Upcoming Plans

We have our flights booked and are arriving in Vancouver June 18th for a month-long visit! We are really excited to be able to see our family and friends again this summer and spend some time in a place we love and miss. Thanks to our parents' generosity, we don't have to wait 3 years, but get to come home every summer (so far).... what an amazing gift!

And a whole week at the cabin with this as my front yard? Yes, please!!!!!

While we're in Canada this summer, we'll be flying to Winnipeg (leaving the boys in BC with grandparents) for the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly. We're looking forward to this event where we'll get to learn from and dialogue with Mennonites from across Canada. We'll also be sharing at three different churches on Sunday mornings (June 29th at Eden Mennonite in Chilliwack, July 13th at Emmanuel Mennonite in Abbotsford and July 20th at Peace Mennonite in Richmond).

Other summer plans include a week at my family's cabin and a week staying at our house while our dear friends/renters are out of town.... we get to "housesit" our own house :)

Many of you have been asking where the baby will be born. While we'd love to be home with family to have this dear little one, it would mean being in Canada 6 weeks before the baby is born and probably 6 weeks after also.... this is just too long to be away from our work and seeing as the medical care we receive in Manila is just fine, we'll be coming back to the Philippines in July and then baby is due to arrive in September. 

My pregnancy is going very well and baby is doing great and is super active.  I am really looking forward to cooler weather at home though, as its the hottest time of the year here right now and its horribly uncomfortable to be outside in the humidity, especially when I already have my own personal heater in my belly:)  I finally checked the weather network to see how hot it really is here and it said 37C but feels like 56C! Is that even possible?!?!? Even during an early morning walk or an evening stroll we come home a sweaty mess! Oh how I look forward to cool June evenings at the cabin and getting cozy around the campfire with a hoodie on.

We have been enjoying our work here a lot and love our Peace Church community that we gather with on Wednesday nights. We've been busy with different projects and activities... I really need to write more blogs about all the different things we're doing!! We've also had lots of house guests lately, which is always a huge blessing. Our dear sister, Reg has been living with us for over a month, our friend and language tutor, Fread stays about 2 nights a week and we've had several North American guests passing through Manila in the last 2 months and spending a night or two in our guest room/office. Our doors are open, as always, and we love the many ways all these guests add to our family. We do usually have a day a week just as a family, which is also important. But when Cody asks if we can do something fun as a family, the list of people he says will be there always includes a few more than the four of us :)

I will leave you with a photo of two special boys. I'm sure most of you have seen this photo on Facebook, but its just too cute not to share again!

thanks to Marc at banyenfamilyphotos.com for this shot