Good evening! Garry was headed to Manila this morning, but his flight was cancelled due to bad weather. It has been raining here in Cagayan for 2 full days now, and I'm wondering if he'll be able to go tomorrow. Thankfully we have a nice place to stay. Actually, it was nice to have this unexpected day together to do some shopping for house stuff and just be together as a family.

He's going to Manila to turn in his paperwork for his pilot license... no, it isn't your imagination-- this time around getting his license back has been a lot of paperwork!

Today we got word from one of our missionaries that she is quite ill with fever, chills, and bad abdominal cramps. However, with the weather it isn't possible to have a flight now, so we're praying she'll get over it quickly.

Kevin's birthday is next week and I'm thinking we should do something about that... a little gift, a thought, something! I can hardly believe he'll be 15!

Kaleb is enjoying drawing again, particularly since he got some new drawing books.

Eleven weeks ago today we were in Manitoba, staying with Terry and Delores and enjoying our last couple of days with family and friends. The journey since then has been amazing! We are now basically settled into our new home, though there are a few boxes that still need unpacked and some spaces that need to be better organized.

Three weeks ago today we got keys to this house and signed the contract. At that time Kevin couldn't quite make it to the bathroom without a bit of help and steadying. Since then we have moved in, gotten internet connected, put fence around the house, had the downstairs painted, set up some makeshift desks, Garry has gone to Manila for meetings and continued to Palawan to get the airplane, flown the airplane to the local strip we will fly out of, had a checkride, gotten a neighborhood clearance (twice, since the first one wasn't right!), found a good helper, and started school. We are thankful that Kevin has also regained most of his strength-- at the end of last week he said he felt like himself, 3 weeks after he got dengue. Yes, it's been a crazy 3 weeks!

I was amazed when I unpacked our things from Palawan how musty everything smelled. It was rather awful! Everything had to be washed and/or aired in order to make it usable. I was also surprised when I opened our boxes from Canada-- they smelled just like our house there. Funny what smells do to a person.

Some particularly neat things have happened over the past weeks. When Garry went to Palawan to get the airplane we were praying for good weather for all the hours over the ocean. The day he flew to Mindanao the weather was beautiful and he could see for miles! The following day it began to rain and rained for several days straight. What perfect timing God had!

Ken, the SIL pilot who is doing some flying with Garry and who we are taking over from, called Garry last week and told him that they'd have to modify their flight plans because we are low on fuel and getting it delivered takes a while. Both guys were trying to figure out what they could cut out and still be safe and effective. However, that evening Ken got a call that because of an insurance issue the people whose hangar we use were shipping 20 drums of fuel here-- and we were welcome to use as much as we need!

Each day is an adventure-- a challenge and a great reward....

The pictures of our new house are on the camera still, which is at the new house. So, they'll have to wait til next time. But, we love our new place and are settling in quite quickly. We're so thankful that it was partially furnished so we didn't need to buy everything to get set up.

Kevin ended up with a classic case of dengue fever. He is feeling much better now, but is still very weak. We're so thankful he is now able to sit up for a while and even walked around the house a little yesterday.

Kaleb is thrilled to be moving into our new house and is enjoying having his Lego to play with again. He's also been a big help, particularly with Kevin not able to do anything and needing lots of help also.

Good afternoon! I should be packing, but I'd much rather post a quick update:). Garry is out buying our tickets to return to Mindanao on Sunday. We plan to meet up with our car in Cagayan, which is pretty exciting. We'll be able to drive ourselves home after we pick up the car from the ferry!

Kevin has been sick again-- in fact, he has been sick a lot for the past couple of weeks. Two nights ago he got a high fever and started throwing up, which made us take him to the clinic. The doctor did some bloodwork and says he has a virus. She expected the fever to leave either today or tomorrow, and he is quite a bit better today. He does still have a low-grade fever so I guess we'll watch it and see if we have to continue with doctors or if he gets better on his own.

Our time here in Manila has been really busy. We really enjoyed dinner and a meeting with the NTMA families who are studying language and Brian and Bailey, who are also here. It was so good to get an update on where the other couples are at and just spend time together.

Garry has also been to the aviation offices several times. I've spent the majority of my week in the finance office working through a change of bookkeeping systems. Thankfully it's nearly done now!

On another topic, the man who was caught in a pig trap is currently missing. He got scared while in town and headed off through the jungle. However, he hasn't arrived where any of his family lives yet. Please pray that he will be found and for his safety as his leg isn't really up to hiking in the mountains.

We did it--we rented a house! The owner accepted our offer and we are now proud renters as of November 1! We are very excited to know where we will live. We're also very thankful that the house doesn't need repairs beyond fencing in the yard.

Tomorrow we head to Manila for 5-7 days to finish up business there. When we get back we'll get moved in. Soon after that Garry will head to Palawan to ferry the airplane here, then we'll be flying again. Amazing.

The boys and I aren't feeling very good today, so tomorrow's trip sounds a bit long. The drive to Cagayan takes 2-3 hours, then another hour and half flight. We should be in Manila by supper time if all goes as planned.

It's raining again here today-- it seems to quite normal for afternoons at this time of year. The good side is that it keeps things cool. The downside is sour towels and wet laundry.

So, the house-hunting and waiting go on. We looked at one of the houses again yesterday (this one!) and it is really nice. We're about ready to start negotiations on it, maybe. We're just not quite sure what God is leading us to do. There is another possible option, but we haven't been able to see it yet. Maybe today?

We've been sick this week-- Kevin and I the worst, though all of us have had slow days. I think it's a flu, but it may be changing water every couple of weeks-- it can make you feel pretty awful!

Garry has been busy in the office and has accomplished a lot of things. In fact, his inbox is looking remarkably well. He's also been checking through the NTMA stuff and getting things a bit organized here.

I think we're feeling what we call cultural fatigue-- not shock, just fatigue. It's basically the desire for something, anything, to be "normal". It's being tired of not understanding the conversations around you (the language here is different than in Palawan), wearied of figuring out where to get what you need. So, what do I miss? Friends/family that are far away just now, a kitchen of my own, being able to find my way around (Ok, so that's never been one of my strong points!), double-roll toilet paper, a walk-around phone, routine, grocery sales-- silly things, all of them. On the other hand, there are a million things I'm thankful for-- guesthomes (which are a million times better than hotels!), new friends, decent grocery stores, badminton courts, airplanes (the boat could be miserable!), and so many more.

Well, we saw 5 houses yesterday, and we don't feel ready to sign on the dotted line on any of them. One was really nice, but we're not sure about the price. There is also another possible option, but we are waiting to hear back from the owners whether they want to rent it out or not. So, the house hunting will continue-- or at least the waiting!

Garry spent the day with his maps spread all over the desk and his GPS out to program in different locations. He's getting a good idea about flying the airplane here from Palawan as well as the flights on the island here.

In between he took me grocery shopping-- well, it was really snack-shopping as we didn't buy any serious groceries since we're not cooking for ourselves yet. However, with a hungry 14-year-old in the house we were in need of some serious snack food.

The boys have been busy with table tennis. There's a table here and they've been enjoying practicing together. I even tried my hand at it this afternoon, but I don't think I'm very competitive at the moment.

Good morning! We woke up to the sound of roosters here in Mindanao-- wow, it's good to be here! We arrived on the island Saturday afternoon and spent the night at a hotel in the city. Then yesterday we headed here by road-- only a bit over 2 hours of driving, but the roads are full of curves.

It's house-hunting day #1... we'll see how many of these there are, but for now we're excited to get started. A friend here has been looking around for us and has several lined up to show us. We are looking forward to God's clear direction. We know we won't find a perfect house, but we want God's perfect will for us.

The pig-trap victim got to the hospital and seems to be doing well. No doubt the wound will take time to heal, but he is getting good medical attention now.

Garry took a picture when they were finished loading our shipping container, so I thought I'd include it today. He was able to go to our friends' house where our stuff is stored for now, and get his motorcycle this morning!

Also, I just checked on our boxes again, the ones we shipped from Canada. There has been some sort of confusion, because they are supposedly in Manila now! We are thrilled to see that! Now they just have to make a short trip to Mindanao, though we're not sure when they will be shipped to here.

Well, I need to get moving, so I'll close for now, but wanted to let you know that we are safely in Mindanao and doing well. Thanks for your prayers!