My day starts when the night meets the day, with a big mug of coffee (milk only, hold the sugar) and my bible at the same built in desk in my room. I used to think such daily ritual was a mark of my growth in holiness and my motivation was to be more holy. Now I think it is a necessity not because I am holy but because I am not! Everyone in the family is thankful too when mommy starts her day getting her thoughts and priority straight over the Word.
My time was interrupted and cut short with screaming coming from my boys' room. I stopped to see what happened. My youngest removed his diaper and peed on the floor. It is times like this I am very thankful there is no carpet in the house (except for one floor rug). I also love this simple handmade rugs. They work well because they double as a rag for any wetness on the floor whether it be from rain or from pee. ;) I just take my spray bottle of cleaning liquid, spray and wipe it clean and dry with the rug.
After that I then helped tidy up the boys room. All three of them share a room and I am enjoying the new set up. I realize I am not going to win any Pinterest awards for design, but it is working well for our family. We pushed two of the twin beds together to make one large bed, and then we have a pull out trundle for the third kid. Plenty of room to share for those nights one kid wakes up and needs an extra snuggle to get back to bed, as well as those nights Daddy is gone for ministry trips and mommy joins all the boys.
I then start to get ready for my day. Our upstairs shower head isn't strong enough to handle the low water pressure upstairs, so no water comes out, only a trickle. It's one of those things that you put on your "to do list", you know the list, the one things go on but never come off? ha ha... But this set up works just as well for now. A more traditional approach. Fill the bucket with water. Take the tabo (the white plastic dipper) scoop and dump over your head. It means it'll be cold, but for 9 out of 12 months of the year the cold is refreshing and you wouldn't want hot water. But for those 3 months where warm water would be nice and it's then I think about bumping up the priority on my to do list to get it fixed.
Yesterday I tried a new hair cream. Back in California I had straight hair with just a touch of body. Here I think I might have wavy hair. The texture of my hair really soaks up all of the humidity, making it a fizzy flipped out mess - I am constantly trying new ways to tame it. So this is my latest attempt at some order for my head, a leave in cream for wavy hair.
As I get into my car to drive to my friend's house for breakfast, I see our new PETA-approved usage of our built in dog cage - a second trashcan. The stray dogs will tear into our trash if its not within a trashcan. But sometimes we have more trash than our single can can hold. So what to do? Why not put that dog cage to some good use? Seems to be working fine with room to grow. ;)
I then glance over at the cement I was scrubbing last week to observe my progress and make note of what still needs to be done. Green fuzzy concrete, black dirty concrete, and white clean concrete. Just takes some water, blench and a bit of elbow grease to get it clean. The green "grass" is very slippery and will keep growing if I don't get it clean. It's a longer term project since it really tires you out.
On my way to my friend's house I wonder at the new traffic pattern. What do you see in the distance? A traffic light! So new and unusually! There are very few traffic lights in the city, most turns are all U-turn slots or left turns without a signal. I wonder how this will help? So far the traffic seems about the same. Time will tell.
I enjoy the drive to my friend's house. She lives a bit away from the compact congestion of city life, and there are trees, and bushes and grass all around her house. How it should be when you picture life on a tropical island. This day was a bit different because I am having breakfast with a friend instead of doing homeschool with the boys. We only do school four days a week and take one day off. Usually Wednesday is Daddy's day off, so we adjust our schedules to match his. But he is away at a conference so I get to enjoy breakfast with a friend! Doing school on 4 days instead of 5 means our school year will go a bit longer than tradition but it also means we can be more flexible which is very nice. Breakfast was very nice, catching up on her terrace with a beautiful view!
On my way back home I snap a quick picture of our church. You have to look very closely because I didn't get a good picture, but look right in the middle of the picture (left of McDonald's) and you will see a very small and faint cross. That's our church building. Growing up a 35-45 minute drive to get to church depending on traffic, I am oh so often thankful now that our church is only 5 minutes (15 minutes in traffic and that's Manila traffic!) from our house.
I get home just in time to check on the boys and put my stuff down before my Tagalog tutor arrives. She comes two times a week for two hours each time. This day we talked about grammar, conjunctions, and participles - all those linker words that help you transition from one phrase to the next. Those are often the words I forget and would help me so much to speak more than choppy phrases if I knew how to link them all together better. I am very thankful for my tutor, I enjoy her so much and she makes learning fun!
My tutor asks about the baby pumpkins on my table. "What's that for, do you eat it?" I laugh because the checker at the grocery store was equally perplexed. I on the other hand was quite elated to find these baby pumpkins amongst the produce section as if I was shopping in the US. The price was well worth some purchase of sweet Fall memories. Such a small things, but each time I see those pumpkins on my kitchen table so many warm memories come flooding in and it makes me smile. It tickles me how it perplexes the locals, decoration only? Why, so odd.
In the afternoon I take a short nap. I think of my husband when I do. He often is telling me to take small naps, that it will help me with my day. So since he is gone (and we have extra family friends staying with me to help when he is gone), I decide to follow his advice and nap. I am glad I do. Then when I wake up I read a little. This book is about the national hero, Jose Rizal and it came highly recommended.
Then after that I spend a bit of time researching and trying to decide which history and science curriculum I am going to buy for homeschool next semester. I have to plan ahead because I but it from the States and it needs time to be shipped out on a boat (usually 6 to 8 weeks). Deciding between zoology or a more concentrated study on reptiles.
Our family friend helps prepare dinner, and I think how I am usually relaxed this time when my husband is away for ministry. I am thankful my husband insisted to ask his family friend to come and stay with me. I have had a relaxing day. I enjoy dinner, BBQ chicken in a local marinade (soy sauce, sugar, and kalamansi - lime). The vegetable dish is equally delicious, kalabasa at sitaw ginataan (squash and green beans in a coconut milk sauce). I took the picture mainly to inspire you adventure types if you wanted to try a new dish, this vegetable dish would be very easy to duplicate with ingredients available in the States.
I spend the evening with my boys and I tuck them in for the night. I follow shortly after them as I am tired myself. It was a good day, thanks for joining me.
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