Not boring!

Life has not gotten boring yet. In fact, some days it feels like a week has passed between morning and evening! God has been so incredibly good to us over the last while, as He always is. 

We moved out of our house here just over a week ago, sold everything that we're not shipping to Canada, Palawan, or Manila, and shipped our crates to Canada. Things have gone incredibly well, all considered. We've been staying at friend's house for the past week, finishing up stuff at our house and tying up loose ends here in Mindanao.

Tomorrow we head to the city for a few days. Before we know it we'll be in Palawan, beginning our last pilot checkout! 

Garry's back is doing much, much better. However, it doesn't look like he'll be doing much lifting or twisting for a while yet. My energy is coming back, slowly but surely. It's a little hard to gauge exactly how much energy I have because moving is a real energy drain any way you cut it.

Healing...

Yes, we are healing! Thank you, Jesus! Just after my last post Garry injured his back somehow, and he's also on the road to recovery. I don't think we've ever moved out of a house both injured/ill before! It's been quite the experience. So many amazing friends have done so many amazing things to get us moved out of our house and basically ready to leave Mindanao. Wow, God! Wow, team!

It's been quite an interesting couple of weeks, and when I have a bit more energy I'll try to post about it... the friends we've been saying goodbye to, the things we've experienced, the way God has brought things together over the past week.

I'm also going to post a quick update on our "pray" page-- check it out if you haven't yet.

We are blessed in every way that matters.

Home again!

Well, actually I was the only one gone. I just spent 3 nights in the hospital, being treated originally for leptospirosis then having the diagnosis changed dengue fever. Both are nasty illnesses, and I was so incredibly thankful for the great baptist hospital in town with competent doctors and nurses. Friends blessed us with a lot of support and help. It was quite an experience, all the same!

I was so thankful to come home yesterday, to eat dinner as a family and to simply be with Garry and the boys. Illness has a way of boiling life down to the basics, doesn't it? I thought I'd share some beauty along the national highway here, since hospital photos aren't very exciting:).

Our partners are also sick, so Garry is planning to do a flight for Joel tomorrow. In between caring for me and the boys he's been busy packing, selling the car, and doing the most urgent things for the Safety Department and flight program here.

Anyway, the doctor ordered at least a week of rest and my energy is really low, so I'll close for now. I just wanted to let you know what's been going on.

Glad it's Friday!

I can hardly believe it's already Friday, but I'm quite thankful that it is! Another busy week is done, and we have accomplished the things we were meant to do this week, as far as we know. Which is NOT at all the same as having accomplished all we planned or hoped to do!

One of the blessings of our life that has been so full of moving is that the four of us in our family are best friends. We simply love being together. And I wonder sometimes if we had all been more comfortable more often if we would have gone our own separate ways more, if I would have missed the amazing relationship I have with my husband and my sons. Strange how often our deepest desires are answered by a road we never could have imagined! Speaking of hanging out, here are a couple photos of a normal evening at our house-- a game and a snack. Do you think Kevin needs help in understanding what a reasonable amount of peanut butter for one banana is?!

The other day I heard someone yelling at my door-- much more polite than knocking in this country, likely because so many places don't have a door! At any rate, I opened the door to find three girls. They asked if they could sing for me, then proceeded to do a great job on a contemporary song. Meanwhile, one of them handed me a slip of paper saying they are from the local music school and are raising money to help underprivileged kids get music lessons. Neat. I gave a donation. I wondered how many of our kids have gone door to door singing in hopes of getting lessons. I wondered if they'd be willing to. I wondered what it would be like to need to. Later in the week I met the same girls singing in a  coffee shop, once more raising money for lessons.

We did our small sale this week, and I was so thankful for a couple of teenage girls who helped me! They speak the language and were a huge blessing to me! Not many people came, but most of our things are gone. We priced in the hopes of blessing some of the more needy people in town. I hope we accomplished our goal. I think we did.

Checkout Complete!

On Thursday Garry & Joel completed both the airstrip checkout at the airstrip that's been worked on and Joel's checkout at this location! This is another step in completing the things we need to finish before we head to Palawan and eventually Canada. It is amazing to think about all the people who were involved in getting this airstrip back to working order-- over 200 people worked on the airstrip, Dave & Joel drove in by land to check it out, Albert organized the work... and the list goes on an on!

Dave was the guy on the ground for the first couple of flights, making sure the airstrip was clear and the weather was good. He went in on his motorcycle, and the guys brought him and his bike out... the tires had to come on the second flight out:).

When Garry was done flying for the week we did a lot of sorting... if you empty everything out of your house, it's amazing how many things are there! We are planning a small sale this coming week, so we're gathering things for that, piling things up to pack for Canada, and sorting through what we'll need for Palawan, Manila, and Arizona.

Last night some friends invited us for a hotdog roast. It was fun to reconnect a bit. They're also headed home next year to help their kids settle in North America, so they're feeling with us as we uproot and prepare to leave. Their son Richard and Kevin are good friends, and the boys are trying to log lots of hours before they say goodbye, and this was another opportunity to do so.

Back to Flying

This week Garry is back in the air, checking out an airstrip at one of our locations. He and Joel flew there for the first time yesterday, and the airstrip is great! The work the missionaries and local believers did on the airstrip really paid off! First flights are always somewhat stressful, and we are thankful that everything went well. Today they are back at the same location, doing more practice and checking Joel out on this airstrip. Maybe today he'll take some photos that I can post:).

While we were in the city for the badminton tournament last weekend, we also went to visit Ronald and have a burger. Kaleb made us all laugh, as he often does, "I'm hanging out with Ronald, Mom!" Kevin played well, and ended the tournament with a 4-2 win/loss record. Unfortunately he didn't win, but the play was amazing and he enjoyed himself and learned quite a few things in the process.

One of the blessings of this tournament was time with friends. We stand amazed at the connections God has allowed us to make with various people. We are blessed by them and we pray they see Jesus as we interact and play together.

You may have noticed that I added some photos to the posts below... I feel much better now!

Saturday

It's Saturday morning. We've come to the city for a badminton tournament, and I almost feel like I'm in a time warp or something. Maybe it's the fact that 2 weeks ago this morning we were cleaning our house in Arizona in preparation to leave, and since then we've been in 2 hotels and a guesthome, besides our own house in Mindanao. Or maybe it's a combination of jet lag and trying to finish up things from Arizona while getting back into life in Mindanao and preparing to move to Canada in the fall. Or it could be the result of having all been sick over the past two weeks. Whatever the cause, I'm definitely feeling confused and misplaced!

Kevin, on the other hand, is ready to play badminton with friends who are stiff competion and with a few others who he hasn't met yet. His partner is Patrick, a guy he partnered with in Manila a couple months ago, and we anticipate they'll play well together:).

Now it's off to the tournament and whatever the day may hold! I pray your day is blessed.

Home, Sweet Home

We're home! It was amazing to get off the jet in Manila-- the rush of heat, the Tagalog, the patience as we stood in a very long line waiting to go through immigration. Home. We're home! We loved driving through Manila, even the heavy smog having an air of the familiar. We woke the next morning in the guesthome and were greeted by friends. We played badminton at our "home court" in Manila and were warmly welcomed, and we knew intuitively how to interact. Better yet was to walk into our own house, see our own little things around, and sleep in our own beds.

Yet with the joy was a certain sadness, a realization that while this is home, it is not for long. As of today, we have exactly 6 weeks until we leave for Palawan. Before then we need to sell or pack everything and close up our house. The final goodbye to Mindanao is looking pretty sad already!

On the other hand, we are incredibly blessed by all our moving. Moving disengages our hearts from this world in ways that are difficult to do without outside influence. Upheaval and change create a hunger for eternity, the ultimate "settling down".  And we won't even have to pack for that journey!

We've been home a week now, and jet lag is slowly passing. We've unpacked our suitcases and started a "ship to Canada" pile beside our crate. Kevin has played a lot of badminton and Kaleb is trying to wear out his bicycle and give the dog exercise. Garry is getting back into flying the Cessna 185 and catching up with our aviation team. This weekend we are heading to the city for a badminton tournament, and next week we'll start school.