June 25, 2010 - Lizard Visit

At 2am I was woken by a loud scratching noise coming from the corner ceiling in my room. My first thought was a rat. I've seen one rat here, in the years I've been coming and it was the size of a large raccoon. I was scared, thinking he would scratch through the ceiling and "come after me". I ran to the closet and got a wooden hanger as my "weapon" of choice if it were to come in. I kept the lights on and my eyes peeled to where the sound was coming from until it stopped a half hour later. I tried to sleep again but I wasn't too successful after my visitor. I talked to Joshua the next morning and he thinks it's a lizard because they know there is one that lives up in the ceiling. He's not ruling out a rat though, as they have caught a rat in the ceiling before. I'm going to hang on to the lizard theory as that gives me a little more peace.

After our morning worship and Bible study we headed off for a 2 hour drive to Jagna Elementary School. This is our 3rd Deaf school. We had a great time with them. It's amazing year after year of coming to the Philippines, seeing the same kids, how much they grow in communication and maturity after living with other Deaf. It's fun to see how much this organization has had an impact on these students. I talked with woman today in the 4th grade. She is 34, one year older than I am. It's sad that it took her parents until she was 29 to put her in school, but it's great that she now has a language, education and friends. I remember meeting her in Preschool. She was 29 and couldn't tell me her name. She had just started Preschool a few weeks prior and was just getting used to learning that she can have the ability to communicate. Now she is able to have a decent yet kid-like conversation.

We left Jagna and drove back home to get ready for our campers coming for the weekend. However, we arrived home earlier than planned so we had about 30 minutes to jump in the pool... the first time we've had pool time all week. It felt so refreshing after being so sweaty!

We met as a group to organize the weekend and then the campers arrived. This weekend is looked forward to all year, by me of course, but also the students at Bohol Deaf Academy (BDA). The administration of IDEA has recognized us as having such a large impact on it's students' spiritual growth and this weekend has now become a "required" retreat for all students at BDA. Yea!!! We had a total of 51 students and several teachers come along. We ate dinner and then had a teaching by Zach, a team member. I interpreted his teaching. It was SO great to see all the students again. We went off to bed, excited for the activities of this weekend. I went back to my room to prepare my teaching for the next morning, anticipating!