a little sadness and a lot of thankfulness

Yesterday Darnell's Grandpa passed away. 

This morning my parents left Manila. 

Today I am missing home. 

Weeks can go by without a pang of homesickness, but it's caught up to me now. Today is the day for a little sadness. 

Grandpa was 93 and only in the hospital for a couple weeks before he passed away. He was a caring man and always in a jolly mood. He loved his two special grandsons. Darnell and Tyson have countless memories with him, as he became the third son when his wife died and he joined all the family holidays and outings ever since his grandsons were very young. He made it priority to watch his grandsons games.... that's where I first met Grandpa- in the stands at CBC watching Darnell play basketball. Grandpa was always friendly and welcoming to me and loved our boys very much. We will miss his presence and wish we could be home now to be with our family. We're thankful that Grandpa is with Jesus, our Lord.

Today my parents flew home. The dreaded farewell. Sometimes I feel so bad for moving their grandkids halfway across the world. Especially when my parents eyes are brimming with tears. Back to Skype visits for a while now. I'm so thankful that they could be here, though.... they were able to get to know our kids in a whole new way again. They read books with Cody, watched him climb the playground, saw him interact with our friends, played at the beach with him and laughed at his little stories, sayings and silly dances. They watched Makai stand, take a step and crawl around, kissed his soft cheeks, were victims of his flesh-biting (terrible!) habit and were witnesses to countless smiles and squeals of excitement. 

My parents also witnessed Cody's tantrums when he didn't get his way, saw him give a few pushes or smacks to his brother, heard Makai's piercing screams when he didn't want to go to sleep at night and cleaned up the mess under his highchair after a meal. They saw it all..... a lot more than the friendly smiles, little stories and blowing kisses that Skype allows, but it was good. It was life together for a brief time. We are thankful that we could be together.

tourists in Manila!

two days at a resort together!

Cody loved chilling in the hotel room and watching basketball.
So did the rest of us :)

visitors just outside our hotel room.

fun at the beach!

and saying good-bye this morning :(

Darnell and my Dad also went to Mindanao for 5 days to spend time with friends at Peacebuilders Community and they helped distribute relief to flood victims. We'll post about their experience later.

So, today I am taking some time to relax, reflect, refresh and be THANKFUL. 

i am thankful for our life here. the experience of living cross-culturally. the warmth of the sun and the warmth of the people. my community.

i am thankful for the hope we have in Christ. for Jesus' transformative power in our lives and those around us. for a life of learning, growing, renewal.

i am thankful for Grandpa. the memory of his laughter. the smile on his face when he talked to Cody. that he is with Jesus.

i am thankful for my parents. the joy of watching them laugh with our boys. their loving support. the time they have. the conversations we share. their presence.

i am thankful for home. both of them. the one i miss and the one here that i will someday also miss. 

i am thankful for my family. my fun boys. my loving husband.

thank you, Jesus. renew my heart today. refresh my being. and may my life be a witness to your love, your forgiveness and your sacrifice. 

Gramma and Grandpa time!!!

We are so thankful that my parents are here for a visit! We've been anticipating this visit for a while now. When we left Canada 7 months ago, Cody had just started talking (no sentences yet) and Makai had just started smiling.... now we have an extremely chatty two-year-old and a very giggly/happy (and busy!) 9-month-old. Gramma and Grandpa are soaking in all the sweetness from these two little boys they've been missing.

We had a meaningful evening with our Peace Church group Saturday night and it was very special for us that we could introduce Mom and Dad to our friends here. On Sunday we went to Tagaytay.... a town on a crater with a view of a beautiful lake in the middle of the volcano and another volcano in the middle of the lake with a lake in the middle of it! Confusing, I know... but so picturesque! We had a lovely brunch with an amazing view.

Gramma and Granpa have been busy playing with the boys. Cody can get them to do just about anything..... 

We rented a suite for Mom and Dad so they could have some comfortable space to themselves (we don't have a spare bedroom). Their suite is in the same complex as us, just the next building over. This is the view from their room...

This morning my Dad and Darnell headed to Mindanao. They will spend 5 days there with Peacebuilders Community and will be part of a relief operation (the fifth wave) to deliver food to 2,000 families affected by the recent devastation of Typhoon Pablo. Please pray for them as they travel, visit with dear friends (Dann and Joji Pantoja and many others) and serve people affected by the typhoon. 

Greg and Karmen come to the Philippines!

What a special joy to have friends from home come to visit us! Greg and Karmen are teaching in South Korea this year and had a week-long Christmas vacation... we're so thankful that they chose to spend their holidays with us.

We spent New Years  with some friends from Peace Church, Kuya Boyet and Ate Chi and their kids, at their parents place in a University town a couple hours south of us. We had an awesome view of the many fireworks erupting all around us.... and Manila in the distance was sparkling with fireworks all night. Here's a picture of some of the lovely people we rang in the new year with....

Greg and Karmen spent a couple nights at the beach for Greg's birthday... unfortunately Greg got sick (Karmen first) and they had some rain, but they still enjoyed some beach time, island hopping, snorkelling and good food. When they got back, we took them to the nearby town of Tagaytay, which lies along a crater, overlooking a picturesque lake with an active volcano in the middle of it. Beautiful!

I don't think the view from this Starbucks can be beat!

Several of our Peace Church friends happened to also be in Tagaytay conducting training seminars on Community Development and Integral Mission, so we met them there and enjoyed some sights and a lovely lunch together!

We enjoyed many good conversations, learning about their life in Korea, eating out together, playing with the kids, skyping with Dan and Amanda and introducing them to our friends here. It was so great to connect again with these two lovely people. Thanks for coming to see us, Greg and Karmen!

Menno Youth Camp, Filipino-style!

On December 26th we packed up the kids and all our gear and drove 7 hours north to Pangasinan to speak at a four-day Mennonite Youth Camp. There were about 250 youth there and we spent three mornings with roughly 70 of the leaders, interacting with them about the Biblical story, Anabaptist history and beliefs and discussing how we, as follower of Jesus, are called to put our faith into action. 

We stayed at an Elementary school with no running water (just pumps) and no kitchen... just like camping! The cooks made meals for 250 people by fire and kept the meat in vinegar overnight so it would keep. We had rice three times a day, although Cody was pleased that I brought along Cheerios and some fruit. The boys had a lot of fun.... needless to say, with so many youth and them being the only little kids, they got a lot of attention. Cody enjoyed the sand and got good and dirty everyday. The downer was giving him 2 cold showers a day... certainly hard to get used to!

Each morning we had two hours of class-time with the youth leaders. The first day, Darnell spoke about the biblical story and had them draw 6 parts of the story and share it with a friend and the class. On day two, I shared about Anabaptist history and they had lots of questions. I had different groups write a poem or a song about the Mennonites and one group acted out the story of Early Anabaptist, Dirk Willems, who saved his capturer from drowning... it was very entertaining! The youth loved performing and I could tell (with the help of translation) that they understood the concepts. And a first for me was speaking for an hour with my sleeping baby in the carrier!

On the last day Darnell discussed the mission of the church and Bryan shared a few inspiring case studies about how the church in action is transforming communities in urban and rural Filipino settings. He had the youth get into their church groups to discuss the issues facing their communities and brainstorm ways that they can help bring transformation. Each group then shared their thoughts to the class.

The youth were intrigued by the radical faith of our brother (and language tutor), Bryan Paler. With his mohawk and tribal jewelry, he's not your typical-looking pastor. While being an integral part of Peace Church, he also pastors a group of youth from his community, many of whom are gang members and leaders. He has seen many youth slowly come closer to Christ as he bears witness to the all-accepting love of Jesus and the radical way He calls us to live. Without the language and cultural barrier that Darnell and I have, Bryan was able to really connect with these youth and we're so thankful that he could come and get to know the youth of Integrated Mennonite Church (IMC) too.

We had a great experience.... we enjoyed sharing about the Good News of Jesus, getting to know the youth, learning more Tagalog, and watching Cody and Makai interact with so many Kuyas and Ates (big brothers and sisters). And we were excited to already be invited back to speak next year!

Oh, and Cody had his first ride on a motorcycle around the school campus. He was thrilled....

Christmas Recap

Being away from home over the holidays is never easy, especially the weeks leading up to Christmas. But the funny things is, when you somewhat "dread" Christmas, your expectations are so low that when the day comes, nothing can let you down. So when the saddest-day-to-be-away-from-home arrived, it wasn't so sad after all... it was actually a very special, enjoyable time!

We spent Christmas Eve with Bryan and Maricel's extended family and enjoyed a Filipino feast, making friends, and lots of laughs (have I mentioned that Filipinos like to laugh.... a lot!!?!??!)

ready to go out Christmas Eve.... no toques and wool coats
here, that's for sure!

meeting Maricel's cousins

oh dear... this video game was very entertaining!

Christmas Day was enjoyed at home, with yummy home-cooking/baking, many presents for the kids sent from family and friends, our favourite Christmas tunes, a long and entertaining present-opening Skype visit with my family, and an unconventional hospital Skype date with Darnell's family (Darnell's dad broke his elbow Christmas Eve). We had a nice day as a family and it really felt very special.

Cody enjoyed listening to his cousins sing Christmas carols, watching their
excitement of opening gifts, and seeing his cousin Lauren running around
in a vintage bird costume :)  

Can you believe this ALL came from home???!!!

The weekend before Christmas was also full of festivities. We had our Peace Church friends over for a Christmas dinner, games and carol singing...

And we went for a day-trip (thanks to our new vehicle!) to Laguna to attend the Sunday morning worship service and Christmas party at Lumban Mennonite Bible Church. We had a great time connecting with our friends there.

Cody always finds friends!

We all piled into our vehicle for a little joy-ride to see the view of Laguna Bay.

That sums up our Christmas. On Boxing Day we took a long trip up north to speak at the Mennonite Youth Camp... I'll save that, and our New Years celebration, for a later post:)

Happy New Year dear friends and family... love to you all!!!!