Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful husband!

Happy fathers day to a wonderful husband and father. We surprised him with a gift of a new lawnmower that he has been eyeing for the last year.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY !!!!!!!!!

Honor thy father before it's too late...

Sunday is fathers day. At a Hallmark store the other day, it hit me - the sad realization that this will be another Father's Day celebrated without a father in my life. He died 13 years ago of lung cancer. He loved to smoke, and it was that very love that took him from us early - age 58.

I looked around and saw others scanning through the cards and somehow I felt cheated that my father was gone. There is still a sense of unreality about his death and it hurts knowing that I am continuing to live without him. Facing obstacles in life, making hard everyday decisions, parenting my children without a grandfather, and venturing into all kinds of new stages in my life. I was close to my father and it was difficult to watch him, once so active, become silent, and still. Feelings that I have never shared with others. When he died, I felt a part of my childhood had died too. His death -so final and irrevocable.

For those of you who still have your father, celebrate his life. Don't make this special day just a day to buy a card - or a day that you have to go out and get a tie or socks, but a day to celebrate everything! When he is gone you will remember all the things you wanted to say and do , but never did. I still think about those things today...even after 11 years. I found myself in Hallmark for this sentimental day buying a card for my dear husband - a great father to our wonderful girls and that brings me peace.

Always work to be done...

Ed braved the heights of the roof and climbed up to clean the algae from the skylights and the siding. IT LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER~ Thank you honey!!!!!

Flat Tire

Uuuuug. I got up early this morning to head out to work, feeling great..and then this. It was my fault though. As I was pulling out of the driveway, my neighbor was planting flowers around her mailbox and motioned for me to pull over to talk with her. I rolled down my window and pulled the car over the side of the road to get out of oncoming traffic. Needless to say - I must have pulled a little too close and my tire hit the edge of a metal grate (that covers a drainage area on the side of the street). I must have hit it just right - LOOK AT THE HUGE HOLE !!!!! I barely got back into the driveway before it was flat - real flat! I hated going up stairs to wake up Ed to tell him what I did. Thank heaven for husbands!!!!! Ed changed the tire and told me to take his car. He said that he would drive me car to the tire dealer to get new ones....and noooooo you can't get just one tire. A $864 mistake!

Mission Trip to AUP

There are hardly words to express what our family has experienced over the last few days. Appreciating what you have at home is clearly an understatement. We started our day touring the working student’s facilities. Students that work here on campus are paid only 20 cents an hour and they average 45 to 60 hours a week. They do absolutely everything on campus and take great pride in their work. They prepare all the meals in the kitchen for faculty and staff, take care of the grounds, work in the food factory and water bottling plant, run the campus stores, do the laundry, and just about anything else you could ask for. For me it was like child slaves, but for them, it is an honor to work to have the privilege of going to school here. Most of the students don’t even make enough money to feed themselves much less pay for tuition, housing, or basic supplies. We were told that they are allotted 150 pesos which is about $3.00 a week for food. That does not even buy 3 kilos of rice.

Most of these working students don’t eat more than one meal a day and that one meal is simply a scoop of rice. When we toured the campus and visited where these students lived, it was just… I can’t even think of a word. Most live 6 to a room. They have a small foam mattress to sleep on, they wash their clothes in a bucket, and most of the students share their clothes because they can’t afford to spend their money on this. All students share a bathroom as well as the toiletries that the dorm mom rations out for them. We spent time with the current dorm mom and she was such a delight. These kids have nothing. Many of the students haven’t had toothpaste in months.

We took pictures of these dorms and you will see what is so hard to describe. We also toured the traditional students. These rooms are very spacious with their own bathroom, cabinets for the clothes, and nicer living spaces. These kids have their family maids come to clean their rooms for them. It was as different as night and day. It’s sad to think that room and board for one working student a semester is less than $30. But through this tour, you never saw any working student not smiling. They were so proud to just be a student of the campus that the radiating that wonderful spirit.

After lunch, we were so eager to start on our project for that evening. The remainder of our afternoon was spent preparing for our meeting with the working students. The supplies that we shipped ahead of time and the supplies that we brought with us were unpacked and divided up. We put notebooks, paper, folders, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, candy, toiletries like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, and wash rags in the backpacks so that we could easily give them out at our event. With the help of several Filipino friends, we were able to prepare in plenty of time.

We quickly showered and got ready for the big event. We ate a light dinner prepared by the working students who were eager to get done so they themselves could get ready for the evening. We were told that the 400+ working students were allowed to quit work an hour early (6:00 instead of 7:00) so they could walk to their dorms, shower, change, and walk to our event. We had so much food left over that I asked them to package it up and take it to the working students dorm so that they would have some dinner to eat before they come to see us.
We then headed for the gymnasium.

We worshipped with the kids, sang songs, had prayer and then were honored to be asked to sit and listen to the choirs sing to us. Two groups took turns singing giving us their finest performance. It was so satisfying to just sit back and see these kids having so much fun and wanting to be there with us. After the performances, there was a dedication prayer for our purpose. Kuya Prom did a brief introduction and Ate Glad announced us one by one. Telling the group who we were and why we had come so far to see them.

Christie stood and addressed the 400+ students telling them who she was, where she went to school, and a little bit about being a college student in the states. She expressed to them that she too worked to support herself while in school that she didn’t have free housing. She said that she had to work hard to get good grades so that she could maintain her scholarship to help pay for the schooling. Jillian and Ryan also stood before the group and gave their testimony. Talking about their journeys, their obstacles, and their goals. Ryan told them to pray hard and never doubt God’s plan. The kids were so entranced into the words that they kids spoke. My heart just broke for their eagerness to learn more about us and how different lives of the students were in the states.





It was then my time to talk, but before I did – they students scooted all the way up as close as they could get to me and Ed, eager to hear what we had to say. The tears started flowing before I got the first word out. I scrambled to say the few words…I am so proud of these three kids….my three kids here with me today. I said, “I love them so very much.” At that point, a saw the looks on the faces of these beautiful kids knowing that they have not seen their parents in years. I just couldn’t continue. My tears just wouldn’t stop. They felt a mother’s love and at that point said, “Happy Mother’s Day Mom!” That is all I needed to continue. I told them that I was sure that their parents are as proud of them as I am of my own and that it hurts when we know that we can’t give our kids everything that they need to succeed as much as we want to. I told them that even in the states; the kids have to work to support their needs. (knowing that the big difference is that these kids all work just to eat a half a cup of rice a day – not to pay for gas in their car, to pay the cable bill, to go to the movies, or to pay for all the extras in life) Deep in my heart I knew that these kids just needed support and encouragement. They all seemed to be already rich in their endeavors, not knowing that they had virtually nothing. It was so hard for me to continue. The pain in my heart was so great. Ed took over and voiced to the students words of encouragement, words of love and support, and that even in the states it was so important to continue on, overcome obstacles, and finish their schooling. Getting a degree is so important and that they must do whatever it takes to keep the goal as their focus. Ed gave the microphone back to me and I eagerly told the students that we had come from the states to share with them our love and support and to also help lift a few obstacles by giving them the supplies that the needed to start school in a couple of weeks. (their school season goes from June to march) I told them that we had paper, pens, pencils, and notebooks and backpacks for all of them. They cheered and clapped and were so happy to be told this good news.

Before we dispersed the supplies, we were invited to participate with the kids and do a traditional Philippine march of which we gladly participated. After the march, we told them that we also had a few other surprises.









We had purchased large pastries and juice boxes for each student. We also had 4 boxes of clothes for them. The kids eagerly jumped into lines and the distribution began.












It was such an overwhelming feeling. The kids expressed such gratitude for our generosity – not even knowing what they had been given. The guidance teachers said that it had been a long long time since they saw the kids so joyous and happy. She said, “they don’t generally act like this – look at them smiling and laughing and having such a grand time!”





















Kids begged to gather with us and have their pictures taken. We couldn’t get through one group before another group gathered and asked to have their picture taken with us.


I was wondering about some of the boys….they had put on girls dresses. The guidance counselor came over to me and pointed them out saying that they took a dress for a student worker who was unable to come instead of getting something for themselves and that they were wearing it so that nobody would take it. The generosity that extends among this group – the bond is so incredible.



This went on well into the night. The two choir groups were so overly joyed that they pulled us to the side and asked if they could serenade us just one more time. They sang a song of thanks, and gave us all big hugs. You could just see the hope on their faces. Our goal had been accomplished….we thought….. It was almost 10:00 in the evening and the students had to be in their dorms by that time to avoid missing curfew. They all hugged and thanked us again and ran off to their perspective dorms.


When we got back to our room, all of our hearts were so full. Christie said, “Mom- we can’t just stop here. We need to sponsor at least one student so they can finish their education and not worry.” We all agreed. The next morning we asked the guidance counselor if she knew of one student who was a worthy candidate for our sponsorship. That we wanted biology major since all three of our kids were biology majors. She teared up and said, YES! I know just the right student. I will get him and have him meet us at the registrar’s office.

We went on to the biology department where the head of biology gave the kids a grand tour. This teacher has been with us through all the celebrations and was eager to show the kids his Biology department knowing that Ryan and my girls were all Biology majors. He was also told that we were planning to sponsor a biology student and all he could say was, “your family is a true gift from god.”



We went to the office where we met Ishmael. He is a 25 year old student – the oldest of 9 children. He has worked since he was 9 years old. He is biology major and has been at this school for 6 years already with only one more year to go to get his biology degree. He just dropped all his summer classes because he didn’t have enough money to go to school and to eat, even though he is already working close to 60 hours a week. When we got to the office, he was sitting quietly at a table in the back of the room. The head of guidance called and told him to come at once to her office. He told her that he was working and she said it doesn’t matter just come now. He was so scared not knowing what was wrong and why he had been summend to come to her office.

When we got there, Ed told him that we believed in his potential and had been told about his hardships. We were told that he had the highest GPA in the college last year, and that he simply just didn’t have enough money to continue on in school. Being the oldest of 9 children, he felt it was his responsibility to help out his parents back home and to make sure that they had food to eat; so much of his money had been sent home instead of using it for himself. Ed told him that we would pay for his tuition this year so that he could finish his degree and start his dream. He was just speechless. The look on his face was just priceless. When he gathered his composure he told us that every night this week, he got on his knees and prayed that God would help me and give him the opportunity to get through school so that he could help others. He just continued to say over and over…”I just prayed so hard!!! You – You are answers to my prayers. I am so grateful to you all!” There was not a dry eye in the room. It is a moment that I will not ever forget. I showed him the money and went right on over to accounting and paid his tuition. We also put some extra money in his account for the needed uniforms that he would have to have. We exchanged emails, and the kids promised to keep in touch and asked that he do the same. He gave us all a big hug and thanked us again. Wow – what an experience.

The next morning - we got up early to head off to our next destination, but before we left we went back to the college kitchen to have breakfast.

We were so surprised to the cheers and welcome claps of the kids who were working there this morning and was even more surprised to see two of the working students who were actually cooking in the kitchen wearing thier backpacks. I smiled at them and they run over and hugged me and said - I am just so happy. I love my new backpack and don't want to ever lose it.

My prayers will always be with these kids! We will be back..... All the rest of the pictures for this part of our mission trip are in the shutterfly folder to the right - AUP Mission Tri

It was time for us to leave to go to our next journey. The vans arrived to pick up our luggage and we headed to Quezon City for dinner and much needed rest.

Early Mothers Day Surprise

Christie sent me some beautiful tulips for mothers day. After a hard day at work...hard week at work I should say - it was a pleasant surprise when I got home. A ProFlowers box was sitting on my porch when I drove in. Thank you Christie - can't wait to see ya next week!

Just Hanging On

This is how i am feeling right now with the way my week is going....

how in the world am I going to take off work for 15 days ????