Our Christmas

Steve and I worked together in our free evenings for the last 2 months to make Mikayla a doll house for her Polly Pockets (a little kind of doll for all of you who don't have a little girl :) ). Mikayla absolutely loved it, and we had a blast making it.She even got 2 Polly cars for Christmas - one from the Raush family in Kansas and one from our coworkers here. She was thrilled.
The boys got matching "twist cars". You just twist the steering wheel back and forth and the car moves. The 2 have been having a blast racing around our house and have had only a few collisions in the process.
The kids got these foam disc guns from my (Jen's) parents, and they have been chasing each other around the house with them ever since. Ben didn't quite have them figured out at first though - he kept shooting himself in the face.
After all the present fun, we sat down to a family dinner of grilled salmon and twice-baked potatoes and salad and more. It was a great family day.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well, celebrating our Savior's birth with loved ones.

Our trip

I had a few extra pics that I couldn't fit on the next 2 posts. This first one is a great shot of the 2 cousins enjoying some time together under the fountains. For more pics of our time with them and how it went, check out the next post. Aren't they adorable? This one is of us at the top of a tower shaped like the CN tower (tall and skinny with a ball at the top) that overlooks the awesome twin towers. For more pics of these amazing towers, check out the pics in the post after the next one.
Hope you all had a great Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth with loved ones. Ours was a quiet time at home with "just us". We were very much in need of some down time as a family after all the recent craziness. I will try to get some pics up of our time soon. Love you all!

Fun with the cousins

It had been more than 18 months since we had seen my sister and her family so their 2-year-old did not remember us, and we had never met their baby. But we all had a great time together. We went swimming...Look at her jump!
and played at the playground...
and tried to duck through the fountains by the towers (see the next post for pics of the amazing towers)
and read LOTS of stories - actually, just the same stories repeatedly...

and made a cool gingerbread house...
and worked hard too.
Mikayla was such a massive help; I was so very glad that she came with me. She worked her little tail off - doing dishes, switching laundry, changing diapers, dressing and bathing her cousins, and more! I think my sis and her husband are now considering adopting a 6-year-old... :)

We had a great time as mother and daughter on our trip. I am so proud of our little girl - who's not so little anymore.

The Towers

We got to see some amazing towers on our trip to visit my sister. They are the tallest twin towers in the world, and they are connected by a "sky bridge". They were gorgeous. There is a great mall at the bottom of the towers where we spent some time at Starbucks. :)

The first time we saw them was at night, and they were lit up beautifully. Who needs Christmas lights when you have these towers?My brother took this picture below while lying in a ditch looking up at us! That was right by all the guys selling watches - just one watch per guy and no box or price tag. Makes you more than a little suspicious... And makes you want to watch your stuff around them!
One day we got to go up to visit the sky bridge. It was a great experience and had a gorgeous view of their amazing city. I am not a city person, but if I had to choose a city to live in... the puddles after it rained had CLEAR water in them! I guess you would have to live in a dirty (regular) city to understand the significance of that. And it was so colorful. And no traffic (at least not in comparison to Manila!) It was a great city. The pic below shows the girls enjoying the view from the sky bridge.

We're back!

Just wanted to let you all know that Mikayla and I arrived home safely last night. The trip was tiring but pretty uneventful - except for when we almost ended up going to Jakarta by accident! It was almost time to board, and Kayla needed to run into the bathroom for a sec so we hurried there. When we got back, we had obviously missed an announcement, and there was a group lined up at our gate so we joined the line, showed our passes, and went through. As we were walking across the runway to our plane (things work a little differently in the 3rd world), I became suspicious because no one we were with seemed to be Filipino, and we were going to the Philippines. I started asking around and discovered it was the plane to Jakarta, Indonesia, NOT the one to the Philippines after all! It could have been bad because the plane is "free seating" so there would have been no one to fight with me about a seat assignment and no way to know we were on the wrong plane! Anyway, we headed back to the terminal - only to discover we were now locked out. It all worked itself out in the end, and we did arrive safely - in the PHILIPPINES! :)
Upon our arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to discover several packages awaiting us - and even more pleasantly surprised to discover that the boys had waited for us before opening them! It was so much fun to get Christmas in a box and such an encouragement from home. Thank you so much, O-Hills and Rauschs!

You more observant ones out there may have noticed that Ben is wearing "big-boy underwear". Yes, we are TRYING to potty train him, but we think it is going to be a long process. He is interested and doing ok, but I think he is going through nearly as many underwear as he did diapers. :)

We had an early Christmas with Steve's family on skype this morning, and I thought you might like to see how we manage to share Christmas with our family across the ocean. The kids get to open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa while they watch via video! Skype is great. Notice Ben in his underwear again - that is pretty much his uniform nowadays. :)

I will try to get some pics up soon of our time visiting my sister and her family - so be sure to check back in a couple days for some very cool pics. Thanks for praying for all of us during that time - the surgery and the time went well, and we were so thankful to be able to be there to help them out.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Not Again!

This makes two broken bones for Zach in under a year. Last time he was bucked off of a horse and broke his wrist, this time he put his foot down on a porch swing and the force cracked the tibia (thats the big bone in the lower leg for those of you like me who forgot middle school anatomy.) Thankfully our coworkers son was with him and heard the crack so I brought him in for an X-Ray, just in case. He really looked fine, esp. after some tylenol for the pain, but sure enough they found a crack. He was brave for the whole thing, although he is understandably nervous about having a cast on again after the reaction he had to the last one. For about a week he woke up crying every night, complaining that it was itching him then when we finally had it removed, we found open, bleeding sores on most of his arm. Pray for him that he will not become fearful of his cast and also for Jen who is not able to be here with her little boy who just got hurt.

I guess he comes by it honestly enough, I (His Dad - I actually do know how to post a blog, I just don't very often - ie. this is my first!) broke my leg when I was young as well, and my wrist when I was a little older. He does have me beat in time wise though.

The Christmas Tree

In the midst of the craziness of life, we have not forgotten to do the important things - like set up the Christmas tree as a family! :) Just thought you may like a few pics:

Update on Ben

Hello again, everyone. Just wanted to let you know about Ben's appointments this past week. Thankfully, the speech therapist was able to get us in on Thursday for the 3rd appointment, so we ended up having 3 appointments in 3 days. We were very impressed with the therapist, and he spent a lot of time evaluating Ben's speech - his comprehension as well as production. He found that he is doing great, even is ahead of the game, in his comprehension. His production ability though is significantly delayed. He is 2 yrs and 10 months old, but he speaks as though he is just under 2 yrs. There are 2 possible causes for this - an oral motor problem (oral apraxia) or a simple articulation delay. In an oral motor problem, basically his mouth (tongue etc) doesn't listen to what his brain says to do. So when he tries to produce speech, the signal gets messed up between his brain and his mouth somewhere and it doesn't come out right. This would potentially be a lifetime problem that we would need to help him overcome. The other possible cause is basically just a delay that will resolve itself in time.

Right now, the therapist is leaning towards it being just an articulation problem, but he cannot yet rule out the oral motor problem since Ben is so young (if it is not a severe case, it is much easier to diagnose once they are a little older and their utterances are longer). He is working on developing a home speech therapy program specifically for Ben. I will work with him everyday, and then the therapist wants to see him every 3 months to monitor his progress and adjust the home program as necessary.

Basically right now he is not sure why Ben is delayed in his speech, but a home therapy program will be a help to him regardless of the cause of the problem. We are praying that the program is able to resolve the problem in time and that it is not an oral motor problem which will require more extensive therapy as he grows. Please pray with us in this, and thanks to all of you who have expressed concern and support with this situation.

In "other news", Mikayla and I will leave on Tuesday the 12th to go help my sister while she has her surgery. I am bringing Mikayla with so that I have a companion as I travel (it is safer when the men see me as a mom rather than a young woman) and because she will be a big help with the two little ones. Please pray for safety as we travel and that we would be a blessing while we are there. Please pray too that the surgery on the 14th goes well. We fly home on the 21st, just a couple days before Christmas.

The Destruction part 1

Steve arrived safely home last night after a very tiring 12 hour drive. We are so thankful to have him home today. He said the destruction down there is absolutely unbelievable and indescribable. The whole province is in utter chaos. At least a thousand have been confirmed dead with many, many more still missing. Thousands upon thousands more have lost their homes and livelihoods.
Our partner churches down in the Albay province of Bicol region (the province where the vast majority of the devastation was) were exceedingly thankful for the immediate relief that he was able to bring. And we are thankful to be working with an organization who is ready with funds to help people in the midst of disaster, and thankful for our partner churches and individuals in the States who give to make that a reality. The main 2 things Steve brought down were tarps to be used as temporary shelters until they can rebuild and drinking water (those were the 2 things the pastors in that area said they needed the worst). Here are a couple pics of the tarps already being put to good use.

In addition to bringing the supplies down, Steve also did what he could to help out those affected down there. Since he is good at fixing things, he was able to be a big help. He repaired a generator, a vehicle, a freezer, a water pump and a washing machine while he was down there (I think that is all...)

Water is obviously a huge problem down there right now - ironic after the disaster is due to too much water all at once... Some missionaries down there have a water pump in their back yard so he helped pump gallon after gallon of water to be used in the clean up process.

Steve was able to be a huge help and blessing to the Allens while he was down there (the missionary family whose home flooded there). He stayed with them and was able to help coordinate the clean up effort there (they were understandable a little overwhelmed with all that has happened to them and were thankful for his leadership in "directing traffic" as it were). He was also able to help them get several of their appliances up and running again. Please continue to be in prayer for them as it will be months before they have electricity or water again and they lost so much of their personal belongings. I did a post on their behalf to their blogspot, and you may want to check it out www.allenupdate.blogspot.com to know how better to pray for them. They are going to work for another week then will take a few days off in Manila to re-group. They aren't sure yet where they will spend the holidays...

On the way home, Steve was able to stop through Iriga, the city where we hope to locate, and check on the 2 houses that are options for us to move into. We are thankful to report that neither one of them had flooded! While there was some wind damage on the outside, they both looked pretty much ok. Here is a pic of "House #1" that I failed to get a pic of last time...

Continue on to the next post to see a few more pics that Steve took down in Bicol.

Thanks to all of you who sent notes after our last update - it was SUCH a blessing to have an inbox full of encouragement from home. It has been a rough week (month!), and that meant so much. We head up to Manila today for Ben's appointments. Please pray with us that the doctor will work with us so we can get all 3 appointments in before I have to leave to go to help my sister with her surgery - I leave on the 12th.

The Destruction part 2

Here a few more pics Steve took while he was down in Bicol... Power lines litter the roads and are draped over the houses. It will likely be months before they have electricity there. It looks like even when we move down in February, it will still be out then.This hill is covered with coconut trees, but they wind has denuded them all of their branches. That is some incredibly powerful wind!
Massive power line poles just bent in half or broke in two like toothpicks.
The roads are debris-covered and barely passable. Steve said that there are some long sections of 2-lane highway that were covered entirely by the volcanic mud and there is only a one-lane ditch dug through the middle now to allow vehicles to pass. He was unable to get pics of the worst stretches because he could not stop along them.

You can see where the road here was washed out by the river. There was actually a squatter tenement in the center of this photo before the typhoon. There are no known survivors. Please continue in prayer for this area.

The devastation is complete, but we are confident that God will transform it into something good in the lives of many. Please pray that many lost souls will be saved as a result of this. Please pray that as we continue to reach out in that area by bringing relief goods and helping them get back on their feet that our efforts will have a lasting spiritual impact not just a temporal physical one.

A note to the tooth fairy

Just thought you guys may enjoy something on a little "lighter" note than what all our posts have been of late. If you have been keeping up with our blog, you saw Mikayla's big event for the week. Well, apparently she doesn't trust her parents to play the tooth fairy role because here is the note she left on our pillow before she went to bed...

I am happy to report that we did not forget her present! :)

As far as an update from Bicol - for those of you watching the news, you know how devastated the region is. The government was saying the roads were impassable when Steve made it through in our 4-wheel-drive pick up truck with relief goods for our partner churches down there. It was a long trip, but he made it safely and has been working his tail off from dawn til late at night. He is exhausted but doing well, and he has been able to be a huge help down there. The churches were so thankful for the supplies (he brought mainly drinking water and tarps to use as temporary shelters - those were the things they said they needed the worst). The Allens have been thankful for the help as well. Yesterday he was able to coordinate a cleaning crew who came by to help them out and also get their car and generator up and running again. Today he hopes to work on the refridgerator and freezer and a few other things. Please continue to pray that he will have the energy to be able to accomplish a lot during the days he is down there. He plans to leave tomorrow morning at 4 am so he can get through the really bad stretch of road (the highway was covered with chest-high mud so there is a one-lane ditch dug through the middle) before the traffic picks up. He plans to stop through the city where we hope to move in February (looks like we will probably be without electricity even by then) and check out the damage there, particularly to the houses we are hoping to rent. He hopefully will arrive home late tomorrow night. Please pray for his safety as he travels, particularly since he will be so tired.

On Tuesday morning, I will leave for Manila with the kids to take Ben to his speech therapy appointments (see our update for details). I hope to return Friday afternoon.

Thanks for praying for Zach's boil - it is looking better now after 2 1/2 days of antibiotics. It still looks pretty bad, but it has not gotten any worse and the redness does look more contained (it was about 9 inches in diameter). So it looks like we will not need to get IV antibiotics, but we are still watching it really closely.

My sister (see the post after this one to get up to speed) has surgery scheduled on December 14 to get her gall bladder out. Her husband has been sick, they have 2 little kids, and they have only just recently moved to their city so don't have many contacts yet. Some of you know my brother lives in the same city, but he and his wife have to leave the country for a 10 days for a visa run so they will not be there. All that to say, they could really use some help while she has her surgery and recovers. So I will be flying there for about 10 days, leaving on the 12th. I am so glad for the chance to help them out this way, but please be in prayer for us all though as these are busy days.

We survived!

The typhoon lost a lot of power as it crossed land so this one did not end up being as bad for us as previous ones. Not even any trees on the house this time! :) However, the people in Bicol were devastated by this one. Hundreds at least died from the flooding, and everything is destroyed. Steve left this morning to drive down there to bring a load of tarps for people to use as shelter for the nights ahead until they can rebuild their homes. He will drop them off with the pastors of the churches in Legaspi. Then he will go to the Allens home to help them for the weekend (they are the family we stayed with while we were down there a few weeks ago - check out the blog below the one about Mikayla on this page). He hopes to be able to help them get a lot done before he heads back home. He will also stop through Iriga to see how the 2 houses we are looking at fared through the storm and so we know if that neighborhood floods or not (we have been told it doesn't, but now seems like a good time to check on that...) Thanks for your continued prayers for us! Amazingly, we were only without electricity for about 15 hours this time! It is wonderful to have it back on already.

Another prayer request - my sister who lives with her family here in SE Asia (in a country not far from here), just found out this week that she has 100 gall stones! Her husband has been sick with either a virus or with Dengue fever. They have 2 little kids (a 2 year old and a baby), so they will need some help if the surgeons say she needs to have her gall bladder out. The first surgeon said as much, and they are getting a second opinion tomorrow (Saturday morning). So it looks like I will be flying to their country this next week to help them out. Steve will come back in time to take the kids from me before I head out.

Also please pray for Zach as he has a staph infection on his hind end. He is on oral antibiotics, and we are hopeful that will be effective enough that he will not need IV ones in the hospital.

We covet your prayers...

Urgent Prayer Need!

We need your prayers! Maybe some of you have heard about the Super Typhoon that is headed out way right now. It should be over our city in about 12 hours (early Friday morning our time, Thursday afternoon USA time). It has already hit in Bicol, and our new friends down there - the Allens - texted asking for prayer. Their entire downstairs is flooded and everything is ruined. Living room, dining room, kitchen, and also the whole schoolroom where all their homeschooling supplies, curriculum, and completed work for the year is stored. They desperately need your prayers as they are very discouraged right now. They were also hit very hard by another typhoon less than 2 months ago. Please pray with us for them. Please also pray for us as this looks to be the worst one yet...

You can check out its progress by going to www.typhoon2000.ph . Click on PAGASA to get a more detailed report.

Mikayla lost something very important to her today. It was something that she has had for more than 5 years now, and she has always kept it right with her! She was wondering if maybe you can help her find it. If we tell you what she lost, can you offer some suggestions where she should look? I am sure she would appreciate your help...She lost her 2 front teeth!
She is one very happy 6-year-old because we have been telling her that she can start getting a little allowance once she loses a tooth ON HER OWN (remember the 2 teeth the dentist pulled last year? Those didn't count for this, even though the Tooth Fairy still made a visit to our house afterwards.) She actually only got one of them out on her own; the other one had to be pulled by the dentist because her permanent tooth was coming in wrong and was not forcing the baby one out like it was supposed to. So we had to have it pulled in hopes that the permanent one will shift into the right position. She was brave once again though, and she is very happy that she was able to lose the one ON HER OWN before she went to the dentist.
So any suggestions where she should look? Maybe under her pillow... :)

Bicol trip - last installment :)

Hello again everyone. I thought I should finally get those last pics from our Bicol trip on here for those of you who are just dying to see them (ahem - Joanna! :) ). For the last several days that we were in Bicol, we stayed with a family who is working in Legaspi, about 1 1/2 hours south of where we hope to locate. They have 2 kids, and Mikayla and Zach hit it off wonderfully with Carly and Caleb. Ben tagged along for the ride and had a blast too.

We got to visit a wildlife park there in Legaspi, and the kids had a blast feeding the goats...

...climbing on the giant dinosaur...

...sliding down the slide...
... riding bikes...
...and going for a boat ride...
While this isn't the best pic of Mikayla, notice the horse in the background trying to get a hair-ribbon snack!
Zach and Caleb had an absolute ball together the whole weekend. While they had a blast, it was not a very good weekend for the toads in the area. Their favorite activity every night was catching every toad they could get their hands on. They even named them all! I don't know that any of them actually died from the toading spree, but I am guessing the toads were pretty happy to see us go!
We all had such a good time with our new friends, and we are so thankful that they will be living near us in just a few months. It will be wonderful to have some American friends not too far away for the kids, and Steve and I are looking forward to having some friends to hang with too. Our Heavenly Father truly does supply our every need, doesn't He? Thanks, Allens, for a wonderful time, and thank you, Father, for providing some great friends for us down in Bicol! I think we will leave the toad-catching to Zach and Caleb though...

Keeping you posted...

Well, thank you for your continued prayers for our family. It was a rough week, but we remain encouraged in the peace of our Heavenly Father. Thank you to those of you who loved on us through emails and comments on this site and texts and skype calls... I don't know what we would do without all of you! All our appliances seem to be up and running again with only a few more "bugs" to work out. We were not able to get the $ back from our puppy, but fixing the other appliances did not end up being as expensive as we thought they may be.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went up to Manila to the annual gathering of all our company personnel on the island of Luzon. With that many people in one confined space, it was tough at times for the introverts lurking within us, but it was a sweet time of fellowship and praising our Jehovah Jireh. We hope yours was equally sweet!

I also finally did publish that 2nd post about our time down in Bicol, but you will have to look a few posts down the page to see it - "Hidden Waterfalls". It is a great story and some fun pics - be sure to check it out!

We need your prayers

It was a very rough weekend, one of the hardest we have had here. After doing all we could to nurse the puppy back to health, she died in the night last night. It was heart-breaking, especially thinking of the kids and how they had been praying so faithfully that God would make the puppy get well. This time He chose not to, and that has been tough. In addition, our fridge, stove, water dispenser and computer died on us this weekend (oh - and my very favorite shirt got ruined - not a big deal, but on top of everything else it sure felt like one...). We think the fridge and stove have been fixed (time will tell), and the computer is in the shop - we don't have a prognosis for it yet. As you can imagine these things are all an incredible emotional strain not to mention the financial side of it. The puppy, while it was a cute little gift for the kids, was also a sizable financial investment to help with security once we get to Bicol, and now that $ was for naught. All these things have just added to our stress level (which was already quite high). "Our buckets were already full" as we say in my family, and each of these things just overflowed the bucket a little more. It has been a rough weekend and we appreciate your prayers for us. We know that none of these incidents really matter in the large scheme of things, but they don't feel very insignificant right now. We know that God cares even about these little things and has a plan already in place and at work to make all of this work together for good. It just doesn't feel very good at the moment. We are trusting and resting in Him, but we would appreciate you taking a moment to lift us up before our Father.

Please Pray for our Puppy!

Today is a hard day at our house. Our new puppy is very sick. The vet said it is Parvo virus, and only about 2 out of 10 puppies survive it. So we are doing all we can to keep her comfortable and hydrated, but it feels like we are just waiting for her to die. It is so difficult.

We are also concerned about Gizmo catching it as it is very contagious to other dogs. Hopefully his vaccination against the disease will prove effective.

Please pray with us that she pulls through this disease and that Gizmo does not catch it. Pray for our family as we deal with this.

Oh - and our computer is also quite sick. We have not found a virus yet, but it is having some serious problems. So we may be off-line for a while until we can get it fixed. Steve was able to get it started this morning after working on it for several hours, but he doesn't think the problem is resolved yet so we are not sure if we can get it going again once we turn it off today.

We feel the need for your prayers.