TO SCRANTON, KANSAS WE GO

Last week JJ and Flor where in Walmart and a lady asked JJ what type of candy he liked.  She was participating in a parade in Scranton Kansas and wanted to know what type of candy to throw to the kids.

The parade was on June 23 and since Scranton is only about 25 minutes south of us we decided to go.  I tried to find more information about the parade and found it was in part by the Lions Club of Scranton.  It appeared there was a biscuit and gravy feed from 6:30 to 9:30 with the parade at 10:00.

Our close friends, Pat and Esther, planned to come too but we head there early because Mike wanted to go to the Lions' biscuit and gravy breakfast.  The Lions were not charging for the biscuit and gravy, but were taking donations.  As we sat down for breakfast, both Flor and I thought we could have been in Lebo Kansas 25 years ago at their community center with my grandparents and their neighbors.  In fact there was a lady there that was very similar to Fern from about 25 years ago in look, dress and manner of talk.

After eating, we went to the park where people were setting up various booths.  What was going on after the parade was day long events with fireworks later in the evening.  Bouncy houses were being set up that got JJ's attention.

One gentleman was setting up a home-made ice cream stand.  He had a John Deere stationary engine running an oversized ice cream maker.  He had the boxes of an old John Deere planter as dispensers for toppings.  This was all on a trailer being pulled by an old Minneapolis Moline tractor.   Mike enjoyed the set up because his grandfather Jesse used Minneapolis Moline tractor when he was farming and his grand father Harvey used John Deere.  And Mike does like antique tractors.

About 9:30 Pat and Esther arrived and we walked a block over to the main drag to wait for the parade.  There were the fire trucks, old trucks and cars and tractors.  And there was a contingent of Shriner's in their go-carts.  Of course there was a lot of candy thrown.  The kids loaded up on candy.

After the parade we walked back to the park and bought the wrist band for the bouncy house.  The kids then spent the next hour or so bouncing.

The fire department had a couple of old vehicles in the park that they were letting people beat on with a sledge hammer.  JJ wanted to beat on the vehicles.  He wore a fire helmet and safety goggles and went to town.  He was impressive in throwing the sledge at 9 years old.  After about 20 - 25 hits he did get tired and stopped.  He then announced that he wanted to be a fireman someday.

There was a family there that was smoking ribs to sell for lunch.  We had ribs with beans and cheesy potatoes and that was very good!

After eating JJ went back to beating on the vehicles.  After this time when he got done we headed home.

For something we did not have a lot of information on and unsure what was going on, we had a good time and the weather was perfect too.  The Lions Club does this every year to raise money and do something for the community.  We plan on doing it again next year.

Thank you for following.

THE WAVE EFFECT

In America, we have the “amber waves of grain.” When we settled down in Southern Leyte, I saw a beautiful sight once on our way home from Tacloban. I'll call it the “Pampas waves.” Mike, JJ and I were on our way home from a shopping trip in Tacloban City one afternoon. It was a clear, beautiful day as our vehicle meandered along the scenic mountain highway when I noticed the tall, flowering pampas grass that lines the highway. The white billowy flowers were nodding and swaying in the afternoon breeze as if they were gayley waving at us. I since looked forward to our trips to Tacloban just to watch the pampas flowers nodding and swaying in the breeze.

I missed the amber waves of grain in the Midwest and now that rainy season is almost over, I can't wait for the pampas grass to flower again. In the meantime, I want to tell you a different kind of “wave” that we have experienced while living in the Philippines. Even before we moved here, Mike and I already knew we will create a buzz wherever we go. And why not? Picture a tall American guy with a Filipina wife and a chubby little African/Mexican boy in tow. We knew this “combination” will surely raise eyebrows and from our experience, stares from people wherever we go.  Add to the fact that it is a rare thing that Mike and I are an "age-appropriate" pair.  This is what I learned from my observation: most foreigners that are here in the Philippines have younger wives, and not to put anybody down, most of their husbands are either old fat geezers or scrawny old men.  When we first moved here I noticed people gazing at my husband and even saying out loud "a young Americano," this to them was rare (an age-appropriate pair). Not that we are young, it's just that, compared to other foreigners who are married to Filipinas that these locals have seen, Michael IS younger. Having said that, we knew beforehand that everywhere we go we will stick out like a sore thumb.

Michael does the driving and he brought with him the Kansas farmers' trait of waving at everybody as we drive by. JJ and I wave too, especially at the children. We got stares from them at first – I think I know what they're thinking. They are thinking “they are waving at ME – oh my goodness” I noticed their expressions – timid, unsure why we waved at her/him, some hide behind their moms and peeks as we passed, others look at each other and then timidly smile back, still others wait until we have passed before they wave back.

And then there's the teenagers. Some will readily wave back, others will ignore us, still others act like the children – unsure why we waved and smiled at them. The other drivers that we passed along the way nod back, others smile and then there are those who ignore our waves. We kept doing the “wave” every time we are out and about for a while now.  One by one the children started waving back at us, at first timidly and not really sure.  Then one day as we were driving, a little boy (about 5 years old) ran across the street and excitedly waved at us.  Then the other kids followed suit and also ran and waved at us and by this time they lined the edge of the street and were all waving at us.  I don't know what made them do it but it felt joyous to me as we waved back at them.  Since then we have children line up the street to wave at us every time they see our car.  There was one incident where these kids were playing hide and seek (I think) and they all had to come out of their hiding place and out into the street just to wave at us then resumed their game once we passed.  That was a treat! 

We  have come to love these kids.  We don't know them personally or their parents.  I would like to someday.  In fact I want to one day get off the car and talk to them to really know them.  Then I'm thinking maybe at Christmas time I would do that with presents but we'll see what we can do.

After our first year in the Philippines, we started our feeding program and then added art sessions before the feeding, a couple of months after that.  I have come to know the kids and some of their parents.  I have come to love them like they are my own.  When we decided to come back to the States after my mom passed on, I asked our church to continue the programs with the promise that I will keep sending money to them to keep it going.  Twenty-five dollars a week is all that's needed to keep the program going.  Perhaps you, my reader, would like to help.

By the way, this article had been in my draft box since 2015.  I kept pushing it in the back burner for some time.  I hesitated to publish this but then I just couldn't delete it so here it is.  I pray you enjoy this VERY, VERY late blog.

Thank you for following.  God bless you all.

SIX 40-LBS. LUGGAGE

Yup that's right!  When the plane that took us to our final destination landed in Kansas City, we claimed six 40-pounds luggage in the Baggage Claim Area.  When we claimed a small part of my in-laws' living room to temporarily store the luggage, Mike and I both said, "here's our 30 years together all condensed into 6 suitcases."  We looked at each other and chuckled.

"It's actually liberating," Mike told Pat one day when Pat and Esther dropped JJ off at mom and dad's where we temporarily stayed.  I remembered that statement when we moved to a condo unit and started unpacking.  Most of what we brought back are what's important to us: family pictures, grandma's quilt, the boys' home school yearbooks, our wedding album and my wedding gown and Mike's barong Tagalog he wore on our wedding, Mike's awards/medals he received from the US Navy, the Precious Moments figurine that the social workers from TFI gave us when JJ's adoption was finalized, our "storied" Christmas ornaments.  And yes, our traveling owl nightlight made it back too.

When I had Joshua, I started collecting the Blue Willow place settings and we brought it with us to the Philippines.  I didn't think it would make it back to the States if we take it and I was willing to leave all of them.  But Michael insisted we take them back.  I let him pack them believing he is just wasting his energy.  Well, surprisingly, all of them made it - not one broken.  Little mementos here and there in our lives' journeys made it back too.

All these are reminders of where we've been, what we've been through in the different seasons of our lives....and where we will be in the next.  When I think about all the "things" we left behind I realized that those are just excess baggage that wear us down in our life's journeys.  They are not really important but only bog us down as we "travel" this road.  So Michael and I decided as we start another milestone in our lives - we will live "small" and "less" so we can focus on what the Lord requires of us. 

After everything was unpacked, we stripped the suitcases of every tags and labels and donated them to Goodwill.  That, too, felt liberating, like turning a page of "our book" and finding the next chapter.  "For I know the plans I have for you," saith the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you."  What a blessing and what assurance as we begin another chapter of our lives together.

Another of my favorite Bible passage is Psalm 90: 1-2 which reads "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!  Before the mountains were created, before you made the earth and the world, you are|God, without beginning or end."

He is, indeed, our "home" ever since and we don't want to be anywhere but in Him.

We love y'all.  Thanks for following.