Starfire Night Concert

 Here's some pictures from the Starfire Night Band Concert.  I was so proud of Nate and the students!  What a performance!

 Mr. Becker conducting.  Like the decorations?  My helpers and I helped Nate with that.

 So much energy and joy!  It's great to see my husband thriving at what he does.

 This is how I make it through a concert.  I bring a stroller, two helpers and some suckers.  If you sit through 12 songs you get a sucker.  We sat in the back, and amazingly the boys were quite behaved!  Yay, Papa!  Clap, clap, clap!  It's good for the boys to see what Papa is up to at school!

Here's Nate before the concert in his classroom warming up and coaching the students.  Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!

Growing Up--VBS and Kindergarten Round Up

 Our boys are growing up!  Luke loves his little broom so he can help sweep.  What a tidy boy!

 Elijah went to VBS for the first time.  It was hosted by a friend's church, so he was glad to be there with his friend, Silas.

 E won the T-shirt contest.  Fun boy with 11 eyes on his shirt.

 I was thankful for his teacher, a very patient and gracious lady!

 Then Elijah had Kindergarten round-up!  Since he was raised here he's been anticipating the day he will go to school for a long time!  He can't wait to be a student!

Luke wanted to wear a back-pack too, just like Elijah.  (Mom, remember Daniel and I pretending to walk to school when Sarah went to Kindergarten?)

Elijah and his 2 best friends, Silas and Sojo, wait in line.  Do they look nervous or what?!  So thankful for a good school and special friends.  Please pray that God will provide a Kindergarten teacher for next year, starting in August!

Worship Dance in Community

 It was fun to take the same dance we did for the Easter chapel and teach it in the community.  Amor and Aldeza have been such a great help to us (pictured in red and white).  See our three boys!?  They love to go into the community and help practice the dancing.

 We made flags to worship the Lord with, and Luke loves them!  He bops up and down whenever he hears music, even if the ice cream guy bikes past.

 The ladies practiced hard so they could use the dance in church last Sunday.  Elijah and Luke are lined up here with them trying to be a part.  It thrills my heart to imagine how the Gettys feel knowing their music of Christ is Risen is being blasted in the Philippines!

 Dancing with the flags.

I was the photographer, so you didn't see me there...but here I am (pregnant belly and all)!  I'm standing on the land where the new Cebuano pastor hopes to build a house so he can minister right in the community.  They have Bible studies here, but it would help a lot for him to live here.  We praise God that one of our partners sent extra money to help build this house.  Hope it can be finished soon!

Getty Video and Conference LInks

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/03/31/christ-is-risen-he-is-risen-indeed/

Visit this link to watch the video "Christ is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed!"  I love the whole CD, but that song is one of my Getty favorites.  I first learned it live at the Gospel Coalition (TGC) women's conference in Orlando, FL this past June.  I wish I could go to the national conference that starts next week, on the gospel of Luke!  Good thing you can watch it live and download the messages after the conference.  Stay tuned:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/2013/

Easter--He Is Risen!

This year for our K-12 Easter chapel I helped Nate coordinate a group of 5 ladies to perform a dance to the song "Christ Is Risen!" by Keith and Kristen Getty.  If I weren't prego I may have joined the ladies myself!

 What a celebratory way to give praise to Jesus for His victory over sin, Satan and death!!  Easter is one of my favorite holidays!  At home we had fun doing "resurrection eggs" and singing "Celebrate Jesus"!

 Here's 2 random pics that capture a precious moment.  Luke loves to take out the trash with Papa.  He has a special outing on the bike and loves to try carrying the bags himself.

"When you see a guy" (To the tune from Guys and Dolls)---"Taking out the trash with your son...
You can bet that he's doing it for some doll!"

What a man!  And what a cute little man too!

Second Honeymoon--Palawan!

I love to travel!  Before our baby #4 arrives (just one week before our 8th anniversary), Nate and I decided to take a little get-away trip, just the 2 of us!!!  We haven't had our own little vacation since 2007 BC (before children).  What a blessing we got direct flights to Palawan during a promo sale in January, an island I have always wanted to visit!

We left our 3 boys with some wonderful friends and helpers, and took off for 4, count them FOUR nights!!  It was almost better than our first honeymoon--in many ways!!

We stayed at the perfect place, Cooper's Beach Resort, an hour north of the city of arrival.  The reason I loved it, other than they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite, was that it was totally isolated on a beautiful beach!  So peaceful and private!  I felt like it was just us on an island to ourselves.  So refreshing!

 We got to take a little road-trip tour to the Underground River, which is now one of the top 7 natural wonders in the world!  Trips like this make me love the Philippines even more.  I just love this country!

 This is the longest underground river in the world.  It sits under several limestone crags that jut up from the green terrain.  We were thankful to get a booking, even though it is hard to get in with limited passes.  It's so exciting to see God's artwork and creation hidden for centuries under this cave (locals were afraid of evil spirits so never explored it 'til an American "discovered" it in the 1800s).  It was also soothing to sit in the boats for the tour as it quietly wound its way through the dark cave.

 Nate and I--the lovers by the lagoon!  Behind us you can see the cave where the underground river tour begins.  Our boys would have liked this part, but maybe when they're older.

 This is my favorite picture!!  I will frame this for our home for sure!  It looks almost fake, but no, it is REAL.  It really looks like this!  Please come visit us!  =)  Romantic, perfect weather, beautiful creation, lovely Philippines.

I was walking along the beach at sunset and almost stepped right on this jellyfish!!  It was kind of cool to see the blue pattern on the top when the waves flipped it over, but after this I watched my step really closely and no longer waded in the water.  Nate wasn't too scared to go for many swims in the ocean, but I just stuck to my sandy walks and the hammock.

 A local fisherman was cleaning his nets.  Such a natural place, untouched really by much tourism--yet. It will soon be discovered, I'm sure!

I couldn't help but think of my dad when I saw Nate in this chair.  He would also love this place.  Just walk out of your room and relax by the beach reading a book!

 We loved that first place we stayed--just for 2 nights.  Sad to leave, but we had booked another place for 2 nights, closer to the airport.  It was fine for us to relax and swim, sleep and read, play games and eat...but they had all these strange statues all around.  Like they had a snake strangling a pig, or a huge giraffe, and some nude statues--unpleasant.  The strangest thing to me was in the swimming pool there was a temple underwater (seen in the picture) and a red pagoda statue on the other side of the pool in the water.  Hm!  Interesting!  Definitely an Asian pool.

 Thankfully we had the perfect date on our last night there.  We found this restaurant, "Badjao Riverfront" (thanks to our friends who went before us).  You walk out on this long bamboo bridge to this restaurant on the water.  We arrived just at sunset!  Beautiful and breathtaking views!  Fishing boats just peacefully cut through the calm waters.  We could see the outline of the mountains in the distance as the sun painted pictures in the sky.  The weather was perfect and the air was so quiet and peaceful.

The food was also good--though very Filipino, which we like.  What a fun place to sit for a meal with my man!  Thank you, Lord for the blessing of this trip just the 2 of us (plus one inside!).  Thank you that our boys were okay at home, and that we got to have some special time with you and in your creation!

One of our friends, who helped us with Malachi, put some pics of his time on her blog, if you want to see what he was up to.  Nice to know our kids were having fun too!
Malachi while we were away

Baby Week

 This week my friend Jeralyn's baby girl was born!!  Janae Elyse was 9 pounds 3 oz!  A beautiful home birth by the same midwife (Joy) who helped with Malachi's and Luke's birth at our house (and who will also help with our 4th baby!).

 The ladies in our Bible study gave us a group baby shower on Saturday.  So fun!  In addition to this excitement, my brother Daniel and his wife Erin also just gave birth to a baby girl--Olive Amelia!  Nate wondered when I would stop talking about all the babies!! =)

 Janae was excited to meet her little friend (still in my womb). Just 4 more months!

 Jer, me and Katie (also due in June with a boy!).  Fun to share pregnancies with my friends!

 Me at the shower with Janae.  Precious!!  (Wish I could also meet Olive!  Someday...)

 I almost cried when I started opening baby girl dresses.  My first baby girl clothes ever!  Darling!

Here's the lovely gifts I received for our GIRL!  YES!  It is confirmed!  We are expecting a baby girl!  We are very excited!!!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Outdoor Ed--Corregidor

 The first week of Feb (I'm behind on blogging!)...Nate and the middle school students flew up to Manila for the annual outdoor education trip.  It is always fun to join Faith Manila for this trip.

 All together they loaded several busses and first toured the Bataan peninsula, where much war history occurred.  Students were learning lots and bonding with their squads.

 Here's Mr. Becker ready to take an elevator up the cross.  You can see a view of the South China Sea from the top.  What a fun leader!

 Can you spot Mr. Becker in this photo?  There were some outreaches to the local school kids sharing the love of Jesus through performances, games, and relationship building.

 Here's one student sharing with some of the local kids at school.  So cute!

 Mr. Becker and his squad at sunset.  Lots of pretty beaches (they slept in the sand!).

 Corregidor island was full of WWII history, with different canons and the tour of the Malita tunnel.  Of course they also had spiritual emphasis every night learning about faith on the Rock of Jesus.

 Meanwhile back at home, I was holding the fort down with the 3 boys.  We decided to go swimming at the beach one day.  Fun!  Praise God for giving us a great week together, and everyone was healthy and safe!

 Luke is so cute dancing with the guys at the beach.  He loves rhythm and music.

We had a fun birthday party for our friend, Aiden.  These are our little friends and the birthday crowns we made.  I like how Luke is ripping his off his head.

Nate and the students made it back safely and with many great stories!  I was not the photographer, so we only have a few pics of the trip, but hope this gives you a glimpse into the week of OE!  Thanks for praying for us!!