Teacups in the Jungle

Lola Bo and Izzy.

April! I love the month of April, I think it is my second favorite month of the whole year. Growing up I loved Easter holidays and chocolate Easter Eggs, spring time, and of course it is my birthday month! (Love having diamond as my birth stone!). Now, here in the Philippines I still enjoy April but for other reasons. It is mango season, avocado season and lots and lots of other good fruit. It is also hot season, but usually I don’t mind this as it means no typhoons for a while and I really don’t like typhoon season. So, all in all April is a great month wherever I am in the world. 🙂

It was April last year when we moved back home here to the tribe after being gone for a long time with Isabela’s birth and also the surgery she had in the US. It was a very exciting day for us all when we arrived back in the village and introduced Izzy to all our friends. She was 8 months old. This photo below is the first photo we ever took of her here in the village, it was minutes after we got out of the van that brought us home.

Introducing Izzy to our friends.

So I can officially say we have survived our first full year of balancing ministry and parenting!  It was quite a switch for Danny and I after being so used to life with just the two of us. It has certainly been a different way of life for us this past year living in the village with Izzy in tow, but it has been a great year. We have loved sharing her with the dear people here and she has given us opportunities to bond and connect with them and their kids in ways we couldn’t do before.

It is true, I don’t get to spend as much time (if any lately) out in the village, visiting from house to house like I used to. I am not able to visit people who are sick and deliver their medicines to them like I used to, I can’t just pick up and follow whatever is happening in the village. In fact these past months I spend most of my time in the house, working on lessons for the Sunday School, dealing with the callers at the door so Danny is not distracted from his lessons that he is preparing for teaching each week, and of course keeping an eye on what our 19month old miss Madam has got into.  I now rely on people coming to me when they want to visit, or if they have something they need. I just realized today is Friday and I don’t think I have left the house since Sunday! Of course the fact that I am now 31 weeks pregnant and it is hot season, has a lot to do with that. 🙂 However the Lord has brought people with needs and concerns across our doorstep and with Izzy running up and down the porch I am thankful that I am still able to give out medicine, still able to visit with the ladies and still able to have a part in their lives, as they in turn do in mine.

So I guess I am feeling a little sad tonight as I write, because it will be this month (April) that we will now be leaving the village again, and I am definitely have mixed feelings about this. I have loved being here this past year, enjoyed making this our home as a family for the first time and enjoyed the different ministries that God has allowed us to be involved in. I have been so grateful for the joy and contentment that God has given me despite all the changes of this past year. We have wonderful, precious memories from our first year of being “parents in ministry” and God willing this is just the start of it!

Next week we will be packing up and heading towards Manila where we will await the birth baby Brooks. I am due mid June and at this stage I am definitely starting to get uncomfortable with the basics of jungle living! I used to complain about having only cold water in the house and having to always take cold showers, now it can’t be cold enough as I jump into the shower three times a day in a vain attempt to try and cool off! Driving in and out on the bumpy road to town hasn’t been the most comfortable the past few times and I think Danny is relieved this next trip will be the last time we do this with me pregnant.

We hope to be back home here to the village by September, which to me right now seems really far away but I know it will fly once we get there and a new baby is God willing soon needing all our attention….well all the attention that big sister Izzy will allow us to share! I am getting very excited to meet this new little one that we will get to love and raise and I am just as excited to once again introduce our newest addition to the dear people here in the village. People that God willing will have a profound influence on our children just as we trust to have on theirs.

I am so grateful to the Lord for the good health that He has given to all of us over these past months. Izzy hasn’t had an infection since last October and I have had a very healthy and happy pregnancy. My main concern was that I would not get malaria while being pregnant, so I am especially thankful that I didn’t get that. Thank you to all who have prayed for us over these past months, and all praise to the Lord for answered prayers.

This was me last week at 30 weeks pregnant. The countdown is on!

Here are some photos from our family album of life here in the village over the past year. Only a few as internet is really slow tonight.

Visiting Ate Ellen.

Eating pansit with Bebe.

Attending the first Sunday School class.

Working on lessons often looks like this. 🙂

These three ladies have been a HUGE blessing to me this year. They work at our house with us everyday, helping with Izzy, washing and cleaning. My days have been all the sweeter, more productive and certainly easier and more fun because of them. Izzy will miss them so much when we go to Manila, as will I.

Lots of love to go around. 🙂