2 hours and 5 fillings later...

Yes, you read right.  FIVE fillings.

The whole family have been to the dentist this week to check our teeth before we leave as we are not sure how easy it will be to get on a local NHS dentist's books.  At first glance, the dentist said I had 2 cavities - I knew something was not right in that area.  After she finished cleaning them, she said she had bad news!  I had another cavity in the same place on the other side of my mouth and my tooth at the front that was damaged when I was 13 needed the 1/3 filling replaced too.  I asked her if she could do it in one go and booked for a 2 hr appointment today.
When she started drilling (she is a brilliant dentist by the way), she got the mirror to show me yet another cavity adjacent to one of the others, making a perfect mirror of my upper teeth troubles!  When she had finished, my upper mouth was seriously numb and rinsing was something of an art form.  But it's done and my teeth can wait another year before I go back.

More packing

I finished two more bags and we decided to leave it at that till next weekend because we need to figure out what clothes go with us.  Hardly any of the childrens' clothes need to go as they are mostly for this climate and it's the end of the year where they have grown and need new clothes anyway.
We pretty much finished the playroom except for 3 boxes of toys and the doll's house.  The sala (living room) is also finished and the TV room.
Tonight we crashed and watched one of the 5 DVDs we still have out!

Special Friends

My friends organised a goodbye meal for me.  I felt so loved and so honoured and privileged to have good friends.  It was a really fun evening and they collected recipes for me to try out next year.
God has enriched my life through the people who have been part of it - here and in England and I know next year will be no different.  However, it is hard to leave all that is familiar, your home, your friends, your job, the place you have raised your children and go to the unknown.  It's also funny to think that the place that should feel familiar is the place that feels alien right now.

Inspector

Just to reassure you that life exists beyond goodbyes and packing, I had the unpleasant surprise of walking into the high school office (where my office is located) and being told the Cambridge inspector had arrived.  In fact, he was walking across the circle at that moment.
My stomach lurched.
I dropped my bags in my office, made sure it looked presentable, and met him at the door.
He was a pleasant chap - British, knew Walsall, thought I was Australian (it's not just our kids who are going to struggle with a non-British accent!).
We talked through our exam protocol, went to pay a courtesy call on the deputy superintendent s our superintendent was visiting our campus in Davao, looked at the examination room and then I left him to make his preliminary report.
The last thing he did was watch the start of our afternoon exam to make sure we do things correctly and then he left.
I'm pleased to report he gave us a positive report.
But I'm still working on getting our prayercards printed!

Farewell Party 4

And so it continues.  I cannot emphasise how important it is for us and our kids to have proper goodbyes.  Maybe the amount of parties we do at this time of year speaks to that.
This afternoon was their chance to say goodbye to their friends.  We invited 27 children - each of our kids had the people they would miss the most.  Of course, Rose had the greatest amount - in fact, when we were doing her list she asked if she could just invite all of Elementary.
No, Rose!  Narrow it down to people you will miss the most.
Unfortunately rainy season has arrived this week and about 15 minutes before I left the house we had "hard rain" and thunder and lightning.  Unfortunate because the majority of the party time was planned for the swimming pool - easy entertainment!
We had planned a couple of games first so we did those and, thankfully, the rain had blown over and the requisite amount of time had passed from the lightning so that we could still hit the pool.  There were some Middle School baptisms going on so we vacated the pool for 20 minutes while they took place - the younger kid were fascinated to watch.
Then we had cakes and popcorn and time to disperse.
Perfect!

We hung around school for a while and them attended the despedida of another family leaving to change assignment to Thailand.

OMF Despedida

Tonight was another goodbye party.   Our mission farewell.  It is very strange to be on the other side of goodbyes, after each year of saying goodbye to friends who are leaving us.
Some of the children prayed for our children.  Their biggest prayer requests were moving school and making new friends.  Probably my biggest prayer requests for them too.
I think God has challenged me to focus on relationships next year.  I am really looking forward to spending time with our families and really getting to know my niece and nephew.  I want to invest in them and the other significant people God brings into our lives next year.
One big decision we made which I think is meaningful for us as a family is to get family membership to the health club so that we can continue doing the things we love as a family - swimming and tennis.  I think keeping some of the things we do here when we are there will help us to settle and provide the stability our children need.  To know that in the midst of great upheaval, there are constants on both sides of the world.  It will be expensive but worth it for us as a family.  And it is something we can share with others.

Change in plans

I had my whole day planned out, with lots of errands on the list as I had no kids.  However, Naomi's friend was ill so I had to pick Naomi up at 10:30.  Boom! There go my plans.  I had to balance getting what I could get done with giving Naomi some time and attention - not easy, and the errands were the first to be removed from the list!
The main thing I had wanted to do was get our prayercard printed (so much cheaper here!) but that was relegated to tomorrow's list.

Tackling the Piles

Today we attempted to pack our first suitcase.  We re-sorted our piles into "Has to go" and "Would be nice if...".
The good news is we should be able to fit everything from the "has to go" pile into our allowance.  We are trying to have a suitcase which is just for Singapore so that we don't have to open more than we need or re-pack!
The bad news is I don't think any of the "nice if..." pile will make it.
We also completely finished the study.  It is empty except for our ironing board - which will stay up anyway.
It feels more like we are really leaving now.

Cultural Lessons: Eating

At dinner today we tried to teach Joshua how to use a knife and fork in the British way.  He learned quite well.  Again, it is one of those things that will probably mark our kids out as different.  Most of the time they still use their fingers to eat.  Filipinos only use spoon and fork to eat - so most of us do, too.  Americans only use their forks unless it's really necessary to use a knife to cut and then it's like a separate tool.  Commonwealthers often stand out when eating in mixed crowds because of their use of the knife and fork but it is not something we have paid much attention to with our children but are now seeing the importance!

Cultural Lessons: speech

In the mall today Rose told Steve that he had a mark on his "pants".  I told her that she meant trousers.  Steve asked Rose what she was going to say when kids in England laugh at her for using pants in that way. He explained it would probably happen every time she said it.  I suggested the best way to defuse the situation would be by laughing with people.  She agreed that was a good idea.
We then had a funny conversation about our kids' vowel use with them.  The difference between saying paaaaaaaants and pants.  Josh was practising with the word ants.  They sort of know they sound different to English people but none of us really knows what it will be like for them until we return.  I'm fairly sure they are going to lose their American accents pretty fast and pick up the local twang but it is something that as a parent concerns me.  I remember how hard it was for me and my brother when we moved just in England.  But an American accent is not exactly considered a desirable accent in our home country.
We are trying hard to prepare our kids for these differences before we leave so they at least know what reactions they might expect and how they can respond in ways that are positive.

The next one

The all-staff banquet.

The theme this year was Time Travel and our Bible Study group decided to go as the Pink Ladies and our husbands as the T-Birds.  We asked one of the local seamstresses if she could whip up 5 pink shirts and 4 black shirts in 9 days and she did a great job.

It was so much fun and the committee was made up of all new teachers which was sort of funny but meant they approached it with fresh perspective and did not feel a need to do things the way they have always been done. It was the first year I remember actually having proper farewells for those staff leaving for good.

Steve got his 10 year award and I got my 5 year award.  What an honour to have served at Faith Academy for so long. As Steve was on the congratulatory line when I received my award he gave me a kiss instead of a handshake.  So when he got his award I snuck into the congratulatory line to respond in kind.  I think it may have been one of the high points of the evening!

Forever goodbye?

Check out the "lechon"

It wasn't a farewell party for us tonight, but we went to one for our friends who are returning to Germany after 20 years in the field.  What a huge transition.  It was great to be part of those celebrating their investment here in the lives of Filipinos through their work in a drug rehab centre.  Naomi will miss their youngest daughter very much.  It is hard for her to understand that they are not coming back.  Sometimes it's easy to do goodbyes because we assume people are returning.  But then there are the forever goodbyes. They are not so easy.  And, really they are not forever, because we know we will see them in heaven if not before where we will truly live forever.  And, in this era of electronic communication it is easier to stay in touch - but we also have to make choices about who we stay in touch with as we cannot keep up with everyone.

The first goodbye party

Tonight was the first of a series of goodbye parties - as it always is at this time of year. It was the Elementary end of year party.
We started with a very fun activity - water polo!  It was actually hard work - even with tyres for floating in. The tyres had these wicked (in the true sense), long valves that dug into you if you caught them at the wrong angle!  And my armpits ached from hanging over the tyre while we "swam" and fought.  But it was FUN.
We then had a barbecue and because most of us were tired from the water polo we skipped the next game and went up to the library for dessert and the "honouring" section of the evening.
The staff were very generous and gave Steve a gift voucher for Amazon.  We know exactly what it will go on - our game collection, we need to build up our English stockpile!

Career Paths

Naomi announced that she knows what she wants to be when she is older.
Debs: What's that?
Naomi: A princess
(No shock there for a normal 4 year old girl!)
Rose: Naomi, there's no such thing as real princesses.
Debs: Yes, there is.  What were we doing on Friday?  Watching a girl become a princess!
Rose: Oh, I suppose.
Naomi: But are there real dragons?  I don't want to be a princess if there are dragons.
(Sensible girl)
Josh: No. Not any more.  They are extinct.
Naomi: Oh, instinct?
Josh: No.  EX-tinct.  It means they're dead now.
Rose: I know what I want to do when I am older.
Debs: Yes?
Rose: Be a rock star!
Debs: Why's that?
Rose: I don't know.
Debs (being a typical mum who has to drag it back down to reality and suck the fun out of everything) In that case you had better practise your piano every day.
What about you, Josh?
Josh: Nothing
Steve: That will be boring
Debs: (again falling into typical mother patterns) You're just going to be a lazy bum?  That's not good is it?

Do you think your genes mutate when your child is placed in your arms?!

Switchfoot

What a weekend this has been.  To top it off I went with a couple of friends to the Switchfoot concert.  because you can never turn down a concert with a decent band (yes, I do not count Taylor Swift in that definition!) for the price it costs here - which is so cheap compared to England.
It was brilliant, but we felt rather ridiculous as the band did not even get on stage until our normal bedtime! (9:15)  It was a late night - followed of course by an early morning for church (we leave our house at 7:45).  I was feeling rather spacey by the time I had a nap this afternoon!