Tagalog

My brother is in the Philippines, serving a mission for our church. He is gone for 2 years. My kids love him. I miss him a lot. They miss him a lot.

Carter came home yesterday, very excited that there is a boy in his class that speaks Tagalog in his home. He had his friend teach him some phrases. He came home to write Uncle Jordan a letter. He needed to fill in the gaps, so he asked me to use Google Translate. He discovered that when he didn't know how to spell a word correctly - Google would offer him suggestions.

From what I know of Tagalog, things need to be conjugated and the word itself changes based on the context - so this probably doesn't make any sense. It is supposed to say:

“Dear Jordan.

You are fast. Do you have a Book of Mormon? What is your companion’s name? Do you have a temple there?

I love you,

Carter

1/25/2017”

I can’t make out the last two words under the date. He doesn’t remember. I Google Translated it myself and it reads “Expensive Kite”

I am mailing it off tomorrow. He is so proud of himself. I am proud of his effort.

Pictures

Carter, Beckett, and Roslyn are growing so much. No matter how I try to bribe them, they just keep at it. Every time I mention that I want them to slow down, they start eating and sleeping more – and in turn, growing faster.

Lisa, where have you been?

Once upon a time – 3 years ago – the Lewis family purchased a new home. It had a basement. We got right to work making it our own. David put new flooring in, changed out the light fixtures and outlet covers, and started to update things one by one.

Then, a storm came. Mother Nature dumped almost an entire month’s worth of rain in one storm. The water came down so hard and so fast, our drainage system couldn’t handle it. It came under our foundation and back up into our floor. It washed away every inch of flooring David had put down, one year, to the weekend, ago. It even washed up most of the vinyl tiles that had been underneath. We had to rip out the sheet rock to avoid mold. 

David went a little overboard and decided to take the popcorn ceiling down in the media room and put up insulation to keep the noise contained.

David did most of the labor himself. We had the help of David’s family to move the big things out of the way and lend us tools; the missionaries from our church to help us tear out the wet floor and do a little painting; my mother to help us fix the problem so it doesn't happen again; and my father to help David get the truck fixed, take a load to the dump, and clean up the rest kids’ outdoor play area. After a year of work, and his entire vacations, we have it 99% finished. We need to caulk the trim, and finish the fire place.

We let the kids choose the colors of their playroom. They chose 10 different colors – all the colors of their favorite sports teams. David decided to use the remaining paint from the rest of the house and compromise. He painted their favoritest sports team’s logos on the wall, and purchased curtains for two others – the Steelers and the Falcons.

So, if you're wondering "Why hasn't Lisa updated her blog since last November?" Now you know why. I will be going back and filling in the gaps in between school work, house work, and teaching preschool.