Mabuhay (Welcome) to the Philippines

Greetings from the beautiful Philippines! We left Hong Kong on a cheap red- eye fight that put us in Cebu at 4 am. Josiah was so excited to be boarding a plane that he could not sleep til the plane was in the air around 1:30 am (and that is without a nap all day long!) So needless to say our first day was jut about sleep and getting our tired puppies back on schedule.
The excited kids at HK Airport
Here is Josiah on the streets of Cebu,
just kidding (gotcha Mom!) he is riding a toy at the mall. Although the first thing he said when he woke up our second morning in the Philippines was, "maybe one day when I grow up I can ride a big motorcycle." Oh boy!

We decided before jumping into the Children's Home to build in a little retreat. Some might call it a vacation, but retreat sounds more purposeful to us (: We are staying at a little guest house on Pangalo Island, Bohol. It has been fun falling in love with the culture again and learning how to do things differently.
I am embarrased to say that I have never washed clothes by hand. So we googled that then realized it is not that bad. Good thing, since we will be hand- washign the next six months.
We found markets and learned what we could cook. Tonight we made beans and rice with mango salsa. I think every meal will have to have a mango component

We tested out our water filter, which you can see hanging here in our outdoor kitchen
So far we have been feeding Josiah little pieces of our trip at a time so as not to overwhelm him. This approach however has proved to be more confusing and today he asked, "Where is Africa? Where are the lions? Where are the kids with no mommies and daddies? Where is Jack Jack and Malcolm (his best buds in HK)" Jason sat down with him and Google Earth and explained every step of the jouney. He seemed to be on board and said "that's a long trip". Please pray for Josiah that he would feel secure in our love, but most importantly God's love as his home is on the move. Annette seems to be uneffected by the change to rountine, but is thankful for the abundance of sand.


On Monday we move across the island to Arms of Love where we will be staying for a month. I am currntly reading There is Always Enough and Jason is reading Compelled by Love both by Heidi and Rolland Baker. These books, along with God's word are helping to prepare our hearts to serve and love beyond ourselves. If you haven't read these books we would whole- heartedly recommend them.