My life condensed in 13 suitcases

The last 2 weeks have been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster for the Gilmer family. We have returned to the Philippines to pack up our belongings, visit with friends, say some tough goodbyes and participate in some medical outreaches to areas hit by the heavy flooding.

Allan and I have spent many hours in the last 14 days going through our belongings and deciding which to keep and which to give away. It's amazing how our earthly treasures often looked like trash after being stored in a cardboard box in the tropics for 15 months. When we left the US 4 and 1/2 years ago, we left very little behind. Most things, we either got rid of or shipped here. We came to the Philippines for what we thought was a lifetime and therefore brought many sentimental things along. We leave taking with us 13 suitcases/boxes, roughly 520 lbs of stuff. So what does the last 18 years of our marriage condense to? The kids Christmas ornaments and other special Christmas decor, the clock Allan gave me for my birthday and Mother's Day during medical school, a few pictures, a few dishes given to us when we married, some Filipino mementos, and some toys and things special to the kids. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to let things go. My dear friend Ling Ling took all my dishes. She wanted something new and said these would remind her of us when she used them. Others came and chose things they needed or wanted. It was nice to be a blessing to those Filipinos involved in our ministry.

Today we had a final clinic lunch. It was a surprise despadeta for us. That's a going away party. 16 people were there to share with us some final words. There were lots of tears, some sweet prayers, and a wonderful time of sharing memories. It was a precious time. These people mean so much to Allan and I. There are many things about the Philippines we won't miss; the traffic, the heat, the noise at night, drunk karaoke, but we will truly miss these dear friends; times spent eating meals and sharing fellowship on our lanai; investing our lives together.

Tomorrow we will board a plane and close this chapter of our life. It's tough to leave it behind. In many ways we are still in the grieving process. We know God has a plan for the future even though it doesn't seem to make sense to us now. We leave trusting the same promise that we trusted when He led us here:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Tonight's final sunset overlooking Manila:

Clinic Involved in Disaster Relief

In the wake of recent flooding, the clinic has been overwhelmed with water-born illnesses and skin infections from hours spent standing in water. Not only are they seeing patients in our clinic, but they are also providing medical outreaches to some of the hardest hit areas. This week we received the following story from Val and Tom Thompson relating one of the many tragedies that they have been involved with. Val is currently the only doctor at the clinic.

"It would be too difficult to paint a picture of all of the devastation or to tell you all of the stories that we have heard. So, I would like to tell you the story of just one family that we know and have been trying to help with food and medical care.

This story is about Marivic, a young wife and mother. She, her husband, and their 4 children lived in the province of Baras (in the country side). They lived in a bamboo hut right next to her cousin, Dennis, his wife and their 4 children. On the day that Typhoon Ondoy struck, Marivic was in her home, near a small stream, resting as she had just given birth to a baby 5 days earlier. All 4 of her children were with her while her husband was working in the rice fields. It had been raining all night and all day, but this is not unusual in the tropical climate of the Philippines. She noticed that the water had begun rising in the stream, when suddenly, she heard a loud noise. It was a landslide and a large wave of water began rushing down the gorge towards her home. She took a sheet and tied her 5-day-old infant to her chest and around her shoulders, she grabbed the hands of her 3 year old and 5 year old children and told her 7 year old to hang on tightly to her and she tried to leave the house.

Meanwhile, she was shouting to her cousin’s wife, next door, to gather her 4 children (ages 2-7). Her cousin, Dennis, had traveled up the side of the hill sometime earlier to buy some items at the nearby sari sari store (a road side store selling snacks and drinks).Then the wave struck, forming a raging river where the small stream had been. It completely demolished the bamboo huts leaving no sign that there had ever been people living there. The 2 mothers and there 8 children were swept away with the water. Dennis watched all of this happen--as he was actually returning home from the store at the time the landslide occurred. A large boulder rolled down the hill landing on his leg and pinning him. He struggled to get free, but he was helpless as he watched his family being swept away. After the water had rushed through, other members of the village (most of them family) came running down the hill, they freed Dennis and started searching for the rest of the family. First, they found Marivic, on her hands and knees in a large pile of mud screaming and striking the ground with the sheet that had been tied around her. All of her children were gone, including the 5-day-old infant. By the end of the day, only the two 7 year olds were found alive, as they had been able to hold on to trees down the stream. Dennis’ wife and 6 children were killed in all.

When we arrived at this village—it was 2 days after the landslide. We first saw Marivic sitting and staring off in the distance. She was in shock. Her T-shirt soiled from her leaking breast milk, as she no longer had a baby to feed. Dennis and 20 other men were dragging the river looking for bodies. They had only been able to find one 5-year-old boy’s body. We gave them medical attention and began giving all of the men dragging the river tetanus shots. We gave them food and clothes and prayed with them as their hearts were breaking…knowing what we were doing was completely inadequate.

It has now been 3 weeks since the landslide affected this family. They are still looking for the bodies of their family members, but now they watch for the grouping of flies and then dig in the mud to see if they can find a body. They have only found one and half more bodies.

I do not tell you this story to upset or disgust you. I tell you this story because it is only one of a thousand stories of the loss and devastation that the Filipinos have suffered recently. Please pray for the victims and their families. Pray for the Lord’s peace and love to flow over them. Pray that all of the heartache and loss will draw them to the Lord—that His Kingdom will be advanced through this disaster. We have heard many missionaries report that their church plants are seeing many new attendees and there are many stories of salvation. Pray, also, that the Lord will show us where and how to work for Him in the aftermath of this tragedy."

Our family will soon join the Thompsons to lend a hand for a couple weeks. Pray for us as we prepare to return for this short time. Pray for Emily and Will that this time would provide some much needed closure, especially for Will who took our remaining in the states the hardest.

Below are a few pictures that the Thompsons took during one of their visits to this family.

A look at the riverbed

Destroyed Home

Make Shift Clinic

Our nurse LingLing comforts a child

Dr Val Thompson

Video Tribute to the Victims of the Ondoy Flood

Here is a video that is circulating among our missionaries friends in the Philippines. It is heart wrenching for Allan and I to watch for many reasons, but also because a lot of these pictures were taken in the area surrounding where we lived in Manila. They are places we've been and know. So much to be done there, unsure why God has us here in South Carolina.

"When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with you above the storm

Father you are king over the flood

I will be still and know you are God"

Massive Flooding

It is amazing how we can get caught up in our own little world. This past week I have seen pictures on the news of the flooding in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. It has been a little surreal to see the local amusement park under water and to know the pain, frustration, and suffering that is going on there. Unfortunately, Allan and I have been so caught up in the process of moving ahead with our life and making some important decisions this week that I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought beyond a mere passing notice. I didn't realize that in another town I call home, on the other side of the world, even worse flooding was happening. Last night we received an email message from the American Embassy in Manila about their office being closed on Monday due to the flooding from the recent typhoon. We often get messages from them because we had to register with the Embassy when we moved overseas and I am unsure how to "unregister". Since there are often typhoons and flooding in the Philippines, I really didn't give it much thought until Allan began showing me horrific pictures of streets and places that were not just some place somewhere in a country we once lived in, but of places we knew and streets we had been on.

The news media is calling this "the worst flooding in the nations capital in 4 decades... as more than a months worth of rain was dumped on the city in 12 hours". The last count Allan and I saw of reported dead was 106. Beyond that, the devastation has to be unimaginable as people who have so little to begin with are now left with nothing. As power begins to be restored in some areas, friends are beginning to post pictures on facebook. I have spent the last hour looking at them. In some ways it is amazing how quickly life goes on. Pictures from around Faith Academy on Monday show the women and men working to get rid of the mud and muck left behind, while the Filipino kids are enjoying the day off school playing basketball on what's left of the courts.

Here are a few pictures I saw on the internet of an area called Cainta which is near our home and where the kids school, Faith Academy is located. These are places we know and places we've been. It's a little hard for me to see such destruction.

A picture of Cainta in the Rizal province

This is a major road into Manila called Ortigas
We traveled over this bridge every Sunday on the way to church

Another picture of the same scene.

More people traveling on Ortigas

We have had no news from the area around the clinic, but it is on somewhat high ground. Please pray for the Filipinos impacted by this calamity as well as the missionaries who have also lost much and for those who will begin to help rebuild what has been lost.

This picture is in an area of Manila called Pasig

It is a little further down Ortigas closer to town.

The Mad Scientist

Will is taking his first intense Jr High Science program this year. He has been excited about beginning it and doing experiements. He has enviously watched Emily doing labs for the last 2 years. That sounds like he hasn't had any Science. He has, but this begins a different chapter in his education as he moves toward high school. This week he had his first experiments. He was quite thrilled and enjoyed every moment. This is his mad scientist look. Can you hear his eveil laugh?

The Other Side of the Box

There is a large Filipino business in the US known as Balikbayan. "Balikbayan" literally means a Filipino living outside of the Philippines who returns for a visit. A Balikbayan box is filled with stuff Filipinos send or take back home to their family in the Philippines. In Filipino communities across the US, Filipinos specialize in shipping these boxes. During our time in the Philippines, our family and Dr Holmes often sent us a box of little treats from home, Christmas gifts for the kids, and supplies for our ministry. (remember the pill bottles?) Now we are on the other end of the spectrum. Last week we packed up a box of stuff to ship to the ministry. Here is Allan doing what my parents did quite a few times:In the past we have shipped out of Atlanta, but there was a shipping office in Myrtle Beach. So we took it with us on vacation and right now it is waiting train transportation to the west coast before being loaded on a cargo ship.

Pictures from the Beach

Since I posted a blog from the beach last week, I thought I would show just a couple pictures:

Will ready to catch a few waves

Emily found a neat shell.

I just love the look I caught on Will's face

Showing the same shell to Dad

and here is one of Emily's treasured shell

She loves looking for sea shells

We brought home 2 buckets full

Will's favorite: The fast water slide

Every night he went down this slide at least 12 times.

By the way--I don't know those people in the hot tub

Here is Will coming off the botton of the slide

Out by the lazy river.

How many times can you go around in a circle?

ALOT!

Allan and Emily on the beach

A Distance Greater Than 21 Months

I remember it as if it was yesterday. One Christmas morning an 11 month old boy and a 2 1/2 year old girl received a pop-up tent. For the first time, the 2 wee ones began to play with one another not just next to one another. They chased and popped out of the tent; giggling and squealing all the while. And thus began a beautiful friendship. With only 21 months separating them, Emily and Will have always been close.

When Emily turned 12 and Will was 10 I noticed things began to change. I would tell people,"This is probably the biggest difference in age that they will ever have." I was wrong! 12 and 14 is a much bigger age difference. Poor Will is surrounded by teenage girls who are rapidly leaving childhood behind. While he is looking for a game to play in the pool, his sister and cousins want to "lay out" or just talk. Last fall the kids all went out into the woods to play imaginary games. As hard as he tries, he now can rarely talk them into heading out into the woods and when they do the girls do more talking than playing. I've discovered "talking" is a big past time of teenage girls. Just last week, his cousin Beth called him on the phone to come play in the backyard in the camping tent she had set up. He went filled with excitement only to discover the girls wanted to sit in the tent and.....you guessed it, talk. He finally talked them into getting out of the tent and into the yard where they.....practiced handstands and handsprings. Now is that a great boy activity?

We are spending a few days relaxing at the beach this week and the differences scream at me. Emily is enjoying walking on the beach looking for shells, swimming in the lazy river or riding in waves on her boogie board, then laying out in the sun or sitting in the hot tub while chatting with me. Will on the other hand is in constant perpetual motion. To the beach to boogie board and get completely filthy building sand castles or chasing seagulls, to the pool, swimming the lazy river backwards, chasing his father or anyone else through the lazy river forward, running up the 3 flights of stairs to the hotel slide and then throwing himself down it at rocket speed to the pool below only to do it over and over again. He is having a blast, but I wish I had brought his friend Christopher along!

Besides the differences in my kids, I am beginning to see signs of physical changes in Will too as he nears 13. His feet have exploded out of his shoes and all his pants are able to go through deep puddles without getting wet. In the picture below, you can see he is almost as tall as his sister; much to his delight. I am sure in the next few years he will leave action figures and legos in the past. For now, he is wanting to embrace childhood and get in some good testosterone play time. I just need to find him another boy locally to join him on the journey.

Sweatshirts and Jeans??

There's a nice little breeze blowing through my windows this morning. Last Monday a cool front blew in bringing with it the first hints of fall. I quickly turned off the ac and threw open the windows to relish in the cool weather. I really love fall. It's my favorite time of year. While I have struggled with not being in the Philippines, I am thankful to spend another Autumn in the upstate of South Carolina. The days have been sunny with highs in the upper 70s and low humidity; just about near perfect. The kids on the other hand are acting like it is in the 40s. Every morning they wake up and put on bluejeans and sweatshirts. I am still in my summer PJs or Capri pants. I wonder if this is still a by-product of living in the Philippines. It never felt this nice there and the humidity rarely dropped below 80%. It's a good thing we didn't return home to someplace like Montana. They would have never survived. For me, I am going to enjoy this brief taste of fall while it lasts. This being the South, I'm sure summer will return, probably with a vengeance, before fall is here to stay.

Here's a picture of the boy taken just moments ago.

Notice he also has on Wool Ski socks. He's CRAZY!

Here's our new High Schooler! She had ditched her sweatshirt while I was typing this blog. It was just too cute a picture to not post. Besides it gives you a little glimpse into our home school life.

The Nursery

This morning I did something I haven't done in over 4 years. ...I worked in the church nursery. They came desperately looking for volunteers during Sunday School (or whatever we call it these days) What a great morning, rocking, singing and talking to the under 1 set and the biggest plus...I didn't have to change a single diaper. I loved holding those sweet smelling babies. Just another step back into the old normal.

Another year of Homeschooling

This week began another chapter in our lives. Emily began High School. It is hard to believe she has gotten so old. I don't feel old enough to have a child in high school. For now she will be at home until we get settled somewhere. We didn't want to enroll her somewhere only to uproot her mid semester when we move on. She agreed whole heartily and would like to wait until her Sophomore year to go off to school. She is excited about going to some of her cousin Laura's High School's Football games.

The kids are taking some of their tougher academic courses online this year. We did a little of that last year and it was a great experience. The classes are rigorous and they have to develop some form of self discipline since I don't know everything that was taught and all due dates. An important thing to learn as a homeschooler. One of the classes Em is taking this year is Biology. 4 times during the upcoming year, some place in our home will turn into a dissection lab! Fun or Yuck?? Maybe a little of both. She will get to dissect a worm, a frog, a perch, and a crayfish. Maybe we should limit guests during that time. I remember the smell from my high school days. Eww.

Will is looking forward to a Computer Programing Robotics course. It uses a robotic educational Lego set and the Terrapin computer language. He should do well with that and have a blast doing it. While Emily always dreads the start of school, he was excited for school to begin again.

I didn't take a picture of the first day of school this year. I always do that when the kids go off to school, but rarely when they homeschool. I should really try to do that. By the way, I always get this question; in case you are wondering, the Gilmers do not school in their pjs. (OK well at least the kids don't. Sometimes their teacher shows up in hers)

The Job Hunt

If you could move almost anywhere in the US where would you move? I'm serious. I need to know. We are facing this dilemma. There are family practice jobs almost everywhere, but what's the right job and where's the right home? How do you pick a place when where you really want to live is 9000 miles away. School at Faith Academy has begun this week and through Facebook it has been hard to watch Emily's class mates begin their first year of high school while we sit in a holding pattern. For now, we wait for direction and continue the job hunt. This year we will be homeschooling once again. Who knows what the next school year will bring. I think I'll take a break from all this thinking and go hang out by the pool with my sister-in-law while the kids swim with their cousins. The end of summer is rapidly approaching. It's a tough life being a stay at home mom, but someone has to do it!

By the way, Will says the picture in the blog below of the boy at camp who looks like he is sleeping is not him. He had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back next year. He won a trophy for Horseback. He loves horses now and wants to begin riding somewhere. Here's a shot of him carrying a homemade raft for some kind of competition.And another of him with a Djembe (African drum). This was one of his favorite skills at camp and he now taps and drums on everything.

A verse for the path we are on:

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

I will not forsake them.

More Camp Photos

Well I have heard from Emily. She says "Camp is a blast!!!" Her favorite activity so far? Horseback riding. That was always my favorite too. No letter yet from Will. I made the kids promise to write home at least twice. He could possibly wait and do both of them the last day. I have at least seen him in a few pics now. Below he is climbing up on the docks out in the lake.

He is wearing his green rash guard so I know it's him.

Here he is with his team playing

a live version of the board game Clue

and Finally the shot that lets me know he's having fun...

Notice the boy with the mouth hanging open being goofy.

That's our Will!

Here are Emily and Laura headed to

the Council of Progress

Camp Photos

Every day the kids camps post pictures of the campers participating in activities and having fun. I thought I would share a few.

First up: Just a couple of the pictures I've seen of Emily

Jumping off the dock with her cabin mates

She's the one in the middle with the light blue bathing suit

Climbing out on the "blob"

Wish there was one of her being popped off into the water

Archery!

In 3 days of pictures, Will has been in exactly 2 pictures. One was him during the swim test that I put in the last blog. The other is below.

He's the one in the gray shirt with his head down. I hope this isn't indicative of the time he's having. I am going to think positively and say it's because he is worn out from too much fun.

Ahh, Silence!

Swimming, hiking, horseback riding, canoeing, chiggers, sleeping under the stars, leather crafts, cabin cheers, archery, riflery, bonfires....these things stir up such fond memories for me. When I was a girl, each summer I went away to summer camp. The old fashioned kind where you slept in unairconditioned cabins and each day was crammed so full of activities that you fell instantly asleep at night. Each year I begged to go for as many weeks as my parents would send me. When I was old enough, I spent all summer long there working as a counselor and a lifeguard. I have always wanted my kids to have this same experience. Unfortunately, med school, residency, and living overseas have kept us from sending them.

Back in February, I had looked into it for this summer, but with a church youth retreat in June and plans to leave the US in mid-July, it would have made things too crazy. In June, with the summer still stretching long before us, it dawned on me that camp might actually work for this summer. After discussing this with Allan, I quickly signed Emily up at Camp Crestridge for Girls. Her cousin, Laura, decided she wanted to go and also signed up. Sadly, Will had to be placed on a waiting list at Camp Ridgecrest for boys. It seems 12 is a really popular age for boys to go to camp. Over the last few weeks, the camp has called with possibilities like a kid missing camp for a play-off game, but these didn't seem to pan out. The wonderful camp registrar told us last Thursday to pack his stuff just in case. She just felt good about him getting in. There was always the possibility of a no-show and since we would be dropping Em off at the sister camp down the road, we could easily bring him at the last minute. This morning as we were backing out of the driveway to head up to North Carolina, the call came. Will was in!! What a good lessonfor all of the family on God answering prayers .

Will was beyond ecstatic. He had wanted to go so bad and it was hard to put a trunk in the car that he knew might come out back at home at the end of the day. For the next 2 weeks, the kids will be romping and playing and worshiping in the North Carolina mountains. They will both ride a horse for the first time and learn to play the guitar. Bonfires, campouts, canoeing, ziplines, crafts, archery, paintball, riflery, and too many activities to name await them. I hope they love it as much as I did! It is quiet in the Gilmer house tonight. It's just me and the dog. Allan is off working 24 hours in the ER. The TV is off...no Disney channel, video games, Jonas Brothers, or Adventures in Odyssey fill the space. In a few days, the quiet may seem too loud, but right now silence is golden. It's time to refresh and renew before we begin the crazy months ahead. (By the way, isn't this more exciting than new pillows??)

I am sure I will have more pictures to share in coming days, but these are the only ones I found my kids in on the camp website today.

Emily's Cabin Mates

Emily is in the blue shirt on the end

and Laura is in the green shirt next to her

Will during the swim test

Pillows

Ok I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but my children have never had a new pillow that belonged to them alone. When they were little I gave them old pillows that were somewhat flat because they were so small. Since that time they have just had hand-me-downs from Allan and I. When we returned from the Philippines last August, we each got a pillow that we had left at my parents house 3 years before. The kids each thought they could remeber the one they had left behind and were thrilled with tha little bit of the past. Back in May after our decision to remain in the US, I decided that I needed to ditch the sorry pillow Allan and I were using and buy new ones for us. Since that time, I have felt a little guilty that my kids do not also have new pillows. So yesterday the kids and I went out and I let them pick their own new one (within a reasonable $$). They have been so excited and funny about it. We had to try everyone at JC Pennys. I thought at any moment Will was going to start trying them out on the sample beds. I tried to take their pictures, but being 14 and 12 they wouldn't cooperate. I guess it was a little bizarre. So here are the 2 pictures I tried to snap. Were they pleased with their purchase? The morning after verdict was that the pillows were soft and they slept wonderfully.

Isn't this a pathetic way to begin blogging again?? Maybe I should post some pictures from our recent trip to DC