The Short Version (with promises of more to come)

"What's the short story?" you may ask. Well, it goes like this. Two nights ago, the river that usually runs around the west and south sides of the place where I grew up decided that the path of least resistance would be a better idea. So the water rose 20 feet and headed straight across Nasuli. Homes and offices have sustained much damage. The rushing water was followed by thick layers of mud. I will write more soon but for now, here is a bit of a photo-montage. One thing we're thankful for - we didn't lose anyone. The same cannot be said for the Filipino community surrounding us.

The mud is really thick!

Rachel is trying to get it out of Mom's office with the best tool available - a dustpan.

Looking down at the basketball court from the road.




Pulling cars out from the field along the back fence.

Aunt Ena's house came off it's foundation but was stopped by a tree.

And so did Notch but...

...it was stopped by a combination of the tree and the road that sits behind it.

Here They Come to Save the Day...

Not superheroes. Just super-sisters. They should be arriving a little after 10 tonight. Tim and I will be headed to the airport within the hour to meet them. We are more than a little excited to see Rachel, Anna, and Anna's friend Carla. Thankfully the house looks half-decent. Three out of our four toilets don't work but we do have water. That was a bit of an issue last night. I was finishing up my shower when the water started to lose pressure. Knowing that this did not bode well for me, I hurried to finish. Just in time! No more water for the rest of the night. No water this morning. Asked our helper to figure out what was going on (despite the fact that she was working for someone else today). Came home at 2:30 this afternoon to find water flowing to the house again. Turns out that a knob that no one remembers off was indeed off, hence no flow from the main pipes out on the street.

So all in all, I think the house is mostly ready for guests who will be staying for a grand total of 36 hours before they jet-set to their next destination. Please be in prayer that we have a good few hours together and that I will still be able to maintain a semblance of focus on my grading that absolutely must be done by Thursday night.

This photo was taken just one year ago - back in my faux-hawk days.
We were celebrating Annie's birthday which we can't wait to do again!

Nothing of Incredible Interest

Life chugs along here. Nothing earth-shattering has happened lately. I guess I have to save that for Monday when my sisters arrive. I am so excited for them to get here! In the meantime, here are a few things that have been happening recently (in reverse order).

1. All-Staff Christmas Banquet - the theme was "Christmas Down Under." We had to answer Aussie/Kiwi trivia questions. Had a wonderful dessert that I can't quite remember the name of. Sang a Aussie Christmas song. Good fun.

2. Grading - I've been grading like a mad-woman for the past few days. This is evidenced by the picture to the right. Yup, that's right, folks. No more purple ink in the pen. It is all on the students' papers. There is more grading in my future. I am still working on 2nd quarter projects, reading response journals, and starting to mark 83 exams. All of this must be done by Friday. Please pray that I am able to focus and give good feedback to my students.


3. The Brother - Tim broke his collarbone playing rugby. He had a nice tackle on his competition but it didn't work out so nicely for his collarbone. Thankfully it was not a full break and it was close enough to his breastbone that it shouldn't take too long to heal. That meant that last Saturday was a fun day of bringing him to get an x-ray. He's not really in pain. In fact, he actually played for a good 20 minutes with a broken collarbone. A rolled ankle finally pushed him out of the game.


4. Extended Homerooms - I meet with these 9 freshmen girls each week after chapel. That particular week, we did not have chapel and instead headed to the mall for lunch at a quickie Mongolian Barbeque place followed by sundaes at McDonald's. It was a nice time to get off campus and to enjoy each other's company.

5. Plumbing - Even as I speak, one month after moving into our new house, the plumbing is not quite up-to-par. In fact, my toilet is sitting in multiple pieces in my bathroom. Not really sure what the plumber is up to now but it would've been really nice for all of this to get fixed before my sisters came. Just have to remember that not everyone is on the same time schedule as me. There are some very interesting plumbing choices within our house though. Follow the picture diary below.

The bright blue pipe comes into my bathroom through the hole that has been cut in the screen.

It heads straight down the yellow wall and separates to go three directions -
the sink, the shower, and the toilet.

Nope, your mind is not playing tricks on you.
The pipe just doesn't connect to the showerhead. Now it does.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Totally stealing the line from the song but you really couldn't have asked for a nicer day here. The only thing that would have made it better? Getting to spend it outside. We had an in-service for the past two days - "Dealing with Conflict Biblically." It was a good conference but a bit much after having one other 2-day in-service last month plus a half-day in-service just a couple weeks ago.

During our one-hour lunch break, it was so nice to sit and eat while the wind blew through. Then Kim and I went and laid on benches in the Circle and enjoyed the breeze and sunshine. I'm working on taking pictures with my new phone. Here was my beautiful view as I looked up. I also enjoyed a lovely walk with the dog here in the neighborhood this afternoon. Who knew that in a 35-minute walk, you could encounter more than 200 dogs? Fortunately, most were behind fences and were just yapping and annoying. The not-so-fun part: trying to keep our dog from killing the dogs who were actually outside. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the whole process, as was I. I will probably carry a stick or a pocket full of rocks on future walks. I need something to fend off the dogs who are trying to stake their claim to their own territory. No worries, pups, we just want to walk through in an effort to get some sense of exercise.

Last night, we finished our move. We went and picked up a used refrigerator from a missionary who was leaving the country. Since we had our teenage muscle power (Tim) in the car, we stopped on our way home at McDonald's. Kim stayed in the borrowed truck while Tim and I went into the mall to get some food. We're not positive that the rather light ref (Filipino version of fridge) would be there when we returned if we did not have a minder. I did find out something else new while we were there. You can have a free gravy refill if you order fried chicken. Yes, McDonald's serves fried chicken and gravy to go with it. However, don't get any ideas about returning with your take-out meal. The offer only applies to dine-in customers. Thankfully, we did not have to worry about the free refill. We each went with super standard burgers. 8000 miles away from the USA and we go to McDonald's and order burgers. Seems a little less missionary-ish doesn't it?