You know, I still haven't really decided what I want this blog to be.  I don't know if I should just jabber on about the events of my day...or try to be profoundly wise or spiritually enlightening or what!  Guess It'll just be whatever it turns out to be!

Sometimes a week's happenings seem to be enough to fill a month!  I guess that's why it feels like we've been back in the Philippines for 6 months instead of 5 weeks!  I feel stretched so thin sometimes that I can't even think a complete sane thought...much less accomplish anything worthwhile!  

Our house is still such a mess!  When we left for the US last year, we packed our house as if we were moving out, stored everything, and sub-rented our house to another missionary family.  When we returned, we had to unpack everything and put it all away as if we had just moved in.  Within the week, John informed me that the kitchen was going to be remodeled (meaning, concrete walls demolished, cabinets torn out, new cabinets built from scratch...AT my house...and eventually re-tiling the whole main level of the house!)  SO...we moved all the appliances out of the kitchen (fridge is in the dining room, stove is out in the garage), re-packed all the dishes and food that had just found it's home, and basically destroyed any bit of organization I had found.  In addition...6 of our boxes arrived from the States!  3 1/2 weeks later...still no kitchen!  We are cooking in the garage and running back and forth (usually in the rain) to the house, since the kitchen is blocked off.  Hopefully the kitchen will be done in 7-10 days and the floors won't take more than a week!  The house is so dusty that my teeth grit and I can't wear my contacts!  I'm really not complaining...just giving an account!  In the end, I'm going to have a beautiful, large kitchen!  Yeah!!!

The Lord sustained S.H.I.P. in amazing ways while we were gone.  The staff in place kept things running quite efficiently, while other missionary volunteers were able to stand in the gap physically, spiritually and financially.  That being said...there was still a LOT of things to be caught up on when we returned!  So much of the administrative work has fallen behind, and just "little things" like the upkeep of the house, inventory of things, keeping the kids schedules structured, etc, etc.    It's frustrating to me to find puzzles missing pieces, broken toys and destroyed game boxes.  I cringe when the kids are dressed like street urchins, when I KNOW that we have sent a sufficient amount of nice clothes...but those are just the things that are going to happen when a house is unmanaged for a while.  It's kind of like when mom's gone for a few days.  Dad can usually keep things running and looking good on the surface...but when you open the dishwasher and look under the bed...the truth comes out!  

As many of you know, we have found a bigger house for S.H.I.P.  The caretaker informed us on Friday that we can move in whenever we're ready...we are NOT ready!  Before we can move, we have to install some safety measures...gates, fences, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, emergency lights...along with getting some high chairs, changing tables and desks made.  We need to paint the old toddler bunk beds that were given to us, find some material to make curtains, and pack, pack, pack!!!  The staff and kids are SO excited to move, but these things take time!!!

After such a busy week with "others" last week (including an unexpected live-in guest), we decided that Saturday was going to be a family day!  We took the boys to our old faithful fun spot only to find that it had been leveled!  (only in the Philippines!)  After asking around, we found that all the fun had moved to the park in the center of town...a place we generally avoid, especially on the weekends!  BUT, a promise is a promise, so we went to town.  We were pleasantly surprised that not only was the day beautiful, but the park wasn't overly crowded and there was a nice new little "fun spot".  We played "bump cars", Brock and I roller skated, we paddled a couple of little boats around the man-made "lake", then had McDonald's for lunch.  It was a really great day!  When we got home, John studied for his message on Sunday and I worked on the Sunday School lesson and music program.  We had dinner at some friends house Saturday evening, which was a real treat since the cooking is such a pain right now!  

     

      Sunday services were nice, I actually got to attend the service and a volunteer from the local seminary took over the Sunday School.  All the babies had colds, so they stayed home and I didn't have to supervise nursery either!  Sunday afternoon was peaceful and relaxing!  

Well, for those of you whom I have NOT lost yet...I'm sure that's more than enough for one post!  Hopefully I will eventually learn to post a little at a time and keep you all up on the things that really matter!