Here I am to Worship

Last week, I had the opportunity to teach 6 year olds at a conference for homeschooling families living in Asia. So, I left Allan and the kids behind and traveled with 5 other ladies from Manila to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had the weekend before the conference started to get prepared and do a little sightseeing. Chiang Mai is beautiful and there are wonderful things to see and do there.
For those of you who are not familiar with Thailand and the Thai people, they have been a kingdom since the 13th century and are proud of the fact that they have never been ruled by a western power. Chiang Mai itself is a 700 year old city complete with a moat around the old city with portions of the old city wall still intact. The architecture is ornate and the temples are golden. To be Thai is to be Buddhist and there has been great resistance to the gospel. Only 1.62% of the population is Christian. In a country of 65 million that is less than 1 million Christians. Often those who chose to follow Christ risk rejection, abandonment and ridicule from their families.
The Sunday we were in Chiang Mai, we had the privilege of worshipping at a Christian orphanage. The purpose of this orphanage is not to adopt out the kids, but...... "to provide spiritual development based on the Bible, basic education, primary health care and the utmost moral guidance as they grow. We believe the Lord has called us to raise up an army for His Kingdom in Thailand, and to be a beacon for the Lord wherever we are. We are committed to establish the careers of these children by creating jobs and micro enterprises and to train them into "tentmakers" and full-time servants for the ministry." This orphanage houses nearly 100 kids, many of whom have accepted Jesus as their Savior. We had a wonderful time of praise as we joined in the singing of many familiar choruses. It was very cool to be singing in English along with the children and teenagers singing in Thai.

It soon became obvious that the women I was with were taken with the worship of one 8 year old girl. She had her arms lifted in praise as she sang the words from her heart. We had the joy of hearing her share her testimony later in the service. Her mother had died when she was 4, her father, sick himself, left her with her grandmother before they too both died. She had come to the orphanage when she was 6. She was thankful that God had brought her here, for it was here that she learned of His love. When she finished her emotional story, there wasn't a dry eye among us. There are more Christians in this humble place than in a nearby city of 100,000. I Pray that these kids and teenagers will rise up and change Thailand for Christ. I know my relationship with the Lord was deepen that day through their honest, heartfelt worship.

Wish You Were Here!

Today was an almost perfect day in the Philippine Islands! There was a great breeze with temps in the upper 70s, and the sun sparkling all around. The air was so clear and free of pollution that we could see the mountains on the other side of Manila. It felt like a day in mid May in Georgia. We decided to spend the afternoon at the new pool at the kids school. A Korean businessman donated the money for the pool and it just opened up this week. I know we will enjoy it in the months to come! So while you are bundled up tight against winter's chill, we are enjoying the great outdoors. As wonderful as today was, summer is coming--well actually it's always here and it is just soon going to get worse. So, we won't want to hear about your weather come April and May--that is hot season.

A view of Metro Manila from the pool at Faith Academy.
These buildings can actually disappear some days due to smog.

Eating out

Sunday as we were leaving church, a woman handed Will a red envelope filled with McDonald's coupons. In case you are thinking this is a strange thing to be handing out in church let me explain that our church building is not what you would consider a "church". Being a city of over 12 million people who live close together, land in Manila is not abundant. Therefore many churches meet in non-traditional (at least non-American traditional) buildings. It is not uncommon for churches to meet in a movie theatre, an open air building, the atrium of a mall, or an unused floor in a building. The church we attend meets on the unused 4th floor of a kind of mall. It is actually a tiangge (pronounced chan-gay) which is a bunch of small cubicles that sell different types of things from clothes, shoes, pearls(a Filipino specialty) and jewelry, to home decor, toys, and well just stuff. It kind of reminds me of walking through booths at the homeschool convention I went to in Atlanta a few years back. So if you have been to a convention or a fair where there are different people set up selling things then you have the idea. Each Sunday we hike up to the 4th floor for services. There is one elevator, but there is always a line so we choose to walk(Allan makes us) . "It's good for us!" When church is over the tiangge is just opening up and so we leave through the mall. So now you see why Will got McDonald's coupons at church.
The purpose in telling you all of this is not about the mall and churches though that may be interesting, but to tell you about some of the restaurants we have here. We have many chains from the US that you would know, like Mickey d's, but we also have some restaurants that flopped in the US, but are thriving abroad. Remember Kenny Rodger's Roasters? We had one of those in Atlanta about 10 years ago. Also Shakey's Pizza is alive and well here too. We had one of those in Virginia when I was a kid growing up. We do have restaurants that you might find yourself eating at in your hometown: Wendy's (Will's favorite), Pizza Hut, KFC, and of course McDonald's. Also there is an Outback, a TGIFridays, and a Chili's. The fast food joints tend to be cheaper here than in the US, while the others are comparable in price--making them expensive here. If you think you will walk into Wendy's and order your favorite combo meal from the States, you would be right, but there are also more choices to appeal to the Filipino taste. Every restaurant offers rice. You can even get some combos with rice as opposed to fries. At most restaurants you can get your pizza or burger with a side of Spaghetti. Some of the things we have tried and liked are--Shrimp sandwiches at Wendys and the Grilled shrimp and mango salad at Pizza Hut--while the taste of this salad is great we have since eliminated this from our diet. Twice it has caused a little stomach upset we think due to the washing of the salad greens. We actually choose to rarely eat salads out for this reason.
One big adjustment for us has been the lack of free refills at most places. Some restaurants will allow you to pay an extra fee for a "bottomless" drink, but most do not. Below you can see a few of the coupons in Will's package and also the Pizza Hut ad for Spam pizza. By the way on a humorous note, the phone # for Pizza Hut is 911-11-11. Will thinks it is truly an emergency #. It saves him from having to eat rice!


Yummy Spam Pizza! Available with Chicken, and Spaghetti

















"Would you like some rice with that?"



Also the bottom one proves there are normal combo meals


Click on them to see them larger

Another Christmas Story

I know Christmas is long past, but I wanted to share this picture over the holidays and just never did. On Thursday mornings at the clinic, our Filipina nurse, Ling Ling leads a ladies bible study. She leads and disciples ladies from the nearby squatter settlement. Ling can minister to these women in ways I can never understand. She understands their culture, values and needs in a way a white American can not. The distance from their lives to mine is too great. They have a sister group though. One of the supporters of our ministry has a similar ladies Bible Study in Springfield, Il.--Ok so it's not composed of women from the local housing project, just ladies. This Springfield Bible Study has "adopted" the clinic ladies group and at Christmas they sent money to help make Christmas for these familes. Ling used the money to give each of them Christmas dinner. Each lady recieved a ham and other "fixin's" for their family. These are just a few of "Ling's Ladies" and their kids as they came to Ling's on Christmas Eve to celebrate the season.

New Tribes Conference!

The Holidays are over and we have settled back into normal routine. The weather is great though. We are having very cool evenings and mornings and the temps are not too hot during the afternoons with a nice breeze all day.
Last week we enjoyed a nice conference with New Tribes Mission in the Philippines. Allan and I led the conference for the Elementary School kids. We enjoyed getting to know the kids and other missionaries. New Tribes Missionaries are on the front lines of missions. The vision of New Tribes Mission is to plant tribal churches to reach people who have never had a single opportunity to hear the Gospel. These missionaries go to the far reaches of the world to live among and minister to unreached groups of people. They live out among the tribes in very basic conditions often with sporadic power and water. 12 of our 17 kids at the conference live out among tribal people and are homeschooled. I don't know what I expected from kids who live in the far reaches of the Philippines, but surprisingly they seemed to be well adapted to their environments.
Allan got to do a little doctoring and trouble shooting for some of the missionaries and even removed an ingrown toenail, performing before a crowd of missionaries who wanted to watch. These missionaries often have to take on the role of doctor out in the tribe just by the presence of their white skin. Scott and Larry Holmes and now Allan provide a valuable resource to the missionaries who need medical help and advice through email, phone and even in person.
During the week we heard many stories of what life is like out in the tribes and what ministry is going on there. Some places are harder to reach than others. Some groups are unreceptive to the gospel and conditions are dangerous, often due to Muslim influence. But we heard many stories where the people are embracing the gospel and communities are being changed. One couple we met have lived in the northern region on the island of Mindanao for the last 22 years. They moved there in 1983 and their partners moved there in '81. This was the first entrance of a white man into this culture. The religion there was animistic requiring frequent sacrifices of animals and even young children. Unwanted babies or those with birth defects were often buried alive. These 2 families, and later a 3rd, moved into this area and began learning the language. Relationships developed and after a few years they began to share the message of hope that we have in Christ. The church in this area is now self sufficient. The original 2 couples remain to finish the translation of the Bible and developing some Bible teaching. They hope to completely move out of this area in the next few years. That is the goal of church planting missionaries--to work themselves out of a job. To see the Church become self reliant and begin to stand on it's own. Our week was encouraging and relaxing and we loved it. If you would like to see more pictures of the kids we spent the week with you can go to a new page in our website and click on the New Tribes conference picture. We hope to be adding even more pictures there in the next few weeks of our life here.
The photos are at http://www.philippinemission.com/FamilyFun.html

Happy New Year!

New Years Eve is probably the biggest night of the year in the Philippines. There is a party everywhere. Fireworks have been for sale for the last month and have gone off here and there with loud pops, but this left us unprepared for what the night would bring. They must add something to the fireworks here to make them 3 times as loud as in the States. We have often wondered if we were caught in the middle of a gun fight. We knew this would escalate as New Years Eve drew near. We had been told that the place to be New Year's Eve was the kid's school-Faith Academy. Faith is about 15 minutes from our house and also outside the metro Manila area. Metro Manila is a city of 14 million people in an area smaller than Los Angeles county. It is the most densely populated city in the world. It is shaped somewhat like a basin surrounded by hills and "mountains". We live outside of the Metro area, up in the first set of hills. Our house looks over Laguna de Bay and the city of Alabang, but Faith looks out over Metro Manila.
Our view upon arrival was of a beautiful city at night. The lights of the buildings shimmered in the distance and there was the occasional firework to light up the sky. By 10 o'clock the sky was aglow with fireworks big and small filling the air here and there. Some as close as the soccer field below us and 1/4 mile away, and some tiny pinpricks in the distance. As we moved closer to midnight, the number of fireworks grew and grew. Explosions lighting up the night sky. By 11:45 the lights of the city had disappeared due to the smoke and all we were left with was an amazing display. You can not imagine this scene. There can be nothing like this in the states. Mainly because what densely populated US city would let people shoot off that many fireworks. The final 10 minutes of 2005 and the first few minutes of 2006 were welcomed with bright colors exploding all around us. Being first timers, we were amazed, but sales of fireworks this year was down and our Filipino friends have told us this was nothing compared to years past. Disappointing it may have been for them, but we were thrilled. Words cannot adequately describe this event so we would love for you to come experience this with us next year.

So we have begun a new year in a new country. Allan made the comment New Years Day that we will most likely not see the US during the year 2006. It was a depressing thought so we won't think about it. We will be leaving tomorrow to go to a conference for New Tribes Missionaries. Allan and I are leading the Elementary Children's program. We are excited for a few days away. We have spent everynight for the last 5 months in the same beds. I think that has to be a record for our family. It will be great to breathe some cleaner air.

Our Christmas!

Well Christmas Day has come and gone. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Allan and Emily tried to predict what time the tears would start for me, but they both lost because they never came. Our Christmas morning was interspersed with opening a few gifts then talking to family on the Vonage phone. We had great fun being silly with my nieces who were a little envious that Emily and Will were opening gifts. In Georgia it was still Christmas Eve and they wouldn't be opening gifts until after church the next day. It was a little weird that Christmas was over and our kids in bed before most of the US even awoke.
So if you celebrated Christmas in the Philippines what would your day have been like? Well, Christmas celebrations begin Christmas Eve. Families stay up until midnight and welcome in Christmas with a few fireworks and a feast. It is a time for family reunions. Families gather together for a midnight meal and stay up most of the night, returning home in the wee hours to sleep most of Christmas Day. ( **Spoiler Warning for those who read our blog to their young kids)For most Filipinos Santa is just a decoration like snowmen and elves. Santa does not visit most children in the Philippines. Kids are given a few small things from their lola and lolo(grandma & grandpa) and aunts and Uncles. Christmas is more about gathering with family and eating than gifts. (***end of spoiler) So if you were a Filipino what would you eat on this night? Of course no meal is complete without rice, but added to that are ham, and queso de bola which is literally a ball of edam cheese that comes in thick red wax. A special treat is fruit cocktail which seems strange with all the wonderful fresh fruit available here, but they use this for many treats including halo halo(described in an earlier blog). Another treat is to also have spaghetti. So did we Gilmers follow Filipino tradition?.... Well no, we mostly stuck to our own family's traditions. The kids opened one present on Christmas eve and after a supper of lasagna we gathered for a final time around the advent wreath to light the Christ candle, pray and sing some carols. It was very nice. The kids were then bundled off to bed with visions of Star Wars in Will's head. God gave us a wonderful gift as the temperature reached the lowest it has been since we've been here--68.4. On Christmas morning we lit the advent wreath candles again and ate the same breakfast casserole that I have eaten on Christmas morning since I was a kid. If you had been at our Christmas Dinner it might have strayed a little from tradition, but our family has never been locked into a specific meal on Christmas. We opted not to have the Filipino ham. It is not what my kids call "real ham" and I wasn't sure we would like the taste. Instead we had a crown pork roast. I remember my gourmet Aunt Lynn had that one year when Allan and I were first married and when I saw it in the supermarket I knew it would be a fun display! We also had macaroni and cheese for Will, twiced baked potatoes, some of our stash of greenbeans sent from the US, carrot souffle, and rolls. Of course for dessert we had some Christmas cookies and treats.
Will was thrilled with the Star Wars legos he received from the US. I wish our parents could have seen how excited he was with his Star Wars gifts. Perhaps this picture gives them a glimpse! Hope your Christmas was as Merry as ours was!






Dont forget Emily who was thrilled with things to "pamper" herself and a new 220V CD player to replace the 110V one we left at Mimi and Pop's!

Merry Christmas from the Gilmers!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Remember the old peanuts Christmas special and the sad little tree Charlie Brown buys for the Christmas play. This year we can relate a little to those disappointed kids. Christmas trees in the Philippines have come a long way in recent years so our tree is actually very nice looking. Artifical trees are the only option and we were told to buy early to get what we wanted. So back in September Allan and I bought our new Christmas tree. We of course needed new lights since we left our 110V lights back in the US. When we opened our packages of lights we discovered that the cheap lights sold at Wlamart are high quality compared to what we have available here. Some of our strings were so dim that they barely glowed. We had not purchased enough lights to cover the tree so Thanksgiving weekend we attempted to buy a couple more strands of clear lights. Unfortunately (or maybe not) all of the stores seemed to be out of clear lights until we came to one hardware store. They had a more expensive strand still available. We bought 2 and came home to finish decorating the tree. These lights were much better quality and brighter than the others. Everything was fine though until the last few days. It seems the cheap strands are dropping like flies. Every day another stand goes out. It looks like the bulbs are all burned. Tonight we are down to only the 2 more expensive strands. As portions of our tree have slowly gone dark, we can do nothing, but laugh about it. It seems somewhat typical of quality control here. This picture was taken before the bottom strands went dark. I guess the old saying is true --"you get what you pay for" and as my mom says we will have to just "chalk this up to experience". I guess next year we will have to invest in new lights and I can tell you which ones we wont buy. If only Snoopys dog house was here so we could take the lights from it! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Box

In the old days of missions, Missionaries left their homes, if not for a lifetime, at least for long years. Travel took months instead of a really long day and the lands they moved to were completely foreign with not much available from home. Churches in those days used to gather up new and used items from home and send a box or usually a "missionary barrel" out to the folks on the field. These days missionaries usually return home every 3-4 years and it is not unusual for them to jet set back and forth to their home country in between times. We have many American products imported. Even so, our family at home wanted to send the kids Christmas gifts. This actually worked out well since Will wants Star Wars legos and legos are not sold here. (shh-Don't tell him what he's getting) So last week, Santa came a little early. 7 weeks before, my parents had shipped out a box filled with gifts and the "cracks" were filled with things that we are missing from home and can't get here. Two such things were cans of green beans and cans of green chilis. Em loves canned green beans and they are not to be found in the stores or market. Allan and I love Mexican food and while we can find other products we requested some green chilis to make some special dishes we love. Other items of note that we recieved were: decaf coffee, pecans, ink for our printer, and the ingredients to make my Aunt Linda's Brunswick stew. We have had a great time with all the little surprise extras the family stuck in and the kids are anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. It has made our first Christmas away from home a little more enjoyable. We have also enjoyed getting Christmas cards from home and some surprises from my best friend Amy. For years Emily, Will and I have watched "White Christmas". Our copy was VHS though and we left it in the US since VHS tapes don't survive here. Em was particularly distressed by this and so one of the surprises sent by Amy was truly a blessing for Emily. We gathered close tonight and watched and sang along with the DVD version of "White Christmas". The wind was blowing and with the fan turned on it was almost cold. The kids snuggled under a blanket, but Will did have to take off his shirt to be comfortable.

A Box full of gifts from home!

A pantry full of green beans and green chilis!

Christmas DVD's sent from my friend Amy!

Christmas in the Philippines!

For those of you who like to drive around looking at Christmas lights, perhaps you should plan to look a little farther next year. Filipinos love Christmas and they really love lights. The traditional holiday decoration in the Philippines is a Parol. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms and fishing villages. Parols were traditionally made from simple materials like bamboo sticks, Japanese rice paper, crepe paper, and a candle or coconut oil-lamp for illumination. Modern parols can be made from paper or plastic with a single buld or strands of Christmas tree lights inside. Around Manila, we see many parols made of Capiz shell. The parol is a recognizable symbol to all Filipinos and represents the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to Jesus. The parol is a tradition from l0ng ago when the Philippines was controled by the Spanish. It was originally intended as an important part of the 9-day Misas de Aguinaldo or Gift Masses that happen early each morning until Christmas Eve. After coming home from Mass, instead of putting the lantern away in the house, Filipinos would proudly hang it outside the window. At night, they would illuminate their parols to display their art. They would then walk around and see each others' work. While celebrating Christmas here begins with the -ber months--meaning decorations and Christmas music begin showing up in September, the holidays are officially celebrated beginning the 16th of December. People all over the Philippines woke up at 4 am this morning to go to Mass and begin the 9 day Misas de Aguinaldo.


A Parol made from Capiz shells













Plastic Parols for sale in Manila












If you would like more info about Parols or think it would be fun to make one for yourself (what a great homeschool project!) or would like some great coloring sheets of parols in the Philippines, you can find it at the following website: http://www.myparol.com/myparol/index.html

National Geographic

You may not know that Allan had the opportunity to work in Afghanistan last winter. He was chosen by the residency director along with friend and fellow resident Steven Durocher to work in Kabul. They saw some patients, but their main job was to help teach and train Afghan Doctors. One night while they were out eating a National Geographic photographer took their picture. He was there doing a story on NGO's (non-governmental organizations) doing relief work in a war torn region. We filed that away in the back of our mind and asked my parents who get Nat. Geo to keep an eye out. Well this morning we recieved a call from Rob, a friend in Greenwood, who had seen it while flipping through magazines at the store. We called and had mom look on page 36 and when she got there her expression was....."that's Allan!" She scanned and sent the page to us and here it is. I am sure it breaks all kind of copyright laws to post it on the blog. When discussing blogging it, Emily said, "Isn't that illegal?" Will's response..."Not in this country!" He has really begun to fit in well with Filipino society. Well illegal or not hope you enjoy seeing Al in the magazine.

Enjoying our new EKG

Scott and I are trying out some of our new equipment. Here Scott has our clinic's pastor hooked up for his first EKG. I had just completed one for Scott during our first trial test. Fortunately, the EKG can operate on 220 volt which will make using it easier. Implementing this in our clinic will save a patient about 1/2 to 1 days pay (which is their cost paid if we have to send them elsewhere to get an EKG).

New Equipment and supplies

Back on Nov 2, I mentioned a shipment of supplies that was being donated from a closed hospital in the U.S. The problem mentioned with part of the shipment has not been resolved yet. However, a large part of the equipment and supplies has arrived. This has been a great encouragement and we have enjoyed unpacking and sorting through the boxes. Among the new equipment: EKG, teaching microscope, new hematcrit centrifuge, surgical and orthopedic equipment, and lots of various medicines. Some of the equipment is planned for future expansion, possibly into surgical Obstetrics. Neither Scott nor I currently do surgical OB but another physician who may be joining us soon does C-sections. I know this would be a big improvement in care for the Nurse-midwives who run a birthing center just down the street from our clinic. In the meantime, I can't wait to incorporate the new EKG, microscope and other stuff into our daily practice.

"Where did you buy that? Walmart?"

Sundays we travel about 40 minutes into Metro Manila to go to church. Our church meets in the top floor of a building that is being renovated to become a shopping area. It is in the business district and there is a really nice 5 story mall across the street. Filipinos love malls! We often go there to look for things we can't find closer to home. This Sunday I decided the kids really needed a pitcher for water in their bathroom. I am tired of Emily tromping down the stairs each night when she should be in bed to "just get a drink of water". Since we can't drink what comes from the tap I decided they need a pitcher they can just keep filled from the filter in the kitchen. OK I ccould find this elsewhere, but I decided this was the time to do it. So Sunday Allan and Will went off to ACE Hardware while Emily and I went to the SM dept store to find some plate stands, taper candles, and some type of plastic pitcher for their bathroom. Being girls, Em and I wanted to find one that matched the color decor. We finally settled on the one you see in the picture. I checked underneath for the price and was pleased that it was just over a dollar. It was then I noticed the tag. Do you see it? It has a Walmart 87 cent sticker on it! We have gotten a big kick out of that. I should have known that a country who would have a whole store in the mall selling Dickies work pants that they sell at Kmart would sell a cheap Walmart pitcher in the equivalent of Macy's---ok so maybe JC Pennys. By the way the pitcher says Made in the USA. My guess is not.

A whole store devoted to Dickie work pants!

What's for dinner?

Do you ever get this question from your kids? or your husband??? I get this alot. I always have. For once my response usually has a common thread to it. "What's for dinner?" they ask----rice is my reply. Filipinos think it is not a meal if you do not eat rice. Bread is reserved for snacks not lunch time sandwiches or meals. You discover this when you see the kids meals at McDonalds are served with a side of rice. So while we forgo the rice for breakfast and lunch on most days, we do eat rice about 5 nights a week for dinner. We have eaten more rice in the 4 months we have lived here that we ate in the last 15 in the states. I used to buy a little small couple pound bag of rice that would last for months, maybe more. Here we buy it in 20 Kilo sacks. (There are roughly 2.2 lbs per kilo) We have been through almost 2 of them! Both kids were OK rice eaters in the states. While Emily has taken to rice like an Italian to Spagetti, Will groans when he sees it coming. He could never have rice again and be perfectly happy.




Here Emily is sitting on the Nelsen's 50 kilo bag of rice. I guess that we will soon move up to this size.















Tonight's dinner--Smoked Bangus,
rice, salad, and fresh pineapple.
A Filipino delight! Not for Emily and Will

Thanksgiving is Over, Christmas is upon us!

We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your families. We actually celebrated Thanksgiving two times. We decided to have a Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday with the clinic staff. It was really special. Sometimes our classes are mainly foreigners and sometimes they are mainly Filipinos. This year there is one American in the bunch. As we came in to eat Allan explained the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving and that in our family we take time to pray for those things we are thankful for. We took some time to pray together and anyone who wanted to could give thanks to God. It was a really neat time as everyone prayed in English, Tagalog, and Ilongo(or Ilacano, I never can remember which one a couple of the girls speak). It was a beautiful glimpse of people from all nations gathering together before the throne of grace. I got a little choked up. It was not to be the last time I would get emotional over the holiday.
Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again. All of the people we know had meals with their mission, so we just followed suit and had everyone in our mission that was here in Manila over. Since the Nelsen's have been in the states the last 2 weeks for their son's wedding it was a big crowd! It is not the first time it has been just the 4 of us. It was a nice day although very muggy so it didn't feel the least bit like Thanksgiving. The kids went to school, and Allan had fun with the students teaching suturing on pigs feet. I made a turkey, dressing, steamed broccoli, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pickles, corn and pea salad, rolls, and in lieu of sweet potatoes---carrot souffle. People say that there are sweet potatoes here, but I never found them. Another missionary told me I would have been disappointed anyway. The carrot souffle was orange and the kids actually like it better. The big hit of the evening were the rolls and pickles. I do not think we have had rolls since we have been here and the kids couldn't get enough. We opted to skip rice for this meal and no one seemed to miss it. For dessert on Wednesday we had Pumpkin crunch since it fed more people than a pie, and then Thanksgiving Day we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream since there is no Cool Whip. It was a wonderful traditional feast! I did get a little emotional during the prayer time and supper, but I am sure that was to be expected. My family is all together at my brother's house and they called late that night after our kids were in bed. It was hard to be here alone and have them together on the other side of the world, but I did get to talk to them and that was nice.
This weekend we began decorating for Christmas and the kids are beyond thrilled. Time to get out the Christmas dishes!
The Nelsen's return late tonight and we will be glad. It is very quiet here in the evenings without them.

On another note, Will has a new toy in the yard. Allan designed and Pastor Buddy from the clinic built Will and Emily a swing-set. We had promised Will we would have a swing for him here. Buddy had finished the swingset on Thursday and they got to swing and play on it. They love it. It isn't quite finished. Allan is designing Emily a trapeeze bar for the other side. We brought the swing with us from the states

What we did on Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated as a Filipino holiday, the kids had school and I taught our Community health class. Two of our students are leaving soon as missionaries in Thailand so we have been trying to compress as much material as possible to complete the course prior to their departure. Thursday is not our typical class day but the students voted to have 2 extra class days on Thursday. Today, we had the fun of learning basic surgical skills and simple suturing techniques.The students did well and no one complained about the stinky pig's feet.















Of course, later in the day, after the kids arrived home from school, we participated in some "traditional" Thanksgiving activities. We even found a turkey to cook. The only thing we were missing was some family and friends. Allan

Happy Thanksgiving!

We would like to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

When Emily was 5 and Will 3, we began a tradition at Thanksgiving of writing down the things we are thankful for. The first year's list is written on the back of a table runner. I had grand plans to write them on there every year, but, well, the best laid plans.... I look on the back at the first year's list though and I chuckle when I read Will's list of every animal he knows begining with donkeys and elephants. This year I changed it up just a little and I thought we would share what we are thankful for with you. When you read Will's list you will see that the difference between 3 and 8 isn't a lot.

Things we are thankful for:

Allan: a house we could move straight into with out shuffeling from place to place, all the encouraging emails, Pizza Hut (though it's not quite the same), that we get along well with Scott, Cindy, and Ling our supporters who make it possible for us to be here

Ginger: Our new home and the now completed paint project, Vonage and the ability to talk to family and friends often without costing a fortune, The Nelsens- who have befriended us and made our transition easier

Emily: Faith Academy, Our pet Bunny-Swirl

Will: Bonnie- the Nelsen's dog, School, new friends

Things we miss from the US:

Allan: Driving on orderly and well maintained roads, fresh milk!, good steak and beef, the ability to talk to people where I don't sound like a 2 year old or need an interpreter

Ginger: Being with family for the holidays, or anyday!, the lake house, fall, and cool weather

Emily: Mimi, Pop, Nana, Gramps, Laura, Beth, Aunt Chris and Uncle Tray

"That's basically the only thing I miss...people"

Will: old friends, and the dress up clothes I had to leave in the US. (mom's note: which were to small anyway!)

Increasing Asian Poverty

With the recent journey of President Bush to Asia, many news stories have focused on the problems that affect this area of the world. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun brought to light some of the issues during Bush’s visit. “By the numbers, Asia is home to 7 in 10 of humanity's poor—about 700 million people—who subsist on $1 a day or less. Even more people dangle one rung up the socioeconomic ladder, earning just $2 a day per capita. In all, about 1.9 billion Asians live at or below that global poverty line. Put another way, Asia's impoverished masses now exceed the region's total population at the end of World War II."

With the inability to maintain subsistence farming in rural areas, many Filipinos are moving toward the larger, more industrialized cities. This rural flight leads to another region-wide phenomenon linked to poverty: unchecked urbanization. Statistically, migrants out-earn their brethren in the fields. But first they must enter an urban milieu that can be openly hostile and filled with uncertainty. Many of those who move into the cities find themselves trapped in a cycle of occasional work and increasing drug and alcohol dependence. Many of our patients, especially men, are being treated for problems that are directly related to drugs and alcohol, compounded by miserable living conditions and a poor diet.

Some of the information above was obtained from an online Newsweek article at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10019829/site/newsweek/