Here's our latest update!

Experiments...

Bear with me, as I experiment with a new toy I just discovered... :)

First of all, thank you to everyone who prayed for us during the rough transition we had back to the field. Claire's anxiety is greatly diminished, and we have all been thriving. So thank you. We know your prayers played a major role in that.

Well, the kids are out of school. Any of you who are teachers know that our teaching work is only half done now; we have (at times literal) mountains of assignments to grade and give feedback for. This break has come with more post-semester grading than I've had yet, even though I only have Humanities assignments to grade. I'm finally "growing up" as a teacher and giving written assignments. Some of you may laugh, but this is a big step for me. Up to now, I have avoided written assignments like the plague, mostly because I know I am not good at grading them quickly.

This year I bit the bullet and have given written assignments (not that I had much choice, really; all of these assignments were created last year for Humanities while I was gone). In the process, I've grown quite a bit in my own consistency and diligence. As I write this, I can feel Claire laughing over my shoulder; she knows -- as do I -- that I have a long way yet to grow. All the same, this semester has been a time of significant growth for me.

As for Humanities, the semester has ended, but the class is just now beginning to take off. The students are starting to figure out how to employ all the various skills we've been teaching them, and most of them have grown tremendously over the course of the semester. The spring promises to be an exciting time for them (and for the teachers!) as we start to tackle more complex material (Prophets, the Life of Jesus, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and more!). As a final group activity this December, the students were put in charge of creating a station to help the class focus on the Advent season. Themes included Incarnation, Messiah, Gifts, Covenants, and many more. While the results were mixed, the students were forced to wrestle with communicating theological concepts outside of the classroom setting.

Reflecting on the experience, one student wrote,

"Advent is super special to me, its kinda like seeing your dad that you've never seen before, the dad that you have been longing for and believing in, and then he´s there right in front of you, coming to bring you to your real home in paradise."

We pray that all of the students come to see God more clearly through all that we're doing in this class!

In other news, Leia is pulling up on everything. I think she's only going to give a passing nod to crawling and go straight to walking. We'll see. However it plays out, she is pretty much able to get where she wants to go; we'll be baby-proofing sooner than we expected.

Our other kids played Parent-Run Soccer again this year, and I ended up being the de facto coach of Ian and Micah's team. Our season will finish in January once school is back in session, and we'll see how we're able to finish (we're currently 3rd or 4th in our division of 6 teams).

Hopefully you've been able to see many of the pictures from our semester; Claire is quite good at keeping photos up-to-date on Facebook. If you want to see more pictures of our kids and what we're doing over here, let us know!

Just Breathe

We certainly weren't expecting our transition back to be this difficult. Oh we knew we would have some culture shock; we knew there would be unexpectedly-broken things; we were ready for that.

We weren't ready for anxiety. We weren't ready for panic attacks. We weren't ready for our lives to come to a screeching halt right after we landed going full throttle. Since we arrived, Claire has been struggling with severe anxiety, probably postpartum-related.

Our first month back in country was a confused blur of frenetic activity and paralyzing anxiety. For three Sundays in a row, Claire couldn't make it to church; we'd hardly been able to leave the house; Claire hadn't gone grocery shopping at all. Through all of this, we've been forced to rely on other people; to humble ourselves enough to ask for help; to swallow our pride enough to admit that we can't do this, that now we're in the position of needing care. We've received some excellent care too. My dad was able to stay a few weeks extra to help us; we've had some amazing friends who've come alongside Claire to encourage her and alongside us to provide meals and practical support; and Claire's been able to see an excellent psychiatrist (as well as a counselor at the school).

In many ways, we've been starkly reminded through this that the ministry that happens here isn't ours, but God's. He is the one who works, sometimes through us, sometimes in us, and sometimes in spite of us, to accomplish his purposes.

That being said, we've also been encouraged by all of our friends here. Everyone seems excited to have us back, and we are truly glad to be back.

English Camp was a whirlwind blur of van rides, smiling kids, and exhausted counselors. 56 or so students from a local school came and learned about God's love, practicing English at the same time. Pray that this camp has brought them one step closer to being disciples.





One of the highlights of being back in country, at least for me (Carl), has been teaching Humanities. The class that I couldn't stop talking about last year on Home Assignment has turned out to be everything I was hoping it would be. So far we have challenged our students to examine worldviews in the culture around them, hopefully prompting them to examine their own worldview as well. This week we'll begin tackling the biblical story, tracing the narrative from Creation through Christ. I can't wait.

Team-teaching this course has been phenomenal. While there is a lot more coordination involved, the three of us teaching the course have been able to swap ideas -- sometimes even mid-class -- and help sharpen each other's teaching skills.

This year is shaping up to be a very interesting year; from tough transitions to fascinating classes, and our new baby girl has been growing and grinning through it all. We've been more than blessed to have such an easygoing baby as Leia. She has nearly figured out how to roll over, and she has most definitely figured out the whole sleeping-through-the-night thing.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! We truly would not be doing this without you!

When we finally make it home...

...I know some of you now have the MercyMe song running through your head, don't you. I love that song, and I especially like the reminder that no matter where we are in life, "home" is ultimately beyond this life.

Our family has had a lot of opportunity to contemplate "home" since we've been back in the States. Some people ask us how we like being back "home" (meaning the States), and others ask us if we're ready to go back "home" (Manila). We've been talking some lately about going back "home" to Texas from Illinois, and I know some people in Illinois wish we could stay "home" at Village Green Baptist.

So many different place we could call "home," and none of them will ultimately satisfy the definition of "home." There's a sense of permanence about the word home that we lack as missionaries when we speak of places that we live. We spend 2-3 years in one place, only to pack up an entire life (or a significant portion of one) and resettle temporarily somewhere else.

There are some nice benefits to this kind of "nomadic" life we have: anywhere we go we can "settle;" we have a community to belong to in lots of different places; our "circle of friends" circles the whole globe. We manage to cull much of the clutter that would otherwise plague our lives every time we pack up and move.

At the same time, that very flexibility prevents us from putting down deep roots in any one place. To use a horticultural analogy, grass can grow pretty much anywhere, without much effort; but it doesn't grow very tall, and it is uprooted easily. An oak, on the other hand, takes a long time to grow, but once it's planted somewhere, moving it takes herculean effort. Grass only lasts a year or two; oak trees can outlive people.

All this to say, perhaps the missionary life is the best soil in which to cultivate the understanding that we have a permanent home, a place we truly belong and can put down roots. No matter where we unpack our bags or park our car, we have a home to look forward to. A home where our various circles of friends can all come together.

Until then we're sojourners; tourists; or as Peter puts it, "aliens and strangers in the world" (1 Peter 2:11). Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Final Thoughts for 2016

2008. That was the last year my (Carl's) whole family was all together for Christmas. Claire and I had a 3-month old girl (Micah); my brother Sam had been married about a year; and John, Steven, and Melody were all still single and in college. Sean was only 13, not even in high school yet! This year, the Miller family Christmas was a little bit different. Five of us are married now, and between all the siblings there are 9 grandchildren running around! Despite the differences, though, the family Christmas had the same feel to it: the same frustrations, the same joys, and the same chaos (though admittedly more of that now). We loved our Christmas, and we'll enjoy the 3-year respite before we subject everyone to that level of craziness again. 

As if we weren't busy at all, for the last month or so, I’ve had a second full-time job. My friend Matt asked me to apply to be a chaplain with Operation Christmas Child in the warehouse where they process all the packed shoeboxes. I was unsure what to expect, but I applied, and was accepted. The job turned out to be an incredible experience. For nearly 30 days my main responsibility was to pray: I prayed for everyone volunteering to help process shoeboxes going to kids around the world; prayed for the seasonal employees who needed a job to make it through the holidays; and gave devotionals walking everyone through the Bible story. In many ways, this job was the perfect intersection of my teaching and member care ministries in the Philippines, so it was a perfect fit! While we worked, I had the opportunity to build relationships with volunteers and other employees, and had the privilege and joy of seeing two employees give their lives to Christ. 

One employee had to miss the last few days of the job because of financial and family issues but came back on the final day. He said he had two reasons for coming back: the first was to return his work shirt that belonged to the company; the second was to give his life to Christ. All season long his buddies and his manager and I had been praying for him and urging him to become a follower of Jesus, and repeatedly he said he wasn't ready yet. But on that last day, he came back because he was ready. I was able to pray with him and watch him give his life to Jesus and become a disciple.

This job challenged me more than I've been challenged before to share the Gospel. I realized that too often I simply assume that people are believers, that they don't need to be called to follow Christ. I'm learning now not to assume, and I'm learning to have the courage to ask. To ask and to call. Even at Faith Academy, even children of missionaries, I can't simply assume everyone is a believer. When we return to Manila, this is something I'm going to change, because if I'm not calling people to follow Christ, I'm wasting my energy with anything else I do.

Just before I started with Operation Christmas Child we met with a financial advisor to take a closer look at how we're doing financially. A good friend of Claire's family, he sat us down and made us take an honest look at our support level. While this wasn't completely embarrassing, we were still forced to look at the ways we've not done well with this aspect of our ministry. For those of you interested in details, we were told we need about 150 people supporting us in order to have a good support base. If everyone who opened our newsletter began supporting us at $40/month, we would be fully supported! When we realized that, suddenly support raising didn't seem like an insurmountable task. We're even beginning to find it exciting to invite people to partner with us monthly (not something I was expecting to be able to say!).

All that being said, we wanted to say a special thank you for those who are supporting us monthly. We don't appreciate you nearly enough; without you, we would not be doing what we're doing. Without you, Claire wouldn't have started the Mom's group, I would not have been part of creating a curriculum for the Humanities course, and we would not be helping care for over 50 missionaries living and working in Manila. You are part of a ministry that literally spans the globe. Thank you.

We still want to reconnect with you if we haven't yet, so here's our travel itinerary in brief. We'll be in the Chicago area from January 13 until around the beginning of April. We need to head back to Texas then so we can be settled when the baby comes in May. We'll finish out our Home Assignment time in the Dallas area, and once our support is raised, we'll head back to Manila after July 4. Seems like a long way away now, but I know it will surprise us when it gets close.

Congratulations! You've read till the end! :) Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and most of all, thank you so much for praying and partnering with us!

Change is Hard, Pt 2

...or, Why do we do this?

Our kids are amazing. I'll just throw that out there first. We've dragged them halfway around the world and back. We've tossed them into a new public school (from which we plan to wrest them back and move to the North Pole -- I mean, Chicago, for the winter). We've driven them over 3,000 miles (and that's just been this summer!); and after a year, all the friendships they've grown will have to lay dormant while they move back to a home that's moved on without them for a year. Through all of this, they have woken up with smiles on their faces and eager steps to get to school and see their new friends.

I'm not sure I have that kind of emotional stamina. 

Why would we do this? 

Our time back in the US isn't necessarily restful; we're not here to take a "vacation," though our time here so far has been fun and restful along with being busy. 

Liana enjoying
her birthday presents

At the same time, we're not here to work and "make a living" doing whatever jobs we can find for a year.

The purpose behind all of this, the reason that we emigrate repeatedly between two different homes, is because we want you to be more than simply a name and an email address in our database.

Paul calls the Philippian church his "partners" in ministry, and that's what we long for with all of you! To be a partner, there must be a sharing that happens; and for sharing to happen, we have to be present and available.

Friends, that's why we're back here! We want to re-invest in you as you have so generously invested in us. Every time we remember you, we smile, knowing that you're praying for us, that you're supporting us financially, and that you're a part of what we're doing in the Philippines.

Oh yeah, I said I would tell you more about what we've done this summer, too...


Our summer began with a horrendous flight from Manila to Dallas (ask us about that some other time!); and I flew up to Chicago for TeachBeyond's New Candidate Orientation that same day. Seeing over 40 individuals and families preparing to serve overseas was incredible, to say the least.

Some of our best friends!

Claire, soon after, had her own week-long getaway, to a women's conference in Colorado. She relaxed, was refreshed, and even met up with friends from the Philippines!

The hit of the summer, though, the pièce-de-résistance, was Pine Cove summer camp. We went three years ago for the first time, and our kids have been looking forward to it again for just about the last three years! The camp is designed with families in mind, and they have wonderful programs for everyone from toddlers to parents. Horses, boats, a pool, a mud pit, date nights, sunset cruises on the lake, and more; Pine Cove is an amazing experience. Micah asked on the last day of camp if she could be baptized, and I'll admit, my eyes were wet as I agreed to baptize her.

There aren't words for this; my heart is full!

We've now settled down somewhat into the routine of school for all three kids (yessssss), and hopefully we'll be able to get together with many of you now. We truly do love all of you, and are excited to be a part of your lives as you've been a part of ours.


-Carl, for the family