Isa, Dalawa, Tatlo!

[One, Two, Three!]

Okay back to numbers!

1. There is only one knob to the faucet:  no "hot" and "cold", just "little water" and "a little more water."  Sometimes my showers are freezing (which is nice) and other times my showers are so hot I have to get out and wait a couple hours (that's what happens when you live near a volcano).  I run my fingers through my hair at least 40 times to rinse out shampoo and 80 more times to rinse out conditioner because I don't believe the water pressure is actually washing it out of my hair (yes, I'm counting).
2. My host dog (...that sounds strange) has finally stopped barking at me whenever he sees me.  I knew my stares would get to him!  I win!
3. I have a cup of tea or coffee every morning.  Pastor Benjie is a coffee lover so we have real coffee (most Filipinos drink instant coffee).  Awesome.  The local coffee here is really really good.  I think I should bring some home.  Tea = also awesome, but not as awesome as tea in China.  I wish we had some chai especially since Dr. Mask keeps asking me about "chai drinking"--which is really funny because he knows there isn't chai in the Philippines.  Oh well.
4. Today, when no one was home, I took the opportunity to have a dance party by myself (actually because I saw Becky's suggestion to Dave as a distraction for loneliness; I figured I'd give it a try).
5. I also ran up and down the stairs 20 times because I miss walking up the 5 flights of stairs to my dorm room.  Only 20 times because it got too hot.
6. I got down on my hands and knees to clean the wood floor in my room, even though there is a mop in the house.
7. I like cassava chips.  yum.
8. I'm still eating mangoes everyday.
9. One of our neighbors got a karaoke machine...we had free concerts everyday from 8am to 10pm.  No kidding.  This went on for two weeks.  But school started last week so it's been much quieter. 
10. In addition to the kind of nonsense things I did today, I got a lot of work done! 

Prayer

• I'm having a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning (not a hard time waking up, just a hard time getting up) because I just kind of dread the day ahead of me even though I know, from experience, it's going to be a good day.  It's like there's this big boulder on me...but it's not that I want to sleep more...I'm just completely restless rolling around in my bed...which isn't that comfortable because it's so hot that I'd much rather be up...but not really because there's a boulder I have to push off first.  So this is really kind of a practical thing, but I've been trying to make the first thing I do each day, even before getting out of bed, prayer.  It's been helpful to remind myself that my motivation for the day and for my life is Christ.  Pray that this will become a habit.
• Pray for rain.  It rains everyday...but just not at my home!  So...it's hot.  And it's like having someone hold an ice cream cone in front of me after I run 6 miles in the sun and then watching him eat it without sharing.
• Pray for those whose homes are flooding because of the rain.
• As usual, pray for an attitude of humility.  Pray for patience.  Pray for God's love to abound more and more.  Pray for my faithfulness and obedience.  Oh yeah, so basically, pray that I would grow in the fear of the Lord.

Grace and peace to you!