Catching Up

Happy American Thanksgiving!

This has been an eventful year but you wouldn't know it by looking at this blog...  :)

After moving into the village in January we began the long process of building our home.  We had lots of hiccups along the way but are thankfully at the end of it soon and hope to be moving in after Christmas.  Thank the Lord!

We also enjoyed this year of getting to know our new neighbors.  It has been rewarding and challenging as we learn about their culture and make lots of mistakes.  For the most part they have been very welcoming and patient with us.  We've picked up only
bits and pieces of their language(s) and plan to get started on language and culture learning soon.

Celebrating Bear's first birthday with a big party

We just said goodbye to Dennis' parents yesterday.  They came with a team from Canada who was here for a month helping us with the house.  It was so great to have the team here- a real encouragement to us and a lot of help!  Dennis' parents stayed for an additional week or so after the team left and we had a wonderful time with them.

The new nurse in town

Our co-workers left this morning for a month long break.  Before she left, Shannon brought me two boxes this morning: one containing various boxes of painkillers like ibuprofen, paracetamol and the like.  The other box contains bandages and wound care items.

I shuddered as I took them; I am no nurse.

She also let me watch her clean up a machete foot wound.  I nobly suppressed the gag reflex and promised to keep my eye on it for a week or so.

Like I said, I don't even pretend to be a nurse.  I can barely keep it together when my child has a wound.

We didn't tell anyone in the village that I even had the boxes of medicine, but she gave them to me "just in case".  I also tried to spread the word this morning that accidental injuries are strictly forbidden for the next month.

Our co-workers had not been gone for five minutes when my first little patient arrived.  Throwing up and diarrhea in an 18 month old toddler, without a fever.  Using my very poor Tagalog, I suggested that the mother increase the times she nurses the baby and wait to see if it passes.

A few hours later I was scrambling some eggs for supper when I saw a group of women that I didn't recognize coming down the path.  I thought to myself, "I bet they are coming here..."  Sure enough, there was a knock on my door.  One of the ladies was suffering from a headache and had walked, along with her five friends, from the village 30 minutes away for a check-up.  WHAT?  I asked the lady about her other symptoms and when I was satisfied it was only a headache I sold the lady some ibuprofen.

A guy with them asked if we could give him anything for an allergic reaction he was having on his arm.   We said no to that one, not wanting to dive into diagnosis and prescribing on our first day on the job.  Hopefully he's ok.

After selling a few vitamins and a package of paracetamol to another neighbor, I guess the word is out that the new nurse is in.

Pray for me!!

Presenting... the last 7 months in a nutshell.

Since my last post...

This new little guy (let's call him the Bear) was born on October 31, 2013...

...and has grown into a chubby, smiley 4 month old boy!

We enjoyed this crowded, city view for 4 months...

...and have now exchanged it for a more rustic one.

In January we finally moved in to our little house in the village, tucked away in a remote corner of the world.

We're excited to look back and see how God has led us to this point, and look ahead confidently as we know He goes before us too!  We hope to share some of our adventures in our new home and community with you soon.

When the power goes out- an impromtu lesson in trust

Late last night two scared little girls gathered around me in the dark.  Our power went out around 10:30 pm and it was immediately stuffy and hot.  When the power is out we can't run the pump to have water to flush, wash our hands or bathe.  The girls wandered out of their room, scared because of the dark, the heat and the quiet.

After a day of no power the first week they were here, and after an afternoon of no electricity on Thursday due to a large truck failing to get around a tight corner and taking out a power pole, our girls know what a power outage means-

Rule #1: Don't put your TP in the toilet.
Rule #2: Don't flush.
Rule #3: Don't wash your hands.
Rule #4: Don't open the fridge.

And the Fact the remains in the forefront of everyone's mind: IT IS GOING TO BE HOT.

As they clamored for attention I felt myself getting snippy with them- I was sweating and harried, and I didn't really relish the idea of enduring a hot night myself, especially if it was going to be fraught with interruptions.

Realizing that my own attitude was going to escalate the problem, we sat down to pray.  First, I explained to the girls what a privilege having electricity is, and how many, many, many people go through their lives without it.  I explained how it has only been in the last century and a half that people have gotten used to it, and how for years and years little girls just like them have been sleeping in the Philippines without air conditioning or even fans.

I could tell they were calming down.  I heard Button's little voice that had been so worried and cross before say cheerfully, "Yes!  People have lived like this for a long time!  It's ok."

I reminded the girls of a devotion that we read recently that encouraged us to find something good that God might be doing even when things look bad.

We took turns praying.  Squeaky started off by asking for God's help to trust Him even when bad things happen.  Button continued, offering up her little voice in petition to God that He would perhaps allow the electricity to come back on but help her trust Him in the meantime.  They both thanked God for all the times we've had electricity and didn't appreciate it enough.

As we finished praying we sat quietly chatting in the dark.  Their voices were more cheerful now and even though the sweat was dripping down my face I felt a tiny breeze float in through the window and as I thanked the Lord for it my spirit was lifted.

Just as I was settling the girls on the living room floor where they'd catch a bit of a breeze the power came back on.  Oh, that moment when the power comes back on.  It brings a huge feeling of tentative relief- tentative because often it will roar to life only to go off again moments later and plunge everything in darkness again.  We collectively held our breath for a moment or two, then sighed with relief as it stayed on.  The girls were cheering and praising God for His answer to prayer.

They bounced off to bed, delighted.  I returned to my room, relishing the cool air drifting down from the noisy air conditioner.  As I climbed into bed I prayed and thanked the Lord for God's loving hand that allowed the electricity to come back on just as two little girls and one mommy prayed for more faith to trust Him.

I thought of this verse, especially the part that says, "When he calls to me, I will answer him:"

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.  Psalm 91:14-15

This time His answer was, "Yes, right away."

Date Night

The evening began at a restaurant where Dennis and I enjoyed an American-style burger and fries, or in Dennis' case, onion rings.  After that we wandered to the hardware store, where we admired the shiny shelving units that were priced triple the amount that they were at the last store in which we had shopped- in Canada.

After watching a rousing movie during which the baby jumped at every bass noise, we made our way down to the taxi line.  Not wishing to stand behind 40 other people who were already there waiting for the slowly trickling-in taxis, we walked out to the busy street to try to catch something there instead.

We happily joined the crowd on the sidewalk and walked toward the corner to cross the busy street- affectionately referred to by us as "Killer Corner."  Suddenly our sidewalk was illuminated by bright lights; a cube truck was also inhabiting the path and was slowly moving toward us!  We stepped to one side to allow him to pass but the driver, surely a gentleman of the first degree, motioned for us to shimmy our way past him before he moved.

There were wooden crates stacked along the sidewalk as well, and finding that we only had a small amount of clearance we had to turn sideways to get through the crack between the back of the cube truck and the crates.  Unfortunately, my shirt managed to get caught on a strategically stacked broken crate and a hole ripped open right on the front of me.

Not as discouraged by this turn of events as I was, Dennis convinced me to sling my purse over my other arm to conceal the hole and accompany him to the nearby Chow King for some halo-halo.  As we  crossed Killer Corner I managed to scurry ahead of the gaggle of motorcycles but poor Dennis, who thought I was on his left, was stranded in the middle of the intersection frantically looking around for his wife as the taxis and motorcycles honked their displeasure.

We sat down in the murky air of Chow King to enjoy our ice-cream-less halo-halo (out of stock, ma'am).  I was happily recounting the now hilarious incongruity of ripping my shirt on our date night when suddenly I witnessed a man smacking himself directly into the glass wall of the restaurant near the door, knocking his glasses to the ground and leaving a wet grease-smudge on the window.  He quickly found his glasses and scurried away, deciding that saving face was more honorable at that moment than actually entering the real door of the restaurant and ordering his nightly snack of noodles.

We ended our nice evening out with Dennis trying to board the same taxi twice, only to discover after each failed attempt that there were not one, but two ladies lurking in the shadows inside.

Sweet Reunions

One little perk of living in two or even three locations is that when we move around we usually leave a little box of toys behind.  Now, the leaving behind part is not the perk (just ask my kids), but the finding of the box upon return is wonderful!

This week our girls were reacquainted with a few special things they said goodbye to about 10 months ago.

Miss Muffet was super excited to see her talking photo album from her Easton relatives.

Winnie really wanted to see her "little blue drawers" again and her mouse family.

Button received Elizabeth the cat as a gift from the her doctor when she was hospitalized for dengue.

Squeaky was reunited with her beloved Baby Bear (who is quickly becoming a favorite with Miss Muffet)!

Surprises

So, the last time we sent out a ministry related email update (if you don’t get it and want to, email us at dennis_easton@ntm.org) we tried to outline what the next few months or so were going to look like as we prepared to move into the Ga’dang village.  

Originally we had thought we’d be in Manila for only a month and then would make our way to the village via helicopter.  Dennis would be taking several trips in June to prepare our little borrowed two bedroom house and arrange to get some of our belongings to be brought in while the road to the village is still passable (aka, not muddy).

We’ve been learning the importance of holding our plans with open hands.  Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  About two weeks after we arrived in Manila we were told that our mission pilot found a major engine repair that needs to be done on the helicopter that we were planning to use to fly in and out of the village.  The helicopter will be down for approximately 2-3 months for these repairs. 

The only way to get into the village right now is to fly 1 hour from Manila to a city up north.  From there it is another hour to a small town and yet another hour down a very windy, mountainous, partially paved road to “The Waiting Shed,” a little shelter built in the corner of a cornfield that marks the trailhead going into the village where we are going.  From there it is a 10 km hike up and down several large hills to reach the village.  The trail is often washed out and muddy- impassable by vehicles for most of the year.

What does this mean for us?  Dennis has still been able to go in and out of the village twice this past month using this method.  He and our co-worker, Chuck, were also able to get quite a few supplies and some of our larger household goods most of the way in on a truck before the rains came.  They were able to get started on some of the house repairs and other projects that needed to happen before our families move back in, and plan to make more trips in the future.

Although we hiked in to the village as a family back in 2010, we’ve decided that we will not be doing so again in the next few months.  We are expecting a baby to join our family in October and will be waiting mainly in Manila for his or her arrival.  (Can you imagine the shock waves in our home if this baby is a boy!?)

Dennis and his princesses.  Will there be a prince in the future?

All of this has thrown us back on trusting the Lord’s timing and direction.  It is interesting to note that the helicopter situation was not known until after we got here, further verifying to us that for some reason the Lord is giving us several months to slow down and wait.  Please be praying with us that this time would be useful and that the Lord would use it to grow us up in Him as we prepare for what He has in store for us.

Get used to disappointment...

I had two things I wanted to do this week while Dennis is up north checking out our home in the village.  Dentist visits for the girls, and a doctor's appointment for me.

Dennis and I have this joke.  He says that if I lower my expectations until they are already met then I won't ever be disappointed.  Sounds like a phlegmatic thing to say, doesn't it?  It works, but it is also boring.

However, I'm considering taking Dennis' advice again.

Twice now I've tried to get my kids in to the dentist and have failed.  I started by going to the office to figure out the procedure for getting in.  I was told the dentist's hours start at 10:30 am every day, but they only take walk-ins.  Ok.  Sure.

So, two days ago, at 10 am we showed up. "Sorry, the dentist won't be here until 1 pm, ma'am.  But normally the dentist arrives at 10:30 every day."  Having kids that were tired and hungry, I decided to just go home.

This morning I was smart and called ahead at 10 am, just to be sure.  "Yes ma'am.  We don't make appointments, but the dentist might come at 11:30.  You must come to the office at 11 because it is first come, first serve.  Today, ma'am, maybe the dentist will get here by 1 pm.  But if you come at 11 then you will be first on the list."

Two hours early just so I hopefully will be first in the queue?  There's got to be a better way.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment, just for me.  I had called ahead on Monday and scheduled it.  "Yes, we have you down for 2:30 on Wed."

I get my kids watched so that I can go.  In a taxi at 1:30, fighting heavy traffic the whole way there, I arrive at 2:15 at the doctor's office.  "Oh!  Valerie Easton!  I'm so sorry, but the doctor is at a convention today."  At least I could enjoy the air conditioning in the taxis there and back again.

So, if I followed Dennis' advice I guess I would just never make an appointment, or maybe just expect that it won't happen the way I want it to?

"I want to be like that"

Our family traveled this weekend and stayed with a very special family for two nights.  They offered to host us and from the moment we walked in their door on Friday night we were welcomed with open arms.  It is no easy thing to host a family whom you've never met with four little kids.  The kids immediately dove into the totes of toys they had waiting for them and spent every free moment playing with little playmoblie people in a four story play house they had.

They spoiled us rotten with delicious meals, gifted us with boxes of classic books and school supplies, loaned us their GPS for the rest of our time here in Canada and listened patiently as we rambled on and on about ourselves ad nauseum.  

After we got back home tonight the girls discovered a bag of playmobile people and furniture that they sent home with us.

"They are sooooooooooooooooooo sweet!" Winnie exclaimed over and over.  "I want to be like that," she said.

So do I, Winnie.  So do I.

Things I like about the Philippines, entry #1

I've been wanting to write about the things I like about the Philippines for a long time.

Any time a person is going from one culture to another, or from one country to another there are things that are different.  But, as Dennis and I learned (and often mantra-chant to each other when the need to be reminded arises), it usually is "not wrong, just different!"  Some of the "new" things I like so much better than the old!

Here is my attempt to share some of those cool, different things with you.

Thing I love #1:

This is a package of four diapers.  Yes, just four!  These little packages are available all over the place, and they are often available at roadside stores (called sari-sari stores) or corner convenience stores.  

Have you ever been out and realized that you forgot to restock the diaper bag?  Now, I won't put all of you in the same disorganized category as me, but I can recall lots of emergency runs to the store while on a road trip or sightseeing.  Usually I'd have to buy a pack of at least a dozen diapers or more, and the extra diapers usually wound up hanging from a plastic bag on the back of the stroller.  Annoying!

Happily, here I can just buy a few diapers and be on my way!  Hooray for differences!

Wake-up Call

At breakfast this morning our family was talking about joy.  I've been struggling this week with being in a sort of mental funk- wanting to complain about everything and definitely not exhibiting joy.  It came in handy as I was able to use myself as the example to the kids of what happens when a person lacks gratitude.  Ha.

Anyway (moving on), it was a good conversation to have today because an hour or so later I found myself at our local government office inquiring about what is available for those who weren't able to graduate from high school and want to finish their high school education.  Even remedial jobs like janitorial, fast food, etc. require the employee to have completed high school and in most cases they must be working on secondary education to be employed in these jobs.

Education is highly valued here.  Most people cannot expect to get far with anything short of a bachelor's degree and in many cases, a master's degree.  And for the many who are unable to finish even their high school education due to lack of finances or other circumstances it is difficult to find the resources to complete their schooling even as adults.

I've discovered a program that will assist those in this category, however it is proving very difficult to find the right information from an individual who is willing to divulge it and I feel so sorry for anyone trying to do this without the resources I have available to me.  My heart aches for a friend who I'm trying to assist.  How would they ever be able to do this on their own?

It was the swift kick in the seat of the pants that I needed after my week of malcontent.

How dare I refuse to count blessings or turn a blind eye to those I could bless?

 "Give me back the joy that comes from being saved by you. 

      Give me a spirit that obeys you. That will keep me going."

Psalm 51:12 (NIrV)

Decisions, decisions

You know that process you have to go through when you have decisions to make- when everything hinges on something else and you can't figure out what to do first?

We have a lot of things on our minds right now.  So we are working on just doing the next thing and praying as we go along that it will become clear what the next thing is to do!  In general, we are mulling things over about future ministry options, timing of home assignment and working on getting updated on all our passports and visas!

Today Dennis went to the Canadian embassy to work on getting Winnie's passport renewed and to get Miss Muffet's first passport.  It was quite the process finding the necessary person here who worked in the right profession and who had known us two years to sign as guarantor on the documents... thankfully I think we managed to get it all done correctly and now all we can do about that part is just wait.

As for the other things, we just need to tackle the next thing, but I'm not quite sure yet what that is!  :)

We are on our Christmas break now and boy, are we ever grateful for the time off.  We have some very loose plans for our 4 week break.

- an outing with the girls (or two or three)
- making a craft (or crafts) with the girls
- getting our family picture taken with our 8 1/2 month old "new" addition
- baking some cookies
- catching up on some correspondence
- relaxing and reflecting

An important part of this vacation is giving our brains a little break from Tagalog in hopes that when we go back to it we will be able to absorb more.  My brain is like a sponge.  I didn't really know that before learning a second language and culture.  Hands down this is the most difficult thing I've ever tried to learn.  You can't just learn a few facts and regurgitate them at the appropriate time.  A language is dynamic; every situation calls for a quick (or not so quick) mental assessment of what is the appropriate utterance at that particular moment.  Most of the time I get it wrong.

So, since I'm fairly new at the second language thing I'm finally starting to see some patterns.  My brain gets saturated after about 8 weeks or so of study and if I don't get a break then I have a very short attention span and I don't really absorb much of the new info I receive.  In fact, it almost seems like I go backwards in comprehension and ability to speak.

Our last break was in August.  It was wonderful and after we came back I was so fired up and ready to go.  I had sort of hoped to take a break between August and Christmas but with Dennis' trip and Button ending up in the hospital I guess I just decided I couldn't afford to take any more time off.  The bottom line is that I needed a break about 8 weeks ago but I didn't take one... should I be surprised that I have the attention span of a bird?  No.  It is not noble to not take a break.

So, we are happy for this Christmas break and I am going to go wrap a few presents with Winnie right now.  Hooray.

Churches

One of the things I often tried to imagine before we moved here was what church here would look like.  I didn't even know what city life looked like let alone what churches were like here, but I tried to imagine it anyway.  I think in my mind's eye I imagined a small group sitting in a circle or something.  I don't know.

Our first Sunday in the Philippines we visited a church called Christ's Commission Fellowship, or CCF.  They told us it was big.  It was big.  Super big.  It actually reminded me very much of the big churches back in Canada or the US, complete with something like 6 services on Sunday, small groups, a lively children's program and excellent music.  The pastor delivered a wonderful and convicting sermon in English and we thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning.

CCF

We wanted to visit some different places so we soon went to a small place located only about 5 minutes from our house.  It was small, around 50 people or so, one service before and after which there was much chatting and goings on, (by the way, can you tell I've been reading Robinson Crusoe which was written in the 1700's and now my conversational English is suffering for it), a homespun band with heartfelt singing and a sermon in Taglish, which is a combination of Tagalog and English that is commonly spoken around here.  The people were so friendly and we loved it right away.  However, since there were already two foreign families attending there we were advised that perhaps three families would affect the church's ability to minister to their own Filipino congregation because of its small size.

Then we visited yet another church.  This time even the name of the church was in Tagalog, Kapatirang Kristiano sa San Juan or KKSJ for short.  Friends of ours who are seasoned missionaries drove us there our first Sunday as it is located about 10-15 minutes from our place by car and off the beaten path of public transportation.  We were welcomed there right away and we decided to attend there regularly. 
The congregation numbers around (there's that old-English influence again, oh brother) 200 people, so it is quite a bit larger than the small one we had visited before. 

The language spoken there is less Taglish and more straight Tagalog, although there was enough English mixed in that we were able to understand some things even at the beginning.  The church is brethren in origin, so their meeting is patterned after that.  They have three services on Sunday morning: first an adult Bible study, then a communion service, and finally the preaching service.  We usually are able to attend the last two. 

Right before I had the baby our family was asked to sing...

and one verse was even in Tagalog :)

We've really enjoyed attending there and although at the beginning it was a little hard to communicate we have started building friendships there.  If you think of it, you can pray that our friendships will deepen because as those of you with small children know, Sundays are hard for little kids and their parents.

Squeaky attended DVBS at our church... completely in Tagalog!

The songs that they sing are a mixture of Tagalog and English.  They have a whole hymn book there with traditional hymns translated into Tagalog which they sing to the tunes we are used to.  They also have a song book that has more modern worship songs in English.  Along with that they also use power point to display the words of the songs they sing and display the outline of the sermon.  The sermon is always delivered in Tagalog, which is great for Dennis and I and our language studies. 

Sometimes the girls get to sing on stage with their class

The older girls have a little Sunday school class that they go to.  At first everything was in Tagalog and they mostly just played around and were shy.  Then some people got together and decided to offer an English Sunday school for our kids along with several other children who either know or want to improve their English.  So that has been super great for the girls and they enjoy going there now.

The little girl whispering to her friend in the picture on the right is the same age as Button.  She and Button get along beautifully and each have said to their parents that they wish they could understand each other better.  It is so sweet. 

Blog Catch-up and Little Fish

Wow, it has been a long time since I last blogged.  Mostly my excuse is that we have been quite occupied with the business of living and learning a second language.  Things are coming along, but my brain is so befuddled that even as I am writing this I am imagining the ways I could say it in Tagalog.

Over here Filipinos have a saying when they hear too much English.  "May nosebleed ako," they say, which surprisingly means, "I have a nosebleed."  In other words listening to too much English is overwhelming.  They find it funny when I say, "May nosebleed ako" in reference to Tagalog.  Sometimes I have tried to say that my brain is fried but it really doesn't translate too well...  Nothing quite like trying to explain an English idiom in Tagalog to someone who doesn't really understand English.

Last week Dennis had a little culture event with his language helper.  They decided to make rice and toyo, a small, extremely salty fish that they fry up and eat on top of rice for breakfast or sometimes other meals.  Our whole family tried it for a snack.

It was oddly addicting, sort-of like super salty chips.  First we popped off the head and scraped the skin off.  Then we pulled the meat apart into small pieces and used our hands to pack some rice together with the fish and popped it into our mouths.

The kids were skeptical at first.  Squeaky had a look on her face that said, "You've got to be kidding me," but to her credit she didn't say a word and even told us afterward that she actually liked it a little bit.  Button didn't say anything, but after politely trying it she left most of it on her plate.  Winnie gobbled the whole thing up and played with the fish heads like they were little toys talking to each other.

Ok, I really would like to blog more frequently but sometimes I can't think of anything interesting to write about.  Isn't it ironic that two years ago I would have given an arm and a leg for some insightful information on the culture over here and now sometimes when I sit down to write I can't even think of anything that is out of the ordinary.  Funny how that works.  If there is anything you'd like to hear about, dear reader (if you do indeed exist), just let me know and I will try to blog about it.  :D

The Saga of the Glasses

Some of you may be wondering what's up with Winnie's eyes. After all, it isn't too often you see a tiny girl sporting some specs.

It all began in February when my mom noticed Winnie's eye crossing in some pictures I had put up on facebook. I had never noticed it. I started looking back through pictures and sure enough, it did look like her eye was crossing a little.

I had no clue about crossing eyes but I made an appointment at an eye clinic near us. Sure enough, the doctor noticed it too and also discovered that Winnie wasn't really using her weak eye to see. It was as if her brain just turned that eye off since it was only delivering a confusing double vision picture of everything she looked at. She also is farsighted, which is not uncommon in small children. The doctor wrote the conditions on a slip of paper for me to take home:

1. Esotropia- Accommodative esotropia

2. Amblyopia, or lazy eye

I walked out of the office with a prescription for eye glasses for my little 3 year old and a sinking feeling in my heart. I hadn't gone in thinking that she'd have to wear glasses. I don't really know what I had been thinking, but I suppose I had anticipated something along the lines of, "Oh, she'll just outgrow that. It's no big deal." But here I was, looking for glasses for my little girl and it really was a big deal.

The prices were what I considered to be outrageous at the first store we visited. They had a very nice pair of Swissflex glasses with 'C' ear pieces that hook around the child's ear to keep the glasses on. They are also designed to be virtually unbreakable. Pshhh. No way was I going to fork over North American prices when Dennis had been able to purchase a pair of glasses for himself for about $65. So I looked around at all the other stores at that mall and finally found a cute little pair of yellow glasses that cost what I was willing to pay. I bought them and they were ready to pick up the very next day.

They were so cute on her but I couldn't help thinking as we walked through the mall that my cute little girl's face was now covered up by an ugly pair of glasses. I felt like all people could see were those glasses. It was all I could see.

The very first Sunday she wore her glasses to church someone stepped on them. They got scratched and slightly bent. That next week they started slipping down her nose. I started nagging her to push her glasses up. She'd look at me over the top of them.

I took her in to get the glasses adjusted. It took a long time and they still didn't stay on her nose. A few weeks later I took them to a different place, not the place where we had purchased them. They took forever and a day and finally told me, "Ma'am, these glasses aren't made of the right plastic for adjusting." I quietly left the store but was so frustrated that someone on this earth would even make a pair of glasses out of plastic that wasn't good for adjusting. But it was true. The glasses were no better. They slipped, I nagged.

A month later, in March, we visited the doctor again. The doctor said that usually there is noticeable improvement in as many weeks as the child is old. But after 4 weeks there was no improvement and she prescribed a patch for my daughter to wear two hours each day. Now not only did my little girl have an ugly pair of glasses but she also had to wear a big patch part of the time. At least that is what I thought until one day I was walking through the mall and a girl about 8 or 9 years old ran past me. As she passed she looked up at me with one good eye; the other eye pointing in a different direction. She wasn't wearing glasses. I felt so badly for her and was resolved to get over my pity party about Winnie.

At her appointment in April there wasn't any more improvement. In fact, her eyes seemed to be getting worse. Her weak eye was still not being used even with the glasses on. The doctor gave us a stronger prescription and told us to continue the patching each day. She talked about the next step being surgery to tighten the muscles around Winnie's weak eye.

We went in and got a different pair of glasses for Winnie. By this time I had done tons of research on the best frames for kids and knew what I wanted. I also knew by this time that the yellow pair were completely huge on Winnie and didn't fit her properly at all. Somehow in their eagerness to make a sale none of the salespeople informed me, the naive mother, that the glasses I was picking out for my little girl were nearly 10 sizes too large.

It seemed like none of the stores carried the brands that I had researched. I looked all over the place and visited so many stores I lost count. I was frustrated and finally settled on a little wire pair from a place very close to our house- an ideal place for the inevitable adjustments.

Within a few weeks of getting her new pair of glasses they were met with an unfortunate incident involving a metal swivel stool, a flight of wooden stairs and a sister. They were unrecognizable. Twisted, missing lenses and screws. I nearly lost it. I spoke quietly to said child and waited for Dennis to get home to meet out the judgment.

We put Winnie back in the large, slippery yellow glasses and laid the shards of the "new" pair on my desk, preparing them for burial. Dennis decided to take them in to the glasses store for the final verdict. Who knew that frames damaged that badly could be repaired? I didn't. Dennis returned triumphantly with an intact set of glasses.

A day later they were in pieces again. Apparently their tragic fall down the stairs had stripped the little screw completely. We tried unsuccessfully to put them back together but once again the slippery yellow frames came out and the shards of the metal pair lay on my desk. Dennis took them in again and discovered that they make teeny, tiny little nuts just for this sort of occasion.

The metal glasses have since stayed together but now they too slip down her nose. Oh. my.

Recently we visited the eye doctor again and this time Winnie's eyes are finally showing slight improvement. We were thrilled.

Our childrens' doctor suggested we take the older two girls in to get their eyes checked, too. Perhaps you will not be suprised to hear that when we discovered Squeaky needs to wear glasses for farsightedness, astigmatism and a slight lazy eye, I marched right into that very first store I had visited back when all of this began and ordered the fancy-shmancy pair. Yes, I did.

Munch, Munch

This evening I made a discovery. It began with a small pile of reading material that we had in our bathroom. Oh, come on. Don't tell me you've never done that.

So, I was getting the little baby bathtub ready and went to fill it with a little water from the tap in the tub. I noticed our pile of books sitting there and decided that I really didn't want them to get wet, so I moved them an inch or two.

As I moved them I noticed something dark and weird behind it. I nudged the books over a little more and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw hundreds of tiny larvae wiggling between the books and the wall of the tub! They were happily ensconced in a layer of dark brown stuff reminiscent of other things you might find in a bathroom.

So, that discovery taught me a thing or two, or three.

1. Termites will eat books and paper.

2. It is very gross.

3. Dennis will go to great lengths to save a beloved baseball magazine.
The End.

Shoeless in Manila

This morning I headed out for language helping. I was meeting my teacher at a nearby Jollibee (sort of like a Pilipino McDonald's) for breakfast and then I had planned to go with her to the palengke (market).

I hopped on a jeepney (that, by the way, didn't slow down enough for me to get on without lurching, grr) and got off near the Jollibee. I don't think that particular street corner sees many foreigners because I found myself the center of attention. This is fairly normal and not at all shocking or embarrassing unless... you are like me and somehow manage to trip in front of the crowd on the uneven sidewalk, breaking your flip flop right off your foot. At eight months pregnant. In a bright red shirt. Yes, I think I would stare too.
I aligned the broken sandal with the sole of my foot and shuffled over to the side of a building. Leaning there casually I tried to act like this happens to me everyday. What to do?! Stores here don't open until 10am and this was before 8am. I texted my language helper/knightess in shining armor and asked her to come across the street and meet me. She came, but now there were two of us who didn't know what to do. Finally I mentally calculated the risk of infection ("do I have open sores on my foot? No.") and took the broken shoe off to cross the streets to go to the restaurant. It is amazing how much more aware I was of the little piles of spit, loogies and various trickling streams of liquid of unknown and sketchy origin when barefoot.


We made it to the restaurant and I put my cheeriest smile on to distract the guard at the door from my bare foot. I was afraid he wouldn't allow me inside without shoes!

Beth (my language helper) rescued me by ordering breakfast and making a quick run down to the palengke to buy me a new pair of flip flops. :) I had her record the whole story in Tagalog for my continued listening pleasure over the next year or so.

After I was happily shod we both went back to the palengke where I bought a little baby bed and grass banig mat for about $4. We have a playpen but I was wanting something smaller I could move around from room to room when the baby is tiny and napping. I'm so happy about this little "duyan," or baby hammock. It will do the trick and makes me feel like this baby is definitely entering a different culture than Canada. And that is great, because it reminds me of the mix of culture that now defines our lives.

(Disclaimer: I'm sure this wouldn't pass safety standards in Canada or the U.S. I shall take necessary precautions, don't fear. However, most baby things sold in Canada and the U.S. eventually don't pass safety standards either, right? I'm pretty sure I won't find this basket on a recall list.)

This is the Stuff

What has been driving me crazy?

-a leaky pull-up in the middle of the night

-a family of homeless people looking for food in the dumpster

-a jeepney that doesn't slow down for the 8th month pregnant woman to get on safely

-weather that is heating up and making me sweat constantly

-trying to say in Tagalog, "It is hot" and saying "It is little" instead- and the confused look I get

-two dirty little kids with dark eyes and reaching hands and somehow I decide it is better to look the other way (Lord, forgive me for my hard heart!)

This is my little mess. This is what I have to trust God with today.

New Glasses

We had a cool experience this morning. The longer we are here in Manila the more I find myself dragging my feet at going out and "experiencing the culture," especially if it involves meeting new people. I am not generally a people person and have to fight the urge to sit at my desk all day rather than live a real life. :)

For the last few days Dennis has had an idea to check out an eyeglasses place located just behind our house. He needed new frames. He asked me to go along with him and for a couple of days I said no. But this morning I just decided to bite the bullet and go.

As we left the house and got out onto the street Dennis realized he hadn't brought along his wallet. I tried to convince him that he didn't need it but he told me to go talk to some people on the corner while he went back to our house. I protested for awhile but soon found myself all alone. I walked to the corner. Our local newspaper vendor was there as usual with her cart. I squeaked out, "Kumusta kayo?" (how are you) and smiled.

I tried to remember a new verb we just learned this week, "to wait." I could remember the verb and it's various forms but not how to properly put it in the sentence. They use the verb here to differentiate specific or non-specific objects, tense and who or what the sentence is focusing on. So the one verb "to wait" has 12 forms and I was trying to figure out which was appropriate in this case as I currently waited for my specific husband on the street corner. By the time I thought maybe I had figured it out he was back and that saved me from having to say anything.... ahem.

So we walked up to this little store that is right behind our house. The lady working in there let us in the door and I noticed an open Bible that she had just been reading on her desk. She was more than happy to speak Tagalog to us and since it was just her and us and not an intimidating environment we were both more than happy to try some of our Tagalog out on her.

We discovered that she is a Christian and was the last one in her family to get saved. She had grown up a Catholic but began her relationship with the Lord 11 years ago. She somehow already knew that we were missionaries and that we lived in the townhouses right behind the store. It is a little scary to discover things like that- it reminds me that people are watching!

Anyway, right on the spot she examined Dennis' eyes, gave him a prescription and we picked out the frames. She said they would be ready this afternoon at 3 or 4pm. Dennis picked them up after class. Can't beat that for service! And she gave us a discount too!