On A Walk.....& Oatmeal Chapel

 I decided to take some pictures for you of typical sights I see on a walk with the boys.  Here are all 3 in one stroller!  Easy!  Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for the Phil and Ted's!  A winner!

 Here is a creative use of recycled cup of noodles.  There are some creative ways to find pots for planting around here. 

 This is the most resourceful person of them all.  A family has built a house next to the trash bins, using items that were discarded.  This is very inventive!  I'm inspired. 

 My favorite part is on the side there, they actually have blinds in a window.  It is amazing how Filipinos can find a use for almost everything.

 Here is another typical sight, on many of the homes where you would normally find a door-bell, there is instead "Jesus and Mary" with "halos" around them.  The Catholic influence is seen in many ways.

 We find cows, goats and water buffalo in just a short walk from our house.  Malachi thinks the baby goat is so cute!

 My view from the back...three boys' heads--a trio!  Oh, did I mention there's no sidewalks?  We just walk in the streets.

The mountains and clouds in the background with the coconut trees in the foreground.  It is pretty at this view coming around the curve.  Our old townhouse is just two blocks that direction.

Some bonus pictures from chapel last week:

 The students had an oatmeal-eating contest as an intro to the message I shared about Malachi.

 The Word of God is like our daily bread.  Mr. Becker and I worked together in this chapel.

 I shared from Jeremiah 13: "Hear and pay attention, for the Lord has spoken." 

One last random picture from our week: the high school vocal students performed 5 songs at intermission during the play on Friday.  Lovely voices blending!

Luke is 9 Months

 February 27, 2012: Luke is 9 months!  What a cute little guy.  He is finally sitting alone, with pillows for when he falls.  At this stage Elijah was already cruising around the furniture, but this guy was being held back since his brothers like to jump on him when I try to let him practice.

 Oh, he'll be crawling soon, but my friends say "Enjoy it now, since he will be a busy guy as soon as he is mobile."  Good point.  One more guy to find where he has gone.

 What a cutie!  This guy has always been so joyful and peaceful even from birth.  9 months of pregnancy, 9 months of his life.  Now he is really growing up.  Finally, he is sleeping more at night.  I moved him to his own room!  Nate was happy =)

 Cute toes! 

 "Take a picture of me!"  It is sometimes hard to get Luke's pictures, since the boys keep wanting to jump in the camera.  Those previous ones were taken by me when the other 2 were still sleeping.  Elijah has a nice smile too =)

 I always like a pic with my 3 boys!  You can see them all growing and laughing together.  Thank you, Lord!  I'm blessed beyond my belief!

 Mom, you can see the chair here--now it is Luke's!  Elijah likes to feed him bananas.

 Here is a random pic of Elijah, so you can see our street after a hard rain.  Thankfully, our house doesn't flood, like many other houses do.  We just make it into a pond for Elijah to boat in.

Elijah is such a fun boy.  This is what we do during church: find a pair of boots in the back to play with!

God's Valentine Love & 30 Dozen Cookies

For Valentine's Day, we invited the 30 ladies that were on the retreat in November to come to my house for cookie decorating and a devotional. My friend, Jeralyn, came Monday to help make more than 30 dozen cookies. We had dough and babies and boys running around, but only a few cookies were burnt. Emi said Filipinos like burnt things, so no worries!

There's the lovely Emi, stacking and counting the heart-shaped cookies. What a joyful servant and friend.

We were planning to make the frosting in the morning, so I had a large bucket of margarine ready (where did I put that again?). Monday night I wondered why the boys were suddenly so quiet. Why were they laughing with the door closed? Any mother knows that this is a signal to something happening. Slip-and-slide Margarine. VERY Hard to clean. Big trouble, boys. BUT, like my good friend, Allison, I had to quickly get a photo of evidence before we proceeded. Now what to use for the frosting? Or more importantly, where to put the children for bed?

Ah! A new day. Time for the ladies to arrive. This lady was fun because at the retreat in November the baby was "Sulod" (still inside) and now is "Gawas" (outside!). Born, Jan. 2! Healthy and normal delivery. And look how slim and strong the Mama is--praise God for that.

There's my lovely ladies, singing the song I wrote for them. It gave me chills and at the same time warmed my heart to hear them singing God's Word to the tune I wrote--they still remembered it! "Ang Ginoo nga inyong Dios, anaa uban kaninyo."

They're reading the words from the invitation--it was cute to see them bring their heart-shaped invitations like a ticket into a fun party! God's Word is written inside, a review from our message of Zephaniah 3.17 "God is singing and rejoicing over me."

Once again, the Lord gave me a tongue to speak Cebuano, though I have a long way to go. It was good to review what the Lord had taught us in November and also to hear testimonies about how God had used His Word in ladies' lives.

Ladies are listening and learning. What I love about this is the lady in brown on the floor is holding the notebook I gave her. That was what we used for devotionals in November, and she still has it and uses it like a precious gift.

Here's Ruen sharing a testimony about how God has been showing her his love and promises in daily life.

After the prayer, singing, devotional and testimonies we had the fun cookie-decorating activity. Enjoy kaayo!

Such careful work....creativity and artistry. Mom, you sent me these gel-decorators a couple years ago, and finally I put them all to use! So glad I had those, so they could write on their cookies.

Group photo--it's amazing how many people we can fit in my place. The camera somehow made it look like the walls come out, but really it is one narrow rectangle. Thank you, Lord, for this valentine gift. Your love is amazing, and we give you the glory!

The pink and purple sisters--friends!

Ate Gina surprised us with new shirts to match. Smile! Thank you for continuing to pray for this ministry and for these ladies. Pray for their marriages and children too. God is at work, and we are joyful to serve Him together!

Outdoor Education 2012--Nate Leading the M.S. Students

For the 7th year in a row, Nate had the privilege and joy of leading the middle school students on the annual outdoor education trip. Here they all are at the airport, ready to fly to Manila!

Here are two of the students on the plane; these girls are a special pair to me=) (I wish I could have gone too!)

After traveling by plane on Sunday, then sleeping in the school that night, the students loaded busses and stopped at a Zoobic Park. Tigers came up to the vans, while students fed chickens out the bars to them.

Here is Nate's squad, "Mindanao MooCaw". There were 7 girls and 7 boys, and a co-squad leader. The guys in front were doing a cultural dance during one of the shows on Monday.

On Tuesday they went to the jungle survival training course. They learned all kinds of things about the plants God has made, medicines, soaps, finding water in bamboo, and more.

At night they learned how to cook rice inside bamboo (pictured here), and also had canned meat for dinner.

Mr. Becker sports a banana leaf hat. Very shady and tropical!

The guides were Filipino experts who once trained soldiers during the Vietnam war. Now they are teaching students how to survive by finding water inside bamboo vines. Thirsty? Fresh water available!

There's Mr. Becker and his students getting their feet wet and cooled off after a hike.

Can you spot the guide? He is really camouflaged, don't you think? He is teaching students how to make dishes out of bamboo. That is such a useful thing God made!

Cup, plate, spoon and fork. Complete and ready for a meal!

On Wednesday, back at the base camp, they did a lot of team-building activities and ropes course type things. Nate had a great squad of students, who loved working together. Praise God for the safety and good unity of the team.

Doing the faith fall--can you trust your team to hold you up?

Then they had fun hanging from the swings in the tree-top exploration activity.

There's Mr. Becker in orange, ready for the 60 foot drop! Ahhhhhh!!! Yep, there's my tarzan man!

Thursday was Beach Day. They went to a local school to do some ministry with children there. This was a great time of sharing the love of the Lord and interacting with local kids.

Here the kids performed for our students too.

Lots of smiles and bonding happening. "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world."

That night was the last one, with a beautiful starry sky and peaceful ocean. Nate and the students slept out on the beach in the sand! Thankfully he sprayed his bag with bug spray to keep the creatures and ants off. The Lord really did a lot of work in the hearts of the students, and in Nate as well. Good-bye and see you next year! Thank you, Lord, for bringing them back safely! May the lessons they learned bear much fruit in their lives and for your kingdom.