August Update

August update

There was an earthquake near Ormoc (about 150 miles north west of us) July 6. Its epicenter was near the electric generating plant and it knocked out power. We were in a full blackout for about a week. We used candles along with 2 rechargeable flashlights. People with generators went into business charging cellphones and tablets. About a week after the earthquake President Duterte visited Ormoc. He told the power company it was unacceptable to have a complete blackout in the region. He ordered to start rolling black outs. After that the power was cycling on and off about every 2 hours. When asked why the grid was not switched to the power plant in Maasin (about 150 miles southwest of us), the power company stated the capability was in the development stage. The power company continues to work on it and we are down to about 1 outage a day. We usually lose power around supper time for a couple of hours. The predication is the power outages will continue until September.

Other than the power outage not much has changed since our last blog, see Home Again.

Even though it is suppose to be the dry season, it continues to rain about once a week. There is an inter-tropical convergence zone in the area that causes erratic weather patterns with stagnant calms and rain. When I think the coconut husks are about dried out enough to burn, it rains again. We had to start putting them in the fence line to decompose.

We continue to process coconuts (see post  Coconut). We processed almost 3000 mid July ending up with 13 bags, about 1000 pounds of dried meat. However, after processing, the price dropped to an amount we did not want to sell at. On 08/16 the price came back up and we took 9 bags (about the limit our Revo can haul) to the mill and made a decent profit. One of the benefits of holding the meat about a month is that the moisture content was 4 percent and we did not get docked much weight. On 08/17 we harvested our trees again and will process again soon. As a plug for Wonder Gloves, bought at Midway Wholesale, I processed two batches of coconuts with one pair of Wonder Gloves before they wore out. I can only process one batch of coconuts with the local variety of gloves from KYK Tools. (I had bought a pack of Wonder Gloves when we were in America in May.)

The clutch actuator on the Revo went out again (see Toyota Revo, AKA I Miss Auto Parts Stores ) . I took the part off and took it to the local mechanic who said he would get one on his next trip to Cebu. I bought new seals for the actuator, rebuilt and reinstalled it on the Revo. After a couple of weeks we asked the mechanic about the new part, he did not get it, he wanted to take the old one as a sample. This is out of the the question, I will keep rebuilding it when it goes bad.

On a return from a recent trip to Sogod to do some banking, we had a blow out on a tire. We got the spare on and returned to Sogod and found a tire vendor with good commercial tires to replace the blown out tire and another tire that was beyond its life span. Set us back about 7000 pesos (about $140).

JJ continues with his school and is doing good. He has become fluent in Visayan.

We have a new puppy, Trixie. She has some sort of muscle/spine thing going on that makes her run and sit funny. Do not tell her, she does not know. It was a neighbor's puppy and probably would have been killed if we did not take it. She is a cute puppy. Unlike 99% of the people around us, we keep Trixie on a rope for the leash law. She does get her exercise when we move the goats. She thinks she is a goat dog. She chases them so they get up the stairs to their pen.

Flor took JJ, Abet and our store keeper to Pampanga to bring her brother Marlon back to Hinunangan. Pampanga is north of Manila and it was over a day's bus ride each way.

About a week later Flor and Marlon went to Davao by ferry and bus for a funeral. Over a day's travel each way. They caught the ferry at the Liloan Ferry Terminal.   It is very nice and not as un-organized or chaotic as other terminals we have used. (See post Stranded!!!!!!! ).

We continue to work on the house. I do miss the convenience of the stores in America; Midway Wholesale, Ace, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc. Trying to find the proper hardware/material (by American standards) is a challenge here. If the proper hardware/material is not available, you have to make do with other hardware/material. For example, hardware such as a flat-head screw about 1½ inchs long. Finally found some at the 4^th of 6 "hardware" stores in the area.

We have been using the refrigerator in the shed/store for our cold storage. We had been thinking about getting a small refrigerator for the house but did not want to pay another delivery charge from Tacloban (abut $80). Towards the end of July there was a truck load sale in town and we bought a refrigerator for the house. Cost about 13000 pesos (about $250).

The balikbayan boxes arrived 08/22/17. We will be distributing the arts supplies and hygiene supplies in the next couple of weeks. (also in post Home Again.)

The seeds from America we planted were a hit and miss (also in post  Home Again).  The okra are planted in the rice field. However, with all the rain the ground is too wet for them and they are struggling.  The tomatoes were planted in the field as well and were drowning. We filled some cement sacks with dirt and transplanted the tomatoes and most of them survived and look good.

The sweet peppers in the field drowned and did not survive If we could keep the critters (2 legged and 4 legged) out of the asparagus it would be doing better. I think they will be okay eventually and instead of winter putting them into dormancy, we will stop watering them in dry season next year to force them into a couple of months of dormancy.

The pole beans looked good. They jumped out of the ground and started climbing on an old fish net attached to the coconut cooker. However, before they started putting on beans they turned yellow and wilted.  We did manage to harvest some beans.

The sunflowers jumped out of the ground and looked good. However, all the rain drowned 3 of them and something else started cutting the roots of them. We have 4 that might actually mature.

 The mammoth pumpkins also jumped out of the ground, the vines looked great and put on flowers. But no pumpkins have put on. We think the coconut trees make the soil too acidic for the American variety of plants.

Thank you for following. 

Home Again

A couple of days after leaving Topeka (see post Stranded Part II), we arrived in Manila about 4:30 am on Saturday 6/3/2017. The Mabuhay Manor had received our e-mail about being a day late and they had the shuttle waiting for us. Activities at the airport looked normal, Resorts World Manila across the street looked okay as if nothing terrible happened the night before (also in post Stranded Part II)

 Stranded Part II

We arrived at the hotel about 5:00 am and our friends, the Watsons from Wichita were in the lobby waiting for the shuttle to take them to the airport for their return flight to the United States. We had about 10 minutes of time together before they left.

We did an early check-in at the hotel so we can shower and take a nap before we head for the Cebu Pacific booking office. We could not contact Cebu Pacific Air from San Francisco to cancel our tickets for Tacloban. Due to our delayed flight in Dallas, we missed our connecting flight to Manila, which in turn made us miss our Cebu Pacific flight to Tacloban. We knew our tickets are already considered flown but we were still hoping they'll listen to our plea....NOT. So we booked and paid for another flight. JJ had to be in school that Tuesday.

Due to time change, we all slept from about 10 in the morning that day and didn't wake up until 4:00 am Sunday. That 2 hours from 4:00 am to 6:00 am was hard as the last meal we had was breakfast the previous day.

Later we met up with my sister Jane and her family at Market-Market at Bonifacio Global City and had dinner at the Seafood Island. In the Philippines, malls are always crowded no matter what day of the year. They are called mega malls with 4 or 5 stories of specialties shops and stores. Today, Sunday, it is even more crowded as it is the day before school opening and there were back-to-school sales going on.

On Monday, we went to the U.S. Embassy to surrender JJ's emergency passport and obtain his new permanent one. This was a smooth transaction with no problems. After the Embassy we went to the Mall of Asia, another mega mall, and had Shakey's Pizza for lunch.

We spent one more night in the hotel and at 2:30 Tuesday morning we were up again so we could catch the airport shuttle at 3:00 for our 5:30 flight to Tacloban. We arrived in Tacloban about 7:30 and had to tell several porters to leave our bags alone. At the regional airports, the porters are very aggressive trying to get your bags for a tip. Flor went ahead and had one porter help us find transportation back to Hinunangan. After about a 2 hour drive we arrived home.

We had the transportation driver stay around for a few minutes while we made sure our car would start. The battery was dead on our car and the driver was more than happy to give us a jump start.

We found out we were in a black out and had no electricity until about 6:00 pm. I turned the water back on (or so I thought), but we did not have water. Thinking we were in the dry season, we thought we might be back to only having water from 3:00 am – 5:00 am. A neighbor said they had water and we checked our valve again. Unlike America, the water pipes are not 3' below ground. Here the pipes are barely buried and sometimes even above ground. This leads to pipe breakage. So, before we left, I had turned off the water at the meter so we would not lose water. I went back to the meter and turned the valve again and we had water and started filling our water barrel. The only thing I can think of is someone turned our water on while we were gone. Not knowing this, I had turned it off when I thought I had turned it on.

Because we did not have enough water to run the washing machine yet, we went to the mountain stream to wash our curtains and bedding and heavier clothing items.

We are finally back into a normal day-to-day routine. We have the porch swing hung again. I did some repairs on the pig shed and goat shed. We sold all but 3 of the piglets. The people who took care of the animals while we were gone are going to raise the 3 remaining piglets. I have started planting the seeds that we brought from America (will let you know how that goes).

We drove to Talcoban on Thursday 6/15/17 so Flor could buy supplies to restock her store.

While in America, we bought a KU flag. We now have it flying on the porch of the house.

The people who took care of the animals while we were gone needed a new place to live. Flor and I decided to rent our shed to them. They will help take care of the store and take care of the maintenance on the shed. They will also continue to help with the animals and property.

Even though it was a stressful trip with many turns, it was nice seeing family and friends. Zachary, Joshua, Mom, Dad, Lynette, Rick, the Hicks, the Allens, Pat, Esther, David and Violet, Brenda, Dolores Wells, the Rojeros, Sunnyside Baptist family in Wichita, First Southern Baptist family in Topeka, the Midway family, the Carsons in Salina and many more. We enjoyed hot dogs and s'mores with mom and dad at the lake. We helped dad move a patio table made of cement, the top was about 400 pounds. Returning to Topeka from Wichita we stopped at the scenic overlook, cattle pens, near Cassoday on the Turnpike. Brenda Foster was very generous and bought JJ a build-your-own stuffed Sonic while we were at Towne East Mall in Wichita.

We were impressed with Philippine Airline (PAL). Even in economy class, there was enough leg room for me. Customer care was excellent and when we had our problems at the airport, PAL was very accommodating. When we make the trip again we will fly PAL for sure.

PAL

We have always like Mahbuay Manor in Manila. If you book on line, they have deals for round trip airport shuttle and continental breakfast. If you stay there a couple of days, they provide shuttles to the Mall of Asia. They will also help arrange transportation to other destinations.

Mahbuay Manor

We also want to thank the Midway Wholesale family (a premier construction and building supply house in the Topeka area) for being very generous with art supplies and shipping. Sunnyside Baptist church in Wichita for hygiene supplies and money. First Baptist church in Topeka for more supplies and money. June and Phillip Hicks of Wichita for hospitality and shipping. John and Gina Allen of Topeka for allowing Flor to help them in their time of grief. My sister Lynette Beebe of Kansas City for supplies and having JJ spend the night with her. And many others.

Midway Wholesale

Sunnyside Baptist Church

First Southern Baptist Church

Thank you for following.

Stranded, Part II - Update

Stranded, Part II
...and so it goes. Our flight from Dallas was delayed due to bad weather. Missed our connecting flight to Manila. So here we are at the San Francisco International Airport. We called to book a hotel, it turned out the guy on the line is from a call center in --- get this -- India!  And the room was going to cost $269.00.   We're all tired and hungry and grumpy so what the hey, we decided to flop down and claim a corner in the airport lobby. We even have a security guard watching over us tonight. Must I complain? Nahh

About 16 hours later, 3:00 pm on 06/02/17, we are still at the San Francisco Airport waiting to check into our 11:30 pm flight.  We then get the news that there has been a "terrorist" (not confirmed terrorist yet)  attack at the Resort in Manila.  The Resort is a area of hotels, restaurant and a casino that is right across the street from the Manila airport.  To exit the airport in Manila you have to go through this area.  It is probably a good thing we missed our flight last night as our plan would be arriving at the airport as this "terrorist"  attack continued.

Fox News Report

Our  plan is to upon check in to find out if Philippine Airlines (PAL) is even going to make the flight.  One option PAL may have is to route the flight to Cebu.  If this happens we could take a ferry then a bus back home avoiding the mess in Manila.  If (PAL) cancels the flight we will see about getting a credit for our tickets and head back to Kansas.

Update 06/04/17

The PAL flight left San Francisco on time to go to Manila.  We got to Manila about 4:30 am on 06/03/17.  On the hotel shuttle we found out that the incident at the Resort was probably a botched robbery.  Some dumb-dumb went into the casino, started shooting it up and started setting gaming tables on fire.  He was grabbing poker chips and had about 113,000,000 pesos ($2,250,000) worth of chips.  He then went to a room, poured gas on a blanket, wrapped himself up and set himself on fire.  It is unknown if this was a robbery or a dumb-dumb who lost a lot of money and went back to steal his money back.  This dumb-dumb caused the death of 38 people, most by smoke inhalation. 

Except for increased security at the airport, it did not appear that there was an increase of security in the rest of Manila.

On 06/03/17, after a nap, we obtained new tickets to home in Hinunangan for Tuesday.  On Monday we will go to the embassy and get JJ's new passport and head home on Tuesday.

Thank you for following.

"IN EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON..." -- AND A REASON

It truly is good to be back to see family and friends but at the same time it's been a heartbreaking season in our lives also.  How does a person move on when one's heart bleeds with sorrow? It's hard to accomplish something when you are just trying to "go with the flow."  That is why I did not feel too excited to blog about anything lately.  But it would not be fair to all of you followers to leave you hanging. Y'all have been with us through our journey.  So here it is but forgive me if occasionally you'll detect a "sigh" or a "sob" here and there.

We flew to Manila on April 5 for our April 7 flight to the US but since JJ's passport had expired (just found that out on our way to Manila - see our previous blog "To Grandma's House We Go"), we had to postpone our flight.  I am glad it happened that way because my mom had been admitted to the hospital in Tacloban, Leyte the same day we were supposed to fly to America.  Had we not have the passport problem, I would not had been there the days she was at the hospital until  her passing away.  Thank God for the "oopps" and mistakes in our plans.

My family buried my mom on April 21, the day we flew to the US.  This flight had already been rescheduled so there was no way I would reschedule it again for the third time.  I am pretty sure I will have my time of mourning when I come back and see our parents' house again without mom. I've spent the last two years spending time with her and taking care of her up until her passing and to go back knowing she's no longer there saddens me.  My only consolation is that I was there most of the time and the whole week she was at the hospital before she passed on (thanks to JJ's expired passport).  And my brother and my sisters all came home to be there and I was very glad.

I was glad I was able to sing her favorite gospel songs and recite favorite Bible verses at her bedside even though she was no longer responsive.  On April 12, I came to relieve my brother Edgar.  She hadn't woken up since yesterday I was told.  When I started singing to her I knew she heard every words even with all the tubes that were attached to her very frail body.  She opened her eyes and she was staring at me the whole time.  Whenever I move she'd follow me with her gaze.  So I kept singing to her and I know she tried to sing along with me especially when I sing one of her favorite songs "I Trust In God...(I know He cares for me)" and the Visayan song "Basta Ikaw Ginoo Ana-a" (which is translated as "As Long As You're Here My God").  It was a very tender moment for me that I will treasure for as long as I will live.

My sister, Annabella, watched her the evening of April 14th. Like me, she too sang songs to her and quoted Bible verses to her.  She told me that her prayer that evening was that if the Lord wants to call mom home that He would just "make" her go to sleep.  And He did, because the next morning, April 15, mom went quietly to be with her Lord.  Mike, JJ and I were on a van just 15 minutes away from the hospital when I received the call that mom passed on.  When we arrived at the hospital, the staff had just finished wrapping mom's body to be taken to the morgue while we contacted St. Peter's Mortuary.  It didn't take long for the representative to arrive and they took the body to be embalmed.  My sister Annabelle went with them to the mortuary to take care of more paper works.  Mike, JJ and I went to catch our 10AM bus to Manila.  We need to be in Manila for our April 17th appointment at the US Embassy for JJ's passport.


And then a week after our arrival, a very tragic incident happened to one of our closest Filipino friends here in Topeka, Kansas.  They, just like me, are from Leyte.  We used to be neighbors, just three houses down the street from us here in Topeka.  My husband kept saying this is another reason why our trip had been rearranged so that we are still here when the incident happened.  I didn't give it much thought but God, indeed, had planned all this.  I spent most of our 2nd week at our friend's house, just being there for her and her mom, trying to console them and to give them support even after the funeral.

So here we are, now on the 5th week of our 6-week vacation in the States.  Soon the 31st will be here and it will be time to go back to the Philippines.  We've visited and dined with some dear friends in Wichita and while there attended worship service at Sunnyside Baptist Church, the church we considered our home church.  The  boys grew up attending this church.  The dear friends who helped shape them spiritually in their growing up years, most of them are still there, although we miss some who are gone to be with our Lord.

Our original trip was April 7 through May 3.  I planned to be back to the Philippines for mother's 90th birthday, May 14,  but since all the above things happened (and I call them all God-ordained) we're here until the end of May.  On Mother's Day morning my mother-in-law greeted me "Happy Mother's Day, Flor.  I know this is hard for you since your mother had just passed away."   I started to choke up then I hugged her and tearfully I told her "it's okay because I have you, mom. Happy Mother's Day to you too."  So you see how God's plan fits so perfectly?  If I were back in the Philippines I would have been by myself without a mom to say "Happy Mother's Day" to.

We asked our FB friends in Kansas for donations of art supplies and personal hygiene items, blankets and towels to bring back to the Philippines for our ministry in our neighborhood.  The response is overwhelming!  Midway Wholesale, Michael's former employer, (www.midwaywholesale.com) have donated a bunch art supplies and also money for shipping.  Thank you, Kim L. for mobilizing the office ladies.  And thank you, Bruce Myers for paying for the shipping fee.  We truly appreciate your generosity.  The kids have more than enough art supplies to last for a long time.  Thank you also to Terri Conner of Sunnyside Baptist Church in Wichita who mobilized the church to donate toothpaste, toothbrushes, bath soaps, wash cloths, towels, and sheets.  I also want to thank Dolores Wells and Gary and Edna Barngrover, who graciously donated towels, wash cloths, bath soaps, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  Thank you also to Phil and June Hicks from Wichita and to my in-laws, Owen and Lenece Smith who donated money for shipping. So many households will be blessed.

Last week we had a packing party at the Rojeros. Thank you, Rojero and Abellon family for the donations and the yummy food provided.  To my sister-in-law, Lynette Beebe, who brought a bunch of art supplies plus cash to buy some more if I need to, thank you.  This Sunday we're getting more art supplies and personal hygiene items from First Southern Baptist Church - thank you, Brenda Lewis, for mobilizing the Sunday School class.  We also received cash for whatever else we will need for our ministry.  We will have 3 boxes full of stuff to ship by the time we get this done and I can imagine the delight the kids and our neighbors when they get them.  I will sure share the experience with y'all.  ETA for these boxes is three months from June.

In the book of Ecclesiastes is a passage that states:  "In everything there is a season.  A time for every purpose under heaven.  A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.  A time to kill, a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 (NKJV)

We all go through the ups and downs in life but let us not also forget that there is a reason for everything...and through it all, God is still at work in all of us.  Thank you all for following.  We love you..........mwah!