We’re back! Actually we arrived yesterday afternoon but I was too tired to blog. Although I really did miss it, I have yet to straigten the house after being gone for ten days. Ella was teary eyed while we were in the taxi yesterday on our way to the bus terminal. She said she will miss being with her tita’s. She got that from Mamang Eling who cries each time she bids goodbye during her visit in Davao before. She sure do enjoy her vacation. Read more… »
We had no power today for 15 hours so we had real hard time because Ella could not live without a fan. It was still bearable in the morning when she was making a collage about The Creation because I let her do it in the living room. Since she is the only student I have today in Sunday School (the kid’s parents are in the ricefields and no one will bring them here), I decided to do the class inside the house. While Ella was doing her thing, I laid in bed because I still can’t move around very much. Then we joined the congregation in the worship service, trying to sit through out the service without feeling dizzy.
After the worship, Donald told Ella her other chicken died. I am glad she took it lightly. I asked her why she is not sad, she said it is fine because her chicken will still live in heaven. Two chicken down, three up. She actually buried it herself and put flower on top of the grave because Donald forgot to do it with some of the chores he ended up doing after the service. Read more… »
It is Sunday once again. I really wonder how time flies so fast. I have pressed our Sunday dresses last night while we watch tv so I have much time in the morning. Donald was already dressed while I and Ella are still trying to wake our body systems 
At our Children’s Class, Ella and other kids could not almost believe how Moses divided the sea. If I was not holding a Children’s Bible Story Book, they will really wonder if I was only making up story so they won’t get bored. I was just glad I have not read the story to Ella during our reading time, if not she could have ruined the whole drama of the story. Read more… »
Sunday again and it was my Mamang Eling’s birthday!!!!! It must be her 59th birthday and tomorrow will be Cheche’s 19th birthday also. So while Mamang was celebrating her 40th birthday 19 years ago, she was in labor and gave the following day to a bouncing baby girl. I was 8 then. Now Mamang was gone to heaven, we missed her so much especially Ella who ALWAYS talks about her E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y.
I have a good number of kids on my class today. There were two boys who has a mini motorbike and Ella just loves it! She was dreaming of riding it since the day she saw it. One afternoon she finally got the chance to drive it. Not completely driven alone. of course with the help of Cheche, the friend of Ate Venus. So today she was beyond happy when she was able to get on it again.
Yesterday while we are in the market, Ella asked me to buy her some rambutan. When I helped her open each, she was grumbling to herself: “This is my favorite fruit before, and still my favorite until now. Why is it? (paused for a couple of seconds as if thinking) I don’t know to myself.”
Oh she has fallen this morning and scraped her upper leg. Poor Ella….has been attacked by a hen before the fall when she was going in the kitchen door. The stupid hen thought Ella might hurt her chicks so she began flying over Ella’s head and started pecking on her hair. You could have seen her run for her life. After the worship service, she went to the neighbor just beside us and told them “Your bad chicken almost killed me. Haven’t you taught her not to frighten little girls? The next time she comes near me, I will make her a fried chicken.” I was giggling but she was so serious and I know she mean it…and I will wait for it to happen ‘cos I am craving for ir for a long time….native fried chicken…. 
In the afternoon, Donald and other members paid respect to one of the member’s grandmother. Ella wanted to go but she had fallen asleep so she wasn’t able to ride the Tora-Tora. I mentioned about it on my preivous post but I was just able to take some snaps of it.
The proud driver
It was an improvised car. Filipinos are really resourceful. A plain trailer, now it looks sexy. LOL
A very good transportation here…only it makes your tummy aches when it starts to run….it vibrates like hell but it was really fun!
It is Sunday once again….Ella’s favorite day of the week 
She loves going to church and today we had a story about the twin brothers Jacob and Esau. As usual, I kep reminding her not to tell what happened next so she won’t spoil the whole story. There were only 4 kids in my class and they are smiling when I distributed their snacks. The lesser the kids, the more share of food for each of them.
While we were at church, I put the pot on top of the stove to make the beef tender. I need to put on more meat on my diet because I lack certain vitamins found in meat. I loathe beef actually….I eat pork and chicken but I prefer it cooked with vegetables. I like vegetables more and my pocket likes it too!
After lunch, Donald, Ella and I all piled in bed to watch Kung Fu Panda on the computer but we ended up sleeping. Ella was the last one to doze off and she managed to click the X on the screen to put the movie off. When Donald woke up, he was not pleased to learn what Ella had done. We don’t watch movie in the pc before, I don’t want Ella to learn that she can watch her cd’s here ‘cos I will definitely have some problems with saying NO when she will ask for a movie time. I was telling Donald the computer is for blogging only and for coding too…no games and no movies but sometimes Ella do ask to play a game or two when I am not busy.
Just before dinner, while Donald was playing on the computer and Ella and I on the bed, she screamed like hell…when I looked at her, she was cupping her left eyes. She accidentally opened the bottle of alcohol and a little amount dripped on her eyes. Donald brought her to the sink and wash it with flowing water. She continued screaming when I told her she might get blind like Tita Steph. I didn’t mean to scare her, but I was just telling her my worry too. I carried her back to our room and put on a few drops of Maxitrol hoping it will help take the redness. Gladly, she was back in her old self again after half ab hour and I am back cuddling Teddy and Woloo in bed. I was just surprised that Woloo, the stuffed lamb from our store, is a Russ. When I found out, I put him with Teddy in bed. Now we have two special stufffed animals.
It must have been just an ordinary Sunday except that today I have to make unleavened bread for the communion. Hey it was my first time to make it! We woke up early. Much earlier than usual since last night we received a message that the members who attended the funeral in Davao could not make it to the worship service. One of them is the member who makes bread. So I sent Donald to the market to buy flour and snacks for the Children’s Class first thing in the morning. I made a quick shower to Ella and dressed her, then went shower myself and when I am done Donald was already here. I made the most delicious bread in the whole world! I have a recipe for it that I got when I attended a ladies meeting where we are taught to make unleavened bread. But hey I forgot where the recipe was and the worst thing is I can’t remember the exact measurement of it. Well Donald was used to my experiments like making Puto Cheese (flour muffin topped with cheese) without following the recipe by an expert. I experimented a recipe and to me it is better or should I say the best So I did the trial and error too on the bread but I am crossing my fingers that I will make a good one in just one try as I am running out of time. When it was done Donald tasted it and said it was real good Well I can say it is true! But it breaks easily…it means I put more oil so I made a second batch and it was better
After making bread, I rushed outside to meet my students who are waiting patiently on the shed. As usual Ella was quick to raise her hand when I asked who will lead a prayer. She is really getting good in praying Then she volunteered again in song leading. Since other kids are so ashamed to stand in front, I let Ella do it again this time. We had a review on last Sunday’s bible story about Jonah as there are several kids who are not around. While they are coloring a picture, one of the girls complained her tummy is aching. I asked her if she’s hungry, she said no. I noticed she is so pale and seemed to faint. I rushed inside the house and get Ella’s medicine for stomach ache and gave her some and hot water. Good that the medicine did kick in quick and she was in her old talkative self again.
Sunday has been great. We had a story about Jonah and the whale. Since I have kids in mixed ages, I had to make sure the 3-year-old understoods what I am trying to imply like the 4, 8 and 10 year-olds. The story should only take a few minutes but it took a little longer as I have to translate from English to Tagalog and Bisaya Oh well, it’s good that I don’t have to do it in Ilocano and Ilonggo But in case I need to do it with these 5 languages, I still could manage
We have 5 baptisms again after the worship service. I think we needed baptistry here. That will be much easier for everyone as we have to drive a few minutes from the chapel to the river. After the baptism we again piled in Bro. Bernard’s car to the place of the new members. We passed by ricefields and Ella was really thrilled to see hundreds of ducks. It was so hot and I feel very exhausted and dizzy that is the reason I never had the mood to blog last night.
At night Ella had a chat with Tita Crislyn and Tita Cheche, you got to hear her talk! She was like an old woman who was reincarnated in Ella’s body. Although I am the mother and I hear her everyday talk like that, it still amazes me all the time. I don’t know what this child has eaten or drank…I hope I have a recorder to record all her statements. Can’t believe how this little girl talks as if she lived for hundred of years
I felt like dragging my feet all day. Still feeling not well yet I have to go to town to check on the school for Ella. The first one was near the market and I don’t like the location. A little school just behind the fish and meat stalls 
I picked a few items in the grocery store on my way home and I could not understand the weather here. One hour it is grilling hot and the next there were black heavy clouds and very strong wind. When I arrived home, Ella and Donald was playing here in my pc. They love it when I leave the house. I told Donald about the school I went to, that I don’t like it. We went to the school nearest us to check what they offer. Ella rode her itsy bitsy bike, she is really very good at driving. I learned to ride a bike when I was 8 and so is her Daddy. But she did it when she was 4! Her bike’s seat was broken by the kids and Donald put wires to keep it in place but it hurts her behind. And so I said “If you’d be good, I will get you a new bike.” I was excited to see her reaction…instead of jumping in delight she said “I have this bike, this will be fine. We don’t have money to buy a new one.”
Can someone tell me what happened to our little girl? She seemed to grow one year in a day
Another week has gone by…tomorrow will be Sunday again and Ella was so excited. She dug on her mini drawer to look for tomorrow’s outfit and when she was done she wiped her shoes and announced she will going to wear those and nothing else. Kids these days really knows what they want.
It was such a lazy Saturday. I felt so tired and sleepy the whole day. After a short nap, I cleaned the bathrooms while Donald prepared the chapel for the worship. Then I asked Donald to photocopy a picture from the story book. I will be teaching a lesson about Jonah. When Donald tried to copy on our 3 in 1 printer, it won’t copy! Since it’s getting dark, I started tracing the picture since the photocopying shops are closed. It took me so long to finish 12 pictures! I made Donald trace some for me and Ella helped too. We traced Jonah and the whale….but Ella’s drawing is more like a tadpole than a whale
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out here! This is the second Mother’s Day that my mom is not here with us, hopefully we could visit her gravesite on her 2nd death anniversary on the 23rd.
This is our second Sunday here and I didn’t expect to have more kids in Sunday School! they are in different sizes! I have a 12 year-old and the youngest is 2! So this was a great challenge now for me…I must follow a curriculum but with the wide difference among ages, I think I have to ask for reinforcement Another teacher is needed to handle the older ones. We made Mother’s Day cards before we ended our class and they have enjoyed it. All materials compliments of Ella I am so glad she doesn’t complain. She was even more than willing to share everything she has. It was all from her “project” thingie…the papers, crayons and stickers. After the worship service, there are 5 who were baptized by the river officiated by Donald. Ella was so excited when she heard the announcement that there will be baptismal. She said: “Mommy, sama tayo ha!!! May magpa-BACKTIZE!!!” (Mommy, let’s go with them!!! There will be people to be backtize!!!) That is our vocabulary of the day…
Ella’s vocabulary:
BACKTIZE-dipping of the body in the river to erase the sins and be called a Christian
She was asking her daddy soooo many question about baptismal…one after another…and we are surprised on how well she understood and of how eager she want to learn. They were like having a one on one bible study When she was satisfied with Donald’s answers, she announced she wanted to be baptized! Oh dear…that took us more time explaining to this little debator all the things she need to know. It was the first time I heard her say she wanted to grow fast! More often than not I would hear her say she don’t want to grow fast because of the house chores!
I stayed up the whole night and when I felt my eyes are shutting all by themselves I crawled to bed at 5:30am. Ella stayed.in.the.house.the.whole.day!!! That was a really great news! She kept her word Her colds is getting better and she just played in the house, napped in the afternoon and read her books before dinner. Maybe she was just so afraid of throwing up that’s why she didn’t insist on playing outside. She has been so afraid of throwing up since she was a baby. To her, it was like going to die! LOL So I have a great idea on how to keep her in.
Donald had a bible study with a family nearby. Same like yesterday, he studied the bible with a family too. Ella was making me crazy the whole afternoon about going to church. She keeps on telling me she want to go to church…..and I kept telling her that we will gather on Sundays to worship. She refused to listen, she just wanted to go to church right there and rthen and hear her Daddy deliver a message and sing her favorite church hymns “Send the Light” and “Beautiful”. And oh she was so sweet to tell me “I want to go to church because our class is very nice…you are our teacher…and the story is very good!!! Can Pooh be our story on Sunday?”
Oh and she has some reasons too why she wanted to go church…” Because I want to be with Daddy in the church…and because the church is just beside our house…and we won’t be late anymore like in Davao…and I will not be tired and fell asleep in the taxi….”
Well I agree! We won’t be late anymore!
