Clowning around in Malaybalay

A little over a week ago one of our friends, Jeff, called Daniel and asked him if we would want to travel with him, another friend, Ted and a short term team to another island and see the children's home they have started there. We had gone with him and Ted a couple years ago when he was first thinking about starting a home in Mindanao, but haven't been back to see what has come of his efforts. So, when he offered I think both of us were pretty excited to get the chance to see it and to get out of the big city for a couple days. We quickly made arrangements for JoAnn to stay with some friends in Manila and packed our bags so we could leave early Wednesday morning. At 2 AM our alarms went off and we headed to the airport to fly to Cagayan de Oro and then drive to Malaybalay. Normally I dread driving right after I fly, but once you get outside of Manila, the Philippines is such a beautiful country that I was actually looking forward to the drive. There were mountains in the background and rivers that we drove over and green vegetation everywhere. Also one of the big things that I notice anytime I am outside of Manila is that even though the poor are still very poor, it is a different kind of poor. They usually don't live right on top of each other and are able to keep their places much cleaner. It really provides a little break from the sometimes overwhelming city of Manila. Here is a picture of Daniel and I on a bridge on the way to Malaybalay.


Once we got to Malaybalay, the group we were with did their first performance, which by the way was a group of clowns from Georgia. Here are a couple pictures to prove they were actually clowns.

Their second performance was at the children's home/christian camp. The children's home is on a piece of land that was donated to them and on the property closest to them they are helping build a christian camp for Filipinos in the area to use. It really is a neat place. This is a picture of the construction of the camp. In the future they are hoping to have a covered cafeteria, a building to house the campers, a covered basketball court and a soccer field. They have already started on the building to house the campers and the cafeteria area. The reason there is no grass is because they have leveled the ground to prepare for the soccer field and basketball court.

That picture is right off the pourch of the Children's home which is what this building is.


In the future this will have the ability to house 48 kids and they have plans to build a second building that would be able to house another 48 kids. There is really a lot going on and I must admit that I was really impressed with it. Daniel has worked with Jeff ever since we got to the Philippines, helping with the finances of the children's home that he started in Manila. So it was really neat to see what he has started in another area of the country.

That was all on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, we were able to spend some time meeting the local Filipinos that Jeff has helping him since he still lives in Manila. They are really a great group and I have a huge respect for them. We were also able to spend some time with the Moody's. They are a missionary family that we met in Manila. They lived here for six months before going back to the US for a few months and then when they came back they went straight down to Malaybalay to help coordinate all that Jeff has going on down there. All in all it was a great trip and it was great to get back to JoAnn after a couple days away.

On a side note this is Daniel and Jeff eating a local beef dish. It was supposed to be pretty good, but the bone was massive and they kept joking around that it reminded them of the Flintstones. I just thought it was a funny picture.

My Eight Legged Friend

I must admit that since we moved here almost four years ago, I have become more accustomed to bugs and insects than I ever thought I would. Now when I see ants, I usually get frustrated, but not grossed out. When I see a cockroach, I usually jump, but more because it startles me than because I am afraid of them. I actually enjoy watching the occasional gecko running on our walls and I barely notice the flies or moths or other flying insects that I don't really know what they are. However, I in all seriousness consider myself blessed by God since we haven't had rodents, snakes and until yesterday spiders. I have heard many stories of all of those things invading many people's houses here, but I had never found any in our places. I hesitate to say they haven't been in our places, just that we haven't seen any. Well, I take that back I have seen many daddy long legs in our apartments. Anyway, I guess God has figured that I am slowly being able to handle more of the vile creatures because yesterday I went to take a shower and looked at the curtain about 6 inches from me and saw this thing staring back at me...

I freaked out. Daniel was not home and JoAnn was asleep, so it was a little more subdued of a reaction, but nevertheless I FLIPPED OUT. You can't really tell much by the picture but this thing was HUGE and scary. It was large enough that I could actually see the fangs. I have seen these spiders outside and in the hallways, but have never looked closely nor taken time to study them. I of course was not going to try anything to get rid of it (that is part of the man's role in the home, as far as I am concerned), so I patiently waited for Daniel to get home and had him get rid of it. We soon found out that they are very fast spiders and it seems as if they can jump as well. It took Daniel a while and a lot of screaming from both of us, but he finally killed it (and we managed to wake up JoAnn during the whole commotion). I am now afraid to take a shower without inspecting every inch of it for bugs. I would look up what kind of a spider it is, but to tell you the truth I am afraid to find out what kind it is and if it is poisionous. I am choosing ignorance in this case.

Later in the day we took JoAnn out to a local mall (there are malls on just about every street corner here). It is a mall that has been here since before we moved to Manila, but is fairly new and has opened an even newer section in the last couple months. It was fun to walk around and check out the new stores and restaurants and JoAnn loved getting out and about. We found a really good Greek restaurant that had very good pita bread and hummus, which I was really excited about since I have never found hummus here before and it is something that all three of us love. Daniel had a gyro and I had the kabobs and both of us liked them very much. It isn't often that I find a restaurant I will crave, but I think I found one last night. Here is a picture of Daniel and JoAnn outside by the fountain between some of the buildings. JoAnn was so impressed by the "jumping" water that goes over your head on the bridge that I could not get her to look at the camera.

Happy Easter

At times, I feel like a terrible mom. Daniel and I have never been really into doing a lot on any holiday. We are not against it, its just that neither of us find the fun we have doing things off sets the clean up or the planning that goes into it. I am sure as JoAnn gets older that will change, but she is still young and has no idea that Easter is different from any other day. However, I do feel a little guilty every time I read about or see pictures of what others are doing on Easter. I think next year I will put a little more effort into celebrating it. Nevertheless, this year we didn't have Easter baskets, colored eggs, or an egg hunt. I barely even thought about getting JoAnn into an Easter dress. In fact, I didn't think about it until Sunday morning, but I still managed to find a dress she hasn't worn yet that looked sort of spring-ish (even though it is considered summer here right now).

She looks real happy about being in a dress doesn't she. She actually really liked it (especially the shoes she picked out to go with it), she is just upset that she had to stand still for me to get a picture. Anyway, when we got to church I was pretty happy that I didn't go all out on her dress since I think out of everyone at church she was one of two people who had on a skirt/dress. It always amazes me here how Easter seems to not be anywhere close to as big of a deal as Holy Week. I have always found it ironic that nothing is open on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday but everything is open on Easter. I am not exagurating either. Daniel and I tried to go out for a little bit on Thursday and it took us 9 malls to finally get to one that had something other than a restaurant here or there that was open. The good thing was that since nothing was open and no one was working there was no traffic. It took us about 20 minutes to go where it usually takes more like an hour to get to. That part is great. Anyway, here are a few more pictures from Easter. Instead of doing anything big we just went out to eat at Outback for lunch after church. It was a fun treat for Daniel and I that we don't do more than a couple times a year.


When I asked Daniel if we could get a family picture since it was Easter this was his first attempt...not quite what I was thinking.

Keeping Busy

I would say we have been busy for the last few days, but truthfully I don't really know with what. That actually seems to happen a lot to me since I have had JoAnn. Well, here are some of the highlights that I do remember...

From last Friday until Wednesday, Daniel is coaching basketball at the Nike Elite Basketball Camp for the 4th year in a row. It is supposed to be for the best players in the country, so it is pretty neat for Daniel to develop relationships with some of the future college/pro stars in the Philippines. It isn't a Christian camp, but the people who organize it are Christians and encourage all of their coaches to share their faith with the players, so I always enjoy hearing how Daniel was able to share with the boys.

As far as JoAnn, she has picked up a new talent lately. She has figured out how to turn on the DVD player and put in her favorite cartoons. The other day we had a babysitter and Daniel said when we got home JoAnn was watching the Backyardigains. The babysitter told Daniel she had no idea how to put in a DVD and JoAnn was the one who turned it on. I actually completely believe her and am not surprised at all since JoAnn has done it many times while I have been busy cooking or something where I wouldn't be able to pay full attention to her. Its actually quite impressive how she picked it up without us ever trying to show her what to do. I guess she just got tired of waiting for us sometimes. This is her trying to turn it on before I saw her since I had told no.

Other than that this week is actually a fairly interesting week in the Philippines. With Easter in one week, this week will be full of the Catholic traditions that so many participate in. Most of the people I have talked to about the traditions don't really know why they are doing them other than it is something they have done since they were kids. This kind of stuff always fascinates me, so I am looking forward to this week. It is a great chance to explain some of the differences we have with the Catholic church.