Nasaan sila Gilmers? or Where are the Gilmer's?

For those of you who are faithful to read our blog, you probably wonder if we have fallen off the island during the last month. Well at times it has seemed like it. The last month has been crazy for us. July is the official beginning of rainy season and it has begun with a vengeance. We started the month with 2 typhoons, followed by a 3rd one this last week. Since the rains began the first week of the month, it has rained every day. Most days it has rained all day. The first typhoon knocked out the phone lines, which were then stolen, and we were without phone service for over 2 weeks. One Saturday morning though, the lines were replaced and we had phone and internet again...for less than 24 hours. The phone lines were cut and stolen again that night, so we were once again phoneless until today. Beside no phone we have also spent the last 3 days without power. Thankfully everything seems to be up and running now, but who knows when the weather will knock it out again.

When the phone lines are down, we can get out and check our email at internet cafes. Unfortunately during the first week of no phone service, a virus with a high fever swept through the family beginning with Will and ending with Allan. Each of us was really sick for 10 days to 2 weeks. So we haven't gotten out much, Emily and I still have some residual cough and congestion.

Besides illness to fill our dreary, rainy days, we have launched a war against a platoon of rats that invade our home each night. In the states we one time had a little mouse in the house. We have never had rats--yuck! The rats have eaten holes in the screens and come inside. At first it was just in the kitchen windows, but when we started leaving those closed they came in through any window, including our bedroom--eeeewww! For 2 weeks each night before bed, Allan would set up his poisons and traps. We soon caught our first rat in a trap. Will arrived in our bed one morning about 6 to tell us there was the biggest rat we had ever seen dead on the kitchen floor. He was right! It was bigger than a guinea pig--double yuck! I was thankful Allan saw it as a man's job to clean it up. The Nelsen's dachsund Bonnie has killed one in the yard. Their dog Shila killed one behind our dryer. And not to be out done, WAGs killed one in the kitchen last week. Hopefully the others (if there are any) are dying off in their nest somewhere after they have eaten the poison packets left around the house. Along with the rats we have also had problems with ticks in the house and our usual collection of lizards. The lizard population has been diminished though with the sticky traps set out for the rats. Ah the joys of living overseas! I am sure my mother is really looking forward to being here with us this fall. She doesn't like lizards in the house and I can only imagine what she thinks of rats.

We are glad to see July winding down and hope August is a better month for us. School begins next Wednesday and Will is ready to go. Emily is a little apprehensive about starting middle school. On another good note, the missionaries, who are renting the Nelsen's house while they are on furlough, arrived this week. They have 3 kids. The younger 2 are close to our kids ages. One is a girl Will's age and a boy a year older than Em. The 4 of them have lived in the yard, running and playing with WAGs and their dog. It has been wonderful for Emily and Will to have kids right here. Emily and Megan have enjoyed doing girly things. While, Will and Mark have played Monopoly this morning and are now playing Stratego. We are enjoying having neighbors again after 2 months of the house next door being empty.

The great thing about the rainy weather has been that our temps have been cooler. Our highs have been between 80 and 82 with the nights getting down as low as 74. While to some of you that may still seem like summer, after living with summer for 365 days, we like the lower 80s and upper 70s. The kids have been wearing their long pants pjs to bed at night. We didn't even miss our fans when the power was out.

So here is the final count

rats killed-4
days with rain--24 and counting
days without phone-23
days without power-3
days with cooler weather-priceless!

Will's new Swimsuit

Ok for those of you who don't want to enjoy another of my shopping experiences here in the PI then this isn't the blog for you. First a little background info--About 3 summers ago, Will began wearing rash guards when he went swimming. My cousin Susan introduced them to me when we were at Gulf Shores. Will was so skinny that he had a hard time staying warm in the water and my cousin said this might help. Apparently rash guards are pretty popluar in New England where the water is a lot cooler. It really helped, Will loved it and we quickly learned the added benefit of protecting his pale white skin from the sun.

Yesterday, I went to our local grocery store which is kind of like a mini-Walmart (emphasis on mini). I was buying a few groceries and some toiletry items for the kids to take to a summer camp for MKs next week. While there I decided to see if they had anything that Will could wear for pjs since his are all getting a little too small. As I walked toward the back of the kids clothing section, I was stopped by an outfit hanging there that I knew I had seen before. It was a shirt, bathing suit trunks, and flip flops all packaged together. The brand name--Sun 'n' Sand. I knew this was a Walmart brand. I also knew these were not Filipino swim trunks because they had a liner inside and boy's bathing suits here are made just like shorts. There was a whole rack of boys swimsuits and tees that were made in the Philippines for Walmart, along with some Op suits that came with rash guards. I was so excited. I of course bought Will a new suit and shirt. Later that afternoon we went to the pool where I saw 2 other families who had also discovered my find. Allan thinks we all seem a little too excited about finding American bathing suits, but it is more than that. It is like finding a piece of home. I am sure he would feel the same way if we were driving down the street and stumbled across a Guthries or a Zaxby's.

Here is the outfit that stopped me at Shopwise. It is listed for sale at the Walmart website.

Here is Will in his new suit.
The bottoms are a little big (surprise),

but he already had 2 others that match the shirt