Breaking the Fast of Ramadan

For the past 30 days, our Muslim friends have been observing the fast of Ramadan. On Friday, the fast ended, so we were invited to one of their celebration feasts for the holiday of Idul Fitr. Here is Mr. Becker filling his plate with the Malaysian specialty dishes.
This is the family who invited us to their lovely home. Mr. Becker teaches saxaphone to the student on the far left of the photo. The father is here in the Philippines because he is the Consulate General of Malaysia. Their son on the far right is a senior at the high school where I teach. What a kind family.
One of the ladies I met posed for a picture for me. They usually have their hands painted three days before the celebration just like the Indian "Henna" painting. She said you have to sit a really long time without doing anything. Very interesting and unique!
This was a plaque located by their front door. I asked what it said in Arabiac--"Allah our God".
Here's me (the American woman in red!). I love asking questions and learning about other people's beliefs and customs. The host was so gracious to explain everything to me. I also met these two other people who work for a local Muslim newspaper. They even asked me to email them my pictures for use in their publication. What a great experience it was!

28th Birthday!

"I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."

Psalm 146.2

Thank you, Lord, for 28 wonderful years! You have blessed me with such a great life and great people in my life. Most of all, you have blessed me with faith in Jesus Christ for salvation!

This is me on my 28th birthday!! I have had a great day so far. I woke up early to call my mom and my sister. I got to wear a new green shirt! The sky was blue and the colors of the day were vibrant.

I share my birthday with twins from Colombia, Susi and Pablo. They are freshmen students and are very fun to celebrate with!

Their mom brought a chocolate cake, and they even let me help blow out the candles. How sweet!

Other students were also thoughtful in making my day extra special. One student hand-made a card and wrote very thoughtful comments. Another student surprised me with a present (a lovely necklace just perfece for me) and a thoughtful card (I love thoughtful cards) and a cake just for me! Yum! God is so good to me! How fun!

I praise God for all these wonderful people in my life and for this special day! I love birthdays!

After we had a half-day, the staff had pizza for lunch and they made a peanut-butter cheesecake! Yum! I loved it!

Then we had parent-teacher conferences for the end of first quarter. It was so fun to get to see lots of wonderful people all in one day--yet one at a time, just right for me. One parent even brought me a birthday present! How sweet!

Tonight, Nate and I have a special date planned. I'm very excited about it. I can't wait to see him! I will sign off now so I can get ready for our date and go see Nate! Bye bye!

Kindergarten Goldilocks

This morning Nate helped with the Kindergarten production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, along with several other Kids' Praise songs. It was so precious to see the little ones doing the actions and acting out the stories. This girl played Goldilocks, and it also was her birthday today!
The boys were so funny putting on their little bear hats. The kindergarteners all wanted a turn being the bears, so they did the whole story twice!
The kids even made the props by hand. One big chair, one medium chair, and one small one for baby bear. Same with the beds!
When they came home to find their porridge had been eaten they were not happy. The little bear cried, "Wah!" and everyone in the audience laughed at how he acted sad.
It was especially fun to see all the proud parents taking pictures like crazy!! It reminds me of the musical, "Music Man" (I hope you've seen it). The moms stand up and shout, "That's my Davey! Play for Mommy, son!" Oh, it is fun to count how many cameras were there this morning to record the precious moments of the little children.

Bamboo Bed and Buk-Buk

Hello everyone! Lots has been happening, but for today I will share with you thoughts on our bamboo bed.

We thought we were getting a real deal having a bed made for us out of bamboo for only about $40 U.S. Most beds cost much more than that, and this one had character!

When we got it back in April before our company came, we realized that we accidently locked the padlock to our gate, and we didn't know where the key was! How were we going to get the bed through the little foot-passenger door??

When the men arrived with the bed strapped to the top of a Jeepney we eye-balled it and thought maybe we could get it in the gate sideways. Whew! It fit!

Getting the bamboo bed up the stairs took six men. Then we couldn't get it to turn the corner, so we had to lift it over the loft and move all the other furniture to get it in the bedroom.

Things were going well with our bamboo bed. However, after a while I started noticing little lines of wooden powder under the bed. What was that all about? "Maybe it is the nails adjusting with the new wood as our bodies turn in bed."

We would have the piles swept, but after a week we would see neat little piles of "sawdust" under the bed in a line. Plus we could see piles of dust in the end of the poles where there was no apparent friction.

Finally one day I saw a little black bug crawling on my white sheets. They have a saying, "Good-night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Well, the bed bugs were biting all night. They were munching on our bamboo bed!!

It turns out we have little black bugs called "buk-buk" (prounouced boo-k boo-k) living in our bed and eating us to the ground. Haven't you seen this in the cartoons? This is happening in real life! The bugs are eating our bamboo bed!

I am paranoid about the bed bugs, especially when I feel something biting my leg at night. I wake up startled, shine the flashlight under the sheets and sure enough, there is a little one in bed with us!!

So, how do we get rid of them? We have to paint this chemical on the bed. I don't like that idea. We have chemicals on the bed and then we sleep at night? That is why the bed was probably so cheap. They didn't treat the wood before they built! Ahh!!

Sooner or later we will have to paint the chemicals on the bed, but honestly I wish I could just throw it away and start with a new bed! Until then you can all wish us "good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite!"