Summer Camp

A highlight of our kids' summers has been camp with other expats in our situation. This year it was held in Thailand. I want to protect their privacy, so only putting up a few pics (and ones that don't show faces clearly). But this camp has been such a blessing to our kids through the years, and it has been a spiritual milestone each year in their growth. So thankful for it.

In 2019, the boys were both campers, and Steve and I and Mikayla were counselors. Mikayla actually took on much more responsibility than college students normally do as she was in charge of the "team time" activities each day. She did a great job!

SURPRISE

At the end of May 2019 (just in time for my birthday), Mikayla surprised us by showing up a couple weeks earlier than planned. Such a fun surprise!

Her brothers were thrilled to have her home, and they were more than willing to ferry her around on their e-bikes. :)

 Zach's 17th birthday came a few days later, and we took a break in the busy-ness of final exams to play touch rugby for the afternoon and enjoy brownies together. 

Quick Tribe Trip

In May 2019, we took a quick overnight trip up to the house in the clouds with some high school friends of mine (Jen). It was fun to get to show them all that God is doing up there, and hopefully this trip was refreshing and meaningful to them as well. God is using them mightily in a ministry in a large Filipino church, and I know that they shared some of the Bugkalot story with that congregation after this trip. Praying God uses this time to bring glory to His name.

Serious Catch Up

Since the start of this blog, I have never gotten so far behind on posting...or on other administrative responsibilities. This past year has proven a challenge to keep up with life's responsibilities while dealing with not being able to use my right arm for much of it. I made a conscious decision to release the blog for this time period, but I am hoping to get caught up now. I realize that most of these posts will probably never be read (so outdated and so many posted at once), but this blog has become a bit of a family & ministry journal, so I want to get caught up anyway.

Without further ado, here are some pics from last year at this time. Zach's junior senior banquet and pictures with school friends. We have been so incredibly thankful for Faith Academy and the friendships our kids have developed through their time there.

(The "GoT" one - Zach was asked to be an "escort" to an 18th bday party - which is a big deal - and costumes were a part of the event.)

Spring Ministry

Ok, so we had spring break, here's some spring ministry. Steve didn't take many pictures on his recent trips, so there's not a lot of those to share, but I'll let the couple pictures he does have serve as place holders anyway.

1st, he traveled down to Bicol to do a training seminar and consultant visit with our Bugkalot tribal partners down there. This picture is of the iconic Mayon Volcano, taken from the airport before he flew home. The trip went well, and it is exciting how God continues to work with the tribals in Bicol. Please be praying with us for our partners there as they seek wisdom for how to address some strategy challenges.

From that trip, he went straight to the island of Mindoro to attend a leadership seminar, where all the pastors of Mangyan tribal churches had gathered. The Mangyan tribe are the ones we just started the first consultation with in March (link here). 

 Steve was so blessed through his time with these leaders.

 We were especially encouraged to hear them decide to work together to financially support new partners who they plan to send out. They were discussing how much it would cost per church per week to support the ones they want to send, and one older man got up after lengthy discussion and said, "Why are we even discussing this? Even if just the men in this room commit to doing this, without our churches doing their part, it is doable. It is something we need to do." 

 Steve's next trip took him up north to the Bugkalot tribal church's annual believer's conference. 1200 believers were gathered for this precious time...but the picture below is all that he took. :) Despite the lack of pictures, it was a wonderful time, and Steve was encouraged with some structural changes that have been made to hopefully make them more effective as a sending entity.

Spring Break

Surprisingly, the boys' spring break coincided with Mikayla's, just on different continents and slightly different climates. :) Our boys enjoyed some time wakeboarding and sailing with friends.

Meanwhile, Mikayla traveled to New England with my parents to tour Boston, Cape Cod and up the Maine coast. It was a little colder for them than for us!

 Thankful for time off, the friends our boys have, and for the great support network Mikayla has in the States.

Mish Mash

Ok, little bit of everything in this post.

First, here's a gorgeous shot (and a rare smog-free day) of the city of Manila, taken from the kids' school, Faith Academy.

Many of you know that I have struggled with issues with my wrist for years now, and it has started really bothering me again. I took a quick trip to Singapore to see my doctor there, and she wanted me to try 6 weeks of various levels of immobilization. I had 2 weeks of this fun brace...but at least it was only 2 weeks! Sleeping was pretty rough. I'm finished now with the 6 weeks of limited/no activity, and unfortunately it didn't work, so I am looking at surgery in July.

 Steve had several trips during the time my wrist was immobilized, so the boys pitched in extra with the cooking and housework.

 The boys were part of organizing a fun event called "Glow Touch". They gathered a BUNCH of glow sticks and then had a couple games of touch rugby in the dark with about 30 of their friends and classmates.

 

The event was a hit, and Zach got a little bonus when he asked a friend to go to the Jr/Sr banquet with him. She said yes. :)

 Zach also got to participate in an out-of-season soccer game. Every year, we get invited to play one of our key rivals during their season, and it is a fun time for the team to reunite and get in one last game for the year. Zach did a great job, and he helped his team secure a hard-fought win.

It was a very physical game, and a funny quote from the game was when a guy (bigger than Zach) shoved him pretty hard, but Zach held his ground. The guy told Zach, "You can't do that! You can't shove me!" Zach replied, "I didn't shove you. I just didn't fall over when you shoved me." The guy blustered, "Well, you can't do that!" Umm... :) Proud of our young man.

 Ben and Zach also recently participated in the annual school musical. Zach was behind the scenes as the crew chief, keeping the stage crew in line. Ben did a great job acting and dancing. I loved his expressions, even when he wasn't in the spotlight.

 Can you find Ben in this one? 

 So very thankful for the many activities that our kids have the privilege to participate in at their school here.