Date with a Teenager

Happy 13th Birthday Alexie

Today we celebrated the momentous occasion of our Alexie Christine becoming a teenager with more than just cake and ice cream. We have a few traditions that we include in this special birthday. The birthday girl gets all dressed up and Daddy takes her on a date. During this special time together, he presents her with a necklace. Besides her silver heart necklace, Alexie received a special keepsake book we created with the help of our family and friends. This treasury included words to live by, inspiration, advice and love. Loved ones wrote messages about the most important things they had learned, qualities a woman should have, something they wished someone had told them when they were 13, and special memories they have of Alexie.

We are so pleased with the girl we have watched growing up and the woman we are watching her become.

Shake It Up Baby

This morning, Thomas and I got an early wake up call. At 4 a.m., we felt our bed shake and heard some rattling. We were a bit anxious wondering if there was much greater shaking to come, but our girls slept right through it. When they woke up a few hours later, they were surprised to hear about the 5.9 earthquake. The center of the quake was miles and miles away (here they would say kilometers away) at the northern most part of the island of Luzon.

To: The Tooth fairy

Hi Dear
Tooth Fairy,
What is it like
in fairy land?
Send a note
to me!

How much is a
tooth?

I give you
my Tooth for
money

What is it like
to be a fairy
I love Good
fairys!

do you love
people?

Love,

Annalise
Joy

It Is Finished!

Today was my last Values Education with my grade 5 class. Honestly, this was a really difficult year and there were many times I felt like quitting. Yet I persevered. Throughout the school year, I have been telling them Bible stories emphasizing over and over a few things: all these stories are true, God keeps His promises, and He loves you. Again and again I told them, "It is not about trying harder and doing good things. It is all about Jesus." Often, when I would teach, it seemed few, if any, students were listening. But today, I am thankful to say, was different.

Trusting that what I shared throughout the year, along with the New Testaments I handed out to continue to speak into their hearts.

This is my friend, Angel, that blessed me each time I came to the school with her timid smiles and waves.

Life Skills

Just like most other school years, there are items put on our "schedule" that it seems we just do not end up doing or at least not as often as planned. Our girls have had many learning opportunities woven in our life as missionaries in a foreign land, but we have not had time or made time to spend on handicrafts. But Saturday there was yarn here, there, and everywhere as the girls were busy weaving on their cardboard looms we made.

Even more important than lessons in weaving was the lesson Alayna got in making homemade pizza. This is essential just in case when they are older God calls them to live in a land far from frozen pizzas or pizza delivery places like Pizza Hut. You know, like the Philippines.

Adriana's Teaching Debut

This week Adriana took a turn at teaching Christian education at our church. She did a great job.

She was understandably nervous being in front of everyone. Before she began, we stepped out on the porch to pray.

We are proud that she stepped out in this. She is incredibly intelligent. (Yes, I am a proud daddy - but really, she is.) She knows more about the Bible and how to articulate her faith than either Lisa or I did at her age, but she was shy about teaching a lesson.

Good job, Nana!

Love,
Daddy

Say It Again

This morning at breakfast, Annalise said,"I wish every day was Tuesday and Thursday."
"Because we get to do science!"
Alayna quickly agreed.
I hope the study of the human body I am doing with Annalise and Alayna continues to be met with such excitement. We already tackled that BIG question, "Where do babies come from?" and this week we are learning about bones.

They're Ba-ack!

One of our girls complained that her head was itching. Upon inspection, it was easy to see why. Blessing #1: I could not find any lice (or even eggs) on anyone else. Blessing #2: we still had one bottle of Lice MD on hand. Blessing #3: the municipal water ran a little longer than normal so Lisa could rewash all the bedding she just washed the other day.

Not a happy discovery. But as a homeschooling family, we did find it interesting to investigate a little further with the microscope.