Happy 4th of July!

I typed the following blog on the 4th of July. We have been on dial up though so I had a hard time uploading the pictures. So now 2 weeks later, here it is.....

After 10 days in Greenwood, we are back at my parent’s lake house in Pine Mountain, GA. My whole family is here for the week and we are enjoying being back together again. The cousins have jumped right back into their relationship like they have never been apart. We have spent the last few days fishing, boating, and lazing around together. We just finished our lunch extravaganza of b-b-q and later will head over to Callaway Gardens for their 4th celebration. There will be a concert by the Swinging Medallions with beach dancing followed by fireworks. In case you are wondering, I'm sure Emily will dance in the roped off dance area, but Allan will not. Here are a few pictures of the day so far.

Getting ready to eat

The kids table

Mimi's famous flag cake

Emily, Beth and Pop picked the blueberries yesterday

A 4th of July tradition...

Pop always leads the kids in the Pledge of Allegiance

I discovered, much to my dismay,

that Will doesn't remember the Pledge.

He of course does know the Philippine national anthem

Whew....that's one deep drawl

I've noticed since we have arrived in the US I have slipped into a nice deep Southern accent. My friends in the PI would truly know I was from the South if they could hear me now.

I thought I would add a few more pictures of our time visiting in Greenwood.

Allan's first perscription sunglasses!
He's hoping to prevent cataracts from the intense tropical sun in the PI.

Traveling in the car
We have spent lots of time in my parents van.
Thanks mom and dad!

What happened to your head phones Emily?

Ahh...lunch at Zaxby's

For those of you who know me in the Philippines...
the picture above shows my nice straight American hair.
This is thanks to a hair dryer and lower humidity

Oh how they've grown

We have gotten to visit with so many friends this week. While most of the adults haven't changed in 2 years, the kids have gotten so much older. Friday we went to dinner with some good friends from residency . They stayed with us in the fall of 2003 when they moved here from Kenya. They have been very special to us. The kids had no trouble renewing their friendship. It was like they had never been apart. We tried to sneak a few pictures of them being silly together, but they always heard us coming. Finally, they decided to pose themselves for some pics.

They called this "The bookcase"

Here they are in the fall of 2003...
Haven't they grown?

After dinner while the kids played,

the adults sat around catching up at Chai time---
one of our favorite Kenyan traditions

A Night of Fun!

Last night we had the joy of attending a cookout for the 4.5 Sunday School class from our home church of S. Main Baptist here in Greenwood. We enjoyed getting to know this fun group better. They have been great supporters and prayer warriors for us during the last 2 years. It has been wonderful for me to come home and listen to Allan speak at different groups. Last night we showed our informational video that I made just before we headed to the PI. As we have stepped away from the frustrations of daily life in Manila, it has been a great chance to remember why we are in the Philippines, to remember that God has called us there. Our time in the US has been wonderful so far and it is tempting to want to stay, but God has placed us somewhere else. This time here has given me strength for the journey; to continue on in the place God has put us.

Going to Carolina in my Mind

Or as Will has been singing..."I'm going to carolina in real life!" If you ask Emily and Will where they are from this is the place they think of as home. I consider us from Georgia. We only lived here 3 years, but since the kids were older and it was the last place they lived, they consider themselves South Carolinians. We arrived in Greenwood, South Carolina last Thursday evening. It has been a full time of visiting with friends. The kids have had a blast! It's like they have never left. We have stayed with some friends who have 2 boys the kids ages, 3 dogs, 30 acres and a pond. When not off visiting others, the kids have enjoyed swimming, tubing and 4 wheeling. I think it has been better than a trip to Disneyland! Here are a few pictures of them in Greenwood.

Will plays cards at a picnic with some of his buddies

Emily sees Jessica for the first time in 2 years

"I love speed!"

Will and Justin tubing behind the bass boat

Allan teaches Em how to 4 wheel

The Open Road!

One of the things Allan has enjoyed about being back in the US is driving! He absolutely hates driving in the PI. Too much traffic, too many pedestrians, and too many crazy drivers. We rarely drive above 40 kph which is about 25 mph. It's no wonder it takes us so long to drive places. He has certainly enjoyed using cruise control. We have also enjoyed seeing and being out in the country. On our way from Elberton, Georgia to Greenwood, SC, I took this picture. Our Filipino friends would never believe it... a 4 lane divided highway that stretches out for miles with very few cars in site. Aaahh, It was fantastic!

Georgia on my mind...

Well we have arrived back in our homeland. After 30 plus hours, we arrived in Atlanta Saturday night. We have spent the last 4 days resting, recuperating, and hanging out with grandparents before hitting the road. The kids have enjoyed fishing and canoeing on the lake with Pop. Emily has caught 5 fish so far. One nice sized bass and 4 brim. She and Allan are in a competition. He won't admit how many he's caught, but the official documented count is 2. Mimi has fixed us some of our favorite dishes and we are enjoying American food. We have alreaxdy eaten at Zaxbys (on the way home from the airport) and Chick-fil-a.

Yesterday we left the lake for the next 10-12 days. Our first stop is to visit some good friends from residency. For us time in the US has seemed to stand still, but kids grow and change quickly and the baby is no longer a baby. It made our time away more of a reality. The kids enjoyed playing with their young friends while the adults really enjoyed catching up. Today we swam and played. I had the pleasure of driving their new toy... a convertible BMW. Emily and Will thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the ride. I love driving in the US and it was a truly great experience. It was my first time behind the wheel since we arrived back. What a way to enter!

Next on to Greenwood, South Carolina!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Well- the time has arrived. In 13 hours we will leave our house to go to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to depart for the US. After 2 years, we are headed home for a short visit to see family and take care of some business. The kids are a mixture of both sadness and excitement. They spent the last 2 days hanging out with friends. Today we are home finishing some last minute details. That includes spending quality time with their pets. Sargent Will and Private Maggie have been fighting the enemy out in the backyard while Emily has snuggled with Swirl. Will (and the rest of us) will miss Maggie, but not as much as she will probably miss us. In a little while, the kids and I are going to head to the pool to cool off and kill some time. Then we will have an early night to try and get some sleep before heading to the airport at 2:30. I think we will probably be too excited to get much sleep!

Will and Maggie defend Fort WAGS

"Give me back my gun!"

"Wave bye, Swirl!"

Be Careful What You Pray For...

One day last summer, as I was filling a perscription for Allan at the clinic I had an idea. In the shipment of boxes from the hospital that had closed down in Illinois were some empty medicine bottles. We had begun using them with our patients that return monthly for on-going medical care. Instead of the tiny plastic zip closed bags we normally used, our regulars would get their meds in a nice bottle. We asked that when they returned to bring the bottle for their "refill". The success rate of returns was about 60% I guess. Ling Ling, especially loved the new bottles. It was really great when we gave out meds that had to be cut in half because those didn't get crushed that way. So my grand idea was to ask my mom to start saving their bottles when they were empty. Now I don't consider my parents old, but they are grandparents and like most grandparents they take some medicine. I thought that in the few months before their visit they could gather up a few. I was thinking 10-12 at the most. Our system of returns was working well.

Unfortunately, as you may remember, our internet was gone for most of the month of July, so one evening in early August I asked Mom to begin saving her empty pill bottles until their visit in November. Mom, thinking that if 2 grandparents saving pill bottles was good, surely a whole Sunday School class would be better. Wouldn't we be surprised if she could bring a quarter to a half of a suitcase of bottles. A few Sundays later, she stood up in Sunday school at First Baptist Opelika and presented her request. That day a member of the class mentioned he knew someone who worked at a place that manufactures bottles right there in their hometown of Opelika, AL and he would see if any were available. A few more days passed and Mom and Dad left for a 10 day trip to West Virginia.

When they returned there was a message on the answering machine from the president of their Sunday School class. A couple of boxes were waiting in their Sunday School room in the music room of the church. So one afternoon, Mom and Dad went to pick up the boxes. As they walked into the choir room, a staff member was there doing some work. She told them what they were looking for was over in the corner behind the piano. Over in the corner were 4 large boxes of medicine bottles. Now when I say large, I don't mean a good size. I mean so large that my dad couldn't carry them. In all it looks like there were close to 4000 pill bottles, maybe more. Taped to the top of one of the boxes was a note that said "Be careful what you pray for." Mom, Dad and I have giggled and giggled over the overflow of bottles. Mom decided they would pack up a "balikbayan" or door to door box and ship as many as would fit- this was about 1600. When those get low, she will then ship another. For now they have a closet full of pill bottles waiting and we have an overflow here. Ling Ling was really excited about our abundance. So if you visit our clinic, you will notice that more than just the "regulars" get their medicine bottled.

Pictured is just a small amount of the pill bottles now at the clinic.
The rest are in the back storage room.

Thank you Ledbetter Sunday School Class at First Baptist Opelika, Alabama

It's that time of year

It has been a crazy, busy last few weeks. The end of the school year always seems to be filled with lots of activities. Added to this, we were a family of 11 for just over 2 weeks. The son of the doctor we replaced, really wanted to spend the final semester with his graduating class at Faith. He actually finished high school early so in January he could come and spend time with kids he has known since 3rd grade. This is a common thing for Faith kids who have to move on before graduation. Lots of them return to end their high school days here or visit during graduation time. Steven has been living with us and the Nelsen's off and on since January. His Mom, adopted Filipino twin brothers, his sister, her husband, and 10 month old baby all joined us for the last 2 weeks. It has been a great time. Will and the twins, Josh and Caleb, enjoyed picking up their friendship from Greenwood days. They are so much alike and the 3 of them would disappear for hours playing legos and anything Star Wars. It was fun to experience life in the Philippines through Billie and her family's memories and experiences.

The missions life is constantly changing, but one thing stays the same....the never ending parade of Goodbyes. The end of the school year at Faith Academy is a great period of change. Families leave the PI head back to their homelands. Some for just a month or two during the summer, others for a year or more furlough, and some for good. Both years our kids have been at Faith, they have made good friends who have left at the end of the year and will not return.

One of the hardest goodbyes was to our neighbors from the fall, the Brewers. They headed back to Kansas on Monday, May 26th to work at a Christian school in Wichita. We enjoyed spending our last Sunday together, eating out at the one Taco Bell in Manila, shopping, visiting, and taking care of a few of their last minute errands. The kids are really going to miss Mark and Megan and Allan and I will miss Matt and Mary. We will all miss Michael too! Emily and I will definately miss our tennis partners.

Some goodbyes were definately hard on the missions community as a whole. Just before the final week of school, we said a final earthly goodbye to Dennis Gunderson. Dennis and his family run a birthing home and orphange close to our house. He and his family are special to us and our ministry because his orphanage is where the Holmes adopted Josh and Caleb. Dennis became ill suddenly and passed away at a local hospital.

Shopping with Chris

My Sister-in-law, Chris, and I have always enjoyed shopping for our kids together. Having kids born a month apart often has us looking for similar sizes and items. When I lived in the states, we would shop for the kids when we were together. We have been known to call up from inside a store to let the other one know about a deal we just found and see if they want one. We have poured over Land's End and LL Bean catalogs and looked at items together on the net from 2 different states. With Vonage, we have even checked out items online together from diffenent countries. Recently, I found myself in a delimma. Emily needs a new swimsuit and I am..well...just slightly picky about her suits. I wanted something flattering and cute that was just right for a pre-teen girl, yet provided plenty of coverage. This is not an easy task even if you live in the US. Add in shopping from around the world and it becomes almost impossible. I looked here, but to no avail so I began catalog shopping. At this same time, Chris was out trying to find her girls a new suit too. She canvased stores looking for suits right for girls who can really no longer can wear kids suits, and are still a little small for ladies suits. Emily has moved into a size 2 or 4 ladies petite clothes in the last year. It is hard for me to believe, but at mid May, swimsuits are already beginning to be scarce on racks and sold out online. Finally, I found what I thought would be the perfect suit for Em. Since, we can't really try it on from 12 times zones away, Chris ordered it and had my niece, Beth try it on. She is the closest to Em's same size, just a little shorter and smaller. Success! So below is Beth in Em's new suit! Chris and I had fun shopping together again. Thanks Chris and LL Bean!!!

On a side note, Will was wanting a new game for his playstation. I told him that I could order it, but if he wanted it, the cost was $10 and he had to pay for it. His response..."How much is $10?....Is it 500 pesos?" His mind already values things by the peso as opposed to the dollar. I am still converting the other way.

Isn't she Lovely?

Last night was the middle school banquet at Faith Academy. It's a chance for the kids to dress up and celebrate the end of the school year. I thought I would share a few pictures of Emily and her friends. I can't believe how old she has gotten this year. Notice her high heels! That was her favorite part. After the banquet the 6th graders had an after party at one of their classmate's house. Just like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight, all the girls changed from their gorgeous dresses back into shorts and T-s for games and snacks. The kids had fun competing in boys against girls at various silly party games. Unfortunately the boys won most events!

Emily at her table at the beginning of the evening

Emily's table companions

This is a non-dating event, but when kids purchase tickets

they can choose where to sit.

Emily's group of friends decided they

didn't want to sit with a bunch of boys.

Weren't Mom and Dad glad?

The Flag of the Philippines

Since this week has been election week in the Philippines, I thought it would be fitting for me to give you some facts of interest about the Filipino Flag.
The white triangle is the distinctive emblem of the KKK. Before you start thinking the Philipines has ties to the US KKK you need to know that KKK stands for the Katipunan, who with a blood compact inspired the Filipinos to rise in revolution against the Spanish.The three stars represent the three geographical island groups of the country: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and the unification of separate peoples and cultures into one nation. The eight rays of the sun represent the first eight provinceswhich revolted against Spanish rule.
The significance of the colors: the white triangle stands for equality and fraternity; the blue for peace, truth and justice; and red for patriotism and valor. However, the original Declaration of Independence stated that the three colors were inspired by the American flag in gratitude of the Filipino towards America for help overthrowing Spanish rule. One interesting note on color is that the blue was a navy blue until the reign of Ferdinand Marcos who changed it to the more royal color used today.

The Philippine flag is unique in that it can indicate a state of war. When the red is displayed on top , it means that the Philippines is at war. It was last officially ordered flown with the red stripe up, in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941.

Email medicine

Our clinic has a close relationship with New Tribes Mission here in the Philippines. One of the ways that we try to help is being available to answer medical questions whether about themselves or about someone in their ministry area. This is always an interesting situation, some of the situations are quite difficult, especially when the person managing them off in the tribe somewhere likely has little, if any medical training.



I thought I would include one of my recent emails from a NTM missionary. The medically trained among us can give a shot at how they would answer. This email had one of the best possible inclusions . . . a picture.



From the email:

We have a little girl in our village who was involved in a truck roll over back on the 22nd of December. It appears that the parents took her to the hospital and she had as much treatment as they could afford. The doctor said that this wound on her head needed skin grafting but they could not afford the cost of the operation. So they just brought her back to the village.



We [the NTM missionary] arrived back into the tribe in mid April. just over a week ago we put her on 250mg amoxicillin t.d.s. for a week and also had the mother applying flammazine once a day to the wound. The photo attached to this email was taken after she had been on the amoxicillin for a week. Prior to starting the antibiotics the wound was very pussy and red and swollen all around it. So after a week on the antibiotics it did look a bit better. So we have continued the antibiotics for another week. The mother is also applying the flammazine twice a day for this coming week. We will check her again this Sunday.



Can you please tell us if we are on the right track as far as treatment goes? Should we continue the antibiotics after she has been on them for two weeks or just stop them and continue with the flammazine? Should that be put on once or twice a day after it has been applied once a day for a week and then twice a day for the following week?



Will the wound just eventually heal up even if it never has skin grafts? It seems a long time to us to still look this open and raw? It is coming up for nearly five months since the accident.Is there anything else we should be doing for her to help it heal up quicker? It appears it is going to scar her little face terribly, but maybe if she grows her hair long that will eventually cover it when she grows older. She is about five years old. Do you think that area will ever grow hair from it again?



Could you also let us know what would be the next best antibiotic to prevent burns getting infected if we have run out of amoxicillin. Is cefalexin or ampicillin the next best choice?



We had a little boy with burns all to his face from hot water come today, but we have run out of amoxicillin and were wondering what other antibiotic would be good to prevent infection of his burns.Looking forward to your reply,

- End of email.

Some Random Pictures

While we haven't had internet, the camera has worked just fine--that is, when I remember to take pictures. I thought I would just share a few pics from our spring.

In April, to celebrate her 12th birthday,

Emily and I had a Mother-Daughter date

for shopping and afternoon Tea

The Philippines is known for her fresh water pearls.

My Birthday gift to Emily-

her first set of "real pearls"

a necklace, bracelet and earrings cost less than $10

Will has been on the elementary puppet ministry team this year.

He has loved doing this!

Maggie tries to beat the heat

Jhun's helpers:

One of our ministry employees, Jhun has been building

a wall around the agricultural lot by the clinic.

These kids love to come out and play on the cement pile

Some shots taken outside the clinic :

This girl's family sells drinks and food out in front on the clinic

Hello faithful

Hello to all of you who still check our blog. We are finally back online! We came back online at the end of last week. We are glad to be back in communication with family and friends. Hopefully I will blog more in the next few days. Today is national elections in the Philippines so we are staying close to home.

Same Song Just Another Verse

Well here I sit in the Faith Academy library, once again checking emails. For no apparent reason we are without phones once again. Our whole area is out. Rumor is they are replacing power poles, but the power seems to be working fine. We have also had no and low water for the last 10 days or so. This is a result of it being hot and dry. We have entered in with a vengance to the hottest time in the PI. So while I miss the internet and the water, I can always check email here and have water trucked in. I am just more than thankful that we do have power. Which is known to have outages during hot season. Imagine July in the South without even a fan! This is the one time of the year we allow ourselves to use with aircon unit in our bedroom. We don't have central air, just a window type unit. Power is so expensive here that we make oursleves survive the warmest nights during the rest of the year with just a fan. It usually isn't too bad, but when the temp of our bedroom climbs to the mid 90's and above a fan just can't cut it. Hope you are enjoying the lovely Spring weather!

An over due Thanks!

I need to apologize to a certain group of kids because I have been remiss in my blogging. Some dear friends from Greenwood occasionally send us local newspapers and church newsletters and bulletins, and other items of interest. In the fall they sent us a newsletter they thought we would be interested in since it involved us. For months this newsletter from our church in S. Carolina has been sitting on my desk waiting to be scanned. Unfortunately that means things got stacked on top of it and I kept putting it off. It is too important though to let it go by completely unnoticed.



Last summer the kids at South Main Street Baptist church in Greenwood decided they wanted to do something for missions and for their friends Emily and Will in particular. This was not a parent or leadership driven thing, but the kids themselves deciding to do something to make a difference. So in August, as school was just getting started, they held a talent show to raise money to support our work here. I am told it was an exciting evening (I'm still waiting for the video tape, Susan) full of great acts by the kids. I hate we missed seeing the show.

We want to say thank you to the kids at South Main Street Baptist Church.

You truly are a group of SUPER KIDS!

Emily and Will miss you guys so much!

A forgotten Helper

I would like to add something to Allan's blog below about the clinic update. This project was truly a family affair.- including our guests. Down toward the bottom there are 2 pictures of our "crash cart". This project was given to my dad when he was here.

Thanks for the great paint job, Dad!

Clinic additions

Ginger has been so faithful to post about our family and personal experiences during the past few months. I, however, have been completely remiss in posting about the clinic and our ministry. A project that I have been working on for some months is expanding the clinic's capabilities and organization. We have been so fortunate to receive modern supplies and equipment. To put this new equipment into daily use required some rearranging and additions to our clinic.

Here is what we started with ...















While incorporating the new equipment, we tried to improve the overall "flow" to place our most used medicines and supplies in easily accessible areas. To do this we first disassembled most of the supplies and grouped items by category and frequency of use. Emily was a big help during her school breaks. She cleaned some of the dirty equipment and helped sort and re-package medicines.















Then I designed a set of cabinets that allowed some of our emergency and surgical supplies to be near the patient treatment area. These cabinets were custom built by another ministry that trains Filipinos in cabinetry and woodworking.

Then came the task of reassembling the clinic.
Our EKG now sits on a slide-out tray (shown covered here) which allows quick and easy access to the patient laying on the exam table.

Ginger help fill the cabinets with our new "kits". The plan was that each kit would be used for a certain event, such as IV starts, suturing, eye exam, minor surgery, wound dressing. It is a work in progress and as we try new things our plans and layout should be able to adapt easily.

We also converted an old hospital medicine cart into a new "crash cart" which contains alot of our emergency medicines, a new cardiac monitor and defibrillator , IV supplies and portable oxygen.