Hello All

Hello everyone, 

How are you all doing? Great I hope! Probably getting ready for Thanksgiving. Considering it is an American holiday, the Philippines do not celebrate thanksgiving. Luckily for me, the Rosmarinos do : ) And guess what Vinck family, they have their very own circle of death too! They call it giving thanks though. 

This past week has flown by. I can't believe it's time for another post. This week has been busy with decorating the house. We are now christmasy from roof to floor. Nanay likes it festive. Like any American family, each child has their own stocking. Unlike an American family, there are 160+ stockings. I'll post pictures of the house after thanksgiving when they are done decorating. I guess for thanksgiving they have a game/fun day. I'm looking forward to it. 

In my previous post, I talked about the government hospital. This week I went to the private hospital. One of the kids was sick and Nanay wanted to have my cough looked at. Man, is there such a huge difference between the two. The private hospital could be a hospital in America. It's air-conditioned, clean. The staff and nurses are friendly and helpful. Everyone has a bed. The overflow is not just thrown to the hallway. There is such a stark difference between those that have money and those that do not. I'm perplexed and shocked by it. I don't fully understand it, how there is such a large gap. Obviously social and economic factors play a huge part, but the reasons behind it, I'm at a loss. So we have an overcrowded, dirty corrupt hospital for the masses and a clean, friendly hospital for the few. 

A giant answer to prayer, was the gift of 6 (I think) wheelchairs. We definitely needed them. Because their are kids that need special wheelchairs, we can't jut get any regular wheelchairs. Guess what, 2 of the wheelchairs are exactly what we needed for those kids. God is so good and faithful to supply. Two ladies took the cargo boat from Manila to Bacolod which takes 22 hours. Crazy right. Since it's a cargo boat, they don't have beds or rooms. You just hunker down where you find space. They then spent two days with us exploring Bacolod and enjoying the family. They were incredibly sweet and loving. 

Here are some things that happened which touched my heart. 

- one of my girls asked what my last name was. To which one of my boys promptly replied, Rosmarino, bala. Bala is the equivalent to of course. To him, I was definitely apart of the family. Not an outsider.

- along the same lines, the doctor that saw me at the hospital asked if Rosmarino was my family name and Nanay replies with you better believe it. It's the little things like that that make me smile. 

- one of my girls whenever she sees me, even if it was just five minutes before, will always give me a hug and a kiss while saying "I love you manang Kelsey". I love it. 

- there is one younger girl, who is still working on her English. Everytime I ask how she is doing. She replies with a giant smile "I'm here". Then I ask her if she is good to which she says yup. She is adorable!

- Yesterday during playtime, one of the little girls started braiding my hair. Before I knew it, I had 5 little ones braiding my hair. I didn't think I would have any hair left after that. After all the little ones left, one of the older girls started practicing how to braid on my head. I was their model for the afternoon. 

- Those of you have been following my blog, you will remember that I wanted to put cinnamon in my coffee. But this week, the sugar for the coffee has cinnamon in it!! such a wonderful little surprise.

There is pumpkin for each of my kids! They drew their own. Beautiful aren't they!

- A family friend, John White, sent me 5 bags of hershey chocolate for my birthday/christmas. I laughed so hard when I saw the copious amount of chocolate. Being that I couldn't eat all that chocolate, I shared it with the family, which they loved. They love american brand candy and it was full of reeces peanut butter cups which are Tatay's favorite. So they had so much fun eating it. 

I am so grateful that God knows the prayers of our heart even before we do. For whatever reason, I was craving more fellowship with the manangs here. And this past week, they have been so great. I have had so many great conversations with them. It is the little things that I so appreciate like a hug or putting their arm around me when we would be sitting or standing together. I didn't even realize that that was something that I needed or craved till I had it. So thankful that God knows me more than I know myself. 

Sunday school has been going well. I taught yesterday and the kids were attentive. They would answer the questions I asked. The ones that come on a regular basis are getting to know me. I am learning their names and their personalities. I am amazed by these kids. Some of them come without parents. They walk all the way from their house to the church to come to Sunday school. They have become a blessing in my life. 

I love you all and I keep you all in my prayers! God bless, 

Till next time, 

Kelsey