a trip to remember

Early on February 3rd, Michael left for the airport to join the other middle school students traveling up to the Manila area for a week on OE - outdoor education.

It was a week packed full of history lessons, spiritual challenge, ministry, hikes, games, and environmental education.

All the students at the airport...ready to go!  Yes, Michael's in there somewhere... :)

On the first day, the students visited
the memorial at Bataan, a famous WWII site.

 After five months of American involvement in the war, and bitter fighting in the Philippines,

60-80,000 Filipino and American soldiers were forced to march a cruel 80 miles under tortuous circumstances.  It's now known as the Bataan Death March, and this is the place where the march finally came to an end.

They also stopped at Mt. Samat National Shrine, built by Ferdinand Marcos in 1966

in memory of the Filipinos who fought and died on Bataan.

The cross is 320 feet - 250 to the arm, 

where the students could look out from a viewing gallery.

This excellent teacher, Mr. S, has been to this area about 25 times,
and is a master at sharing fascinating historical accounts.

On the next day, Michael's squad worked with students from a local school, singing for them, presenting the gospel, playing with them, and sharing Wordless Book bracelets.

the school was excited to have them come, and did their own presentation for the visitors!

hamming it up...Michael 4th from right

Wednesday, Michael's squad went to the beach.

There they played games, swam, and learned about sea turtles.

Michael (2nd from left) and his group measure and observe a baby sea turtle

 The activity ended with a grand finale of releasing a troupe of baby sea turtles into the sea!

The students slept on the beach that night, in hollowed out sand beds

The next day was Michael's favorite, as they visited the island of Corregidor,

a famous WWII stronghold.

 "Sleep my sons, your duty done...

for freedoms light has come.

Sleep in the silent depths of the sea,

or in your bed of hallowed sod

Until you hear at dawn

the low clear reveille of GOD."

Here they were granted special permission to climb the guns of WWII,

Michael with his squad - 2nd from the top!

jump off a long, tall pier into the warm ocean,

and not only see, but actually climb around in the ruins of  blasted WWII barracks.

They also had an adventurous night hike through the Malinta Tunnel,

in areas still littered with rubble and remains of the war.

Michael on right

 They visited the "Bat Cave" - an old munitions storage area that had been bombed.

The heat at the time of the explosion was so intense, it turned the sand to glass.

Here Michael found an old bullet casing as a souvenir.

 What a great adventure! 

And what a great squad to share it with.

THANKS to Mr. B. (Michael's squad leader)

and to all the other teachers who made this amazing trip possible!
(and to Ms. M, who took all of these photos, except the first one...thank you for sharing!!)

What was something Michael took away from this trip?

I'll let him tell you in his own words: 

"During WWII, Corregidor was nicknamed 'The Rock' 

because it was a stronghold that remained safe from the enemy for a very long time.  

And just like how Corregidor was a stronghold for many soldiers, 

God is our stronghold and our Rock, 

and we need to serve Him with all our heart, 

and give Him first place in everything."

serious fun

This morning the local Filipino homeschool group

joined us for an aeronautics workshop

taught by Mark

(my intelligent and creative husband)

The kids had a great time experimenting with airflow

and Bernoulli's Principle,

watching movies of airplanes being built in fast motion,

and experiments with aerodynamics.

Then the older students branched off to make a variety 

of paper gliders to fly

(even the parents made a few!)

While the preschool students made their own fun,

learning the names of the parts of an airplane,

making roto-copters,

and watching them spin from way up as high as we could go!

The preschool grand finale was to make edible airplanes,

with a banana fuselage, graham cracker wings, a cookie tail, and

candy windows.

How sweet it is...

Okay, this one didn't quite look like an airplane,

but it was still some serious fun.

Thank you to the Homeschool Network 

and all of the wonderful families who attended today. 

 We were blessed by you!

february love

art by Amy

the gift that made me cry

My friend Leanne, who is a volunteer nurse at a local maternity clinic, texted me last Wednesday morning.  She wanted to drop by for a minute.  I brushed my hair and put on a smile to meet her at my gate.  Leanne came in and handed me a big, golden mango saying, “Yesterday I delivered a baby girl at the clinic.  I had in my purse a couple of the baby blankets your sister Judy had sent for the new babies, so I gave a pink one to the mother.  She was so happy, she gave me two mangoes in return!  So I want to share this one with you, since the blanket was a gift from your sister.”

I couldn’t help it.  I began to cry.

What Leanne didn’t know yet was that earlier that very morning I had received an email from the US from my sister Judy, to tell me that she had been given a very different sort of gift from the hand of God.   Judy had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  

Judy is my closest sister, both in age and in friendship.  She is the one who shared a bedroom with me from before I could remember.  She’s the one who made a list on the inside of our closet door of fun games to play when we were bored.  She’s the sister who loaned me her Charlie Brown books to take to the hospital when I was hospitalized as a six-year-old for surgery, and then made me cards and bought me presents with her allowance to cheer me up.  She’s the one who tolerated her 5^th grade sister at her high school basketball games, took me to see Chariots of Fire, twice, at the theater, let me borrow her much more fashionable clothes, wrote me long entertaining letters from Europe when she worked in a Swiss camp for a summer, discussed with me theological questions deep into the night, and now sends me boxes filled with the school books we need, special gifts from home, and baby blankets for new babies who have no blankets.

Judy and me in November 2012

 How can we possibly call this evil, Judy’s cancer, a gift from God?  

Joni Eareckson Tada, speaks with years of experience about God’s faithfulness in suffering:

“Sometimes God allows what He hates 
to accomplish what He loves.”

That’s a gift.  That God plans for our lives the very things that will fit us most for Heaven, even when those things are the hardest things on earth.

Judy is convinced that this cancer is what God allowed.  She wrote:

” I have been … realizing that my worry is centered in my wanting to control everything. It's like me being on an airplane and questioning the pilot about everything he does, annoying him and being a back seat driver when I know nothing about flying or the skies ahead. And the pilot says, ‘Don't worry, just leave it to me, I'll do the flying, you just sit back and relax and read a book or something.’  

So I'm trying to not be a back seat driver to God, but to just allow Him to fly (my husband, our sons) and me through the unknown skies ahead, and trust Him to carry us safely through.”

I wish I could take this burden for Judy.  It’s very hard to be so far away at a time like this.  But I can stand behind her, cheering her on as she bears the burden, encouraging her to hold on to the knowledge that God is faithful, and that He’s a pilot to be trusted.   

When Leanne arrived at my door on Wednesday morning, my heart was too raw with the heavy news.  I didn’t think I could talk about Judy’s cancer yet.  But when Leanne held out that gift, I knew this was God’s provision for me, that it was time already to share the load. (Thank you, Leanne, for being there at that moment.) 
  
Will you share the load too, by praying today for Judy and for her family? 

Judy has an appointment next week at the local cancer center, where she will meet with multiple doctors to discuss a plan for treatment.  Please pray that God will continue to calm her heart, and for restful sleep instead of wakeful hours.   

Thank you for praying.  We are convinced that God hears and that,

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 
James 5:16 

May God show off His glory, even through the gifts that make us cry.

Giving thanks,

barbara

no bones about it

It was a hot day, and as usual a few degrees hotter in the kitchen as I began preparations for dinner over the gas stove.  I slid a big pot of boiled chicken to the counter, and began to cut it up, food for several meals in coming weeks.  As I stripped the bones clean, I put them in the trash.  At one point our helper, Bebeng, came into the room and noticed what I was doing.  “It’s okay I take the bones?” she asked me with an eager look on her face.

Those bones, and the extra fat I had also discarded, were a treasure to her.  She told me that she would boil them more to make chicken soup, and that the fat is filling.  Can you blame me if I didn’t clean the bones quite so carefully after that?  After all, what’s chicken soup without a little chicken?    

But who would have thought that bones and fat could be so valued?  

 The Psalmist knew their worth:

My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
Psalm 63:5

I wonder, is my soul satisfied with what God has offered for my nourishment today?  Do I joy in the marrow and fatness, or do I only want the choice pieces of meat?  Am I only enthusiastic about some of His Word – the parts that taste good to me?  Or do I also find satisfaction in the parts that I find harder to digest?

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48:10

But he knows the way that I take; 
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
Job 23:10

Morsels like these are ones I’d rather skip.  Throw out with the trash.  But what will I be missing out on if I do?  His Word must be taken in whole, or not at all.  I need every last bit.

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, 
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:4

The bones may be hard, but they are for my good.

rest in His goodness

The rain has stopped, 

and the sun showed its face today, drying my backed-up laundry, 

and the muddy homes of thousands whose houses flooded this weekend.  

This quote from Joni Eareckson Tada put things in perspective for me today:

“I’m grateful that He only allows to slip through His sovereign fingers 

that which He’s convinced will help our souls and fit us better for eternity.”

What comfort, to rest in His goodness...

water under the bridge

Saturday afternoon here in Davao the rain began to fall.

And it wouldn't stop.  All through the night,

into Sunday morning, rain continued to descend.

 As the tide rose, too,

the Davao River began to swell and flood,

and some of the houses like these below were swept away,
devoured by the surge.

Walls from other homes at the river's edge were ripped away,

leaving a cutaway view inside, 

and for those families, an alarming view of the rushing river below.

Several local neighborhoods were flooded.

Mark captured these photos as we rode home from church yesterday.

 People hauled their belongings out to drier land, 

anxiously wondering how much higher the waters would rise.

Down side streets we glimpsed Filipinos wading through waters up to their chest.

 Over 30,000 Davao residents evacuated their homes this weekend,

often leaving one family member behind to protect their possessions from looters.

 As we crossed over the Davao River yesterday,

crowds lined the bridge, apprehensively watching the rushing river.

We're thankful that the rain finally did stop later on Sunday,

and when Mark ran through some of these same neighborhoods Monday morning, 

he found that the water had receded significantly.

**but in waking during Monday night I again heard the rain falling,
and now, Tuesday morning, it continues to pour.
Join us in praying for the families who have lost their homes, 
and for grace to those around us who are working to practically help them...

Muddy Michael, second from right...

We've had no flooding in our street,

but all that mud sure did make for a colorful bunch of Ultimate Frisbee players on Sunday afternoon!

I didn't forget!

“Why don't you choose a plant to take home?”  We were at the house of our friend, Ate Fely, last January for a special event, when she proudly showed me her collection of potted plants.  Fely loves these plants.  She once shared that she battles a form of idolatry, because her first desire every morning is to go and tend to her beloved plants.  And here she stood offering one of them to me.  

Together with Ate Fely last May

Honored though I was, I knew that our family would soon be leaving the country for several months, and I really didn’t want one of Fely’s plants to go neglected in our absence.  “May I choose one when we return?” I asked, and, understanding, Fely agreed.

Fast forward a whole year. Yesterday morning a car pulls up in front of our house, and Ate Fely hops out. “I didn’t forget!” she calls out with a beaming smile.  She opens her trunk and lifts out a heavy pot, brimming with bougainvillea and philodendron for me. 

Fely's special gift

 Today as I stand admiring my new plants brightening the tiny courtyard outside our kitchen window, I wonder at Fely's memory for kindness.  I'm ashamed, knowing that my own is woefully weak.  Fely's thoughtfulness reminds me of how grateful I am for God's constancy; that though I am all too quick to forget Him, He never forgets His promises to those He loves.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, 

for He who promised is faithful.  

 Hebrews 10:23

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

-Robert Robinson, 1758

the end of transition

Life may have remained just as lazy and ordinary for some around here,

Our cat, Tsinelas, was waiting for us upon our return, and this is still her favorite spot.

but not for us!

Our days since arriving back almost two weeks ago

have been packed full with cleaning,

Ate Bebeng helps to scour the kitchen

(we found it hard to believe just how much dirt can accumulate in a few short months!)

Dirt-covered storage boxes packed just before we left.  Yes, these were INSIDE the house in our absence.

 Another friend helped us to clean,

and here she is, delightedly wielding the new shop-vac.

When we went shopping for a small vaccum cleaner,

this is the only option we found.

But it's fabulous!  

I'm giving thanks for what might just be my new favorite appliance.

We've also been working on some minor repairs,

and fighting off ant invasions (what's new?)

We painted Michael's and Amy and Elise's rooms,

and the Legos and the keyboard were unpacked and dusted off.

Michael's room WAS clean...yesterday!

The second semester of school

 started back up again - both classes at the local school

and our home school routine,

but some of us have found some time for fun in the midst of it all.

Lego Rivendell, from Tolkien's books

Mark and I are back to work, 

and it feels good to be back in our routines,

all through, at least for a little while, with transitions!

Laminating an order of bookmarks

“Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, 

but when you look back, everything is different...”
- C.S. Lewis

there and back again

We are officially back in the Philippines again,

battling jet lag,
joyful to see 'old' friends,

bunking at a guest house while we
clean up our home before moving back in!

New Year's Eve at Mark's sister's home in the Seattle area

ended with games up to the stroke of midnight

(okay, for some of us...others of us read books!)

 New Year's Day more family joined in the games,

 and we enjoyed a delicious celebratory meal

and scrumptious dessert together!

(Thank you, Mandy and Mom!)

January 2nd we left frosty Seattle,

saying final good byes at the airport,

and beginning our 29-hour journey back to Davao.

The trip was long but smooth,

except for a bit of intestinal trouble.
But now we are here,
healthy,
safe,
and so very thankful for all of your prayers along our way!

goodbye

Saying goodbye is like a mini-death, a loss, a separation.  It can’t really be done well, because, like death, it’s due to our sinful condition.  Separation from those we love on earth brings grief and sadness.  No amount of hugs and “I’ll miss you’s” is adequate to dispel the pain.  We were not created for goodbyes.  In Heaven we’ll know what we long and groan for here – the end of partings.  The ceaseless unity and fellowship of souls specifically designed for such oneness. (John 17)

Just like in death, saying goodbye hurts.  And it hurts because in some way you have blessed our lives.You have demonstrated something of Christ to us.  Thank you. 

 If you had not, it would have been easy to say goodbye.

And then we remember the goodbyes Christ said for us, so that we might know Heaven’s long hello.  

We don’t grieve like those without Christ.  Our hope is grounded in nothing less than the promises of God.  Now we get to go and share that hope.  And your prayers blaze the trail; they avail much – though we don’t understand how or why, we know they do.

So thank you for praying for us.  Please pray that, as a result of our goodbye, there will be richer, sweeter, fuller glory to God for all eternity from His entire kingdom, His perfected bride, His completed body; not one stone of His church missing.  

For He alone is worthy!