Dog Days of Summer

This week was terribly hot in Cincinnati! Just in time for all of the incoming freshman at GBS. This evening was so beautiful we sat out on the porch after church. It's about 70 degrees and a wonderful breeze is blowing. I turned off the air conditioners and was able to open the house up for the first time in about two weeks. As you can see from the picture...it was hot. The sensor was in the sun when I took that picture - in the shade it was 97.

Altered Version of "This little light of mine"

We sang "this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine" in devotions last evening. Later in the evening I listened as Allan was singing to himself while playing with his toys, "this little lemon lime, I'm going to let it shine!"

Family night

Friday nights are Family nights in our home. This always means Papa John's Pizza and some fun activity. Last week we went to PopPop and Gramme's house and they had an activity planned. Week before last was VBS with the theme, "Fishers of Men." Since then Allan has been fishing with just about anything he can get his hands on. Dad Brown dug out an old fishing pole and put a sinker and bobber on it so we were ready to roll. We went to a local park and Allan "fished" (if you can call it that with no hook involved) and played with the remote controlled boat Dad Brown bought the boys (I think it was to be for the boys) to play with in the hot tub. After we were through there we went to a playground and slid down the slides and watched the ducks. Nothing better than an evening spent having fun with family!

Another Cake

Today was Mike Mater and Michelle Miller's wedding. My pictures didn't turn out the best. The cake was not yellow but ivory. Thankfully everything went smoothly and the only thing I had to worry about was someone shaking the table. It turned out well and Michelle liked it - that' really all that counts anyhow.

Philippines Trip

I (Philip) returned from my marathon trip to the Philippines on Sunday. 24 hours of flying and airports going and coming, plus 12 hours of car, bus, taxi, and tricycle (motorcycle with attached cart) rides to get from Manila to Alibago where I was to lecture for 6-8 hours for two days.

The first picture of the new Bible Methodist Conference center in Alibago. The picture is shot from about midway up the property looking down toward the 3-story conference center and the main gate. Bro. David Yucadi was the architect and foreman for the project. I was impressed with the excellence and practicality of his
design.

The second picture is of me and my primary interpreter, Bro. Lauro Forto. He does a great job and occasionally does a little preaching of his own as he interprets! :-) I taught through the material I wrote on Loving God: The Primary Principle of the Christian Life.






The third picture is a shot of the pastors and pastor's wives attending the seminar. They were jammed in the room, sitting on the balcony outside the classroom, and lined up in the hallway next to the classroom. They were very attentive and evidenced good understanding by their questions.









The fourth picture is a group shot of the pastors and pastors' wives from one of the four Bible Methodist conferences in the Philippines. They were all thrilled to receive copies of the book, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Avery. (I don't receive any royalties from the book because GBSC paid me to write it.)









The fifth picture is a shot of the tabernacle now under construction at the top of the property. Bro. Yucadi estimates that it will seat around 700 in the area currently covered with the gravel used to mix cement. They do have an electric cement mixer, but the sand and gravel as well as the mixed cement are all moved by hand! Lots of work!








David and Christina Black did a marvelous job of hosting me. I appreciated David helping me navigate the cultural differences. Our conversations were edifying and encouraging.

The capstone of the trip was a providentially arranged meeting with a PhD buddy of mine and his wife who was a Greek student of mine at Bob Jones University. Dr. Tim Berrey, his wife Laura, and their three children: Suzanna, Timothy, and James just "happened" (cf. Ruth 2:3 NASB) to be traveling through Villasis on the morning of the day I was leaving. My email informing them that I was in the Philippines and in a town on their next day's route was a bit of a surprise to them! :-) Tim teaches at the Bob Jones Memorial Bible College and Seminary near Manila.


I encountered some fascinating fruit on the way back from Alibago to Villasis (where the Bible Methodist College is. The hanging clusters of fruit in the foreground appear to be in a net, but that is just the pattern of the scaley exterior of the fruit. I don't know the names of any of them, but all I tasted were good.

I thank the Lord for His traveling mercies and for His strength as I shared what it means to love God whole-heartedly.

Title Explanation

The title from yesterday's blog comes from one of Allan's favorite books, "God's Wisdom for Little Boys: Character-Building Fun from Proverbs " by Jim and Elizabeth George. It takes character traits from Proverbs and gives a little four-line poem for each trait and a supporting Bible verse. The artwork is fabulous! We have enjoyed reading it to him before bedtime and talking about the pictures. If you have little boys this book is a good investment.

Funny from Allan: the other evening I took him to see Pop-pop Brown. As we were sitting around the table eating supper, Dad Brown said the word, "bummer." Allan said , "What is bummer?" Dad told him that something that is disappointing is a bummer. As Allan mulled over this he said, "Spankings are bummers!" We both agreed with him that they really are!

God's Little Boy Is....Thrifty

Some time ago we were at Home Depot and Allan saw a shovel that he thought he must have. It was a little over $8.00 and as he puts it, "my size." I knew it was about time to teach him in a concrete manner what working and saving money is all about.

We sat down and talked about the cost, what work he could do to earn some money, and the fact it might take him awhile to earn enough money to be able to buy the shovel. The very next morning he came running into our room and around to my side of the bed whispering very loudly, "Mommy? What work can I do?" Ohhhhh....isn't that music to a mother's ears!

So he has done extra things for me and his daddy to earn a quarter here and another there. We've had him do everything from being absolutely silent for 15 minutes (that really should be worth more than a quarter!), sorting silverware, carrying groceries, picking beans, to watering flowers, dead-heading marigolds, and being a "go-fer" for me. He had a little purple car that he'd put his quarter into and if we didn't pay him he'd keep on us until we did.

In the process we learned other lessons: you may not raid daddy's change cup in the dresser (that lesson also included not lying about stealing because you get in trouble two times instead of one), nor may you raid mommy's Sunday School change collection in the diaper bag. One day he asked if I would open the car door for him, I did and he went straight to the little compartment that we keep change in and promptly emptied it. It actually has been quite interesting to me to see his diligence but I knew he really wanted a shovel "his size."

 At the initial talk we also created a visual aid with a circle for every quarter that he would have to earn to buy the shovel. Every time he earned a quarter he could color one circle. That worked for the first two days. He decided that was taking too long and so colored all of the circles. I told him mommy would keep track and let him know when he met his goal. Since his daddy has been gone (last week Minnesota, this week Philippines) he's really been doing a lot of extra work so that I can have more time to play with them.

Yesterday he finally met his goal (except for the sales tax...mommy paid that...we'll wait a few years for that lesson). You should have seen us as we walked into Lowes. You would have thought the child was high on something. He laughed the whole way down the aisle and as soon as the shovels came in sight started yelling, "There's my shovel mommy! The one that's my size! I want the black one." So I took it off the rack and handed it to him. He hugged it all the way to the checkout and did not want to surrender it to be scanned until I explained he would get it right back.

So now my little guy has his own digger. We went through several plastic ones and I must admit this is a fine shovel. It should last as long as he keeps it in a place where it won't get stolen. So today was spent digging in: the shrubbery in front of the house, trying to dig up my hydrangea plant, the dirt along the sidewalk, a big hole in the garden and many little spots all behind the house. Right now I'm thankful that we don't have grass planted yet so that he can dig to his heart's content (Except the Hydrangea - we had a talk about that one.) Here's a picture of my little man with his purchase. I'm actually very proud of him!