valentines day, love day, heart day, friends day.

it is called many things here, and we celebrated it yesterday.

the bunch of us were sort of planning to go out for dinner, but several of us started backing out because we didn't want to spend money on dinner.  we were also told that every place would be packed, even macdonalds, not kidding, so i suggested we do a pot luck.

everyone got on board, we started planning a menu, the girls at the apartment dragged the tables outside and lit the candles, sharon and julia put on the pasta and opened the wine.  kaisa made a fabulous salad, pietje brought bread from the french baker.  i made heart shaped paper placecards and preacher no-bake cookies and our first annual international friends day celebration took place!

this looks so cozy, doesn't it? but we laughed because we actually were sitting on top of the septic tank.  ha!  and the apartment door is open so the fan would blow out in an effort to keep the mosquitoes from ruining our dinner.

on the left below is sharon from portland, she is working with the midwifes.  as is canadian julia, on the right.

they are still doing construction on the upper floors, so you see we were working around scaffolding as well.

this is the adorable filipina miss jasmin, who is the social worker at the baby home.

this is kaisa, who is studying with the midwifes, she is from estonia.

in the middle is pietje, she is a wonderful lady from holland. her home church supports the mission of our volunteer nurse, annemarie.  pietje heard about the baby home and was inspired to come and spend a month volunteering with the kids.

sharon had everyone share something that they love about the philippines and something they have learned about themselves during our time here.  i hope you can see the quick friendships and genuine affection that we develop as we support each other.

completely off topic . . . 

this is a photo that i received today from sarah, who you might remember was visiting from abu dhabi during the christmas holidays.  i just love this picture!!! it gives you a real peek into my life here.  this could be any day in the nursery, you see i really do just sit and snuggle babies.

beth sent me this photo, and it is actually this scripture that inspired the name for the little children's home.

i hope you all had a happy love day and as much sweet fun as i did.

xoxo  jo