Since we've been home...

The last post I did was in October. That was also the trip Jeremy asked me if I was ready to go home from the Philippines. Up until that day, he had been talking like we might be there a couple of more years! I was shocked he would mention it. I said yes I was ready, but we both wanted to make sure we had done everything there we could and wouldn't regret later going home at that time. We thought about it for a few weeks, and then tearfully told out decision to Jon and Steph. They were still there and at the time were not planning to come home. That was so hard. We felt like we were abandoning them!
We began selling most of the things we acquired while we were there. We had a yard sale and had our house-help: Junel, Haydee, and Sally sell everything for us. They were wonderful. It was sad to leave them. We said goodbye to the ward, the neighborhood, and the school, and were ready to leave.
We flew out on December 12? and got here Dec. 15?
Jon and Stephanie's family came over when we were finishing packing. They helped us and we took lots of pictures. We had all of our luggage loaded into a van to drive us to the airport. Ajie, Tata, and J came over and road with us too. We stopped and ate some pizza and saw the new S&R store and then went to the airport. The primary president, Sister Lanee, had been waiting at the airport for us. She gave us 5 winter hats that had CEBU written on them. She also gave me and each of the girls a cute purse, plus little souvenirs of guitars with each of our names written on them. She also gave me a little bamboo coin purse. We appreciated her so much. She is a neat lady and a good friend.
Then it was time. Jon and Steph's family, Ajie's family, and our house help walked us to the security point and then waved at us through the glass window as we walked off. We were all bawling. It was so hard to say goodbye!!! We got on our first plane with puffy red eyes and flew to Manila. We slept for a about 5 hours at a hotel and then headed back to the airport. We flew to Tokyo. The girls made friends with another little girl at the airport. It was so cute because the girls didn't speak the same language, but they were still trying to play dolls together and share snacks. Such great experiences for us! Then we flew to California (LA again, I think), made it through the airport, and flew to Salt Lake City. It was not as cold as I was expecting. Brett was there waiting for us with his car and a little trailer for our luggage. We were tired, hungry, and probably stinky :). We drove straight to Brett and Sue's home. All the family was there waiting to welcome us. The kids had made nice welcome signs but we couldn't really see them because it was dark and cold outside by that point. I think we got to their house around 8pm. We were SHOCKED at how much all the kids had grown. Most of them are now at least as tall as me if not taller. It was crazy. I was so worn out but it was great to see everyone.
Then we tried to sleep. Ha ha. Gracie stayed awake ALL night (and kept waking me up). We stayed for a couple of days at Brett and Sue's. It was nice to be there, although I was freezing the entire time. They were so nice and welcoming anyway. I tried to find some warmer clothes, since the ones we wore in the Philippines were absolutely not warm enough!
We quickly moved into the Cummings home. They are a missionary couple from IF serving in the Cebu Temple. Jeremy worked with them each week at the temple. It turns out their house was empty, and they were willing to let us rent it out from them until they return in October. So here we are! It is a townhome-brand new-only a couple of miles from my parents!It's been wonderful here. We also bought the Cumming's little pickup truck. We bought Brett's car for me, and then decided to buy their truck for Jeremy since we needed another car anyway, and would have had to pay to store their truck if we wanted to use the garage. It's all worked out great.
The girls go to Temple View Elementary where my Dad teaches.
They took ice skating lessons from January through March, and they also began singing lessons in January. They take lessons from our old neighbor, Janie Christensen. While we were in the Philippines, her 2 daughters were on America's Got Talent. They did awesome. It was so fun to watch them on TV :).
We have all settled back here so easily. It's just nice to be home. I have had some tough moments, like when I drove by our old house, or when I saw the lady that moved into our old house at Sam's Club...but really, it's been such a blessing to be where we are. The kids have friends, they are doing great in school, the ward is wonderful, and we get to see my parents a lot which has been awesome. Gracie and I started taking guitar lessons from my Dad a couple of months ago and are really enjoying it. Gracie is doing so great!
Jeremy is working hard as always. He did go to a check flight last week so now he is able to fly planes again. He hasn't complained about missing flying, but I'm sure he is eager to get back into the air.
Jon and Stephanie's family moved back in March. They are staying with my parents, so we see a lot of them, too. It probably wouldn't have been so sad and hard on all of us if we had known they would be coming home soon too. ha ha I guess you never know.
We are looking for a house to move into in the next few months, but so far haven't had success. School gets out in 3 weeks, and hopefully the weather will be nice enough to enjoy it outside! (It's been cold here for the most part. A few beautiful days here and there, but mostly cold and windy.)

Shangri-La Paradise Weekend

The kids had a 2 week long semester break. Lucy's birthday occupied the 1st week, which was super fun, but we also wanted to add a little family getaway while we had the chance. We talked about visiting parts of Jeremy's mission, or hiking at a volcano...for some reason it all seemed like so much effort! Instead we finally settled on the most amazing hotel I've ever been to, which just happens to be a one hour drive away. It's called the Shangri-La. Yes, I am posting a lot of pictures of this place because we LOVED every second of it!!!!! Here we go: This is the sailboat we went for a ride on. I couldn't take a picture of us actually on it because there was nowhere to put a camera! Plus, our waterproof camera's memory card was full :( The highlights: *We swam (it had both a kiddie pool for Sam, 2 large pools including a waterslide for the older 2, and the ocean which was absolutely beautiful and warm!! * a really fun play area with huge slides (one the girls actually had to wear a helmet to go on and Sami was too little for it) *We rode ocean kayaks out to a dock and fed the fish. SO FUN!!! *We went on a sailboat which was awesome, too! Sami fell asleep about halfway through after she requested we go FASTER! :) *We fed the fish right along the shore. The fish were EVERYWHERE. We just watched them jump out of the water all around us. Sami didn't love that part, but the rest of us did. If they got too close to Lucy she would just throw sand on them! *The food was delicious, the room very comfortable, and the TV big. Oh, and of course we ALL loved the luxury of a bathtub!!!!!! *It had a nice pool table/ping pong room. Gracie did great with ping pong! I'm sure she would have done great with pool too, but we didn't try that :) *We played badminton on nice soft grass with a net! Awesome! *There were big, nice hammocks to relax on complete with grass and shade. *The workers brought out free samples of fruit kabobs and juice several times. YUM This is one 5 star hotel that deserves all 5 stars in my book! It was SO fun to spend that time with our family. The fun playroom slide:

Tooth fairy and Halloween

Lucy had her first loose tooth for at least a month or two. She was very nervous for it to come out. We thought maybe the big day would be her birthday, but that little tooth held on for 3 more days. Finally, the time had come. Daddy had to help a little, but that tooth was ready to come out! Lucy was so excited, and boy does she look cute!! Just in time to carve...coconuts.




Lucy designing her "jack-o-lantern"




Sami was very helpful for all of us!








Jeremy had the idea since there are no pumpkins here, we could carve coconuts for jack-o-lanterns instead. We stopped at a coconut stand and I wish I would have taken pictures there. The guy we bought them from had a big machete he cut one side off of each coconut and then poured out the milk. He made it look so easy!

We got home and began designing our coconuts. Then Jeremy and Junel (he works for us)did pretty much all the hard work-the actual carving. They turned out awesome!! Oh, and yes, we did do one squash which also looked awesome :)




Grace taking her personally designed coconut outside





The final result



One final word of Halloween. No, we didn't dress up in costumes, so I have no pictures of any type of Halloween party or trick-or-treating. They do celebrate Halloween here, but it's much more optional. Our neighborhood kids did come trick-or-treating, but it was Sunday night, so my girls just stayed home with me. Grace did hand out candy we had to the neighborhood kids, and I was impressed that they were so nice they came and brought a lot of their candy over to us since the girls didn't get any. At any rate, we had so much fun with the coconuts it helped make up for the dress up part.

Lucy's Birthday!! 6 Years!!

I love Lucy. She is one of the coolest people ever. Seriously. She has so many sides to her, it's just fun to get to know her. This year she has grown in a lot of ways. For one, she is much taller. For another, she's experienced so many different situations (school, church, and our home to mention a few) here that I think it has broadened her perspective. Finally, seeing her learn and develop as both a younger sister and an older sister has been neat. She is really quite the little Mommy to Samantha, and a good friend for Grace. She always asks such relevant questions when we discuss things like religion. It always impresses me. She is also so silly and fun! She LOVES to kick back and relax. Yes, I love Lucy.


Okay, Lucy's birthday is on Oct. 27th, but her school started semester break after the 22nd. So, Lucy had a school party on Friday the 22nd and then had a family/neighborhood party on her actual birthday.





This is Lucy's class. When it's your birthday, you walk around the room in a circle holding a globe. THere's a candle in the middle of the globe representing the sun, and you circle one time for each year you've been on the earth. While Lucy was circling the room, I told about what Lucy liked and did each year of her life, and Gracie held up pictures of Lucy. Then, even though Lucy's class only goes half day, on birthdays the birthday child brings lunch for everyone plus cupcakes and gift bags. So we did. It went great and Lucy was happy.



The cupcakes. So yummy!



On Lucy's birthday, Gracie made sure Lucy stayed in bed until she was served breakfast. Yes, those are brownies you see. The nice lady, Haydee, that works for us made them special for Lucy.




The morning of Lucy's real birthday, we headed to SM (the big mall here) to paint ceramics. It was so fun! Even Sami liked it, although hers accidentally broke at the end...The girls did a lovely job painting. We made it home just in time for the party!


The rest of the pictures are from Lucy's party. We had it in our neighborhood by the pool. Lots of kids went swimming until it rained too hard and they had to stop. Then we had donuts, played games, and ate a giant pizza. It was a great time!

10 year anniversary! Sept. 1, 2010

A boat being built right on the shore. I thought it looked very cool.


We just happened to notice this sign off the side of the road while we were driving. There was no other information about it anywhere, but we decided it must be valid because we haven't seen a fence that nice anywhwere else here.


This is the way cemetaries are here. They can't bury their dead because since it's an island, there's too much water underground. Instead they bury them in cement above ground. Some only have a cement box, while some have very fancy rooms complete with ceiling fans, outlets, and even a bathroom in some. They also put up pictures of the buried person. There's a special holiday when the people go to their loved ones' grave and spend the whole day and possible all night (I can't quite remember for sure) at the gravesite. So, the nice comforts are for the family members that visit.






I'm still missing a couple of pictures from this trip, but I'll add them later. Here's the main idea, anyway:


Jeremy and I went to an island called Malapascua (meaning Unfortunate Christmas...not sure why it's called that) for our anniversary. We left all three girls home and our good friends Tata and Ajie took care of them for us while we were gone. We weren't sure exactly where we were going when we left, we just had a small tourist book of ideas and our car. We drove for a few hours, and decided to head to Malapascua--we were headed that way anyway, so we drove for another couple of hours until we reached the port and could drive no more. Then we hopped on a boat and rode for 45 minutes across the water to the island of Malapascua.

The tourist book we brought described Malapascua as the way Boracay (now a famous resort island) was 10 years ago. I'd say that's right on the nose. We enjoyed an amazingly peaceful, beautful white sand beach along with a laid back attitude of the Filipinos. It was SO nice. The downside? Well, it is still very Filipino. The place we stayed at had a field next door where people were living in a shack and had fires going for cooking most of the time. Also...it took us a good couple of hours right from the get go to find a hotel to stay at that had both hot water and air conditioning. Jeremy was a bit put out with me because we could have had the most amazing view from a room at a neat hotel, but the room had no hot water, so...I decided against it. The guy who owned the hotel was European. He had the whole place set up pretty cool. The food was good and the workers were friendly. We walked along the beach followed by a delicious buffet right on the beach. The restaurant had nice music playing, candlelight, and perfect weather.

Jeremy took me scubadiving the next day. I hadn't ever done it before. We were able to find an instructor, a boat with a crew, and all the equipment for around $60! We went for a couple of hours and it was awesome! I wasn't scared like I thought I would be. We saw lots of fish and HUGE starfish. Nothing too extreme-just the way I like it :)To round out the day we had an in-room massage which I enjoyed, and Jeremy didn't so much. Something about rough hands or the lady was so old or something...
Anyway, the next morning we loaded up and headed home.

It was the perfect experience for our 10 year anniversary. Funny how for the last few years Jeremy talked about us going to a tropical island for our 10 year ann., little did we realize we'd actually be living on one for the whole year! Ha ha.

On a Lighter Note...Randomness

I really appreciated all the comments left on my last post. It reminded me how blessed I am to have such great friends and family! I decided to show just some small day to day experiences we do here besides the big beach trips.


There are all kinds of interesting fruit here. Some delicious...and some the nastiest stuff I've EVER tasted :). This one is called Marang. I actually haven't tasted this one because it's related to the super stinky/nasty tasting Durian fruit. Even if I don't like ALL the tastes, I still like to look at them! I'll have to do a post specifically on the fruit they have here. It really is neat to have new tastes to try, although I completely miss raspberries, strawberries, peaches, and pears!



My girls all share a bed. They do best that way, not to mention that's all the room we have here :). Most people here are fine with just a mat on the ground to sleep on. Lots of kids sleep on a foam sofabed or mat in their parents room. It kind of seems like a dream that people have fancy decorated rooms just for one child...



This is my friend Tata (her real name is Marijo, but everyone here has nicknames which makes it very confusing to remember who is who!) Anyway, she lives by us. Jeremy baptized her on his mission, we went to her wedding in Manila almost 7 years ago, and now we are neighbors. She helps me one way or another pretty much every day. She's very fun and nice. One day we went running and decided it was time for her to try something new; driving. This was her FIRST time ever!! She did a great job. It's very normal here for people to not own a car or even know how to drive. Jeepneys, taxis, motorcycles, bikes, or walking get the job done for a LOT of people. Way to go, Tata! :)

Opportunities to help

Okay, I wanted to do a post on some of the less fortunate people we encounter here, but I certainly don't want to seem like we are so selfless and help everyone in the world. I will be very honest in this post and say I do much less to help others than I was hoping to when we first planned to move here. I'm hoping as time continues to go on that I will find more ways to help.

There are so many people here that have absolutely nothing. A drive across town can easily leave me in tears as I look out the window and watch the families trying to live in the median of a highway, or people showering out of a bucket on the sidewalk in the middle of downtown. There are many people who love to shower after or during a good rain when the rain guttars have a steady water flow. It's heartbreaking to see people-especially children-just laying on the sidewalk, not even moving to pass the day away. We are discouraged to give money to any beggars...even children... because they often go buy cleaners and inhale them to curb their hunger pangs.

We try to have extra snacks handy to pass out to those who are hungry as we go about our days. Once in a while we have extra food from McDonalds,and that always brings some big smiles.

One day Jeremy ran into this family as he was going about his day. They were begging pretty aggressively. Jeremy went to leave but couldn't after seeing this little baby's head. So he brought them to our home for a shower, some food, and a doctor's visit for the baby.

When they came in our home I was incredibly disappointed in myself. I was surprisingly very uncomfortable to have them in my home. I wasn't quite prepared for that really, really dirty smell from being homeless for so long. I wasn't sure what to say, with the language barrier not helping either. I was nervous to touch the baby. His head looked horrible. I was sure it was some sort of deadly tumor or super ultra contagious leprousy. Like I said, I was uncomfortale and I wasn't sure what to do. Jeremy, however, was wonderful. He made them all feel right at home and took that little baby in his arms and gave him a blessing.

The only clothes they owned were what they were wearing. They were dirty from head to toe. They showered and ate, while we gathered up clothes, toys, a few books, towels, whatever we could throw into a bag, and then Jeremy took them to the doctor. I waited to hear what the diagnosis was, and was greatly relieved when Jeremy let me know it was a big boil that just needed some antibiotics and clean water. I believe the doctor visit and the medicine together cost less than $10.00. The baby had the boil for over a month. Who knows how long he would have had it, and what else it could have turned into if he hadn't been medically treated.

I learned some lessons from meeting this family. Mostly about myself. I have a much longer way to go than I thought to become charitable. I am incredibly grateful for the comfortable, blessed life I have been given. I am grateful for medicine and for the opportunities we all have to reach out and help others when they are down. Sometimes we come away with more than the people we give to. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father to allow all of us-whatever circumstances we are in-to be able to choose how we act and to be able to learn to be better than what we are. I know Heavenly Father loves each of us. He doesn't love that family any less than He loves mine. We are each given our own set of circumstances to learn and grow and to help each of us individually be better, stronger, and more able to empathize for the rest of our lives and into eternity.