Visiting family and friends...

Sunday morning we loaded up the van to go to church, not only with family, but with several blind college age students who are staying at Marla and Randy's for a college prep class this week at RBI. We all went to church then made a stop at Burger King for lunch which is a treat for everyone. Sunday afternoon Aunt Marla and I went shopping at Mega Mall...nothing is more of a culture shock than a huge mall for this small town Alaskan girl! We had fun shopping together and getting the time to visit and catch up some. I found lots of fun things to bring back for my kids...nothing is more fun than a suitcase full of treasures for the kids!

Since Monday was a holiday nobody went to school or work, so we loaded up in the van again and went to Faith Academy to tour the school, see Paula, and take a dip in the pool. The day turned out to be hot and the perfect day for a dip in the cool water...I think it was about 98 today! Faith Academy is very big with lots of nice classrooms and they are expanding their facilities for their students and staff. Paula took the tour with us and then headed back to her office as we made our way to the pool. I slathered on the sunsrcreen and braved the water and sun again. The cool water felt great on such a hot day! We went home late in the afternoon.

Paula came over in the evening with ice cream and freshly baked cookies for everyone...what a treat! It was great to see Paula, Ben, Liz, and Phil!

I had such a great couple days getting to spend the time visiting with Randy and Marla, and getting to know my cousins Seth, Nathaniel, Anna, and Omega. I have never really gotten to know them since last time I was there Seth was just a new baby!

We are looking forward to hopefully being back in the Philippines in January, except this time it will be our whole family! We are hoping to spend some time in Manila with my family, but then also in Davao with Joe and Jenn, and hopefully we can also find something short term missions for Steve or for our whole family to be involved in while we are there. I am glad I got the opportunity to go to the Philippines to help Joe and Jenn move and to visit with everyone!

I am now home, tired and not quite sure what time zone I am in, but am home with my family. Everyone did great while I was gone, but were so excited to see mom come home! We have an amazing family that can manage on their own while I am gone...I don't think my kids or husband hardly skipped a beat while I was gone except that I was missed. Ann Marie did a great job of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and teaching homeschool to the younger kids while I was gone...Steve was able to stay caught up on work and didn't have to be torn between home and work because everything was going great at home. Our kids are growing up!