stilts, and the rooster is directly under your sleeping mat.

 Anybody guess what this is made out of?  These colorful curtains/decorations are made out of old candy wrappers.  Love it.

 When we visit the villages, it is always an all-day affair, and lunch can be an adventure at times.  On this particular day, we got lucky.  Chicken and sayote (a vegetable similar to a potato) stewed in a broth.  And of course, everything is always served with rice.

 We also got to try sinarapan.  Itty bitty fish - each of those little things is a whole fish - look closely, and you can make them out.  Eyes and all! 

They love to take good care of us in the village, so when we show up with visitors, some guy will often scoot up the nearest coconut tree to get us a snack.  The coconut juice is a great hydration drink, and the meat makes a nutritious snack.

 One of the key places where we go is only accessible by crossing a little lake.  Steve often helps with pushing the boat off and guiding us into "dock" on the other side.  And I have no idea what the boys are doing here.  Looks like they are collecting something or other in their shirts.  O - I remember!  Bottlecaps.  Don't know why.

 Ben loves it when he gets to steer the boat.

 Most of us just relax and enjoy the ride.

 So pensive.

 This is a very typical shot of Steve hanging out with the guys on the porch of a little grass hut.  Precious times.

 Leaky roof?  No need to call a repairman.  Just weave together some leaves and patch the holes.

 Just hanging out.

 Brothers!

 This little lady is the youngest member of our team - at least until November when her sibling is due!  Mutya is such a doll and gets lots of loving from everyone.

 Zach often grabs someone's machete and starts chopping on random things.  As long as he is not chopping on his own -- OR his brother's -- fingers, then we just let the boys be boys.  With maybe some occasional guidance as needed. :)

 Ben getting some cuddle time in with little Mutya.

Well, hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our lives through our visitors' lenses.  Maybe YOU can be the next visitor and see it all for yourself!  We would love to have you come for a visit!

Trip to Thailand

Steve and I made a trip to Thailand last week.  A church in Tennessee sponsored us and several of our colleagues to come to Phuket to attend a marriage retreat.  We had an absolutely wonderful time, and we are so very thankful for the people at Corryton who made so many sacrifices to make this possible.  We felt incredibly loved and spoiled rotten by their generosity, and we came back feeling refreshed and renewed.

The hotel was gorgeous and just a short walk from this gorgeous beach.

In addition to paying for our accommodations, food and some of our travel, they provided an "excursion" for each couple (like I said - spoiled rotten!).  We were able to choose from many options, and we decided to go for a cruise in a Chinese-style sail boat called a junk.

They actually didn't end up using the sails (only put them up for us to take some pics at one point), but it was still a beautiful, peaceful cruise through some absolutely amazing scenery.

 These hanging rock formations were so cool - no idea how they were formed.  Almost looks like the tide comes up that high, but really don't know.

 We have visited many tropical islands, but this place was so unique.  These rock islands jutted out of the ocean in the oddest shapes.  Spectacular.

 Here is one of the islands.  Made Steve want to come back with climbing gear, but thankfully he was content to sit and snuggle on the deck while the boat weaved its way through the formations.

 After a couple hours of cruising, we parked in deeper water and transferred to a smaller boat so that we could go through this passageway under one of the islands.  Breath-taking.

 This island is called James Bond Island - they said that one of the James Bond movies was filmed here.  Sorry, don't remember which one. 

 The fact that it was in a movie wasn't that impressive to me, but the island itself was beautiful.

 The best part of the trip though was just being together and celebrating all that God has so graciously blessed us with.  What a perfect way to celebrate 14 yrs of marriage!

Thank you, Corryton, for blessing us like this.  We know that God will use this time in mighty ways in works all over SE Asia as we all return refreshed and ready to face the pressures of ministry again.  It was wonderful to be with people who truly "get" it - that we are ALL called to get the Good News out to the last corners of the earth; we just have different roles to play.  We are so thankful that you were willing to make so many sacrifices to encourage all of us in this way, and we praise God for your partnership in the task He has given His church.