NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Today started out so great. I mean, SO GREAT. Our first box that we have had in the works since July arrived!!! You may remember we used these balikbayan boxes to ship all of our belongings here to the Philippines when we first moved here. They really are great and the most affordable way (per pound) to ship anything here! They are HUGE though so it takes a while to fill one up!

It was wonderful. So many special treats…even the simplest things, like a box of crackers or soap and shampoo that are so familiar in the states, but hard to find/riduclously expensive or not here at all, are somehow so uplifting and encouraging! Really I sometimes get annoyed at myself for being so pleased by these “things” but regardless that’s the way it is. Right or not, using my Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin soap from Bath & Body Works today made me so happy! Can’t help but smile

Fastforward to 4 pm. Alaena got up from an unusually long nap and came and cuddled with me for a bit on the couch while she woke up. We were sitting there all comfortable when she went and scratched her head. Now, this never bothered me before, but ever since our lice incident last July ever time she scratches her head my stomach sinks and I check her out. So far we haven’t had a recurrence. That was not the case today. To my great annoyance when I checked her I saw tons and tons of little nits. Devastated seems a little extreme when talking about lice but really that’s how I felt. It was so hard to get rid of them the first time and more than that I had really horrible experience when I was a kid with lice. They were so hard to get rid of.

So we’re at it again, going the natural route since I’m pregnant…I know I could have Matt wash her hair with the shampoo stuff but we didn’t need it last time so we’ll see. Virgin Coconut oil and tea tree oil seemed to do the trick and lots and lots of picking. Of course it happens during the week I had decided to have the kids to take a break from tv! Guess we’ll have to push that back a bit, poor thing has to sit still for hours I’m almost 100% sure I have it this time too. I dodged the bullet last time but I don’t think I could be that fortunate two times in a row. I have NO idea what I would do if I had them. I can’t even imagine. I’m praying nonstop that I don’t! Anyways, so the kids are in bed and I’m pretending the whole lice thing never happened and just enjoy my cup of apple cider from the States and relax. The problem will be there in the morning to deal with!

…here’s to not having my emotions controlled by circumstances (both great and horrible today!) and fixing my mind on things above and what really matters! Have a great day

What I’m Thankful For (in no particular order…)

1.  A 2 year old boy who loves to cuddle – one of my favorite times is movie time because he just snuggles in for the WHOLE movie!

2.  A husband who loves to show love by helping. He helps with dishes, giving the kids baths and cleaning up the house and more…always with a smile. Thank you sweetie!

3.  Weng! Our amazing househelper. She loves the kids and is SO good with them and keeps the house so clean. Cleaning has never been something I particular enjoy doing…BUT I do love a clean house…in this phase I’m so grateful for her help. She keeps me sane

4.  Good friends. I’m so grateful for each person God’s put in my life during different seasons of life. I can look bad on each time and see 1 or 2 (or 4 special people in my life who are always there for me. Sharing life, laughter, tears, joys and struggles through the everyday.

5.  A break from winter. As much as I love Fargo and winter and will MISS snow at Christmas time it has been nice to not have to deal with -20 temps and crazy wind!

6. Technology! I’m so grateful for Skype & Vonage and the fact we can be so easily in touch with family and friends back home. It does the soul good to not only hear but also see the faces of our loved ones from all the way across the world!

7.  Alaena Joy. We could not have chosen a better middle name. She is SO joyful. I am so thankful for her and the joy she brings into my life. Everything she does, she does at 110%. She loves so big and with every part of her being. Every hug is HUGE and every smile just beaming. She doesn’t know how to do anything half way…so grateful for that beam of light in my life!

8. Family close by – Matt’s parents live right next door. Not something every missionary is blessed with! Usually one of the biggest struggles is dealing with the kids growing up so far from their grandparents and we are blessed with one set nearby. We don’t take it for granted and are very grateful for that opportunity while we have it!

9.  Our supporters. Oh man. So grateful. We wouldn’t be here without each and every one of those who sacrifice every month to support us. Along with that we’re so grateful for the people who pray for us and encourage us by sending letters or dropping an e-mail. Basically I’m grateful for the body and think I’ve learned so much more about the major blessing the body of believers is since we’ve moved here!

10. I guess I’ll close with the thing I’m most thankful for…for Christ. For His love for us and for Word of God that is “the light unto my path.” I’m so grateful that He is our strength and that it’s not up to me! It’s all Him working through us and He is able!

What are you thankful for this year? I think I need to print this off so I can see it every day and remember. Too often I forget and get all grumbly and complaining but God HAS blessed us so much. There is much to be thankful for!

Yeah! We were able to visit that new church this morning and it went great! We all can’t hear quite as well…the music was BLASTING!!! But it really was a encouraging time. I’m pretty sure we’ll start going there regularly. Logan fell asleep and slept the entire service and Alaena really liked the Sunday School class. Which meant Matt & I both got to sit through the entire service! Now I’m not expecting that every week of course but it was a great way to start.

The service was all in Tagalog and even though we couldn’t understand completely everything the speaker said we did understand a lot. It’s always encouraging whenever that happens! Beyond that the pastor was sharing about a ministry he’s a part of in an area of the country we as ex-pats don’t have access to because of how dangerous it is. It was so encouraging to hear his heart and about some of the difficulties he faced.  He challenged us to persevere in ministry and sharing the Gospel. Even if you don’t see instantaneous results God is working and He is faithful to grow the seeds that are planted! At least I’m pretty sure that was part of His message!

We’re excited to get back and was informed several times by two little girls there that I NEED to remember to bring them presents next time we come! Hopefully I won’t forget!

Today was a great day. It was the kind of day I always hope my Saturday will be, but invariably it seems like life happens and we don’t get the family time on Saturday I want. Today was not the case! It started off with an early doctor’s appointment for the kids which couldn’t have gone smoother. They both got a shot and not one tear was shed! It was all smiles and stickers

After we wrapped up there we headed about 10 minutes away to a mall that has an awesome playground.  It’s one of my favorite places to take the kids but is kind of far, depending on traffic, if we’re just coming from our apartment. The kids had a blast! Thankfully they have tarps over the playground because it was HOT.

Happy Boy!

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After they played for about an hour at the playground we hit up the cars, another favorite. They zipped around and mostly dodged all the people walking by! Doesn’t seem like the best placement for kids driving cars around but oh well! After all this outside we were all a sweaty mess so we headed into the mall to cool down and hit up McDonalds. When we got home I was able to take a 2 HOUR NAP! It was amazing The day ended with a great meal and 2 exhausted kids who didn’t put up much of a fight at bedtime. Now I’m off to relax and watch a few shows and definitely enjoy a bowl of ice cream with chocolate chip cookies Doesn’t get much better than that!

Tomorrow we’re checking out a new church. It’s a smaller church nearby and we’re really excited about it. I’m hoping and praying we’re able to get involved there, more than we’ve been able to at the mega church we’ve been attending. It’s also in Tagalog from what I hear! So that should be good for us Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy YOUR Saturday!

It’s been Christmas season in the Philippines for several months now. I actually heard on the news that the Philippines is the first country to start celebrating Christmas and goes on the longest after Christmas! So if you love Christmas you should consider moving here Christmas songs have been playing in malls since September and decorations are in full force now. Most people put trees up in their houses sometime in October! So for here we’re behind the ball!

I’m trying to find a happy medium. I want my kids to know about Thanksgiving of course and learn about fall and changing seasons BUT last year I waited till after Thanksgiving to decorate and it just felt so short! So we made a bit of a compromise and put our decorations up the first weekend of November. Still got my pumpkins and Thanksgiving decorations out for about a month but now it just feels right to have Christmas stuff up since we see it whenever we go out!

Grandpa & Grandma Castagna came over for the evening and we enjoyed yummy appetizers, desserts and sparkling grape juice. All week I’ve been paranoid about the gas in our stove going out…it’s been about 2 months now and that’s usually when we run out. So I made our traditional caramel corn early so it’d for sure get done – ended up burning some of it and had to hand pick through all if it to get out the burnt parts! Then I totally forgot to put it out the night we were decorating! Arg. ANYWAYS, the gas made it through all that and then it came time for the big night where we were cooking wings and baking pizza. Of course half way through all that my flames went out. Thankfully Grandpa came to the rescue and lent us their gasul tank because it takes like an hour for them to deliver a new one. So the meal wasn’t ruined

There’s got to be a way to avoid this but apparently you just have to run out to find out you need a replacement. I would think they could make a gauge or SOMETHING! oh well. Enjoy looking at pics of our fun evening What are your favorite Christmas decorating traditions?

Food! (after we'd eaten)

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We usually have appetizers when we decorate. This year the main thing was wings and Matt did most of them!

I’ve come to realize something since I started this blog. I am not a blogger! And that’s OK! One thing that keeps me from writing is feeling totally incapable of putting together a sentence most of the time! I feel like my brain is not running at full capacity these days! Then I read other people’s blogs who are funny and have all these interesting things to write about and are so creative….oh well. Time to stop that nonsense. I really WANT to keep people updated with what’s going on and share about what we’re learning/experiencing…so here goes blogging again…Hopefully you simply enjoy keeping up with our family while I get over myself

Tuesday was November 1. A HUGE holiday here in the Philippines. Most kids have at least a week off of school. On the actual holiday most people are at the cemetery, visiting the grave of different loved ones. They go there to remember and to pray for the soul of their departed loved one. Sometimes people stay at the grave all day and all night! They bring flowers, eat food and a lot of times set up a tent type thing over the gravesite…it gets hot and sunny out there! Last year we went to a cemetery but this year stayed home. Here’s pics and what we did last year…

Instead of going to the cemetery I went to the mall! I had some last minute shopping to get done before class started. I was surprised to find one of the main malls here was closed! The others opened late…it was almost like Christmas! And that just shows how important of a holiday it is for most Filipinos. They have been celebrating this holiday for a LONG time. It’s only been in the last 10 years or so they’ve tagged on trick or treating and halloween parties. This year our complex had a big trick or treating party for all the kids.

I was actually kind of nervous about it. All our friends kept asking us if we were going and I could tell everyone was excited about it. No surprise there because Filipinos love dressing kids up and a good party and who doesn’t like candy! The thing is gore and violence are also something people don’t exactly shy away from here. We pretty much avoid the toy store this time of year because it’s just too scary and gruesome for the kids. Eventually I decided to go, mostly because everyone was so persistent in asking if we’d be there! Turns out it was a really fun time. The decorations were fine and they even had a bubble machine. There were a few scary costumes but nothing that the kids noticed. There was probably too much going on for them to hardly notice what people were wearing! There were SO many kids! At first I couldn’t believe there were so many kids who lived in our complex! Then I realized the administration had invited all the kids of the staff and guards who work here! I thought that was just so great

There was a ton of food, games, and “trick or treating”. They set up different stands around the complex and the kids ran to each stand. It was like a stampede! Thankfully there were no injuries We really had a good time. It was fun being at a party where we knew pretty much everyone! A lot of the time we’re invited to a birthday party and the only people we really know are the ones throwing the party! And of course they’re busy running everything…so the whole time is awkward ‘get to know you’ stuff. But this time we could just relax and have fun with our friends. It was a good feeling

Bubbles!

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They had a bubble machine!