Picture Time

This is just some of what's been happening. Our kids are enjoying a very cool summer, playing with cousins and jumping on the trampoline.
We welcomed a new wee one--Braden. He was born on June 13.
It snowed in June. I guess that isn't 'normal' but just the same...snow-in June. Really?
and this was our trip to the zoo...kids posed on an ape. we should have all gathered around and used it for a new prayer card :)

The last couple weeks have found us finished getting settled in. I have learned to ride a 4 wheeler and cook with spinach.

Back at It Again

It has been a large span of time since the last post. Last time, we were in the Philippines, getting the new pilot ready to take over for us so we could go on furlough. And the brief moments I depended upon to update a blog never happened...for months.

So, what has happened?

We finished our term in the Philippines. We packed up and prepared for our year of 'home assignment' in North America. We got on a big airplane and flew a very long time, landed in Denver, and ate at Arby's. We ooh-ed and ah-ed over the portion sizes--how one large fries could feed us all.

We spent 2 months in Nebraska, seeing family and friends. I enjoyed a Starbucks moment or two with my friend Julie, visited family who had yet to meet Ellie or Zack, and had a party with the end of the season clearance sales--needing snuggly clothes to bundle up in. We had family moments of snowman building, snowball fights, tea parties, and lunch at Little Ceasar's.

We traveled around a bit and saw more friends, family, and supporters. We spoke in a couple churches. Finally, at the end of May, we began our journey to Canada. It was the most eventful trip I can ever remember taking. Ty ended up in urgent care, Zack ended up in the hospital, and we altered our travel plans to end the trip early.

We have been in northern Canada for about 6 weeks now. Three weeks after we arrived, we had our 4th baby! It was a bit of a skurfuffle to get it all figured out in time, but the actual birth went smoothly. Our newest little bambino is doing well.

Now, as we get settled in up here in northern Canada, we wonder a bit what is next during our 'home assignment'. In Nebraska, after a couple weeks to get our feet under us, we were putting in 40+ hours of mission related work.

And now?

Well, if this blogger can get back in the saddle and keep at it, you may very well find out...in a more timely fashion.

The New Stuff

The other day, I was walking from my car to a building, and I brushed up against some greenery. This time, it did not make me break out in vicious hives. Instead, it left me with another gift: a chameleon. He must have come from there. I know not whence else he could haev come. All said and done, he ended up on the inside edge of my T-shirt.

And then he crawled up my tummy and beyond. Ew. I jumped and squeaked. He flew out of there and onto the ground. I kicked at him and he lost his tail. Then, I let dog have at him.

And that's just another day in our lives here.

July looked like an easy going slow kind of month, but instead we found it to be pretty busy. We ended up moving out of our lovely monster house (called such because it was so big) and into the mission's guesthouse facilities, in order to help out with the hosting job. That means we take reservations of incoming missionaries and help with what they need here. It's everything from making sure their room air conditioner is working to taking them out for a cup of coffee (not too shabby :)).

We feel we are finally settled in. And we like it. The kids are enjoying the bikeriding space, the great outdoors. We are very thankful to the Lord for this new adventure.

We've also welcomed some new co-workers, helping them with where to find things and looking for a house.

Ben has a flight tomorrow. The new pilot will accompany him, and I will flight follow with the wife of the new pilot. We have good times. Coffee and laughter and good fellowship. Well, there is some work involved too. and kid watching. and possibly some cooking. It will be Friday. Fun Friday. That means we will have some fun.

We've been mighty busy. It's time for a little fun.

A May Update

June is here! That means:
3 more months till Christmas Season.

Ok, seriously, time is chugga-luggin' away on us. What have we been doing? Working! At least, Ben has been. Flying, maintenance, paperwork (he loves that part, in particular). And he's been a gem of a husband at home, helping when the extra is needed (which, when you are hauling water, happens more than you can imagine).

One of the highlights of May was: Swimming lessons. Every afternoon for two weeks. It was cool. Ty turned out to be a quick learner and pretty good little swimmer. Ellie turned out to be a bit more distracted(Mom: Ellie, remember to use your arms. Ellie: mom, you have soft hair...) but she did learn how to come up for air, and using this strange caterpillar style moving, she can wriggle her way to where she wants to go.

Even Zack joined in the fun, swimming in his ring everyday.On the last day of class, the kids had to swim across the pool. Ty did it all by himself. Ellie did it too, sort of, and not by herself. And then, we were informed, would follow the certificate ceremony.

This closing ceremony included a Thanksgiving Mass to celebrate the swim team's first place victory at a recent competition. The priest came, set up a table, the whole bit.
It was a cultural experience.
45 minutes later, the kids sitting on the poolside, gazing longingly into the water, they then had a swimming expo. THEN, the gave out the certificates of completion.

And then we ate food.
The whole shebang took over 3 hours.

All because we completed a 2 week course to swim.

Doin' the Laundry

When life is normal, you get up in the morning and go about your routine. What would you do if, when you woke up, you found out you had no water coming out of your faucets? And what if you then discovered that water would only be coming out between the hours of midnight and 4 to 5 am every day due to a water shortage in the area? Last year, we kicked and screamed and threw a bit of a fit, but that didn't stop the water shortage (during the last 3 months of dry season), shockingly enough. This year, we opted a different approach. Since April, we have been getting up at night to fill up our bathtub and other containers, so that we can have water during the day. Hauling buckets works for dishes and toilets and floors, but not for laundry. For that we had to be a little more creative...

So, out came the hose, one end in the bathtub...

and through the bedroom, out the window......out the window, down to the washing area...
...where the water is siphoned and fills up all the containers. And now I know how much water it really takes to do the laundry: half a bathtub.

I write this now, with the good news that our water has come back on. There has been rain in the mountains (where our water source flows from), which has increased the water, which has turned us into happy toilet flushers once again. Nothing against the bucket flush method, mind you, I just have a strong preference for the flushing version.

Mashed Potatoes

A full week passes us by. On Ben's end, there was paperwork, there was bill paying, there was flying.

We planted sticks that will become trees, we hauled the playhouse we built up the stairs (that was interesting), we got to eat at some friends' house and they fed us a delicious American meal (I do love mashed potatoes. Zack does, too; but, that's it for our family; hence, we do not normally eat mashed potatoes. I know, I don't think it's right, either). And Ben got up at 5 am this morning to get ready for his flight. I heard his alarm at 5 am, as well, but I repeat, Ben got up at 5 am this morning.

One may often wonder what it's like living in the tropics (from the viewpoint of someone who is from a cooler climate), by the sea, even. I mean, I know I pondered that question many times. Really.

ok, no I didn't. But I will tell you just the same.

I will tell you the really cool things about it:

1. Only need one set of clothing--hot weather clothing
2. You can't kill plants easily. In fact, I put a couple sticks in the ground the other day and they are sprouting. And this coming from a truly gifted plant-killer....
3. Rain. Soaking, beautiful, fresh smelling rain.
4. Soft elbows, soft knees
5. Shakes are always in season
6. You get to see your babies growing (rather than bundled up all nice & snug in cold weather). I like seeing Zack's round belly and chubby legs. It's cute at that age.
7. There's always a fruit in season (if you aren't allergic to it)
8. You're socks last forever, cuz you never wear them. My kids wear socks maybe once a month.
9. In the Philippines only: Halo-halo
10. Did I mention that it's warm? All the time.

A wise missionary once told us to list 3 things to accomplish in the day and if we got one done, the day is a success. That is because things move slower around here. Need to send a package? Get in line and wait for 45 minutes. Need to pay your bill? Take a number and wait for 45 minutes. Need to send a fax? Good luck. That one took us 3 hours. But we got 'er done!

last week and this one, we've had a couple flights per week here on our island. Ben also has written out a list (YES! I have triumphed in turning him into a list lover...at least in this case) of various maintenance projects to be done when flights slow down. So, he has been working on that. We also joined him at the hangar yesterday for a rousing afternoon of cleaning.

At home, we have been fighting a flu bug. 3/5 of the family had and conquered. That being said, we who were at home had a pretty lazy week. I pulled out one of my favorite poetry books and Ty kept asking for more until we read the whole thing. Lest you think him a literary giant at 5, the author is Shel Silverstein and the book, A Light in the Attic, is full of great pictures, and poems like this:
Hammock
Grandma sent the hammock
The good Lord sent the breeze,
I'm here to do the swinging--
Now, who's gonna move the trees?

(picture accompanying with only one tree to hang the hammock up with)

& this one is from the one we will read today!:

I made myself a snowball as perfect as could be
I thought I'd keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me
I made it some pajamas and a pillow for its head
Then last night, it ran away, but first it wet the bed!

Shakespeare can wait--these are the true works of literary genius!

So, today we will hopefully finish the playhouse that we have been working on since before Christmas, and get it set up in the house. That's after Ben gets back from flying and the plane gets a bath.

In honor of our literary theme for the week, I have written a little poem:

Things done this week

I took a lazy week and simply moseyed along
and took things as they came just a'whistlin' my song
Cleaned up my girl's messy flu bug --splish
Pulled hundreds of ticks from the dog --squish
Pushed the kids on the swing ---swish
Killed them roosters that liked to sing -- delish!
Touched the mangos, got puffy lips -- kish
Lost some inches from my hips -- I wish!

Feeling the temperature rising...

In a small village in southern Palawan, a missionary got on his motorbike to drive to the boat on the coast. He got partway there before his bike broke down. He sat in the shade of nearby coconut tree, hoping to catch a lift with someone passing by, and finally called his wife on his cell phone. "I'm stuck under a tree and there is no one out!"

Why is that?

Because it is HOT SEASON here and that means it is HOT! and in the middle of the day, no one goes out.

When I moved here, I mistakenly thought that the tropics meant heat, humidity, and rain. I was only partly right. During rainy season, there is rain, which we gladly play in (much to the amazement and consternation of the locals). But during hot season, it is only hot and humid. There is no respite during the day from the heat and humidity, which put together, puts us up to between 110 and 120 degrees every day. And hot season lasts for 6 months.

Any suggestions for staying cool are welcome. I may send you a treat of some sort if it actually works :) (we don't have an air conditioner, so you can't use that one)

On another note, allow me to introduce you to my oven (see picture) It's a big *huge* pot that I put on the stove. It has a brick in it so that my dishes won't burn. It works well. I bake anything I want to in there. and even some things I don't want to.



For the last few months, I have noticed a strange odor and taste in my baked food. I thought maybe the brick was getting old or maybe there was some moisture in there. Couldn't really put my finger in it. But then, the other day, I took the brick out to clean the pot up a bit, and there sat a lego man (see picture). He is completely burned to a crisp. poor guy.

And now, our food tastes much better.

Birthday Bashes

A week ago I turned 31. It was a really cool day.
I got to sleep in till 8 am
We went out to breakfast at the local coffee house and I had a very yummy Filipino breakfast
They played country music, my favorite, over the loudspeakers
They played my favorite song, "Love, me". They didn't know that was my favorite song.

We checked to see if cheesecakes were available at a local bakery. None were, so we went home and Ben made me a chocolate betty crocker cake on our stovetop. He frosted it and decorated it.
I opened my gift of a very fancy coffee press. I can now drink yummy coffee again.

We made one of our favorite meals and watched a family cartoon.

It was a very good day, indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed being with my family and just having fun.

And the rest...

And the week went fast. Ben had a flight last week, which went well. My days were full. Monday was talking with the US embassy and our office in Manila. Tuesday was for buying plane tickets (yes, it takes a good part of the day when you have to price shop); Wednesday was for receiving and sending a fax--which took a good part of 4 hours. Thursday was *FUN* visiting with a friend while our kids played. Friday was setting the house in order and getting a few food essentials (which was actually on Monday's list...). Saturday was playhouse building. It's almost done, and I'm very excited.

And that is our update.

Cockroaches

When we returned home from our trip to Manila over New Year's, our house had sat empty for 3 weeks. Or had it?

Empty, yes, of the human kind, but when the humans are away the cockroaches will play. When we returned, our bathroom was their new high occupancy apartment complex. The first night back, we killed over 15. Or, I should say, Ben killed them.

I am totally grossed out by them. But they don't care about my opinion. They crawl up the toilet plunger at night, in plain sight, they hang out in the toilet paper roll, they crawl all over and eat away at our toothbrushes. They scurry all around the sink and floor. or skulk. no, scurry. They are quick, and they fly. They hide in the shower curtain, the trash. I hear them at night. They are gross. and I hated going in that room in the dark.

To date, they have not all gone away. I realized a few days ago that depending on Ben to kill them was not practical. My being home all day and him being at work... So I asked the Lord to help me overcome my fear/revulsion. And then I took the first step.

Now I am:

Suzy

the

Cockroach

Slayer

Victory is mine!!!

The plunger is my weapon

and the death toll is many.

Pelis Nabidad!

Just a quick update for you. The last two months have flown by as Ben has helped prepare one of our planes to fly on another island, hosted two NTM Aviation visitors from the States and renewed his Filipino pilot's license. What does that entail? That's for another time...

On the home front, today is Zack's 6 month birthday. He is almost crawling and is pretty much a happy camper. Ellie is our 'big bad princess' and Ty is determined to make his way as a superhero.

A couple weeks ago, we went to visit the crocodile farm here in our city. Originally started to farm the crocs for their skins, I don't know what they do with them now, but there are sure a lot of them. While I held (tightly) onto this guy, the kiddos touched him. Ellie was the only one who was really game (although, Zack didn't care one way or the other...). Don't worry, this guy's mouth was securely closed and I was fully ready to protect my brood from his ferocious and most probably sedated existence.

We look forward to next week's Christmas celebration. We will be joining some fellow missionaries on Christmas day for a traditional Austrailian Christmas feast, complete with roasted lamb. I've never had that before. There is a first time for everything.

Baa.

We've been having carolers at our house at night here. The cultural expectation here is to give them a treat (or money) for caroling. We are enjoying the experience of it, although we have done so much more amazingly well at having the lights out and being in bed by 9 (or 8). It's very cute, with their Filipino accents, singing Feliz Navidad.

And that's all I have to say for now.

Merry Christmas!

Work and play

What's our day in/day out look like here? Ben is off to work in the morning, often coming back for lunch like this:

Yes, ladies and gentleman, let us tempt you with the delightful tropics, so humid you can slurp the moisture from the air. And, yes, his shirt is soaked from perspiration. I believe his work on this day included working on the airplane at the hangar...This was taken only a short while into the day.

And on the homefront, while daddy toils away in the humid heat, we think of ways to include both entertainment and education (ok, so the education part only happens when I'm involved...). On this particular day, we let it 'snow' in the house, brought by a large amount of old printer paper that the kids found and pulled out. It's the coolest stuff to them. Instead of just one peice of paper, it just kept coming and coming, all attached to the next piece. Maybe the fascination is something akin to the kleenex box for these youngsters. Ah, but I digress...

So, we had snow, able to have snowball fights, make snow angels, and sing snow songs:

And after all that really fun mess, we eat. Sometimes, we even finish the meal:


And at the end of the day, when all is *hopefully* put away, daddy is back from work, tummies are full, and showers are taken, we all sit down to stories before bedtime.



And then...

good night.

October ish

I feel Octoberish today. I don't really know what that means, but I feel it nonetheless.

Many have asked how our friends have been affected up in Manila by all the flooding. Well...

Two of our national coworkers lost everything. One sat on her roof with about 100 neighbors, since her house was the only one left standing. The other sat on her roof (before being rescued) for hours with her children, at one point saying her goodbyes because she thought the end was near.

A couple of our other coworkers had their houses flooded, one's car was underwater, and one family was stuck on their second floor for 2 days because it flooded 7 feet on their 1st floor.

Clean up has begun. It would be a nice thought to think the water came and left. But, Manila is full of dirt and grease and all of that came with the flood water, coating everything it touched. So, besides those who lost everything, those who did not have quite the clean up...

And here on Palawan, we didn't see much of Ketsana. We had some cooler days with clouds.

And it looks like this last typhoon, Pepeng, missed Manila, although it directly hit some of our other missionary locations in northern Luzon.

I've been watching the satellite for over a year now, keeping tabs on weather conditions and what's coming for flight days that Ben has. We'll see what this next storm does, but it looks like it's going to head north, as well.

Next on the list

Today and Wednesday are flight days. That means early mornings and lots of weather monitoring. Today, there is a nice tropical storm in the area, not hitting us directly. It is dragging weather across our island tho. Ben was in the air at 6 this morning to get some folks out of the tribe. Not even halfway there, he ran into a wall of black clouds. There was no getting through, so he turned around and headed back to our city.

Four hours later, the weather looks a bit more cleared up. He is off again, this time he has made it to the tribal location and is on track to make it back home.

There's another storm headed this way. Perhaps it will make it here in time for his next flight? Wouldn't that be just dandy? For him, that means flying around storms, and monitoring his turn around boundaries. For me, that means I stick close to the radio, monitoring his location, checking weather on the internet, calling our halfway location for weather updates, and radio-ing the tribal location for up to date weather. And the return trip to our city entails me running back and forth from the computer to our porch to check local weather conditions and see if the mountains are clear (we have a GREAT view!).

After those two flights, Ben begins a 100 hour inspection on the plane. What does that mean? Not exactly sure what that means for him, but for me, it means a lot less running :)

The 2 Hour Project

This is a typical project for our line of work AND typically how it goes...
A wise missionary once told us, 'plan on 3 things to get done in a day, and if you get 1 done, you've had a successful day.'

Ben needed to fill out a form for the aviation authorities here in the Philippines. A simple, 2 hour job is all it would be. Then, send it off to the big city via LBC.

It was so simple it took almost a week to do.

First thing to go wrong: The form was incomplete. There wasn't enough time to order new forms before the deadline, so Ben decided to make it on the computer.
Second thing to go wrong: The computer crashed. Take it down to the computer repair shop
Third delay: It takes them a day to fix it. And a small chunk of change. Return to hangar to make form.
Fourth delay: All the programs are gone! Return to computer repair shop for help. Files are in new spots. Return with computer to hangar again.
Fifth delay: Word program starts acting funny...or maybe he just doesn't know it well enough yet. After awhile, he finishes the form and fills it out. Go to LBC and wait 1 hour in line to mail document.

And the 2 hour project is done.

In 4 days.

Onto the next one...

For the curious

Having a child in our city isn't a big deal. In fact, the whole city is populated with people. Having a cesarean in this town is also not a big deal. But to a girl from a different culture, it sorta was. This is my story...

I checked in the night before the surgery. We had to go to the ER to do this. I've never been in a Filipino ER before. It had 4 beds with available curtains for privacy. They asked me to sit on one of the beds so they could use the fetal monitor and check the baby. The batteries wouldn't stay in, so one person held the batteries in the monitor and one person found the heartbeat. We got into our deluxe room after a bit and ben and I slept on the couch. The last night with my big belly. I was not upset by this thought.

The following morning, in the wee hours, the nurses popped their heads in the door to encourage me to bathe...over and over again. Then, I was prepped and taken to the OR. Ben saw me to the OR door, where I was met by OR nurse Patty, who is also, in a twist of fate, our dogs' vet. We discussed the fate of our sick puppy on the way in. I was transferred onto the OR table and given a spinal. It made my toes feel tingly. and it numbed me.

Good news indeed.

I was also given something to 'help me relax.' I had the same reaction to it that I did with Ellie. I was a very happy camper. Chit chatting in Tagalog, making bets on the baby's hair color (I believe I owe Nurse Patty a Coke Light), and thinking that they really need to get some music in that room. The surgery apparently when well, Zack was born. I did not get to see him right away. BUT, I did get to see. That was a biggie. My first baby with my new eyes--no need for glasses or contacts. It is so nice to SEE.

I was returned to my room and put into the hospital bed. This, by far, was the best hospital bed I've been in--no bumps or jerks as it goes up and down. Great bed. Horrible mattress. Having to lay flat on your back for 8 hours isn't easy on a hard mattress. I came home bruised. seriously. Zack came to me right away, within a half hour of getting to the room. How do you care for a baby while you are flat on your back? that's why here in the Philippines, every body has a person who stays with them in the hospital. So, Ben held him. Oh, and they don't have baby beds available here. So, we ended up bringing in one of our plastic storage containers and putting zack in there. They thought that was really funny. The nurses all came in to see him tucked away in his plastic tub.

Oh, and Miss San Vicente came to do a 'get well' visit with the patients in the hospital and gave me a rose and a box of brownies...which I couldn't eat.

For the first time in my life, I requested the air conditioner to be turned up to full blast. I didn't realize this. It felt fine to me. But Ben went home and brought back blankets and a quilt for Zack. And he kept covering me up as I lay in bed, only to have me kick the covers off.

Oh, and you know that annoying bit where the nurses come every half hour throughout the night? They do that here, too.

The hospital I went to was a strictly vegetarian fare. So, that meant not only was it Filipino cuisine, it was tofu Filipino cuisine. Filipino food is not bad, but tofu is. really gross. I ate some bran muffin that was donated to the 'get suzy better' cause. Ben did eat some of the food. It did not sit well. In fact, it moved quite quickly. and so did he...

One of the major no-nos of have a CS is do not have a cough. It's bad.

I had a cough.

BUT, the Lord is faithful! Here, they wrap your tummy up in an exercise band after surgery. I don't know why. It was very helpful tho, as I was coughing as soon as I could sit up. The wrap, not the incision, took the brunt of the cough. Which is dandy, because I had that cough for well over a week after returning home.

I was released from the hospital 2 1/2 days after surgery. It was nice to get home, but it sure was warm. and humid. We found out at discharge that the bill was 50% more than we had originally been told it would be. Not good. And here you have to pay your entire bill before you can be discharged. All the running around that Ben did--he's a champ--ended in success and we were home by 10 pm.

As we lay down to sleep that night, comfy in my own *soft* bed, just before drifting off, I heard Ben say:

Good job.