Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018

Happy New Year / Manigong Bagong Taon

Hello from the Philippines!  We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and we send our love and appreciation from our hearts to yours!  We can’t thank you enough for your continued partnership with us in our mission to help bring hope to hundreds of families that are at risk here in the Philippines.  We were so incredibly blessed this last summer through the Perkins family who opened their home and their hearts to us by allowing us to live with them and share their lives.  Words can’t express our deepest love and appreciation for your kindness and open arms!

We have had a very busy year with many struggles and frustrations but also many wonderful examples of love and warmth from so many others.  There are two separate areas of this ministry that we would like to share our experiences, frustrations, successes and failures in the last year or so.   These areas are the business / software side of Threads of Hope and then the people side of Threads of Hope.

In regard to the software side of TOH, there were two separate software implementations we were working on (mostly Julie).  We were implementing a new Shopping Cart called Shopify (with a LOT of enhancements from a consulting firm).  That software was finally implemented in August of this year.  It went live with very few issues and remains to work fairly well.  We do have a list of enhancements that we would like to implement but at this time we don’t have the funds to make this happen.  The other software we implemented was Any Time Collect (collection software).  This is an automated emailing system and tickler system to help us collect our outstanding Accounts Receivable balances.  This software is being implemented in stages because of the size of the customer base and the amounts of open balances.  We are starting with the most recent customers to remove any future overdue balances going forward.  Then we will attack the older overdue balances.

We are working on prototype / samples of our newest product – dog collars.  These will be collars only – probably not leashes for bigger dogs and collar/leash for smaller dogs/cats.  We have created a couple sample collars and so far they look fantastic.   Julie is working with Alfie (our camera strap seamster) to make this happen.

In regard to the people side of Threads of Hope, we are about to implement a change to our attendance policy and its connection to the church attendance.  We have wanted to remove this process for quite some time and we are about to make that change.  There have been problems with the sign-in/sign-out process for Wednesday and Sunday services for quite a while.  We are about to disconnect the mandatory attendance to church with the ability to get orders.  We have always wanted to make sure that the people who need the income the most were the ones getting orders but at the same time we have wanted to make sure that the people attending church were being fed properly with no distractions.  We believe we are going to be able to accomplish that coming in January.  We are going to make the leaders (23 of them) responsible for their groups and we will monitor their lists on a monthly basis to validate that the people on their lists are alive and living in the area and in need of orders.  Church attendance will be heart-driven.  The people who want to be at church and study Scripture will be able to do that with no strings attached.  We are praying that this change will make stronger disciples who can share the Gospel more to help the Kingdom grow.  

We are currently helping 17 students with expenses for college and we are always open to anyone who might feel led to sponsor a young person by giving them a scholarship to pay for their schooling.  It is considerably less expensive here in the Philippines.  Please contact Chris Kuhlow if you are interested in being a sponsor.  Her email is kuhlcrew2@hotmail.com .  There are many students who could really use the help with any amount you could offer. 

Aninuan Christian Training School (ACTS) has been going very well.  We are in the last steps to being recognized by the government and eligible for grants for each student.  We have been through the interviews and it is now up to the waiting game.  Ben Coltrane and his staff have done an amazing job with the school.  Please pray that the school will be funded to take away a part of the burden from TOH to keep the school running financially.

We have had sad notes here in the Philippines where people have passed away, both old and young.  It really highlights the importance of assurance of salvation and the need for a savior!  May the Lord bless you in the coming new year ahead.  Again, we want to send you our love and deepest appreciation for your support and partnership with us here in this ministry.

God Bless you all!

Jim and Julie

Marsh 2019 Update

Magandang umaga po,

Here is a recap of events from January to September of 2019.  Got your coffee?  It's a long one.

In January of this year we implemented a change to our attendance policy at the church.  We removed the requirement for bracelet makers to sign in and sign out every Sunday and Wednesday night.  We moved the responsibility for “members” to the 23 leaders that we have.  They now keep track of their bracelet makers and report to us any changes that may cause someone to be removed.  At this time we are not adding anyone to the list unless there is a serious need.

Threads of Hope had been paying for 17 students to attend colleges in various towns/cities by covering their expenses.  This ended up being fairly overwhelming and as of April the ministry decided to stop with the scholarship payments for the students.  If there are any of you who would be willing to sponsor any of these students, please contact Chris Kuhlow at kuhlcrew2@gmail.com to work with her in getting something set up.  These young people need financial help.

We worked on the design and development of a new product line this year.  Many, many hours were invested there.  We now have 4 different sized dog collars.  The smallest one would fit a cat or some other small critter as well.  Most of them adjust with velcro and have d-rings for ID tags.  They are really quite nice looking and are reinforced for the big dogs, although we recommend they just be used for style and not walking a dog.  

The implementation of ATC (a collections software) and changes to some of our procedures starting last summer has brought significant benefits regarding the closing of accounts and receipt of more funds for the ministry.  We will be working on an education series of emails to send to new customers to try to remove any questions they may have on how Threads of Hope fundraisers work and what they can do to maximize their success with their fundraising efforts. 

Jim had a series of events this Spring that was fairly serious but thank God for friends who are doctors and good medical opportunities in Manila, everything was resolved.  He had tachycardia in April and went to see a cardiologist.  After reviewing Jim’s 2D-echogram the cardiologist set Jim up an appointment with another cardiologist in Manila at St. Luke’s Hospital (probably the best hospital in the country) for an angiogram (viewing my arteries around his heart).  He discovered a 90% blockage in the LAD (widow-maker) artery and performed an angioplasty to open the artery up.  Jim is doing great now physically and mentally regarding his heart.  The downside to this event is a $9,600 bill from St. Luke's hospital.  We are hopeful that our Medi-share health care co-op will help but at this time the bill is totally on our shoulders.  We have been blessed by our church with a part of the bill but the majority is on us personally.  If you feel led by the Lord to help us to cover some of these costs please email us at jijumarsh@gmail.com.  

We arrived back in the USA on May 14^th.  We landed in Nashville where our sons, Ben and Will, both live.  We have a house there and we spent several weeks working on different areas of the house to get it ready to rent to our son Ben and two other roommates.  It is amazing all the little things that need fixing and how long it takes to fix (especially when we are not too experienced with some of those things!).  

We drove up to Wisconsin on June 13^th and went to Marinette to visit Julie’s mother for the weekend before getting settled in the Valley.  We were blessed this summer once again by the wonderful, generous hearts of the Perkins family to allow us to stay in their upstairs apartment.  We are truly humbled by their generosity and warmth shown to us.  We are amazed – they treat us like family (Bill told Jim, “you need to cut the lawn!”  LOL!  Actually Jim volunteered to cut it – one way for us to show our appreciation.  We are incredibly appreciative of their open, accepting arms showing the love of Jesus to us! 

This summer is the first summer that we know of where we did not have bracelet orders throughout the summer.  Threads of Hope just did not have the funds available to be able to finance 3 months of bracelet orders while we were not there.  We will be working this summer to build up the funds accounts to be able to start ordering at the end of August when Julie and I return to the Philippines. 

Julie also worked this summer on the launching of a new kind of shopping cart for Threads of Hope.  We have never had a cart where someone could choose a specific product for purchase, but not so anymore.  We call it the Pick Your Product collection. Check it out.  We are showcasing 50 collars in each size (Large, Medium, Small and Extra Small) and we also included 50 camera straps.  It is fun to go out and look at all of the beautiful designs and color combinations.

We volunteered at Lifest this summer and worked at the booth for Threads of Hope.  I believe it was TOH’s best year ever so far at Lifest.  We were constantly busy PTL!   Then Julie and I had a booth at EAA for the 8^th time we believe.  It was also our best year for sales there.  The Lord was a huge help by giving us fantastic weather!!  It was a great event. Our new dog collars were a real hit at EAA.

We spent some wonderful family time with Julie’s mom and our families this summer.  It was great.  We also spend special time with many of you that we are so thankful for because we can’t do this ministry without you!

We headed back to Nashville on Aug. 12 intending to arrive on Aug 12^th but that was not to be.  In the middle of Illinois as we were pulling a trailer, we heard an explosion underneath the Highlander.  Lo and behold we lost a day traveling finding out that our transfer case seized up (part of the axle system) and one of our CV joints was blown right off the vehicle.   It took 9 days before we could get the vehicle back but there were still some other problems with it.  Needless to say we were blessed that there was no accident and God showed up in several places during that event.  There is a day by day detail write up on our blog -  MarshMissionMemos.blogspot.com if you want to read all the details.  God showed up in many places and we are very glad that He did.  This event will set us back $3,500 when all said and done.  The CV joints / transfer case was $3,000 and with the blessing of brother, Joe Roeder, and his brother-in-law, Fred, they are going to replace the traction parts that were damaged as well.  If you feel led by the Lord to help us with this cost, please email us to let us know.  This summer has really set us back financially but we know that God provides and He is faithful ALWAYS!

We arrived back in Manila on 9/5 and back to Aninuan on 9/7.  Everything is going well so far with the ministry.  It is currently the rainy season and BOY has it rained.  For 13 days in a row it has rained several times each day and sometimes pouring buckets.  They had a drought this summer so God is showing up again and replenishing the needed water supply.

Sorry for such a long update but it has been a VERY busy year.  We will try to update ya’ll much more frequently going forward.  Thank you for your prayers and support for our mission!  We love you all!

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for continued good health for both of us.
Please pray that we find balance between God time, exercise time, fellowship time and ministry time.  We have been out of balance for many years already.
Please pray for our first attempt to do a world-wide family Bible study this year with multiple locations: Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennessee, and the Philippines.  We praise God for technology and pray that it behaves when we need it during our discussion times.

Please let us know how we can be praying for you as well.

God Bless

Jim and Julie

The Misadventures of our Midwest Travels

August 12, 2019 FB post
We could use some prayer. We are about half way to Nashville hauling a trailer and we think we just blew our transmission. AAA on the way. We are safe so far. No dinner with our kids tonight.

We have an all wheel drive vehicle. The right CV joint is missing, the front differential had about a 1/4 cup of fluid left in it, fluid everywhere. We won't know until tomorrow afternoon if there is damage to the transmission. We tried to get a car to finish the drive to Nashville and we couldn't get one. Tomorrow morning I guess we will try to get a rental, finish the drive to Nashville and come back for the car when it is done, get the trailer and bring it to Nashville.

The cool part of today was watching the body of Christ in action. I IM'd a brother in Christ, Levi Holloway, who had been in the Philippines this year. He had a friend that lives 10 miles from here in Arcola who came to the shop. There was a good mechanic 4 miles down the road who came to get us with a flat bed for the Highlander and a pickup to pull the trailer.

So Levi sent Jeff to us. The mechanic Jesus (not kidding) thanked him for coming to help us. I think he was impressed that Jeff had never met us before. Jeff was going to take Jim to get a rental car, but they called back and said they didn't have any. So we are at a Quality Inn for the moment not having a clue how this is all going to work out. But we got to see the body of Christ in action today. Thank you Lord. We are safe. Just not really excited to spend $2500 to $4500 on a vehicle we bought for $4500 2 years ago

Now there is a tornado watch until tomorrow afternoon here.  The light show from the lightning has been amazing.

We are in Arcola, IL, exit 203 on hwy 57 at the Quality Inn

August 13, 2019

We checked out of the Quality Inn at 11am and got a ride back to the shop. We were waiting for an hour to hear the assessment but then it was noon and Jesus said we was going to lunch. We had no place to go and no way to get there so we had lunch with the mechanic, Jesus, and his fiance Stephanie. We were able to tell them about TOH and life in the Philippines. After lunch, Jesus went back to work to finish taking things apart to complete the diagnosis.  By then is was about 2pm and we still didn't know what to do next.

The transmission was ok and so was the differential. The transfer case seized up and the back right CV joint was blown off and missing. So that was better news than we thought, but it is still going to cost us $3k. My sister-in-law's brother (Fred) called just as the diagnosis was shared. He is our mechanic in TN and he was able to talk to Jesus so he could advise us.

Jesus drove Jim to get a rental car place in Mattoon, IL (about 14 miles south) while I emptied out the Highlander. On August 9th, the Friday before leaving WI, Jim had gone to get a new drivers license and they stamped it with the word VOID and said they would mail the new one to our house in Neenah. (which would then get mailed to Nashville). Enterprise did not like that is was voided although it was clearly not expired. He had my drivers license, but because I wasn't there they didn't like that either. So Jesus brought Jim back to Arcola and got to share some marriage and parenting wisdom with him. Then Stephanie took me there. Once at Enterprise I saw the car they had for us and thought that it was too small for all of our stuff. When I got into it,  it wreaked like smoke, so they said they would give me a different one, which just happened to be big enough to hold all of our stuff. (Thank you Lord!) It too smelled like smoke, but we needed to get out of that town and on the road. It was 5pm by the time we got the car loaded and hit the road. We got to Will and Renae's house in Nashville at 1130pm. 

August 14, 2019 FB post
Today we dropped the car at the airport. We will need to drive back to Arcola IL next week to pick up the Highlander and the trailer and come back here to Nashville with it. So the saga will still continue.


August 21, 2019
We got a call in the morning that the car was finished.  Our son, Will, had already left for work and we were going to use his car to make the drive back to Arcola.  We had been driving a spare car they had that is less road worthy so we drove over to his job, met him there and hit the road.  It was about 1pm at that point.  We called a friend of ours from Champaign to meet him for dinner in Arcola, contacted Jeff who had our trailer to let him know we were on the way and arrived in Arcola at around 6pm.  We paid the $3K bill, got the keys and headed out to the Quality Inn we had stayed at on 8/12.  The vehicle drove just fine. All seemed to be well.

Our friend Je was already at the Quality Inn.  Our new friend Jeff brought the trailer to us, hitched it up to the Highlander and stayed and chatted for a while. We went next door to the Mexican restaurant with our old friend Je whom we hadn't seen in maybe 9 years or more. We are all too old to remember! LOL! We had a great visit and Je went back to his place.

August 22, 2019
We left Arcola in the early morning to head back to Nashville with our Highlander and the borrowed trailer we were hauling and drove without incident all the way out of IL, through KY and back into TN. (About 4 hours) Then the sky opened up and it was raining so hard we could not see. Jim was driving the Highlander and I was following behind in Will's car. At that point Jim said the vehicle felt like it was hydroplaning. Visibility was awful so traffic was slow, which was a blessing. We were approaching Nashville and traffic was getting heavy and it was still raining.  At one point, the tires of the trailer were about a foot away from the semi's tires that was next to Jim during rush hour.  We got to our Antioch, TN house without incident. We were happy to be off of the wet, congested highway.

We had a dinner date with Ben's girlfriend's parents that we did not want to miss. We unloaded the trailer and unhooked it and started our journey to their house. I was driving this time. Every time the pavement changed or there was a bump the whole back end felt like it was swinging back and forth. And there was a dinging noise coming from the dash. Jim hadn't mentioned that.  He just thought it was swaying from the water on the highway.  We had to get back on hwy 24 for about 20 miles to get to dinner.  We made it but it was white knuckles and shaky legs all the way. We were going to the home of a mechanic, as God would have it, and he checked it out and said something was very wrong. He couldn't find anything visible. We were reading about possible problems and one possibility was a sway bar broken in the middle, which would not be visible without removing the gas tank+. After the roads dried it was better, so we drove it back on hwy 24 again back to our house. We left the Highlander and swapped back to Will and Renae's spare car and went back to their house.

August 23, 2019 FB
On Friday morning we drove it 20+ miles to the only mechanic we know in Nashville.  He is the neighbor of my brother and has fixed our car years before when I bought a lemon thinking I was doing a good thing by buying a car in the south so there would be no rust.  Instead, I think it was in the flood they had in Nashville.  I digress.

We left the car with him for further diagnosis.  The vehicle has about 206,000 miles on it, so I guess we are sitting right in the middle of the "fix it or replace it" zone. With the $3k we spent last week, I don't think we have the choice at the moment but to keep fixing it for now. More later when we find out what the current problem is.  Please pray this repair is minor. More to come....as the saga continues.

September 2, 2019

Almost 2 weeks have passed and the car is still undiagnosed.  

Our long time friend Gerald Smith had come down to Nashville on August 30 to hang out with us and drive the trailer we borrowed back to WI  after dropping us with friends in Schaumburg, IL, who would take us to the airport.  

He knocked on our bedroom door at 3 am asking to be taken to the hospital.  We knew where one hospital was and it was not the closest one.  Jim drove him to the hospital. By noon Gerald had emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder.  Although the surgery was arthroscopic, they had no intentions of releasing him that day or very early the next morning so he could drive back to Chicago with us.  So again, our logistical brains were working overtime to handle the situation so that everyone got where they needed to go at the right time.

September 3, 2019

Still no word on the damages on our Highlander.  But the holiday is behind us and it should come soon.

We left Nashville at 7 am and headed north towing the trailer and driving Gerald's truck.  

Our son Will, sprung Gerald out of the hospital at 3:30 pm and took him to his house to rest.

We arrived in Schaumburg at 5 pm.  We transferred out luggage from Gerald's truck to Kvistad's SUV and headed off to dinner with them.  (Lou Malnati's pizza.  A major treat for Julie!)  Kvistads took us to the airport about 9:30 pm.  By 12:30 am we were in the air on the way to Taipei, Taiwan.  The flight was about 15 hours.

September 4, 2019

We landed in Taipei and had a 3.5 hour layover where we were able to plug in our laptop and get a little work done.  The flight into Manila was only 1 hour and 43 minutes.  Woot.  Pastor Al and Marina picked us up at the airport and took us to Kuhlow's condo.  We laid down for a nap at about 3 pm and didn't wake up until 9 pm.  I guess we were really tired!

September 5, 2019

Finally we got the email we were waiting for.  It diagnosed another $1300 worth of repairs. I Marco Poloed my brother (Joe) so he could see the email.  He thought he could handle the repairs himself and said he would get the car when he returned from his vacation in WI.

September 8, 2019

Upon his return from WI, Joe talked with his neighbor, who owned the garage, (Barry) and thought the project was bigger than he could handle.  This is where God was shining again.  Joe and Karen had been travelling with Karen's brother and wife (Fred and Mary).  Joe and Karen dropped Fred and Mary at Mary's parent’s house in IL because they were going to drive a car back to Knoxville so that Fred (also know as our mechanic) could fix it.  As Fred and Mary came through Nashville they stopped at Joe and Karen’s in Murfreesboro.  Joe and Fred went and got the Highlander from Barry’s garage.  This is where it got good.  Barry offered Joe his garage to do the repairs on a Saturday when the shop is closed. Fred said he would come over from Knoxville and work on repairing it with Joe.  That being said, the fix will probably cost us around $300 - $400 instead of $1300.  Fred never charges us for labor, just the parts, which he gets at cost.  That is the way he supports us.  He has been a huge blessing to us since we bought that vehicle.  Unfortunately we couldn’t work out a  solution like that when we broke down in IL.

Once again, God has provided.  And once again we are thankful.  We will be praying that this is the final chapter of the Highlander drama.  It doesn't need to be fixed until May of 2020, so there is no rush there now.

Thanks for following the adventure with us.

Back in the USA - Summer 2019

We're Back!!!!

We arrived back in the USA on May 14^th.  We landed in Nashville where our sons, Ben and Will, both live.  We have a house there and we spent several weeks working on different areas of the house to get it ready to rent to our son Ben and two other roommates.  It is amazing all the little things that need fixing and how long it takes to fix (especially when we are not too experienced with some of those things!).

We drove up to Wisconsin on June 13^th and went to Marinette to visit Julie’s mother for the weekend before getting settled in the Valley.  We are again staying with the Perkins family this year.  When we arrived at the house we drove around Jo's car to our NORMAL parking space to find this.

We know we are loved!  We are truly humbled by their generosity and warmth shown to us.  We are amazed – they treat us like family (Bill told Jim, “you need to cut the lawn!”  LOL!)  Actually Jim volunteered to cut it – one way for us to show our appreciation.

Each summer, we try to take inventory of our products, represent Threads of Hope at a couple of festivals, try to raise more support and work on business applications that are easier tackled here than from the other side of the world in a time zone that is 13 or 14 hours ahead of the time in the US.  This summer one of the goals is to add a new dimension to our shopping cart that would allow customers to pick a specific dog collar and/or camera strap for purchase.  That sounds pretty basic, but we have never done that before because our products come in assorted bundles.  

This summer is the first summer that Threads of Hope did not order bracelets throughout the summer.  Threads of Hope just did not have the funds available to be able to finance 3 months of bracelet orders while we were not there.  We will be working this summer to build up the funds accounts to be able to start ordering at the end of August when Julie and I return to the Philippines. 

This past school year Threads of Hope had been paying for 17 students to attend colleges in various towns/cities by covering their expenses.  This ended up being fairly overwhelming and as of April the ministry decided to stop with the scholarship payments for the students.  If there are any of you who would be willing to sponsor any of these students, please contact Chris Kuhlow at kuhlcrew2@gmail.com to work with her in getting something set up.  These young people need financial help.  Some will likely have to drop out of school because we cannot help them with scholarships this year.

One of our continual needs is to raise more financial support.  Our goal is to raise our support by $1500/month.  We have been short in our support for the pass 4+ years which leaves us in the situation of not being paid about 3 months out of the year.  We would be humbled if you would choose to partner us to help us in that endeavor.

If you would like to know more about what God is doing through Threads of Hope and what we do in the Philippines we would be honored if you would join us for an Open House at Calvary Bible Church on Sunday, August 4^th from 6 pm to 8 pm.  It will be held in the music rehearsal room which is in the west wing of the church near the sanctuary if you are unfamiliar with the layout of our church.  Please mark your calendar to come and see us and say hello.  There will be snacks, stories and socializing.  There will be a question and answer session.  We really hope to see you there.

If you cannot come to the Open House and would like to spend some time with us please contact us via email at jijumarsh@gmail.com.  We would love to touch base with all of you.  We appreciate your prayers and support as we prepare to return to the Philippines for the 6th year!  We will be leaving the Valley on August 12th.

Blessings,
Julie and Jim

Progress during our 2018-2019 work in the Philippines.

In October we implemented the first phase of the collections system ATC and so far it has been fairly successful.  We have received many responses from customers once they received the automated email from ATC and we have been able to close many accounts through final payments and return of unsold bracelets.  We will be working on an education series of emails to send to new customers to try to remove any questions they may have on how Threads of Hope fundraisers work and what they can do to maximize their success with their fundraising efforts.  The implementation of ATC and changes to some of our procedures starting last summer has seen significant benefits regarding the closing of accounts and receipt of more funds for the ministry.

In January of this year we implemented a change to our attendance policy at the church.  We removed the requirement for bracelet makers to sign in and sign out every Sunday and Wednesday night.  We moved the responsibility for “members” to the 23 leaders that we have.  They now keep track of their bracelet makers and report to us any changes that may cause someone to be removed.  At this time we are not adding anyone to the list unless there is a serious need.

Jim had a series of events this Spring that was fairly serious but thank God for friends who are doctors and good medical opportunities in Manila, everything was resolved.  He had tachycardia in April and went to see a cardiologist.  After reviewing Jim’s 2D-echogram the cardiologist set Jim up an appointment with another cardiologist in Manila at St. Luke’s Hospital (probably the best hospital in the country) for an angiogram (viewing my arteries around his heart).  He discovered a 90% blockage in the LAD (widow-maker) artery and performed an angioplasty to open the artery up.  Jim is doing great now physically and mentally regarding his heart.  Please pray for both of us to have continued good health this summer and when they return to the Philippines.

More info about the summer is in our next post.

God Even Cares about Dowels - Part 2 (11/11/16) (Christmas 2017)

 I am great at thinking up projects for decorating or getting more organized.  Since we moved into this apartment and were painting and designing furniture and moving things around I have wanted to make two mirror frames.  One would be covered in shells. The other would have four 1 inch strips of bamboo along each side with, abaka (twine) and some Threads of Hope necklaces woven around the bamboo strips.  Other projects would be making the ornaments I described in my blog post from 1/6/16 entitled "God Even Cares About Dowels".  I have the driftwood to make a flat tree for the wall all laid out. And last but not least was the quest to make a table top Christmas tree out of drift wood.

I don't feel very artsy, so the projects can intimidate me a bit.  I love to acquire all of the materials, but don't always seem to get the project started.  This is the case for all of the above listed projects...except... the driftwood Christmas tree.

So I am happy to say that I did more than just hunt down the materials.  Here is my first attempt at a driftwood project.

The next step will be to find a drill bit small enough to drill holes in some of my shells so I can run fishing line through them and hang them on this ginchy little tree.  I will update you when I get that far.  

I have even managed to decorate it for a couple of Christmases so far.  I love my little driftwood Christmas tree.

A Real Kitchen after 2.5 Years (6/28/17)

In the past few weeks I have been trying to make this apartment feel a little less like camping and a little more like a normal home.  If there is such a thing as NORMAL based on this life that we lead. (Which we love, by the way!)  We have been back in the Philippines long enough to get back in the groove of ministry duties and we are waiting on some bigger projects on the horizon.  Because I don't do "idle", "little to do", or "down time" well I started reviewing some personal projects that I have wanted to accomplish for quite some time. (Some from as far back as June of 2014.)

These pictures show what the kitchen looked like for the first 2.5 years we have been in the Philippines.

As you can see there is no place to cook..  We have been cooking on a 2 burner gas cook top and using a toaster over all of this time.  That has gotten really old because we have to move everything around just to cook.  I don't like to cook any way, so that didn't help things.

In September (2016), we acquired one of the stoves that Threads of Hope purchased along with all the belongings in two apartments that belonged to some Americans in Olongapo who were running a birthing center who moved back to the States.

Once we acquired the stove we had to acquire trays to bake on.  So of course we need a place to put them.  So we decided to add a couple of pieces to our existing cabinets and rearrange many things to make things more functional.

Because we have this amazing group of people to help us to build things, we designed the cabinets, acquired the materials and worked along side them for the cutting and basic assemble of each piece. Then they finish up with patching, priming and painting. They are really good at what they do.

In November (2016), when I started this blog post, we had just added the stove, the section of shelving to the left of the stove on the floor that holds our water bottles and the section above the stove for contains, cookbooks, and our toaster oven (which we still use regularly).  The exhaust fan was over to the left and we put a shelf there instead and designed the exhaust fan to actually sit over the stove.  Now, I believed the kitchen was complete.  Or so I thought.  

Anyone who remodels know that there is a domino effect that occurs when you start changing things. One change leads to the next good idea, which leads to the next change.

After we got the stove and the organizing cabinets made and got them painted, it was time to take the next step.  We designed a cabinet/larder for dry and canned goods that we had been stuffing on another shelf.  It is a pretty sophisticated unit.  I has slanted shelves so the cans roll to the front.  It turned out really well.

Now if we could just have doors.  I think I ask for too much.  A girl can dream, can't she?