Allison won one game this week and lost two. She did very well and had 4 points in the first two and 6 in their close game today. She is playing great defense and is having a wonderful time. Everything is gearing up for next week's local playoff tournament and then the big trip to Singapore February 8-12.

January 27, 2006 AKA Freaky Friday

A group of fun, funny, fun loving ladies joined in a new monthly tradition dubbed Freaky Friday by our fearless founder and organizer, B. Laughter. This week found us visiting a favorite Mexican restaurant that has been changed to an Indian restaurant. We didn't let that bother us too much and enjoyed a great afternoon together.

Maricar, Maria, Betsy, B, Holly, Celia, Michelle, Diane, and Michelle

January 26, 2004 Happy Birthday Papa Ralph!

Thursdays for others visited the Habitat for Humanity community we support. Today we concentrated on beautification and took plants, soil, and seeds to help them plant. Esther came along and taught a few more women how to crochet. Several of the ladies kept the children occupied with books and a craft project. It felt great to get some planting done, everyone was so excited about starting new plants and making their homes look nice.


January 24, 2006

Today was the first AWCP Bazaar of the year. I worked and shopped there almost all day long. whew! Saw some pretty handmade quilts.

January 23, 2003

We are studying the Japanese American Period of Philippine History in my class. Today we had a wonderful speaker who shared many interesting facts with us about what went on during this time in history, especially the Philippine American War which doesn't take up much space in American history books, but in which it is estimated that up to 1,000,000 Filipino civilians died along with 4,000 American soldiers and 16,000 Filipino soldiers during the 3 year long war. After the lecture some of us went to Wasabi for lunch to enjoy some really good Japanese food.



January 21, 2006

Today we took a trip about 2 hours north of Manila to Angeles city where we shopped for handmade furniture. We found some very unique rataan and wicker pieces.


We also went to see the run down memorial to the soldiers who died in the famous death march of Bataan.


January 19, 2006

Today the women of the union church traveled to the province of Cavite to observe and serve in a world wide project called Food for the Hungry. A small church there is feeding 50 or so children every day and monitoring a core group's vital statistics to ensure nutritional needs are being met. The group met with us and sang songs for us. Lori read them the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" then each child received chocolate chip cookies along with their hot lunch.




On January 18, the Museum Volunteers of the Philippines took a tour of historic Pasig City. Our first stop was the Immaculate Conception Church which dates back to the 1500's. We explored the museum articles and beautiful sanctuary. I loved this cross depicting Mary's arms around Jesus. We also visited the Lopez Museum and the oldest home is Pasig city. Before heading home we had a great lunch then shopped at a new shopping center called Tiendisitas which is packed with local artifacts and handicrafts.

Very old Ceremonial garments

Inside of oldest home in Pasig City.
It is still being lived in by members of the family who built it 150 years ago.

We are back into the swing of things here. Allison is back into her basketball season. They won a game last week and now have tournaments the next three weekends. We are spending our weekends at basketball games so haven't had much time to see any more of the country.

I have been spending time sorting and delivering books. Thanks to everyone who contributed to my book drive! The people who have received them are so thankful and it is incredibly humbling to realize that something I take for granted every day, is such a luxury to so many people. One young mother told me "now I can read some new stories to my children!" She has a degree in computer programming and has 5 children under the age of 6. She is one of the lucky ones with a pretty good job, but people here don't spend money on books because living and eating are their priorities. Please keep saving your discarded books and children's magazines especially the picture books with easy reading, National Geographic World, and Highlights. The kids here really love the hidden pictures! I hope to bring back many more to share when I come home in May. So far 3 families, 3 preschools, and two elementary schools have received the books. There are many more children here who need books. Thanks!


On Thursday, January 11, I went to visit a preschool which feeds 30 preschool children every weekday. They have morning calendar activities, alphabet and number practice, and singing activities. The union church put together shoe boxes filled with gifts for them and we were able to deliver them and see the thrilled children as they opened their gifts.

The yoyos were a big hit!

Their lunch was served after they opened their boxes which contained toys, clothes, books, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary wipes, combs, etc....

I was constantly amazed at the children's behavior. They were all polite and well behaved. There were 30 of them in a small area, and in the two hours we were there I didn't see any acting out or loud voices. Unbelievable! These are 4 year olds eating off of their laps after carefully replacing all their gifts in their boxes and putting them under their chairs with very little adult help. What are we doing wrong in the US? I have never seen anything like this in 20 years as an educator and mother of 4 children!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Maggie!

It has been a fast and furious few weeks since I sat down long enough to write a note or two. Allison and I headed home to Florida on December 15. Lauren, Maggie, and Ashley met us at the airport and we met Sean and Kristine at Texas Roadhouse for a great American meal before heading home.

My first order of business was to get together with 3 of my best buddies, Pam, Julie and Teri at Bluewater Bay. It was so great to see them and celebrate with our annual meal which over the years has become as important a part of the holidays as any tradition we have. No matter how crazy the time gets, we carve out a few precious hours to talk, eat, drink, open presents, catch up, and enjoy each other. After our 3 hour lunch, I had to get packages wrapped and to the post office. I was able to mail off 4 packages on Friday.

Julie, Teri, Pam, Betsy

I had to wait to do some shopping on Saturday, before mailing off 4 more packages. Sean, Lauren, Allison and I ate lunch at Ashley's, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Gainesville. It rained buckets all day Saturday while I was shopping and by the time the final four packages were mailed off, I was soaked to the bone and so tired I could hardly get through the grocery store before falling asleep on the way home from Gainesville. Lauren drove me since I was still quite jet lagged.

Sunday, the 18th, found us up and feeling energized enough to go find a Christmas Tree. We found a beautiful 9 foot Fraser fir tree which Sean hauled home for us in his truck. We spent Monday getting the lights on it and the angel on top. We did get the ornaments down from the attic along with one nativity scene which along with a few Santa pillows and windsocks made up our holiday decorations for the year.

We had trouble with our van and it had to be in the shop all day Monday and Tuesday, so I spent those days working on "plumping up the house" Giving it the TLC it needed to help us all feel at home and comfortable for the holiday. It was chilly and great "fire in the fireplace" weather. That along with candles, fresh flowers, chili on the stove, and plenty of "young ones" in and out of the house all day, made it feel like home again.

I spent Monday evening with my book club. It was great catching up with everyone and seeing Lori's great barn which is decorated to rival her beautiful home. I left with 3 new must read books on my list.

Wednesday, the 21st, was a very busy day. After picking up the van, I dashed to Gainesville to get a cashier's check to purchase a car for Lauren. We found her a 2001 white Malibu to match Maggie's. It was a great find and a relief to have that taken care of. After that I went to lunch with my friend and fellow 5th grade teacher, Elaine. We had a wonderful lunch at Sugar Tree on Kingsley Lake after I visited her beautifully decorated Southern Living home. We sat outside on the deck overlooking the lake. The sun was out and it sparkled on the gorgeous lake and I marveled at the wide open space of clean water and air and just appreciated all that I have been missing. It was a perfect time to catch up on fifth grade news and spend time with my dear friend and mentor. Thanks Elaine! Allison had a bonfire and it was fun to see many of her and Lauren's friends

Later that evening I picked Terry up at the airport and we met Sean, Kristine, Lauren, and Rodney for a Mexican meal at La Napolera's. Yum!

Thursday, the 22nd, was the day to get the ornaments on the tree. It took all day and we did it in shifts, but by evening it was decorated! We shared a soup supper with our family friends, the McLeod's, Bruey's and Frank Katora , and Teri Sapp. We watched the Gators beat Miami in basketball and once again it was great to be home! We had Kevin and Michael open their presents of mother of pearl and abalone hand inlaid pool cues. These came from Minduro, the island where Puerto Galera is located. They really liked them as did the rest of the guys who received them. Terry will now work on restocking our collection with these beautiful works of art.

Friday, the 23rd, found Terry, Allison, and I heading to St. Augustine to the outlet mall to stock up on a few things we need to bring back to Manila. Most clothing is impossible to purchase in our sizes in Manila so we took advantage of Eddie Bauer, the Gap and Maidenform to restock.
Maggie drove up after work and met us for lunch at Acapulco for another Mexican meal. Afterwards we went to visit our other best buddies, the Gibsons. Their home was beautifully decorated for Christmas and Marilyn and Cecil gave us the neatest gift of a Scottish clad Nutcracker. They have an extensive collection of every kind of nutcracker you can imagine so this gift is such a great reminder of them!

Christmas Eve found us all finishing the last minute details of shopping and wrapping. We all went to Christmas Eve Mass together at 5 then enjoyed a Christmas Eve Mexican meal together at Laredo's!

Merry Christmas! We slept in until about 8:30 which is quite late for our family since we are used to having our young cousins wake up really early on Christmas morning. Terry fixed a cheese grits scramble and we opened presents before heading to Jacksonville to spend the day with Terry's family. It was great to see everyone and catch up on everything the Sullivan clan has been up to since our reunion in July.

Traditional stairway picture Christmas Morning.

Monday and Tuesday were spent in Orlando, seeing Lauren's apartment and Maggie's house and helping them stock up on needed items. We shopped and went to eat, YES, another Mexican meal! This time at Maria Bonita's. Maggie friend Nate joined us for an enjoyable yummy evening! That makes my fifth great Mexican meal in two weeks! We celebrated Maggie's 22nd birthday a few days early.


We met Sean in Gainesville on Tuesday afternoon to see his condo and get him stocked up on needed items. Terry went to work for a couple of hours and then met us at Calico Jack's for some seafood.

Wednesday, the 28th, found us at home taking the tree down and getting packed to return to Manila. It was a busy and difficult day because none of us were ready to leave. It is probably good that we had a short trip because I was quite ready to stay HOME! Allsion had her second bonfire, but it started to rain so the party moved indoors.

Sean and Lauren took us to the airport early on the 29th and we flew into Manila at 10:30 PM on the 30th. Terry and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary as we slept in the plane crossing the international date line. By the time we landed and left the airport our day had passed us by- It is a good thing that we celebrate each other every day! We were greeted by our driver Fred who informed us that firework competitions were clogging traffic all over the city and we didn't get to our condo until 1:30 AM. Welcome to the Philippines!

Happy New Year!

We tried to sleep some on Saturday, but needed to shop and get ready for our New Year's Eve party. I was beginning to think it was crazy to host a gathering the night of our return, but it was the perfect way to get back into the swing of things. We celebrated with about 20 of our new friends here in Manila. It was great fun and the fireworks flashed all around us just outside of our windows.

watching fireworks