Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Day 10

June 15

Today is Sunday. We did the drama twice in the services and since we already heard the message Keith was preaching once at home and on Saturday night Alisha and I went to help in the nursery. When we walked in I spotted a wee one in the crib and immediately went and scooped him up. I rocked the little guy til he fell asleep and snuggled with him till service was over. During the second service I played with some girls that were a little older and they were precious too.


After church we were invited to the Lyon's house for the afternoon. The Lord has blessed them with a beautiful home. Because they live in a large city that has a lot of crime they have an eight foot wall around their house with razor wire on top of the wall. They also have a slew of dogs and bars and locks on every door and window. It feels a little like a compound but it keeps them safe. For the first time since we arrived in the Philippines we got a home cooked meal. Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad never tasted so good. Ever. I heard the angels singing when I took my first bite.
We spent a relaxing afternoon lounging at their house and the evening doing last minute shopping. Tomorrow we open the youth center. Can't wait!

me and baby g

Monday, July 28, 2008

today

...i finally folded the four loads of laundry that had taken up residence on my couch.
...austin left for a week of camp.
...i used my first passport at Dutch Bros and got a decaf iced mocha for $1.
...i must do the dishes. this summer i have been bad about getting them done.
...jen is coming over! she is in town this weekend so she is dropping by for a little while so i can see baby grayson. i would be bummed about not seeing her longer but i am headed to phoenix in 2 1/2 weeks so i don't mind waiting till then for a good visit.
...my dad took my brother, lowman, hailey, taylor and emily out his new boat. can't wait to get out there myself.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Day 8

June 14
Today we got to help out with the fun trucks. It is a ministry that goes out into the city every Saturday to share Bible stories with children. We split up into teams and got in the trucks and they were teeny. We had nine people in the back of ours and not enough air flow. Darryl and I sat in the front and held up the cover so we didn't die of heat stroke.



When we got to our first stop I didn't know what to expect. We got out and since they do this every week the kids expected us and came running. Just in case some of them forgot we were going to be there they blasted a hand held radio as we walked around. Yep. Everyone knew we were there now.


This was our first stop. Not a huge amount of kids but they were happy to see us. They prayed, listened to a Bible story, sang "one way...Jesus" (which turned out to be a song we heard A LOT while we were there), had a snack and then it was on to the other two stops we were to make.


Stop number two.
Stop number three.
I admire Greg and his team so much. I found that after today that I was getting discouraged. There are so many people in Manila. So many. How can they all be reached? If feels like such an overwhelming task. But they keep going. They do what they are called to. Mark 16:15 Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
After a week in the hotel we finally made it up to the roof top pool. I have always wanted to swim in one. Seriously, for as long as I can remember. It could possibly make the 'things to do before I die' list. They are just so cool to me. Chrisanna and I stayed up there for a good long while soaking up the rays, relaxing...and we got a shot of a few other things too didn't we Chris?
We hadn't planned on going to church tonight but Greg wants us to do the drama so we will be there. I can't believe we only have three more days before returning home.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

you have to try this

Here are the instructions for the apron. You will need a tea towel and 2 yards of twill ribbon. I went cheap and bought plain towels in brown and teal but you could get towels like these and have a super cute apron. Find the middle of both the towel and the ribbon and pin. Fold the ends of the ribbon over twice and zigzag them. All you do after that is sew the ribbon onto the towel. Sew at the top, down, back over and up and voila your apron is done. Seriously easy right?



Monday, July 21, 2008

long time no see

we have been going like crazy around here. this is what's been happening.

*our computer died last thursday. oh the madness! it got a virus somehow and went crazy. it took them several days to fix it but we have her back and she's good as new.

*we went camping with the whole family last weekend. There were 16 of us and we had a fabulous time. we went to bonneville again and minus the horse flies and the unusually cold overnight temperatures it was great. we want to try someplace different but it's hard to when we have such a good thing there.

*my mom, aunt and i took an acrylic album class at archivers. it was a little intense and there was a lot of stuff to do on it but we now have a really cute album done. now i can say it was all worth it.

*i started taylor's quilt on saturday. at a lock in. with older women :) just kidding. there were six women there and i was the only one under 50 but it's always fun hanging out with more mature women. i love their sense of humor, their love for one another and most of all that they have been quilting long enough to help me through the *#$@! pattern i am using.

*i got quite a bit done on saturday and went to terry's to work on it again yesterday. i almost have the top done. i am so excited. i think taylor is gonna love it!

*i am feeling very crafty and bought stuff to make the easiest apron you could ever imagine. i will post a picture when i get it done.

*megan and ben and matt and cole will be here in a couple weeks. that means lots of family time. woohoo!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

a birthday wish

HaPpY BiRtHdAy MeG!
We love you!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Independence Day

We had a FaNtAsTiC fourth of July. My cousin Lizzie and her husband live on a farm in Melba and they invited the whole family out to celebrate.

The day started with a small town parade. Everyone and their brother were out on tractors, lawn mowers and old cars. So cute.

Back at the house...we played bocce ball,



Austin got his first driving lesson,


My brother and I got a ride,


Dusty rounded up the sheep,


we played more bocce ball,


cousins and second cousins played together,


Em took a gorgeous picture of the sunset,


and, of course, we had a few of these.


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Day 7

June 13

In preparation for Mondays grand opening of the youth center we did one thing today. Clean. When we arrived this morning we were told there were several things that needed to be done. Since I didn't want to get stuck with bathrooms(great attitude I know) I immediately said I would do windows. I also figured it would be a pretty easy job.

Wrong.

They were filthy. They were covered with, what looked like, years of dirt and grime. I had no idea we would spend the next five hours trying to get them crystal clear.

Other cleaning that needed to be done was washing walls, washing chairs, bathrooms, moving boxes of books and other reading material into a small room, and the biggest job was clearing away a huge pile of stuff that had accumulated over several years. Time to get busy.


Washing walls.

It's early and he already looks like this.

After many hours, lots of water buckets and even more sweat they are finally see through.

Working hard.

This poor group spent all day washing chair after chair after chair.
We finally made it to the outside of the windows. It might not have taken so long if we didn't have to wash each window four-six times just to get it looking decent. We were to the 'throw water on it and try to loosen the dirt' phase of the outside windows. After it was loose we would go over it several times with more water and a squeegee then we would go over it with window cleaner.

While we were cleaning the last of the inside windows we were next to the junk pile. They were getting to the bottom of it when they moved something big and hundreds of cockroaches came running out. They aren't my favorite thing but we were still far enough away that they weren't bothering us. We Chrisanna and I were watching all of the commotion when out popped one and then another of these lovely creatures.


No these aren't small spiders that look large because of the camera. They were very large spiders that don't look quite big enough in the picture. I was OK because they were still far enough away that I didn't feel threatened. Then one started scurrying over towards us and I jumped off the chair, squealed like a little girl and soon almost everyone was looking at them. Greg even grabbed one of them with a rag so we could see it up close. Without getting close enough to measure I would say they were between four and five inches across. This little sighting brought all work to a halt for at least half an hour. Once we were able to get back to work we were done in no time.

There is a spa around the corner from the hotel that gives an hour full body massage for about $12 including tip. After our work day the Harrington's and us walked straight off the bus and headed to the Green Spa for some relaxation. The massage was a little more painful than I expected but it felt good anyway. After this it was dinner at a rib restaurant called Racks(yum!) and off to bed.
These are the get ups we had to wear. We went back a couple days later but you'll have to wait to see Rob and Keith in theirs :o)