We're here!!!

Wow... hard to believe we're actually in the Philippines again! It was a little surreal driving though the streets of Manila from the airport- it's been a while since we've experience the craziness of this city and it's kind of overwhelming to grasp that this is now home. Cody was super pumped to see so many motorcycles, big trucks and buses and even a train all at once!


The flight here went really well. We had the bulkhead seats and the flight wasn't full so we had about 6 seats to ourselves and lots of leg room! Cody fell asleep at 2am before we even took off and slept on the floor in front of us for 8 hours straight and Makai slept great in a bassinet on the floor too.

As we were landing it was just getting light out and Cody was so excited to see the wing of the airplane and the ocean below. He kept saying "wow" with his crazy enthusiasm:)

We had to wait over an hour to get our luggage and for most of that we didn't have the stroller. It was very tiring for Cody and once we did get the stroller, he was asleep in minutes.


I ended up getting comfy on Cody's carseat for a while... who knew my butt could actually fit in his seat, hey!

We were so thrilled to see Dann Pantoja when we walked out of the airport! He flew up from Davao in order to welcome us here and was so great to right aways be with our mentor and friend.


When we got in the van the carseats were piled into the trunk and with some hesitation on my part, we drove through the city with our kids on our laps. It was really strange to nurse while driving! Traffic always moves really slowly here but it still felt wrong to be ditching the five-point harness!


After napping all afternoon we had dinner with some people that Kuya Dann knows- all people who are really passionate about the gospel in action and have adopted a peace theology. Two of them took a course taught by Jack Suderman (former Mennonite Church Canada executive director) that rocked their theology and set them on a different course in life. It was amazing to hear everyone's story and we're excited to already have some people to support us and possibly do church together. 


Our first night in the Philippines was long.... Cody woke up at 2:15am and Makai was up too.  It is pretty much impossible to get a little boy back to sleep who's wide awake and ready to play! He only just went down for a nap now and it's already past noon. But we had a fun morning still and took our first ride on public transportation.... a motorbike with a side car, called a tricycle here. With Cody in our awesome little back carrier and Makai in the sling on me, we took a fun ride and then walked around a great park near our guesthouse. First outing on our own was successful! Tonight we might hit the mall for dinner. So far so good:) 

I just also want to mention how thankful we are for everyone's support and prayers in the last while leading up to our departure. We have felt so loved by everyone at our church and all our family and friends. It's really hard to leave a life that we loved so much, full of so many wonderful people. We will keep in touch, though.... and we're excited to be here! Thanks for all your love.