Dreaming of home...

Yesterday a friend of mine here (but also from Vancouver) posted this gorgeous photo on Facebook. I instantly felt a pang of homesickness. How could I not miss such beauty???

I miss breathing in the cool crisp air, bundling up in a wool coat and mittens, seeing Mt. Baker in all its glory, wearing warm slippers and getting cozy on the couch under a soft thick blanket. "Winter" here means 29C instead of 32C (plus still really humid). I really miss the changes of seasons and the feeling of Christmas that winter brings. 

This will be our third Christmas in the Philippines (one in Davao) and once again, its making me feel homesick already. More than the weather, we miss our family and our friends. We miss home. We are incredibly thankful for our community here and the work we can be part of but there are still times when a deep desire to be home makes me shed a tear of sadness. 

Typhoon Haiyan relief update

Reg and Fread, two of our Peace Church members who joined the Peacebuilders Community team to mobilize pastors in Ormoc, a city badly hit by Typhoon Haiyan, are now home (Taki will be back in Manila tomorrow). They are back in comfy beds, tummies full of tasty "real" food (after 12 days of canned sardines and tuna!) and stories shared to our Peace Church community. We are so thankful for their willingness to help and their much needed physical and emotional strength during 12 days in the field.

The team was able to gather 35 pastors in Ormoc and give them a one-day crash course in relief distribution management. They secured a covered basketball court for relief distribution in Ormoc and a school in Tacloban, where another team of pastors are being trained this week. Three truck loads of relief (for about 3,000 families) arrived Monday and were distributed. The team also hosted 8 volunteer psychologist from Manila who did trauma healing. A busy and productive 12 days, to say the least.

Peacebuilders Community are the field specialists for the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches and their newly created Philippine Evangelical Disaster Response Network. Millions of dollars in relief coming from several major International Aid organizations (World Vision, Compassion International, Food for the Hungry...) will be channeled through this network and distributed by Peacebuilders Community and the pastors and volunteers they have and will be training. 

If you want to read about Reg's personal experiences in the field, with devastating yet touching stories of typhoon victims, read her blog, radicaljourneyist.

I was on CBC radio...

I was interviewed on CBC radio, the Early Edition (Vancouver) this morning about our work with Typhoon Haiyan relief. The link is below. Click on the November 14th episode and go to 31 minutes and you should be able to hear what I shared.

http://www.cbc.ca/earlyedition/pastepisodes/

Now I know how my mom felt....

My mom was very hesitant to send us to a war zone when we worked in Mindanao. We served relief at Internally Displaced People camps just kilometres from the front lines in 2008 with Peacebuilders Community. We could see the bombs in the distance.

And now I'm sending three of our own to the aftermath of one of the worst storms to ever hit this world. To utter devastation. To chaos. I trust Reg, Fread and Taki will be safe as they serve the incredibly needy people there, as we were also in 2008.... but I feel nervous. Hesitant. These dear brothers and sister are part of my family.... Reg stays with us every weekend, Fread sleeps here during the weekdays, and Taki comes faithfully to Peace Church every week. I know they will come home tired, scarred and changed. I'll be here to listen and to feed them.

I'm sending my "children" to this most terrible catastrophe.... I know how you feel, Mom. But I know too, Mom, that despite your hesitancy, you knew that this was right. So do I.

Here they are about to head to the airport. Notice Makai's outfit- he was all ready for bed but was set on going with them and found his hat (everyone else was putting on hats!) and shoes. And of course, cried when they left.

Join us in praying for these three dear ones, the rest of the Peacebuilders Community team, and of course, for the thousands of people who are in desperate need of food and shelter. 

The aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan: what are we doing?

Thank you for the prayers and concern regarding the terrible Typhoon that swept through the Philippines Friday morning. We, in Manila, have not been affected by the storm. Friday was a rainy windy day, reminding us of the disaster looming south of us. And now, as we read the news reports, we are seeing how terrible the devastation is in the central islands of the Philippines. As I'm sure you've seen on the news,  government officials are estimating that 10,000 people were killed in the Island of Leyte, where it struck hardest. One of our Peace Church members has lost an Aunt and a cousin. Another Peace Church member has still not been able to contact their family there. And we have a friend who moved there a few months ago and have no contact with her yet either.

Peacebuilders Community staff, with the leadership of Mennonite Church Canada worker, Dann Pantoja, will be heading to the hardest hit area (on Wednesday) to do relief and assessment work and we are sending three Peace Church members to join them. The team will work under the larger umbrella of Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. Their plan includes the following (from Dann Pantoja's Facebook status)...
Our mission:
1. To help in the rapid assessment together with the government, church, and civil societies;
2. To help train churches to organize their people for disaster response and develop an effective and efficient plan;
3. To help local incident command posts in mapping out and in prioritizing relief distribution.

Please pray for the team- they'll be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) night. And pray for the many people who are in desperate need of food and medical attention. Pray for the thousands of people who are mourning the death of countless friends and family, their homes, livelihood and stability. We cry to Jesus as we grieve the terrible devastation this country we love has been hit with.

*We are working on setting up a link to receive donations from North America and will let you know as soon as that's set up... hopefully within a couple days.

a roadtrip, a typhoon and a prayer.

This week we went on a five-day trip up north for a board meeting with the Integrated Mennonite Church and then headed to Baguio, a cooler mountain city, for a National Coffee Conference and a couple days of sightseeing. We had a great time!!

It took us about 7 hours to get to the board meeting. Let me tell you.... a small church in rural Philippines, unreachable by car with no road signs or church signs is not easy to find!! We had to ask a few helpful people for directions ("Do you know Pastor Felix?? Where's his church???") and at one point someone led us to the pastors house.... I texted Reg and told her that we're supposedly "here" but all I see is a rice field and carabao (water buffalo)! She walked up the dirt path from the church to find us and we had a good laugh :)

The boys loved all the animals around the church. Pigs, dogs, roosters, hens, cats. Cody is always quite hesitant around animals but Makai just goes right up to them. Fread had to hold him back a bit as we didn't trust these dogs!

Best toy ever for these boys....

Darnell joined the meeting while Fread and I played with the boys. It was SO good to have Fread along to help me keep the kids entertained. And out of trouble!

They spent a good hour in this hammock and met the neighbours. Cody knows a Filipino song, "Bahay Kubo," which means nipa/bamboo hut.... so he thought it was pretty fun to visit a real bahay kubo.

So nice to be out of the city!! Cody saw little boys doing back flips off that pile of hay  and wanted to try! Maybe not :)

Next we headed to Baguio City and had a couple days of sightseeing. The highlight was the weather.... it was like Vancouver in June. Just perfect and even nice to put a hoodie on in the evening.  I loved not being sweaty for a few days and being able to enjoy the outdoors even during the hottest part of the day.

Family bike ride! $1 for an hour of fun... yes please!

Strawberry fields!

And strawberry ice cream :)

While Darnell attended the coffee conference (with Coffee for Peace staff from Davao), Fread and I did a little more touring of the city. A little boat ride was in order....

 A "hike" to a great viewpoint and shopping at street vendors.

Taking the boys on a little horse ride....

And the last night of the coffee conference had a cultural show. The boys absolutely loved it! They also loved this little girl, who was, funny enough, the exact same age as Makai. Oh my little white giants :)

We are thankful for this trip and the chance to see more of the Philippines. Today, while the boys nap, I am praying for the safety of so many Filipinos who are in the line of Typhoon Haiyan today. Its sounds like this one is going to be very bad (through central Philippines, not here in Manila or in Davao). The rain pounds outside my window and my heart is heavy.... for the potential loss of life, livelihood and homes. I love this country and these people so dearly. Lately I have really felt the weight of injustice, corruption and poverty here and am feeling burdened by the dichotomy we live in. I am forever grateful for the blessings of a comfortable home to live in and good food on our table. My tears fall, as I write, for the many people who do not have this gift. Our home is open, as always, to live the hospitality Jesus calls me to.

Please join us in praying for the Philippines today.

8 years later....

On Saturday it was 8 years from the day Darnell and I met on that memorable blind date. And 7 years since the day we got engaged. So we like to celebrate September 28th- I think almost every year, but this year, we've gone out for Greek food and we order the same thing we got the day we met- platter for 2. But this year was different.... no sitter on a Saturday night (boo for no grandparents around!) and no Greek restaurant nearby. So our romantic dinner out became a dinner at home and a platter for 4! I can't even remember what I made... it was that exciting :) But I feel incredibly thankful and I loved spending the day with the little ones. Here's what stood out about the day....

- We told Cody all about the day mommy and daddy met. I told him that Daddy had a big smile when he first saw me because he thought I was pretty. We told him we went mini-golfing and mommy won (but Darnell had to throw in, "I let her!"). Cody was very interested and wondered where he was at the time. And then he said that he wanted to go Minnie and Mickey golfing too :)

- We went out in the morning to a mall nearby with lots of greenspace outside. They were holding a Volkswagen event and there was a great station for kids. The boys had so much fun colouring and racing little VWs around.

- Darnell and I had an afternoon nap. Ultimate relaxing day when that happens!

- We went out for ice cream after dinner. I wish I had brought my camera (or a phone!) because it was hilarious.... at least 12 staff at Coldstone Creamery did choreographed dances to several different songs. It is common here that when a store is slow/quiet they all break out in dance... how fun is that?? The boys loved it and at one point one of the staff was holding Makai while she danced and Cody was shakin' it too. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy the ice cream, but we got a great show out of it too! High-fives were given ALL around from the boys and the staff even did a little goodbye jingle for us as we left :)

- I may have gotten teary-eyed when we prayed as a family before dinner. I am so incredibly blessed with a most wonderful marriage and two little boys who bring us so much joy. I could not have imagined, 8 years ago, that this was where we'd be now. Thank you Lord!

Every Church a Peace Church

When the professor leading Kape Theo (coffee & theology), a bi-monthly theology forum at Asian Theological Seminary, asked Darnell what our title would be for our presentation, he teased us saying, “Oh yes, that’s a great way to church plant- every church should just be called Peace Church too!” Of course that wasn’t exactly what we were thinking :)

Earlier this month we had a full day visioning meeting with our Peach Church core group. We developed our core values and made some plans and goals for the next year. I mention this because one of our core values is Serving the Body of Christ- We are called to be a witness to the church, to spread God’s message of peace and reconciliation and to encourage the Body of Christ to relevantly engage society. So speaking to this group of students, professors and pastors is exactly that! 

Because this group is predominantly male, we made a point of having Reg and I be the speakers- and we let Darnell share too :) I discussed the centrality of Jesus and what he taught in regards to non-violence and love for all people. I also shared about my Opa and played his latest youtube video! Reg shared about the Early Church and fringe Peace Churches throughout history, including the Anabaptists. And Darnell talked about the mission of the Church from the Old Testament and New Testament and the inseparable relationship between the gospel, peace, salvation and the Kingdom of God.

The many questions that followed mostly surrounded how to love the unlovable and the implications of non-violence on governments and world conflicts. It seemed that people agreed with what we shared but were sort of stuck on how it looks practically. So we discussed and gave examples of radical, third-way, non-violent love in action. Kuya Dann Pantoja also showed up (was visiting from Davao) so he shared from his years of field experience too.

We are hoping and praying that more churches will embrace Jesus’ radical teaching about non-violence and unbiased love for ALL people and find creative ways to live this message. Every Church a Peace Church- wouldn't that be something! On that note, I’ll leave you with words from a wise, well-loved man of peace, my Opa.

a 3rd birthday party for a sweet boy!

Cody turned three this month. So we celebrated with lots of friends! We had 16 little kids in the house, along with about 16 adults. And then right after they left, we welcomed another batch of 16 for Peace Church and another birthday cake! We are SO blessed by so many lovely people in our lives here. While we definitely missed friends and family at home (and Cody kept asking if his cousins were coming to his party!), we couldn't feel more loved here :)

I feel so incredibly blessed by the life of our little Codykins. Its all the little moments of sweetness and silliness.... like when he sees his brothers' nose is runny and gets a kleenex and wipes it for him, or when he brings me a toy car if I seem upset... "this will make you feel better, Mommy." Or when he recounts stories of riding "jumping motorcycles" up the mountain, or tells me I look pretty. Or when he tells his friends about Jesus calming the storms and says, "Shalom, be still." Sweet Cody, you melt my heart. We love you so dearly.

3 weeks in "Beautiful BC" and tearful goodbyes.

We returned to Manila 10 days ago after an incredibly memorable visit home (been so busy since our return... this post feels a little overdue). We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with many beautiful people and appreciated, more than ever before, the amazing landscapes of our beautiful province.

We adjusted to the time change okay with a few early morning wake-ups with Makai and Cody being an emotional mess for a few evenings in a row, but now we are settled in and have already gathered as a Peace Church community a few times and had a big 3rd birthday party for Cody too (I'll save that for a later post!).  Here's some picture highlights from our time in Canada.

We got to spend 5 days at this beautiful place....

With these lovely people..... (Christina's whole family!)

Cody got to play with some very special little buddies at several beautiful places in our hometown....

We were able to visit with my 98-year-old Opa several times. SOOO special to see him again!

We got to spent a few days at this beautiful lake.....

With all these lovely people (Darnell's family!)....

And we had a big party at our house in Abbotsford, where our dear friends, the McCrimmons live now. So much fun to spend time in a place we can still call "home!"

I hardly feel like these pictures do justice to the holiday we were able to have and the MANY lovely people we were able to visit with. But its a glimpse. We are SO thankful for all our friends and family at home who make us feel extremely loved and supported. 

It was hard to say goodbye. It wasn't done without tears, on several occasions. Living so far away from loved ones is so difficult..... as I write this and reflect on the people we had to say goodbye to, tears are running down my face. We are so thankful for our community in Manila and the many friends we have. But it still can't fill the gap.... its hard to be away from our parents and siblings, our nephews/niece, Opa, our best friends, our church community... people who know us. Really know us. There is so much joy in our lives but every once in a while I just sit down and cry, like now, and long for home. So being able to be home, as you can imagine, was beautiful. I am full of gratitude for this visit. Thank you all for making it so special.

Peace Church: always a good time!

Last night we had a lovely and lively gathering with our Peace Church community. We were 23, but with the laughter and energy Filipinos are famous for, it must have sounded like our apartment had twice that many people in it! We had a great time playing games, eating, sharing about what Peace Church means to us, singing and praying. We are so thankful for all these wonderful people and the way God is using Peace Church to spread the Good News of Jesus' way of peace! 

We have a home again!

On June 27th, after a month of living in a hotel following the devastating explosion in our building, we finally moved into a new home. While there are still a few things that need to be fixed or bought, we really love this new space. It’s actually quite a bit bigger, with three bedrooms instead of two, as all the two bedroom units available were much smaller than what we had. We have a bigger kitchen and living space, Darnell has an office (its also a guest room) and the boys’ room is bigger too. I also love that the kitchen is open, so I can see the boys while I cook/clean. And all this for the same price…. not bad! We’re thankful to have this home, even if it’s only temporary (at least 6 months though), however, I would quickly trade it for all the trauma and stress we endured the whole month of June….. it hasn’t been easy. 

Moving into our new place was interesting, as we have had very little access to our former place and all our belongings since the night of the explosion. In the morning we moved a few suitcases from the hotel and then we were really lucky to get access to our old place, after 3 days of trying and not being able to, because of ongoing investigations. But when we got into our unit there were 15 people in it (no joke!) to do investigations. We were not aware of this and we were not happy! How was I supposed to pack up our entire home in less than an hour with people ALL over the unit! Ridiculous. But we managed to get the place to ourselves and in a mad one-hour rush, we took out most of our belongings. And we were able to go back a few days later to get the rest. Now we have everything and our new apartment feels like home. 

Two days after we moved into our new place, our dear friends Jason and Renee arrived for a 10-day visit after 6 months of volunteering in Northern India. After so much stress during the last month and feeling so unsettled and homesick, the timing of having some of our best friends visit us could not have been better. We have enjoyed each other’s company immensely. While they have a lot of fun with the boys, its also been nice to go out just the 4 of us. Long relaxing dinners out full of laughter (and not just laughing at the boys!) has been extremely enjoyable…. going out with friends and no kids is something we do so rarely- what a treat its been. Here’s some photos of sightseeing in Manila with them…. 

And I have one shot of our house from our first Peace Church gathering here. The boys were saying hi to Tito Bryan :) I'll take more photos of our place and post them another time.

One more day of fun with Renee and Jason today before we have to say goodbye. Better go make the best of it :)

losing something dear

I lost my diamond.

The beautiful engagement ring Darnell gave me nearly 7 years ago now has a gaping hole where the shiny rock used to sit. Oh, what a sad thing. I have cried over the loss of my most-loved earthly possession. But I have also shed tears of thankfulness.

As we frantically searched for my diamond in our hotel lobby and restaurant, Cody followed me everywhere, asking me over and over if I was okay. He told me the kuyas would find it later and give it to me. He told me he would find it for me. He asked me if I was sad. And then he gave me his new playmobil motorcycle (which he LOVES and has not parted with since we bought it) and told me I could have it and that it would make me feel better. He stayed by my side. When I finally convinced him that I was okay, he enthusiastically exclaimed, “I think she’s okay now!” and ran off to play with his friends. I am so thankful for this sweet boy.

Later in the evening, after we had given up the search and Makai was in bed, Darnell and I went out on a date (thank you Reg, once again!). We talked about the day Darnell proposed. We talked about how we’ve changed since that time. We talked about our boys. We talked about our year here so far, and how fast it has gone by. We talked about how incredibly happy we are together- how we are so grateful for each other, every day, all the time. I could not be more thankful for this man of mine and the journey we are on together.

Darnell has often said that he’s never going to buy me another diamond and that if he were to do it again, he’d have bought me something different. When he tells people this I always laugh and just say how thankful I am that he didn’t read about the unethical diamond industry before he bought me one! I loved my ring- it was just perfect. I still admired it all the time. And he sold his motorcycle to buy it for me because he loved me. This young tree planter, ready to explore the world with a woman he didn’t want to lose, designed something beautiful and valuable for me. And I cherished it dearly.

Perhaps one day I’ll get another diamond. Maybe on our 60th wedding anniversary, like when my Opa gave my dear Oma her first diamonds. For now, I know that we cannot spend any money on a rock, as there are far too many more important and valuable ways to spend our (little) savings.

But… I feel so thankful. After losing our home a couple weeks ago and being so afraid for our life, this is yet another reminder that my true gems in life are this man and these two boys. I am incredibly blessed.

ps. I wanted to post a picture from the day we got engaged, but our old pictures are saved on a hard-drive in our house, which we still haven't been able to enter since that first time, 4 days after the explosion :(  

An Explosion in our Building

Friday night I was sitting in our apartment chatting with my dear friends Reg and Kriz, enjoying the company and our comfortable home. It was 8pm and Makai was already in bed. Darnell and Cody were watching basketball at the court in the basement of our complex. I had been getting ready for a weekend away with Darnell the next morning, something we were really looking forward to. I had laundry to fold in the bedroom, dishes to clean in the kitchen and toys to tidy in the family room, but I had put those tasks on hold and was enjoying the company of my friends. And then I heard the explosion. It was like a sudden bang of thunder, but far more forceful. I screamed and jumped in fright.

Our front door flew open and red filled the room, like lightning does on a dark night. Then the door slammed shut again. We got up, frantic and afraid, wondering what the blast was. Reg tried to open the door, but couldn’t. We panicked. I ran to Makai’s crib, picked him up and we went to the balcony to see what happened. I remember yelling, in vain, “How do we get out?!?!” There was no fire escape and I imagined our hallways as a fiery furnace. I have never been so afraid.

We tried the door again and to our relief, it opened. I remember thinking that I should put shoes on. Taking anything else never crossed my mind. We started running down the 4 flights of stairs and all I could think of was Darnell and Cody. I imagined the basement crumbling from the blast and them being trapped. I ran down the stairs praying/screaming, “oh Lord please let Darnell and Cody be safe!”

When I got outside, I looked up at our apartment building and saw that the corner suite, just down our hallway, was blown out. The balcony was in pieces and an entire wall had disappeared. I could hardly believe it. 

I realized then, that Darnell and Cody would be fine, but I was still panicking and I ran to the gym, with Makai still in my arms, held tightly. The girls could hardly keep up to me and were trying to tell me to calm down. When I saw the other half of my family coming up the stairs to see what the noise was, I wept with thankfulness and cried into Darnell's arms. I tried to compose myself so Cody wouldn’t be scared. He kept saying, “Its okay Mommy, don’t cry.” We had a group hug and I held my family tight.

I told Darnell that there was an explosion in our building. We walked a little closer to look and saw lots of friends emerging from the various building in our complex, asking questions and in shock. We quickly felt like we should get away, as the chaos and smoke was too much. We went to the book store across the street and tried to relax. Darnell had his phone, his wallet, Cody’s basketball and a water bottle. I had my shoes and my baby. Kriz and Reg had their purses. We had to figure out where to go and what to do- it was late and the kids needed to sleep. We decided to stay at our friends house, another couple from Vancouver with an extra room and two kids the same age as ours. I couldn’t call my friend so we just decided to knock on their door. When we walked into the main entrance of our complex, one of my friends ran to me crying, so thankful that we were okay. Everyone knows where we live and could see how close the blast was to us. When they couldn’t find us, many were afraid for us. When I finally got my phone 4 days later I had 23 texts and 15 missed calls.

We arrived at my friends and they were more than happy to host our family and Reg and Kriz. They had an extra pack and play, soothers, and even the same muslin blankets Cody needs for sleeping. We talked and cried and the two little buddies played trains. Darnell found out that they were putting us up in a hotel- we planned to go the next day. I slept uneasily in a cozy clean bed, waking to every sound or peep from any of the 4 kids in the house. Cody spent half the night in our bed.

We found out the next day that 3 people died, all killed from the concrete wall that flew off and landed on a delivery truck driving by. And there was someone in the room when the suite blew up and he’s in critical condition. Several others are injured. There have been no official statements, but it seems that it was caused by a gas leak. Our whole complex still has no gas.

Since Saturday we’ve been staying in a hotel across the street, with all our meals covered too. Our friends here are all supporting us, lending us everything we need- clothes, stroller, cribs and many other necessities. Sunday we had a shopping spree, with 2 full outfits for each of us provided.

And yesterday we were able to return to our house for the first time, just for 20 minutes to grab some clothes, documents and other essential things. They briefed us and had us wear hard hats and boots. I wasn’t sure I was ready though.

Each flight of stairs I walked up, I felt more and more unsettled. When I got to our floor, the floor of the explosion, I broke down and wept. This hallway, the elevator, the neighbours' doors- this space we are in everyday, in and out all the time - was like a bomb site. I stepped over glass, drywall, pieces of concrete and chewed up doors to get to our apartment. I sat on my couch where I experienced the explosion a few days earlier and cried. Our space we call home had a layer of dust, glass in the entrance and a terrible stench from our rotting food and dirty dishes. My laundry still needed to be folded. Cody’s puzzle was still on the floor, the pieces strewn about just like our building now was. This was our first home in the Philippines, a space we loved. But it wasn’t home anymore.

We grabbed our suitcases and filled them with clothes, books, toys, our laptops and important documents. We grabbed Kriz’s stuff, the luggage she brought for her 3 week visit here from Davao. We grabbed Reg’s computer and her overnight bag. I took our wedding picture from the book shelf. I took the granola bars I had made for the boys. I took Cody’s beautiful quilt.

We’ve realized now that we won’t live in that home again. So far the building is still under investigation and when it is handed over to the property managers, we really don’t know what will happen. If the building can be salvaged and renovated, it will take months and we don’t want to live in that mess, nor do we want to live in a hotel until the apartment is liveable.

So we’re looking for a new apartment in the same complex. We're continuing our language study. We’re trying to make our hotel rooms feel like home. We’re eating good buffet meals and we’re hanging out at our friends houses during the day a lot. We’re trying to feel normal. It’s hard though.

We're also finding new ways to serve in our community, as many people are very traumatized. We held a trauma healing meeting yesterday with our friend from Davao who is a clinical psychologist. It was good. And so needed. The friends here who came are wanting to do it again, and others are also calling, interested. Last night we had a Peace Church gathering at our friends house in our same complex. It was good to gather as a community and find support.

Our boys are doing well. Cody is still with his friends here and doing his swimming lessons and yoga, despite some location changes. He can tell the whole story of the explosion with more detail than I realized he knew. But he still asks me several times a day, “What happened in our hallway Mommy?” Today he told Darnell in the elevator that we live on the 12th floor now, not the 5th anymore. He’s also more clingy to us and we are making sure one of us is always with him. I am so thankful that Cody was not in our house when the explosion happened. And I’m so thankful I wasn’t alone with Makai, but that my two dear sisters were with us.

Never did we imagine that the place we called home would, in one second, look like a bomb site. Never did we imagine the danger we would feel in our high security residential complex. But we are just so thankful that we are safe and well taken care of. 

Thank you all for your support and prayers as we process this and figure out the next steps. 

this is as close as we can now get to take a picture... can you see the destroyed apartment? our
suite is also on the 4th floor, behind the bush with a balcony. 

this is the unit and the truck that was hit by the wall. the photo taken by a friend from his unit.

the evacuees the next morning :)

making us smile :)

Here's how the Barkman boys are making us smile these days.....

- Cody loves to tell us stories. Here's a typical one: "Daddy, do you know what I fink is funny? A crocodile climbed into a tree and then put a peanut in a box and frowed it into the garbage can!" .... followed by a deep, fake and terribly amusing laugh which makes us all laugh, every time. 

- Every morning Makai walks to the fridge, points to the very top where the bananas are shelved and says, "nana" until I'm forced to drop whatever I'm doing and give him way too many deliciously sweet mini bananas. 

- Cody is taking swimming lessons with Tito Leon, who has also successfully taught the rest of the kids in our apartment complex how to swim. Cody's still a little hesitant to put his face under without coaxing, but he can swim the length of the pool by himself with his kick board. Not bad, hey?! Here he is with his swimming buddy, Stu (who happens to be from Vancouver!)...

- Makai loves playing with his "Quiet Book." This gem of a book (from Tante Evelyn- THANK YOU!!!) kept Cody quiet for remarkable lengths of time at this age (great in church- and I'm sure many of my readers helped me find missing pieces between pews!) and the book is now working its magic on Makai.... 45 minutes of non-stop QUIET! Yes please :) Also, notice the curly hair. He's definitely a Bartel boy right?

- Cody's been asking us a lot of questions lately.... Mommy, does Makai have nipples? Ate Reg, did you meet a sea lion? Tito Bryan, what is book (or any other random word) into Tagalog? Mommy, are you a girl? Are you an Ate? Does Uncle Jayco have a jumping motorcycle in Canada?

- We now have two boys addicted to trains, cars, trucks and motorcycles. Whenever Cody plays with his train set, car ramp or just drives a motorcycle or truck around the house, Makai is sure to pick up something with wheels and follow suit, with the appropriate sounds and all. I'm pretty sure, thanks to his big bro, that Makai has gotten into the whole driving scene much quicker than Cody did.

- We went to a great little amusement park in Manila the other week and Cody had the time of his life!  His favourite was riding a kids roller coaster in his very own truck. He thought he was driving it himself :) 

And Makai loved the little playground...

- One day after Ate Sam (our lovely helper two days a week) had watched the boys all day, Darnell and our friend Bryan and I met the kids outside and as I crouched down to say hi to Makai, he walked right past me, then right past Darnell and straight into Tito Bryan's arms. I think that explains how awesome Bryan is with our kids :)

- Largely influenced by his Daddy, Cody is very into cars and motorcycles. His latest love is dirt biking and he is VERY excited to try out the ATVs (or what he likes to call "jumping motorcycles") with us at the cabin this summer. In the meantime, he gets pretty stoked about this type of dirt biking....

- When Cody does something silly/strange that we've never seen before and we ask him where he learned that, the answer is, without fail, "Umm, Papa taught it at me!" And when he gives hugs to his friends, it often starts with, "This hug is from Papa." 

- Cody does yoga once a week. Yup, kids yoga! He loves it... a lot. The first day of the class, he must have said, "Mommy we're doing yoga, mommy. This is yoga!" about 20 times, even when the activities we were doing weren't really yoga at all :)

my friend Shari teaches it... she's great!

I could go on and on. But I'll stop here :) Needless to say, these boys bring us a ton of joy!