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.