Christmas Day in the Philippines

Christmas Day for me was full of blessings from God. I spent Christmas early morning with the Lord, reading His word, and praying. The rest of the morning I spent opening presents from my family, and talking to my family on the phone. I ate a late lunch with my roommate Kim Courtright and her family. Then I spent a couple hours with the Long and Burke families. For the remainder of the evening I was with Charis Jones and her family where we (of course) ate, had a family singing and devotion time, played nerts (skirt), and Mexican dominoes. (Why's it gotta be Mexican?) I'm sorry to say Charis won our game of nerts, but I did win all three games of dominoes.....sorry Jones family! Maybe they let me win because I was a guest ;-) It really was a great day. Even though I wasn't with my family, God provided many families for me to spend the day with. And God answered my prayers by providing me with families, His peace, His comfort, and His love. I felt the presence of the Lord so strong all day. Praise God! It was my first Christmas away from family, but my Heavenly Father was always with me.

Princess Aya and Cy Fi

Sunday afternoon I got to spend the day with two of the most beautiful girls in the Philippines... Aya and Cyril. These two girls live at New Faith Family Childrens Home. It's a children's home here in the Philippines for the street children. Currently there are 26 kids at the home. Click here to visit the website. The two girls went to church with the Manthe family and I, and then I got them to myself for a couple of hours. We watched Anastasia, put on make-up, and painted our nails. It was a great girly afternoon. Before they left they sang two Christmas songs to me. Click here to watch and listen to them sing. There is no easier way to see God than in the eyes of a child.

Girls Christmas Night

It was two nights before Christmas and all through the condos not a missionary was stirring not even a....wait a minute, that was the night some crazy missionary girls had a slumber party! And it was anything but quiet! What started off as an innocent night spent in the aircon watcing ELF, eating brownies, and drinking hot chocolate soon got a little out of hand. Heidi, a 4th grade teacher brought her wig and all craziness broke loose. Once everyone had taken their turn trying on the wig and posing for glamour shots, us six girls decided to go next door to the neighbor Long familyand sing a couple Christmas carols, just to help get them in the mood. But first we had to get all dolled up, hair and all! Take a look at the pictures and you'll understand ;-)

Jones

This post is dedicated to the Jones family.....Charis and Caleb...just thought you would want to see yourselves on here ;-) The picture is of Charis doing what she does best....baby hogging. And Caleb showing off the guns....no wonder it's sleeveless....his arms wouldn't fit in the sleeves! You better be careful or else you're goint to have to buy new shirts!

Philipino Christmas Carols

One of the traditions of Christmas, which I'm sure you're all aware of, is walking around singing Christmas carols. Well in the Philippines, they take it a little more to the extreme. Every night a few weeks before Christmas the kids walk the streets and sing carols hoping to get some money, food, clothing, anything that people are willing to give. They stand outside the gates of the houses of wealthier people. On wednesday night I went to my friends Gil and Sara's house. They live in a province so they have all Philipino neighbors. It was really fun. We just sat by the gate and waited for the kids to come up and sing to us. They sang songs in both Tagalog and English, and we also sang a few in both languages to them. Then once they were done singing, we gave them some cookies and candy. It's better to give them food than money because they usually have to hand over the money to someone else, but the food they can eat. They are the sweetest children. It's so amazing to hear them singing about God and Jesus. God is beautiful and I can see Him in these children! Click here to see pictures of them.

Class Christmas

My class wants to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!! We finished our last day of first semester today. I'm not sure who's more excited about break around here...the students or the teachers?! I am definately looking forward to the rest and relaxation, and maybe a good book.. or two...or three. Our last couple of days of classes were pretty relaxed. During a couple of classes we took chapter tests, but for the most part we partied; played games, cards, Christmas trivia, name that Christmas carol, etc. It was pretty fun. In one game the students were divided into teams and had to race putting candy on a wooden spoon and then carrying it across the room and putting it into a stocking. The team that filled their stocking the most won. They really enjoyed it...especially when they got to take all the candy home!

Nebraska #1

GO HUSKERS!!!! Nebraska volleyball won the National Championship....and although I didn't get to watch it live, (wish I could have with you Dad!) I did get to see the game later on the computer. They beat Stanford in 4 games. When Vince, one of the students here at Faith, walked by with a Nebraska shirt on, I couldn't resist taking a picture with him. Husker spirit is alive even in the Philippines!

Mipp's Graduation

My sister is a college graduate!!!! Misty a.k.a. Mipp a.k.a. White Chocolate graduated Friday, Dec. 15th from The University of Nebraska at Kearney. She got her degree in Social Work. She will continue to work at The Hope Center for Kids in North Omaha. God has blessed her with an amazing gift and heart for inner city kids. She has such a beatiful sincere heart for the Lord and God is really using her in big ways in Omaha. I'm excited to see how He continues to shape her and mold her into who He created her

to be. I am so proud of her....can you tell ;-)

Pinata!

Today in Tagalog class we had our Christmas party. It was our last class before the final. Technically I don't have to take it, but I kind of want to see how I do, and how much I actually know. During class we watched Cheaper by the Dozen Two, had snacks, drank coffee, and took turns swinging at the Pinata while blindfolded. I must say I connected pretty well. ;-) I guess all those years of softball payed off!!

Ankle update

I know I know gross...huh? But my ankle is slowly getting better. I chucked the crutches a few days ago....technically I should still be on them but I was tired of them. ;-) It is starting to turn pretty colors though, as you can tell.

I think this was God's way of telling me I need to slow down. I've definately learned to just "sit" in the evenings. Actually it's been kind of nice to have an excuse. The only thing is now I can't work out for a while...so that's a bummer.

Christmas Wrapping

Well, I finally got all of my presents wrapped last night. It only took me about 2 hours!! As I was wrapping I watched all of Sweet Home Alabama, and then the finale of The Amazing Race. And by the way, the models won. I didn't see much of the season, but they were they team I was cheering for...and no not just because they were good looking...because they didn't fight that much! ;-) I think I may have gone a little overboard with my gifts. Because things are very inexpensive in the Philippines, I didn't spend too much, I just got a lot. But I guess you could say it's one of my love language; gift giving. Now my roommate has the toughest job of getting them all back to the states and sending them to my family....pray for her! My next task is....writing all of the Christmas Cards.....better get to work!

Ankle Sprain

OK, so I've officially joined the sprained ankle club. It's hard to believe throughout all of middle school, highschool, club and traveling teams, college, and intramurals, I never sprained my ankle.....until now...as a coach! I was playing defense against my girls running through plays and jumped up for a loose ball and came down on someones foot. I heard a pop and fell to the ground. And no, I did not cry! They don't think it's broken, but they're worried about the ligament. The picture on the left is about 2 minutes after it happened. It swelled right away! Pretty gross huh? And the picture on the right was me this morning once I finally got up the stairs to my classroom. I still can't walk on it but hopefully soon....the crutches are a pain! (sorry the pic is sideways...I don't know how to turn it. I'm not very good with computers!)

classroom decorating

Today my students and I decorated our classroom for Christmas. Students are (back left to front) Nathan, Jayson, Ben, Johanna). We put up lights, streamrs, stars, snowflakes, stockings, wrapped the door, etc. to make it feel a little more like Christmas. Now the only thing we need is cold weather! For Christmas they want: Nathan cell phone and movie, Johanna Switchfoot CD and new cell phone, Jay Apple iPod, and Ben a laptop. Wow....I'm not sure how well their parents will be able to fulfill those wishes on a missionary salary! I would like a trip home to be with my family! But we definately had a blast decorating while listening to Christmas music. Only 8 more school days until break. YAY!!!!!

Johanna

This beautiful girl is one of my students Johanna. She is in ninth grade. She is a Philipino girl adopted into a German family when she was 4 1/2 years old. The first language she spoke was German. She is now fluent in German, English, and we are both in the process of learning Tagalog. She has the sweetest spirit and a huge heart for others. We have a devotion time together almost every week where we are experiencing God in a deeper way. She is one of the many reason the Lord brought me to the Philippines this year.....and I am so blessed by her.

Sports

We had a great volleyball season this year. I don't know our exact record, but it was something like 15-8. Our last tournament of the season was in Sasebo, Japan. We stayed and played for a week on a US navy base. Everything there was so American. It was soooo nice, but made me really miss being in the states. We ate a lot of Baskin Robins and Taco Bell. The girls loved it. It was a great week of bonding. I just love those girls. We finished 2nd place in the tournament. Last night we had our first season sports awards banquet. I loathe speaking in front of people, but I made it through! We gave out letter winner awards, mvp (Chrystal Ballentyne), most inspirational (Hannah Harvell), most improved (Yei Won Lim), and coach's award (Charis Jones). The girls gave Val Manthe (assistant coach www.thrilla-in-manila.blogspot.com) and I beautiful bouquet of flowers. And of course they made them carolina blue, my favorite color. I am now the assistant girls varsity basketball coach. I jumped from one season to the next without a break...but that's pretty much how my entire life has been....and I like it that way. We had a tournament during my birthday in Hong Kong. Talk about a nice birthday trip! Our girls got 4th and guys won the championship in OT. We will be having a far east trip in February in Korea. It's amazing where God will take you both physically and spiritually when you make yourself available.

Ayta Village

November 29, 2006 my students and I went on a field trip to an Ayta village. The village is in the mountains of Bataan, one of the northern provinces of Manila, on the island of Luzon. We spent the day visiting families, schools, hiking, practicing Tagalog, and playing with the children. The Ayta are people slightly different than other Philipinos. They are shorter (which Philipinos are short already), have darker skin, and curly hair. Tagalog is actually their second language. They live very simple lives, with no running water or electricity. They have to hike (slide) down a steep mountain side to get water, then climb back up with the jugs of water. The only bible they have in their language is the beginning of the New Testament through most of Luke. There are a few christians that live in the village we visited. But for the most part many of them don't know about Christ as Savior.