King over the flood

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood... Psalm 29:10

One week ago, Sept. 26, Manila and its neighboring provinces experienced the worst flood in over 40 years. Typhoon Ondoy, (international code name "Ketsana") poured more than a month's worth of rain in six hours, submerging 80% of the city. More rain fell on Manila than what fell on New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It swept away homes, businesses, and people. The official death toll in the Philippines stands at 293. I could write pages and pages. What a week it has been. I have been amazed to see...
...all the devastation...cars upended, mud, trash, dead animals, so many homeless, mud, and more mud.

...the resiliency of the Filipino people...even in the worst of times, they still smile, especially the children! They roll up their sleeves and work hard to rebuild their lives. They look for the silver lining in the very dark storm.

...the way everyone has come together to love and serve...the beauty of seeing so many working selflessly side-by-side.

Above is a video montage of news photos taken during the flood.

For us, personally, our home was not touched by the flood waters. But the flood was actually nearby. It rushed down our street for a few minutes before receding. And friends in our subdivision about a mile or less from our house were flooded. While we were extremely thankful to have been spared, we felt so badly by all the suffering around us. We were aching to dive in and help out in the relief effort. Every morning, I woke up and just prayed that the Lord would show us exactly what He wanted us to do that day, and that we would be a blessing, a help to those in need, be His hands and feet in a small way.

The city of Manila was absolutely trashed. The flood waters had just stirred up everything. Everything. And everything was ruined, tossed, mixed with mud, and left in heaps everywhere. People had to dig through what used to be their homes and possessions. Trash heaps lined the muddy streets.

The first few days we helped two families who are friend of ours at the seminary. Both their homes were flooded in the first floor. They lost so many valuable items--numerous books, refrigerators, microwaves, computers...all appliances. They were so gracious and loving, even in their own pain.

One thing we were able to do for one of the families was simply go through one of their files. It was full of all sorts of paper documents. We spent an afternoon carefully peeling the important papers apart and lying them out to dry. There was no room in their house or yard for more things, so we tried laying them on our hot car hood, turning them over and over as the sun and heat dried them. It was amazingly effective!

One day we went to a house that was in an area that had not only been flooded, but an oil company had a leak, so the homes (and even dogs!) in that area were covered with oily dirty residue. It was so awful. Thankfully many people were there to help out. This was the home of an American missionary who is the librarian at Faith Academy. Our family took the room below and simply scrubbed these four walls. Actually, this photo was taken by someone immediately after the waters receded. It wasn't quite this bad when we arrived, so some work had been done before we came. But still, it was awful. There was little running water to even work with. So, the kids took turns running for water and scrubbing.

It was hard to see any progress....but as we kept going...scrubbing and rinsing...scrubbing and rinsing, we finally saw the oily film getting lighter. It was hard work, but actually fun to do as a family.

Lines of people waiting for help like these were seen in many places . . .

Later in the week, Huy joined his classmates at IGSL and did some relief work. They went to a school that was turned into an evacuation center. They put on a program for the kids and shared the Gospel. They also bought goods and put together some relief packages. While he was there, the kids and I went to Corrie's school. Faith Academy had a work day, and 200 students and parents showed up and went all over the city doing relief work. Here is the group gathering on campus before breaking into many teams and heading out for the day.

Drew and Corrie left me and went with Corrie's 8th grade class. They returned to the neighborhood that had the oil spill. Below is the house their team worked on. (Again, I don't think it was that bad when they arrived...)

Here are Corrie and Drew's team outside the house before diving into their work...

The "littles" and I stayed at Faith Academy and helped put together relief boxes that local churches would be able to give out. Jace worked hard...for about 20 minutes maybe...then he took a break that lasted the rest of the afternoon! :-) Karis worked almost the whole day with me. (She's always such a great little worker!) For a while she measured out 2 kgs of rice into bags, to be placed into the boxes.

Then she helped organize the various supplies...

....and helped me fill boxes.



All the relief work came to a quick halt on Friday because another BIGGER typhoon was headed right towards Manila! Typhoon Parma had grown into the largest category, known as a "Super Typhoon" with winds of over 200 km. As you can imagine, the city of Manila became tense. The government was taking extra precautions. The streets and stores were crowded with people making preparations--buying food, gas, candles, flashlight, batteries, etc. The Christians were also busy P-R-A-Y-I-N-G. Some were also fasting and holding special prayer meetings. We were all praying that the Lord would have mercy on our battered city. So many were still suffering and had only really begun digging out of the mess.

We prayed and waited. Friday night the rains came heavy. It rained hard throughout the night and into Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon it let up. Reports showed that Parma had weakened, sped up (which is wonderful because they were afraid it might stall out over our island, thus increasing the rainfall), and veered to the east, nearly missing our island altogether!

I'm writing this on Saturday night. We know that the most northern part of Luzon received a harder punch from Parma. But we also know that the typhoon DID weaken and DID move away from Manila and the entire island!

A missionary friend here wrote an article detailing the path of the typhoon and how it changed course and weakened in the final day. At the end of his article, he wrote: "In layman’s terms, all but one of the models now agree that it will weaken as it hits the very northeastern tip of Luzon, and slow down and continue weakening, then eventually veer to the east and die in the western Pacific. Is this a coincidence, or has God answered our prayers? I am going with God."

Me too! I think we have just witnessed the hand of God showing us His mercy. We are so thankful! I know many of you joined us in praying for this. Thank you! And thank you ALL for ALL of your prayers. We have felt completely SAFE, BLESSED, LOVED, and at PEACE. Please continue to pray for the Filipino people who have lost so much.

So, next week the clean-up will continue. All our schools will resume classes. Life will go on. But there will always be storms of many kinds in this life, won't there? Let us accept them with God's grace and help. We will not have such storms in Heaven. These are our opportunities to trust Him and glorify Him. In order to do so, we must be sure our lives on built on Christ, the only Solid Rock.

Several times today I've thought of that children's song, "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock"...

Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the wise man's house stood firm.

So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
And the blessings will come tumbling down.

a great start on a new road

In my ISG small group, each of us has shared her "Life Story" or "Life Map". For many weeks, we took turns...each of us talking, sometimes for over an hour, sharing all the various twists and turns, ups and downs, seasons and chapters...all the ways the Lord has led us to the places where we are at present.

Each person's life is such an incredible journey, isn't it? Sometimes the slightest turns in the road can lead to amazing places you never dreamed.

One month ago, Corrie, our firstborn, turned such a corner in her life story. She went to school for the first time ever! She put on her school uniform, packed her lunch, loaded up her backpack, hopped on the van, and attended classes at Faith Academy.

Faith Academy is a wonderful school for around 500 missionary kids here in Asia, and particularly in the Philippines. We have homeschooled Corrie since she was 4 years old. All last year we thought and prayed about Corrie attending Faith Academy. And now she is officially an 8th grader there.

I have nothing but POSITIVE to report! Corrie is thriving, growing, learning, and loving it there! She loves all her classes and is doing well in every one...although studying "Density= Mass/Volume" in science and doing calesthenics in P.E. aren't her favorites! (But I'm so glad she is...she certainly wasn't getting those things as a student in the Merritt Academy!!)

She has already found a neat group of friends, both Korean and American girls her age, who are just what we've prayed for--friendly and fun!

Just the other day, Corrie came home and was telling me about a crazy volleyball game the girls had in P.E., and how they had all laughed and joked during the game. Corrie said, "Mom, I'm kind of surprised at myself...at how outgoing I can be!" In just one month, she is already blossoming right before our eyes. Everyday when she gets home, we sit down together, and Corrie goes through the details of her seven classes with me. I treasure those times. She has yet to have a "bad day". . . and we know those days will certainly come. But what a great start!

This picture was taken by Corrie's Bible class teacher. Corrie is in the front row wearing the blue jacket.

Thank you all. I know many of you have had a special burden for Corrie ever since we moved over here. From the start, moving overseas to Manila has been tougher for her than the rest of us. Several of you have prayed for her on a regular basis. And I know many of you have also prayed with us in this decision whether to send her to school. Thank you.

Please don't stop praying for Corrie. She is so intelligent, so gifted. Our concern and biggest prayer request continues to be for her heart. As with all of us who grow up in Christian homes, it's easy to have great amounts of head knowledge, yet lack the heart for God and spiritual truth. Corrie can recite chapters of the Bible by memory and give great answers to theological questions. But, as we told her recently, we wish more of that were moving down into her heart.



It's the longest 12 inches in the world isn't it? From our heads to our hearts...


But a big and loving Heavenly Father holds Corrie in His hands. He is the engineer and director of the train she is on. He is writing her life story. He knit her together. He knows her days from first to last before one of them came to be. He even loves her more than we do! Amazing!


I know that Corrie will always mark going to school as a turning point in her life. The road stretches open before her leading to many exciting possibilities. Who knows where the road will go? What her life story will be? We know who knows, and we are excited to be a part of this adventure.

In closing, I'd like to share one of my favorite quotes. Casper Ten Boom, a godly Dutch watchmaker in Holland who gave his life in WWII protecting the Jews, used to tell his daughters:


“When Jesus takes your hand, He keeps you tight.
When Jesus keep you tight,
He leads you through your whole life.
When Jesus leads you through your life,
He brings you safely home.”


One of those daughters was Corrie Ten Boom, after whom our own dear Corrie is named! She is being held tightly by Jesus. He will lead her all the way.

I pray you also feel the Lord Jesus' hand holding you tightly.

God's iPod

It all occurred in probably less than five seconds, but I'm sure I'll remember it for the rest of my life...

Huy and I were in traffic...around 8 p.m....dark and rainy...bad traffic...five lanes of cars just stopping and going...like a slow-moving parking lot...not unusual for Manila. Our 2-hour trip had become a 4-hour trip, and we were on the highway finally getting close to Manila. This was, as I said, highway traffic...no pedestrians around, as are common everywhere in the city.

Our AC recently broke down in our vehicle, and we had our windows halfway down to give some ventilation as well as help our windows to not fog up as much. They were still fogging up, however, and I was wiping the front windshield with a big towel. It was peaceful, just visiting, waiting, and listening to music together. We were finishing up an entire day of celebrating our 16th anniversary. We'd spent the day on the beach, doing much of the same thing...except for wiping the windshield, that is! We had read books, talked, prayed, and walked along the beach together. A blessed day, for sure.

Now, as we were almost home, I was picking out songs on my iPod, looking down at my music list. All of a sudden, several things happened simultaneously...I heard Huy yell loudly, and as I looked up, a hand came through my side window and ripped the iPod out of my hands. I looked out and caught a glimpse of a young man, around 13 years of age or so, trying desperately to get free of my towel that he had inadvertently grabbed along with the iPod. He flung it away and vanished.

Huy looked confused. "Why would he want to steal a towel?"

I was so stunned. I just stared at my hands and the unplugged wire that had connected the iPod to our car tape player...I was just realizing what had happened.

"Hon, he took the iPod!"

We weren't even in the outside lane of traffic. It was raining and dark. There were no pedestrians that we could see on this stretch of highway. I suppose all of that made it an ideal situation for the young thief.

It's amazing the thoughts and feelings that run through your mind after such an event. It was so shocking and a bit violent. I felt like crying. I felt frustrated that somehow I wasn't able to even realize what was happening and react in order to avoid it. I also felt compassion for this young thief...so wishing I could talk with him and give him my iPod along with some headphones, explaining to him that such things aren't our true treasures. (Don't admire my attitude too much...I know I can borrow Huy's old iPod anytime!)

"One thing's for sure," I told Huy, "that was God's iPod."

Our young thief gained an iPod. But he's also gained some prayer partners he might not have bargained for...as well as the Hound of Heaven pursuing him. I've decided to "name" our young friend "Zach" after another thief in the Bible to whom the Kingdom of God came. We'll probably never know this side of heaven the "rest of the story", but what a glorious, fun story it will be! Please say a prayer for "Zach"...and again anytime this story comes to your mind. Thank you.

It's also interesting that in our homeschool, the kids and I had just memorized Luke 12:22-34. We had a great discussion with our kids on the way to church the next day, telling them what had happened and about what and where our treasures actually are.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Joy of a New Friend

What a fun morning I had yesterday! I was able to introduce some of my young friends from Kansas to some of my young friends here in Manila.

Back in Wichita, the kids and I were part of "Central Homeschool Family Ministry" (CHFM), a wonderful homeschool coop which held classes once a week for homeschoolers. Our kids absolutely loved the classes and friendships there, and we still keep in touch with friends there.

Last spring, CHFM had a class on World Missions. A friend of mine who taught the class asked what the students could do for us here. As she and I brainstormed, we came up with the idea of having her students write to the young students here--the children of our seminary students who have their own school here on campus, "Achievers International School" (AIS), with consists of around 25 children from many SE Asian countries in a small school, similar to CHFM classes.

So, yesterday I popped into the AIS classes (with a handful of letters written by the kids in America), and was immediately greeted by young voices saying, "Good Morning, Ate Shelley!" in unison...what a sweet sound! I briefly explained to them that some American children, friends of ours back in Kansas, wanted to be pen pals (a new term for them) with them, and then I passed out the letters from America.

Did I mention how fun this was? Such joy shone from their smiles and eyes as they quickly opened the envelopes and held up pictures of children their own ages who live on the other side of the world. I listened to their voices and laughter as they dove into the envelopes as if they were Christmas gifts.

All of a sudden, as I was standing there amidst the joyful chaos...seeing pictures of dear children I know and love from America in the hands of dear children I now know and love here in Asia...I was deeply touched by the wonder of it all . . .

. . . the wonder and privilege of being a part of the Lord's family...the wonder of connections through Him that are deeper and surpass miles, borders, languages, and cultures...and the simple wonder of having a new friend.

What a small, beautiful world.

Trusting in the Silence

One of the classes I'm taking at the seminary is called "Communication in Ministry". Our assignment this week is to give a 5-minute talk on some turning point in our lives. I just wrote my talk tonight, and thought you all might enjoy reading it. Blessings to all of you as you trust the Engineer. --shelley.


Turning Point: Trusting in the Silence


From 1987-1990, I lived and did mission work in Taipei, Taiwan. I was single, and it was such an exciting time in my life. I was teaching English everywhere to children 3 years old to college girls to a lady over 60. I was involved in a ministry to young adults that grew from 15 people to over 100 people in three years. I was leading Bible studies, working in a trading company, sharing Christ with people, learning Chinese, experiencing another culture, and thoroughly enjoying it all.

Everything was going well, but I slowly began to sense that the Lord might be moving me somewhere or making some kind of change. I really hoped to stay in Taiwan longer. I felt like God might want me to go back to America. I applied to be a student in an intensive Chinese language program in Taipei. I prayed, “Lord, if I don’t get into this program, I’m going to take it that You want me to go back home.” I remember the day I got the letter saying that I was not admitted into the program. “Wow,” I thought. “God wants me to go back to America.”

I had no idea why God wanted me to go back home. My pastor in Taipei told me, “Well, maybe God has a man in America for you to marry.” I said, “Maybe, but I’m happy being single.” I wasn’t hoping for marriage. I had no direction from God. But I just felt certain God was leading me back to America.

So, I left Taipei, I shipped boxes of my things back to America, I packed my suitcases and bought my ticket for home. I left so many things I loved in Taipei: my friends, my ministry, my language studies, my Bible studies, the exciting city life, the Chinese culture. And I cried so many tears saying goodbye. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
And I went back to my home with my parents in America. I had no job. I didn’t even know where to start looking for work. I felt so out of place. Everything around me seemed so trivial and unimportant. I cried easily and often. And the worst thing of all is that God seemed so very far away. He had always seemed so close to me, and now when I needed Him the most, I couldn’t sense His presence. I couldn’t hear His voice. I couldn’t see what He was doing. I prayed and prayed, asking Him to please show me which way to go, but I felt nothing. I saw nothing. I felt like the Lord had brought me back and just dropped me without any explanation.


One night I was talking and crying with my Dad, and he said, “Shelley, sometimes it is darkest right before a corner. Keep trusting. I think there is a corner coming…and then you’ll see more and have more direction. It will be brighter. You have to trust and wait.”

So, I did. I decided to trust God even if I couldn’t see Him, hear Him, or feel Him. I knew I was still in His hands. I just took things one step at a time. I began to look for a job, and I got a job as a news reporter at a radio station. In church, I saw one Asian in our whole church. I quickly noticed him since I had just come back from Asia. His name was Huy Merritt, and he had just moved to our city the same month that I came back. He and I became friends and began leading a Campus Crusade for Christ group at a local college. We also started working with the youth in our church. We started going to a new singles’ group together. We started taking walks and playing tennis together.

We fell in love, and well...that's a whole new talk! But in 1993, we were married.

Corrie Ten Boom says that when you are on a train and it goes through a dark tunnel, you don’t jump up and run all over the train yelling, “Where are we going? What is going on??” No. Instead, you sit quietly in your seat and trust the engineer who is driving the train. He knows where you are going, and He will take you safely to your destination.

That’s exactly what happened to me in 1990. I went through a dark tunnel. I didn’t know where I was going. I couldn’t see out the windows. But I learned to sit quietly and wait for the Great Engineer to drive the train and lead me on in the journey. I came through the dark tunnel and saw that it had been a turning point. Now my life was going in a new direction, with a beautiful view out the window. How thankful I am that He is in control!

Huy's summer adventure

Hello! Shelley and I recently celebrated our one year anniversary in the Philippines. I praise God that He sustained and granted us the grace needed as we transitioned from my engineering job and living in the states to attending seminary full-time and doing ministry here in Manila. It has been all that we prayed it would be and much, much more.

While Shelley and the kids were back to the States for a visit during April and May, I had a team internship with the school here in Manila. One of the requirements of the seminary is that all students attend a team internship between the first and second year. The school groups us into teams of seven and puts us in a situation with people from other countries and cultures in a ministry setting so that we learn how to minister as a team, resolve conflicts and trust God to work through us.

Most of the teams work alongside churches but our team was the first team ever to work on the college campus for their internship. My team consisted of 3 Filipinos, 1 Malaysian, 1 Vietnamese, 1 Krygstany, and myself. Here is a picture of our team:
For five weeks, we ministered on two college campuses in downtown Manila. Since it was summer, there was not the normal number of students on the campus, but we still had an opportunity to do one-on-one evangelism and classroom evangelism to larger groups. I was able to do a “Success” seminar using my corporate background and used that as a platform to share Christ with the students. We also concentrated on mentoring, training, and encouraging the existing student leaders so that they would be refreshed to start ministering when school started up again. In this picture I am conducting a training session on "Having a Vision for Making Disciples". We really saw God open doors that only he could do. One of the schools was Philippine Christian University. Trust me when I say that the only thing that was “Christian” about the school was its name. The administration wanted to know why we wanted to come to a Christian school to share the Gospel since they were already “Christian”. I later found out that there were professors and deans that were openly gay and professors who taught that the Bible was not to be believed because it is not true. Hey…that reminds me of a number of the universities in the States! God, in His sovereignty, granted us open access to the campus, and we were able to share the Gospel with many students. God is awesome! Some of these students who made decisions are involved in ongoing discipleship and mentoring. Below is a picture of our team on campus with some of the student leaders that we mentored at PCU. Our team really bonded throughout the internship. Yes, we had conflict and miscommunication, but God used it in each of our lives to help refine us and equip us to better serve Him. Overall, it was a great experience working with the college students and getting to know my teammates on a deeper personal level.

After the internship was over, I was ready to have my family back in Manila. The 7 weeks that Shelley, the kids and I were separated were the longest time we had ever been away from each other. Thank you to all of our friends and family back home who made Shelley and the kids’ visit such a great one. I know that they all felt refreshed after the long visit.

Please pray for us as we start our second year of school and ministry. Thanks for all of your prayers and support this past year. Please keep it up! --Huy

HELLO FROM MANILA!! We're back and beginning our second year!

Hello Dear Friends!

Thank you for checking in on our blog. The kids and I have just returned from our two-month visit back in the States. What a WONDERFUL visit we had with family and friends! Huy had to remain in Manila for a 6-week team internship, during which he and a team of other seminary students lived together in another part of Manila and did ministry on two college campuses. He slept on the floor of their small apartment--(he said he felt something on his foot one night, and kicked a big cockroach across the room!), shared a bathroom with four or five guys, lived without air-conditioning during the hottest months of the year here, shared the Gospel, and did student leadership training, and had a great time with his team! (Here's Huy and his team below having some fun.) Our next post will have to be written by Huy about this time!

Since we wouldn't have seen much of Huy during those six weeks, we decided it was a good time for our first visit back home. We had an amazing time too! I have used the word "perfect" so often as I've talked about our visit with Huy, that he laughs everytime I say it. So, I'll try to be more creative with my adjectives here! But seriously, "perfect" seems to just be such a...well....perfect word to define our visit. Our weeks back home couldn't have been scripted any better.

When we arrived at the Denver airport, an instant lifetime memory was made as I watched the kids drop their luggage and run into the arms of "Mamoo and Pampa". We all just silently hugged and cried with joy for several minutes. (And here is my Mom (aka "Mamoo") later with all her grandkids at once, although Drew got buried behind Mom)...

Our weeks were full with all the things you'd expect: time--real, live, face-to-face, unhurried time--with my family, reading out on the deck in the early morning coolness, soaking up the spring sunshine with a cup of hot coffee, eating out with so many friends, the kids seeing their friends and having many sleepovers, games late into the night, family BBQs, visiting relatives, college roomies coming in for the weekend, making special foods, enjoying a great steak at the Outback, movies, cookies, sitting out under the stars, unhurried conversations... ...watching my Dad teach Drew how to shave (no, Drew didn't need to at all!) and how to change a flat tire (yes, we did need that!)...meeting with our church's missions pastor, speaking at my Sunday School class, worship, tears, laughter, favorite restaurants, driving through the Flint Hills and appreciating its glory in a whole new way, stopping to watch Canadian Geese landing on a pond... ...walks out to the El Dorado Lake Dam and sitting in the tall grass counting ladybugs with Karis, holding so many new precious babies, finding out that our children's (our our) precious friends, the Pressnell children actually saved snow for our kids to see!...(Isn't that one of the most thoughtful things you've ever heard of?)...and prayers and hugs....and those are just the first things that pop into my head! It was perfect. Our time was a gift from God.



The kids reconnected with friends, and the friendships were all just as solid and close as when they had left. What a blessing that was for the kids. And I think that really helped them in returning to Manila. Below is Drew sharing about our life in Manila with his old AWANA class.

Corrie and Karis baking cookies with cousin Anna, a vacation tradition!
We returned to Manila on May 30. The trip was long and tiring 24-hour, three flight affair, but went very smoothly...amazingly smooth for a Mom alone with four children, 10 pieces of luggage on an international trip. That was definitely an answer to many prayers.
During our visits with everyone back home, many of you told me that you read this blog on a regular basis. That just amazed and blessed me!! Thank you! While back in America, I was obviously busy and felt very connected to loved ones. Being back in Manila, I once again realize our need for prayer support and emotional connection. This blog helps us connect with you all and helps us pray for you and you for us. The Lord is our lifeline, and you all help us "hold the line" through your prayers.

On our first flight (of three) back to Manila, I wrote the following in my journal:

"There have been so many treasures, so many gifts from God, so many countless blessings on this trip. I've tried to stop and savor the moments. I've tried to memorize the scenes, faces, laughter...and I've tried to capture the days here in this journal. I've tried to store these treasures in my heart to take back with me that I might take them out in days and weeks to come...and look them over with a smile or maybe a tear, but always with a full heart of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for His amazing love and goodness to me. It's so rich, and I know I do not deserve an ounce of it. But I thank Him."

Our last week in America was spent in a vacation home my Dad and his brother recently bought in Colorado Springs, something they've wanted to do for probably 30 years. They just bought the house; it had practically no furniture, but my folks, my sister and her kids, and our kids, and I all went there and "camped out" in the new home for the last part of our visit before heading back to Manila.

What a GIFT those last five days were! The busyness of being in Kansas was over, all our special goodbyes and hugs were said, and our family had this wonderful buffer time to relax with family, play volleyball, hike, play games, and sit on the deck breathing in the cool pine air, hear the wind gently whisper through the pines, and gaze upon Pike's Peak.

The day we arrived was a stormy day, and the clouds obstructed the view of Pike's Peak. It was as if it were not there at all...only a plain horizon. It was really amazing to look out and know that the huge, majestic Rocky Mountains were actually there, but to see nothing. Nothing.

"What a great metaphor for life," I thought. There are two realities, aren't there? But one reality is greater, if I may put it that way. One reality is that there are cloudy days when my faith is certainly faith, not sight. It seems there is nothing there. Not even God. It's just bland, colorless, shapeless, empty, hard. But the reality is that there are Rocky Mountains behind those clouds! They are there, and the new morning will reveal them in all their glory. And they are huge. And they are there, no matter what my situation tells me, my feelings tell me, or my eyes tell me. They are there. And they are beautiful.