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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.

B is for Bee and Button

I don't know if I'm breaking any sort of rule by picking two words for letter B, but on this day I just have to.  B is for Bee and Button.

For the past two years Dennis' sister, Bee, has been living here in the Philippines with us, homeschooling our children while we studied Tagalog.  She has become a huge part of our lives.  We just got back from taking her to the airport for her flight back to Canada.  Our house is going to feel awfully empty without Bee and Button is the one who is taking it the hardest.

It is interesting to watch our girls' reactions to her departure.  Squeaky confessed, "I'm sad, but I just don't feel like crying!  I don't know why, but I don't.  I'm sorry!"  Winnie has been mourning for about three weeks now and stood numb while her Aunt Bee gave her her last hugs and kisses.  Button shed a lot of tears.

After we got back home they all went into Aunt Bee's old room.  Winnie hopped up on her bed and crowed, "Look!!!  I'm in Aunt Bee's room!!!" with a huge smile on her face.  Squeaky opened all her cupboards to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.  Button burst into tears at the sight of the empty room.  She immediately noticed that Aunt Bee had left behind a few stickers that were on the bed post.  "Mommy," her voice quavered, "this makes me really, really sad.  Someone gave those to Aunt Bee and she left them here!"

Gone

Now who has more hair? Or perhaps she had more hair to begin with? This change has been five years in the making, but even so I spent several minutes scraping my jaw off the ground when Dennis came home today.

9th Anniversary

Dennis took me out for our anniversary last night. We went to a Greek restaurant and had gyros and Greek salad. So delicious. Afterward, we wandered around the mall and enjoyed a Wendy's frosty and a Jollibee dipped cone. Jollibee is the equivalant of McDonald's here in popularity. They have McDonald's too, but Jollibee is even more popular. They serve burgers, fried chicken and rice as well as some uniquely Filipino cuisine- fast food style.

After having our ice cream, we went to an interesting yet somewhat bizarre 3D movie about fighting owls and a lute. The pop and popcorn came with our tickets, but we were pretty full by then and brought a lot of popcorn home.

Thanks for the fun date, Dennis. I'm so glad you are my husband!

Moving and Staying and Surprises

On January 21 we got the email we were waiting for! We are officially accepted by New Tribes Mission of the Philippines. We began working even more earnestly to sort, pack and make decisions. We started getting quotes on flights. We rejoiced with a wonderful turkey dinner.

That weekend we went to Dennis' brother's place. Dennis was speaking at their church on Sunday the 24th and we celebrated Button's 4th birthday with her aunt, uncle and cousins. We had a great time.

We returned home on Monday night. On Tuesday morning Dennis' dad had a mild heart attack. We actually didn't find out that it was a heart attack until Tuesday evening. He was taken to Kingston that evening. The next day they did an angiogram and discovered that he had some blockages in the arteries of his heart. On Friday he had triple by-pass surgery. He is doing well and was up and walking today. He will likely be coming home either this Wed. or Thursday. We'd appreciate your prayers.

We've seen God's grace through it all. All along we had been thinking we'd like to leave in January for the Philippines and couldn't figure out why all the steps seemed to be taking so long. We see that God allowed us to be here for this time and we are so grateful. We are so glad to be able to spend this time with Dennis' parents and hope that our presence will be helpful (and not too noisy!) over the next few weeks as Roger is recovering.

Birthday

On December 30th I turned 30. I can clearly remember thinking that 30 was old in my childhood. Thirty is right up there with "maybe 55? 80? 103?" in those guess-my-age games that adults like to play with kids. Birthdays like that make you think. What have I done in the past thirty years? What do the coming years hold?

By God's grace, the past decade has been a time of incredible growth in my life. I've seen the brevity of life and the faithfulness of God in a whole new light. I've learned a lot about my own sinful heart and the process of santification. I got married, had three children, two miscarriages, moved 9 times, lived in 4 towns, made many new friends and lost a few.

God is faithful. The Psalms include many reflections on the past and the evident faithfulness of God. Psalm 107 offers a synopsis of God's work on the behalf of men in the past.

Verse 43 sums it all up:

"Whoever is wise, let him heed these things

and consider the great love of the LORD."

So I've been spending a little time thinking about God's faithfulness in the past and the surety of His faithfulness in the future.

I'm not scared of being thirty!

Squeaky's Big Day

About a year ago we hatched an idea: what if Squeaky were to go to kindergarten for a few months while we prepared to leave for the Philippines? After praying and talking to several people about it we decided to enroll her in kindergarten at the local elementary school here in town.

Last Wednesday was her first day. I'm not sure if we've ever seen her so excited. She had her new little backpack, a new outfit, a new lunch bag with glittery butterflies on it, and her little epi-pen in a case pinned in her backpack. She was so thrilled about this new experience, I wasn't sure if she was going to sleep the night before!

I think she did. Her bedroom is right above ours, and around 7am I heard a little shout of exclamation from her room and a squeal of laughter as she remembered what day it was.

After breakfast she got her little purple backpack on and gave everybody hugs.

Button seemed a little sad to be losing her best friend for the day. I promised her that when Squeaky went to school I'd do "school" with her at home. She was pretty excited about that. She got a new little backpack too, and Daddy bought her her very own pencil case with Dora pencils and erasers inside.

Does Winnie look sad? She isn't. She had just crawled out of bed and wasn't really sure what was going on.Here is our excited little girl!

In all the hustle I didn't get a good picture of the bus.

After seeing Squeaky onto the bus, Dennis and I hopped in the car with our camera and zoomed to town. We meet her getting off her bus and this was the smile she gave us when she saw that we were there. We stuck around for awhile at a distance and saw that she enjoyed playing in the sand and dutifully came running with all the other kindergartners when the school bell rang. I don't think she really knew what the bell was for, but she sure ran!

She came home tired but had had a wonderful day. Her next school day is Tuesday the 7th because of Labor Day. She has been praying each night that she would be able to go to school every day like the big kids, even though she knows that kindergarten is every other day.

We are excited for our sweet little girl and pray that she will be a little light for the Lord at her school.

Drum roll please...

Some (or most) of you have already heard this news, but we wanted to share our destination officially on the blog.

We are excited to announce that we are heading to the Philippines! We came in to the training wide open to all the possibilities for future ministry and God has faithfully been guiding us all along the way. Up until last fall we really didn't sense a concrete pull to any particular country and we eagerly sought information of the needs everywhere.

As time went on in this second year of training we started becoming more interested in two places, the Philippines and Cambodia. Using a variety of means, God has turned our focus to the Philippines where at least 50 tribes still do not have access to the Gospel. NTM projects that at the current rate of need and available resources it will take another 100 years for these tribes to be reached. We pray that by His grace God will allow us to play a small part in what He is doing to reach the lost.

(Picture provided by P & K Baker)

(Pictures provided by V. Burbidge)

Go here for more information on NTM's work in the Philippines and here to get an idea of the needs there.

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

I am sad to see this day come. But after enduring night after night of listening to my little singing songbird I've had it.

I did what needed to be done.

Squeaky's naps have ended. Goodbye, three hours of blissful quiet in the afternoon. Hello, quiet-sitting-on-your-bed-don't-get-off-under-penalty-of-losing-snack-privileges time. And hopefully she'll start sleeping before 10pm now.

Dennis' New Ride

Take a look at Dennis' new wheels! He's gotten pretty good at it and I'm really proud of him!
Way to go, superstar!

Look at This!!!

Ok, so not much has happened with our Jungle Camp home while Dennis has been away. Squeaky has been quite sick to her stomach since Sunday afternoon and I was sick yesterday... and today it is pouring rain.

But....

Look at this!!!!


Poor Daddy missed out!

Why the blogs are slow in coming

Hey everyone. Things are gearing up toward our Jungle Camp experience. The rooms of our house are piled high with things that need to be packed up. Our two weeks of building starts Monday and will likely entail 12 hour workdays for Dennis and as much time as I can spare out there with three kids in tow. During that building time Dennis will also be going with the other men on a three day hike, leaving us ladies to keep on working as much as we can.

Here's an overview for those of you who may be confused:

1. Jungle Camp building starts Monday. We will have two weeks to build our homes, using wooden poles, duct tape, large sheets of plastic for walls and roof, and binder twine to hold everything together. We are allowed to live here at home during the building time.

2. We will live in the home we build for four weeks. That means we have to bring everything we will need with us as we are not allowed to leave. This is to give us an idea of what it would be like to live in a remote place and also know what it would be like to plan everything we will need a month in advance.

3. Our house is all planned out and will be 22' by 17'. This will include a kitchen, dining area, small play area for the kids, and two bedrooms. The girls will all sleep along one wall of their tiny bedroom. Squeaky and Button in bunk-bed type shelves with rails, and Winnie in a playpen next to them. We plan to divide them with a sheet of plastic so they can't stay awake all night making faces at each other.

What we have to do before Monday (when building starts):

-finish grocery shopping (enormous list)

-sort through and measure our poles on our lot to figure out what will go where

-stake our claim

-find large pieces of cardboard for underneath our mattresses and for our shelving by rummaging through dumpsters in the nearby towns

-clean house for guests that are staying here tomorrow night (the 2nd year graduation ceremony is on Saturday and lots of people are coming and going around here)

-attend graduation ceremony and help with reception and clean-up

-go to Wal-Mart and buy excessive amounts of totes for packing

-pack children up to go to Coco and Brina's (Thanks guys!!!!!!! A million thanks!)

-go on date while kids are away

-laundry

-keep packing

So, now I have to run and get my laundry. :)

Do you want a breaded shrimpy-chicken ball dipped in peanut sauce and chocolate with a big glass of milk?

Yesterday Squeaky and I were allergy tested.

For me, this was part of the on-going investigation into why I'm dizzy all the time. I've been noticing that I feel like I am coming down with a cold all the time for the past few years. It seems worse in certain situations, like walking past the cleaning products in a store. My eyes tear up, I feel like my face is on fire and I simply can't get out of there fast enough. For a long time I didn't even know what was going on exactly, I just knew that I dreaded grocery shopping because it made me feel so horrible. I remember complaining about it to Dennis. Well, now I know why!

I'm a rhino. I mean, I have rhinitis. For some stimulating reading, you can google rhinitis. The allergy test wasn't as impressive as I had hoped- my main allergy is to dust mites. And one weed. But rhinitis can be caused by environmental irritants (pollution, chemicals, smoke, perfumes etc.) and sensitivity to different foods (like spicy food) as well as allergies.

Squeaky, on the other hand, is a walking allergy bomb. Years ago when I became more aware that allergies existed I thought that worrying about allergies was kind of silly and probably not a big deal. All of that changes when it is your own kid!

Poor little Squeak! Her little back lit up like a Christmas tree with bright red welts and spots all over it during the scratch test. I counted 24. The most interesting ones are to chicken, chocolate, fish, eggs, milk, wheat and peanuts. Three of her favorite things in the whole world are chicken, chocolate and milk. The reason we took her to the clinic in the first place was because we suspected the peanut allergy from a scary experience when I had her try a Reese's peanut butter cup.

The doctor told us that we could keep giving her all those foods (except for peanuts) as long as we watched her closely. Apparently allergy tests can give false positives, and she also may outgrow these things. But a peanut allergy is never outgrown, and it can be fatal. So now I am going to go do some research on this whole new world that I previously knew nothing about: dealing with kids with allergies and how to administer an epi-pen.

Ice Cream and a Birthday Party

After this post you're going to wish you were here yesterday. We had a par-tay! First, the 1st year student ladies and staff went out for ice cream at this quaint little 50's Ice Cream Parlour. It was cute, all except Elvis who was missing everything from the armpits down and was resting his weary self on the counter directly above the chocolate. You can see him in the background of one of the pictures. My friend was making him move his head and eyes with a remote. He had a way of looking us up and down and wiggling his eye brows that was quite creepy, actually.

Then, when I got home it was time to party! We celebrated Winnie's big first birthday and Squeaky's fourth birthday. Squeak didn't believe us when we told her that she had already had her birthday (on the 18th) and insisted up until last night that she was still 3. So I'm pretty sure that we hyped the party up enough that she is now convinced that she's 4.

Winnie enjoyed her birthday and received her very own dolly from Grandma VE. So far she seems to be the most nurturing of the girls. She immediately picked dolly up, rocked her vigorously and gave her big hugs. So sweet!

Squeaky was pretty excited to receive her gifts (maybe a little too much) and now has her very own dress up shoes, necklace and "skirt". The girls also played a little game with Daddy- "catch the butterflies that are shooting out of the elephants nose." I wonder who ever thought of such a thing? And who would have guessed it would be so popular? :)

There and Back Again

After being gone for 18 days I am home again. It is so good to be home and for our family to be all together. A very nice thing is that the weather turned to spring while I was away. Actually, it was springy in Nebraska too, so I am enjoying everything twice. Sweet smelling breezes, bubbling water in the stream, birds singing, fresh new grass coming up- it’s wonderful!
Although my Dad’s passing was very difficult, it was so great for our family to be together. We were shown so much support and love by all the friends and family that sent flowers, meals, cards and those who came to the visitation and the funeral. Every kind word and every sacrifice that our friends have made on our behalf has been so much appreciated. I especially want to thank those who helped Dennis here on this end when he was a poor single dad and needed lots of help. From what he has told me, he only had to "cook" a couple of times and found that everyone really helped him out. Thank you.
Our family had a chance to remember fun family times from our childhood and were able to make some new memories with each other and our own children. A few of the highlights of the past few weeks were visiting a museum, going to Valentino’s pizza buffet (the best pizza in the world, trust me), taking a Sunday drive up to Schramm Park and hiking around a little bit, and spending an evening with my mom and siblings without any kids!

April 6, 2008

I hardly know what to say. I'm here in Nebraska, sharing some precious moments with my family. My dad passed away this morning, here at home. He was 59. It was expected, but expectation doesn't erase the paradoxal numbness and sharpness of this new reality- I'm keenly aware that I am in a fog.

I don't hear his oxygen machine anymore.

I see his wheelchair across the room.

His books on tape are piled on the side-table in the living room.

His well worn Bible sits on the shelf.

His childhood teddy bear sits in bedraggled forlorn-ness on his dresser like it has since I was a little girl.

Over in the corner of his bedroom I see a pile of medical things: soap, gauze, antiseptic, syringes, pill containers, latex gloves.

His bed is stripped bare, reminding me that only 24 hours ago he was lying there and squeezing my hand when I said, "I love you, Dad."

I love you, Dad. I'm glad you're with Jesus.

It's Gone

1.2. 3.

Good riddance!