Monday, July 19, 2010

Thrilla in Manila

Jason and Ava have spent the day helping to make cinder blocks for a home way, way outside of Manila. Jason called me on the van ride home and said Ava had a great time, and worked really hard. After a day's work in that incredible Philippine humidity, she was exhausted. I'm so proud of her!


Here they are with Doods, the future homeowner. (And I think he wins the Awesome Name of the Day contest, don't you?) The homeowner puts in at least 400 hours of work on building his/her own home, alongside the volunteer teams that come to work. Isn't that amazing? I love Habitat for Humanity. The little boy there is Nathan, the son of some good friends of ours. Nathan and his dad Jason are also on the trip.


Here they are in the van at the start of the day. Traffic in Manila is always an experience. There are 20 million people living in Manila--can you believe that? There's only 21 million people in all of Australia! So, anytime you're on the road, it is absolutely jam-packed with cars, taxis, buses, motorcycles--you name it! A stretch of highway with 3 marked lanes will easily become 6 lanes. You can reach out your car window and touch the other cars as they go by. Yet somehow, you get where you need to go. Well, most of the time! It is really something to see.

After all the craziness to get them there, I am glad they are enjoying the trip! And my little girl is helping cut rebar and make bricks! I think I need to re-think her chore list around the house...
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. MaggieJuly 19, 2010 at 11:34 PM

    In addition to cutting rebar Ava is learning at an early age to give back, take care of others and go about doing God's work in the world. I wish all of our kiddos had that chance. You and Jason are such wonderful parents. I hope the trip is a wonderful time for both of them. BTW, they have Habitat here in Denver. Don't you think you could swing a mission trip here?????? Just sayin' Hugs and kisses,your Favorite Aunt

    ReplyDelete
  2. JodyJuly 20, 2010 at 1:36 AM

    I think you sent Ava with Jason just so you could use that title! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. gretchenJuly 20, 2010 at 4:17 AM

    This is just the neatest, neatoyneatest thing to do. Ava will remember this all her life, and it's the most amazing example of service and charity. I thought I was doing a good job by taking Jude to feed the homeless with me, but this way above and beyond. So cool.

    BTW, a friend of mine just posted something on Facebook about a typhoon in the Philippines, and how we should all pray for the children's home there that was being threatened. I sincerely hope that Jason and Ava haven't wandered into a typhoon. But then just think of what a great blog post that would be.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)