Manila

The past 6 months, we have been busy adjusting to life in the big city of Manila.  To be honest, Manila has never been one of our favorite places - even to just pass through - so we were not exactly looking forward to living here.  However, God has been so gracious, and our adjustment has gone fairly smoothly.  (Thanks for praying!!)

Steve has been traveling from here and going both north and south (though not at the same time!) for ministry trips.  Sometimes, I (Jen) travel with him, but usually I stay home and hold down the fort with the kids.  Steve actually took a couple ministry trips this past month, but taking pictures is not high on his priority list, so you will just have to take my word for it.  I will be traveling with him in March so can share some new pics with you then. :)

But I realized that nearly all our pics are from our ministry travels, not from our new home city.  Rather than take my camera out into the crowds and smog and traffic, I asked my new friend, Chris Kuhlow for permission to post some of her pics here.  See, that has been one of the HUGE blessings of living in Manila; we have made some new friends, and some of them are very talented - like Chris with her camera.  All of the pics below are her pics, and if you want to see more amazing-ness, click HERE to check out some more of her pics.  Thanks for sharing these pics with us, Chris!  

I hope this will give you all a glimpse into our new home - the city of Manila.  Please pray that God would continue to give us strength as we adjust to the crazy traffic and crowded streets.  Also pray that He would show us ways that He wants to use our family here.  While our hearts have been stolen by the tribals in the mountains (and we don't see that changing anytime soon), we also want to bloom where we are planted and be used by Him in this city.

Mikayla is 15!

Ok, so her actual birthday is on Monday, but we celebrated Mikayla's 15th birthday today! I got thinking about it, and while she has had a lot of great birthday parties with some great friends, this was the first time since she was 5 years old that we lived near English-speaking friends that she could invite to her party! (Note: that's not to say that she hasn't had some great friends at parties in the past; we have celebrated many times with different family friend who are dear to all of us.  This was just the first time in 10 years that she had a bunch of same-age friends living nearby that she could invite.)

It was fun looking back to the pics from that way-back-when birthday party in 2005...

 5-year-old Mikayla with her friends and siblings and cousin

 And now that little girl is 15 years old!  Here is a collection of pics from her last 15 birthdays:

We had a great time celebrating her 15th birthday with some wonderful young ladies who have become her friends at Faith Academy.  One of her friend's dad has a drone that he used to take a pic of the girls posing into 15! 

Happy birthday, Mikayla Faith!  We love you and are so proud of the young woman that you are becoming.  We know that God has big plans in store for you; keep seeking Him with your whole heart!