joanna in the philippines

Well, I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving yesterday! I hope you all were able to have a special time with your friends and families and whoever it is you spent thanskgiving with! Well, we had a good day! I have been in Manila for a week now, and yesterday Sarah arrived to Manila... She and Emma came on the bus and they will be here for a week because Sarah has a problem with her toe, and she is going to the doctor on Tuesday... its been really painful for her for months now, and so she might need to get the toenail taken off! Ouch! Well, pray for her that it all gets worked out, nothing is worse than a sore toe.... but its cool because I have been able to see her and spend time with her! Today I went with Sarah and Emma to the mall... it was fun to go shopping with my sister!! Well, shopping... that is something we have done very much of... in Manila theres not a whole lot to do other than shopping (Im sure I am wrong) but there are malls EVERYWHERE! And we're talking like HUGE malls... 6 stories malls... tons of stores... even more people. It's crazy.. and even more crazy since Filipinos begin celebrating Christmas in August, so there is loud Christmas music everywhere and decorations up, and the traffic is really bad and there are people just everywhere. Oh well! Its fun, but what a change from the tribe, or even Aritao! Well, our Thanksgiving day was nice... we went to a mall, and then The Epps and I went to a kids movie, which was funny... I think Thea and Koi were in shock the first 30 minutes of the movie from the loud noises and the big screen... it was fun watching them! Then we took a taxi to the bus station and picked up Sarah and Emma... they were in a group of Filipinos and being touched and gawked at... Emma tends to draw that attention... I felt like a rescuer stepping in and grabbing her bag! :) Ha... well, yeah, then we went to Chili's for our T-day dinner... it was great, just like home! It was a good day... but I was thinking about home and everything going on there. Well, I should get going, but just wanted to write quick! Things here are good... Char is still waiting for the baby to come... hoping it is earlier than sooner... Im still hanging with them, taking the kids sometimes so D and C can do Christmas shopping or go to doctors office, or just got on a date! :) But its been fun being over here and meeting all the missionaries at the guest house... lots going on in our Big World! Things we dont even know about lots of time! Well, hope everyone is doing great! Have a good one!