Matt and Erin Castagna connecting you to tribal missions Last week we ended our 2 week “break”. Every so often we like (NEED) to take some time off of Tagalog study. To get away from classes and get refreshed. It had been about 4 months since our last time off so we felt like we were due. What started out as a 1 week break to relax and refresh turned into 2 weeks which included a move, a lice incident, a trip of hard work to Palawan (a nearby island) and a little fun 
.
So…The move…We are still in the same complex now, just a different building and now have 3 bedrooms instead of 2. For what you might ask??? Well, now our office/homeschooling room/bedroom can be split into two. So now I have my own office and homeschooling space for AJ. It’s so great! The kids still share a room which is working out great.
Another large reason we moved was that Matt’s parents had recently come back from furlough and had spent a few months looking for a place here in Manila. They weren’t able to find a whole lot and really liked our place. There were so many complicated things we weren’t sure how it would all work out but God clearly was in the whole thing and amazingly here we all are now! Us in this new place that’s working pretty great and Tim and Peggy so close by.
About one week before we went on break we started putting all this in motion so the first 3 days of break Matt and his dad headed down to Palawan where all their belongings were in storage (they used to live there). They spent 3 solid LONG days sorting through all their stuff and packing it into a 10 foot shipping crate. Here more miracles happened. They were able to get the crate they wanted (and fit everything in it!) and it was shipped just a few days later. It arrived in perfect timing and Tim and Peggy were able to move in shortly after we moved out. As soon as Matt got home from Palawan we started moving all our stuff over to the new place.
Seriously, I can’t tell you how crazy it was that everything worked out with all the variables. Working with our landlord, the landlord of the new place, needing to ship stuff from another island. Really it could have gone so wrong. We’re so grateful to the Lord for how well it went!
In the middle of all of this Alaena had lice! My worst nightmare. I had lice when I was a kid and it was a horrible traumatic experience. Thankfully we did not have a repeat! I came home from class one day and Ate Wheng tells me, “Erin! Alaena has lice!” I about fainted. Not really, but I was super unpleased! Somehow we were able to just pick them all out! I didn’t even have to use the nasty lice shampoo. For about 1 week we picked twice a day so Laena got lots and lots of tv Ate Wheng is amazing and I learned and we got them all out. I did use this coconut oil stuff and tea tree oil in her hair and I think that actually killed some of them!
Towards the end of our break we finally got some fun in. We had heard about a little petting zoo nearby so we took a day away from unpacking and checked it out. It was SO MUCH FUN. We were literally the only ones there for the first 2 hours! I guess they need to do some more advertising! They had tigers and bears and a few lions but the exciting things were just walking around…like the Orangutan. Actually that kind of made me nervous. Highlights were the little fish who nibbled on our feet and feeding the guinea pigs, bunnies, sheep and goats. Upstairs were tons of picnic tables with a little canteen and we enjoyed meriyenda (snack time) next to a playground. It was fantastic.
So now we’re back in classes again and in spite of not having a super relaxing time we were ready to get back. Even though we were busy our brains got a rest and we do feel refreshed in that way. So here we go again, hitting it hard and hoping to make some good progress in language. At the end of the month we reach our 1 year mark! Hopefully that means we’re at least half way with Tagalog study! (pray pray pray)
