Happy days!

Hi, everyone!  Hope you all are doing great!  We are doing well here at the Ranch.  Learning a lot!  I just finished my fourth week of full-time teaching.  I won’t lie, it’s been very challenging.  God is definitely teaching me some lessons in patience, endurance, and self-control.  Those aren’t very fun lessons, but I am choosing to be thankful and optimistic.  : )

John is staying busy with church events, Bible studies, visitations, and meetings.  He will be leading 2 missions teams from America in July.  He is also spending “man time” with Lincoln every Tuesday morning.  Linc and John go on adventures, play ball, and wrestle.  On Thursday and Friday afternoons, Daddy is in charge of Lincoln and Clara.  They have tons of fun!

Clara is loving “big school” (preschool) and learning a lot. She knows 4 verses from Psalms, and her teacher says Clara does great in question/answer time.  She is quite the social butterfly!  Everywhere we go, people call her “Barbie.”  Clara currently is into shoes, princesses, and bugs.  

Lincoln is enjoying his nursery class; he brought home some worksheets the other day and told me how he had to “follow instluctons”. Linc is all boy!  He has found some great wrestling buddies at the Ranch, and he just got his own basketball.  But growing up with a big sister, sometimes he can’t resist walking around in Clara’s high heels!

God is teaching us about His Provision! Last month, we lost 10% of our monthly support pledges, and that was very scary.  But, we knew that God would be faithful!  You, our supporters, gave above and beyond your regular monthly pledge, and we received EXACTLY the amount that was lacking. Hallelujah! 

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.  We miss our family and friends, but God has given us a great support system here, and we are content.  These children are so precious, and are in need of so much love.  We are doing our best to love them with God’s love, and help them in every way that we can!  

what's new

Hello again! I am writing to you from Manila, where we are staying this weekend for the Annual Meeting. All of the missionaries from everywhere in the Philippines get together and have a business meeting, teaching sessions, and spend quality time together.  We are staying in a house with two other families, and have a grand total of 8 children here, ranging from 6 weeks to 8 years old! Needless to say, we are having lots of FUN!

John is starting his Berean classes this month, he is working towards his minister's license.  This is a goal he has had for a long time, and we are excited that he has this opportunity.

I received my "official" job placement as the teacher for levels 4 and 5.  I have 13 students whose ages range from 10 to 19 years old.  School starts in two weeks, and I can't wait! I graduated with my teaching degree, then stayed home with the kids until we moved here, so this will be my very first time to teach a class by myself! Woohoo!

Clara will be starting preschool, and is very excited about the  "univerm" (uniform) that she gets to wear! She will turn 4 on June 19th.  She has requested a chocolate Hello Kitty cake, and we are all looking forward to that!

Lincoln is just enjoying every day! He is learning quite a bit of Cebuano, and he loves to sing, dance, wrestle, read, and play with cars and balls. He is definitely a BOY!

We hope all of you are doing well. Thank you for taking the time to catch up with us! : )

Burden

I feel a little awkward sharing this post, because many of you sponsor our mission and I don't want you to think that we are not incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve here! I just wanted to let you know how I am feeling... missions work is not a walk in the park.  It's more like running blindfolded through a jungle! And some days are hard.

This is a very honest post that I wrote about a week ago, but I am just now sharing. Hope you get something out of it!

I had this dream a few nights ago that one of my close friends had a new baby but it was very deformed, so she kept it but locked it upstairs and only fed it, just like the bare minimum to survive. She said it wasn't the child she was supposed to have, it wasn't perfect, so she would raise it, but she didn't consider it "hers". The baby's name was Brunden in the dream. I thought it was a weird name, but I knew that this baby deserved more than this life. Then I woke up.

Here is what John and I interpret: the BURDEN that God has given us, to come here and work with these kids, hasn't exactly turned out like we thought. We labored and toiled and waited a long time to get to this place, and now, honestly, I am kind of disappointed in the result. It's not perfect. There are things I don't like. (Mainly, living in a fish bowl and being so far from family). Please understand, we LOVE these kids so much! I think I just pictured all of the details to be. . . Flawless! So now I am here, doing what needs to be done each day, but not fully embracing our life here.

Whew!! Talk about a kick in the pants! This is the dream God has given me, entrusted me with, and I am treating it like this?  I am complaining about the things I miss in America, worrying about if my kids are going to be adversely affected by their surroundings, and secretly counting the days until I get to see my parents again.  

So, things will be changing. I will be THANKFUL for the new adventures God has given to our family. I won't forget how BLESSED we are to carry this burden! And I will try really hard not to miss home so much :)

busy, busy, busy!!

Hi guys! It has been a while since I have posted, and that's because we have been BUSY! The school had an incredible Performing Arts show, a tearful and joyful graduation, and now we are kicking off our summer program.  The kids spend Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays reading age-appropriate books in their group level's reading shack.  We spent a couple of days gathering wood, plastic, and tools to build our group's shack. I even learned how to weave coconut tree leaves to make coverings and decorations. (no pictures up yet... but look for them soon!) The summer reading program really strengthens the kids' English skills and it's fun too! On Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to the beach with the younger kids and swim and swim and swim. The older kids help lead VBS's held in different two locations.  I just finished a week of teacher training in the city and am now a certified School of Tomorrow supervisor. =)

Life is good.  We are missing our family and friends in the states, but we are enjoying all of our new adventures here, too. Thank you for supporting us and caring about us.  Have a great day!

The Sad Girl

Hi! Just want to share a story of how God used my little boy to show His love.

There is a girl at the ranch named Amber (not her real name) who has been rescued from the trafficking industry. I don't know all of her story, but I can tell that she has had a very hard life.  She doesn't talk much, and she likes to give icy stares at me when I try to talk to her.  A few weeks after we arrived here, Amber received the news that her father had died.  She was very upset, and at church that weekend the minister asked her to stand at the front of the church so we could pray for her.  I was holding my two year old, Lincoln, and he asked what we were doing. I explained that we were praying for the girl because she was very sad.  During bedtime prayers that night, Lincoln prayed for "the sad girl" and he hasn't forgotten to pray for her every night since then.

I happen to be a fan of "High School Musical" (even though I am definitely NOT in high school any more!), and silly as it sounds, knowing the songs from the movies has really helped me break the ice with the older kids at the ranch!  One day, out of the blue, Amber came over and asked me to sing her a song.  I gladly did so, then I told her about how Lincoln prays for her every night.  She didn't really say anything at the time, but the next day she handed me a small box to give to Lincoln.  Inside was a tiny, hand-sewn pillow and a note telling Lincoln how much she loves him and she is thankful for his prayers.   Since then, whenever Linc is around, Amber gives him a big hug and talks to him like he understands all of her problems. I am so proud of my boy for his tender, two year old heart! Never doubt that God can use little things (and little people) to make a big difference!

rest

I am writing today from the beautiful beach in Lapu Lapu City (about 2 hours from our home at the ranch).  Our family is taking a mini-vacation for two nights and it feels soooo wonderful! They have a bathtub in our room! I haven't had a bath since we left in December (showers, yes, but no bathtub!) And the food here is soooo good!

This is a very short post, but here's the story: we've been working really hard and enjoying our time here.  However, we don't have much time off because I (Kelli) work during the week and John works a lot with the church on the weekends.  So our mentor missionary suggested that we take a little rest and relaxation time, and we agreed. Yesterday and today are holidays in the Philippines, anyway.  Tomorrow we will be back at work!

We are so thankful to all of you are supporting us emotionally, financially, and through prayer.  Don't forget to take time out of your own busy schedules to stop and enjoy your family and your life. It will put a big smile on your face!