Arriving...

Travels to Manila were about as uneventful as you can get. THANK YOU LORD!
I have been thankful for the uneventful a lot lately :)

I left Philadelphia around 11:30 AM Saturday, November 1st. I arrived in Manila around 11:05 PM Sunday, November 2nd. Each flight departed and arrived pretty much as scheduled. I was able to sit in each of my assigned aisle seats (as I like it) and I slept through pretty much the duration of each of my three flights -- with the exception of eating the meals and watcbing one movie, "Swing Vote." An uneventul 24 hour trip -- nice.

Arriving in Manila was uneventful as well. Going through immigration was no problem. A hand-over of my passport along with a smile. Stamp. Sign. See you later. Getting my 2 balikbayan boxes went smoothly. After a bit of a wait I saw my green and black covered boxes making their way toward me on the carousel. I was able to "swing" each of my 2 boxes (each packed to the 50 pound max) swiftly onto the wheely cart -- thanks to the "Balikbayan Gear Box Cover's" handles. With my two boxes, 1 carry on and 1 personal item, I made my way through customs without any complications. "Nothing to declare" form was filled out and passed over to the officer. Sign. Date. That was all!

I walked out of the airport, down to the passenger pick up area where my Tita Lita met me to take me home. Thank the Lord for such an EASY trip. For all my trips to go so "problem-free!" :)

I stayed with my aunt and uncle (Tito Rene and Tita Lita) for the night. I enjoyed their company today. We took a trip to the mall and ShoeMart (don't let the name fool you... it's SOOO much more than just shoes), had lunch at my cousin's new franchise cafe, "Fusion."

















After our trip to the mall we went to meet the newest member of the Rivera clan -- Reese Lauren Rivera.












After spending some time with them we took a trip to another fun shopping center (Tiendacitas) and had dinner at a cute little "country-style" restaurant "Mom and Tina's." It was a fun day of being out and about the city and having time with family.

It was great that I slept most of the plane ride and through the night last night. I think it's helped me to quickly adjust to the time change. But... after such a packed day today, I'm ready for some sleep.

Today I woke up to the sounds of Manila in the morning -- rooster crows, roaring engines, honking horns, street vendors selling their goods, dogs barking -- it was somewhat surreal. The thought was very much on the forefront of my mind... the next time I come here, it will be for more than a week. Praying that God would continue to confirm my decisions, renew vision and excitement... and that I would continually live out faith and obedience.

Tomorrow begins the work part of this week-long trip. After a 6 hour bus ride, our group will arrive in Baguio where we will take part in meetings related to prayer and communications. I'm looking forward to meeting the other participants and just seeing what there is to learn and think about.

(As I type this my mom is probably sitting in the "A Room" at Dr. Alley's office waiting for Maureen to get the blood test results from the lab. Pray with me that results show bone marrow is working and she is still in remission.)

-- this post has such scattered thoughts. I guess I'm not as adjusted to the time as I thought!