Christmas in the Philippines!
okay, i will tell you that although most of these photos were taken by me, some of the ministry party pics were taken by other people and posted on facebook. thanks for sharing, connie and isabell.
i'll start with a picture of a poinsettia at the market, i put those fellows in there so that you can get the idea of the size of this plant . . . bush.
there is a party that is given by the ministry for the staffs of the baby home and the birth home. i didn't bring my camera, but here are a couple of pics. the baby home and the birth home staff traditionally perform a dance number at the party. this is the baby home staff and a couple of the kids posing in their dance costumes in front of the home made nativity that decorated the patio (party central) at the birth home.
you see how big it is there behind them. it is fabulous.
i love most the baby jesus wrapped in a banana leaf.
this is connie and i, as she said, posing in front of a junk pile. :o) there were games and food and lots of gifts to the staff from the ministry including a big bag of rice and a ham for christmas.
there was a party for the children that was given by the american embassy club. this includes the kids from the baby home, and kids of the staff. there were presents . . .
music . . .
facepainting . . .
games with prizes like pencils . . .
and a photo booth. there is a disc with all of the photos floating around, and if i get my hands on it, i'll throw all of them up on a post. it was great fun, as you see. this is ate tonia and gabriel.
this is deborah, with her daughter bernadette, who was adopted many years ago from the little children's home. deborah's parents founded the ministry and she has lived here in the philippines since she was 12. after her father passed away, she took over running the baby home. her mom jeri runs the birth home and her husband darren does all the admin. their family is really my adoptive family here, and i don't know what i would do without them.
here again is the pic of me and cutie isiah.
this is nicole with her gifts.
this is our beautiful and wonderful social worker jasmin with ezra. if you recall, ezra was the first baby i took home when he wasn't doing well. he did not gain any weight between his 1 month birthday and his 2 month birthday. you see we have over-acheived in our goal to get him to be a chubby and happy baby. he, i must admit, is my favorite.
on that note, at the baby home, every baby has a care-giver or two who favor them and they consider this to be natural and positive. they will tease and say, ate jo, your baby ezra has been crying all morning for his mama. when a favorite is adopted, there are often extra tears from a mama or two on staff.
this is our volunteer nurse, annemarie and her red-head daughter nina, who is holding their favorite, louie. she is a life saver to our ministry. next is her husband, hans, and their kids. they are from holland, and have been missionaries here for two years. he works in the slums of manila helping people to start and run businesses. they also work at a TB clinic that is run by their ministry. beautiful people.
this is isabell, taking photos,which is her full-time part-time job here!
this is levi and nino. levi and his younger brother were adopted from the baby home 17 years ago. they came back with their parents and sisters to visit the philippines for a few weeks. they also met their birth mom and their two younger brothers. i spent a day touring around with them . . . that will be another post.
the night before christmas eve, i was leaving the baby home and came upon some carolers. i asked them to go back and sing for the kids, which they gladly did.
on christmas eve, i went to a party at the home of lori and dave french. lori went to college with my viriginia friends abbe and jon gudeman. she went to the philippines to do her student teaching and never returned. when i was looking for a position in an orphanage, abbe reached out to lori, who poked me on facebook, and the rest is history. she teaches at faith academy, where she met and married the art teacher. :o) they have two brilliant and charming kids, just a fantastic family. actually, she and abbe are the same person, so i can see why they are fast friends and you can see why i fell in love with her even before we ever met.
there were about 30 people there, all bringing good old american party food, yay!
since the baby home was closed, i brought along baby isiah and jasmin, who lives at the baby home but stayed with me during christmas. although she is muslim and philipino, she is very far from her family and had great fun graciously experiencing an american christmas party!
i was holding the baby and didn't take a lot of photos. some of the kids brought instruments and we sang along while they played christmas carols. it is a family tradition that they read and act out (in costume) the christmas story. it was wonderful fun.
on chirstmas morning, i got a text from deborah inviting me over for a breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and bacon. and coffee. real coffee, not the instant blech that i drink at my apartment! cinnamon rolls were our christmas morning tradition, and i appreciated and enjoyed it so very much.
then for dinner, we gathered at jeri's for traditional christmas turkey dinner. stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams and pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, etc. the whole deal. i brought mashed potatoes, which were yum. check out jeri and her beautiful turkey!
this is katie, with isiah. she and her friend sara, teach at an international school in abu dhabi. they came and spent time at the baby home over their holiday break, bringing gifts for all the kids that they gathered from the parents of their students. katie did a mission trip here when she was in college, and since it was too far to travel back to the states during break, they came here instead. pretty swell, right?! they were happy to be in a country where they could celebrate christmas.
i know that this is a terrible picture, but i still just love everything about it. deborah, darren and louie.
this is emma, who was interning at the birth home as a midwife student. she returned to her home in australia the next day and we miss her very much. fun loving, easy going, smart and caring, just a great person.
we had dinner by candlelight out on jeri's beautiful patio. it was quite the crowd, there were people from the philippines, usa, canada, australia, holland, spain and korea.
louie pretty much looked like the rest of us felt at the end of the party. tired, but happy!
okay, lastly and for the ladies, i'll show you the christmas gifts that i received.
this is the blouse that connie snuck for me into the gift exchange at her church.
this is a beautiful porcelain ornament from jeri.
i hung it here on the wall at isabells, where there was an empty hook. also, sarah and karen bradley, please see what else i have hanging there . . .!!!
these are chocolate covered figs from abu dhabi, which are from katie and sara.
this beautiful tea light from jeri and sara.
this is a calendar from isabell. she had these made with pics from the baby home, just beautiful! there is a verse with each month's photo, and this is the verse which inspired the little children's home name.
i know i shared this pic of joy, but it is just too fantastic to omit.
and this little cutie pie . . . i have done some video chatting with her and her mom and auntie grace these past few days while they have been all together for the holidays.
all told, i had a really nice and beautiful christmas.
i hope you all did as well!
xoxo jo
