When It Rains, It Pours - Thanksgiving Day: From Bitter to Thankful

Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite American holidays. Family, food, football – it’s an American classic. Teaching at an international school has its benefits and disadvantages; for me, not having Thanksgiving off is a disadvantage. Americans have it right, two or three days off for a holiday all about thanks and food – who wouldn’t want that?

Anyway, my Thanksgiving morning was typical for the Philippines except for that fact that I woke up on time (5 a.m.) and left early (5:45) so that I could make it to the Middle School Thanksgiving breakfast on time (6:15). I looked forward to this breakfast all week. I hardly ever ate a real breakfast and a spread of cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, fruit, and coffee would soften the blow of working on an American holiday. Purse, work and coffee in hand, I headed out the door and gate, locking everything as I left. My roommate was gone so I was going solo that morning.

I got to my car and started rifling through my purse for the car keys. About 3 minutes later, I realized that the keys were locked in the house, with my house keys. At this point, I was sitting on the ground in front of my house, in a skirt, with all the contents of my purse displayed in front of me. Ok, well decisions had to be made. I had a cell phone, right – nope, in classic Kelli fashion I left it in Meg’s car the night before. So obviously, for the next 30 minutes I attempted to break into our well-secured house. I tried climbing over the wall, no luck – flip flops don’t have very good traction. I grabbed a crowbar from the car and tried to rig the gate door – nope. I finally put a pair of jeans (I had a change of clothes for that night) over the glass on one of the walls, got one leg up and realized this was going to really hurt when I jumped and landed on the water heater.

Ok, plan B. I decided to walk to a neighbor’s house, hoping they had not left for school (unlikely since it’s 6:15) and had the spare keys. So I grabbed my coffee and headed down the hill to walk the 4 or 5 blocks to their house. As I was walking it started to rain, not hard, but enough to push me off the edge. The inner monologue started to pound my ears – how could I be so stupid? Why isn’t Meg here? I’m going to be late! I’m missing breakfast! It’s raining! I hate this country! And so on. I get to the neighbors house, they have left but the dad was at home. He called his wife and then searched for the spare keys. No luck. Spare keys at this point were already at Faith.

Ok, now what? It was about 6:45 as I started back to my house. At this point anger seemed pointless so I spent the walk changing the inner monologue to something more positive. At least I lived in a safe house that’s hard to break in to. I lived in a neighborhood where a woman could walk around safely by herself. I lived near people I know. I complained yesterday that I didn’t get to exercise in the morning. My helper was coming at 7, so I could get in the house. I worked at a place that was very considerate about these things and I had a principal who was kind and understanding. Be thankful – it was Thanksgiving after all.

I arrived back home, 5 minutes later my helper came. I sent a quick email to my principal and was out the door by 7:10, the beginning of classes. Traffic was graciously light and 40 minutes later I walked into first period to the questions of eager eighth graders trying to guess why I was late.

The rest of the day was fairly typical (I did get leftover breakfast during break) and it all lead up to a glorious Thanksgiving dinner with my extended philafam.

Lessons learned, no one was hurt and nothing was broken. Thanksgiving may not have been what expected or wanted but I did learn to give thanks in a situation that seemed pretty desperate at the time.

P.S. I'm still not quite at the laughing stage of this minor tragedy, so if you feel the need to make jokes, in words of my friends....."it's too soon." :)

House-Hunting: God's Blessing and Provisions

To say that house-hunting, for a month and a half, has been stressful and anxiety-ridden would be a slight understatement. Trying to keep a calm and cool exterior (the MK way :0), never show stress!) pushed all that anxiety, fear and doubt deep into the pit of my stomach (isn’t that how you get an ulcer or something?).

My roommate (Meg) and I have been blessed these last 5 months with a house sitting arrangement in a very nice, safe neighbor near metro Manila. Being an easy driving distance to malls, restaurants and free-parking (it’s a big deal) grocery stores, I was in denial about leaving the comfort I had become accustom to and try something new.

After looking at six different options of living arrangements, nothing felt “right.” One, back in the condos near Faith, would have been workable but they only wanted a year lease. Another seemed like a possibility, a cute two-bedroom house in a sub-division close to Faith Academy, however without any furniture/appliances, to make it livable the cost was reaching dangerously high and I had no idea where that money was going to come from. This was one aspect of the anxiety. The second was looking at houses and contemplating the idea of investing money into that house, the inevitable question about plans for next year kept popping up. Meg and I had several deep conversations and each one left me emotionally tangled and drained. No longer was I searching for a house for the next 6 months or so, I was searching for an answer to the big question, will I stay in the Philippines for a third year or go home? Although I’ve been praying about this since the first day of year two, God has not made it clear what his plan is for me next year. Honestly, I’m not sure I am even ready for that answer yet.

All this build up leads me to this past week. We had one more house to check out. A missionary answered our plea on Philmiss with an option of subletting a house in the valley (where FA is located). We didn’t know the family so visiting was unfamiliar territory. Also, we tried to decode the message because it seemed as if they were renting their house per room and neither of us was quite sure what that meant. I had been praying all week that this would be the house, if it didn’t work out the next step was unclear and I was pretty sure it would involve some of my hair falling out from stress. As Meg and I entered the kitchen, both of us individually felt it, this was “right.” Probably the entire time we were there, a giant smile was on my face, thanking God for his provision in my life, not just for my awesome roommate Meg but for our living arrangements this semester and next.

This was an entirely humbling and awe-inspiring experience. Although I kept the house for next semester in my prayers, I was crippled with doubt, never really letting go of control and fully committing to “God will work it out.” I am blessed and I don’t deserve it. What an amazing God we have and worship. Who are we to deserve his love and plan for our lives? Wow, it’s a good day when you realize he’s got it under control.