Jeff's Newspaper

Jeffrey came with the idea to start a monthly newspaper. He charges two pesos a copy (4 cents). Each person gets an individual copy. Here are the contents of the first edition:

[Page 1] JM News - Dad

1. I Just love Duck-Duck Goose!! Dont you!! here is how many ive been in [arrows]

Duck-Duck-Goose Games, 5

[Page] 2. JM is fighting for jutise [justice] on trampoline with Dad Jumping

[picture of three people on trampoline - me, Jeffrey and Laird]


Quite an edition. Upon questioning, "JM" stands for Jeffrey-Military which I couldn't get a good explanation for, since we are not in the military.

Stay tuned for next month's edition.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas from Manila. It is currently 78 degrees and pouring outside. Our warmest Christmas ever! Our Holiday Letter:

We started the year in Houston. We moved to Virginia for the summer. We now live in Manila.

Pete started the year as a lawyer. Then he because a new foreign service officer in the State Dept. Now he is a vice consul.

Likes: running, reading, accumulating so many books he can't possibly read them all, old TV sitcoms.

Dislikes: long plane rides with children and driving in traffic.


Sheralie has not changed: she is still beautiful, hardworking and an excellent mother.

Likes: Music, playing and listening, being a mother, talking to friends, cooking

Dislikes: Being so far from family and seeing her picture on the family blog.


Holiday Nativity Play

Jeffrey started off the year in Kindergarten playing soccer. This summer he started piano lessons. Now he is in first grade.

Likes: Legos, riding bikes, reading, Bakugan (don't ask if you don't know), trampoline

Dislikes: fruit



Holiday guitars

Laird is a handful at age 3, but we love his energy and enthusiasm (most of the time).

Likes: fruit, lego guys, drawing trucks, playing with Lucy

Dislikes: going to bed, sitting still, being a middle child



Lucy started the year as an adorable infant. Now she is a precious toddler. She is a lot more work now than she was though.

Likes: climbing stairs, following her brothers, trying on shoes, pounding on the keyboard while dad is at the computer.

Dislikes: getting new teeth, keeping food on her tray and sitting still.


Merry Christmas

Angels We Have Heard

Lucy loves to sing. (She also likes to play with coconuts!)

I didn't know this until recently. The children's favorite song right now is "Angels We Have Heard on High" and they request it at the beginning or end of every scripture time. Lucy and Laird wait until the chorus and then sing exuberantly: "Gloooooooooohria!" Lucy sound more like "OOO" but she smiles with a little twinkle in her eye because she knows it is right on.

Today I heard her in Laird's room as he built legos. I wondered what she was trying to express. I came in to see her with a little book, singing to him. She has also been tapping her fingers together, requesting "Two Little Blackbirds" which was our junior primary's favorite song last year. Some days the sounds here are sword fighting and piano playing and wrestling. But her little peaceful voice adds a serenity and grace we appreciate!

A Very Broadbent Christmas

Some favorite Broadbent family Christmas traditions:

1. Every Christmas Eve, we would go as a family to see a movie at the theater. This stems from the fact that everyone counted down the minutes on Christmas Eve. We started in 1993 with "Rudy" and continued with such holiday favorites as "Lord of the Rings", "Family Man" and "Rocky VI".

2. One Christmas tradition that was eventually scrapped was Cream of Wheat on Christmas morning. Since we all hated it, but we all wanted to get through it, it was the only time we would ever eat it quickly. Eventually one Christmas we had some cousins over and they refused to eat it, and I think that was the last time it happened.

3. Sitting on Santa's lap.





4. The Nativity play and reading Luke 2



5. Chocolate coconut balls. I'm not sure why these aren't year round treats, but my mom would break out the chocolate-covered coconut balls around Christmas. These are insanely good. I distinctly remember devouring these one night with one of my good friends. Unfortunately, it was right before dinner, and we wound up feeling quite ill.

6. The Christmas Ham/Turkey. I was not aware of this tradition, but Sheralie told me that she usually makes a Christmas ham for dinner. She saw one of these delectable delights at our Costco equivalent today, but was forlorned to find the price to be $65. This tradition will be put on hold until we find some cheaper pigs. I think we will go back to the Christmas turkey, which Sheralie informs me my mother always makes for Christmas.

7. Christmas movies. How many great Christmas-themed movies are there? Topping the list is "It's a Wonderful Life" but also getting high marks in my book are "A Christmas Story", "Family Man", "A Christmas Carol" (the George Scott version), "Miracle on 34th Street" (i prefer the recent version), "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (the cartoon, not Jim Carrey), "Christmas Vacation" and "Ernest Saves Christmas". I'm sure I am leaving some out.

8. Opening presents the night before. We have recently instituted this and I think it is a great idea. Why not have 12 days of Christmas opening presents, like the song? It spreads out the excitement and the kids have something to do. It would require you had at least 12 presents though, and shopping and shipping would have to be done well in advance. Just an idea.

9. Christmas TV. Every good series breaks out a holiday-themed episode. My favorite: Festivus. A holiday for the rest of us. Feel free to print up the picture below if you are running low on gift ideas.



10. Christmas cards. We're not getting a physical card off this year, but look for one next year. We'll start the logistics for that in February.

After reviewing the list, I realized that only one of these traditions has to do with the true meaning of Christmas, although in most of the Christmas movies people find the true meaning before the end. I really do love the holiday season and the kindness and thoughtfulness that come out in people. And most of all, it focuses people (including me) on Christ, which we could all use a little bit more.

Merry Christmas from the Broadbents!

Now you know

Ten things you probably didn't know about the Philippines.

10. Magellan died here. He didn't actually circumnavigate the globe, though his surviving crew did. He was the first European to make contact with the Philippines in 1521. He was killed by a tribal leader Lapu-Lapu. There is a gigantic statue of Lapu-Lapu in Rizal Park. No statues of Magellan.

9. The best pound for pound fighter in the world is Manny Paquiao, who recently beat Oscar de la Hoya. I issued a lot of visas for Filipinos to see that fight.

8. Karaoke was invented in the Philippines, not in Japan. People love karaoke here. It is the standby activity at any event, party or gathering.

7. The Philippines used to be an American colony. When the USA took it over from Spain, it put down a bloody revolution in which 250,000 Filipinos died fighting for independence.

6. The Philippines has about the same land area as Arizona when you combine its 7000 plus islands. However, it has 90 million people, making it the 12th most populous country in the world. Arizona has 6 million.

5. Text Messages are huge. It is estimated there are 400 million texts per day sent from the 35 million cell phone subscribers. That is more than the US and Europe combined. It costs about 2 cents to send a text message.

4. There is twice as much coastline in the Philippines as there is in the US.

3. 11 million Filipinos work overseas. They supply about 1/3 of the world's seafarers. In the US, they congregate in California and in New Jersey. They need a lot of visas.

2. The Filipino flag is hoisted upside down if it is at war.

1. Rainy season is from May to October. The hottest part of the year is March and April. It never gets cold.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.


Welcome to the Jungle

A Grief Observed

Our sweet friend has left this mortal existence. She no longer is in pain. She is has gone to a better place.

Laird said to me this week, "But she is still my friend! It is ok Mommy."

And yet my heart aches. I miss her when I go pick up Jeffrey after school. She greeted me with as much enthusiasm as he did - daily. She was a third visiting teaching companion, a beloved playmate, Lucy's biggest fan and a true princess. I am so grateful to have an eternal perspective this week. But the tears are still there. We are so grateful to call her friend.

USA Top 5

We sometimes take requests. A recent request was top 5 things I miss about the US. While I try to focus on the things I enjoy here, I do sometimes think of what I miss. I've touched on some of these before. [Pictures are from Jeffrey's soccer days]

#5: Live sports on TV. Especially college football. They do show some basketball, but it is never live and it is always the Lakers. And since it is hard to watch, it is also hard to find other fans.



#4: Cool weather. The only time we are cold is if we set the A/C too high. Last night it got down to 75 and we actually turned off the A/C in most rooms. It looks like a cold front. I am especially sad to miss the recent snow in Houston, as it never snowed while we were there.

#3: Scenic neighborhoods. In Houston and in Virginia, we enjoyed tons of quality parks, trails, lakes, etc. There are a couple of big parks here, but they are not really the same, as there are an abundance of mongrel cats and people that use the park as their home.



#2: Friends. It is hard to replace four years' worth of friends from Houston, as well as friends from Chicago and Virginia. We can keep up through blogs, but we miss them all the same.

#1: Family. While we were able to come back for Melanie's west coast wedding, we already missed Mark's wedding in Utah and we will probably miss Steve's upcoming wedding in Utah. Maybe they will make a cheap non-stop flight from Manila to SLC on a supersonic jet, but it is unlikely. We also miss having my parents just down the road to come visit all the time and the Monroes being just a short (relatively) plane ride away.

Ask me again in 18 months what I miss and it might be different - we're still new here and enjoying it a lot.

On driving in Manila

One of the pitfalls of big city life is the traffic. Manila is worse than most from what I can gather. Granted, my limited experience in New York City was not pretty either, but I never had to drive in New York City. I don't drive much in Manila - I live that to our trusty driver/lawn guy. But on Sundays and late at night I will do my own driving. And it is terrible. It is always stop and go traffic. If you leave more than 3 feet in front of you, someone is going to cut you off and wedge their way in front of you. The brakes business must be doing quite well here, because everyone is constantly speeding up and braking.

What makes it so much worse than regular, everday American traffic? After a few months of noodling, here is my analysis:

1. Civil engineers must be in short supply, because the roads are designed horribly. It is almost impossible to turn left at any intersection. And most intersections forbid U-turns (though most people ignore this). To turn left you usually have to do a combination of right turns and U-turns to get going in the direction you need to go. Sometimes you can drive for miles before getting the U-turn you need.

2. Not enough working lights. Stop lights that are out are pretty common. In fact, there is a stop light in front of the Embassy but it does not work. So the embassy employs a team of police officers to stop traffic when anyone needs to turn left into the Embassy.

3. There are no bus stops. Most people use public transportation, in the form of jeepneys, tricycles (more on this below), taxis and buses. Unfortunately, there are no designated bus stops. There are a handful of areas that are labeled "No Loading/Unloading" but people just ignore these. So buses and jeepneys are constantly stopping to pick people up. Buses will swerve over several lanes if it seems someone hailing it. This is quite hazardous, though they usually can't swerve very fast since traffic is not moving that fast. On major roads, the right hand two lanes are reserved for buses and jeepney pickups, leaving only one or two lanes for regular traffic. Often times, people are just standing in those two lanes, so no traffic can proceed. Occasionally, there will be swarms of people on market day just filling the streets as in the picture below. We were only caught in this once, on our way to church when we got totally lost.



4. No one respects lanes. There are usually lane lines painted on the roads, though sometimes there are not. However, everyone ignores them. If there are four lanes on the road, the cars will form 6 lanes. These informal lanes constantly form and then dissolve, depending on the narrowing or broadening of the road. People often don't even respect the center of the road. I have been on many 4 lane roads (2 in each direction) where one of the lanes was going the wrong way.

5. Vendors are everywhere. You know how sometimes you find a guy selling flowers or newspapers on a major intersection in the US? Well, the guys here are at every intersection, selling everything imaginable - drinks, towels, halloween costumes, newspapers, popcorn - it is never the same. This has got to slow traffic down.

6. The motorcycles. There are many motorcycles that love to weave through stopped traffic. No one gives motorcycles the benefit of a lane. In fact, when I was back in San Diego I drove right up next to a motorcycle in his lane and then thought - maybe he would like some space here. Many deliveries (including McDonald's, Wendy's, pizza, etc.) are made by motorcycle. Jeffrey and Laird love to go examine the motorcycles if we ever order delivery. All the motorcycles definitely add to the bedlam.

A side note on vehicles in the Philippines. Mercifully, there are no 18-wheelers. However, buses are everywhere, and they are very aggressive. Being big and having lots of people, they command the respect of everyone on the road. Next in the pecking order are jeepneys. These are modified World War II vehicles which have two long benches in the back where the people sit sideways to the direction of the vehicle. The only entrance for passengers is in the very back. People often hang on the back, and in a pinch will even ride on top (as pictured below). I have hung on the back of many jeepneys for long rides (half hour or so) but never ridden on top. Without people on top, you can usually fit around 25 people on a jeepney. The embassy forbids us to ride in them. They are always brightly colored (usually to the point of being ridiculously ugly). The one pictured below is typical.



Private vehicles and taxis are prevalent, and the lowest form of transportation is the tricycle. Tricycles are motorcyles with side cars. There is usually a roof for the motorcycle as well, as pictured below.



In my missionary days, I would ride on tricycles all the time. They are great at getting to remote parts of town that jeepneys or buses don't service. Capacity is also good. The side car usually has a seat with its back to the driver and then a main seat which can fit two smaller people (total of three in the side car). Then two people can sit on the motorcycle behind the driver, and another two can hang on the back. Some have a nifty fold out stand that people can stand on the back (as shown below). You can also have one person stand with feet inside the side car, holding on to the side. Total capacity of 9 if you include the driver. It's better than a minivan.



Thank you for joining me on this tour of Manila. Be thankful for Interstate highways, smooth, vendor-free roads and traffic that obeys predictable rules. You can also see why we haven't made it out of Manila yet (the traffic to get out is terrible), but we plan to leave for a beach trip sometime this month.

Bustling

I just realized I have been guilty of bustling. Bustling about, bustling around the house, bustling to do errands or clean or pack. Go go go. I wasn't always this way. But this last year has been a strange one. Three cities, two houses, two apartments, three children and two adults. That is really no excuse. As I look back at this year, it has been a difficult one. A lonely one in many respects. But mostly because I have been too busy, working too hard, trying to do too much.

I am seeking to end the bustling. I will seek to let go of the Martha and be like Mary. I am going to reinstate quiet time. A time to think, and pray, read and write. A time for a quiet heart.

One more post about Thanksgiving

Thanks to my sister Christina, who brought to my attention that Abraham Lincoln started the observance of Thanksgiving in 1863, during the Civil War. I think this is a speech that could be repeated every Thanksgiving.

The following is the text of a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave on the day that he signed the Thanksgiving Proclamation.

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the LORD.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to, feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

--Abraham Lincoln - October 3, 1863