Our Kids

Mikayla is on an Outdoor Education Trip to Subic Bay this week with the Middle School.
She recently finished playing basketball for the Middle School Girls Basketball team. She enjoyed that and is looking forward to starting Girl's Soccer - Middle School and High School combined team.
Already she is thinking about colleges!

Kirsten is doing well in 5th grade. She is getting taller. Currently she is playing soccer in the Elementary After School Sports program and enjoying that. She looks forward to starting Middle School and being able to go on the OE trip they take every year.
She really enjoys art and misses the art teacher she had in the US. She is an avid reader and sketches often.

Benjamin is doing well in 1st grade. He, also, is in a growth spurt and playing after school soccer. He is looking forward to our trip to the US in May and being able to fish at Grandpa's pond. Ben loves to fish and he and I are praying that God makes him a fisher of men.
He has a very tender heart toward God and praying for the salvation of his relatives and neighbors who are not saved yet.

James is a bundle of 15 month old toddler energy. He keeps us all on our toes. He loves to climb, throw balls, play outside. His smile can melt your heart!

Jerard continues to show improvement in coordination and strength. Monday he starts physical therapy three times a week. We will be focusing on getting him to keep his balance for sitting up and walking. His smile also can melt your heart!

Just a little poo

The title of this article is a partial quote from the movie "Johnny English." In one scene he says, "It's just a little poo...."

This was the scene that Kurt found when he went to James and Jerard's room this morning to answer their morning cry...........

yah....it was gross......

James had pulled his diaper off, smeared it on himself, his crib, his sheet.........Needless to say, he got a really good shower with three scrubbings. The crib, mattress, and sheet went outside for a good scrubbing with laundry soap. They are now drying in the sun.

I guess I would think it a bit more funny if I wasn't so tired from being awakened throughout the night by the neighbor's videoke music that was played extra loud for a party and went til 2a.m.......

Activities for the week/Prayers and Praises

Kurt traveled to Manila on Monday for meetings with Asia Area regarding computer issues/needs/ etc. He returned Wednesday.

Praise God for safe travels and good meetings.

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After School Elementary Sports started up. I'm heading it up this year. Kirsten and Ben are each playing. We are teaching the kids soccer skills and having games. It is fun, although, very hot!!!

Praise God for all the parent volunteers that came forward to help make this a successful program for the kids at Faith Academy Mindanao.

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A BIG PRAISE is that the physical therapist who had been working with Jerard at Resources for the Blind this past summer will now start working with him at our house three times a week starting February 9.
She had had to stop working for a while due to pregnancy problems, but now she is doing well (and her soon-to-be-born baby, Caleb).
Liziel is a big blessing. Please pray for her to stay healthy and the remainder of her pregnancy to go well. She is due the first week of April.
Jerard and I will also start attending a 'Mom and me' class once a week at Resources for the Blind on February 10th.

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We have purchased our tickets for our summer trip and will be arriving in Michigan on May 25! We will be leaving July 26 to return to Davao.

Pray for us to have safe travels and good visits with our friends and supporters, supporting churches, and relatives.
Already our summer schedule is filling up. Those 8 weeks we are in the states will fly by fast.

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Lola Arlene will be staying with James and Jerard while we are gone. Other friends will be coming to play with the boys, too.
Lola (Grandmother) Arlene is a blessing!

Pray for all to go well this summer here - for the boys and Lola Arlene to stay healthy and safe.

Middle School Chapel

Kurt and I were asked to share at Middle School Chapel today.
I shared about how we received the boys.

Kurt shared about kingdom perspective.

Really,that is what it's all about..... Seeking FIRST His Kingdom and His Righteousness!

an excerpt from this morning's talk

"James 1:27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...
Just as God adopts us into his family, we are adopting these two boys into our family. God has and continues to teach us so much about His love for each of us as we love and parent James and Jerard........God takes us in as we are.....
Adopting babies, especially ones with health problems, is like that....asthma, hydrocephalic, blindness aside...we love them.
In caring for them I am ever more and more thankful for God's love for me; for each of us...........
Hebrews 12: 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire.""

Adopting a Vision

As Beth said in her last post, we had the opportunity to share with the middle school kids and teachers about what the twins have meant for us. I gave a short message at the end which you can download: Adopting a Vision: Practicing Life from God's Perspective