February in a Nutshell

I'm getting old. This is my birthday picture...and I had a great day. But I'm old. I do have a beautiful young wife though...

Finally got the kids to the swimming pool...They could stayin the water forever...they love it so much that you can see their little teeth chattering from the cold but they still don't want to stop!

And, Brooke got 4th place for the women at the Red Cross Run! We (Brian and all four kiddos) made it in time to see mommy cross the finish line.  

Thank the Lord! After 3.5 years of waiting and praying, we have a vehicle! The kids love it and so far it's working out well. 

Our funny Valentines....They appreciated their pink sprinkles on their oatmeal immensely.... 

18-K Awesomeness! Brooke just completed her first 18-K run, and she ran the whole way! Daddy and four kiddos were quite impressed. 

Asia continues to practice hard in ballet class. She still loves it. 

And, today was my last day of teaching first grade Biblein Visayan. It was quite the experience! The kids LOVED to sing and act out the stories. Praying that they remember what they learned. 

MNL/Conference

Well, here we are...tomorrow is the last day of February...and we haven't blogged since December.  haha.  No excuses...  We'll just try to catch you all up on the last month & a half.  It hasn't been dull...The last week of December, we were....

Leaving on a jet plane! Heading off to the big city for annual missions conference. It was a bit sunny. That's why the guy in the background is carrying an umbrella.

One of the best things about the big city: Krispy Kreme! Even better? One of the ladies who works there is from our island and speaks the language we are studying, so she was pretty excited to talk to someone in her native dialect! (She gave us balloons and hats and free donuts for everyone :)

Four kids at the Guest House. One bed. They didn't look quite this happy for long. But actually, they did surprisingly well.

Banquet night at conference... 

And, Fun Night! Asia had a great time getting into her group's song routine.

And, if you haven't guessed, their class theme was: "superheroes." This was the perfect theme for our kids, and they repeated to us many times what they learned: "Superheroes never give up!" and, "Superheroes always tell the truth." The group that came from the US to teach the kids did an awesome job! 

And, no trip to Manila would be complete without having Pho at our favorite noodle place. All four kids loved it and did surprisingly well with their chopsticks.

Well, that was a busy 10 days. We had our Starbucks, and it's time to go home now.

NCLA

On January 21st, the Visayan language and culture program was ready for business! God brought five new students to our island, and they were ready to go!

First Day! We started with a week of excursions and Kick-Off meetings. We have a really diverse group--two Koreans, two Germans, and one American.

And, as usual, for their excursions, it rained. It always rains here. But they still had fun.

And, after excursions were done each day, we talked through the program together. We really appreciate our new students--they are excited to learn and working hard.

Wendel is doing a great job as language helper, and it's been really fun to observe the students as they learn and grow.

 

Please pray for us and our students and Wendel! Language and culture study can be a lot of fun, but it is also a LOT of work!

Homeschool

Hello, my name is Asia, and I can spell that out for you if you need, because I'm in kindergarten and I know how to read and write and do some arthmetic.

I homeschool, and I think that it's actually pretty cool. For school.

That's my baby sister, her name is Skye...She likes to go to school too, but I just don't tell her she can't start until she's 5. It's ok for her to pretend...She likes to play and listen, and she can already say the pledge of allegiance and sing lots of Bible verses.

 

And that's my brother Slater, he's in preschool too, he likes to make magnet dinosaurs, and mommy says they can learn by playing. If that's true, they must be learning a lot! 

And, that's my brother Leif. He is the class clown, but he's also a really good artist. I think he's trying to decide what color dinosaurs really were.

 

For the Christmas season, we've been making lots of Christmas crafts and learning about Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.

 

I can't wait for Christmas! It's my favorite holiday!!

 

And, mommy says we might take a day off of school for Christmas...

Malaybalay Runners

Yes, that would be me, dancing...quite badly I might add. Why? Well, I went to the Christmas party for our local runners group...and this was one of the games. I missed the Videoke part, but still had a pretty good time with the rest of the party.

 

We actually had a pretty big party, with a lot of prizes and games and of course, lechon! And, since everybody knows I'm a missionary, I got asked to do the closing prayer. I did it...mostly in Visayan.

 

And, this is the whole group. Really is cool that the town we moved to has so many people who love running!

Family Day

So, it was family day at church....these two young men are my daughters bodyguards. They sometimes share snack too.

We got the back seat--best place to be when you have 4 noisy kiddos...that need to have their mouths perpetually stuffed with crackers to keep them quiet.

 Check out the new tin roof! It used to be palm thatch, but the old roof blew away in the big storm, so they put up a new one.

It was a pretty full house---Lots of Christmas songs...mostly in Visayan. Brooke make about 300 cookies for the celebration.

As per usual...we ended up in the "cry room" area with some kids who got fussy. Yes, that is a whitewater river 50 yards away from our church. 

And, even though the kids got fussy, they still ended up smiling again. And, I know Skye was trying to listen. The pastor was talking about today's date or, in the language here: "petsa" and the instant he said it Skye looked up at me and said..."Pizza?!?" Just goes to show...little pitchers have big ears...and you never know what they might hear.

GTO Night Run

'Tis the season for...running! Last Saturday night, Brooke joined her Muay Thai friends for a night run 5-K.

Conditions? A dark and stormy night. The course? Really hilly, with the last kilometer one LOOONNG heartbreaking hill to the finish line...

 

Emotions?!? Let's go!! Brooke had a great time with her group. The race started about an hour late, so they also had some time to hang out and talk...and then finally...the Gun!

Apparently, my wife does awfully well for being the mother of 4 children 5 years old and under and only running once or twice a week...at best. She got 1st place for her age category!

And, one of her friends from Muay Thai got second for the same category. That's a One-Two Muay Thai finish! Apparently, kick-boxing is good cross-training.

And, perhaps the best part...When she got home, there were some VERY excited young fans to greet her and check out the sweet medal. Great job Hon!