Holding Down the Home Fort

For those of you who read our blog often, you know that Steve travels a lot on ministry trips while the kids and I hold down the home fort.  We join whenever we can (like on school breaks), but the rest of the time we keep busy with school activities.  So, if you are stopping by the blog to see what is going on with our ministry, check back soon to see some new pics from that front (Steve is on an 11-day trip now).  But if you'd like to see some pics of what the kids and I have been up to the last couple months, here you go...

 I helped coached the JV girls soccer team again this year.  It was a sweet group of girls!

 Mikayla played on the varsity soccer team again.  I actually don't have any pics from her season this time - except this one taken during their final practice.

 Some of you may remember that Mikayla had the opportunity to go with her soccer team to Thailand last year to play in a tournament.  Well, this year, the tournament is in Guam, but they won't go until the end of April. Unfortunately, that timing doesn't work for Mikayla with her class load this year, so she won't get to go.  But she and the other girls on the team enjoyed cheering for the guys soccer team as their tournament was held at home this year.  Go Vanguards!

 We had fun joining a 4-on-4 volleyball tournament together with another family.  Drew is one of the stars of the varsity guys' team...but I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that we won the tournament. :) 

 The kids all had "spirit week" to promote school spirit where they dressed up according to the theme of the day.  Mikayla went as a Christmas present one day.

 Zach and Ben were on the Pink Panthers soccer team for the intramural league this year.  They both did very well and had a lot of fun with their friends.

 They also qualified to join a traveling team, and they learned a lot through that as well.

My dad was able to be here for part of a Saturday, so he got to watch the boys play soccer and one of Mikayla's rugby games.

 Mikayla loves sports, but she also enjoys dressing up to attend formal events like the Christmas Banquet.

 She attended with a friend from her class.

 One of the highlights of this past semester for Mikayla was the fact that she made the Advanced Drama class (you have to audition).  They performed the musical "The Gifts of the Magi" and did a great job!  Neat fact: the director was my English teacher when I was Mikayla's age!

 One of my favorite pics from the play - the hairstyle that resulted afterwards from all the hairspray!

 Zach and Ben have been developing their creative sides too. Zach took guitar class this past semester and loved it.  This was his first concert.

 His teacher said that he shows real potential.

 Ben is still really enjoying percussion and excelling at it as well.  You can see him standing on the right hand side by the big drums (I know that's not their official name!).

 Ben is also in the 6th grade choir. In addition to their normal concert, they also went on a little choir tour that took them to several local schools and even the local mall.

 Ben and Zach also participated in the Middle School ministry day.  Didn't find any pics of Zach (I wasn't with them), but can you find Ben in the pic below?

 Ok, I mentioned that Mikayla is playing rugby again this year.  Some of you may be questioning our sanity..."Isn't that the sport where guys have to tape their ears on because it's so rough??"  Well, Mikayla is playing TOUCH rugby, not tackle - it's a VERY different sport; and she's really enjoying it!  This year, she is a starter on the varsity team in the one of the 2 key positions (as a "center") and is doing very well.

 She and the other center work incredibly well together and have scored many "tries" together.

 So thankful that our kids can be involved in such a variety of activities at their school, Faith Academy.  It keeps us busy, but they have lots of opportunities to grow and to share His love with others.

Appreciate your prayers this month as Steve is traveling a lot - he's on an 11 day trip now, will be home for 3 days, then gone again for 7.  Things are going well, but really appreciate your prayers for both him and us.  Thanks for partnering with us!

Macau

Last week, we had to take a quick visa run (leave the country for visa purposes).  The cheapest tickets we would find were to Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China, next to Hong Kong. Macau used to be a Portuguese colony, so the feel of the city (especially the historic district) was very different than other places we have been in Asia. 

 

There was some amazing architecture to admire.

 While Macau is mostly known for its many gambling casinos, the most famous historic attraction for tourists is the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral (above). 

 Everyone was taking selfies in front of the ruins, so we joined in. :)

 Macau is also known as the most densely populated city in the world, and the crazy narrow streets and sky-scraping apartments/hotels support this conjecture.  The streets felt like mere sidewalks, which got interesting in a hurry when you tried to share them with a moving vehicle!  Thankful the kids are older now... 

As we walked through the historic district, the crowds weren't too bad.  But as we got into the more touristy part of town, the press of people was unbelievable.

Despite the crowds, we had a lot of fun as a family.

 While the visa run was unexpected, we had a lot of fun touring a new country. So thankful for our family and the privilege of going on the adventure called life with this crew!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry to blast you with 2 posts at once...December has been so busy that I haven't had time for blogging.  Scroll down for the post I just put up about our last trip up into the mountains.

After our trip up into the mountains, we arrived home on Christmas Eve and had a wonderfully quiet Christmas as a family. 

 Ben read us the Christmas story this year.

 Lots of smiles as we opened presents.

 A friend of mine accidentally told Mikayla what she was getting, so I wrapped up a can of tuna in a box to throw her off (her gift was too big for any of her wrapped gifts).  This was her smile when she read the note on the can of tuna that said where to go find her gift. :)

 The boys are just too cool with their personalized sports bags.

Merry Christmas from the Hagensn in the Philippines!

Christmas Adventure

After school let out for the semester, we headed up into the mountains with some friends for a couple days.

 When we arrived at our little tribal house, we discovered that the typhoon the week before had dislodged our water pipe.  So Steve and some of the kids headed out to hike up the stream to find and fix the problem.

 They spend quite a bit of time fixing the pipe...only to discover that they had been fixing the wrong line!  Ooops. :)  Thankfully, one of the tribal guys happened by and showed them how to get our water going again.

 The next day we headed to the village of Lipuga to visit with people there.  Steve had some important conversations that he needed to have with the community and church leaders, and the rest of us enjoyed walking around the village and visiting with people there.

 Several of our group joined the village kids for a game of bulaklak (flower).

 I had such a nice time with these two precious ladies, Roberta and Shelley.  Here they are visiting in my tribal friend's kitchen.

 My friend Solyn prepared a delicious lunch for us.

 Rice and kalabasa (squash)

 The recent typhoon cause a LOT of damage, including wiping out this road (you can see the road across the gully where we are throwing rocks).  While there was significant road damage, the real problems will be the fact that many of our friends' farms were washed away, and they lost their whole harvest. :(  They don't know yet where their food will come from for this next year, but they are trusting that God will take care of them.

 We spent a lot of time hanging out (pun intended!) in the hammocks that Steve's dad sewed while he was here in the Philippines in October.

 Despite the crazy cold temperatures (for us anyway!), the kids took turns sleeping in hammocks out on the porch.  The temperature dropped down into the 50s at night, with a pretty good wind chill, so they bundled up for warmth.

 And this is what they looked like in the morning. :)

 The kids also renewed their Christmas tradition of making a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, just like last year: Click here to check out last year's.

 While it rained for much of our time in the mountains, we were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon of sunshine, so we headed to the river for a hot dog roast.

 Steve brought an inner tube along, so the kids (and adults!) enjoyed shooting the rapids.

 Apparently those rapids weren't exciting enough for some of the crew though, and they headed off in search of more excitement.

 And they found it!

 We enjoyed several times of worship together as a group while we were up there.

 And then it was time to go home.  Check out how much these two ladies are carrying on their heads.  Go, Mikayla and Z! :)

I love this pic that Roberta took of our house.  See the grass roof in the distance?

 So thankful for a wonderful visit in the mountains with friends.  Please pray with us for our dear brothers and sisters in the Bugkalot villages who lost their harvest.