Maayong Pasko sa tanan!

That means "Merry Christmas to all" in Cebuano. I have been intentional about saying that this week, and now I share the same message with you.

First off, I have to apologize for not posting in such a long time...

Life just continues on here and sometimes I feel like I have nothing to share. But then when I think back on all that has happened, I realize there are stories to share. So then I want to write, but I feel like it will take too long to share it all. So I push it off. And then it starts all over again. And I still don't update. Which is absolutely not an excuse. And so I must apologize for failing to keep my word on keeping this blog up-to-date. I am sorry. And with Christina's help I plan on producing more plentiful postings.

So now for the updates. Here are some things that have happened and what we have been doing:

- I lost my wallet in a taxi. The credit and debit cards were taken care of quickly. It was a hassle, but God brought us through with relative ease.
- We went to Paradise Island for out birthdays and Thanksgiving. It was a great time, despite the fact I walked into the TV in our room and caused a bloody mess on my head.
- Christina has been delivering babies and hitting the books quite forcefully. Now we have a little break for Christmas.
- We have continued to sweat. As I sit here it's about 90F, which seems to be the temperature every single day. The only time it does not get that hot is if it happens to be very cloudy or rain during the day, which is maybe once or twice a month (it tends to rain not before 4:00, but mostly after 6:00 or 7:00 and overnight).
- I have been helping out with two weekly Bible studies (which I will talk about in other post) and meeting some local kids.
- We are still learning the language and I am now learning the guitar. I bought a Morris W-25 last week and I practice every day. It's really been fun, I like the sound and I'm learning rather quickly so far.
- I cook every day, and some days I spend over 6 hours in the kitchen (making dishes dirty and cleaning them, followed by making them dirty again and cleaning them again). I enjoy it, but I quickly run out of new ideas. But we are enjoying eating local vegetables. I need to start taking photos of our food and posting them here for you to see.

Speaking of food, I need to go make lunch so Christina can get to the clinic for a baby check and shift. Maybe I'll get a photo for you all to see pancit canton! It's basically stir-fried veggies with pre-cooked noodles. We're not sure you can buy these noodles back home, but they are quite common here. And it's really good. Which is a plus!

Kinahanglan akong magluto sa among paniudto. (I need to cook our lunch.) (I just learned how to say that this week)

Maayong Pasko sa tanan!