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...

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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. 

Family

When you live so far from your family-by-blood, you quickly learn that being family is not only about bloodlines.  Family are those who love you just the way you are, people you are comfortable being yourself around, people who you know "get you" and have your back, no matter what comes up.  Even though our biological family is far away, God has blessed us with people who have become family to us.  Some of these are just as far away geographically, but they make many sacrifices to stay in touch faithfully and have proven time and again that they have our backs.  Others who have become family to us live closer, and we praise God whenever He allows our paths to cross.  God blessed us richly this past month when He allowed TWO of our family to come for a visit.  Joseph may not look much like the rest of our family, but he has definitely become a part of it; and we had a great time sharing our home and ministry with him for a week.  He was such an encouragement to us, we thank God for him, and we can't wait to see how God continues to use him in the future.

 

My dad also came for a visit!  Although he partners closely with us in our work and makes frequent trips to the Philippines (7 trips this year I think!), we actually don't get to see him every time he comes.  Both he and we keep really busy with our responsibilities, and it just doesn't work out schedule or budget-wise to see each other on every visit.  But on this past trip, he was able to fly down to our place from Manila for 1 day to celebrate his birthday with us.

We are SO thankful for the family that God has blessed us with, and we cherish every opportunity He gives to be together.