We’re a couple of weeks into basketball and all three of the older kids are playing! Josh is in charge of the entire kindergarten through 3rd grade (ish) group and the coach of Bella and Deacon’s team. Mackenzie is in the higher division and her games are on a different court, so Josh and I have to tag team, and have to miss the other’s games. Boo. But I guess we’d better get used to it, because it’s going to be the reality for the next several years!
They are all doing terrific! Bella scores a bucket or two every game, Deacon LOVES defense and gets a huge smile when he steals the ball. They are all cuter than an Easter basket full of brand-new fuzzy chicks!
Mackenzie had a career high 5 baskets in her last game! She’s got great shooting form in warm-ups, but rushes it a smidgen in games. I had to give her a Powerade incentive to be more aggressive on rebounding. She kept hanging out on the perimeter, waiting for any ball to drop into her hands. I said, “Kenz, you’re closer than anyone to the basket! You get first dibs on those rebounds!” So I told her that if she got a rebound and put it back up for a basket, I’d buy her a Powerade. Girlfriend did it the very next play! I, of course, had no money, and had to scrape together P50 to make good on my promise!
Josh wishes that he could coach her team, but he’s having fun with the littles. He’s really good with them too. He spends the first half teaching and then they play games.
In this drill, he just had them sprint from one end to the other a few times. He did it in the name of defense, but I think he was just trying to wear them all out to make Saturday afternoon naps a strong possibility.
After basketball, the kids and I headed out to the brand-new First Love Children’s Home! It is amazing and I’m so proud of our friends for doing such a great job getting it going. Here they are after the ribbon cutting with the girls who are already in their custody.
The stories that these girls come to the children’s home with are traumatic and devastating! I’ve heard some of their stories, but when I got to the ceremony and saw their precious faces, I couldn’t hold back my emotion! (Nothing surprising there for this preggo, though. I cry at everything these days. Don’t even put me in front of a military family reunion clip!)
Anyway, these girls are beautiful and precious and so loved by God! They’ve already come so far in their time at the children’s home (in a different location), and it’s so exciting to see what God has planned for them.
AND CHECK HIM OUT! He is their only little guy and he’s pretty perfect. I think Michele said that they’ve had him since he was 13 hours old! There were witnesses to the mother literally biting off his umbilical cord and leaving him on some steps. Horrific. But look at him now! He’s happy and healthy and well-loved. We all want ‘im!
It’s exciting to see our mission and friends being obedient to the Lord by caring for the fatherless. (James 1:27) It’s hard work and emotionally and physically exhausting, but so rewarding, both on earth and for sure in Heaven!
It was about 100 degrees out, hence the lack of grass on the ground! But that didn’t stop the kids from playing on the swing set and in the bahay kubo.
The next morning, we went to a different church. It is the church of one of Josh’s basketball ministry partners. Josh went and picked up the entire church in a bus and brought them to the local ministry center for church, fellowship, and swimming.
I just took these pics for my mom, who gave the girls these dresses when she was here.
This is Tyson and he lives at the ministry center. He sat like this for almost the entire service, and it cracked me up.
Josh grabbed some Andoks chicken for the church and we all enjoyed some chicken and rice after swimming.
I don’t think you’re supposed to eat the rice like this, but when we get it at a fast food place, it comes wrapped up in a tight wrapper, so it’s easy to just unwrap and eat like an apple!
Lastly, our big news is that Josh and I are FINALLY taking official Tagalog lessons! 3-hour classes twice a week. I’m finding that I know a ton of words, but putting them together in a sentence CORRECTLY is a game-changer. Example: I’ve always known that cockroaches are ipis. But now I can tell you that ipis pala ang mga iyon. (Oh, those (far, not near. That would be an entirely different word) are cockroaches.) There are so many weird rules and exceptions, which I’m sure is true of English as well.
I’ve memorized a list of particles that get added to enhance sentences. There can be as many as 6 particles in a sentence, and the order of which they are added comes in this hierarchy… na, pa, man, din/rin, nga, lang, daw/raw, po, ba, naman, yata, kaya, muna, sana, kasi, pala, na naman, tuloy. Say what?! It’s going to take me 15 minutes just to figure out which particles I want to use and to arrange them in the right way! Anyway, I still think it’s fun and I’m excited to be learning a new language!
thrillanmanila 