The first week here

2-6-09

We arrived here and went up to our new home almost immediately. Lunch was already on the table and everything was so clean and tidy. There was a welcome sign on the administration building that said "We are so glad you are here!" in Tagalog. We were so exhausted! We ate, took showers and rested. Around 6 we decided to go down stairs and say hi to everyone. All the kids were being put to bed and it was very quiet. It was then that we found out that all the staff had assembled for a welcoming party for us. We had missed it. We had only been here a few hours and were already made a mistake! It is hard for all the staff to come at once since some are night staff and some are day staff. Some work 12 hours every other day and some work everyday except weekends. We felt pretty bad about that. Since everything was winding down downstairs we went back up to the guest house and went to bed. Nothing feels so good as bed after such a long trip!

2-7

Friday. We woke up at 4 am to the sound of a rooster crowing outside our window. All of the kids ended up in bed with us. The good news is we have our very first king size bed. In MT we have always had a queen. It is a bit easier to fit a family of 5 into a king than a queen. Still it is not the most comfortable situation. We were able to keep the kids in bed until 5:30 but then it was over. My wonderful husband said that I should stay in bed for a couple more minutes- so I did. I woke up at 8:30 to an empty house. I guess they had kind of a rough morning but I slept through all of it. Oops! I am so thankful for such an awesome husband. The rest of that day was spent playing with the kids in the orphanage and trying to learn names. There is a 10 year old girl here that was trying to teach me the name of everything in Tagalog. I got pretty overloaded and then she wanted me to repeat all of it! Yikes! She was really patient with me.

Paul was really afraid of the flies here the first few days. They are just like regular house flies and although there are more than we are used to, there really aren't that many. Friday night after dinner Paul got down from his chair and screamed a blood curdling scream. I thought he was hurt and rushed over to him. He said he stepped on a fly. I looked under his foot and he had a piece of rice stuck to him. We laughed a lot about that one. He has since become accustomed to the flies. I think we went to bed at 7 pm that night. I still felt like I was swimming in exhaustion.

2-8

Saturday. Josh was all over the jet lag by today but not me! I was still so tired. The kids were so excited to play with the orphanage kids this day. I am sad to say the the days are starting to run together in my mind and I can not remember much of not about Saturday.

In the evening all of the staff except for two came and introduced themselves. Then we had barbecued chicken and a special treat of Coke with dinner. That was a fun dinner. There was a lot of laughter as they tried to describe their different dialects and the different meanings of words in them. In one if you say that a rat is running it means a fart in another dialect. We were sitting there laughing when they did even though most of the time we had no idea what was going on. It was fun and challenging.

2-9

Sunday. We got up and all took showers. Our shower has a point of use water heater on it. It is always a little scary to see a power cord in the shower! Actually it is way above the water, but still our water is running through an electrical device right before it pours down on us. So we have hot water which is really nice. Even in a hot place like this it is nice to have a warm shower.

Then we met with everyone downstairs to walk to church. It is only about two blocks away so it is not far. Everyone dresses up for church here. Regular Montana church clothes are not good enough. I felt under dressed at church- oh well. Paul fell asleep during the worship songs and Dan and Clara sat with new friends. Right after worship time they introduced us to the small congregation. I was so busy smiling a greeting to everyone that I didn't notice all of the orphanage kids and workers slip out. They make up about 1/3 of the people at church. I must have been pretty jet lagged to not notice! So we sat down and I was trying to decide if I should freak out, go find them or do nothing. Josh was all calmness and said to wait. I could hear children playing outside the church and tried to calm down. Sure enough in a couple minutes Clara and a couple friends came in to say hi. All the kids were just outside.

Through out the service children were in and out. A dog slept right below the stage in front- it was normal. I loved it. Also the announcements and sermon were entirely in Tagalog. I recognized a few words. At least I knew the passage and he said numbers in English so I knew when he was talking about a specific verse. It will be fun to go again this Sunday.

The service included an infant dedication. It was similar to the ones that we had for our kids except the parents chose half a dozen men and women to be godparents for the baby. They share the responsibility of teaching the child to live a godly life with the parents and they agree to raise the child if the parents die. It was a really neat thing. Afterwards there was a feast in celebration of the dedication.

At the feast there were tons of people, food, and flies! I did a very poor job with beverages for the kids. I saw the juice and water and knew that it was not from bottled water. So I did not get any for the kids. I did not however explain to them. Clara sat by some new friends who generously got some juice for her. Dan was also given some. They were just being helpful. Oops! No sickness so far but it was a learning experience for us!

2-10 through 2-13

I would like to get this posted so I am going to try to keep up to date from now on! I hope anyway. I will write more later. The last few days have been going pretty well. Josh has written some below. Love you all and thank you for the support and prayers. We are hoping that construction can start soon but things do not always go according to our plan!

I (Josh) needed to set up a meeting with a consultant that was helping in the bidding process. He is on the board of directors for Rehoboth and has been compiling bids. He could not meet Monday so Tuesday I went to metro Manila, a 2.5 hour drive to meet with Phil. I spent a good three hours with his chief engineer talking over the design and coming up with some solutions for the project. The job was bid but since there will be changes to the design, a few more detailed drawings will need to be generated and sent out to the contractors. Once they get the bids in, I will take them and meet with the contractors to select the one that will build the wall. Hopefully we will have a contractor by the week of the 16th.

So as I wait for the contractor I am reviewing the plans with help:) and trying to do everything I can to understand the hardest parts of the wall. We need to build the security wall as a retaining wall for an 80 meter section and this means that the bottom of the footing will be 1.5-2 meters below the existing ground. So that is a 260 foot long wall that is 6.5 feet below ground, and it is all hand dug! The other very difficult part is the lagoon. There is a lagoon in the middle of the south property line that we have to construct a wall through.

This dries up by April but we may need to pump it earlier than that to get the soils dry enough to work on. Thankfully I have EMI to fall back on with these "field engineering" problems.

We were able to dig some holes to see what the soil was like just up from the lagoon. Eric, a great friend already was helping me dig the test holes. He works at Rehoboth as the gardiner/maintenance person and has a degree in agriculture. He is so excited to help the orphanage become more self sufficient by raising their own crops and having a fish farm in the lagoon. He is a great asset. Today, Eric, Sid (who also works at Rehoboth as the driver), and I went out and took measurements to determine the actual depth of excavation for the retaining wall in the front of the property. It was a great time! I was able to show them how the level worked, and they let me use the bola, or machete, for a little while. It was great! It was great to accomplish a task and build relationships at the same time.

The other vital part of why we are here is to show love to the kids at Rehoboth. It is so great to hug, wrestle, run, and laugh with these precious children. I want them to know how much they are loved by God. The caregivers here do an outstanding job at giving the kids attention and love. But with 30 kids, they don't ever get enough. We love to try and fill some of that deficit.