Through a Child’s Eyes

First off, let me say thank you for your prayers for our family as we traveled to the Philippines. It has been a great trip, and in this post, I hope to share a bit of what we have witnessed through the eyes of our children. Before I do, though, let me first say how thankful I am for the four children God has blessed us with. Naturally, as Sarah and I looked ahead to 24+ hours of travel with children ranging in age from 10 down to 3, we were naturally concerned with how everyone would handle it. Twenty-four hours is a long time to travel for an adult, much less a 9 year old, or a 3 year old. Thankfully, the trip went as smooth as possible, and our children were amazingly well-behaved. As I commented to Sarah, we have had trips to Walmart (a 15 minute drive) that had more whining, fighting and frustration than the 24+ hour trip to the Philippines. With that as our backdrop, here are some of the highlights (through our children’s eyes) from the trip thus far.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Pastor Jun and Mrs. Juvi. These wonderful folks have become very dear to the children in such a short period of time. They even went out of their way to make sure the kids got something to eat after arriving at our hotel at 11:00 at night. We stayed in our hotel for the first night to get some rest before heading to Haven of Grace. In the morning, we got our rental car and visited Maranatha Baptist School and got to see the children there enjoying the festivities of a  national holiday. It was there our children were swarmed (in a good way) by dozens of other kids their age. Kiersten and Lydia were immediately welcomed into a group of other young ladies, and within minutes they were braiding Kiersten’s hair. Micah was surrounded by boys who were interested to learn more about him.

After visiting the school we went to what Kiersten described as “The biggest mall she had ever seen.” This was our first trip to get some of the supplies we would need for the weeks we will be here. By the end of our shopping trip, everyone was starting to feel the effects of traveling the day before. We arrived at our home at the Seminary, made a simple dinner of Macaroni and Cheese and Fresh Mangos that Mrs. Juvi gave us, and we were off to bed.

This morning we have had a day filled with playing and exploration. Each of the children have enjoyed fresh coconut milk cut down from the property and playing with neighborhood children. They have enjoyed looking for frogs, and geckos. Adventures abound.

This has been quite an adventure thus far, and we are only a couple of days in. Please continue to pray for the rest of our time here that we will stay healthy, hydrated (Micah wanted me to add that), and that we will be able to minister to the folks here.