Merry Christmas

Phuket, Thailand

We are home. But not fully recovered. I'll fill you in on all the boring details another day. But I will tell you that I'm still dreaming about it.

A caterpillar moment

We had a quiet moment yesterday. Just for a minute. The kids found a caterpillar in the sandbox. They watched it, poked it and were quiet. Just for a minute.

Noah is off of school for winter holidays. His preschool was on the local calendar so they take a break from November 20th until January. Then they have school all summer. We've been busy with our regular outings. Loving to have Noah all day, and also having few moments of quiet. Maybe that's why I noticed this one.

This week was particularly free of quiet moments. We tended our neighbors' girls for a couple days. Every time we got in a taxi the driver would say, "You have 4 chil ren?!" We painted sugar cookies, made cotton Santas and had so much fun Noah could barely stand it.

We also had a church Christmas party to help plan, Christmas shopping to do, David a stable at the church to build, planning for our trip next week and I started doing private Speech Therapy on Wednesdays and Fridays.

After our trip, I intend to have more quiet moments. Make fudge and peppermint bark. If we turn our air con down low enough maybe a cup of hot cocoa with a candy cane in it. Wrap Christmas presents and make cardboard ornaments.

And go back to this park with the boys to climb this tree. Hopefully we'll find a caterpillar.

A quick trip to Manila

Our church organized a trip to the Philippines to visit the temple over Thanksgiving weekend.

So we left the boys with some brave friends and flew to Manila.

The temple was beautiful. and peaceful. and so powerful. We spent an entire day there.

We stayed in the temple housing. hostel style. One small room with 4 bunk beds for the women and another for the men. Fish and rice for breakfast. or BBQ flavored spaghetti. Bring your own bottled water. Definitely an experience. But what a great spirit was there. The housing was full of Filippino people there to attend the temple. Arriving bus by bus. It was fun to talk to them and their cute kids.

The next day we hired a driver to see a few sites in the morning before we headed to the airport to go home. It was interesting to see the Spanish and American influence on this Asian country.

5 things we saw on our Morning in Manila

#5 Traffic.

Jeepneys - the public transportation in Manila. decorations and stereo system included.

Pedicabs - motorcycles or bikes

On our way into the city our driver got hit by a jeep. He stopped in the middle of the street and backed up traffic to negotiate a price to fix it. No police report or insurance claim. The driver of the jeep just gave him cash.

#4 Poverty

Heartbreaking.

#3 Fort Santiago

We visited Fort Santiago and learned more about the Spanish conquistadors who ruled the Philippines for a long time and the Spanish-American war. We also learned about the filippino hero, Jose Rizal. inspiring.

#2 The Manila Cathedral

We visited the Manila cathedral to admire the architecture and the stained glass windows. and the pretty purple bridesmaid dresses of a filippino wedding in progress.

#1 Politics

On our way to the cathedral we had to zig and zag through a politcal parade in the middle of the street. "Hello my blue eyes!" the teenagers shouted as we passed. The Liberal Party leaders were filing their candidacy for the upcoming election. There were all sorts of people there in bright yellow tshirts. Even a huge fillippino celebrity - Dingdong Dantes - I'm sure you've heard of him? me either. And us poor gringos just wanted to be tourists.

This video is a crowd of screaming teenagers surrounding Mr. Dantes

We heart Pinoy.