Other September activities....

As I was updating the boys' blog, I realized I left out a few last minute pics taken in September, that I thought I'd like to share with you guys. Below is an insane idea Jamin and Jesse thought of in a moment of boredom. Needless to say, we did this only one night, I think. This had emergency room written all over, however the guys had a blast rolling, scooting, sliding down our stairs on these foam mats.

I can't remember if we have told you about our pig project. This is something that Robert is working on, for a future livelihood project for pastors....but in the meantime, he has gone into business with Jamin and Jesse. They are learning how to budget their money to help pay for feed, shots, etc. At the moment, we have 4 females and 3 male pigs, (each of our sons having bought 2 pigs of their own) and hope to be breeding those in the coming months. Some of the piglets will be sold to other prospective buyers, and some will be raised for a yummy meal. Jamin and Jesse will get a cut out of all money made on the pigs (which really isn't much with all the start-up costs that have incurred so far). We think it will be a great learning tool for them. They get to help make important decisions concerning the pigs, also. We just hope they don't get too attached. We don't have these pigs living in our subdivision, thank goodness. We have them up in the mountains near one of the Simbalay bible studies.

Just a little school project....Jamin's first poster report in 6th grade. The Ilang Ilang tree is a popular (good smelling) tree here in the Philippines. The flowers are used for perfumes, etc.





More rock climbing pics.....the coaches are allowing the boys to be the 'belayer'....which is the person with all the ropes holding the person up, or catching them if they fall. I know...kinda hard to imagine your 9 and 11 yr old being the person responsible for someone's safety, but the coaches never left their side during the training. I think Jesse and Jamin really enjoy doing this part. We have been rock climbing off and on for several years, and it kinda gets old after awhile, so this made their day alittle more fun.

Jesse about to climb the green wall....




...and making it to the top.

Jamin getting all his gear on to start climbing the wall.

Jamin climbing the 40 ft. wall.

Jesse learning the electric guitar

Souveniers for Jamin and Jesse

Robert has had several opportunities this year to travel to different countries in Asia. This is actually my first time to post his travels on the boys' blog. With each country, he brings back really cool souveniers. This particular post is meant to show off those souveniers, and not meant to invoke any emotions towards the people group he was around.

Jamin and Jesse really enjoyed wearing the tribal hats around the house, though we said there was no way they could wear them outside. They also wore them for several days while they were doing school :)

Here is their currency....the coins actually feel like plastic or play coins that you teach with.

Below are a few pics that Robert took while travelling in a bus to his conference.






















He brought the boys 2 hats each.....and got him one also;)










I told Jesse that he looks really silly in that hat, but he doesn't really care. I think we are on day #3 of wearing it!

Visit with the Allen's

We really thought that because the Allen's lived closer to our family, that we would be able to see each other more often. However, because of busy ministry and homeschooling schedules, it seemed to be even more difficult. One day I just texted JoAnna and said, "Hey, we are coming to see you!" I don't think I asked if that was ok.....sorry Jo :)

As our kids are getting older, they are enjoying each other more. I can't believe it has been 6 years since we first arrived with the Allen family. The kids have grown so much, physically and spiritually. We really did have a great time in Bacolod with them. Robert is not present in any of these pictures because he was in Indonesia at the time.

The Allen's are blessed to have a neat, little waterpark nearby. The kids had an awesome time!! Below are pics of Jamin, Jesse, Carly and Caleb.....

After swimming for a couple of hours, the kids were starving, so Jo and Wade took us to a neat little pizza place called Mama Maria, known for the largest pizza in the Philippines. The kids enjoyed watching the pizza being made, along with eating the huge slices of Margarita Pizza. Nope, that isn't liquored pizza....it's the name they give for cheese pizza here, haha!














Our boys have always been cat lovers. The Allen family had plenty to play with....one momma cat and seven kittens!

Please don't freak out! We didn't really shoot this kitten across the room! We were just goofing!




Carly Allen...isn't she cute?




As I was packing for the trip to Bacolod, I came across Robert's old water balloon launchers that he made back when he was a youth director in Texas. It just so happen that I had 5 packages of water balloons that were going to waste if we didn't use them. And use them we did! Wade made out a chalked bull's eye on his driveway, and all the kid's had to go for the bull's eye instead of just letting them go wild and hitting each other with the water balloons. I won't say that that didn't happen, haha. We did throw a few....cough, cough...before it was all over!

Thank goodness he didn't let go, huh?....