gosh, someone gave me a present today.

there is a woman, whose name like mine, is ate jo.

she cleans the student apartment where i live.  she also does laundry, and i have hired her to do my laundry every friday.  this means that i provide the soap and she hand washes everything in a bucket outside, then rinses it and hangs it to dry.  and last week, it took 4 days to dry.  yeah, a little humid here.

this would be all of my clothes, towels, bedding, etc. 

she charges P300, or 300 pesos.  and the peso is now 43.5 = $1 US

so, that is $6.89.

today, i stopped over at the apartment, and she was here cleaning.   she gave me this box, she opened the lid and showed me that it is to keep your bible in, and then she showed me where you put a picture on top.  it's like cardboard covered in paper with some woven rattan.

is that stinkin sweet or what?!

i'm thinking i will ask someone to take our picture and i will put it there.  i'll show it to you.  maybe we can take a selfie, that might be more fun!

i'll show you some of the currency.  i have developed a loose system for deciding what something costs.  she charges P300. i double it 600 add 10% 660.  so, it's around $6.60 and we already did the math to see it's $6.89.  it gets me in the ballpark, so i know if the P3000 radio cost $6, $16, $60 or $600.
so when i took the max out of the atm here, which is P10,000, i don’t feel quite as wealthy when i determine it's about $220.

i added a quarter and penny for size, the coins above are Full pesos and below the dove are sentimo or cents.  the dove is a coin that my sister, irene, gave me in my easter basket, that i keep in my wallet and think of what a great sister she is when i see it.

i included an older P50 bill, just so you see how drastically different they are, just to add to my confusion.

yeah, look at that fat wad of bills you have to carry around.  and you use so many to buy anything, that the bills are pretty worn out and tired from all that activity.

the coins are great, but we laugh at a useless penny, just think about what P5 sentimo can get you.  why bother, philippines?!

for your homework, maybe someone can figure out for me exactly what that coin equals US$.  :o)

everything here is public transportation, and you really want exact change.  so, you find yourself hoarding coins and small bills. i always try to use a big bill at an actual retail store and tolerate getting the stink eye and a wad of change, so i have small stuff for the market or paying the guy who delivers water or gas to the apartment.  also ate helen who cooks lunch, and ate jo for laundry. insulting to give them a big bill like you are some rich american.  also, for the guy who walks thru the neighborhood in the morning ringing a bell, with a big plastic tub of freshly cooked doughnuts on his head.

mhmmmm.

i was chatting with dee and asked her what i should put on my blog and she said "pictures of you so that we know you're okay".

so, here you go, proof positive!!

xo jo

of all of the stuff that i packed and schlepped all the way to the philippines, these are my two most very favorites.

jb got me hooked on this bug goo, which is the best stuff ever. i brought a case of it with me and if i keep giving it away, i will have to have some more sent over.  i put it on every time i wash it off.  at home, as soon as i get out of the shower i'd slather on yummy lotion.  here, it's insect repellant, and i'm thrilled to have it.

this was a last minute add on, a gift from beth.  she bought this delicious smelling hand made natural soap at the farmers market and had it sitting in her shower.  it made the whole bathroom smell lovely.  she chiseled off a couple of pieces and i have them hanging in my closet.  every time i open the door i get a little whiff of something girly.  it is the only thing here that smells good and i include myself in that pile.

okay, well my coffee smells good too.  instant, with milk that came in a container and says it's good until december 15.

uhhhh, okay.

for dinner tonight i made a tossed salad with feta cheese and kalamata olives and onion.  i toasted a piece of bread from the french guy at the market in makati and chopped it up to pretend it was croutons.  most all greens here are cooked.  no salads.

and i accompanied it with a fine glass of grape tang.  

sigh.

beth, where are you with that glass of port that always appeared next to my salad plate??

i'll throw this one in as well.  i was sitting here at the birth home chatting with dee and a cat with no tail walked in so i took a pic for her.    they had 6 births in 8 hours here last night.  

a group of people came and spent the whole day at the nursery. they work for a man who runs an I.T. company; he gives them a paid day off to come once a month.  two of the women are nursing moms who breastfed all of the little babies. they also brought frozen breast milk to leave until they return.  they had a couple other women who played with and held kids, while 2 men worked on the computers in the office.  they also brought 2 wall fans, because they noted that the floor fans and cords we are using were not good with the crawling babies.

what a giant blessing!

i hope you all get out there and do some good works, friends.  

xoxo   jo

hello everyone!

well, i have been here at the baby home for two weeks now.

seems like a month at least!!

we have moved our oldest two out of the nursery and upstairs with the toddlers, so we are down to a more manageable number.  sort of, heh.  all the babies just keep getting older, which is good and bad!  the newborns are awake more now, and need more entertainment.

here's the roll call.  we have 2 three week olds, one five week old, a four month old, a seven month old and a ten month old. three boys, three girls and when i'm not helping, one care-giver.  one super attentive, hard working, very loving care-giver.  they are amazing women.  all of the kids in the nursery get a bath morning and night. they wear cloth diapers, so need changing a lot.  and so does their bedding and everything they lay or sit on, including me!  add all the feedings, burpings, and it is a never ending bunch of work.  the challenge is to be really efficient, but still nurturing.  

if anyone wants to come and visit us, let me know.  not kidding.

one of the little girls gave me an envelope and inside it were a couple of pictures that she drew, all folded up.

one drawing is us on the swing that i showed you a photo of, and it made me really smile that in each drawing, i am holding a baby.

:o)

my baby mackinac is 4 months old today, so here she is as well!!

xojo

hey, i hate to assume anything when it comes to technology, so just f.y.i. - if you select any of the photos that are on the blog, they will open up full size for better viewing.

alright, beth asked for pictures of food, so this will be fun.

i took these at a despedita on saturday, which is a party we have when a child is adopted. the family comes here to the baby home for several days, and finally we have a party with singing, prayer, and lots of laughing.  everyone goes around the room and speaks blessings about the child, with memories and funny stories of their time at the little children's home, what they love about them, what they will miss most, and even some loving advice, like - he likes to sing itsy bitsy spider before bed, stuff like that and then the new family speaks last.  lots of love and lots of tears.  it is completely beautiful.  the child leaves with a big scrapbook full of photos of their time here.

here is the shoe pile, no shoes in the play room, where everyone sits on the floor for the party.

then there is food!   outside in the play yard.

yeah, i never know what it is, but you can see it does not stop me from filling my plate.

okay, these things . . .

they are rambutan. prn rahm'-boo-tahn.   you just crack off the peel, which looks prickly, but is soft.

and then pop out the fruit.  and pay no attention to the piece of zebra cake that is on the left side of the plate under my hand, heh.

then you remove the nut and eat the fruit.

it's not real sweet, and tastes a little almondy.  weird, right?!

okay, just so you know i really am in the philippines, and so you get a real feel for life here, i want to show you the bathroom in our apartment.

cute enough, right?  okay the sink, water does not come out of it.  you see the red bucket by the toilet? that is what you fill and dump in to flush the toilet.  you notice the shower, yeah it's just right there, and no there is no water heater, so it's cool.  still not bad, eh?

okay, here is the ceiling.  perfect place for the only outlet in here.  and if you're squeamish, don't zoom in on the beady eyed peeping tom up there.  blech.

please pray that we find a social worker for the baby home.  the current worker is having a baby this very day, and the person they hired to replace her did not choose to stay.   so, back to the search.  this position unfilled will result in adoption delays, and extra work for an already over-worked team.  thank you so much!

bye for now!

xoxo jo

alright, now for something a little different.

i went to virginia, worked for jon gudeman.
worked with his fantabulous wife, abbe.  went to bible study in her home.

decided i wanted to go to the philippines and work in an orphanage.
abbe went to college in ohio with lori french.
lori works as a teacher at faith academy in manila, philippines.
lori knows the gundersons and gustafsons, and hooks us up so that i can spend my days serving in their ministry holding babies at the little children's home.
my daughter, grace, lives up in michigan and works part time as a receptionist at a massage therapy and wellness center.
she messaged me tonight, that chris who is one of the therapists there, told her that he lived in manila, until he was 12.
because his grandparents founded a religious school there, called faith academy.

God is pretty hilarious sometimes, isn't He?

okay, now on an entirely different topic . . . i've done a bad bad thing.

there is something here called a house spider.

they are harmless, though ginormous, and are considered even to be good, as they eat bugs and don't bite.   mhmmmm.

i wanted to make peace with ours, i tolerated her loitering above the loveseat in the livingroom for a few days.  yeah, the one where i will NEVER sit.

then, one day i walked into my bedroom and there she was on the wall opposite my bed, doing frantic crazy figure eights - confirming that she was as afraid of me as i was of her. i tried to think of charlotte, from charlotte's web, and how i could do this thing, i just needed to get used to her and be tolerant.  

but, it was a bad day when i was in the tiny bathroom, doing bathroom things, and i spied her up on the wall. too close to me!!

she scampered up to the window and tried to fold her long creepy creeper creeping legs up and hide, but there she was, very evidently right there.

did i mention the bathroom is very small??

so, we tolerated each other peacefully.    until she made another appearance in the bathroom.  running around like a crazy nut, just like i wanted to be doing.  i'm sure that if you could hear a spider, she was shrieking up a storm, just like i was. 

i'm so very sorry, but a person needs to relax in the bathroom and enjoy a nice shower.   or whatever.

so, i did a bad bad thing and i killed the house spider.  i felt bad doing it, brooming her that way, but if we kept living together, one of us was going to lose their mind.  and jo jo don't play.

sigh.

this is a pic kim took, in my room, before i came here.   just so you know that not everyone was repulsed by the house spider.

but you and me, shudder, shudder, blech!!!   right?!

one of the midwives, ate helen, cooks lunch at the birth center 6 days a week. we pay her daily or weekly, before she goes to market.   always fresh home cooked filipino food.  it is P75 ($1.81) per meal, totaling P450 ($10.91) each week.

this was the scene today.  that is isabell on the left, then kim on the far right holding a baby from the baby home, and katherine near right.  isabell is from germany, came here in may to work doing admin for the baby home.  kim, also from germany is a midwife student who is heading  home next week to return to school.  katherine is from weaton college in illinois, she is here until december, with a program thru her university dealing with hunger. she lives with ate helen and her family.

that is my place setting on the end with the bottle and pacifier, i have baby joy in a sling because when we headed over she woke up deciding she needed a bottle, so she joined us for lunch!

i know, the only sling here that fits me would have to be the stars and stripes forever.  like i'm not sticking out enough.  :o).  after lunch, i walked over to the school next door where our kids were in a program.  a lady remarked, oh, there is a baby in there?  i thought that was your bag.  sigh.



this is a very typical lunch.  some kind of meat, veggies, little beans like lentils that are full of protein, a bitter leaf that is full of iron and some okra that is really so much better than what we have at home.  always with rice.  

it has been raining off and on all day today, it is the rainy season here.  but, it's cooler and not buggy.  

here are a couple photos of ezra and nicole that i told you about.  isabell took these to include in their life books when they leave.  they share a crib and two two week old babies keep you hopping.  along with a 5 week old, a 4 month old and 3 others under a year.  one worker.  gosh.  

cutie patooties, right?!

thank you to everyone who has been remembering me and especially these sweet babies in your prayers.   

i feel lucky and blessed every day.

xoxo     jo

hello!

on sunday, isabell and i were heading back from church and decided we needed to stop at the drugstore for a popsickle.  cause it felt like was a thousand degrees out and we were heading for a long walk up a steep hill.  it was a genuine american brand orange twinpop popsickle, which cost me P16, or 16 pesos.  which at $.37 was well worth the price.  anyway, i thought you might like to see the receipt and the cute little completely unnecessary bag that they put it in.

it is a good example of the mix of english and tagalog that is used here.

i was sitting at the birth home using the wifi, thinking, i need to get my camera out and take some photos!  the birth home is a public space and there is a lot of petty theft, so i don't usually carry anything with me except a bottle of water and the keys in my pocket. 

i decided to take a risk and run out into the street and snap a few pics for you with my ipad, acting like a complete rich american tourist.  so here they are!

this is the play yard at the birth home. this swing is my very favorite spot to sit.  however, i did get pooped on by a lizard there.

this is the gate to the street.  this is technically a subdivision (i know, right!) and most all of the properties are gated.  that being said, this gate at the birth home does not close and the gate at the baby home is held shut by a piece of twine looped over a nail.   :o)

this is the view up the street to the left.  the blue house on the left is the baby home. lots of people walk with umbrella for shade, me included.  they don't value tan skin here and actually are biased toward light skin, with the stores full of products to lighten your skin. one of the midwives asked me what is your ethnicity.  she then put her arm on mine and said, because you are browner than me.  i said, not everywhere.

this is the street view to the right.  gobs of stray dogs in various degrees of disrepair, and i've never seen so many cats missing tails or with loopy crookedy tails.  i will spare you those pics.  i thought recently, that those pitiful critters would break my heart at home, but my heart here is already broken by the discarded babies.  

the midwife student apartment where i am staying right now, is in the walkout basement of this house which is between the baby home and the birth home. 

this is the play yard and the baby home, where i spend my time.

i have completely plagiarized the following from the blog of Isabell, another worker here.  but it is a wonderful description of the work of the ministry i am serving. 

HELP International Ministries.is a family organization, founded by the Gunderson family in the Philippines in 1986.  The Little children,s home and Shiprah Birthing Home are located in the outskirts of Manila.  The Gundersons and Gustafsons, together with a team of professional midwives and caregivers, share the love of Christ by providing safe and dignified maternal health care to impoverished women, as well as shelter and love to abandoned and surrendered children until they find a home with their forever families.

i thank you all so much for your support and your encouragement.  and especially for your prayers and your offers of prayer.

and if any of you want to sent me a package full of pepto bismal or find yourself in manila and want to come and visit me, here is our address:

Joann Porter
Shiphrah Bahay Paanakan
#6 Liwayway Street
Blooming Hills Subdivision
Taytay, Rizal 1920, Philippines

shiprah is the name of a midwife in the bible.  in tagalog, bahay means home, and paanakan means child birth.  not childbirth, but child birth.

i love you all, my dear friends!

p.s.  since y'all had trouble viewing the last ones,  i posted these photos using a different format.  i sure hope this is better.  please advise.  thanks!!

jo