Cherish Every Moment

Family Reunion!!!

The Jackson family hadn't had all been together for 5 years, so we were SOOO thankful for the opportunity to be together in the Philippines the end of January.  We had these shirts made for our time together; the numbers on the back correspond with when we joined (or were born into) the Jackson family.  Notice that even little #15 (coming in April) had a little shirt.

 After meeting up in Manila, we headed to the beach - the same one where we used to vacation when we were just kids.  Loading all the kids and gear on to the little boat was an adventure, and the very wavy trip was even more so.  (On the trip back, the waves were so big that a few washed up and over the boat.  It was at this point that the boatman on the helm dug all the change out of his pocket and threw it into the waves.  Not sure exactly what that means, but pretty sure it is not a good sign.)

 Once at the beach, we buckled down for some serious relaxing and hanging out.

 One afternoon, we headed down the beach towards an awesome Italian restaurant.  The water was only about knee-high on the way TO supper.  On the way back, after it was dark, the tide had come in, and it was chest-high...for the adults.  The kids were swimming it, and little Zoe got soaked in the back-carrier on her dad's back.  We decided that we are a pretty crazy family though because not only did we do it, we laughed our way through the whole thing and had a blast with it.

 In the evenings, the adults enjoyed hanging out on the beach after the kids went to bed.  We brought games to play, but we were too busy talking to even get them out. 

 One of the mornings, we rented a boat to take us to the local snorkeling spot.  We saw these two guys driving their boats along the coast.

 The snorkeling was AMAZING!!!

 We took turns snorkeling and hanging around on the boat.

 Zoe became my little buddy that week.  The last time we saw them, she was only a couple months old, so I was prepared for her to keep her distance since she didn't remember me, but we picked right up where we left off.  I am sure it had absolutely nothing to do with the treats I kept feeding her.

 The six cousins had a BLAST together - just wish we lived closer so we could visit more often!  But thankful that we all live in SE Asia anyway - could be a lot worse!

 Crazy Cousins

 After a couple days, we left the beach and headed to one of our friends' vacation home - a ranch in the mountains.  It was beautiful, and we were so thankful for their generosity in letting us stay there!

 They even let us ride their horses!

A big one...

 ...and a not-so-big one.

We also got to go swimming in their pool, fishing and make s'mores over a bonfire. 

Precious memories!

 Pool-side drinks 

 And of course LOTS of snuggle time with Papa

 Once we got back to Manila, we had several meetings to attend, but we squeezed in some time at the zoo.  Here are the kids posing with Jenny the Orangutang

 Later in the day, once the big groups had left, we got some more personal time with Jenny.  My dad played patty-cake with her, and Mikayla snuggled with her.  Jenny kept rocking Mikayla back and forth like a baby.

 Ben has been asking for months to get his head shaved "like Papa" so on one of our last days together, we let him go for it.  Funny thing, he was surprised by how it looked when it was done and was pretty self-conscious at first (tears involved), but now he seems to like it.  I personally am not a huge fan, but we'll wait and see if he wants to keep it this way or not.  Choose your battles, right? 

 So incredibly thankful to our Father above for such a wonderful week together as a family.  A blessed gift, and we cherished every moment.

And hopefully it won't be 5 years again before the next time!

Because then Mikayla would be...gulp...17.  O my.

Vision Trips

As we have been focussed on mobilizing the Bugkalot tribe to send people down to partner with us to reach the Agta tribe, my dad has been networking connections with people and churches who are excited about what God is doing here.  One of those churches is in Singapore, and they recently sent 2 different teams on vision trips to catch a glimpse of what God is up to in our corner of the world.

(Note: These pics were taken by members of the teams who came - the 1st group by Ana Gonzales, and the 2nd group by Joseph Reygan.  Thanks for sharing these great pics!!!) 

 The first group from Singapore came down to Bicol to visit the Agta just after Christmas.

 We headed across the lake to the village of Ipil.

 For most of this team, this was their very first time out of the city.  Mikayla helped with the younger members of the team as they tried hiking for the first time.

 The team brought some school supplies to share with the kids in the village.

What a blessing!

 Headed back to the boat

 The Singaporeans weren't the only ones who got muddy and needed to wash up before getting in the boat. :)

We so enjoyed getting to know these precious people from Singapore, and we are blessed by their visit to Bicol.

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Last month, we headed north to help host another team from Singapore - this time there were 27 of them! (including drivers, family members who tagged along, etc)  We met my parents in Manila, then met the group EARLY the next morning to head up into the Sierra Madre mountains to visit the Bugkalot tribe.

 Zach & Ben helped with loading/unloading the vans.

 What a privilege to introduce these brothers and sisters to one another, for us all to see that even though some are tribal villagers and others are Singaporean businessmen, we are one in Christ.

 This group also brought some school supplies to share, and we had some great teamwork packaging the goodies.

 This little lady attaches herself to Steve every time we visit her village.  Her parents are in the group that is hoping to join our team in Bicol in April.

 Everyone got to try out their skills at pounding rice.

 This Singapore team had several kids with them, and our kids had a blast getting to know them and showing them around the village.

 Mikayla loves little ones.

 In the midst of the busy-ness with our visitors, we also got in some important discussions with the Bugkalot.

 Mikayla catching up with her friends.

 The kids have friends scattered throughout tiny villages all across the Philippines.

 We so enjoyed our visit up north with the Bugkalot and getting to know new friends from Singapore.  We are so blessed by the people whom God has allowed us to partner with the reach the tribes of the Philippines.

I will leave you with some amazing pictures taken by Joseph Reygan during our visit in the Sierra Madre. 

Family Time

Quality family time is very important to us, and we really try to make a priority of it, even in the midst of our crazy lives.  After several months of roughing it up in the mountains (see following posts), we decided that our family needed some down time.  So we headed to the beach (November is a little warmer here than in the States!).

 The snorkeling was AMAZING!

 So was boating around the tropical islands.

 The scene is set for some relaxing family time.

 After a wonderful couple days at the beach, we spent a couple days in Manila trying to catch up on life - meetings, medical, email, and paperwork (amazing how all this can get backed up when you are living without electricity or internet for 2 months!).

While in Manila, we went to our favorite little zoo.  Not much to it, but lots of interaction with the animals.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

(Yes, I know it is January already, but like I already told you, we got a little behind on computer stuff while we were in the mountains!  We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in Manila right after we came back to "civilization".)

 O, and Merry Christmas while we're at it. :)

How many 11 yr olds do you know who would be this excited to find a kiwi in her stocking?

 I think this one is a riot of Ben.

"If I don't smile big enough, maybe she won't let me open my presents..."

 The kids made this cool collage for us for Christmas!

 All 3 kids have been saving their pennies all year in hopes of eventually saving up enough to buy a kindle (Mikayla) and Ipod Touches (the boys).  So all they wanted for Christmas was $ to keep saving towards these treasures.  Between our money for them, grandparents' gifts, and friends said they would pitch in, and we knew it would be close so we went ahead and ordered their gadgets from the States to have them ready once they had enough money.  This was when Kayla figured out she would have enough for her kindle. 

 I wrapped up the boys' money in containers with decoys like rocks and rice.  Ben got so excited about the rocks - he thought they were somehow special rocks.  Yes, they are special - they have money underneath them.  (Also notice Ben's hat that Mikayla made him.)

 Once they all figured out they would have enough, we set them up in the computer to scour the internet to find their kindles and Ipods.  Meanwhile, Steve snuck upstairs to get the actual items.  He came down and put them right next to the computer, but they were so intent on their internet searches that they didn't even see him do it.  Was fun to watch it dawn on them one at a time.  Zach said, "Wait.  Is that REAL?" We congratulated them on how fast they were at finding them on the internet.  We had some excited kiddos for sure, and they have been loving reading, listening to music, and playing games on their new gadgets.  I am thrilled too because now I won't have to haul so many books with us everywhere we go - they can read on their new readers!

So thankful for some cherished family time.  Meanwhile, things are going full out with our Bugkalot tribal partners - they have started many Bible studies already, and we are excited to see what God is about to do!  Pls pray with us, and I will post about it soon.

Pls also pray as we hit the road again - for safety and endurance as we still don't feel recovered from the last travels.  Exciting stuff going on though, and we are privileged to be in the midst of all HE is doing!  And an added blessing - we will be meeting up with my parents and siblings (who live in SE Asia too) for a Jackson family reunion at the beach!!!  1st reunion in 5 yrs, and we are really looking forward to it!