Pami arrived on the 22nd of December and left the 21st of January – the prime reason I have not posted since the poem. With just two days before Christmas our lives were filled with cooking and shopping and wrapping – perhaps just like yours. We made the traditional Eggnog Pie to be eaten after the Christmas Eve service at church, and, for Paul, a vegan pecan pie. It was wonderful to have youth in our home for Christmas!
Check out this link to see Ad on Christmas morning...
here
Pami worked at ACTION’s Shalom Christian Bahay Paanakan (Birthing Home) Dec 26-31 as she has just completed her requirements for taking the boards for her RN. She recorded some of her experiences on her blog: http://www.ivleaguersimpression.blogspot.com/ Paul and I did necessary ministry things while Ad was also away with another missionary couple.
New Years in the Philippines is lots of fireworks
– so many the tall buildings near our home disappear from sight in the smoke. We splurged and bought a couple of the bigger ones ourselves – a first for the Ellises. Chickens, we had the guard set them off on the street and gawked at the beauty as they bloomed high overhead.
4 AM January 4 the lights blazed as the 4 of us loaded the vehicle with beach gear and headed to the pier a couple of hours south of Manila. We boarded the outrigger to go to Tamaraw Beach Resort on the day everyone else was leaving – ah, a nice quiet vacation. Wrong! We didn’t count on youthful adults! The boat was nearly empty and they promptly plotted a picture of the unwary senior citizen – the first of many events.
Now “vacation” for the Ellis family has always been a quiet place and several good books. Throw in a little snorkeling now and then, some $4-6 massages on the beach, some sun and we are satisfied. Not this year. It was great! Ad and Pami got some ½ price scuba in – all because the owner discovered that missionaries’ salaries depend on donations received. He was incredulous that we would actually live like that!
We rented two dirt bikes ($16 each) and spent the day riding in the rain and mud - Paul and I nearly went down in one big muddy rut!
We played Frisbee in the surf – I haven’t thrown one of those in years.
We had our massages,
read a few pages of our books,
and ate good food. We laughed
more than we had in a long, long time, played pranks on each other, and put a jigsaw together – at least the part that mattered.
Back to reality. Classes resumed last week and we had good attendance after three weeks break. The wildness of youthful adults in a sibling relationship continued. Music filled our home late into the night as YouTube videos played across computer screens (Pami has a BA in music). The dribble glass didn’t work as Ad filled it too full and discovered the leaks before lifting it to his mouth, but the wet willies and other pranks flourished. We all participated like kids. Pami got out to a medical clinic run by a missionary doctor and then to Village Handcrafters (http://www.villagehandcrafters.com/) and her alma mater, www.faith.edu.ph/ for a visit. Then it was Pami’s time to pack. Stillness settled over the house as suitcases were weighed and rearranged.
4 AM January 21 the lights blazed as the 4 of us roused from sleep to load the vehicle with the precious cargo of our daughter and her belongings. Good-byes were difficult – it has been such a fun and lively time together. The house is once again quiet. At least quieter - Ad is still here. We are all a little lost. I put on music this morning…copied from Pami’s ipod to ours. It just isn’t the same.
Paul has 17 pastors here this today. Fely is cooking Sweet and Sour Chicken. I’ll make Fumi Salad. Life goes on.
