Sleeping on Pavements

Joshua asked us at dinner last night why there were men sleeping on the pavement.  In retrospect, he was probably talking about the building workers we saw having their siesta in the shade across the (6 lane!) road from the building site.  It is quite peculiar to me how they can lie there and "sleep" with all the traffic and pedestrians beside them.  

However, I thought he was referring to the street people we see from time to time and answered that it was because they are poor and cannot afford a house to live in.  Josh said we had to help them and it led to a general discussion of ways we can help the poor. I'm glad my kids see the poverty around us. I want them to challenge it and not accept it - it becomes so easy to fall into that mindset of seeing it everywhere yet not really seeing it.  

That's not to say there isn't another side to the Philippines - that of the extremely wealthy - and they need Jesus just as much but the challenge for us is what do we really need and what is just materialism/possessions for the sake of having them?  As we approach Christmas this question is highly pertinent to our family.

Our sermon yesterday was on "where do we store up our treasures?" A question we need to ask regularly.

Lesson in Values

We bought Larrry's Lagoon for the kids last week.  It is a Veggietales story - which they love.  This particular story is about forgiveness and the three of them seem to have really taken this on board.  Yesterday, I heard Rose and Joshua having a conversation outside while painting with water in the carport.  One of them was apologising and the other was talking about forgiveness.  I was impressed but even more impressed when, eating lunch in the mall, Rose spilt some of her chicken and peanut sauce on my trousers.  She said, "I'm sorry, mummy". I said, "What for?"  She said, "For spilling my food on your trousers."  I was actually a little taken aback. 

It has all reminded me of something I read recently asking how much time we let our kids watch TV and whether we are acknowledging the values they are being taught by an increasingly secular media.  It was suggesting we spend more time intentionally teaching our kids our values and beliefs - and in comparable units of time to what they spend picking them up from other sources.  How true!  

View from the "top"

I participated in my first Admin Council this week which involved three days of pretty intense discussion and also a lot of laughs - we have a group with a sense of humour.

It sort of felt like being in a different world as  - apart from returning for the Brookside prayer meeting on Tuesday night and helping put the kids to bed - I stayed at the Manila Centre for the two nights and three days (where we were meeting).   It did mean I had two good nights of sleep though!  Steve took the Wednesday off to look after the three kids and our helper and a friend of hers looked after Josh and Naomi on Tuesday and Thursday - although they had pre-school Thursday morning to keep them busy.  Rose travelled on the van with her classmate after school on Thursday as he is our managers' son and they are good friends so she had an adventure and we travelled home by taxi when my day was done.

Getting a taxi to take us home was a lot easier than getting a taxi to take me there. The first one we stopped agreed to take us (sounds strange but some don't like going to other bits of the city as they may not get the fare back.  Technically you are allowed to complain to the Government dept when they refuse to take you but I have never tried. It seems to me that would probably not be as straight-forward as it suggests!).  But on the way out to Quezon City, 3 taxis refused to take me and one wanted 500 pesos for a 120 pesos fare.  After 3/4 hour waiting I ended up getting a jeepney first to a place that a taxi would take me from.

I'm the Principal's Daughter

This is Rose's new phrase.  I think she actually picked it up off some other kids as we were at the playground the other day and she and some of her friends were doing something they shouldn't have.  An older Elementary kid said to them, "you can't do that" and his friend replied "she's the Principal's Daughter".  I immediately jumped in with "that doesn't make any difference - she is still not allowed to do it" but since then I have heard her using this phrase and her teacher said she has been saying it in class too. No doubt to test its power, knowing Rose!

Steve's birthday

Steve's birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we got to celebrate it as a family.  I had taken the opportunity while he was away to buy his presents and the kids helped me wrap them - they all took it in turns to stick sellotape on the wrapping - and most of the time we got it in the right place!  I did wonder whether it was a good idea as they saw the presents - and, naturally, they are not the most discreet at this age!  But, give them credit, they did not tell him a bean - even in the excitement of unwrapping - but I get ahead of myself.

We decided we would not remind them on Sunday morning that it was his birthday as we knew we would not have time to unwrap before Church.  Steve had a bit of a lie-in (oh, how that has changed with kids!  Staying in bed till 7 or 8 is a luxury now) then we left for church.  I had told Rose that he would choose where we ate for lunch as it was his birthday but we ended up at Wendy's (a McDonald's type place but we like it better). We have a habit of sitting at the table by the window because we can see the MRT (monorail type train) from there and the kids count the carriages.  Although Rose always gets to the teens and there is only ever 9 carriages max.!

Anyway, we got home and after changing and organising drinks etc. Steve opened his presents.  I think his favourite was a light sabre that I managed to find for him.  Josh decided he really liked it too so I expect he will be getting one for Christmas which Steve is happy with as they make a noise when you hit them against each other.

Joshua was most upset that daddy did not choose a birthday cake and we had not made him one - probably rightly so.  Not sure how that got under the radar because Josh had mentioned it in the run up to Steve's birthday too.

It rained really heavily in the afternoon so we did not go out as planned - Steve often plays football at school on a Sunday afternoon and we either swim - or, as the temperature has got milder, play on the playground. 

I also got Steve the mini Starbucks mugs of the Philippines they are doing but I managed to break a handle in transit.  But they are cool and a good addition to his collection.  He had spotted them a weeks or so ago when we were in Starbucks but I had already bought them so pretended nonchalance.

Welcome home!

Steve arrived home last night and I can't tell you how relieved I felt. I suddenly realised how much of a burden I had been carrying with him gone.  I have great admiration and respect for those who successfully single parent for significant chunks of time. Kudos to them!

He had a richly informative time and was excited with new ideas he had been fed so it was definitely worthwhile for him.

The kids had got so used to him being gone that he did not become flavour of the month like I imagined (and frankly, hoped!)  I was still first port of call till they got used to him being here again.  I empathised - I was beginning to plan in my head like he was not here.  But I am grateful he is back and ready to resume his place in our family. 

Two funny stories

My kids often make me laugh - I love seeing things through their eyes and the ways they tell it.  This week Naomi had done something that made me laugh so I said to her, "You are a funny bunny".  She said, "I'm not a bunny....I'm a monkey"!!  (hmm, shows what I often call them!).  Then a few days later, we were taking a walk around our subdivision and Naomi was walking with me while Rose and Joshua were steaming ahead on their scooters.  I said to Naomi, "look at those 2 monkeys".  She said, "Where, mummy?  Where are the monkeys?"  I said, "there".  After a while of going back and forth I realised she was looking for real monkeys and I had to explain I meant her brother and sister!

Reflection

Steve has been gone since Thursday on an administrators' conference in Kito Kinabalu. It is also the end of our mid-semester break so Rose is not at school.  It has been fine so far, my friends have been good to me and provided me with good quality company and an extra pair of hands and eyes.

Today, though, bordered on the disastrous.  It started pretty well. Rose had ended up sleeping in my bed and it meant she slept an extra half hour.  (She always ends up in our bed when Steve is away, it's funny!)  Naomi slept till 7.  We left the house at 7:45 to go to church.  This weekend the traffic has been very quiet as it is a public holiday and as we were rattling along I realised I had not put the pushchair in the car for Naomi.  This is important because my youngest daughter has will of her own when we go shopping and she will happily wander at half speed to everyone else and in the opposite direction.  As it was just me and the kids today, I knew I had made a mistake. I also knew it was too late to turn back and get to Church on time - or anywhere near reasonable time.  So I gritted my teeth and we carried on.  We got to church early, so I had plenty of time to drop the kids off to their respective classes.  Naomi was great and Josh was fine - to begin with - and then went into massively clingy mode.  So we took Rose to her class - and she fell on the stairs on the way down and bashed her shins.  I think I began to feel the day slipping away from me from that moment!  Anyway, she went into her class and I took Josh back to his but he would not cooperate, so I ended up taking him into the service with me and he was very good - that was how badly he did not want to go to his class. This is why Steve takes him to his class because he is fine with Steve leaving him and Steve has no problem doing so even if he is a little clingy - which he has not been for a long time.  It was funny because during the singing of one song, Josh said "this song goes on for a longtime!"  Part way through the sermon Joshua started to hum, which I could tell was distracting the man sat next to us so we retired to the very back of the hall and that was fine.

Except that, while sat there my mobile phone fell out of my pocket and instead of picking it up and putting it somewhere safe, I was waiting till I got up. But of course, I forgot by then and I left it there.  So, I am unable to contact my husband - who was texting every night - or anyone else by mobile phone.  That is a pain in this culture as almost everything is arranged, organised, and/or confirmed by text.

I realised I had not got my phone on the way home when, again, it was too late to go back.  And, of course, I couldn't text any of my friends at the second service to ask them to look!

So, we headed to the mall and everything was good until after lunch.  We usually buy an ice-cream from McDonald's after we have eaten so I was waiting for our order and the kids were sitting in their usual place on the steps just off to the side. They came to me, nearly hysterical, as I was collecting the ice-creams because Naomi had run up the stairs and they couldn't see her and she wouldn't come down.  (This is one of the biggest malls in Manila with many people inside) So we had to leg it up the stairs to find her casually on her way back down.  Our next custom is to go to the coffee shop and I buy a Chai Tea Latte and the kids eat their ice-creams at the coffee shop tables by the ice skating rink.  (We go so regularly that they now ask me when I approach the till if I want a Chai Tea Latte).  As we were eating and drinking, Naomi decides she's had enough and wanders off to the nearby display - still with ice cream in hand - and knocks over the big S A L E letters, climbs on to the platform and through the legs of the nearest mannequin.  By this time the sales assistant has come out and Naomi is upset because she can't get out of the middle of this group of mannequins.  Between us we negotiate her past the mannequins and down without spreading ice cream on the clothes.  But then she runs off and as we follow, Rose realises she has left her "thank-you" card from Teacher Len for carrying the flag in the parade and she wanted to show it to her daddy so we grab Naomi, Rose and Joshua run back to the coffee shop table but, of course, it has already been cleared and Naomi runs off the other way again.  By which time my blood pressure is boiling, Rose is upset and Naomi is unrepentant.

At which point, we leave.

I usually have a nap on Sunday afternoons - it is often my lifeline - while Steve watches the kids but obviously that is not going to happen so we settle in front of a video and I doze on the settee in between questions - "what's that?" "why did he do that?" and so on.

It's a great afternoon so we go swimming.  Only, when we arrive at the pool, it is shut because the lifeguard is ill.  So we go to the playground - only the kids insist on keeping on their swimsuits, which I think will be ridiculously hot but they don't care.  One of the Elementary teachers asked us to bring up some batting to help decorate their classroom (mountains) and she suggests we go to the Condos (a block of flats near Faith Academy, where lots of Faith teachers live.) and swim there.  This is doubly great as we had already arranged to meet a friend there after we swam so we just arrived early (and woke her up!) and swam as her guests there.  Afternoon saved!

By the time we left, everyone was tired, hungry and ready for bed.

And, on reflection, and in perspective, it really wasn't so bad. Except the reflection I get of my character from time to time!