It's crunch time!

Hello friends!

As I write this blog, I am surrounded by piles of clothes/pots/pans/papers/books/etc. All this stuff is about to drive me crazy - I feel like I'm on the verge of losing my sanity every time I walk into our house. (I'll remind you that a chaotic house does very bad things for my state of mind!) Figuring out this whole shipping deal has taken a bit longer than we thought it would, but we're still hoping to have everything we can live without for the next 6 weeks packed and gone by Thanksgiving. Thankfully we've got the help of some really great people from Friends in Action who help missionaries with shipping their belongings overseas all the time. What a huge help and wonderful blessing!!!! (Just so you know, this is the FIRST time in our 8 international moves that we've been able to ship things. Every other time we've driven ourselves crazy trying to decide what to get rid of and what to fit into our airline-allotted suitcases. That is not fun at all. I am very relieved that we can do it differently this time! And I hope that our final days here will be much less stressful without having to worry about packing the majority of our things.)

I just got back from visiting my best friend Laurie and her family. I took Levi and Emma and we drove a couple of hours south to their place, which is on the beautiful west coast of Florida. It was so much fun seeing where they are living and being able to have almost 2 days of talking time with each other and playing time with our kids. Here are a few pictures of our time with them...

 

 

And this weekend kicks off our Thanksgiving Meisel family get-together! My dad's brother and his whole family will be arriving from California, Chicago, and Colorado this weekend and we'll all be spending next week together. Since we were all together last (the summer before we left for the Philippines), 6 babies have been born, so we've got a lot of catching up to do. :-)

Then just a few days after they all leave, two of our dearest friends will also be arriving for a week-long visit. Danny and Philippa recently arrived in California from the Philippines for their furlough. We last saw them in June (the tribal village we visited is where they work), and since we really didn't want to think about saying our permanant goodbyes then, we all decided that they would come see us in Florida before we left the States. (Not too long after we leave for Norway, they'll be heading over to Northern Ireland to where Philippa is from. I wonder if we'll decide next month that we don't want to say goodbye quite yet and then plan another get-together in Europe early next year...hehehe!)

Yet again this has turned into a pretty long post, and I'm sorry about that. I've actually decided that I'm going to change the way I do this blog, but I won't do much about it until we're a little more settled early next year. :-) There also might not be much blogging activity in the coming weeks as our departure preparations and the holidays collide (BOOM!) and then as we move across another ocean. Our emotions are all over the place lately, and we'd appreciate your prayers in the next month as we get ready to leave. I do want to say, however, that we've been so encouraged in recent weeks hearing from many of you who follow our family through our blog. And just so you know, a couple of weeks ago, Markus added a feature on the right sidebar where you can sign up for our English or Norwegian newsletters. Most of you are probably already on our list, but if you'd like to be added, just sign up! :-)

And this is all from us for now!

-Sarah-

Birthday parties and fall fun!

Happy November 3rd! I am in such a cheery mood today after a my extra hour of sleep this weekend AND because I've been enjoying a continual sugar-high from all the candy in the house. (Shhh...don't tell Levi and Emma that I got into their trick-or-treat bags!)

This past week just flew by. We can't believe that it's already November, and also can't believe how quickly our calendar is filling up for our last weeks here. In church on Sunday morning, the pastor was using a story from his world travels as an illustration during the message, and as he said the words "passport control," I got a sinking feeling as it reminded me of something I'd totally forgotten for the past few months : the kids' American passports expire next week and I was supposed to renew them last month!!!! Anyway, I'm thankful that we were reminded of that because there's no way we'd be going anywhere next month without their US passports since they're the ones we used when we entered the US this summer. (We've already renewed their Norwegian passports a couple of times, and I sometimes wonder how much money we've forked over for their passports, renewals, visas, and all the travel expenses to the different embassies in all 3 countries to do all of that...)

Here are some pictures from the last week to keep you a little entertained. Boy are we loving and trying to soak up all the time we can with my family. I don't know if it's normal to spend as much time together as we do, but what I do know is that it's going to be a very sad day when our departure day arrives.

First of all, my two wonderful grandfathers (Grandpy Jones in New Brunswick, Canada and Grandpa Meisel here in Sanford) celebrated their birthdays this past Tuesday. Here are a few pictures from Grandpa Meisel's birthday dinner last Sunday.

Our little Olivia is now rolling, scooting, and pushing herself into a sitting position from laying on her tummy. How quickly she's growing!!!

Two of my most favorite people in the whole entire great big wide world. Grandma is hard at work making the delicious meal (everything that comes out of her kitchen is amazing) and Grandpa is lending a hand.

Yummy birthday cake!

Here are some porcelain dolls that my Grandma has had for years. As young girls, my sisters and I used to fight over which doll we would "be." (No one ever wanted to get stuck being the one of the far left.)

Here is the family getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to Grandpa. Grandma had 5 candles on his cake - one for each of the great-grandkids to blow out, and of course one left for the birthday boy! (Are there any other families out there who sing "Happy Birthday" in 3-part harmony or are we just weird?)

And here is Grandpa (who is affectionately called "Gigi" by this crew) with 5 of his great-grandbabies. (He's got 3 more spread across the country!) Since we had his birthday dinner several days before his actual birthday, my sister Elisabeth and I brought the kids over for a quick visit on his special day.

We went for a little walk to the pond behind their house.

Do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? Well we did, and when we looked down into the water, we saw this creepy little guy looking up at us. He's a baby alligator about 3 feet long, and the alligator removal people won't come and get him until he's at least 4 feet long. Yikes!

And now onto some pictures from Saturday night. We dressed the kids up and drove them around town to a few different homes so that they could load up on candy as well as entertain all the grandparents!

Here is Spiderman.

(Here's a peek at his face just in case you weren't sure if he was the REAL Spiderman or not!)

And here is the back of Tinkerbell (or "Twinkle Bells" as she called herself). She was "flying" so quickly that we couldn't get a picture of her face!

All 4 kiddos dressed up. We have Tinkerbell and Tinkerbell (there were a few arguments as to who was the REAL Tinkerbell...), Yoda from Star Wars, and a very muscular Spiderman.

And the highlight of everyone's night...Olivia the pumpkin!!!!

There was some fighting over who got to hold the pumpkin, but we wanted to take a picture for Auntie Joanna who we missed oh-so-much.

And lastly, this past Sunday was our neice Ella's 4th birthday! As you can see, she and Emma are best of friends.

My sister Elisabeth makes the yummiest cakes, and this one was pretty amazing! A delicious chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting! (And this is coming from someone who is not a big fan of cake...)

The cousins all lined up to help Ella open her presents. (Lined up behind them are some of the grands and great-grands that were present. Little Ella has both sets of grandparents as well as several great-grandparents living just minutes from her house. What a lucky little girl she is!)

And this is all for now! Hope each of you have a wonderful day wherever in the world you are!

-Sarah-

Our “Epp”-ic Week

I don’t think that we’ve ever experienced time fly by so quickly. From the moment we got Don, Char, Thea, Koi, and Zane from the airport, the minutes began zooming past. I guess that’s just what happens when you’re in the company of great people!

Just to give you a bit of an idea of what these guys mean to us… We met them 8 years ago during our NTM training in England. They were married and pregnant with Thea while we were off in the La-La-Land Of Falling In Love, so we didn’t do much more than just wave and smile at each other in the hallways and stop every now and then for some small-talk-chit-chat. (However my sister Elisabeth and her husband Matthew were their next-door neighbors and good friends that year.) But 9 months after we moved to the Philippines, we relocated from the capital city to a small town 6 hours north where we began buying and shipping supplies for all the NTM tribal missionaries in that region, and the Epps happened to be one of them! Besides lots of emailing back and forth about what kinds of toilet paper to buy and whether or not the eggs we sent in were rotten, we enjoyed spending time with them when they were having breaks from the tribe.

(Insert memories of my disastrous cooking that Char was always able to fix, dance parties for Char and I and the kids with music blaring, and late nights for Don and Markus as they watched manly movies and UFC fights.)

And that’s about when Donovan got very sick with typhoid fever and almost died in the tiny provincial hospital close to our home. In situations like that, you’d do anything for anyone no matter how well you do or don’t know them, and we experienced first-hand how a relationship can deepen when such a life-changing event is shared. After Don had an emergency flight to the capital city for treatment and was stable enough to be moved to the NTM guesthouse, our family was able to drive down and be with them for a few days.

(Insert memory of 2-year-old Koi and not-quite-2-year old Levi playing and splashing with their hands in the toilet that was quarantined for Don as we, the responsible parents, sat in the room next door clueless. Keep in mind that typhoid is transmitted by what goes in the toilet to the mouth…praise God neither of them got sick!!!)

Soon after that, my younger sister Joanna made the long trip to the Philippines to stay with and help their family for several months as Don continued to regain his strength and Char continued learning language in the tribe as her stomach quickly grew with little Zane inside. (I’d like to take credit for the brilliant idea of Joanna going to them and sometimes I try to, but the truth is that it was completely orchestrated by God - how it all worked out so quickly and how she was such an amazing fit for their family.)

(Insert memory of Don and Markus picking up Joanna from the airport in Manila. They got lost and then got pulled over by a policeman and ended up being several hours late to get her as she sat outside on the road in the middle of the night all alone in a foreign third-world country listening to her i-pod.)

The months Joanna spent with them were special for all of us. Special for me because I got to know her all over again since she was so young when I left home and also because she was the first in our families to really get to know Levi and Emma.

(Insert memories of Emma and I taking the bus down to Manila to meet up with Joanna and the Epps as they waited for Zane's arrival. In the midst of all that, I had to have my big toenail removed and we all have vivid images of me hobbling around the malls and across busy highways with my toe in a large cast. And I will NEVER forget the time I took Thea and Emma across town to meet a friend and we returned to the guesthouse by taxi late that night. The driver began driving erratically and taking us in the wrong direction and wouldn't respond to me or slow down when I asked him to, and I was so scared that something bad was going to happen to little Thea and baby Emma, and on top of it all I didn't have any load (minutes) left on my cell phone to call anyone for help. In the end I realized he was only driving the wrong way to get more money from me, and we arrived safely back at the guesthouse after a very long drive.)

Special for the Epps because she became part of their family and was such a blessing to them. And special for us as a collective group because she was just one more special “link” that the Epps had to the Meisel family. We had a fun-filled, wonderful, and joyous Christmas celebration that year as well as a great time at our annual field conference…all with Joanna in tow!

(Insert memories of Char’s homemade chai tea, watching “Elf” and laughing ‘til we cried, Koi in his sagging diapers refusing to go potty at my house and always running up the hill and across the property to use his own toilet, Thea getting reprimanded by Char for drawing pictures of her family on our whiteboard with a permanent marker even though I was so happy to have her sweet markings permanently etched in our office, driving down to Manila at 4 AM and stopping at one of the biggest malls in the city to buy diapers IN OUR PAJAMAS – a huge NO NO in Filipino culture, Don driving through crazy rush-hour Manila traffic with 5 screaming kids and 4 nervous adults squeezed in the back of the minivan as his favorite heavy-metal “driving-in-Manila-traffic-music” blared, getting kicked out of a Starbucks for creating chaos with Kentucky Fried Chicken, poopy diapers, wild kids and nursing babies, and of course finding the last-minute deal for super cheap rooms at the 5-star Shangrila hotel in Manila and getting adjoining rooms but we all wanted to be together since it was Joanna’s last night before she left and we stayed up so late that we all fell asleep squished together on our huge bed.)

Well I could go on and tell you about how they encouraged us and offered to fly out of the tribe to help us when Markus was badly burned and had to be flown to Manila. Or how we videotaped our goodbyes the last time we saw them before our family left for a short furlough so we’d have that to remember. Or how just days before we were scheduled to fly back to the Philippines, their family had to return immediately to Canada for little Zane who was having unexplained seizures and how we were unable to sleep and our hearts ached that we were so far away and couldn’t help. Or how for the last 2 and 1/2 years we have all really tried hard to stay in touch via e-mail, Skype, telephone, and packages so we could share each other’s burdens even though we were thousands of miles apart and none of us are that great at keeping in touch. And (ha ha) there was the time about 8 months back when my head was full of lice (surprise…I never did share that with any of you due to embarrassment, but now the secret’s out!) and we were in Manila and knew that they needed a bit of cheering up. So we video-Skyped them so they could see Markus picking the nits and lice out of my hair as we shared our hearts and shed some tears for each other…

Ahhh, yes. This is what I mean by them falling into that category of the “good friends who become like family” kind of friends. I think you know what I mean now. :-) And without further ado (because I think this introduction was quite long enough!) I present to you the pictures from the 8 wonderful days that the Epp family came to Sanford!

Here are Don, Char, Thea, Koi, and Zane (just a newborn baby!) as we last saw them in early 2007.

Koi and Levi were just 2-year-olds toddling around…

“Dance parties” were a common occurrence in our house when the Epps were present. Here are Thea and Levi showing off their sweet dance moves.

Little Zane on the last day we saw him…

So fast forward 2 and a half years to last Friday!!!!!

All 5 kiddos eating breakfast on Saturday. Each morning Emma and Zane would drink milk, Levi and Koi guzzled the apple juice like no one’s business, and Ate Thea simply wanted lukewarm water.:-)

Uncle Matthew probably didn’t expect to be hounded by all the kids as soon as he put together his big kite… :-)

Thea, Koi, and Levi flying Uncle Matthew’s kite.

Auntie Joanna having a picnic with Thea and Emma.

Zane taking a little nap…

That evening we all (minus Markus who had some work to do at home) went to a pumpkin patch!

Char and Thea, saying “I love you!” to the camera!

ZANER!!!!!! I still can’t get over how big and beautiful this little guy is!

Levi and Koi.

The Epps with all 4 Meisel sisters! What a happy day for them to experience what it’s like to be with all of us…hehehe…

Auntie Joanna had to leave after just a couple of days to return to Chicago. Thea especially loved having her here. It’s so special to see the bond that was formed between the Epps and her during the months she lived with them in the tribe.

In my opinion, goodbyes are never fun, so I can’t figure out why Joanna is smiling and thumbs-upping as she hugged me goodbye. ????? Any thoughts on that Joanna???

Levi and Koi kept busy all week playing with legos, cars, bikes, and catching geckos in jars.

Beautiful Char at the beach one evening even though she felt miserable with a bad cold. Would you believe that after a long period of 90 degree temperatures, a cold front came through the night they arrived?? They were a bit disappointed by the cooler temperatures, but it did warm back up to the 80’s for their last couple of days.

My favorite picture of the week! Poor Zane’s sand castle collapsed and I couldn’t resist his adorable sad face. (And, yes, I did help him rebuild it!)

Emma and Thea searching for seashells. Thea was such a good “Ate” (big sister) to Emma.

Making Don’s mom’s famous verenica and smonfat for the big meal we all had at Elisabeth and Matthew’s house!!!!

Nice Canadian place settings, eh?

Me, my youngest sister Lydia, Char, Don, brother-in-law Matthew, and my older sister Elisabeth eagerly anticipating the meal.

Getting ready to leave for the beach…here is Markus pumping our tire with a bicycle pump. (Char and I got a kick out of this.)

Eating lunch – Char’s yummy taco salad!

A small army of sunburned and tired kiddos!

Auntie Char with baby Olivia! (Can’t NOT have a picture of my sweet baby girl niece on here!)

Don, Matthew, and Markus

Thea and Emma.

Don and Markus at the airport early Saturday morning. (Please excuse our sunburned, sleep-deprived faces!)

Me and Char. Our final glimpse of the Epps. So thankful for the brief time we could have together. And now the question is where and when will we meet again????

So there you have it! A brief summary of the wonderful days we were able to spend together. As you probably guessed, there was very little sleep happening for the adults, and we had quite a few very late nights because there was so much to be caught up on. Lots of talking, lots of laughing, and quite a few tears…but one thing is for sure! It was definitely an “Epp”-ic week for all of us!

(Whoa, that was a cheesy last line!)

And good night from me…this post has taken me several evenings to write and I’m ready to be done and go read my new book! :-)

-Sarah-

Passing through

Well I'm thinking that my last post was indeed a little too long...it doesn't seem like it caught the lasting attention of that many of you. Sorry! ;-)

We've been feeling a bit nostalgic the last week or so. We've hit (and passed) the halfway mark for our time here in the US, but I could have told you that even if I hadn't looked at a calendar. Just in the last week we started to get that unsettled/out-of-place sort of feeling that comes around this time during transitions. (It's hard to explain, but I know some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.) We've been here long enough to start to feel that natural urge to "settle down," yet we know that we can't. And even if we could, I don't know that we'd want to... It's hard when we feel so out of place...here and there and everywhere!

I sometimes look at Levi and Emma and wonder what is going on inside their little heads. They frequently talk about how excited they are to move to Norway this December, but they still think (no matter how many times I correct them) that we're ultimately heading back to "our house" in the Philippines. I know they are still young and relatively easy to drag around the world, but we've seen it take its toll on them in different ways. (Like when Emma systematically ripped off complete fingernails the week before we left the Philippines.)

I don't mean for this to sound depressing or for you to feel bad for us...I just wanted to share what we've been thinking about this week. (And like I said before, I know some of you can completely relate to this.) Our hearts are torn between 3 continents, our families and our dear friends who became like family are spread out between 3 continents, and each day I feel differently about our future plans and where I want to live. (Good thing that we know it's not a good idea to rely on feelings, huh?) I do think, however, that we're probably getting to experience in a tangible way the truth that we're just passing through this world, a world that is not our home. It'll be quite the day when we're finally HOME, won't it? Until then, we're thankful for our Heavenly Father who is with us each step of the way.

So we look with anticipation to Friday when the Epps arrive. Lately we've really been missing our co-workers and friends back in the Philippines. I think we could use a big dose of the "dear friends who became like family" kind of friends right now!

In closing, here are a few pictures that my sister took a couple of months ago. (www.elisabethnixonphotography.com) Needless to say, she does great work. I put them up on my facebook account, but I know that not all of you are on there (yet!) and I've been meaning to put them on here for quite some time now.

Good night from here...
-Sarah-

18 states + 2 Canadian provinces = September travels!

(And, oh does it ever feel good to be back in our own beds!)

We have been back for over a week now, but it’s taken me a while to get back into the swing of blogging again.

We had a really good time catching up with (and for Markus and the kids, meeting) friends and family during our trip. We’re so thankful for safe travels (6,000+ miles) and only 3 vomiting episodes while on the road. (I’d say that’s pretty good for 2 little people who ate pretty much nothing but “traveling food” (translated = JUNKFOOD) for a whole month!)

The weather was gorgeous (albeit a little cold for our tropical tastes, although since we will soon be moving to the arctic, we need to toughen up).

Our “main” stop was in New Brunswick, Canada where we spent a week with my mom’s parents, siblings, their children, and all of their families. It was great to see all of them and spend time with them. And of course we enjoyed all the stops in between – generous friends in North Carolina, family and lots of Meisel relatives in beautiful central Pennsylvania, more relatives during several stops in New England, my sister JOANNA in Chicago, and a dear friend in Tennessee. (We had planned to spend a few days with family friends in Atlanta on the way home, but we had to cancel because of the flooding that was happening right as we were planning to come.)

Here are some pictures to document our journey…

Having a swingin’ time at our first stop in North Carolina after our first full day on the road. (You will see an obvious difference between the quality of pictures Markus took – the 2 below – and the ones I took – most of the rest of them.)

 

Then we drove north through New England (with a quick overnight stop in Central Pennsylvania) until we arrived in Vermont for the 50th anniversary party of my great-uncle and great-aunt. After that we continued driving north with stops in New Hampshire and Maine until we arrived in Canada.

I couldn’t resist doing some barrel-picking to the detriment of “my good health”…

This is for the rest of you “The Office” fans out there….

It was a hard weekend in Vermont for the city folk who couldn’t get cell phone signal up in the mountains. My dad figured out that if he stood up on the railing of the deck, he could get a faint signal on his phone. :-)

Going for a walk!

Two little sweethearts with pretty flowers that they picked just for me!

Grandma Esther picking apples from the tree her great-grandmother would pick apples from.

My mom and her father standing in front of the old farm where he and his siblings grew up.

 

Queens and king of the mountain (or large rock)!

 

The church that my grandfather pastored for many years in New Hampshire; where my mom grew up.

Lots of relatives gathered to celebrate Uncle Gill and Aunt Sally’s 50th anniversary.

Levi and Emma snuggled together on pappa’s lap during a reception for all of us during one of our stops. They needed little breaks every now and then from all the kind people eager to meet them. :-)

On our way to the Canadian border, we stopped in Maine at a gas station to meet up with my grandmother’s brother and his wife.

A glimpse into the backseat of the van!

Finally we arrived in Canada and it was COLD! Well, at least it was COLD for us thin-blooded, used-to-the-heat people. :-)

Here is the longest covered bridge in the world! This is close to where my mom’s family lives.

 

Check out this adorable little guy! This is Levi, my cousin and his wife’s little one.

Our Levi “driving” his great-uncle Donnie’s tractor.

 

Just one of many family gatherings, which of course centered around FOOD!

During one of the days we were in New Brunswick, we (Markus and I along with my sister Elisabeth and her hubby Matthew) decided to make a day trip to Prince Edward Island. Anne of Green Gables, here we come!!!!!! (Although APPARENTLY the movies were filmed somewhere in Ontario. That was a letdown…)

Elisabeth and me in front of the Anne of Green Gables visitor center. This was as close as we got to going inside – we didn’t want to fork over the $15 to enter.

Our wonderful husbands who put up with our Anne of Green Gables obsession and took us to P.E.I. in the first place. Thanks boys!!!!

 

My older sister Elisabeth and her husband Matthew.

Markus and me with sweet Olivia!

Aunt Marilla’s raspberry cordial!!!!!

After our week in Canada, we drove all day back down to Pennsylvania where we spent 4 days with my dad’s relatives. It was great to catch up with everyone there, and Markus enjoyed meeting my paternal grandparents’ siblings (did you catch that?) and their families.

This is Quiggleville, a little town/village full of MEISELS! How much cooler of a place could there be??? :-)

This odd little horse creature took a great liking to Markus and followed him around like a puppy. Very funny. :-)

My Aunt Bonnie sells pumpkins each autumn, and it’s a popular attraction in their area. The fall colors were beautiful.

After our time in PA, we took a western detour to visit my younger sister Joanna in Chicago! Thank you so much to my cousin Jared and his wife Rachel for letting us all crash in your apartment that weekend!

First of all, does anyone recognize this guy? Yep, that’s the actor Vince Vaughan and yep, we stalked him like stalkers so we could get a picture. :-)

Joanna wanted to let us experience some authentic Chicago-style pizza….

 

Wow. That is one BIG pizza!

Joanna and her roommate Julianne VanPeursem who is pretty much one of the Meisel sisters since she had the privilege (or should I say the unfortunate experience?) of living with our family a few years ago. :-)

The kids loved the “beach.” (FYI - apparently back behind those big buildings somewhere is where Oprah lives…)    

Waiting for the train.

 

Here it comes!

We enjoyed the big city energy. It was very different to the big city that we’re used to…for starters it is waaaaaaaay cleaner in Chicago.

Some art in the city… (Weird???)

And of course we had to stop at the Bean.

There we are in our Bean reflection!

    

After Chicago we headed down to Tennessee and then Atlanta, Georgia before finally arriving home. (Our cameras never left their cases in the last couple of stops.)

So there you have it! I didn’t have time to go through all the of the pictures we took, but as you can see, I still managed to find more than enough!

Immediately after we got home (like, as in the morning after we got back) we repacked our bags and headed to the beach for the weekend for an NTM retreat, although we kept telling the kids it was to celebrate Levi’s birthday. :-)

Levi’s birthday presents! (As you can see, we have officially entered Lego-mania!!!!!)
 

The lovely east coast of Florida.

When it got too warm in the afternoons, this is where we all went….

The hotel.

Always nice to have a pool for the kids!

Someone had to hold baby Olivia while everyone else swam…you didn’t have to ask me twice!!! :-)

   

And this is the end of this very long post! I hope I was able to keep your attention through the whole thing, and I will try to never again make a post this long. There are a few more things I was thinking about sharing, but I’ll save those for another time. :-)

Right now we are looking at a very full calendar for the rest of the month, with the biggest highlight being the Epp family coming to visit us next week! (For those of you who don’t recognize that name, they are good friends and co-workers of ours from the Philippines who have been home in Canada for the past 2 years due to medical issues. My younger sister Joanna spent 6 months living with them in their tribal location back when Emma was an infant, and my older sister Elisabeth and her husband went through Bible School with them back in 2001, so they are tightly connected to all of our hearts! It worked out for Joanna to fly home from Chicago for part of the time the Epps will be here, so we’re looking forward to a wonderful time together!)

-Sarah-

Happy Birthday, Levi!

Our sweet boy Levi turned 5 years old today! (Where have the years gone???) It will probably be a few more days until I am able to post pictures from today, but I wanted to take a few minutes to mention our sweet little boy on his special day!

Dear Levi,

Five years ago you arrived on a cold autumn day in Bergen, Norway. Even though it took you almost 3 days to come out and we were both so tired and exhausted when you finally made your grand entrance, nothing could have prepared us for the joy and love we felt when we saw you for the first time. Since you were born, you’ve spent countless hours in airplanes traveling back and forth across the world, and we’ve been so amazed with your flexibility and excitement for life even in the midst of big changes (like having to leave all your toys behind over and over again). We’re so thankful that God entrusted you to our family, and we have had so much fun watching you learn and grow these last 5 years. We look forward to all that is in store for you in the years to come, and we pray that you will grow up to love God and want to live your life for Him.

So…Happy Birthday, dear Levi Matteus! We love you so very, very, very much!

Love,
Mamma and Pappa

Look how you’ve grown from 2 days old until now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last month (and there’s a WHOLE lot of stuff to write about…)

I have to admit that I was shocked when I saw that it’s been well over a month since I last posted on the blog, and I admit that is very unacceptable. I seem to forget that even though we’re together with my family, we’ve still got Markus’ whole family who are living across the ocean, as well as friends and relatives scattered across this continent and the rest of the world wondering if we’ve dropped off the face of the earth. So as you can see, we are still alive and kicking. (And having a whole lot of fun!!!)

After our wonderful first month here, we all fell victim to the same thing that we always fall victim to each time we move across the world and the newness and adrenaline wears off – major sickness and extreme exhaustion. It took a good 2 weeks for Markus and me to be back on our feet, and even then we were still dragging our feet and wondering why we still felt so tired. But with some good rest and lots of sugar-coated drugs for our aches and pains, we survived! :-)

The last few weeks have also held quite a few meetings for us. We’ve had invitations to share at church services, Bible studies, some Sunday School classes, and youth meetings, and it’s been so neat and humbling to see that many people have been praying for us these last 4 years. We were also asked to teach the 6th-12th grade Sunday School class at our church, and are looking forward to being a part of the lives of the kids in that class.

For the last 2 weeks Markus was able to take part in the international meetings here at NTM’s headquarters. He really enjoyed the meetings and especially enjoyed Stuart Briscoe who was the keynote speaker each morning. It was also fun to see friends working all around the world that we haven’t seen in years. We were able to have different ones over for meals during that time, and one night there were 6 different countries represented around our dinner table! (England, Holland, Germany, Norway, America, and the Philippines.) Levi and Emma continue to be fascinated by different languages, and frequently want to look at a world map to refresh their memories about where their friends and family are. Their little ears are amazingly always tuned into conversations around us when we’re out and about, and they love finding people who are speaking different languages.

I (Sarah) have also thoroughly enjoyed seeing and catching up with old friends. (Although they technically wouldn’t be considered “old” since they’re all still in their 20’s…) Some of my best friends from school have had babies since we were last home, so it’s been special to catch up with them and hold their sweet little ones. And I know I’ve said this before (but I can’t not say it again), it is just so wonderful to be with our 2 nieces and 1 nephew. Baby Olivia has changed so much since we arrived 2 months ago, and there’s nothing I’d rather be doing that holding her as much as I can! Just these last 2 weeks she’s begun laughing, finding her fingers, and reaching for toys. I missed out on this with pretty much all of our other nieces and nephews both here and in Norway, so I’m going to soak it in as much as I can!!!! (If you want to see the precious little Olivia, check out my sister’s blog from the other day.)

And of course we’re still packing in as much family time as we can. It occurred to some of us not too long ago that we’re probably really overdoing it with togetherness…but that hasn’t stopped us! We generally begin each day by calling around to see what mom and the other sisters are up to for the day, and somehow try to work it out so we can see each other at some point during the day if our schedules allow. When we really stop to think about it, it won’t be long until December 29th is here and we board another plane to take us far away again. We still are trying to make up for the last 4 years of missed time…we haven’t even begun thinking about the next 4 years!! Already the Meisel sisterhood has been broken though…Joanna (the #3 sister) left last week to return to school in Chicago. It was so great to have 2 months with her, though, and we’re planning on flying her home a couple of times this fall for some special family times!

Before I begin inundating you all with some fun pictures, I’ll just mention that we’ll be leaving next Wednesday for about 4 weeks on the road. We’ll be traveling up to New Brunswick, Canada to visit my mom’s family. I haven’t been up there since the summer I turned 14, and neither Markus nor the kids have ever been there or met our family up there. Along the way up and back down, we’ll be stopping in various states to visit other relatives, friends, supporters, and churches. One highlight will be the 617 mile detour we’ll make to visit my #3 sister Joanna in downtown Chicago where she’s going to school at Moody Bible Institute. FUN!!! My parents will be traveling with us for the entire trip, which we’re really looking forward to. We’re praying for safety and that we can be an encouragement to everyone we visit along the way.

Ok, and now for some pictures to show you what we’ve been up to this past month!!!!

Before we all got sick, we went to a butterfly sanctuary early one Saturday morning. The kids loved searching for the butterflies, and the daddies loved taking pictures. :-) The workers warned us that we might only be able to last in the greenhouse a few minutes at a time since it was so warm and humid in there, but Markus and I had to laugh when we walked in and felt RIGHT at home…just like being back in the rice fields of Northern Luzon.

Here’s Uncle Matt (my sister’s husband) pointing out butterflies to Levi and Ella.

A few butterfly shots that Markus got.

And here’s my favorite picture of the day. Who wouldn’t know that they are father and son?

Now onto the next series of pictures…just a few miscellaneous of Grandma Esther and the grandbabies. I’m not quite sure who is having more fun while we’re here – the kids who continually have my mom asking for them all to come over to play or swim or have a sleepover or go to the park, or my mom who for some reason seems to love doing it!

A very typical quiet-time scenario.

The 4 big munchkins making silly faces for Grandma Esther at the park. (Baby munchkin Olivia is off to the side, out of view.)

Now if we were in the Philippines, this picture would be perfectly normal (I’m talking about the infant sitting on someone’s lap instead of in a carseat) but don’t worry – the car was parked and turned off for this picture!!! Here is Grandma Esther with all the grandbabies, just about to head over to a park for the morning. Baby Olivia stayed with her mommy, and Lydia (sister #4) and I were in the front of the van.

Here’s another early Saturday morning when we all went to the beach. We left home at 7 so we could try to have a few hours to play in the sand and water before it got too hot. Unfortunately we only lasted until about 10:30, but it was fun anyways!

Grandpy Tim’s motorcycle.

Levi and pappa catching some waves!

Grandma Esther and baby Olivia, all covered up from the sun.

 

Levi demonstrating some surfing postures after watching some surfers out on the (very small) waves.

And now for a few miscellaneous pictures. The first one is from a night we had some of my best friends from school along with their husbands and kids over for dinner. We all had been a part of Student Venture/Campus Crusade mission trips during high school, and some of them hadn’t seen each other for years. That was a good evening…and some of us ended up talking until almost 2 AM!!!! Yikes!

 

My sister Joanna and her friend Christina (who is also like my sister since I’ve known her since the day she was born!) came over one evening with grocery bags full of the makings for a sundae! They helped me put the kids to bed and then we made very unhealthy ice cream sundaes and watched a chick-flick that I’d been wanting to see for years. I also had to try REAL oreos with REAL milk….ahhhhhhhh how I’ve missed that!!!!

I know this is a VERY unflattering picture of me, but it’s the only way to accurately portray the excitement of someone who hasn’t had all of the above for several years…

 

It worked out that my sister Elisabeth was photographing a wedding in Orlando while we were here, so she asked Markus if he wanted to come along as a backup photographer and see what it’s like! So here they are on their way!

Auntie Joanna had Levi and Emma decorate a cake one day…uh…I think I’m starting to feel ill at the sight of all that sugar…

I think Joanna’s looking a bit green as well…

  

The finished product!

        

And here is a series of pictures from the happiest place on earth – Disney World! Sunday evening we got a call from a family at our church wondering if we’d be able to go to Disney World the next day. We didn’t have anything too pressing that kept us from going (although we did have to cancel having my grandparents and my sister Lydia over for dinner and games…so sorry guys, we’ll do it again next week!) so the next morning we were up bright and early to meet our friends at the Disney hotel where she works. We had a wonderful day together and were even able to go from park to park with the tickets they gave us! Thank you sooooo much for a special day, Charles and Ann!

Here we are in front of Cinderella’s castle.

Levi with the bad guy from Toy Story 2. (Unfortunately none of us had seen it, so no one knew what his name was. Actually, I don’t think our kids have seen any of the Disney movies besides Lady and the Tramp, Bambi, and Dumbo. So most of the rides didn’t mean much to them, haha!)

 

Levi and me with Buzz Lightyear. The kids didn’t quite know what to think about all the characters walking around the park…I guess I still am a little wary of them as well. :-)

Waiting in line for the racecars. You can see how bright that sun was…the kids spent most of the day squinting.

Have you ever wondered what Minnie Mouse’s house looks like? Well, now we know! Here is her living room…

…and her fridge… (People kept commenting on how gross it was that she had cheese ice cream, but Markus and I just laughed because you can buy “queso” ice cream in the Philippines!)

…and the kitchen…

Emma and I waited in line for 15 minutes to meet and greet these 3 princesses. (Normally the wait is 1 to 2 hours, so I figured we should do it if it was just 15 minutes since Emma and her cousin Ella pretty much dress up like princesses all day long, every day.) I didn’t expect the princesses to spend so much time talking to Emma and asking her questions/dancing with her/singing with her, but they did and it was sooooooo sweet! I was a little embarrassed when Emma told both Cinderella and Belle that she didn’t know who they were (hey, some of those Disney movies are pretty intense for a little 3 year old!) but they just laughed.

And here are the kids in front of the famous Dumbo ride. This picture cracks me up because you can see how sharp the sun is. Poor kids!

And here we are walking into “It’s a Small World", which was the favorite ride of the day! After this we went over to a different park (Epcot) to finish out our day before the kids begged us to take them home around 6. :-)

Well I guess I should end this now, although I do have one more series of pictures that I will post before we leave next week for our trip. (Have you ever heard of a “Pajama Run”???)

Today the kids and I are off to my sister’s house to help her with an organizing project, and then to the other side of town to get me a (desperately needed!) haircut and then this afternoon we get to meet my good friend Heidi’s newborn baby girl Ellie!!! Yay!!!! Markus will soon be leaving for the office (which is why I have to finish this so he can post it for me).

For those of you in the Philippines, we miss you and love you all, and think of you every time we use our automatic washer and dryer and dishwasher or take a bath or walk into the cool central-air-conditioned house…

And just a final sidenote, I haven’t been online for a while so I wasn’t able to mention that our little niece Klara in Norway was having heart surgery to repair a hole in her heart last week. There were people all around the world praying for her (and I have to admit, I didn’t sleep so well the night before her surgery) but we are so thankful that everything went well and she is now back home and doing just fine! Her mom even said that already they can see that she has more energy since the surgery…

So as you can see from the wonderful news about Klara and all these pictures chronicling our last month, we have sooooo much to be thankful for. These two months have been so full of so many wonderful memories already, and I’m not sure if we can take much more. :-) :-)

-Sarah-

After 2 weeks in America...

Well, we're here! I've been wanting to update the blog since we arrived, but we don't have internet access at our house so I am rarely online anymore. I've not written a single email since arriving (I'm sorry Joy...you've been on my mind so much lately) but I do have to admit that it's been nice to be on this internet/facebook break.

So we're two weeks "in" and still dragging our feet from jet-lag. It probably didn't help that we arrived here already exhausted after a very busy month with little rest, but we're also probably not doing very good about forcing ourselves or the kids to get on a good waking/sleeping schedule. :-)

Our trip over was quite the adventure. The kids did well even though they were very tired. We had a long 8-hour layover in Taiwan, and by the time we boarded our flight for Seattle at midnight, we were all more than ready to get out of that airport. Markus got covered in vomit as we landed in Seattle (Levi missed the barf bag, whoops!) and we went right from the plane to immigration, which turned into quite the ordeal. We're still not sure why they gave Markus such a hard time entering the country, but I'm sure it didn't help that we were extremely tired and therefore slow in answering their very complicated questions. In the end we could tell that the officer was totally not believing a word we were saying, and we got sent down the hall for further questioning. That lasted for quite a while (thankfully our connecting flight to Orlando wasn't for 5 more hours so we weren't running late for anything) and there was a point where I was certain they were going to send Markus right back to the Philippines. It was a helpless feeling knowing that we were being truthful, yet we weren't being believed. In the end I'm not sure why they let us through because I don't feel like we were able to speak or communicate clearly...maybe it was our pathetic-looking kids who hadn't slept properly in weeks or the stench of vomit coming from Markus' clothes...but they did. Thank you, Lord.

And so we arrived in Orlando early in the morning, about 36 hours after we left Manila. We were greeted by a crowd of Meisels, including our brand-new baby niece Olivia. Just as a side-note, in order to come to the airport, my sister Elisabeth had to get her 3 little ones, 5 years old, 3 years old, and 9 weeks old, ready and out of the house by 5:30 that morning which is an amazing feat that she did all alone since her husband couldn't come along. It meant so much to us that she did that...I'd not expected them to join the grandparents and great-grandparents, but they did! I think we shocked/scared the rest of the passengers from our flight who were waiting at the baggage area...we were a big group with lots of tears and loud laughter and passing kids around!!!

So it's been a full two weeks so far. After 2 days, we were able to move into the house we'll be living in until we leave after Christmas. We've been overwhelmed many times by the generosity of our family and church as we've been settling in. The house is more wonderful than we ever could have imagined, and we have so much to be thankful for. Our family is shuffling cars around for us to be able to have a vehicle to drive, and we've already been on several child-less dates! Levi and Emma immediately warmed up to their cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and uncle, and it's been so fun to see them interact with everyone. They love their cousins, and cry each time we have to say good-bye to them. They keep asking me if we get to live here forever, so I think that's a pretty good indication of how much they love being here.

I feel like it's been such a whirlwind that I haven't yet had time to just sit down and think about it all. When we pray in the evenings with the kids and remember so many of our friends back in the Philippines, I feel like we're almost remembering back to a different lifetime...it feels like our life there was a dream. I think it could be because of the sharp contrasts between the 2 countries...in some ways it really is like being in another world.

We still walk around in a bit of a haze and feel overwhelmed in the super-sized grocery stores. Everything is just so big here, and there is such an emphasis on convenience. I have fun wandering through the aisles at the grocery stores just to see what kinds of crazy new products have been created in the last few years.

Well this is getting long now, and I want to try to see if I can put some pictures up on here. We had my 26th birthday (gasp!) last week, as well as our nephew Micah's 6th birthday so there have been plenty of opportunites for picture-taking. All 3 of my sisters are here this summer, so there's also been quite a bit of hanging out/singing/giggling/cookie-dough-eating/etc going on! And of course enjoying passing around sweet Olivia. She's changed so much just in 2 weeks - she's begun laughing and "talking" to all of us. Levi likes to hold her each chance he can get, and he's so fascinated with her tiny toes and fingers. The kids have begun asking me if we can get our own baby soon...Emma told me that we should just go to Mega Mall and buy one! :-)

Oh and one last thing, tonight the space shuttle Endeavour went up! We were able to watch it on tv, then run ourside and see it once it got high enough. VERY cool! Then we heard the sonic BOOMS as it left our atmosphere. The kids loved seeing it, and it's been on our minds for a while now since we've been waiting for it to go up for a few days now but weather has caused them to cancel it at the last-minute each time. In fact Markus and Levi went down close to NASA on Sunday evening with our brother-in-law Matthew and our nephew Micah in hopes that it would launch then. Unfortunately it was called off just minutes before the launch, so they returned home a little disappointed. But it was neat to see it tonight, and now I've got a pile of questions from Levi about the space shuttle that I have NO clue how to answer!!!!

-Sarah-

Oh and I can't see which picture is which on this comptuer, so I'll just put all the captions up here and you can figure out which belongs with which picture. :-)

Pictures from our house...isn't the kitchen beautiful?? And yes, that is a dishwasher and a big electric stove!

And then there's me with sweet Olivia...ooooooooooohhhhhhh she's so precious!

And then two pictures from the night the boys went down to watch the shuttle launch.

Then there's Levi and Emma with their cousins Micah and Ella.

And Levi holding Olivia.

And Emma with Grandma Esther at Micah's birthday party.

The kids on the slip-n-slide at the party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're still here!

Hi everyone!! I've been putting off updating this because I first wanted to post all the pictures from our fun time with Ate Robbie. There just hasn't been time though, and it probably will be a few weeks before I'm able to sort through the pictures and get them on here. So you'll just have to keep your eyes out for that later this summer. :-)

We're down to the wire now (4 days left) and are beginning to realize that we're feeling ready to move on. It's a good thing, because a month ago I was nowhere near ready to leave and feeling very emotional about it. So I'm thankful for the decision we made to do all this traveling during the month of June, which has been wonderful but also very tiring. We're looking foward to being able to be settled and feel a little normal again.

We've had some hard goodbyes in the last couple of days. The first ones didn't seem that dramatic at the time, but now after the fact, I'm feeling sort of empty with the realization of what those goodbyes meant.

And then tonight we had to say goodbye to the Ballards, who are leaving tomorrow for their home up north. Their two little ones have been Levi and Emma's best buddies since we moved to the SIL center, and it's hard to believe we've only known them for months instead of years. I guess that's what happens when you hang out together 7 days a week, every week... We've had so much fun spending time with them this week while they were in Manila for a break. After they left tonight, we just sat in our room and cried. I hate this part of life, and contrary to what some lady told me years ago, the goodbyes do NOT get easier.

So tonight I feel torn between 3 worlds...no matter which country we're in, in order to get there, we have to say goodbye to and be separated from people we love in the other 2. But as hard as it is, we've been blessed so much because of living like this (we sort of have triple the friends and triple the fun!) and wouldn't want it any other way.

The next 4 days before we fly out will continue to be busy. We've been running all week since coming back from visiting Ate Robbie - meeting up with people, doing last minute errands, shopping, appointments, etc. I think we're booked pretty solid until Monday, which we've purposely left empty so we can just pack all day and rest before we leave on Tuesday morning.

We've got a long trip ahead of us Tuesday - we'll leave the guesthouse around 7 AM (that will be 7 PM Monday night, EST) and will arrive in Orlando 37 hours later. We'd appreciate your prayers as we travel : for safety, good health, and for our sanity (whatever small amount is left) to remain intact... :-)

And now I will leave you with some pictures that will brighten your day! The other day, Belinda and I took our girls, along with her little boy Neo and Hannah, who has been teaching her kids for the last 6 months, to a place called Club Princess. We saw it while our families were out together a couple of weeks ago, and decided that we had to bring the girls back. Emma, Daisy, and Ally got first-class princess treatment - they got to choose a cool hairdo (which included spray on colors and glitter!), got to have makeup applied, and then got their nails painted! There was a disco ball overhead and fun girly dance music playing the whole time, so we pretty much just sang and danced around all morning... :-)














Love to all of you, and to our family in Florida - we'll see you very soon!

-Sarah-

Our trip down south

We're back in Manila after a wonderful week down south on the island of Palawan visiting friends working in two different tribal locations. Our hearts are full from all we saw and experienced. The time we spent with our dear friends was priceless.  We are so thankful to the Lord for the rich and precious time He gave us with them.

After a night spent in the capital city of Palawan, we rode for several hours to the first village we visited. This is the house that our friends live in .

Emma and their daughter playing.

All ready for bed! The kids had a fun night sharing one big mosquito net...a fun jungle sleepover! (With very little sleep...)



The boys exploring out in the mangroves.




Our friends Manfred and Nadine, who are from Germany. 

This past Monday night (June 8th), Manfred began teaching the villagers through the Bible, beginning with creation and going through the Old Testament to ensure that a firm foundation is laid before presenting the Gospel message. (Ever wonder why NTM places such an emphasis on chronological Bible teaching? Check out this article that was recently written.) Please pray for Manfred as he communicates with the people in their heart language,  and for the people who are hearing the Truth in their language for the first time.

After one day and one night with them, we then we took a 3-hour trip over some of the muddiest, bumpiest, and worst roads you could ever imagine and we arrived on the coast to visit Danny and Philippa, who we were neighbors with while in language study in Manila. Here is their house, originally built by their Norwegian co-workers who have since returned to Norway to work with NTM Norway.

After a five minute walk down the hill and across the airstrip, you come to the beautiful beach. Levi was in front of us and we loved his reaction. It almost looked as if he was lifting his hands in worship after seeing the breathtaking view, but I think he was more interested in how the wind felt blowing into his hands. :-)


Beautiful.

Levi and Danny.
 
Visiting with the Brook's co-workers from New Zealand. (See what a multi-cultural group we were...two Americans, a Norwegian, some New Zealanders, and a girl from Northern Ireland.)



Emma made a new friend.


Sunset over the rice fields on the walk home.

View of the sunset from their house.

The next morning brought these 3 little visitors to Philippa's porch. She often has little ones wander over to see what she's doing (and see what kind of yummy snack they can get). These 3 are from one of the poorest families in the area, and it was a treat to watch them interact with Philippa as she patiently spent time with them.


This little one, Jerika, melted my heart...

Saturday morning we all trooped over to the church for a work day. The men worked on repairing the roof and the fence, while the ladies weeded the back yard. I think they are planning to plant some vegetables there.

Philippa and some of her friends catching up on the latest news from the village.


Danny working with the men.

 


All smiles for the camera.


There's little Jerika again!



Levi and Emma fit right in and made friends. This little group was weeding until my kids joined them, and then they began building sand castles.  I guess my two are a bad influence. :-)


This dear lady is one of the oldest in the village. She was telling Philippa about memories she had from World War II and having to hide under her house when the Japanese flew over the village in their warplanes.


Sweet smiles from the sweet sisters.


Another smile!


Having fun!


After squatting for so long, we had to take a break and sit on our rear ends. I just don't know how they do it! I dare you guys to try to squat for an hour, but you have to make sure that both of your heels are touching the  ground at all times! No cheating!


This picture is very special to Markus and me. Ellenjean was just a toddler 6 years ago when we first visited here and the missionaries were only beginning language study at that point.  She spent a lot of time in my lap that week and we got some beautiful pictures of her, and often prayed for her as we knew that  the day would soon come when she would get to hear the story of God's love for her in her own language. Today her mother is a believer and her family attends the newly established church. Philippa is working with the mothers to prepare Bible lessons for the children, and the mothers will soon begin teaching them. It was special to see Ellenjean again, and so cool to see her dote on Emma.  What a neat experience for us.

(And here is one of the pictures we have of Ellenjean from when we first met her in 2003. Some of you might remember her from presentations we shared in churches.)

Merienda. Yummy suman, sticky rice with brown sugar and coconut oil. 


Hanging around under the newly repaired roof.

Sunday morning meeting at the church. We had extremely heavy rains most of Saturday and Sunday, so we all got drenched walking to church  through the rain and huge mud puddles. 


Getting ready to fly back to the capital city of Palawan...a 45 minute flight sure beats over 5 hours on a bumpy, muddy road!


We spent one night in the capital city and then the next evening we flew back to Manila. Here are the kids and I on the tarmac just before boarding.

Thank you to those of you who were praying for us. We had great health and not even one minor mishap. There are so many things that fell into place right when we needed them to, and we know that was a gift from the Lord and we're so thankful for how He went before us in all those ways.

We'll be in Manila until Saturday morning when we catch an early flight to another island in the south to visit Ate Robbie and her family. I (Sarah) just had a second root canal this afternoon, so it looks (and feels) like pain should be a thing of the past and my tooth problems are almost all sorted out. Another answer to prayer. :-)

This is all for now! 

-Sarah-