Sophia

How can we not love this sweet girl?!

You would think that after the first 4 kids that we would be well practiced for #5.  Since the day Sophia was born she has kept us hoppin’!  She has a lot of energy and spice in that little body of hers.  Some times that spice is cayenne pepper.  I remember Sophia having her first temper tantrum at just 7 months because she couldn’t have something.  I didn’t know what to do with her.  The others never did that.  At 4 yrs old, that fire still comes out.  Not as often as before but we still see it.  Sometimes we still don’t know what to use to put out that fire either.  But we look to the Lord to help us know what to do with her.

Sophia also came with a whole lot of sugar too!  Several times each day Sophia and I go through our ritual.  First a kiss, then a hug, then a squeeze (just a tight hug with noises) and we end with a tickle.  If we don’t get them in the right order, we have to start all over again.  She tells me every night that she will wake me up in the morning with all 4 of those things.  It sure makes morning a much sweeter thing for me.

God also gave Sophia a great sense of humor.  She loves to laugh especially at Bugs Bunny!  She also laughs at the scary parts of a movie that her siblings are watching!  The best part though is that she makes us laugh.  We laugh so many times a day with this little girl in our house.

Today we began packing up our stuff in our house so we can go on home assignment in just 3 weeks time.  I spent a lot of time going through the girls’ clothes and toys today.  The last thing we needed to do before lunch was decide on which bed time dolls/stuffies, would go to Canada with us.  I lined up Sophia’s 4 dolls and asked her,

“Who’s going to Canada with us?”

Sophia quickly replied while raising her hands, “ME!”

We all started to laugh!  I couldn’t stop.  She just sat there and looked blankly at us wondering what was so funny!  I tried to explain that I wanted her to pick her dolls.  She still didn’t understand what made us laugh so much.

I think this is one story I will remember for a very long time.  I think we can tell that she is very excited to go to Canada!

Please be praying for Sophia and Chuck and I as we raise her. 

Engagement Party

Last week our neighbour’s daughter was getting engaged.  What a great time for us to learn the customs of the people here.  We could look right our our window, stand on our porch and watch or go right down to be in the middle of it all.

The young lady is 16 yrs old and she is going to marry a man in his 30’s from another village.  He is not Ga’dang like she is but they both speak the local trade language.  So much of what was said was in this other language, that we don’t know, so it had to be translated back to us.  Thankfully we were able to video much of it so we can go back over it again and again.

There were 2 pigs killed for the meal and lots and lots of rice was cooked.

In the late afternoon the 2 families sat down to talk about the bride price, beads for a necklace.  This is the most important part of the planning for the wedding.  We were told that if the beads aren’t good enough that the wedding could be called off.  It was interesting to see that much of the bride’s village was there to make the negotiations over these beads.

The people in our village were not happy with one of the beads, saying it had a flaw in it.  They talked and talked for a long time about what to do.  It was agreed to add some money to be given with the beads.  After that they were to talk about the date and where it would happen.  The last we heard the date was set and it would be at done at the Mayor’s office.

Then we all ate.

Then the gongs came out and the dancing began.  We had a great time watching all this.  Sophia waited all day to put her dress on and dance with her friends to the gongs.

We are thankful for the way the Lord brought this event right to our doorstep.

Expectations of Home Assignment-Top 30 things we want to do in 2012

In just 3 1/2 weeks we will be back in Canada!  So I was thinking about what my/our expectations might be for home assignment this year.

Last time we were “home” we were so busy.  We had a great time but returned to the Philippines feeling like we didn’t do everything we wanted to.  This time I am going to make a list, and maybe it will change.  Things might get added or taken away but I want to have a goal for our time. (These are not in order of priority!)

1. Reconnect with our family.  Spending more time together.  Getting to know our nieces and nephews again.  Spending time with brothers and sisters, grandparents and our parents.

2. Reconnect with our home church, Faith Evangelical Missionary Church in Wasaga Beach.  Get involved!  Get to know new people and renew old friendships.

3. Go to Tim Horton’s often!  Boy, do we miss Tim Horton’s bagels, donuts and coffee (well Chuck misses the coffee!)

4. Spend time in our supporting churches.  We want to get to know people more than we do.  If possible help out or attend more than just a Sunday morning service.

5.  Go to Grand Manan.  Going to Grand Manan as a kid was the best thing I did.  We took the kids in 2008 and they loved it.  It is the one big thing they want to do while in Canada.

6.  Share what the Lord has been doing here in the Philippines, specifically with the Ga’dang people, with anyone who wants to hear.

7.  Connect with new churches and individuals, sharing the work the Lord is doing amongst the Ga’dang people.

8.  See an increase in our current support.  We are currently receiving 53% of the mission recommended support level.

9.  Find someone that would like to come back with us to homeschool our kids for us, so I can be more involved in language study.

10.  Have BBQ’s…with family and friends.

11.  Get Eli adjusted to a “real” school, high school.

12.  Raise funds for solar equipment and a new generator for our house in the village.

13.  Enjoy shopping without everyone staring at us…oh wait, we have 6 kids, we still might get stared at!

14.  Go to Praise in the Park during the summer.

15.  Drink real milk, not UHT or powdered!

16.  Start a medical fund to help with medical expenses for the Ga’dang people.  ie: medical flights out of the village, hospitalization, surgery, etc.

17.  Smile lots.

18.  Drive! Chuck drives when we aren’t in the village but I, Shannon, haven’t driven in 2 1/2 yrs! Look out everyone on the road.

19.  Spend a few days away with my husband, without the kids. Kind of a late anniversary getaway and celebration for the next 3!

20.  Go to a library, often. We miss being able to read so many books.

21.  Laugh more.

22.  Eat goooood apples!  And raspberries and strawberries and blueberries!

23.  Play in the snow!  Maybe only once or twice though.

24.  Go to Canada’s Wonderland.

25.  Go on hikes for pleasure not necessity.

26.  Not buy all the food we need for 3 weeks at a time, but if we need something go buy it.

27.  Send the kids for sleepovers with their grandparents.

28.  Sing with more than just our family, with a congregation.

29.  Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, and mind.

30.  Become more Christ like.

Things we will need.

There are a few things we are going to need while we are in Ontario.  Maybe someone has an extra of these things.

House- We are thankful and blessed to know that we will have a home to stay in while we are in Ontario.  Thank you to Mom and Dad for letting us take over their place.

8 Passenger Van- We are in need of a reliable van that will fit 6 kids.  We have 2 in car seats still and 2 teenagers as well.

2 Car seats-  Jenna will need a car seat with a 5 point harness.  Sophia will need a booster seat.

Snowsuits/winter jackets, boots for the kids- The kids ages are 14, 13, 11, 9, 4 and 2.  If you have a spare sitting around, let us know.

Bunk beds with mattresses- we just need to borrow it for a year

1 single bed- to borrow for a year.

6 sets of single bed sheets-  these are also to borrow.  We have lots in the Philippines and will bring some if we need to.

Pack n’ play- just for a couple of months.

Bicycles for the kids-  The 4 older know how to ride, Sophia would need a tricycle or one with training wheels and Jenna would love something she can be pushed around in/on.

Please send us an email if you would have any of these items for us to borrow or buy. 

chuck-shannon_talbot@ntm.org

We are looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

New Family Picture 2012

Here is our family.

Hala- 13 yrs; Kyle- 11 yrs; Sophia- 4 yrs

Charlotte- 9 yrs; Chuck; Shannon; Eli- 14 1/2 yrs

Jenna- 2 yrs (April 6th)

Here is another fun picture.  Notice that Jenna is holding up 6 fingers!  She did this all on her own.  There are 6 kids and she is #6!

We are looking forward to seeing you all face to face very soon.

First Culture and Language Evaluation

We were privileged last week to have 3 other missionaries come into our village and help Chuck to see where he is at with language and culture learning.  They were able to give him some guidance of what he needs to do in order to get proficient in Ga’dang.

I could write all about it and what happens and everything but I am sure I couldn’t explain it as well as one of the evaluators did on his blog.  Please read what he wrote about Chuck’s evaluation and the how’s and why’s for this.

Just click the link below:

Language Barrier- Ga'dang

Thanks George for such a great explanation.

Rice Harvesting

In October of last year a major typhoon went through the Ga’dang area and destroyed much of their rice crops.  We thought that it was going to be a more challenging year for the people as they were short on rice.  We have learned throughout the last couple of months that in a normal year, most harvest enough to last more than a year.  This has helped many to have rice to eat until this years harvest.

Chuck has been out several times to harvest rice this season but I had my first opportunity to go help just a couple weeks ago.  I was amazed to see people still going out to harvest after a heavy rain the night before and off and on rain that morning.

Thankfully Chuck was willing to take me out to this field.  I wasn’t sure where it was and was told that it was “far”.  So off we went in the fun slippery mud.  It took us about 1 hr to get there and we had to cross the same river about 5 times.  I tried desperately to not get water in my boots but in one spot I thought for sure I was going to get water in.  Thankfully we managed to find shallower water and got across.  As we walked several people came up behind us…heading to the same field…and kept walking.  I think we were a little slow getting there.  We knew we were on the right path though as we could see the muddy foot prints of the people who went before us.

Soon enough we arrived at the bottom of the hill that was being harvested.  It was a rather steep climb getting to the top.  My friend Analyn was surprised to see me there because of the rain.

Analyn was so nice as she took me over to the rice and showed me how to hold the cutting tool, grasp the rice and cut all with the same hand.  It is quite a trick…for me anyway.  (I laugh at Chuck as he has cut himself several times in that last couple of weeks while harvesting!) I was amazed that I didn’t cut myself.

Analyn also showed me how to tie the bundles of rice also.  There is some co-ordination in spinning the bundles around too.

This is one of the men twisting/spinning the tie around the bundles of rice.

Here is some the rice that was harvested.  The darker is sticky rice, used for special desserts.  The lighter coloured is their everyday eating rice.  They place them together in groups of 8 and then count them after that.  There is special counting system for that.  Later they will stack them in a special way and there is a way to count that too.

I was so happy to be able to experience and learn so much from my good friend.