A New Toy

Got home last morning at 12:45 am after waking up at 3:30 am yesterday morning to go to Cebu and pick up this motorcycle. Thanks Jonah Palacio Cajigas for letting me stick it in the back of the truck for the boat ride and travel home! We hope and pray that this one will be as good of a motorcycle for us as the last one which is now our farm bike which has been in the family for over 12 years now.

Care Packages

Anyone interested in helping to send us care boxes? After a number of people said that they would like to send things to us we thought maybe God is leading some of you in this direction. My father and mother usually do all the leg work of shopping, packing boxes and bringing them to Chicago to send but if anyone is interested in being a part of it or just would like details message me. Also at some point in time we will be ready to house visitors and we have started praying for you already. So if this is something you feel is for you let us know, nothing scheduled now but there will be. I know that all our posts of bugs, rats, rain and travel have enticed you to visit, hahaha. But seriously if you are interested in being involved with what God is doing with us don’t be afraid to voice it. We are open to where God leads this ministry.

Ups and Downs

In a life of ups and downs my prayer for all of us is that we won’t let the downs block us from experiencing the ups again. That the downs would only serve to help us be more grateful for the ups. In my life I have noticed that the downs have a way of sticking to us like mud and contaminating the future and the past goods if we are not careful. As I was reading in the book of Ruth I noticed that Naomi lost her husband and two sons and then tried to get her two daughters in law to leave her. As if to wallow in the down that was sticking to her but Ruth wouldn’t leave her. Sometimes we need people to help us out but we also need to let them. There is always a time of mourning for any loss but I pray that no matter what was lost to you this past year or years past it/they wouldn’t block the blessings of this new year! Life is bigger that one minute, one day, one year. It is a collection of moments and the tough things can make the blessings more beautiful in time!

This Last Week

This week has been a tough one for me. Not being able to work first because of the shoulder/neck issue, a near crash on a motorcycle with the boys on the back that left a bruised ankle for me (not a scratch on the either of the boys praise God), an ingrown hair on one of my toes that got infected (right where the flip flop strap rubs), and now a whole day of laying around due to an upset stomach (you don’t want the details). I know that everything will be fine but man am I bored. Maybe this is God’s way of forcing me to take some time off but it is so hard not doing much of anything. I thank God that we haven’t had anything major happen just these minor issues that could have easily been so much worse.

Recommendation

I don’t know what to call that nasty pain that I get sometimes in my neck but it’s back. Do you know the one that you wake up with that affects every movement you make and usually last at least three days? What is it? Is it a pulled muscle, a pinched nerve or both? I can’t think of anything to abnormal that I did to cause it but oh wow it is a good one. It runs from the base of my skull and forks at the shoulder, one going to the arm and the other path of pain going under the shoulder blade. Anyone have any recommendations of how to easy the pain besides just waiting it out? I would like to move again without pain and sleeping would be a nice bonus too.

After the Storm

During the storm and all the rain we got last week we finished preparing and planting rice. Lack of rain stopped us from doing it earlier and we also had a hard time finding workers to help which stopped us from getting it done right after harvest when we had water to do it. Oh well, once again not in my time but His. Sometimes it is so hard to wait though!

Answered Prayers

Sunday after the children’s program we were rushing to pick up the two benches and all the stools because the rain was starting to fall hard. Many children ran for cover while a few helped out. Ezra grabbed one of the 6 foot wooden benches and took off with it. He tripped and fell, as he tried to catch his fall with one arm the bench landed on it right above the wrist. Then his chest landed on the bench. There was an instant dark line that showed up across his forearm. At first it looked like we might be making a run to a hospital but after further review of the injury we didn’t notice anything worthy of the long trip. After some ice, Tylenol and a few days rest he is saying it only hurts a little bit now. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts as bad things can happen so fast here and take a long time to remedy. We know that our God answers prayers even if you don’t know what is going on specifically!

Tom and Jerry

I was sitting in our house the other day and heard a rat in the attic. So I went up there and started to check our stuff we store up there. When I opened a box a rat ran disappeared into the contents of the box. I called for the boys to get the cat as closed the box back up. When the cat was handed to me I reopened the box and put the cat in and started to move things. The rat reappeared and I shut the top again. When I reopened it a few seconds later the fight was pretty much over so I took the cat and his prize out and put him on the floor. Then I continued to go through the contents of the box to see what damage the rat had done when another rat showed it’s face and the disappeared. We then took the cat away from his vanquished foe and put him back in the box and repeated the process. Two rats down and no real damage done!