Relief Work

Let me preface this post by saying that I was gone for most of it (in Manila for appointments for Ben), so Mikayla took almost all the pictures!

Despite the fact that this is supposed to be the hot, dry season, we have been having heavy rains for the past 6 weeks, and there has been a huge problem with flooding in the villages where we work. The people were having trouble finding any work (no one was hiring because of the rain & flooding), and they were out of food so everyone has been very hungry. We had been helping as much as we could out of our own budget, but the needs were just too big for us. Thankfully our company has funds available for situations like this, and we were approved to get some money to provide some rice for the hungry. So this past week has been a busy one (while I was in Manila) buying the rice, transporting it to our home, re-packaging it into family-size portions, and delivering it to some of the villages affected. We are still in the process of doing this, but by the end of this coming week, we should be finished. Altogether, we will have purchased more than 9 TONS of rice, repackaged it into 10 kilo (22 lb) bags for each family, distributed it to about 625 families in about 15 villages. We are so thankful to have the privilege of being on the "distributing" end and able to help our people in this way.

Here are some pictures from the process for the 1st 4 tons of rice.

First, Steve went to Naga (about 1 hr away) to buy the rice (because the flooding has destroyed so much rice in our area, it is very expensive here right now). Then he hired a jeepney to transport it down to our house. Then Steve and a crew of volunteers from local churches pitched in to bring it into the house and re-package it. This Pastor Ezekiel. He has been a great partner in the work here, and we are so blessed to know him. He was a huge help with this relief effort.

Here is one of Mikayla on top of the pile of rice in our dining room. I love the look on her face.

Just chillin'.

Steve said Mikayla and Zach were a HUGE help with everything, and they kept great attitudes despite long hours out delivering and traipsing all over the countryside.

The pile got so high that Mikayla could touch her head to the ceiling!Here is a pic of the crew working to re-package all the rice into 10 K bags for each family. I got a kick out of Zach on the rice in the back. I assumed he was just playing, but Mikayla said that they set up their school work up on top of the rice, and Zach was actually doing school up there! With all the busyness, we have gotten behind on our lessons, so in the midst of all the craziness, Steve and the kids kept up with the bare basics of their lessons!

It was a ton of work (well, 4 tons to be more accurate!), and we were exceedingly thankful for the men and ladies who volunteered their time to help.
This is the son of one of the Agta families in a village where we have a Bible study. When they heard what we were going to do, they asked if they could come help. They said since they can't find any work right now anyway, they might as well volunteer their time. Steve gave them some extra rice as "payment" for their help - and they were shocked to receive anything for their work.
After the rice was packaged into 10 K bags, it was loaded into rice sacks and put in our car. Then they started delivering it to the villages - coming back to re-load between villages.
Unfortunately, we don't have many pics from the deliveries, but here are a few. Steve started by sharing a few words about how much God loves each and every one of them as well as explaining that there are people in the States who gave money to buy them some rice because they want everyone to understand God's love. Then he shared his testimony about how he was saved and how God has been at work in His life. He then encouraged them all to attend the Bible studies that are on-going or will soon be starting up in their village so that they can learn more about God and how he relates to man.
Then they distributed the rice and tried to meet and get to know the people as much as possible, encouraging them to come to the Bible study.
I love the smile on this lady's face. The people were so very thankful for the rice, and we were so thankful to have the opportunity to be able to help in this way.

Please pray for us as this next week will look very much like last week. Ben and I will return to Manila on Monday for another appointment, and Steve and the other 2 will press on with the relief effort (buying yet more rice, re-packaging it and delivering it) as well as trying to keep up/catch up with school.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Ok, for the sake of being done (I love to have the feeling of having finished a project), I am going to go ahead and do the post about Ben's birthday now. :)

Ben turned 4 years old on March 1. I can't believe our "baby" is getting so big! We started the celebration off with a bang by bringing his cake (race cars on chocolate, per his request) to a meeting we went to and all singing to him. He loved it.

There were lots of friends there, but our friends Carly and Caleb Allen and Ben's cousins Gabby and Eli made up the other kids present.From the meeting, we went with Allens and my sister to Jollibee (local version of McDonalds) for ice cream and french fries. Here are the kids posing with "Jollibee".

YUM!

The Allens brought some gifts for Ben - some new Buzz Lightyear swimtrunks and some sand toys! Perfect for our days off at the wakeboarding place. We did...um...discover - you don't want to know how - that we need to add a drawstring to his new shorts. Let's just say that we are going to go through too much sunscreen if we don't - but Ben would be in style in the wakeboarding culture!

The next day was Ben's actual birthday, and we went to the waterfall (see pics in the next post) then had macaroni and cheese, hotdogs, and ice cream for supper per his request - yeah, he's a pretty typical 4 year old! Then we opened his presents.
This Marble Race from Papa and Grandma Jackson was a real hit, and he has played with it every day since he got it!
We all love you more than you know, Ben. You have a smile that can chase the darkness away, and you bring incredible joy to our lives. We thank God for you.

Happy Birthday!

Waterfall Adventure

Here are a few more pictures of our time with my sister. On their last weekend here, we took a trip to a nearby waterfall. It was absolutely gorgeous, and both kids and adults had fun climbing on the rocks, swimming in the water, and jumping THROUGH the waterfall.

Goofing around - can you believe Ben is only 3 weeks older than Gabby?!?

Funny Faces!!! We actually went on Ben's birthday (pics of his party the day before to follow). Here is the birthday boy - 4 years old! On the hike there, one of the guys caught a baby python. Mikayla was intrigued by it and kept touching it.
Then she decided to hold it! Crazy girl. She spent much of the time at the waterfall playing with the snake rather than in the water!
Here is one last picture of the 5 grandkids. Mikayla, Zach, Ben, Gabby and Eli.

"We love you, Papa & Grandma!"

Fun with Cousins

My sister and her family just left after a 2 week visit (they live in a country here in SE Asia so it is not too far for us to go to visit one another). We had a WONDERFUL time with their family, and it was great to watch the kids connect with their cousins (Gabby age 3 and Eli age 18 months) after 1 year apart.

I love this one of Gabby and Ben tickling one another. The 2nd one looks like blackmail material in about 10 years to me...

Mikayla and Eli
While they were here, we took a trip up to the tribe where my sister and I spent our childhood - also the village where Steve did the church planting training in December. We had a great time reminiscing about old times, and Steve had some great opportunities to talk with the men about how they have been applying what they all discussed in the training - God is really at work up in those mountains! We are so excited to hear the things He is doing in and through the people there.
We spent MANY hours traveling together like this. It was exhausting, but we still had a good time. (Ok, so my photoshop job isn't perfect -I realized it but decided I didn't have any more time to give to it so you will have to live with it! :) )

Ben has one of the best smiles around!

Here is a cute one of Ben and Gabby in front of the church in the village.
It is hard to believe these two are only 3 weeks apart in age! Ben has always been huge, and Gabby is tiny - they are adorable together.

Relaxing by the river

I have been many places around the world, but I still think that little village where I grew up is one of the most beautiful corners of God's creation. Takes your breath away.

I still have a few more pictures of our time together and some great pics of the 5 grandkids together that I will try to post soon - if for no one else, then for Papa and Grandma Jackson! :)

Funny Story - at Steve's expense!

Steve went to go to Ipil earlier today (that is the village back behind the lake). Well, we have had so much rain that the parking lot at the end of the road where we normally leave our truck is completely underwater. Has been that way a couple weeks. Well today it was up even more, and Steve was wading through the water when he noticed a lady off to the side of him walking kind of gingerly across one section. Well, he kept watching her and wondering why she was doing that – while he kept walking. Bad mistake. As it turns out, there was a large ditch full of water right there with a plank bridge to cross it – only the “bridge” was now also a foot under water and completely invisible! So the lady was crossing on the underwater bridge while Steve watched her – and walked right into the ditch! He went in up to his chest – not sure the cell phone is going to recover but thankfully the electronic remote on the keys was ok and he had left his wallet in the car… Anyway, then he was edging his way along a little ledge over the water when an old lady came along with 2 big buckets. So Steve balanced on the outside to let her pass – which went great until one of her buckets hit him in the gut and he went flying backwards into the water – again up to his chest! (One of our friends said this reminded her of the cartoon Robin Hood and Little John.) Meanwhile, the wind is howling and there are 3 foot waves on the little lake so Steve took shelter with a bunch of others under a tarp – until someone hollered that one of the boats just sank! One of the rickety ferry boats we normally ride in wasn’t able to withstand the waves and sunk to the bottom. Thankfully it was just tied at the shore with no one on board so everyone was ok. It was at that point that all the people taking shelter with Steve told him he really shouldn’t try to go across the lake because who knows if and when he will ever make it back across after the Bible study (which was a real bummer since it has been several weeks since we have been able to have a study there due to weather and other factors). So he came home, dripping wet and shivering. He seemed to enjoy his hot shower, dry clothes and hot coffee! Always an adventure!!!

I wrote this yesterday and sent it to some friends, then thought the rest of you may enjoy it as well. A few updates - Steve reminded me this am when he read it that he DID NOT get a warm shower - he was just stepping into the shower when the power went off! So he had a cold shower after all that. And the cell phone did not make it. We will hold a memorial service for it later today - then try to make it up to Naga to buy a new one tomorrow.

Hope you had a good laugh at Steve's expense!

Urgent Need: Speech Therapist

While at the home school conference (see next post), Steve and I were able to meet with the education consultant and personnel associate about Ben's speech delay. We brainstormed some therapy options (there is nothing available where we live), and we would appreciate your prayer as we pursue some answers and the best course of action. We have a couple evaluation appointments in Manila this month, and we will wait to see what comes of that. We also have put out a request for a speech therapist volunteer to come from the States for a few weeks this summer to work daily with Ben as well as to train me how to continue his therapy after they leave. Please pray with us for God to lead someone to come and meet this urgent need so that we can press on in the work here. If you have any contacts who may be interested in this, please let us know so that we can get them some more info.

Home School Conference

Every year we attend a home school conference for the kids to get their IOWA testing done. Normally, only the homeschoolers and the teacher (AKA: Mom) attend. However, this year was a special year in that the whole family was invited to attend. In addition, this was the final year for the conference to be held at a family resort here in the Philippines that we have all come to love. Because there are so few homeschoolers here in the Philippines now, our conference will be combining with another one in Thailand, starting next year.
The conference was a success in every way. Mikayla did well on her tests (Zach will start testing next year), and we had an absolute blast together as a family. We also got to re-connect with some old friends as well as make some new ones.

A team of volunteers came from a church in the States to proctor the kids' testing and to do special activities with them - and with us adults. Each of them was such a blessing to us, and we praise God for their willingness to serve in this way. Here are some of our kids' teachers for the week; our kids got really close with them - Mikayla was in tears at the end of the week when she had to say goodbye.

The kids got to participate in "Speakers Theater" as well as "Learners' Showcase". For Speakers Theater, they sang "There's a Hole in my Bucket" together then Mikayla performed two very dramatic poems - she loves to be on stage! Everyone asked us who she gets it from...we don't know! Zach did really well too, and it proved to be a great experience for both of them.

For the Learners Showcase, they did a presentation on their new skill - wakeboarding! They had a blast showing everyone all they have learned.

We also brought a home-made "indo board" for them to demonstrate how they practice their balance.

On the last night, the kids put on a presentation for us adults. They had a great time learning some new songs during the week then showing what they had learned.

Sheer concentration...

On the final day, the kids participated in an outreach day. The older ones went to a deaf school a couple hours away, but the younger ones hosted some new Filipino friends from the local community. They did games, songs, and crafts together and just tried to show them God's love. Here are Mikayla and Zach's friends for the day. The kids had testing every morning and a couple classes in the early afternoon, but then we had a couple hours of free time every afternoon. One afternoon, Steve and the kids tackled the towering rock wall. Everyone was amazed at how well they can climb - Zach in particular since he is so small. They had a blast going all the way to the top over and over.
Another afternoon the kids got to ride horses! This was a first for Ben for any real distance, and he did great with it.
What do you get when you combine tarps, a hill, some dish soap and crazy kids? A gigantic Slip 'N Slide! The kids had a blast on this - though you could never tell from the expressions the camera caught on Ben's face! He looks miserable, but he just kept going back for more and still talks about how much fun he had that day. Zach tried it once, but the day was pretty chilly, and Zach is not a fan of being cold so he decided to watch instead. The other little boy you see is Caleb, their friend from down here who also attended the conference.

Fun with new friends!
Mikayla is growing up so fast! She is such a blessing to our family.
There is a "crow's nest" up above the roof that has a spectacular view.
BROTHERS!

Our family had a wonderful time at the home school conference, and we are so thankful for all those who worked so hard to make it happen. We are also so thankful to be part of an organization that puts such an emphasis on family and the well-being of our children. We praise God for His goodness.