A note to the tooth fairy

Just thought you guys may enjoy something on a little "lighter" note than what all our posts have been of late. If you have been keeping up with our blog, you saw Mikayla's big event for the week. Well, apparently she doesn't trust her parents to play the tooth fairy role because here is the note she left on our pillow before she went to bed...

I am happy to report that we did not forget her present! :)

As far as an update from Bicol - for those of you watching the news, you know how devastated the region is. The government was saying the roads were impassable when Steve made it through in our 4-wheel-drive pick up truck with relief goods for our partner churches down there. It was a long trip, but he made it safely and has been working his tail off from dawn til late at night. He is exhausted but doing well, and he has been able to be a huge help down there. The churches were so thankful for the supplies (he brought mainly drinking water and tarps to use as temporary shelters - those were the things they said they needed the worst). The Allens have been thankful for the help as well. Yesterday he was able to coordinate a cleaning crew who came by to help them out and also get their car and generator up and running again. Today he hopes to work on the refridgerator and freezer and a few other things. Please continue to pray that he will have the energy to be able to accomplish a lot during the days he is down there. He plans to leave tomorrow morning at 4 am so he can get through the really bad stretch of road (the highway was covered with chest-high mud so there is a one-lane ditch dug through the middle) before the traffic picks up. He plans to stop through the city where we hope to move in February (looks like we will probably be without electricity even by then) and check out the damage there, particularly to the houses we are hoping to rent. He hopefully will arrive home late tomorrow night. Please pray for his safety as he travels, particularly since he will be so tired.

On Tuesday morning, I will leave for Manila with the kids to take Ben to his speech therapy appointments (see our update for details). I hope to return Friday afternoon.

Thanks for praying for Zach's boil - it is looking better now after 2 1/2 days of antibiotics. It still looks pretty bad, but it has not gotten any worse and the redness does look more contained (it was about 9 inches in diameter). So it looks like we will not need to get IV antibiotics, but we are still watching it really closely.

My sister (see the post after this one to get up to speed) has surgery scheduled on December 14 to get her gall bladder out. Her husband has been sick, they have 2 little kids, and they have only just recently moved to their city so don't have many contacts yet. Some of you know my brother lives in the same city, but he and his wife have to leave the country for a 10 days for a visa run so they will not be there. All that to say, they could really use some help while she has her surgery and recovers. So I will be flying there for about 10 days, leaving on the 12th. I am so glad for the chance to help them out this way, but please be in prayer for us all though as these are busy days.