Grandma Birthday Video

Our mom got ahold of Movie Maker on the computer, and helped us put this together for our Grandma for her birthday. Hope you enjoy....we had a great time making it!

Tip: if you have fast internet service, you MAY be able to watch this. If you have turtle internet, you can forget about it. Also, if you will push play to start, then pause and let it stream to the end, it will be better than watching it stop/start every 3 seconds. If anyone has a better idea on how to load a 2 min video, please pass on the advice!!! I would love to know who was successfully able to watch the video. If I don't hear from anyone, I'll know it's not watchable and remove it!





Peter isn't really her grandchild, but he is always at our house, and wanted to
be included, haha :)

MeewMaw Birthday video

We have two grandparents with July birthdays, so we dedicate this video to MeeMaw Murphy. We were actually able to con Robert into joining the fun. Of course, the videographer (Connie) wishes the same birthday greetings, but behind the video;) We love you MeeMaw!

Summer activities....

We are soooo glad to be on our summer break here in the Philippines. We only have one slight problem. All of Jamin and Jesse's friends here in our subdivision have gone back to school. The Filipino school system goes from June-March. I really need to work this out better so that we can have the same summer break!!! During the week, the boys are totally bored out of their minds, and letting me know about it every minute. So....we are having to come up with creative ways to keep them busy, and to keep them from being homesick!!!

To add to the homesick note: please pray for the boys when you think about it. This is really the first time we have had this problem. For Jesse, it's off and on (more off than on....), but for Jamin, he is quite homesick for the states. Everything the boys know about the states is based on our furlough experiences. They don't remember living there much, especially not Jesse, seeing that he was 3 when we moved from Texas. Furlough for them is always a time to see old friends, have camp fires at MeeMaw's house, go swimming at Grandma's, spend time with cousins, eat lots of really good food at our favorite restaurants, and then of course, Disneyworld. Those are fond memories, and they are missing those.

It's really hard knowing that we don't belong in the States (for now), but then we don't really belong here in the Philippines. I'm not saying that God doesn't want us here anymore, I'm just saying as Americans, this is not our home country. We are here temporarily until God is through with us. And it is extremely hard for kids, at times, to find where they DO belong. Missionary kids are considered 'third culture kids'. Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyways, please pray that they will find contentment in being here for now. Our furlough is not scheduled until next Sept, and they are having a hard time knowing that it's still over a year away. I keep telling them that it will fly by fast.

All that to say, haha, we are having to keep them busy. Below are just a few things we have done recently....ok, so like this week for example....haha!

It seems like most posts have our boys swimming in a pool, but it's just how life goes;) I'm so glad that they swim like fish, and enjoy water. And especially that they love for their picture to be taken.

We pulled out the ol' Bingo game, and even took the challenge of 4-6 cards each. I know, you are saying "ewwww, ahhhhh, ohhhhh"!!! We were playing for candy!! Their Grandpa and Grandma Bruce sent about 20 or so packs of Certs (their favorite) from the states. They are constantly asking, ok, let me restate that....begging for me to give them some, so we put them up as a prize for winning Bingo rounds. Jesse looks real enthusiastic, but he really did enjoy it, if nothing else for the prize!

We have also pulled out the sidewalk chalk. This is something that is not rarely seen in the Philippines, or at least not in our neighborhood. When we started to write on the ground, we got many a stare from all the neighborhood kids. For a long time, they wouldn't even come near us to see what it was that we were really doing.....those crazy American Murphy boys...what are they up to now?? I'm sure that is what they were thinking, haha! But our boys were having a nice therapy session, as you can see with the love notes to their Grandma and MeeMaw!

This was an 'I love you' for Grandma Bruce from Jesse, but he never did finish the 'Grandma' part. Some of these pictures I messed with, to make the neon chalk stand out, and just because I was bored the afternoon I was editing these:)

Here is Jamin writing a note for MeeMaw Murphy, and Jesse with his silly head in the way;)

I know this one looks weird, but I thought it almost looked like someone had drawn Jesse in chalk on the ground. Ok, maybe not. But he did help his Momma color in the letters in his name.

Jamin is our artist in the group. Here are all of his chalkings....in case you can't tell what everything is, there is a mountain with sunset, a bowl of fruit, and banana (split), a dinosaur and a J-Rox, and some other stuff I can't remember what he drew. We have since then rinsed it off the road, so I have forgotten.

Can you tell Jamin is missing the states in this picture? :)

In the previous post, I had mentioned about a team from MS coming to Cebu. With them came a bunch of goodies from my Mom. She really gets into holidays, and since the boys missed being in the States during Easter, she sent them Easter Eggs for us to hide for them. We decided to take one of the rainy/windy typhoon days this last week to hide them in the house. They had help with Peter (who didn't have school because of the typhoon). Peter is their Korean friend that they have known for several years here in our subdivision, and is the same age as Jesse.

Anyways, the boys really enjoyed running around downstairs, (partially destroying it) to find these little plastic camouflaged eggs. My mom had even put prizes and Pokemon trivia questions inside as well, along with a bunch of "unnecessary" confetti.....thanks Mom...haha! I would put video on the blog of the hunt, but everyone has seen an Easter Egg hunt (though ours was in June), and it's too long to load, sorry!

Jamin showing off his booty.....I mean his treasures inside the egg: pirate eye cover.

It's amazing how cheap little plastic tops and yo-yo's can easily entertain our kids. They spent hours with Peter having "top" wars. See all those pretty colored pieces of paper on the table. Those were all over the floor, too:) haha! Probably can't tell in the windows, but it was pretty nasty outside. Oh yeah, and during all this, we were having a brown out, so that is why the boys were looking pretty sweaty through this whole egg hunt, besides the fact that they had been running around a good bit.

Our Boys Are Growing Up....

We recently hosted a team of 8 people in Cebu. These guys were from Bethel Baptist, in Fulton, Mississippi. Having 12 people total in our small 3 bedroom house was pretty crowded at times, but we enjoyed every minute of it, and wouldn't trade our time with this team for anything.

It's been awhile since Jamin and Jesse have gotten to participate in outreaches when teams come. During those times, we usually spend it correcting them, or trying to keep them controlled. This time, we saw our boys act more mature, and help without having to be asked so much. Especially Jamin....we saw a whole new Jamin evolve. It's sad, but exciting at the same time when we see our babies grow up....not just physically, but spiritually as well.

Our boys created a bond with this team. It was the first time they had cried when a team left. Man, we were all crying. This team felt like family to us, and having to say goodbye to family is always hard. We miss you guys!!!

Below are pictures taken while the team was here, but there are many more pics on our website as well, under the Photo section, May 2008. http://www.cebuanomissions.org/

Bethel Baptist team: (back row) Robert, Tracy, Jake, Dalton, J.T.
(front row) Carli, Ruthie, Jamin, Keely, Jesse, Michelle and Lindsey

Jamin chilling on the boat ride to Bohol.

I just couldn't help to get a picture of the sun hitting the water. We are always surrounded by water, being that we live on an island, but I forget how beautiful it is at times.

Jamin and Jesse help with hand motions to 'Deep and Wide' at our Bohol childrens outreach. Sad to say, our boys don't know many songs that I grew up with in Sunday School, but this song was one that was easy to catch on to. The boys were both asked at the last minute to say something to the kids as well. I was really proud of them for not chickening out. They just did it without any prodding. I didn't realize what was happening, and it happened so fast, that I didn't get any pics of them talking or any video footage. It was so crowded in that little outside waiting area. I was still a proud momma!

During each outreach, the team handed out bags with school supplies in them. The Filipino schools are back in session in June. Many in these areas don't have money for supplies. So instead of toys, we brought necessities. We also handed out juice and pan (which are little rolls here).

Father Abraham has been around for a long time!!! Here is their first attempt at the song....

Jesse is asking Tracy (the leader of the team) how he became so tall (6'5").

The team with some of the adults and kids from the Bohol outreach. As always, our 'funny' guy is making a face in the picture. Can you pick him out? :)

After the outreach in Bohol, we went to see some of the famous Chocolate Hills, along with seeing Tarsier monkeys. We have done this before, but it's been about 5 yrs or so. The Chocolate Hills of Bohol are perfectly shaped little domed hills, spread throughout the island of Bohol. They aren't brown, so I'm not sure why they are referred to as 'Chocolate'. The Tarsiers are only native to Bohol, and no where else in the world. They are too cute...but can be admired only by your eyes. No touchie!!!! We also paid p10 (about 30 cents) to see the butterfly exhibit, which is kinda cool, but hard to get the butterflies to stay still long enough to take pics.

After the taxi ride from our house to the pier, then a 2 hour boat ride to Bohol, along with the outreach and sightseeing, then the 2 hour boatride back to Cebu.....needless to say we were wiped that day. Here we are taking a jeepney to the mall from the boat. I had declared kitchen was closed at the Murphy house, and we were eating out for supper before going home. I felt sorry for the Filipinos sitting in the back of the jeepney with all the flashing of cameras. This was the team's first jeepney ride, and it was well documented. We didn't have enough room for Tracy and Robert to sit inside, so they are hanging off the back of it. The mall was just 5 minutes away, so they didn't have to hang for long.

Jamin and Carli
There's something about Jamin with girls named Carly/Carli. He and Carli bonded on the trip. I think Jamin meant to do the 'rocker' sign, but ended up doing the 'I love you' sign, haha. The team and the boys played Guitar Hero off and on during the trip, so hence the rocker sign.....or at least the attempt at the rocker sign.

The team with kids from Bangkal on our island, Mactan.

Keely and Jamin during the outreach. Jamin is not one for singing much, so he just did the hand motions. We did a round of Father Abraham, which was fun to watch. These kids had never heard of it before.

Jamin with his Ate Ruthie....Ate is pronounced (ah-tee), which is used as a respectful term for someone older than you. They are handing out school supplies here in Bangkal.

The last outreach was in Pakpakan. This is the place that we started our first bible study 5 yrs ago. Jess and Jamin are helping J.T. and Carli hand out school supplies.

The team did get to have some down time. The beginning of their trip involved a tiring trip up into the mountains of Leyte. The boys and I stayed at home to finish our schooling.....which we are finally through with for the school year....hurray!!!! Anyways, we thought it would be nice to take them to a nice resort here to eat. This is the same resort that we took Jamin for his birthday (pics shown in the previous post). The team was tired, but seemingly enjoyed the nice Italian restaurant, and then watching the ocean/sea life afterwards.

They also got to go snorkeling. For most of them, this was their first time. Our boys are old pros, and we have posted many snorkeling pics. So here are a few more to add to the bunch. Here is Jamin with his buds....Carli and Keely.

Jamin taking a pic of himself!

I always love pics taken with the boys and their Dad!

And of course, what are a group of pics of the boys without one with Jess' funny faces!!!

Okay....time for random pics. Here is a pic of Robert's gift to me....for no reason, but just that he could, and roses are cheap here. Gotta love my vase, huh? I didn't have an empty Coke bottle, or I would have used that, just to please Robert....since he is still an avid Coke fan/collector.

The following pics were taken right after Robert got back from his trip to Japan and Taiwan. We always miss him when he is gone, but really enjoy all the goodies he brings back.....especially the chocolate peanut clusters from Japan....yummy! Anyways, he brought both the boys these bandanas, and Jess' immediately got into character!