Nope, I'm Not Stuck in the Jungle Anymore :)

I have been slacking on this blog. And because the time has been so long I keep feeling like I have to have an amazing post with fantastic information... Which makes me put it off longer... And so now here I sit... happy to look back all the way to November, but unsure of what exactly to say... So here goes... Hopefully I'll be sharing more soon....:)

I went home for six weeks to spend the holidays with my family and friends. It was so nice to eat pumpkin pie and drink egg nog for the first time in 3 years. My parents and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together in Mariposa. And it snowed just after breakfast just enough to make it a white Christmas for us. Beautiful. Peter called in the morning from Gibraltar and we were able to all talk together for a few minutes wishing each other a Merry Christmas. We missed having him and Janice with us, but I am hoping that we will be able to be all together sometime in the future. :)

I'm back in the Philippines and today is arrival day for the students of the 2009 CDTS. We have 13 students from all over... Korea, Philippines, USA, Malaysia, Japan and Australia... Our team is excited to get the school up and running. First day of class is tomorrow...

Fried Chicken with Friends

My friends, who also happen to be Project Destiny volunteers, Joice and Inday, were just here for dinner. We had fried chicken and rice...with a bit of chocolate for dessert, since it IS Valentine's Day... Joice was telling me that she would love to learn how to make a video on the computer, so I offered to show her how I've made the other PD videos. She thought that was a lovely idea, so we sat down together and made this video about the Christmas party we had last month.

Even though it was a month late, we were still in the Christmas season here in the Philippines, which lasts until February first. We invited the street kids who hang out in the bus terminal to come to the center on a Saturday afternoon. About 40 kids came and filled up the downstairs of our building. It was the first time we'd had kids in the center....what an amazing sight to see. We played games, sang songs, the New Caledonians performed some dances, and we ate.

At the end we were able to give each child a Christmas present in the form of a Ziploc bag full of amazing stuff. Each bag had: one washcloth, one pair of socks, one hairbrush (with hair ties for the girls), one toothbrush and toothpaste, a bar of soap and one toy. What treasures!!! The video shows the looks of glee and amazement on the faces of the kids...beautiful. Special thanks to Calvary Chapel Fremont for making the gift giving possible.:)

Hope you enjoy the video...
God bless you!:)