Ummm... Down Time

I feel like I need to apologize because I really did think I'd have more time to post to a blog. But, nope, that's obviously not the case. I started this post much earlier last week but wasn't able to finish it... I think at this point it will be easier just to talk about what's on my mind now rather than back up and be chronological.

"I had my birthday in the Philippines. I spent it painting. Well, sort of. Painting is not one of my special gifts. Scraping is a bit more motivating for me to stay on task. But really what makes me most useful here is being the nanny. The days are starting to run together which makes it easier to just hit the highlights because that's all I can think of right now. After dinner on July 6 (here) I was surprised with a beautiful cake that didn't taste very good. But I ate it, because, it was my birthday cake." That's all I got to...what I remember about my birthday is remodeling, a pretty cake, and a very thoughtful gift from the Leones.

Now, I am in Manila with the Leones and Grant. Paula left yesterday. Everyone else is in Mindanao. But that in itself has been a huge change of plans at least for me. I never planned to go to Mindanao going on this trip. I always assumed that I would be in Manila with Angie and the three kiddos. Jeff, the director of KIM, one by one, asked people to pray about reconsidering. Angie was on the fence for a long while. And I wanted to follow her decision because I felt I was here for her and the kids. Then I learned the boys were going to Mindanao. Long story, short... I got really confused about what I was supposed to do. I prayed about me - where does God want me to go. I felt a leading towards Mindanao that even members of my team questioned. I literally felt I was letting people down. But with confirmation from an amazing prayer time with Linda I decided the day before we left for Mindanao to go and not look back. The leading to Mindanao WAS God's voice guiding me where to go. This confusing situation has been my hardest challenge here.

In Malaybalay, Mindanao I met three kids that I can help. Eric John is about six. Nobody has paid much attention to him because they don't know what's wrong, just that he's globally delayed. Before I learned this, I had been already drawn to him and noticed his head shape. A head shape that is very familiar to me in my practice. Without getting all technical, I was able to easily see a likely issue that's been present since his birth. A condition that is very treatable but without treatment can affect the rest of the body including balance and the ability to keep up physically at age six. I also met Caleb who is about 18 months old that was born 3 months prematurely. He now has a form of Cerebral Palsy but I see SO much potential! Get ready... because this ADORABLE little boy is up for adoption. I'd take him in a heartbeat if I had a daddy for him. Caleb is with a "foster" missionary family for now but they are unable to keep him for longer than 8 months. The third kiddo, O'Neal had a cleft lip that I tried to get some video of him speaking to pass on to one of the Speech Therapists I work with. We can't understand much of what he is saying. Having these kids fall into my lap lit me up. More happened, of course and last night in my journal I wrote a list of highlights. Needless to say, I am VERY glad I went and know without a doubt that's where I was supposed to be all along.

Many of our team were drawn to Mindanao. The reason there aren't many people back here in Manila is the rest of everyone stayed in Mindanao. And the Felsted family is planning to go back for a month of their two month stay!

Last night when we got back we went to a basketball game. Oh wow! I have never been to a basketball game like this. It was two college teams filling a stadium of 20,000. They each a drum section unlike anything I've ever heard. The game was so exciting! It was so loud that we had napkins stuffed in our ears. Everyone cheered for every point. We all wore jerseys for Jeff's son's team. That's all I can think to say because I don't know how to put into words how loud it was and the sense of excitement.

Oh, I just remembered the Saturday program in Malaybalay. Another amazing experience. I'm really bad with guessing numbers but I think 400 kids were there. They call it the "feeding". The morning was spent by many of our team making meatballs for the feeding. A thousand meatballs or more? They picked kids up from all over the city at predetermined "bus stops" and bussed them over to the property. The kids played, saw a bible program run by college students, broke into small groups and age by age ate a hot meal. Organized chaos. I rode on one of the rides to take kids home. About 25+ kids packed into the van that is way smaller than our kind of van for the bumpy ride back. Wow, there's so much to say, when I sit down and start to think about it. The kids were so happy to see us and they just stare at us. Two little girls were staring at me until one blurted out - You're Beautiful! We think they hear it so often, they're parroting it back. Blessing is what I think of to describe that day. I loved it.

I'm feeling like people are waiting on me so I need to cut this off. I hope to post again soon, but I know now there are no guarantees.