Welcoming in the New Year

Wow! Time sure slips by so quickly, doesn’t it? This year has been an eventful and exciting year for our family as we have experienced God’s blessings in so many different ways. We trust that the LORD has done the same has been for each of you.

Our family spent the last few days of 2008 (and the first few hours of 2009) with the Herter family in Manila. The Herters invited us to spend a few days at their place before celebrating the New Year with them on the 31st. We do not see each other very often during the school year, so we were excited to spend several days with them. :-)

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Herter family—as always! They are so sweet, so hospitable, and so much fun! Before New Years Eve arrived, we spent a couple of days shopping at some markets in Manila where we bought a few pearls as well as several other unique souvenirs from the Philippines.

We also took one afternoon and drove a few hours south of Manila to the province of Tagaytay (the home of several tourist attractions as well as the Taal volcano—which is considered the smallest volcano in the world). Along the road, we stopped and saw a pineapple plant up close for the first time.:-)

We bought some fresh fruit at this vender's roadside stand.

In Tagatay, we made a quick visit to Ilog Maria (a well-known bee farm) to buy some bee products and honey. We enjoyed a few moments on the peaceful bee farm with all variety of plants and trees that the bees pollinate. We were looking forward to getting a supply of fresh, raw honey, but were so sad to discover that the farm had sold out.

On New Year’s Eve, both of our families enjoyed a delicious dinner at The French Corner restaurant before coming back to play a few games before midnight. About 11:30 PM, our curiosity pulled us outside to catch a better glimpse of the increasing amount of fireworks exploding in the surrounding area.

Almost every street in their neighborhood seemed to be shooting off a beautiful firework show. (It apparently is not against the law in the Philippines to shoot off fireworks within city limits.) No matter which direction we looked, we were entertained by quite a show of shrieking fireworks that spilt the dark, quiet sky with their colorful illuminations!

This picture is a little blurry, but we just wanted to give you another glimpse of the neighborhood fireworks show. 

We used our noisemaker hats to help bring in the New Year.:-)

(For more pictures of our last moments in 2008, click here)

Sometimes it is sad to see another year pass by so quickly. But as our family has reflected on 2008, we are amazed at how much has happened in our lives in such a short time span. It has been so humbling to see how God has worked in our lives this past year in order to know Him better. It is always such a sweet thing to see how our Savior works all things out together for good and for His glory.

And now as we face the New Year wondering what it may hold, we do know that our Sovereign, Loving Father is in control. What a wonderful assurance to know Who holds our future!

May the Lord bless each one of you in this coming year and draw you closer to Him!