The Bittersweet Symphony of Life

We spent this past weekend in the Seattle area visiting friends and family in a whirlwind three day trip. The first day we saw my parents new house that they are building on a very picturesque piece of property in North Bend. I am excited for them and the house will be pretty great when it is all done. After touring the house and standing for about thirty seconds in the ice cold creek behind their house, we headed back to their current apartment and then over to my sister's house for my niece Ella's first birthday. Despite Natalie's emotional breakdown, the day was filled with good times shared with friends and family. We ended the evening just sharing some stories and laughs with my sister and brother in law.
The next morning at church, Jamie and I were both in tears several times as their were many vivid reminders of a good friend of ours with very severe cancer. The signs and test that the doctors have run don't look good at this point. It is a long story, but their family has had an incredibly tiring year emotionally, spiritually and in every other way imaginable. We lived with this family for almost a year and a half when we were in the Philippines and we love them dearly. The rest of the day was good as we were able to again spend time with family. It is hard though, when the pain of loved ones is never far from your mind. the best way to describe it seems to be the words from a song that say "it's a bittersweet symphony this life". Life is a beautiful symphony, but part of what makes it beautiful in the end is the variety and change and the mixture of different sounds and rhythms and notes. Some of the notes by themselves are harsh and even ugly. Many of the moments of a symphony seem disconnected and disjointed like life often does. But we press on with the hope that our God, the great conductor of this symphony knows where the music is taking us and that he knows how all the parts will work together for a conclusion that in the ends creates a beautiful and meaningful experience. Even as some parts enter and leave the symphony at unexpected times, so life is full of relationships that seem to surprise us cause a great fluctuation of emotions.
We also got to share some time with a friend who is in an incredibly hard spot in life. While it is always good to see friends, it is hard to see them hurting. Yet in the midst of the pain we can find reasons to celebrate. To top it off, I got to talk to one of my best friends on the phone - a rare occurrence since he is in Cambodia. It made my heart excited to talk with him, but it was discouraging when our connection ended. While it is a huge blessing to have friends like him, it is hard to be away from them.
This may all be a bit random, but I guess I just wanted to express that I am feeling a bit melancholy today. While there is definitely a lot to be thankful for, my heart aches for those that I love who are experiencing great pain and trials and for those that I love who are simply far away.

Spokane

So winter finally let go of the area and spring was here for about a week before summer hit! This last weekend was pretty hot (for here) and we enjoyed very summer like weather. It is supposed to cool down and act more like late spring again this week, but it was a nice break after feeling like the winter here would never end. Since the weather warmed up so quick, the rivers were pretty full with runoff from snow melting in the mountains so we went downtown to see the waterfalls. It was fun to see them so full. Here's a few pictures...

We then went to a park for a birthday party and Natalie got to engage in her favorite activity - collecting rocks and playing in the dirt! She made a mess of herself but had fun collecting rocks and going down the slide all by herself.

Mother's Day

At Manito Park

A great mom and a great little girl!

My wonderful wife and goofy daughter.

Natalie loves looking for rocks and showing us the best ones!

Deal or No Deal

Right now we are watching Deal or No Deal's tour around the world. Tonight they happen to be in the Philippines. It is fun to watch the show there and to watch as they show a bit of the Philippines in the process. Howie (the host) went to a local SM Supermarket and the store employees danced for him in the store. While that may not be a super common occurrence, the Philippines is the only place in the world where I have seen a marching band playing through a grocery store, a group of midgets in Christmas costumes dancing a choreographed dance in the meat section, and where half of the shoppers sing out loud to the music while they shop!

Let's just say it is making us miss the Philippines. When the models with the cases came on to the show, they were dancing a choreographed dance as well. This may not be that significant to many people, but Philippine game shows ALWAYS involve singing and dancing - often repeated at very regular intervals. The whole crowd was on their feet and dancing until the music stopped as well. They really are a people that love music and dancing. Coming from the rhythmically challenged North America, I miss the frequent sounds of karaoke, and celebration that seemed common in the Philippines. Good times...

And since we are reminiscing about the Philippines, I will throw in a couple more random pictures from there. The first one is a sign on the metal detector in one of the airports. The second one is a public urinal on the streets of Manila.

Circumcision Season

The past few days I have been reminded of some random experiences from living overseas. I thought that I would write a bit about them in order to share the experiences a bit but also so that I can remember them better in the future.
In the Philippines, there exists a time of the year sometimes referred to as circumcision season. Now I am no expert on circumcision, but I always just thought it happened soon after baby boys were born (if it was going to happen). I was soon to find out though, that even the timing of circumcision is culturally determined. In the Philippines, most boys wait until the age of 12 or 13 to get circumcised. When a young boy reaches the age of 12 or 13 and circumcision season rolls around (April and May if I remember correctly), they partake in a painful experience that can happen many different ways. I will spare you the details, but I will say that I talked with some of my Filipino friends about this and they shuddered as they recalled their trip down to the river to get the job done.
The part that was even more odd for me was that at this time of year, signs would pop up all around Metro Manila advertising "Circumcision Specials" and telling of their wonderful deals on circumcision. While these specials were advertised for about $9 or $10 this is still a large sum in the Philippines and many cannot afford that. Thus "trips down to the river" or some other discreet location near the family home.
By far the oddest part of the whole situation was that some missionaries have found ways to utilize this special season for their own purposes. While it wasn't incredibly common, we did hear of missionaries and churches that would hold an evangelistic event and they would offer free circumcisions in order to attract people to hear their message! Now I have heard of seeker friendly churches, and people who put on concerts or any number of other events to attract people to church or evangelistic outreaches. Just think of the poor boys though - they get dragged to a public event where people are preaching, singing praises to God, and praying for people and they are directed to the back of the crowd in a small room or tent (depending on the venue) and then IT happens! I guess we can just hope that these outreach events are organized by charismatic churches so that the screaming and moaning of teenage boys from the back of the room doesn't disrupt the solemn singing of hymns...
Overall, I am not sure I would want my "conversion" expereince to involve the painful loss of part of my body, but I guess you would at least have people there ready to pray for you! Anyway, I am glad that we perform that procedure under a bit different circumstances, but I suppose even in our culture it can be an uncomfortable and humorous event. I hope that this can motivate you to think about how we "reach out" to others with love in order to share with them the love of God.