Getting Organized

We have been working hard together in Nate's office to get everything organized! We just worked four hours on the inventory and the filing cabinet. We haven't had time to organize since Nate first came to the Philippines, so there were boxes, papers, and who knows what. Since we stayed here this summer we were able to sort through all the music, lesson plans, resources, books, binders and papers. What a project! Whew!

We made labels for the instruments and a system in the computer for tracking with them. At one glance we will know who donated it, who has played it, what condition it is in, and who has it currently checked out.

I also organized the books for Nate--piano, strings, band, archives....it is becoming quite a wonderful music library! We are really weak on CDs and DVDs so if anyone out there wants to send us a collection we will put them on our empty CD shelf! We need to collect samples to use in teaching of all kinds of music. DVDs for teaching would be great--even to get kids into another world (example:symphony--we don't have that here so they could see it on DVD).

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be an advertisement but a praise! God has helped us prepare, and He has provided many resources for us to use. We even put a binder together with dividers in one for each class, so we are all ready to start our lesson plans. Staff meeting is tomorrow and school starts Wednesday! Thanks for praying for our first couple weeks of school--they will be exciting!

Teaching In the Philippine School

We were invited to teach today at one of the private Christian Filippino schools. It was our second time visiting one, but our first time teaching at one. We got all dressed up and had our lessons prepared. I was excited and nervous!

Nate taught music behind that wall you see, and I taught photography in this classroom pictured. We both integrated the Bible into our lessons so the kids would learn more about how to worship God with music and photography!

It was so fun to see their little brown eyes and to hear them all greeting us. They were so happy to have us visit and all thought it was funny when we greeted them in Cebuano. They were surprised we knew how to speak their language! We of course taught in English, which they also know, but it is always fun to use their language too.

When we left the school the principal walked us out, and many of the students followed her and waived good-bye. Their voices rang out "Bye!" I'm sure we will all remember that for a long time! Thank you, Lord, for the chance to share your love in a Pilippine school! May the students we met learn to worship you in everything.

Be Praying For Us...School Starts Next Week!

The title basically says it all here....I just want to remind you to be praying for us as school is starting next week! Nate and I are mixed with excitement and nerves, just as we are sure the students are also feeling.

Pray that we will receive God's grace (it doesn't have to be perfect for the first day!)
Pray that we will be healthy (not good to miss school or feel unwell)
Pray that we will get our seminary homework done (not too time-consuming as the two courses overlap for about two months)
Pray that we will be prepared for our classes and for our students (we love them!)

Thank you for praying, and praise God with us for such a wonderful ministry opportunity!

What We've Been Doing

Hello everyone! We haven't posted much these last few weeks of summer. School will start in a little over a week! Nate and I are dilligently organizing the office and music, preparing the instruments to check out to students, planning schedules and strategies and praying that God will give us grace as we teach our students.

We have also been busy taking three night classes with lots of reading and observations to do. We are learning so much about classroom management, which will be very helpful to us those first days of school. There is so much to learn about teaching styles and effective teaching methods. Taking these classes this summer was a great way for us to sharpen our teaching skills and develop new strategies. We are also learning about philosophy of Christian Education, which gives us much to think about! Don't worry-we tell ourselves--we don't have to be the perfect master teachers in one week!

Other than these preparations and studies we have been enjoying each other much and have been playing music in the home together. It is so fun to hear Nate practicing his trumpet or practicing the saxaphone. I often like to get out my violin and play while Nate is playing piano. We love to make music together and worship the Lord! That's about it for now--but thank you for remembering to pray for us as we prepare for school! School starts August 2 for us (staff report on July 31 officially). Pray for health and vision and grace. Thank you!

Treasures Termites Destroy

It's Sunday night here in the Philippines. We had a wonderful weekend of reading and playing instruments and having people over. Our home is finally coming together to where we can have company--so come on over for a visit!

Our dinner guests were actually translators and were telling us how they just got back from the U.S. They have had their stuff in storage for one-and-a-half years, so they just uncovered it. When they opened the room with all their cardboard boxes thousands and thousands of termites covered their possessions in a haze. When they lifted one box all the critters disappeared into holes. They have had the trouble of finding many things eaten, like a graduation tassel, pictures, cardboard boxes, etc. They also found that the sticky fluid that termites leave was left all over their stuff, sealing plates together and ruining picture frames.

We told them about our finding the other week--we moved the piano (on loan to us from a Korean family). We were going to do a routine annual cleaning behind the furniture when we found a pile of sawdust behind the piano. It turned out that the buk-buk (wood mites) were living in the piano and were eating a hole out of the back of the piano! What a discovery! What are we supposed to do about that (the Filipinos have a solution they told me about).

Well our guests told us that the Cebuano translation of the verse Matthew 6.19 actually uses the word "termites" instead of "moths" It truly is a vivid picture for Filipinos and those of us living here that things on earth are temporary.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy or where theives break in and steal.

Cebuano translation: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where termites and rust destroy..."

Certainly we must store up treasure in heaven!

One Year Anniversary!

We praise the Lord as we celebrate today one year of marriage!! We are so thankful for each other and for our families. Yesterday morning we got to talk to my family on the web cam!! They were all in Lincoln and we saw them live! Oh, it was so wonderful. Just a year ago we were all together in Omaha for our wedding. I remember that time with such a grateful heart knowing how long and far so many of our friends and family traveled just to be with us. I cannot stop praising God for our wonderful families and for our friends. Thank you, Lord!

We also praise God for providing all our needs and for allowing us to serve Him together in the Philippines. We had such a wonderful first year of marriage, teaching together and growing together in Christ. We praise God for that and thank Him with grateful hearts! Oh, we love each other more every day, and we know that many people have prayed faithfully for our marriage! May you continue to remember us in prayer as we begin our second year of marriage--praying that we will glorify God in our lives and that we will keep Him in the center of our marriage. Praise God with us for His faithfulness and grace this year!

"Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful."

Philippine School Observation

"It's obvious you're an American," one boy told me.
"I thought all Americans had blue eyes--you have green eyes," another boy observed.
"Are you rich?" a little boy asked me.
"I think I've seen you on TV," another student decided.

These were the quotations that stick in my mind from our recent visit to a local Philippine school. Nate and I had an assignment to observe some classrooms, so we thought we could get to know more about the Philippines by observing there. The kids were so fascinated by our presence, as you can tell from the above quotes. Wow, it was such an interesting experience!

I won't be able to describe all my observations here on this site, but I will say some of the interesting facts we did learn about this school with over 1,000 students!

--School starts at 7:10a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m.
--The school year begins June 5th and ends in March.
--Grades 1-6 are called "Grade school" and grades 7-10 are called "high school."
--Grade 10 is the last grade before college.
--Students stay in one classroom all day but the teachers rotate and come to them.
--The classrooms have open windows on two walls so air flows through and so does sound.
--The teachers and students all wear uniforms.
--The kids all bring suitcases on wheels and rest them beside their desks.
--Most subjects are taught in English, their second language.

After class the kids surrounded us and asked us so many questions. They were so happy to have us visit. One girl in class would raise her hand and answer a question. Then she would turn around and look at me to see if I noticed her answer. When she made eye contact with me I smiled at her, and she smiled and sat up even more straight. She was eager to do her best in our presence!

One boy told me about how he was in section C. It seemed he was telling me they group the kids based on their abilities to excel--so I don't know what section C was. I just told him, "Wow! So you must be very bright!" He shyly shook his head no, and I said, "No, I think you are bright-kaayo (very bright!)" He smiled from ear to ear and listened to every word of encouragement I could give him.

I'm sure both we and the students will remember the day we visited the Philippine schools!

Precious Peter's Collared Shirt

This time I'll let my Mom do the writing. She e-mailed me this story about Peter, my precious nephew, and I laughed and laughed. I thought you would like it (and I hope that's okay with my mom!). You know you must have a collared shirt to golf at my dad's country club--as Peter well understands....

Excerpt from my mother's e-mail:
That reminds me of a cute story Sarah has about Peter. You know how he is so proud to pick out a "collared" shirt whenever he goes golfing with Grandpa at Ironwood. Last week he was getting dressed to golf and he seemed a bit puzzled about his shirt. Finally he asked Sarah, "What is the collar?" It turns out, all his collared shirts had a logo of some sort embroidered on the left chest, but this time he ran into a plain but collared shirt. Sarah was trying to assure him that this shirt was just fine for golf, but he couldn't find the "collar." Sarah finally figured out the problem, and now dear, dear, precious Peter has an accurate definition of a collared shirt! You just never know what goes through a child's perception of the world.

That reminds me of another Peter story. Last Monday I had Peter and Clara in the car and I was quizzing Peter about his weekend, etc. He reported that Sunday evening they had gone out to eat supper at the "Eyeball Restaurant." Hmmmmmmmm. Exactly where is the Eyeball Restaurant? Perhaps it's a new kids place, I thought. Or one by the optician's office? Or is there a picture of a big clown or monster with great big eyes? Or do you wear 3D theatre glasses? I was puzzled. He reported it was the one he had been to when he was a baby.....Hmmm again. "What did you eat there?" "Pancakes," he answered. "OHHHH! Was it the "IHOP" restaurant? The International House of Pancakes? They call that one the IHOP," I questioned him with a huge new insight. "Yes, that's the one," he affirmed. I dared not burst out into laughter, both for the sake of his precious sincere soul, and for the sake of not driving off the road. But my heart soared for the rest of the day. "Thank you, Lord, for these precious, precious moments!"